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naoko-world · 3 years ago

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What is being an adult? An Encanto analysis.

I saw that some people thinks that Bruno is mentally a child. Well, I don't think so! Though instead of saying what a lot of people already said to defend him, I'll do something else : explain what is being an adult. And link it to Encanto because that's perfect for that kind of project!

When you're a child you imagine the adult life as being a perfect human being successful, sensible, kind, serious, etc.

Well people says I'm an adult (I'm 31) and I can tell you it actually doesn't work like that. You won't wake up the day of your coming-of-age birthday feeling more adult than the previous day. Personally it took me more than ten years to really feel as an adult and I'm not even sure I actually do feel like one. I still feel I'm a teen pretending to be an adult!

How is it related to Encanto though? I don't know if you noticed but there is a lot of adults in the movie, many kind of them! So many actually that I'll divide them into generations.

Sorry in advance, that analysis is incredibly long.

First generation:

Alma Madrigal

First we have Abuela Alma of course, the woman that is at the origin of Encanto, the one that lost her husband. We don't know much about Pedro but we know a lot of things about Alma. She's the representation of a 70-years old woman that lived a lot. The kind of iron fist that had to steel herself because of some trials she had to live. In France my grandparents lived WW2, Alma saw her husband die in front of her eyes then had to manage a whole community and raise three children. I saw lot of people around her age, especially the women, acting like that. It's pretty common when they're not the one I saw running to keep being in good form or the one that yell at me because I was at the wrong place looking for a doll I lost. I was a teen, way more shy than I'm now and I gave up on my doll.

But again not surprising because life is hard and the people around that age usually lived some terrible things and had responsabilities that made then steel themselves. My grandma it was to live in France during WW2 then raising 5 children. Alma it was to flee her home, see her husband die, raising triplets and be the head of an entire village.

That kind of adults also tend to be too stubborn to evolve, or they'll say "Yeah but I'm too old for that". I remember saying a lot of people in comments under videos about Encanto joking how Alma admitting her mistakes was the most unbelievable thing in the movie!

Second generation:

Julieta Madrigal

Now we have Julieta, the kind and loving mother. She's exactly what we'd expect from a mother: dedicated to her children, selfless, soft, and hardworking. And some mothers are like that, forgetting themselves for their children, even sometimes considering doing errands alone are a vacation.

I saw that kind of people too in social jobs as nurses, teacher, psychologist, etc. It helped me feel better when I entered middle school, then High school, but that kind of adult tends to forget to even take care of themselves.

But she's also the kind of adult we don't imagine having a sex life because they don't seems so while... Their children don't come from nowhere! But you're almost surprised learning they actually have sex with people.

Agustín Madrigal

Talking about Julieta's sex life, after the wife I'll talk about the husband!

The accident-prône Agustín! That man most of us are pretty sure he met Julieta because he often came to be healed by her. Well accident-prône with the healer? They got to be together! And they're a cute couple.

If I could compare him to real-life people I would say he reminds me of these people I met that live for their job and will talk a lot about their children or will bring them to some events. One of them was a psychologist I had who was well-dressed (with a suit I mean) but was still cheerful and open. I loved him! At least I think he was wearing a suit? I was in primary school and I remember he was well-dressed.

Pepa Madrigal

Now is time to talk about Pepa, the very moody sister that is always seen sticking to her husband Félix. Actually the very first thing we see about them after Pepa being moody is her scooping her husband up to kiss him: We understand that they're a very passionate couple. So we can easily imagine them... Showing their love to each other many times at night.

But talking about the moody part of her character. People mainly remember her as someone being constantly angry but if you can indeed see her in that mood she's also sometimes at the edge of tears. Because the thing is she can't hide her feelings unlike Julieta what makes her imperfect on the contrary of Julieta and a great representation of mothers that love their children and are trying to raise them as good as they can without suppressing their own person. She's also the kind of woman that exists in real life that some people make fun of to say that women are more into feelings than men (which is sexist for both genders... and yes I read an analysis saying that Pepa was the best representation of real women because moody).

Actually I know a mother that is like her! She's sometimes fun, sometimes not, but she's kind and is trying to raise her children as good as she can. And I can see other like her too, that do their best it's not something to laugh at.

Félix Madrigal

I'll say it directly: Félix reminds me a lot of adults I encountered. Especially people from the islands that came to the metropolitan area to live there. Which matches Félix since he's supposed to be from the Carribbean coast!

The kind of people that are cheerful, funny, but can be serious when needed. Like Félix! This is why he's perfect for the moody Pepa whom he's then able to easily calm down. But also whom he loves the mood swinging because when she can express herself she's happy.

Bruno Madrigal

Talking about worrying... I promise I'll (try) to contain myself while talking about Bruno. Sorry in advance, I'm in love with that man.

OK Bruno is THEBETTERCHARACTERANDTHECUTESTANDYOUSHOULDALLKNEELBEFOREHI.... Oh hum... Sorry sorry.

Bruno... The character people say he's mentally a child. Is it even true? Again I'm here to explain how adults can be different to each other and after his sisters now I'm here explaining why Bruno is an adult physically and mentally. I mean, come on he's only neurodivergent.

I see everyday people like Bruno, sensitive and honest, in my therapeutic club. I'm part of them too, and we're not less adults. Some of us have jobs, some have children, and most of them even live alone. And most important of all, all of us are able to hold responsibilities. And Bruno is able to be responsible, like when he decided to leave to protect Mirabel or when he bravely came to protect her from Abuela. Furthermore, he takes good care of his rats that seems to be happy with him.

In the movie we also see him trying to get Mirabel to leave and resist to her attempts to know the truth. I saw a lot of adults doing that, trying to hide the truth of their actions to kids because they don't want them to worry. Eh! My own dad told me a fake reason for his divorce with my mother, telling me the truth only when I became adult. So I would grow up with a good state of mind. Bruno is doing a very adult thing there!

But yeah Bruno is sensitive, honest, and he likes talking about what he likes. Again I saw many neurodivergent people (but not all of them) acting that way. And for the last part... Geeks exists. And geeks are of all ages while being extremely passionnates. It's not a sin or a sign they're mentally children. Bruno is a geek!

Third generation:

Now about the youngest generation! Because that post isn't long enough yet!

Isabela Madrigal

Starting with Isabela Madrigal, the golden child, señorita perfecta Isabela, Gremlin Isabela.

Well... I'm a 30-years old woman that had to interact with the other women in my young adult days. Honestly I was more of the Luisa kind... Actually no I wasn't. I was once called a "princess" in that time and I took it badly but when thinking back about it they didn't say it for nothing. I mean, there is a time where I would have said Isabela is my complete opposite : love pink, do makeup, like wearing dresses, the kind to spend hours in clothing shops... But it was me being "I'm not like other girls" and not seeing the world wasn't black and white.

So yeah, Isabela reminds me of the girls I had as classmates that I didn't like because a part of them tried to change my entire being, to push me to do makeup and go shopping. But these people aren't all the girls I met and most were more nuanced, like Isabela. Isabela that tries to follow the feminity like she was taught to but finally change to like her feminity as she wants. Like me! I tend not to say I'm feminine but I have feminine traits like : I like taking care of my hair, I love flowers, and I'm the romantic kind.

Well, I wasn't pushed by my grandma like was Isabela but we're both the same in that way that we were imposed a model of feminity by some people. A model I immediately rejected by being hateful, a model she accepted but making her neglecting her true self.

Seeing that a lot of young women can relate to her, and that she's that kind of adult that still have to find themselves.

Dolores Madrigal

And I'll end it with Dolores! Because Luisa's case is more complicated to say if she's adult since in my country she's (in France the majority is at 18) but in some others she's not (21 in these countries, Luisa is 19).

Like Isabela, Dolores is a young woman. And like her, she's the kind of women I had as classmates. But a different kind, the most silent kind that was only watching what was happening in the class while trying to get good grades. They are rather serious people and live their life away from the classroom without being involved more than some things said from time to time.

But I also had that kind of adult in jobs I had. Again they didn't talk much besides for some things from time to time. But when they talked in my experience they'll often show a bit a malicious side, like Dolores shows in some parts of the movie as when she, I suppose, joked about Mariano wanting 5 babies. Her stare at that point is pretty obvious: she said it to tease Isabela!

Of course she's a bit malicious but she's not bad, she's actually a really kind girl! And romantic, as we can see with Mariano and her eyes when she realized Mirabel was about to introduced her to him. Without forgetting Bruno told her the man of her dreams will marry another but it seems she didn't give up on her feelings for Mariano and never got interested in another man (or woman) in the meantime. Well, maybe she got interested at some point but it was never mentioned and we can suppose she didn't see anyone else before the movie starts.

Conclusion

Well, what can we learn from it? Basically that adulthood is a lie. There isn't one kind of adult we mustn't deviate from, most adults in real life are like adults in Encanto: diverse and with their own personality they developed while growing up. I mean, Bruno grew up to be anxious so he became an anxious adult ; Dolores grew up with hearing everything around her, so she's a quiet adult talking only when it is necessary or to tease someone she like ; Julieta grew up as the one who had to take care of others so she became a sweet and caring adult; etc.

Adulthood is a lie, everything is about personality and experience we'll all have though not the same as others. Depends of your country, your environment, who you used to hang out with, your education,... Many criterias!

In short: It isn't correct to claim that someone is mentally a child only because they aren't "adult enough"! Because being an adult is more about the age and experience than the character.

#encanto #encanto analysis #analysis #essay #abuela alma madrigal #julieta madrigal #pepa madrigal #bruno madrigal #félix madrigal #agustín madrigal #isabela madrigal #dolores madrigal #my analysis

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lykegenia · 2 years ago

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Legend of Korra rewrite

So what happens when you cross caffeine-induced insomnia with a brain willing to fixate on the most random shit imaginable? Apparently a remainder that I’m still salty about all the ways Nickelodeon fucked over Legend of Korra by not letting it have a multiple season arc greenlit from the beginning. What’s there is already good considering the parameters Bryke had to work with, but only getting one season ordered at a time with studio execs prodding at various plot elements means a lot of potential was squandered.

My 3am brain decided to fix it.

This isn’t a comprehensive beat-beat-by-beat rewrite, I don’t have time for that. It also might not be entirely coherent because, again, 3am brain. I’ll only be focusing on the main characters since they’re the ones doing the most to drive the plot forward.

Before we begin, let’s talk themes. If we’re going to have an overarching, coherent narrative, we’re going to need to give it themes, for flavour. I really like the way LOK used each season to explore the flaws of different political frameworks (e.g. populism, anarchism) but there’s nothing to tie it all together, and the story becomes less about Korra and more about the world she inhabits. In this rewrite, Korra’s journey will come back into focus, and will (like TLA) explore a theme of balance. Specific to yin-yang, there are a bunch of oppositions that relate to each other – chaos/order, tradition/change, altruism/selfishness, freedom/boundaries – none of which are inherently bad, and neither side better than the other. There is no good and evil, only balance and the lack of it. For Korra as well, there will be the theme of legacy, of forging your own path instead of being defined by people’s expectations, of letting go of self-image, and of finding strength in community.

Here we go.

SEASON 1

· For the most part, unchanged. It’s pretty solid. Could maybe do without the weird double love triangle that was going on for most of it so we could dedicate more time to Korra finding community, and establishing what role the avatar might play in a world that’s seemingly in balance.

· HOWEVER. I would add at least one extra episode to the ending, and change it just a bit. We’re also going to set up season 2.

· By the end of the season, Korra does not get back the elements Amon took from her. At least not yet. Instead of being useless, Katara, whose character is not completely betrayed in this version, does manage to undo the damage Amon did, because she mastered bloodbending at 14 and is the world’s best healer according to everyone in the room. So what’s the problem? Korra won’t wake up. She’s trapped in the spirit world, either because of her guilt at being such a failure (in her mind) or because something is keeping her there, but there’s no way to tell which it is.

· Korra, in the spirit world, is lost. She hears someone behind her, turns with a fire kick ready to defend herself, and… it’s Aang. He points out that bending doesn’t work in the spirit world, he found that out the hard way when he had to walk through an entire forest instead of using his glider. He tells her to follow him.

· In the real world, it’s early morning, the fire’s low, everyone’s asleep. Someone (Mako? Asami?) wakes up and starts shouting because Korra’s gone. There’s a search party. Naga’s still in her pen, but there are footprints leading to a cliff and then… nothing. We’ve circumvented the execs worry about depicting suicidal ideation by making it clear first that Korra is off doing spirity things, and Katara, who is wise, tells everyone that they need to trust in the avatar.

· Repercussions: Unalaq turns up with troops from the North ostensibly to rescue Korra. When it’s pointed out that she’s in the spirit world, he asks how they can know for sure. After all, someone tried to kidnap her once before (“And you couldn’t protect her then, either – could you brother? Someone else had to do it”). Name drop the Red Lotus, but they won’t be important until later.

· This is just a ruse to start the occupation. Aside from Unalaq having shady evil plans, the South has lost its way, they lost the avatar, and they owe the North for all the rebuilding they did after the 100 Years War (sarcastic huzzah for colonialism!) The last shot of the season is a mass of Northern ships advancing on the South in a direct parallel to the shot in the opening of TLA. (This also removes the contrivance of Korra being naïve enough to believe a word of anything her obviously evil uncle says.)

SEASON 2

· Korra washes up on a Fire Nation beach and is found by the priestess lady who in this version is definitely Azula btw. She’s chill after 70 years. The opening of this season is the two-parter where we learn the origins of the avatar because a) it interrupts the story less to put it here and b) it’s a far more organic way for her to relearn how to connect with all her elements that ties into her character growth instead of being another Lion Turtle-ex-machina. She also learns that harmonic convergence is coming, but not quite yet (it won’t be the S2 finale but more on that later) and that she needs to find out where Vaatu’s prison is so that she can keep him there.

· Meanwhile, in the South: Civil war. Katara is among the first to stand up to the occupation and fights back (the South knows how to fight, it spent 100 years fighting while the North cowered behind its high walls and did nothing) because her character is not completely betrayed in this version of events. She will not let her people be subjugated again. The others want to stay and help, but the Southern benders are holding their own for now what they really need is outside help to get the North to back down (and we haven’t seen this much politics in kids media since the Star Wars prequels). Tenzin and family head to the Fire Nation to get help from Zuko/Izumi. Lin, who has her bending back thanks to Katara, goes back to Republic City to garner support from the United Forces. Asami and Mako go with her – Asami to sort out Future Industries, Mako because it sucks being a firebender at the south pole in winter, and because he wants to help Lin. He has to let go of his need overprotectiveness because Bolin stays and joins the rebellion. There is not a weird abusive romantic subplot between him and Eska.

· Korra finally gets back from the spirit world. Hears about trouble in the South from Azula, and her first instinct is to rush off to the south pole, but harmonic convergence is a bigger threat to everyone. Like Aang, she has to choose between her duties to the world and her attachment to her people. She’s persuaded to find Tenzin/Jinora instead, and gets given a sky bison.

· Tonraq gets captured, but not before learning why his brother REALLY wants to get to the portal in the spirit trees. Nobody else finds out. For dramatic irony. And so the audience can get a bit of exposition without it seeming clunky. He’s been weakening the boundary between the spirit world and the waking world in preparation for letting Vaatu out, and that’s why there are spirits running amok everywhere. Fighting is getting worse.

· All the events in Republic City still happen, maybe with tweaks but not enough to change the direction of the plot.

· Korra finds Jinora, and together they set off for the spirit world. Yes Korra still gets lost. Last time she had Aang as a guide but a) without him she doesn’t know how to navigate b) she’s still new to this whole spirituality thing c) since she was last in the spirit world Unalaq’s destabilisation of the boundary means things are a lot more chaotic anyway. Yes we still see Iroh, and he helps her, and we get a showdown in front of Vaatu’s tree. He mocks Raava for being too late to stop him. But at least now they know how to get to him from the real world. Jinora still gets kidnapped.

· The S2 finale is mostly the same, except Unalaq does not join with Vaatu. Vaatu promised that’s what would happen but Vaatu is a spirit of chaos and discord, he is inherently selfish, so instead feeds on Unalaq to free himself. There is no giant battle between spirit Korra and spirit Unalaq, we are not in Pacific Rim. Also, the battle between Raava and Vaatu is not good/evil, but they are in opposition.

· Most importantly, the good guys lose the finale. The big final battle happens to stop Unalaq getting to the Tree of Time, and they’re too late. Vaatu is freed and his prison, the Tree of Time, is destroyed in the process. Chaos ensues. (This is what brings the airbenders back but we don’t know this yet.) Harmonic convergence is looming, Team Avatar’s job now is to find a way to beat him now that the tree of time has been destroyed.

SEASON 3

· Spirits of chaos have unleashed airbenders. Oops, that includes Zaheer. They’re here to fuck shit up.

· Season 3 is generally pretty good and well-paced, and the finale is banger, so most things will be kept the same except the chaos the Red Lotus creates in the Earth Kingdom is directly feeding Vaatu, making him stronger. Korra’s trip to the spirit world to learn the origins of the Red Lotus is slightly different. Instead of Zaheer, she connects with her previous lives. She and Kyoshi get on like a house on fire. Kyoshi explains the Red Lotu’s origin, but Zaheer has been waiting for her, attuned to Raava’s energy. They have a fight, shows Korra is improving in her spirituality by how she can manipulate the world (better resolution for that arc, consistency between seasons is nice), but she’s no match for Zaheer. Tries to warn him about Vaatu but he argues that by fusing with Raava the avatar disrupted the balance of the universe and that he’s helping put it back. The people who are going to die because of this will simply be redressing the balance. This fight is what keeps Korra distracted while the rest of the Red Lotus attacks.

· Finale is banger, keep it as it is.

SEASON 4

· Kuvira’s motivation now isn’t just trying to restore order in the Earth Kingdom power vacuum, she also knows harmonic convergence is coming and wants to impose order to stop Vaatu winning since the avatar is AWOL/not recovered. During the early part of S3 world leaders were warned about harmonic convergence but since it’s traditionally the avatar’s job to deal with spirits, nothing was really done.

· She’s actually making the problem worse.

· Team Avatar and the airbenders etc all fall on different sides of the ‘how to stop 10,000 years of darkness’ discussion, and without the avatar as a unifying voice, it’s making the problem worse.

· Most of the plot beats stay the same, but there is no giant robot shooting spirit plant lasers at things, because. Well. We’re not in Pacific Rim. Kuvira can still be forcing Varrick to build her superweapons, though, as a treat.

· The big finale finale is harmonic convergence. Vaatu manifests, stronger than last time because he’s been feeding on the chaos of the human world, and now there’s no Tree of Time to imprison him. What will Korra do next?

· The avatar cycle is broken. Kora wins, but at the cost of her connection with Raava, because Raava is the only one who can really control him in the end. Their struggle is eternal. Think Ed vs Truth at the end of FMA:B. All the experience of the past avatars feeds into Raava’s power and it counterbalances Vaatu, Korra lets go, and the two “destroy” each other locked together. The explosion of spirit energy brings about a new spiritual age. Maybe Korra keeps her waterbending, maybe she loses her bending entirely (which would be a nice bit of symmetry with the concerns of S1) but she still steps into the spirit portal with Asami at the end.

#legend of korra #lok #korra #avatar meta #legend of korra meta #lok meta #thanks brain #didn't need that sleep anyway

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railroad-migraine · 3 years ago

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Hope your having a great day/night. I heard EXU requests and came running. How about Orym and Fearne with an S/O who is a cleric and overworks themselves during battle trying to keep everyone healed and safe (Just big protection vibes) that after battle their S/O is completely exhausted.

As always thanks for looking over this ask and thank you in advance if you decide to write something, but no pressure!

As someone who has played not once, but two times as a cleric I understand exactly this type of dynamic in a dnd party. Thank you for this request. I have/had EXU withdrawals.

Requests are open!

~ Poet

Cleric!S/O

Fearne

Assures you mid fight to use the last spell you have to heal yourself, because she has the last guy pinned in her Primal Savagery form. Fearne is probably the least likely party member who needs help - have you seen what she can do?? - but your heart sometimes makes you prioritize her first.

She appreciates and loves the nurturing side of you, but hates to see you drained of life (metaphorically and literally) after a fight. You constantly flit between the party, casting healing spells, passing along potions, and helping prone companions stand up again. You never miss a beat once someone is in danger. It must be exhausting.

Brushes your hair after a particularly long fight, helps you wash it and weaves it back neatly if it's long enough. She wants to take care of you like you do her, and washing away the grime and blood from the day is a nice start. She's always mindful of grazes that might sting from the soap, and apologises with a kiss to your temple every time you wince.

Knows how to make beautifully fragrant teas and salves from herbs and plants (don't worry, there's no poison ivy in sight). She makes sure you try a few of her favourites in hopes to find something that you really like and can look forward to when she spoils you. The rosemary salve is one of her favourites; it gets you in the mood for sleep and it smells amazing. Would recommend the citrus brew she's managed to swipe in one of the cities you passed through - it's golden in colour and tastes divine. The vendor she stole it from probably would've said the same.

Orym

Protecting the group is his priority too, so he knows how instincts can take over and how you can forget about your own well-being in the moment. Orym likes to be on the front lines, shield raised and sword in hand. You like to chase after your companions and cast Cure Wounds. You both receive blows, but in the end you're the one who heals the team, even off the battlefield. Your work is never truly done.

His way of taking care of you after a tough day is making sure you're well fed and well rested. You're what keeps the machine that the party is from falling apart, so he makes sure all the members chip in somehow to ensure you're treated right. Whether it's renting you a plush double bed in the inn, ordering a hearty and hot meal in the tavern, or someone else taking your watch that night, Orym wants to make sure you don't burn out too quickly.

As a fighter, he knows all the muscles and ligaments of the body. He offers to smooth out the knots in your back, or massage your shoulders to ease your aches. He prefers to do this in the privacy of your own room, when you have access to more civilized sleeping arrangements. It makes those days of travel on the road worth it.

A happy healer in turn means that battles will come out in the party's favour. He compliments your skills and commends your dedication to keeping every one safe and well. He admires your protective instincts and sees a bit of himself in you, and some of you in him. The thought makes him smile shyly when you cast Healing Word on him in the form of sweet nothings and encouragement.

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pomegranates-and-blood · 4 years ago

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Gǫfga (Ivar’s PoV)*

νοσταλγία Masterlist

Gǫfga: to worship, to honour (Old Norse)

Pairing: Ivar/Reader

Summary: A continuation of the events of Chapter 42.

Word Count: 3.8k

Warnings: 18+, once again, smut, plus the usual and a focus on Ivar’s past experiences, and his issues with his body. A bit of angst. And, once again, there’s a top and it definitely isn’t Ivar.

A/N: So, this is my first time writing smut on a male’s PoV, so this was a challenge but a fun one! I don’t know if this is any good, but I hope you like it!

This goes alongside Chapter 42, that I also uploaded today. You can find it here :)

If Ivar could choose to linger somewhere for the rest of the time he has on this earth, it would be here, it would be in this.

In any moment with you, really, but this moment more than any other.

Your fingers tangle in his hair, pulling slightly to make him crane his head back. Ivar almost wants to resist if only for the thrilling sting of pain to be felt when you pull on his hair, but the pleased sound you hum against the skin of his throat at how easily he complies renders him mindless, and there is not a world where he would resist you.

Over the beating of his own heart in his ears he makes out that you are talking, and he almost wants to ask how, how are you managing to disarm him with but a touch and yet remain able to whisper all this gentle praise by his ear, making his chest pull tight and the cock he thought useless for too long twitch at every word that leaves your lips.

“I gather I should tell you more often,” You are musing to yourself, or maybe to him. “How much I love everything about you,” The smile he offers at your words is overwhelmed and pitiful, he knows it is, and is almost grateful the only witness to it is the ceiling above him. You continue, dragging your nails against his scalp and making him shiver, “I love your mind, you are so sharp, so clever. And I love your hair, more than anything because of how you react when I do this,” To prove your point, you tug forcefully on his hair, your grip tight, and even through gritted teeth Ivar cannot help the groan he lets out at the sharp sting of pain that he feels all the way though his body. You chuckle, darkly pleased, but pull back and meet his eyes, expression softening, “I love your eyes, they give a lot away,” The tip of your finger traces the shape of his upper lip and, lovesick fool that he is, he finds himself pressing a kiss to the delicate digit. “I love your mouth. Mostly for selfish reasons.”

The glint in your eye makes him chuckle, and he drawls, “Is that so?”

“Mhm,” You promise, a blinding smile that you softly press against his own. “But I also love it for what you say, and for each kiss,” Pulling back, you let your hands grasp his, and you lift one between you, pressing a kiss against the back of it. Ivar only looks at you, letting you have your fill and pretending not to be filled with warmth at such a simple gesture. “I love your hands. I love how they feel against mine, or my body,” You drop his hand, continuing your path up his arms, leaving behind a trail of goosebumps to chase after your touch. “I love your shoulders, your arms,” You continue, your small hands squeezing lightly at the muscles of his shoulder-blades and upper arms, before you continue, determined, on the path you’ve decided. You trace familiar designs on his back, before you move to his chest, tracing the ink shapes there as well. “I love these, even if I don’t understand them. I love your chest, and I love how I can tell when I make you want me because it starts moving with your breathing, quicker and quicker.”

“You always make me want you.” He confesses, but only half his mind is on the words leaving his lips, the rest is focused on the determined path your hands are taking, and how you move your body down to follow that trail with your lips, pressing a kiss over his heart that after everything still makes his chest pull tight with emotion.

“I know,” You tease, side of your mouth quirked into a smile. “It is only fair, love.”

“If you say so.”

“I know so,” You argue, not missing a beat. Still, you drag your teeth lightly over his nipple and chastise, “Stop distracting me.

He says nothing, reluctant to speak and his voice give away how such a simple gesture made arousal cloud everything else for a few moments too long.

Any thought of arousal leaves his head when he feels you press a kiss on each side of his hips, your hands trailing down his sides and not even slowing down as they reach his upper thighs.

You have touched his legs before, but it was distant -or so he told himself- and he distracted himself with the story you told him of your time learning how to heal. But now…

He never really knew what to do against your softness, and the gentleness you so easily offer disarms him more than coldness and distance ever could. Affection threatens to break him more than anything else could, and he knows how pitiful that is, he knows how that speaks of a weakness he could never eradicate no matter how much he tried, and it shames him, but he cannot help it. He cannot help but shudder at each of your soft touches, he cannot help but let his eyes flutter shut when you kiss him gently, he cannot help but want nothing but to press closer when you whisper his name in the mornings.

And now, as your hands trail softly over his legs -thin, cursed legs- Ivar feels more than ever that you might just break him with a touch.

He cannot look at you, and he cannot do anything but try and fight that part of him that just pleads with him to get away, to hide himself, to keep you from seeing how abnormal he is, how broken.

“I love your legs,” You say, voice quieter, more restrained. Your words drop on his chest like a weight and he wonders absently if he is still breathing. “They are a part of you, and I love them as much as I love the rest of you.

You continue leisurely exploring, not appearing disgusted or put off, simply tracing gentle fingers over his thighs, his knobby knees, his scarred calves, as easily as you did over the rest of his body.

And Ivar is pulled between giving in and accepting your touch, basking in the affection you so easily offer to every part of him; or bracing himself for the eventual fall, refusing to accept the softness at the certainty that he will lose it and it will all prove to be a lie.

And so he remains frozen in between, hands clenched into fists so tightly he feels the sharp press of blunt fingernails on his palms as he tells himself you are pitying him, that you are disgusted; yet tears filling his eyes that he squeezes shut as he finds himself relishing in the gentle caresses.

You trace with a tad more dedication over the worse of some of the scars, the agile fingers of a healer trailing over a badly healed broken bone from years ago. You press a kiss against his thigh, and that is all the warning he has before you wrench your touch -your softness, your warmth- away from him.

The loss of your touch unbalances him more than he would like to admit, and with his eyes closed the lack of the warmth of your skin against his makes him lose his hold on his control -on his mind- for a moment.

It is barely a moment where your warmth is gone, and your voice is gone, and parted lips try bringing air to frantic lungs and the smell of lavender is gone too, and you are not there, you are gone. Gone, gone, gone.

Ivar doesn’t realize his breaths are as labored and quick as they are until you put one hand on his chest, doesn’t realize the sound of his own panicked breaths that sound more like sobs than anything else is clouding everything else until your voice reaches him as if from underwater.

“Ivar,” You say, the same love intertwined with iron that your voice has always had. You’re here, you haven’t left. Your hand is on the side of his face and he can’t keep himself from leaning into the touch, still keeping his eyes tightly closed. Of course you wouldn’t leave, he knows you wouldn’t leave him. He knows, because you understand and your voice is quiet as you soothe him, “I’m here, love.”

He nods to tell you he knows, to promise he trusts you, but says nothing. He isn’t sure he can.

You are straddling him again, and when he sits up to be closer you don’t hesitate to hold him, your hands soft and warm as they settle on his back, your voice low and soothing as you say something he cannot understand.

It suddenly is all too much, and he cannot stop trembling.

You promised him forever and still tied to his wrist is the proof you chose him, and not even when he was convinced Freyja had sent you to him had he believed you would willingly choose to stay with him, willingly choose to love him. You looked into his eyes and promised him he had you and your heart and your everything and a part of him still refuses to believe it isn’t a trick, a vision, a mirage.

Because it cannot be real, he knows it can’t. You love him, and you chose him, and you somehow want him enough to make his useless cock work, and you bring him pleasure and you leave your mark with nothing but gentleness all over his body, even his cursed legs, that you don’t hesitate to caress and promise to love as much as the rest of him. One of those things alone would have been enough to believe he was somehow living in a vision.

And it overwhelms him, it throws him under a rip current where he cannot make up from down, he cannot know if he has to force himself to see it isn’t real before he can lose himself in the fantasy or if he has to make haste and seize how everything he’s ever wanted is being offered to him in the shape of one stubborn woman he would give the world to if she asked.

Ivar wants to grunt out a curse at his own weakness, but his voice refuses to be heard, and he wants to get his body under his control, but for some stupid reason he can’t stop trembling.

You pay no mind to his weakness, you make no mention of the pathetic display, choosing instead to hold him tightly to you, letting his face be hidden against the curve of your throat, and only run your hand up and down his back as his breaths waver between somewhat normal to gasping and panicked.

He has never felt so much of your bare body pressed against his, or maybe he has, but it has never felt like this. This, all-encompassing, overwhelming, maddening, soothing.

He truly doesn’t know how much time passes, how long he lingers in the safety you offer, how much of your affection he basks in. Time has proven to be pointless to him lately, with the coming of spring being one cold morning of winter and the borrowed time he thought would mean the end of it all marking only the beginning, so he doesn’t care much for time anymore.

But he knows enough time passes that his heart returns to a normal pace and no longer trashes in his ribcage, he knows he lingers in the safety of your embrace for long enough that his hand start aimlessly exploring your body again, he knows he basks in enough of your affection to put him back together, though he knows there really won’t ever be enough if you ask him.

Eyes still closed, his mouth seeks yours, and he kisses you deeply, realizing only once he is begging entrance into your mouth of the urgency that had overcome him, of the desperation to have you as close as he can, to feel nothing but you.

Soon enough you are quivering at the dance of his fingers against you, tightening your walls around him, and crying out his name in a way that will never cease to fill him with pride and warmth. He takes in the sight of you as he always does, awed and reverent and desperate for you, for what you sound like when you come because of him, for the praise of your moans and cries of pleasure.

Relentless, ruthless, Ivar chases after your pleasure as if it were his own, and feels the daze of arousal set upon him as he watches you unravel for him.

When your hand reaches down for his cock it takes everything in him not to stop you, not to jump with the by now familiar words of how he cannot do this at the tip of his tongue. Instead, he hears your voice as clearly as if you were speaking those words again, give in to me, Ivar.

And he does, helplessly yours.

And he focuses on nothing but you, nothing but the feel of your body against his, of your wet center around his fingers, of your delicate hand around him, of your mouth on his. He gives in, he willingly follows you to the edge of that abyss and trusts you will be there when he falls, to pull him back to safety or fall with him.

He hardens even further at your touch, and soon enough you have him robbed of breath and of sanity, muffling frenzied moans against your lips and unable to help the way his body presses harder against you, against your touch.

He has never felt this before, this painful desperation, this urgent need, this want.

“I need you,” He tells you, a choked whisper. The look in your eyes tells him you very much want to delay this, want to truly test how far you can take that need. His heart trashes madly in his chest, and he finds himself insisting, “I need you, my love.”

It is then that your expression softens, and you look as overwhelmed as he feels, naked want and this particular kind of longing reflected in your eyes as much as Ivar knows is reflected in his own.

Your hand lifts to caress the side of his face -your left hand, he feels the cold of your ring, and his throat tightens- and you look into his eyes with a sigh of his name.

His chest hurts. It pulls tight at the open adoration in your face and the soft touch you grant him, and he can’t say anything, only look at you with wide eyes with nothing to hide.

The dainty fingers of your free hand circle his length, and Ivar tries not to whimper at the touch.

You meet his eyes, draw him into your gaze and keep him trapped. Bewitched, some might say.

“I love you, Ivar.”

“I-…”

His words die in a choked groan when you finally take him inside you, guiding him in until he fills you completely.

Ivar knows he is gripping your legs tight enough to leave imprints but he cannot release the tension from his body, he cannot…Gods.

Nothing could have prepared him for this, feeling your mouth on him was nothing compared to how your walls feel tightening around him, stealing from him whatever breath he had left.

“Gods, love,” You breathe, voice almost a whine, “You look…”

You don’t’ finish your sentence, instead rocking back and forth in your place, sending jolts of pleasure so jolting they are almost painful down Ivar’s spine.

His grip on you tightens, and he breathlessly pleads, “Don’t move.”

He is certain if you do he will peak then and there, and he cannot have that. He wants to feel you tightening around him like you do around his fingers when he makes you come, he wants to be inside you when you draw your pleasure from him until you are calling his name breathlessly.

But the woman he married wouldn’t let him off easy, of course. You don’t move, but he is certain the way you tighten around him and make him gasp helplessly is very much on purpose.

“Does it feel good to be inside me, Ivar?” You ask, accented voice sultry and rough. And he opens his mouth to tell you to have mercy, but no sound leaves his lips, only a choked gasp that once could have been your name.

He is used to feeling like his body is betraying him. Incapable of walking as he wishes to, fragile bones keeping him from motion. He has learned to live with that, has learned to endure.

But now, now the way his body threatens to betray him is entirely new, and Ivar finds himself robbed of breath and of control and of his own body. It all is yours, just as he is.

There is only you, you and the maddening scent of lavender and something else, you and the feeling of you around him, you and the quickened breaths that taunt and tease him.

Ivar wills his body to settle, to adjust to the feeling, and eventually he relinquishes the tight hold on your thighs. He doesn’t have to say a word, but you understand and you begin to move.

It is a sight to behold, to have you above him, a slow dance of your hips as you lift yourself up and come back down, a sensual grind that makes you gasp with every movement.

He finds himself dangerously close to letting pleas leave his mouth, throat tightening in tandem with his lower stomach.

“Gods…” Is what leaves his lips instead in a helpless whisper, though it feels like a prayer to you and you alone.

Restless, he reaches with his hands to cup the underside of your breasts, thumbs trailing over your nipples and making your back arch in pleasure, sending a rush all the way down his spine at the sight.

A stuttering moan leaves your lips and you grind as you come back down upon him, and you brace yourself against him, one of your hands gripping at his shoulder.

Your hand comes to rest dangerously close to his throat, close enough that he once again almost finds himself pleading. Ivar feels himself quiver, and lets his head fall back with a clenched jaw, heat lacing his entire body.

He feels weightless, overwhelmed. He feels owned, and finds he doesn’t mind one bit.

You are pressed against him, and your moans and whines are gentle praise that breezes by his ear and makes him tremble. He tries telling you, hopes he does in a way that isn’t as broken and undone as it sounds to his own ears, of how much he wants you, of how beautiful you are, of how he loves everything you are doing.

Reaching between you, he lets his fingers trace a familiar dance as they draw more pleasure from you, and you begin to tighten almost painfully around him.

Gentle hands turn into talons that desperately claw at his back and Ivar finds himself losing a bit of his mind with each scratch and each sting of pain that you draw on his back.

Breathing becomes harder and harder, now that you are coming undone around him, because of him, clinging to him and moaning out praise and need. He feels it building in his spine, depriving his lungs of even breaths, stealing the steadiness of his hands as he grips at you tighter, guiding your motions with growing desperation.

With a sharp cry that leaves your lips, the maddening movement of your hips stutters out of rhythm, and your thighs clench tight around Ivar.

His eyes want to fall shut but he refuses to miss a moment of this, and opens them to watch you, head tilted back and lost in your pleasure, still moving above him. More than ever, he thinks he sees a goddess in human form.

“I-Ivar…” You call, repeated pleas of his name that make his heart stutter

He cannot say anything, he cannot find the words to articulate what you are making him feel, and so he brings your lips to his. His mouth urges yours open, biting down on your lip and dipping his tongue without hesitation, trying to convey without words how he feels so tethered and yet at the edge of an abyss.

But he cannot find it in him to make you move faster above him. If anything, he uses his grip on you to urge you to slow down.

He feels his release is close, and while everything about him is screaming urgency and need, he keeps the motions painstakingly complete, wanting to feel everything about this moment.

Your eyes meet his and he is tethered there, kept anchored to this world by your gaze alone, as you move above him, thorough motions that make the pressure build more and more.

His breaths are ragged, and he cannot focus on anything at all, he cannot fight it anymore.

Ivar succumbs to his release with a sharp cry, a stutter of your name that becomes drawled moans that he breathes against your throat, burying himself as deep inside you as he can as he spills himself.

Your arms are tight around him, and he finds his breaths are in tandem with the trail of your hand up and down his back.

“I love you.” He tells you, words not enough but somehow all-encompassing. You both ignore the way his breath hitches, the way his voice is thick with emotion.

“And I love you.” You promise quietly, lowering your face to press a kiss against the sweaty skin of his shoulder.

Ivar buries his nose in your hair, breathes in the smell of lavender and something else, remaining in that quiet afterglow with only your breaths and his own permeating the silence.

It felt strange, to be held like this, to be held as he gave you everything he had to give. It made his heart feel raw and exposed, it made the familiar prickle of tension, of the instinct to push back against the weakness that you drew from him; but the feeling of peace, the safety of having fallen and having had you there to catch him -or to fall with him-, the warmth that surrounds him and lulls him into closing his eyes, it trumps any fear.

____ ____ ____

I hope this was okay, thank you for reading!

Taglist: @youbloodymadgenius @heavenly1927 @toe-vind-ek-jou @xbellaxcarolinax @pieces-by-me @angelofthorr @samsationalwilson @peachyboneless @1950schick @punkrocknpearls @ietss @itsmysticalmystery @revolution-starter @the-a-word-2214 @fae-sedai @crazybunnyladysworld @funmadnessandbadassvikings @stupiddarkkside@aprilivar @msrawog

#ivar the boneless x reader #ivar x reader #ivar the boneless imagine #ivar the boneless #ivar #νοσταλγία masterlist

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alicanta77 · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter 3: Skewered Reality

Pairing: y/n x Jeno

Themes: mutant au, angst, fluff

Warnings: fighting, violence, death, character death, blood, descriptions of injury, swearing

Words: 10k

tag list: @hiqhkey @soondaengie @lebrookestore

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Finale

——————————————————————————

You hadn’t slept. You had no idea how long you had been travelling for, but you guessed it was about an hour, and your eyes had never left the single spot on the ground that they were focused on. If you let your eyes wander, then you were afraid your thoughts would wander too. And if your thoughts began to wander you knew exactly where they would take you.

Back to the destroyed city. Back to Hyuck and Chenle. Back to their deaths.

You couldn’t see that again.

The truck suddenly lurched to the side in a stop, throwing you into the wall next to you. The six of you immediately jumped up, your instincts kicking in as you prepared for a fight. There were two bangs on the outside of the door that kept you inside the truck and it swung open. Your arms flew up to protect you, ready to stop anything that may be coming for you, until you were greeted with Jimin’s confused face.

‘Sorry... It was a bit of a shaky stop, but we’re here.’ He extended a hand to the closest person to him, which just happened to be you. ‘Let’s get you kids into the safe haven.’

Relief flooded your system at the sight of your ally and you felt all the previous tension in the truck dissolve. You reached out and accepted his outstretched hand. He squeezed it lightly for comfort and you sent him a thankful smile as you climbed out of the truck. Your feet hit the ground gently and you looked up to observe your surroundings.

What you saw took your breath away.

In front of you lay a huge building. While it looked to be only around two floors tall, it was long, and you could see a few smaller buildings to the back left of it.

You heard small gasps escape the other boys as they saw what you were staring at. None of you could believe it, this place was so much more any of you had ever expected. It had obviously been damaged by the radiation, as there were small piles of rubble to your side, showing where smaller buildings had collapsed, and many of the windows were blown out, but it was still mesmerising.

‘It used to be something to marvel at. It’s slightly run down, but it still works perfectly.’ Jimin informed you, gesturing forwards for you to head inside.

You approached the door, two guards opening it for you and immediately attempting to usher you all inside. You felt a hand on your lower back, guiding you forwards and, despite your nerves, you entered the building.

---

Jimin led the group of you, walking in front of you all as he brought you into the main room. It seemed to be some sort of communal room as there were groups of people standing around chatting, and even a pool table in the corner. Your steps almost faltered, you were so taken aback.

You could tell from the gasps and whispers that came from the rest of the group that they were all feeling a similar way to you. Never in any of your wildest dreams, did you think you would ever make it to a place like this.

Jimin turned around, chuckling as he took in your awed expression.

‘It’s not much, but it's better than nothing. And I’m sure better than being locked up like animals in that facility too.’

He held both his arms out to the side, as everybody else began to gather around you.

‘Welcome to the Orb.’

With that, everybody burst into applause, making you jump slightly. They came forwards, clapping you on the shoulder and congratulating you for escaping. You couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped your lips, hearing the happy sounds coming from your friends as well, as you all enjoyed the unfamiliar feeling of being looked after and protected. The unfamiliar feeling of being someplace safe.

‘Excuse us for being excited to see you, we’ve been trying to get you out of that godforsaken place for longer than we remember!’ A woman to your right said as she rubbed your shoulder gently. You smiled up at her, comforted by her words and touch.

Jimin laughed, stepping back into your line of sight.

‘Everybody here has dedicated their lives to protecting you and breaking you out. And we will all continue to do this for as long as we can. But, the battle isn’t over. The facility is still out there, with details and research on you, and the only way to fully end that is to shut it down. So, that’s what we’re going to do!’

Cheers rose up again from the crowd at his words, and it was clear that every person here wanted the exact same thing as you, to end this nightmare. And they would be willing to do anything to help you do it.

---

After a welcome that left the six of you overwhelmed and a little emotional, Jimin had proceeded to give you a tour. He’d shown you the main office where he works, the dining hall, the kitchen, the multiple communal spaces and your rooms. Each of you had your own room, with a large bed, and various books and games lying around in it. You walked out after inspecting your room and just as you approached the group, you heard Jeno ask a question.

‘Is there a place where we can use our powers? Safely?’

Jimin nodded and began to walk, the rest of you getting used to following him. You recognised various doors and hallways as you passed, already trying to memorise what you could of the complicated layout.

‘One important thing to know about this whole place, is that we have an open door policy. That means you are free to walk into any room and ask any question you want. Nothing is off limits for you here, and we want you to feel as at home as you can.’

‘Any room?’ Renjun questioned, all of you unable to believe the freedom you were given.

‘Any room at all!’

It was only then that you realised Jimin was leading you all out of the facility and taking you outside. You subconsciously moved closer to Jeno, his hand reaching out for yours and squeezing it comfortingly. You were led around to the back of the facility where there was a small building. Jimin brought you inside and you were faced with 8 doors.

‘Each door leads to a room personally tailored to your needs. We’ve spent years creating this space for you.’ Jimin explained and you all drifted towards your own doors.

Each door had a different word on the front of it, describing the ability it was designed for. You passed what you knew was Jeno’s room, reading the engraved “Atmokinesis” and came to yours. You stood in front of the white door, staring at the word “Telekinesis” that glared back at you. This power managed to somehow be everything you had, whilst also being the reason that you had nothing.

You turned your head to your right, noticing how none of you were standing by that door and your breath caught in your throat when you read the inscription.

“Precognition”

That was meant to be Hyuck’s room...

You looked back towards the rest of the group, their eyes split between Hyuck’s door and the door next to Renjun that was labelled “Shapeshifting”. You felt tears begin to prick your eyes at the two who had died so young and in such brutal ways.

‘We had prepared for all eight of you.’ Jimin’s sad voice came from behind you. ‘We really hoped we’d be able to save you all.... and... I’m so sorry we couldn’t.’

You squeezed your eyes shut, a few tears escaping and you quickly wiped them away before turning around. You couldn’t be here right now, the memories of your friends were too painful for any of you to face.

---

You were all sitting in Mark’s room, a heavy silence over the six of you that were left. Jimin had brought you back to the main building, telling you that lunch wouldn’t be too long and that he'd asked everyone to give you space for the time being.

‘I’m supposed to be a healer.’ Mark spoke suddenly. You turned to look at him and it was only then that you noticed the tears silently falling down his face. His eyes never lifted from his hands but he kept speaking as the rest of you listened. ‘I’m the oldest, I’m the only one with two abilities, I’m the only one with a healing ability and so far all I’ve done is watch as two of our group have been murdered.’

You flinched at his words, the reality of them hitting you like a truck. You shook your head at the older boy.

‘Mark you can’t say that. It’s not your fault, none of this is. I could have pulled Hyuck and Chenle down behind a wall to protect them. All of us could have done something, but none of us did, and now... they’re dead. God, I wish this wasn’t real. I wish that I could wake up from this as if it was some kind of nightmare or simulation or illusion. Maybe it would have been best if we’d never found out about the lab...’

Your voice dropped to a mumble at your final sentence, but the boys still heard it, all of them immediately disagreeing with you.

‘Y/n, you don’t mean that.’ Jeno said his eyes wide with concern.

‘Come on! It’s not like we aren’t all thinking about it!’ You pointed out. ‘If we’d never found out about the truth, we would never have tried to escape.’

'But we did escape?’ Renjun brought up, as if trying to say that that made everything worth it.

‘Did we? Did we really? Think about it. Because I don’t think we did. I don’t think we’ve escaped anything at all. They’re still coming for us. And we know first hand what they can, and are willing to do. So far, all trying to escape has done, is kill Doyoung, Ten, Hyuck and Chenle. Four people. Four deaths and it hasn’t even been a week. And it’s not going to end at those four either. People are going to keep dying until the lab gets what they want. And what they want, is us. And let’s face it, they don’t have any more use for us, so they probably don’t care if they get us dead or alive. In fact, I’m willing to bet they’re more keen on us being dead because that way we can’t cause them anymore trouble. We are putting everyone here at risk. How do we think we’re going to survive this by ourselves?’ Your small speech rendered everyone speechless. As much as they wanted to, none of them could tell you that you were wrong.

‘Because you're not by yourselves.’ Jimin’s voice cut through the atmosphere. ‘I came to tell you that lunch was ready, and I heard what you said y/n.’ He walked further into the room, looking at all of you. ‘I know you’ve lost people, but we have too. You don’t know how many times we’ve tried to get you out of that place and how many lives it cost us. But we would do it over and over again, because it is worth it to be able to give you a chance at a life outside of that torture. Every soldier here knows the risk that they’re taking, and they are all happy to take it. We know that the lab is coming to kill you, but we are here to protect you. And we will do that, gladly, for as long as we need to.’

Jimin was looking straight at you when he said that, wanting you to know that you weren’t alone. And maybe that was what scared you. Because for the first time in your life, you had an army of people behind you, people willing to die for you. But you didn’t want anyone else to die, you just wanted to live.

---

The rest of the day passed by pretty silently. Barely a word was said over lunch, all of you finding your thoughts enough company. In the afternoon you and Jeno took the time to meet some of the people at the facility, to find out who you were working with.

The worst part was, everybody seemed nice. They all cared about you, wanted you to know they were here for you, and that they would fight for you. You asked one woman why everyone was so willing when they barely knew you and her answer was still echoing around in your head hours later.

‘Don’t take offence to this, but for me, it’s almost more about fighting against what happened to you. I don’t know if you know but three hundred thousand children were killed in this quest to create the eight of you. And I lost my younger brother. In fact, most people here, lost someone to the radiation that made you. So as much as we are fighting for you, we are also fighting for those that we, and so many others have lost. Fighting against the people who would do this again if it gave them the power they crave.’

You studied the marks on your ceiling, counting how many different spots and dents there were from the years this building had been used. Jimin had told you all to get an early night, and that you would spend the next few days getting used to the routine, learning the layout and meeting everyone. He didn’t want to rush you into anything while you were still mourning.

You lay on your left side in your bed, staring at the wall next to you and feeling more alone than you were expecting to. You’d always rolled over and seen Jeno there, in fact, you couldn’t remember a night where you hadn’t gone to sleep with him next to you. You rolled onto your right side, and found yourself staring at the door. When you were in the lab, this would have been the grey walls of your cell. You wondered if anyone else was awake and thinking like you were.

Your mind kept running, the relief of being here gradually turning into guilt as you thought of Chenle and Hyuck. You bit your lip, trying to stop the tears that were brimming your eyes. You eventually threw back your duvet, deciding that you couldn’t be alone tonight.

You left your room, softly padding down the hall until you reached the door you were looking for. You gently opened it, stepping in and looking at the figure who stared back at you.

Neither you nor Jeno said anything, the tears in your eyes and small ball he was curled up into saying enough. You wasted no time in silently moving towards his bed, pulling back his covers and climbing into his open arms. He pulled you into his chest as you buried your head into his neck, the tears finally escaping.

He lowered his head to yours, staying there for a few seconds, as if debating what he should do, before he placed a feather light kiss on your head. You couldn’t see his eyes, but you could tell from the shakes of his chest that he was crying too.

The eight of you had grown up together. For years, all you had ever known was the lab, and all you had ever had by your side were the seven boys. And now two of them were dead. You had never felt this kind of heartache before, and you weren’t sure if it would ever go away.

It took you and Jeno a while to fall asleep, eventually being exhausted from the day and your heavy emotions.

---

You rolled your head from side to side, trying to stay conscious and fight the drugs that were being injected into your system.

‘No...’ You moaned out, your voice a lot quieter and less powerful than you had planned.

A doctor you didn’t recognise approached you holding another syringe. You tried to move away from him, but the restraints holding you down on the operating table prevented you from moving.

Your eyes wandered to the door, where you could see the rest of the boys watching, three guards holding Jeno to stop him from running to you. He was trying to push past them, clawing at the eye symbol on their arm. The boys all called out, trying to move forwards, pleading with the doctors to stop, to let you go. But they were ignored, the guards bringing out tasers threateningly and shouting at them to stand back.

Jeno pushed forwards again, bending over and letting out a strangled shout when the guard tased him in his stomach. You tried to reach out for him, but in your weakened state you could only stretch out a few fingers.

‘Remember y/n...’ The doctor said, pushing the needle into your neck as you winced in pain. ‘The eye sees all.’

You felt the empty syringe being withdrawn and couldn’t fight to keep your eyes open any longer, instead giving up, Jeno’s screams for you fading into the background as the darkness enveloped you.

---

You awoke with a start, a scream slipping out of your mouth as you sat bolt upright. Your sudden reaction quickly woke Jeno who was lying next to you. You had been here for a few days now, and still every night you and Jeno stayed in the same room, not quite ready to leave each other yet.

Jeno was the first out of all of you to get the nightmares. He awoke one night screaming so loudly all of the boys came running. They found Jeno shaking in your lap mumbling incoherently about the lab. The next night Jisung, Renjun and you all woke up. The night after that Mark and Jaemin had them. Tonight, it seemed to be your turn again.

You felt Jeno’s hand come up to your shoulder, rubbing it gently as he pulled you in for a hug. You heard another scream come from down the hall somewhere, one that you recognised as Renjun’s and it didn’t take long before the rest of the boys were entering your room. You had all come to a routine of going into the room of whoever had woken up and staying there for most of, if not the rest of the night. Sadly, you always found yourself able to tell who it was that was screaming, the years you spent listening to them in the lab had engraved the sounds of your friend’s pain in your memory.

The other four boys all climbed into your bed, forming a small pile of comfort as they asked about what happened in yours.

‘It was different this time...’ You said quietly.

‘How?’ Mark inquired, tilting his head at you.

‘I don’t know, but last time felt like a flashback. As in, I remembered it happening in real life, but this time, I don’t remember it...’ You admitted. You recited your dream for the boys in as much detail as you could, especially making sure to mention the doctor you didn’t remember. ‘If it’s a real memory, I just don’t know why I’m suddenly remembering it now.’

‘Because we’re not in the lab anymore.’ Renjun spoke up suddenly. He looked around at the rest of you expectantly until Jisung asked what he meant. ‘In the lab, they gave us that serum every morning right? What if there was something in that that reinforced the memory block or something? That’s why we can only remember this now, because we’re not taking the serum anymore.’

You all shrugged, agreeing that was likely your best guess. As insane as it sounded, you wouldn’t put anything past the lab anymore. You could only wonder what other memories would come back to you over the next few days.

---

You stood in your practice room for the first time, staring at the space in front of you. There were narrow beams hanging from the ceiling, boxes of books and other small objects and other beams and platforms that got gradually narrower and less steady. However, even with all the different areas to practice different things, today you just wanted to start small by lifting and moving objects around.

You focused on the box in the corner, gently opening it and watching as the books flew out. You lifted your arms, bringing the books around you as they began to move in circles.

‘Not bad.’ Jimin’s voice made you jump, the books suddenly falling to the floor.

‘You know, you have a habit of creeping up on people.’ You said to him as Jimin laughed slightly.

‘I’ve been told I do that a lot, I’m sorry. It’s probably not what you want, to have someone appearing randomly, so I’ll try to knock more or let you know I’m here if you want?’

‘Thank you.’ You nodded, chuckling slightly. Jimin studied the books on the floor and then looked out at all the space and other opportunities you have to practice your abilities.

‘Starting small?’ He questioned, gesturing to the books on the floor. Your mouth opened to reply but you shut it again, not sure how to explain what you were feeling. ‘Or are you scared to try something bigger?’ Your eyes shot up to him and you swallowed as Jimin nodded sympathetically at you. He stepped forward reaching out an arm for your shoulders, stopping just before he touched you to ask, ‘May I?’

You nodded and he wrapped an arm around your shoulders, guiding you to the comfortable bench by the door. He sat you down, sitting next to you and he took his arm away, looking out at your practice room.

‘I understand, you know? I mean, obviously I will never fully understand how you feel, but I do understand that you’re feeling it. You’ve been told you were monsters, abominations, and having to fight and hurt people to escape the lab isn’t going to have helped your view of yourself. But I want to make sure that you know we don’t see you that way. If we thought you were monsters we wouldn’t have fought so hard to free you. We think you’re amazing, you’re the solution, you are the proof that we can fight for the good in the world again. I’m not asking you to climb up on those beams yet, but I think I do have something that may help you.’ Jimin reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright green pill.

‘Oh that looks healthy.’ You said sarcastically as he placed it in your hand. ‘Wait, do you want me to take it?’

‘Only if you want to.’ Jimin reassured you. ‘It’s radiation.’

‘You found a way to put radiation into a pill? Is that even possible?’ You turned it over in your fingers, studying the small object.

‘Yes, it took our scientists years, and we had Ten sending us information from the lab. He had to break into the doctor’s office to find their files. We learnt that, since the radiation is what gave you your powers, consuming radiation in some form, can enhance them.’

You stared at Jimin incredulously. ‘So you know I’m afraid to use my powers and you give me something that will make me more powerful?’

‘No, I’m giving you the chance to see that you are so much more than what they made you for.’ Jimin closed your hand around the pill. ‘Do with it what you will, and if you take it right now, or choose to never take it at all, it’s still okay. It’s completely up to you.’

With that Jimin stood, heading back towards the door. He paused for a second to turn back to you and nod before leaving. You opened your hand and stared at the green pill laying on your palm. A thousand thoughts ran through your mind.

How long would the pill last? Were the effects permanent? How much would it increase your abilities?

You were starting to wish that Jimin had stayed so that you could ask him these questions.

You lifted the pill up to the light, staring it down before finally making a decision. You placed it in your mouth, took a quick sip of water and swallowed. You took a deep breath, sinking down into the chair as you waited to feel something. You still weren’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but you decided to take a risk.

After a few minutes you still weren’t feeling anything and you started to wonder if the pill had no effect. Your eyes drifted back to the books that still lay discarded on the floor. You stood, walking back into the middle of them and raised your hands.The books began to gently lift, you closed your eyes and breathed out, focusing your mind before bringing your arms in small circles. The books swirled around you, never hitting each other and instead dancing around them.

You opened your eyes, seeing what you were doing and smiled gently. You raised your hands even more and the books shot towards the ceiling, drawing patterns in the air. You brought your hands together, pulling all the books into a circle in the middle, before suddenly jerking them to the sides, hearing that satisfying sound of paper ripping as the books tore to shreds.

The books turned into a mess of whole pages, each one still in perfect condition, just now separate from the book it used to belong to. They began to come back towards you, swirling around and gaining speed as if it were a whirlpool. You felt your clothes and hair begin to move upwards with the wind that was created and you closed your eyes, relishing in the feeling of freedom. You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your chest.

And then suddenly, you stopped it, keeping the pages exactly where they were, but static, enclosing you in a world of words. You left them there and just took a second to breathe. Even after doing that, you weren’t out of breath, and weren't tired in the slightest. You wanted more, wanted to do more, feel more. And you would, but not yet.

You gently lowered the pages to the ground, them forming a perfect circle around you. You stepped out of them, thinking for a second before focusing your mind once more and imagining them all going back to the book they belonged to. Obviously you couldn’t fix the damage, but it was the best you could do. The pages floated back, falling into the empty covers in the correct order, and then the partially repaired books drifted back towards the box.

You walked towards the door, turning back to look at the practice room behind you and as much as you tried to fight it, you couldn’t stop the small smile that stretched across your face. Maybe there was a good use for your powers.

You wandered out of your room, closing the door behind you before facing the corridor. Jimin was stood against a wall waiting for you and he smiled once you left.

‘You and Jaemin are the final ones, I was just waiting for you both to come out.’

At that moment Jaemin’s door opened and he emerged. He looked up, noticing you standing there, and began to walk towards you.

‘Lunch is almost over, you guys may want to hurry.’ Jimin informed you and you both nodded before heading off.

---

By the time you had arrived at the dining hall, lunch was over, but one of the guys who worked in the kitchen offered to make you a sandwich each. The two of you were waiting outside for them to be finished and you were studying Jaemin silently.

On the way over you had tried to make conversation with him, but had gotten only short answers in response. This wasn’t like Jaemin to be this quiet and brush you off, and you were starting to get worried.

‘Jaemin?’ You asked and he looked up at you. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I’ve just had a couple of things on my mind.’

Normally you would let it go, but this time you pressed him a bit more.

‘Like what?’

Jaemin looked up at you again, this time slower. He bit his lip, clearing debating whether he should tell you or not.

‘There’s just some recent things that have happened that’s got me questioning some things.’ He explained vaguely, so you pushed him a bit more.

‘What kind of things are you questioning?’

‘Here.’ Jaemin’s answer wasn’t what shocked you. What shocked you was the certainty behind his words. Whatever doubts he had about this place, he must have had them for a while to have that confidence in them. You nodded at him, encouraging him to keep going. He opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly the cook arrived, holding out two sandwiches and handing them to you with a friendly smile.

You smiled back, not failing to notice how Jaemin’s seemed a lot more forced than normal.

‘We can’t talk here, come on.’ With that, Jaemin nodded down the hall and led you back towards your rooms.

He walked fast, you jogging slightly to keep up with him, yet his pace never faltered. He led you into your room, checked to make sure the corridor was empty before firmly shutting the door behind him. He whirled around to face you and you prepared to ask him what the hell was going on, but he beat you to it.

‘How did they know Ten was dead?’ He asked you desperately and you stuttered, trying to take in what he was saying.

‘What- What do you mean?’

‘When we first met Jimin, he told us about Ten right?’ Jaemin asked, and you nodded remembering the moment clearly. ‘Exactly, and that was one of the main things that made us trust him. But then I started thinking, how could he possibly know he was dead? He had only been dead for a day by that point.’

‘Jaemin, they were probably expecting to hear from him and figured it out when he didn’t call.’ You tried to calm him down but Jaemin shook his head frantically.

‘No, see, I thought of that. But, remember when Ten and Doyoung were telling us about the initial escape plan, Jisung asked if we could contact the group and Ten said no. He said they know we’re on our way and what to look for, so it would be safer to limit conversations since they could be traced. The only way they could have found out that Ten was dead would be if they had contact with the lab. And let’s say they did, but it was with someone they put there. That’s safe right?’ You nodded again, and Jaemin continued, pulling at his hair slightly as he spoke. ‘But that doesn’t make sense because the only people on our side were Doyoung and Ten and they’re both dead. If someone else was on our side why wouldn’t Ten tell us about them? That means this place has had contact with the lab, and if they have, we aren’t safe here. Furthermore, Ten told us we would be moved on and there hasn’t been any mention of that. What if this is just a holding place for us to stay until the lab comes and gets us again?’

‘Ok, Jaemin, I need you to breathe right now.’ You approached him, placing your hands on his shoulders to try and calm your friend down. Jaemin had been talking fast, trying to say everything on his mind and now he was out of breath. ‘Look, yes, some of your points have made sense but I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for it. Plus, if this place was part of the lab, why wouldn’t they have come to get us already? We’ve been here for days, why wait that long when they could just arrive in the middle of the night and get us when sleeping?’ You kept your voice soft, feeling Jaemin gradually calm down. ‘Let’s not be hasty alright, let’s stay calm, but also, we’ll keep one eye open for anything strange, just in case.’

Jaemin took a deep breath, finally relaxing. ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll be fine, I’m just finding it hard to feel safe anywhere and I... god we could use Hyuck right now.’

A sad silence fell over the two of you as you remembered the sunshine boy. Your eyes drifted, finally landing on a pack of playing cards lying on a shelf. You walked towards them, picked them up and waved them at Jaemin.

‘Come one, let’s distract ourselves.’ You proposed, Jaemin smiling at you as you began to deal the cards out between the two of you.

When you were back at the lab, you all used to have a small bookcase in your rooms, each of which holding a few books and a deck of cards to keep you entertained. Obviously, after a few years of reading the same books day after day they get a bit boring, so the cards were your main source of entertainment.

However, it didn’t take long for you to burn through all the games you knew, and, after a short while you found yourselves getting bored. You threw down your cards, letting out a sigh as you lost to Jaemin once again. He chuckled at your irritation as he finished the last bite of his sandwich.

‘There are some perks to having a mind reading power.’ He gloated, laughing again at your expression of disbelief.

‘You cheat!’ You gasped, groaning out in annoyance as Jaemin searched for something to do.

He rolled onto his stomach, looking under your bed and let out a small shout of excitement when he found something. He brought his arm out, his hand wrapped around what looked like another deck of cards.

‘Tarot cards apparently.’ Jaemin mumbled, flipping the pack over to look for instructions. ‘I have no idea how to do this, do you?’

‘Umm, unfortunately not... but we could just spread them out and pick one or something?’ You suggested, shrugging your shoulders. Jaemin nodded, as he unpacked the cards and spread them on the ground.

You looked at the line of cards in front of you, studying the backs of them and tracing your fingers over them. You eventually came to settle on one, pulling it from the pack and holding it to your chest so that you didn’t see what it was. Jaemin did the same, grinning at you and telling you to turn yours around first.

‘Ohhhh, “The Lovers”.’ Jaemin whistled at you, raising his eyebrows teasingly. You turned the card over studying the design, unable to stop the small smile on your face. ‘Thinking of anyone in particular y/n?’

Your eyes shot towards the boy in front of you who was clearly enjoying this.

‘No.’ You mumbled out, your face heating up as you both knew that wasn’t true.

‘Alright I’ll stop the teasing for now. What’s mine?’

Jaemin flipped his card over and your face fell, your brow furrowing as disbelief came over you. You blinked a couple of times, reading and rereading the card he held to make sure that you had gotten it right.

‘Y/n?’ Jaemin prompted, obviously confused as to what was taking you so long.

You swallowed, the archaically styled letters glaring back at you.

‘Death.’

---

You let out a scream of frustration as the book you were holding in mid air not only tore apart, but literally burst into pieces. You could not have been more thankful for the radiation as the extra power was helping you release some pent up anger.

You stared at the carnage on the floor, shreds of paper surrounded you, and you couldn’t help but feel guilty at destroying so many books. However, this guilt just fuelled even more irritation and you grabbed the closest thing you could see, the giant box which the books came in, and obliterated it.

You leant over, resting your hands on your knees as you caught your breath. You were experimenting with new things every day, but it was tiring you out. However, you couldn’t help but think that Jimin had been right, the more you experiment, the less afraid you become of your powers.

You heard another door buzz, signalling that someone else had finished and decided to call it a day, jogging to your door to catch whoever it was who was leaving. You slipped out of your room, finding the corridor empty. You shrugged, and instead headed back up to your room for a shower.

---

You stepped out of the bathroom, using your towel to dry your hair as best you could and almost jumped out of your skin when you saw someone in your room.

‘Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.’ Jeno chuckled at your expression as you threw your towel at him.

‘It’s not really your fault, I guess I’ve been a little on edge today.’ You said, approaching him.

‘Are you okay?’ He asked, his eyebrows furrowing in worry.

‘Yeah, yeah I’m fine.’ You reassure him. ‘Just habit I guess.’

Jeno nodded, understanding the feeling perfectly. He closed the distance between the two of you, comfortingly wrapping his arms around your shoulders.

‘I know.’ He whispered into your hair. ‘It’s hard to settle down, but y/n we’re going to be okay. This place... it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever felt safe. And I don’t want you to be afraid of it. Nothing can reach us in here, I promise.’

‘Okay.’ You whispered back, choosing not to tell him about what you and Jaemin discussed. In fact, the whole conversation slipped from your mind the second Jeno hugged you. All you could focus on was his breathing and the way that his arms held you tightly, keeping you sheltered from any evil in this world.

He pulled away slightly, leaning back so that he could look into your eyes, his eyes somehow holding the entire universe in them.

‘No matter what happens, I’ll keep you safe.’ He promised and you found it impossible to take your eyes off him as you replied.

‘I know.’

His hands lightly traced their way down your body, moving from your shoulders to your waist and gently grabbing you there. Yours travelled up his chest, eventually winding around his neck as you both stood in each other’s embrace.

You thought you’d be nervous. You thought that ever being in this position with Jeno would make you embarrassed but you didn’t feel that way. Instead it just felt right, like somehow, this was exactly where you were supposed to be.

Jeno was the first to break eye contact, this gaze slipping from your eyes and onto your lips before moving back up again. You copied his movements, glancing down at his lips before looking back up at him through your eyelashes.

He leaned down gently, stopping quickly to let you push him away, but you nodded, instead moving up to meet him. Jeno saw you move towards him and reacted, closing the gap between the two of you and gently pressing his lips to yours.

He pulled away too soon, leaving you wanting more as he quietly asked:

‘Was that okay?’

Instead of saying yes, you leaned back into him, kissing him again. His arms wrapped around your waist as he pulled you closer, kissing you back with more passion.

You pressed your body into his, as if you were trying to eliminate any space between the two of you, as you got lost in him. You eventually had to pull away, the need to breathe breaking you out of the daze you were in.

You and Jeno both kept your eyes closed, and he gently rested his forehead on yours as you both caught your breath. You eventually forced your eyes open, blinking a couple of times and found Jeno already staring at you, taking in every detail on your face.

‘You’re so beautiful.’ He breathed, bringing his hand up to your face to stroke your cheek.

You smiled up at him, leaning in for another soft kiss, sighing as your lips met.

If you’d thought that hugging Jeno felt right, then kissing him felt as though it had been designed by the heavens.

Jeno wrapped his arms back around your waist, lifting you just enough to be able to fall on the bed behind you. You let out a laugh as your back hit the mattress. Jeno’s arms came around your body, securely keeping you close to him as you both got comfortable.

Jeno was lying on his back, with you half on top of him as his arms wrapped around your shoulders and waist, and you placed your head in his neck. He tilted his head towards you, sighing into your hair before kissing you on the forehead.

You had no idea how long it took you to fall asleep, time having no importance to you while you were curled up on Jeno’s chest. You weren’t sure if it was the heat radiating off his body, the sound of his heart beat and rhythm of his soft breaths, or the way his hand was stroking your hair, but you soon drifted off. Jeno fell asleep after you, whispering a confession that you were just awake enough to hear, but too far gone to reply or properly register what he said.

‘I think I love you.’

---

You woke up to a constant banging on your door, pulling you harshly out of the comfortable hold that sleep had on you. You lifted your head up, too drowsy to open your eyes fully as you croaked towards the door, asking who it was.

Jisung’s voice echoed through your room, saying that you slept through the morning and to come and get lunch. Your eyes sprung open at that, confused as to how you had slept through the whole morning, and you tried to sit up, failing when the two arms that were wrapped around you refused to let you go.

Jeno let out a small groan, pulling you back into his chest and curling around you more.

‘Where are you going?’ He mumbled as you chuckled at his behaviour.

‘Turns out we slept through the whole morning, we need to get lunch and then head off to train.’ You answered, finding it incredibly difficult to tear yourself away from the boy next to you. ‘God, I can’t believe it... waking up at midday...’

‘And without that goddamn alarm.’ Jeno muttered, his voice slightly muffled but the annoyance was clear in his words. ‘I swear to god, I wanted to tear that thing off the wall and break it into pieces every time it woke us up in the morning.’

You laughed at that, memories of mornings in the lab clouding your mind. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but also felt like just yesterday at the same time. You supposed the latter was more accurate.

Eventually Jeno let go of you, and the two of you quickly got up and dressed, before hurrying down to the dining room for lunch. You grabbed your meals before heading to the table where the other four boys sat, already talking about their days.

Jisung was the one speaking when you both arrived.

‘I swear, I never thought that I would ever be able to lift and throw the things I am now with this radiation.’ He exclaimed excitedly and Renjun nodded in agreement.

‘I’m holding illusions that are so much more lifelike and for much longer times. The other day, I added moving beings into it, layering other aspects to make it more realistic.’

‘That’s insane Renjun!’ Jeno breathed as Renjun nodded rapidly at his friend. Mark soon joined in the conversation, speaking about how much his healing abilities had improved.

The four of them were quickly lost in their discussion, telling stories of their experiences in training, what they hoped to accomplish and how safe they felt here. While you were happy for them and excited for what you would experiment with today, you couldn’t help but remember the conversation you and Jaemin had had recently.

His doubts echoed around in your head, and one look at his uneasy face at the table told you everything you needed to know.

He wasn’t feeling safe.

---

You took a deep breath, calming your mind before you opened your eyes and stared at what was in front of you. You just had to do this once and then you were finished for the day.

You brought your hand up to your forehead, wiping away the small amount of sweat there, and planted your feet into the ground. You ignore how high up you were, instead focusing on the planks suspended from the ceiling that you were preparing to jump across.

You knew the radiation was on your side, and you took off. You began at a run, not wanting to stay on each beam for too long. You knew that they would swing and it would ruin your balance, so you planned on moving across them as quickly as possible.

You jumped off the edge, sailing easily towards the first beam, using your ability to keep it steady and you ran across. You reached the end, letting go of the beam and instead focusing your mind on your feet. You pushed yourself higher, clearing the second gap and landed softly, before running again.

You barely stopped moving, constantly leaping from one area to another, and keeping the beam steady until you jumped, when you gave yourself help and then focusing back on the beam to prepare for your landing.

You were approaching the final jump, the furthest one you would have to do. You narrowed your eyes, determination taking over and you picked up speed. You let go of the beam, jumping with all your might and pushed yourself up. The final platform sailed towards you and landed. You bent your knees, falling into a roll to redirect the leftover momentum.

You came to standing, staring back at what you had just accomplished and letting out a laugh. Pride flooded your system as you made your way down from the heights and out of your training room.

As you left, you saw Jaemin’s door open at the same time as yours. You almost ran towards him, ready to tell him about what you had done, but you never got the chance.

He immediately grabbed you by the wrist, pulling you away from the training rooms.

‘Jaemin? What’s wrong?’ You asked, but he didn’t reply.

Jaemin walked faster than he ever had before, only slowing down when you passed someone so he didn’t draw attention to the two of you. You almost stumbled multiple times, but still he dragged you straight into your room and slammed the door behind him.

You recognised his behaviour from the time he told you his fears about this place, so you knew what was coming.

‘I can’t read anyone’s mind.’ He spat, his expression a mixture of anger, confusion and fear.

‘What?’ You breathed. ‘How is that possible?’

‘I don’t know...’ Jaemin shook his head. ‘I’ve been trying to read their minds ever since that thought about Ten crossed my mind, and it’s not possible. But do you know the only other time I couldn’t read someone’s mind? Back in the lab. I never knew why I couldn’t read the guards minds, until one day one of them passed me with their helmet off and I heard everything. I think there’s something in their armour or helmet that disrupts the frequency and I can’t hear their thoughts.’

‘Ok... but Jaemin, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything about this place. The building is old and damaged, maybe something in it that disrupts the frequency.’ You offered. Even though what Jaemin was saying made you nervous, you didn’t want to freak out unless you needed to.

‘Ok, then answer me this: why can I still hear your thoughts? Why do I know about how you and Jeno have spent almost every night together since we arrived? Why do I know what you did in your training today?’ Jaemin challenged and you fell silent. ‘And let’s say it means nothing, just for the sake of it, what do you think these people have to hide? What can they not tell us? Aren’t you tired of constantly being kept in the dark? with this and Ten I don’t - I can’t-’ Jaemin paused for a second, taking a deep breath to calm himself. ‘Y/n, you know me. You know that I’m not someone who irrationally overthinks without reason. You know I would never be saying this if it wasn’t serious. And I’m telling you, something doesn’t feel right about this place.’

You breathed out, taking a step backwards and sitting down on your bed. Your legs felt as though they had turned to jelly. The same, however, could not be said for Jaemin who was pacing around your room, still listing things that were on his mind.

‘Also, there’s the similarities between our days here and at the lab. The training, the meals, the solidarity - it’s the same things, just in a bigger space so we don’t notice it.’ You furrowed your eyebrows at that, not entirely convinced by his point, but Jaemin noticed your expression and kept talking. ‘Think about it, have you ever been able to go into the dining room, or the training room when you weren’t told you could? And the training... it’s so similar to when we were at the lab. I did distance training today and I barely made it though, I kept having flashbacks to the lab. What did you do?’

‘Agility.’ You whispered, not wanting to admit to yourself that it was true, but deep down you knew it was.

This facility was just an extension of the lab.

Your body began to shake, the reality of the situation setting in and you thought back to your time here, and tried to find any moments that you should have questioned or thought twice about. Then it dawned on you.

‘The radiation...’ Jaemin eyes shot towards you, begging you to continue what you were saying. ‘There was something Jimin said to me the day he gave me the radiation pill. I thought nothing of it at the time but now- oh god. He said that Ten had to break into the doctor’s office to find the files, but why would Ten have to break in if Doyoung was there?’

‘Because Ten and Doyoung weren’t working for this place.’ Jaemin sighed as the mystery of how you ended up here began to fall into place.

‘Wait-’ You held up a hand. ‘But why would Ten tell us to come here then?’

For the first time since you had entered your room, Jaemin stopped moving, his feet coming to an abrupt stop underneath him. You both sat in silence for a few seconds, wondering if this had been the plan all along, if everything, you finding out about the lab, your escape, Doyoung’s death, Ten’s death, if it had all been some elaborate scheme. Then Jaemin’s jaw dropped and he whirled around to face you.

‘He never said here... Ten never specified where we were going, he just told us to go. He must have meant some place else, because this isn’t a safe haven at all. It’s just another place for us to train while they record some more data, this time with the effect of radiation.’

Your head was spinning, all these new revelations swimming around, making you dizzy.

‘The lab hasn’t come to bring us back...’

‘Because they didn’t need to. We never left.’ Jaemin finished your sentence.

A heavy silence fell over the two of you as your eyes were finally opened to the truth. Doyoung and Ten were on your side, they had done everything, given their lives so that the two of you could escape the lab. And you had unknowingly run straight back to it.

‘What can we do?’ Jaemin asked quietly and you looked up at him.

‘We have to tell the others. Whatever we do about this, we do it together.’ You stated and Jaemin nodded.

‘You’re right. So let’s go?’ You nodded at his question. It was not going to be an easy conversation but you both knew that you couldn’t keep the other boys in the dark.

You both stood and walked towards the door when it suddenly opened, and Jimin appeared. You both jumped out of your skin, staring at the man in front of you with the smile that he always wore staring you both down.

‘There you are Jaemin! Sorry I didn’t mean to make you jump, it looks like I’ve interrupted something, but we’ve got a busy day tomorrow. You’re going to head outside to practice your abilities without the restraints of those rooms, so you’re going to want to get a good night's sleep.’ You both nodded in response, neither of you trusting yourself to say a word, or to even move. ‘So, Jaemin, head back to your room.’

‘I-’ Jaemin swallowed. ‘I just need a few more minutes.’

‘No. Back to your room.’ Jimin said sharply, in a tone that reminded you painfully of the guards in the lab. It was only there for a second however, the tension soon melting off him and being replaced with that sickly sweet smile.

Jaemin turned to face you, a million questions in his eyes and you placed your hands on his shoulders.

‘Tomorrow then, together, we’ll do it in the morning. All of us.’ You told him, keeping it as vague as possible since Jimin was standing right there.

Jaemin nodded, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you in for a hug. You were confused but complied, understanding what he was doing when he began to whisper into your ear.

‘I need you to promise me something. No matter what happens, remember I love you. No matter where we go, or what happens to any of us. I love you. Thank you for being my friend.’

Jaemin pulled away from you and was quickly guided out of your room by Jimin. He looked over his shoulder at you one last time and you nodded at him, not knowing why he wanted you to promise that, but something about the final look in his eyes unnerved you.

You walked back towards your bed, falling onto it and imagining the conversation you were going to have to have the next day. You stare at the door, waiting for Jeno to arrive, but he never did.

You guessed he had been told by Jimin to stay in his own room and, since he still trusted him and this place, Jeno would have no reason to say no. You had no idea how you were going to break the news to the other boys. They felt safe here, and, even though you knew they weren’t, and you knew that taking away the only safe place they had ever known would break them.

It was starting to feel like it had all been for nothing. It turns out you were right when you said you had never escaped the lab, but you hadn’t known just how right you had been. But you had to escape, you had to tell the boys the truth. You owed it to them, you owed it to Doyoung and Ten and you owed it to Chenle and Hyuck.

Yet that final look in Jaemin’s eyes as he looked back at you over his shoulder haunted you. For some reason, you had a terrible feeling that finding out about this place wouldn’t be the end to your journey, but instead the beginning of the next part of it.

It took you hours, but eventually you fell into a very uneasy sleep.

---

You woke up to the sound of someone knocking on your door. Once you registered what that sound was, you stumbled out of bed and ran towards your door, yanking it open and expecting to see Jaemin on the other side.

Instead you were greeted by a member of the Orb who informed you of the day’s events.

‘We’re planning to leave just before lunch.’ He finished and you thanked him before closing the door again.

You wasted no time, getting dressed as quickly as you could and making your way down to Jaemin’s room. You knew you had to tell the other boys about it as soon as possible, they couldn’t go outside and show the lab the full extent of what they could do.

You knocked on Jaemin’s door, confused when you got no response. You turned the handle, opening it slightly and peering inside. However, he wasn’t there. You turned away from his room, trying to figure out where he would be. You checked the bathrooms, the kitchens, the dining room, the communal areas and even the other boys’ rooms, but there was still no sign of Jaemin.

You wandered the halls you had become increasingly familiar with, constantly turning your head to see if you could spot Jaemin anywhere. You were starting to get increasingly confused, unable to think of any room you hadn’t checked. You paused, leaning against a wall and resting your head back on it as you wracked your brain.

You were lost in thought, mentally mapping out the layout of the Orb in an attempt to find a room you may have missed when your eyes came into focus on a door. You remembered it from your initial tour, it was brushed off as nothing more than just a closet that’s rarely in use, but something in you was telling you to open it.

You stepped forwards, checking around you to make sure that you were alone, and your hand gripped the handle. You pushed down and rattled the door, letting out a small groan of frustration when it turned out to be locked. You took your hand off the knob, instead placing it over the keyhole, and gently twisting it to the left. You heard the lock open with a satisfying click and you pushed the door open and you looked inside.

You almost slammed the door shut again straight away. Your hand immediately shot up to cover your mouth and it took everything in you not to throw up at the sight in front of you. As horrific as the scene was, and as much as you wanted to look away, you couldn’t find a way to tear your eyes away from it.

The room was small, dimly lit by the individual lightbulb hanging overhead, and inside it lay a single chair. But it was what was on the chair that caused your violent reaction. Sat there, on the chair, was a dead body. The blood that fell from their neck covered their clothes and it was clear that they had been in this position when they were killed. Their hands were brought behind them, tied behind the chair to prevent them from moving and their feet were similarly bound to the chair legs. When your gaze wandered upwards, past the fatally deep slash in their neck that you could tell cost them their life, to the dull, empty eyes of the victim, you couldn’t help the guttural scream that tore from your throat as you started into his lifeless face.

It was Jaemin.

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amiramorozova · 3 years ago

Text

Dual Summoner x The Darkling pt. 17

Looking around we were alone still so he leaned down and kissed me as I kissed him back. I didn't want people to find out about us right away. While we were in our moment we heard someone suddenly walk up and clear their throat. Pulling away from each other we saw that it was Baghra. I knew the next few training sessions she wasn't going to go easy on me.

"I hope you had fun because you'll be working twice as hard until you make up your time." Baghra said, "and you will meet me out at night by the lake to train what we didn't for years."

"You don't have to be so hard on her, you know she's dedicated to her studies. Everyone deserves a break." Aleksander said, "She is my soldier, I get to tell her what to do."

The tension between the two of them was clear as day to me being they were both shadow summoners. I could see he was tense and I put my hand on his arm as he looked at me, the conversation we had was clear. Baghra insisted I come with her instead of staying there with him.

"I'll find you later." Aleksander said to me

"Of course." I said

Walking over to Baghra I saw her take a look at me, her eyes stopping at the necklace around my neck. She didn't directly say anything when we started walking together to her training area, I knew that there was a lot to do. The fold was on my mind and the options of making it a weapon or destroying it lingered with me. I knew if I sided with him on making it a weapon I could be branded a heretic like him. Once inside the area Baghra had me sit and sat across from me as she waited.

"Call the water." She said

I put my hands together following her orders as I had water come to my hands and it was a big ball in between my hands. I had done some training while I was there when I was with Nico. Just the thought of Nico and that fight made me falter and I lost it as I covered my eyes.

"You aren't focusing enough." Baghra said as she hit my arm.

"Stop it." I said, "I had a bad day yesterday."

"How could you have a bad day? You went out with the general. A week of freedom from this place." Baghra said

"I ran into an old friend, he's in the first army." I said as I removed my hand looking at her "He was pressing his opinions at me and I got angry. We had a fight."

"Is that why you have a darkling's symbol around your neck?" Baghra said "You are becoming like all the other Grisha girls."

I stood up knowing she knew how much I hated the idea of her comparing me to the other girls. I was holding strong on not being anyone's pet. Aleksander had promised I wouldn't be his pet but something more. I put my hands together and brought the water back as I had it the same size then I expanded it as she watched and nodded. Then I let it go and I put my hands together as I called forth the light. Her surprise at how strong it looked made me wonder what happened and I just held it.

"Were you training over there?" Baghra asked

"He told me I didn't have to but I did. When you literally see the fold in close distance it kinda fuels you to want to get better." I said

She had me show a few of my father's techniques which I still struggled with but I managed to form them. I was glad this Kefta was able to let me move and when we were done she had me sit. Thoughts were going through her head I could see as she got up and got something to drink bringing it over to me and I took it. We both sat quietly drinking as I waited for her to lash out or say something.

"I must confess something." Baghra said

"What is that?" I asked

"Your father made a deal with me." Baghra said

"I'm aware, you promised to keep his child safe if anything happened." I said

"Well that was the deal we made after the first deal." Bahra said

I looked at her curiously now because she'd never mentioned this before on what was going on. I started to think of what else they could have made a deal on besides everything that had happened. Still, I waited to see if her answer was going to be as I took another sip of my drink.

"When Aleksander was a boy, I traveled a lot when I came across your father for the first time. He was cold and trying to use so little of his power to maintain warmth. So I offered to train him but I wanted something in return." Baghra said

"What?" I asked

"I told him I would train him to control his power and hide them. In return, if he had a daughter, I wanted her to marry Aleksander to form a unity between the two families as I had a feeling she would be like him." Baghra said, "I knew Aleksander would be eternal so it did not matter how long he would have to wait for her to be in his life...this was before the fold was ever created and before his healer was killed. Now we are here and I have tried everything to keep you from Aleksander but you are a dual summoner. Grisha Born of two bloodlines who can use two kinds of the small science and it feeds you every time you use it."

I had taken another sip of my drink when Baghra had told this story about my father. It went down wrong and I had to cough a bit to clear my throat, not the first time someone has shocked me with information. Aleksander and Baghra were good with catching me off guard but I looked at her knowing that at first I considered she was lying.

"You arranged this but now you don't want me to be with him." I said

"I don't want him to use you Amira. He has had enough time to manipulate naive girls." Baghra said

"Well he isn't manipulating me. He knows I know the truth about him, all the names people called or call him." I said "I asked him about the fold this morning."

"Merzosts was a forbidden science, but he used it." Baghra said "I wanted a Grisha daughter-in-law who would not die so easily."

"stop interfering Baghra, you made this arrangement you cannot back out of it. Maybe I can do more than you're thinking. We can make Grisha safe and maybe the fold can help in some ways. I can't do it alone, I know that already." I said "Wait did you know my grandparents?"

Baghra seemed shocked at my words and I hadn't decided whether I wanted to destroy the fold or help expand it. "Yes Amira, I know your father's parents. They're alive and in hiding." Baghra said. Knowing she knew them surprised me and they were alive but where were they? I knew I needed to talk to Aleksander about what Baghra had done and the arrangement she'd made with my father. I left without saying a word after I set the cup down and walked back into the little palace. So much going through my mind at the moment and not enough time to process it all.

As I walked around I came across Marie and Nadia as I waved to them to get their attention. I noticed Marie was distracted by a heartrender and I watched as they were talking, getting a little closer just in case any help was needed I waited. I saw her accidentally light him on fire and I put my hands together and used water to help extinguish the fire as they both saw me.

"Amira, welcome back." Marie said, then I saw her eyes go to my necklace "Oh"

"Thank you, it seems you uh were about to hurt this heartrender." I said

"I am Sergei Beznekov, I was asking Marie out." Sergei said

"So you set him on fire by accident?" I asked Marie

"I panicked, no one has asked me out before." Marie said "But you clearly have been asked out."

I touched my necklace knowing that it was a symbol of protection but a symbol of claim on me too. I couldn't tell Marie that Baghra had arranged for us to be together, not until I could tell her everything.

"Yeah, sort of. Happened last night." I said

"Well take things slow, if you can." Marie said

"Of course." I said nodding

I needed space so I walked away from them and headed off to figure out what I was going to tell Aleksander. I knew that there was so much more than I could possibly do at this moment, but the fact remained that I had free will. If I chose to turn my back on him one day he would be hurt but at the same time I was falling for him.

Once he knows the truth will he try to insist we get married right away? I thought

I shook the thought from my mind quickly. Marriage was a big step and I was nowhere read to have that commitment. I needed time to think about all of what I knew and what I had been told. Most of all I knew I had another task at hand which would be finding my grandparents to meet them for the first time.

#shadow and bone #general kirigan #aleksander morovoza #darkling x reader #team darkling #darkling #the darkling #fanfic

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mystic-mutation-archive · 3 years ago

Note

2, 4, 14, 15, 17!!

@cursedfortune

Munday Asks!

2. Do you RP anywhere else, other than tumblr?

Yes I do! Discord is the other place you can get a roleplay going with me if either of us can't work with tumblr for whatever reason

4. What made you choose this muse?

I've stuck with Blackwood because he's basically my main character. He's transformed so much over the years that he is totally different from his starter concept, but I've kept changing him so much because I could never get the hang of what I had in my mind. I could never write a person that has a lot of experience, because I don't have a lot of experience myself, and at the same time make him feel human, make him seem like the kind of character that could become reality if your average person went through what he did.

14. What do you think about roleplaying with personals?

Not my cup of tea. If I write with someone I often like to read other stuff they've wrote because I find it enjoyable. A personal blog would make me have to filter through the personal posts and clutter up my dash as well, and with how bad my attention span can be it can make me write even less than I do now.

Sideblogs that are dedicated to roleplaying are fine, I don't mind if I get notifications from a personal blog. I just rather keep my dash clean.

15. What do you think about roleplaying with anons?

But in reality: I don't mind roleplaying with anons at all. Blackwood might actually getting a tad nostalgic interacting with people that don't show their face - and that have no ill intent. I've just never got those kinds of anons. Maybe I should put it in my rules that I allow em?

17. What was your first muse?

Lawrence Blackwood. Not Blackwood. Lawrence Blackwood. The two are so different that they might as well be considered two different characters.

The first few iterations of Lawrence didn't even have a proper character, as I was still an edgelord that basically stole ideas from videogames, so I will talk about the point where I actually got some sort of characterization.

Lonng post below

Keep in mind I was still an edgelord, but this time I tried to steal less. Also I am crafting some of this as I go cause I see potential im bringing this muse back

Lawrence's face claim at the time was Dante from DMC, in whatever game he gets this hand with blue energy and metal. Back then I still thought white hair was cool.

Instead of an archer, he had your usual enchanted longsword sword, nothing much special about it. Well, aside from the fact it was trimmed with silver and had a really beautiful handle and pommel.

He still had a missing mother, but this time his father was awful to him.

When he was young he almost died due to... causes I was uncertain back then and I am still uncertain now. But Lawrence's father managed to save him by crafting the essence of a healer into a crystal, which he implanted in the back of his neck. That way he would constantly get healed for the rest of his live, making him a dead man walking and giving him some neat regeneration that didn't allowed him to die so easily.

But his father began to search for a more permanent solution to save Lawrence, and ended up slowly being absorbed by his work and doing experiments on him. Eventually he managed to break out after a nasty battle, though losing an arm from the elbow down in the process.

And he ran, having no idea where, or to who, he could go. In the end he was found by some sort of "Master of X" that you usually see in certain japanese tropes. Yes, this was where my weeb phase started.

With the help of his apprentice, Mei -if you are wondering, yes, I did make Mei into a neko st the time- he managed to give Lawrence a new arm by using the healer's essence to fill a gauntlet. This new arm of his, being basically a possessed armor piece, allowed him to finally use interact with magic.

Not use it. Interact with it.

He still needed magic or a spirit to be there, but he could basically "hold" onto a spell or a ghost with his hand and.. do whatever was needed. I really didn't think of what he would be able to do back then.

Fast forward a few years, when he's finally an adult, and the master gets killed by some overpowered bad guy, which results in Mei and Lawrence splitting up and going their own ways to survive. Lawrence tried to do some actual work by becoming a mercenary with decency, while Mei became a thief.

The two reuined years later when Lawrence saved an unconcious Mei from some nasty guards and Mei repaid him by being spooked out of her skin when she woke up and giving him a light scartch over his left eye.

That's where his story ended and the roleplay started. The only things that I've changed in this decription from the original was that I gave an explanation to how Lawrence got an armored hand that's glowing blue and how he met his master, the rest is just as messy as it was before.

But I think revisiting this version might lead into a new character with a lot of refinery to the story.

#quill and quiver: ooc #open book: asks #magic rectangle: mobile #cursedfortune #long post

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random-imagines-blog · 4 years ago

Text

The Way Back {Faramir x Reader Oneshot}

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 3057 Summary: Love can be found in the unlikeliest of places, such as in a war-torn city after a win.

You took a deep breath in, and then a deep breath out. It felt like you hadn’t had the time to breathe in days. It had been battle, after battle, after battle against Sauron and his forces, ending up in this, the grand battle outside of Gondor. But the enemy had finally been defeated, the last of the orcs crying back to Mordor. You removed your helmet and let your hair fly free in the breeze as the world seemed to catch it’s own breath back. There was still plenty to do, such as tend to the wounded, burn the bodies of the deceased, and begin plans to rebuild the city. There were many fallen on both sides, even though the battle had been won by yourself, and by Gondor. By Minas Tirith. You looked about you, savoring the moment of peace, before plunging yourself into even more work.

You regretted that you did not attend the last battle at Mordor, but you had a much more pressing issue of helping with Gondor. There was so much here that had to be done, and you put your faith in your three companions. Legolas, your younger brother, who looked so much like you with delicate elfin features, but was a killer with a bow. Gimli, the dwarf that you came to see as a friend and an annoyance in your life, almost like a grumpy old pet, but one who could swing an axe like it was no ones business. And Aragorn, your best friend, a fellow Ranger, who had returned from Mordor and would soon be crowned King. But for now, he left you to care for Eowyn, a woman that he had introduced you to, who had been hurt in the battle. As two female warriors, the two of you struck up a quick kinship. It had been you who had given her a horse to ride among the riders, before you went with your fellowship to hold the dead to their oaths. Your horse, one of the fastest in the world, and the envy of many of the riders, including her brother.

You sat with her in the healing wing, dabbing her forehead gently with a damp cloth.

“I’m barely moving enough to sweat, y/n, there’s no need for this,” She said, trying to wave you away with her injured hand. You shushed her, and put it back down to her side. She looked more fragile than you were used to seeing her. Before, you had seen it in her eyes that she was always ready for a fight, the inner beast in her wanting to come out and growl at the world. A true dragon in pretty colors.

“Would you rather me go and get one of the healers to do it for you? I feel they would not be as good company as I though...” You threatened, and she sighed and allowed you to go on with your blotting. You were not a healer, though you knew a couple of things. Like to constantly check your friend for fever, for the wounds that she had sustained were nasty. She may have stabbed the witch King in the face, but she paid the price for that.

“I don’t like feeling helpless like this. I want to help the healers - it is only a couple of wounds. But no, all they let me do is go for one walk a day among the garden, like I’m some sort of...”

“Woman?” You asked, raising an eyebrow. “Let us go on our walk then. Let them dare to stop us while we are together. They can try to bully one warrior, but two? I do not think them so foolish.” You took hold of Eowyn’s better hand, and helped her onto her feet. She was eager to be up, and there was a flounce to her step, almost girlish. Sometimes she lamented being a woman, but there was still some femininity to her.

Together you walked out of the healing wing, and out into the open air of Gondor. A lot had been ruined during the war, and was being rebuilt. There were footsoldiers still around, and were helping to guide the reconstruction process. Everyone was helping out - even children, who were spreading the mortar over the walls with their little hands. “Are you going to return to Rohan as soon as you are healed?” You asked Eowyn as you strolled arm in arm, avoiding the places where the most damage had been done.

“After Aragorn’s coronation,” She answered. “I see no sense in returning, just to turn around and come back in a couple of weeks. And with my brother constantly off with the Riders of Rohan, they are going to need a new leader.”

“I see,” You said, nodding. “I’m so sorry to hear about your Uncle, Eowyn. He was a great man, as as I’m sure you knew. And he taught you well, you’ll take his place fantastically.”

“What about you? I remember your father wanted you to return to Mirkwood-”

You shook your head vehemently. “I too will be staying until the coronation. Legolas may be returning but I’m not so quick to leave the scene of one of the greatest battles that Middle Earth has ever known. I’m reluctant to go back...”

“Why?”

“I’m his heir, and he is getting older. I know that he wants me to take up the throne, but I am not Queen material, Eowyn. I belong on the battlefield. That’s where I feel the most comfortable! Not among the rich dresses and the gossip of elfen society,” You opened up to Eowyn, knowing that her, above anyone else, would understand how you feel. “Legolas is better suited as King than I ever would be as Queen. Were it I were born second rather than first...”

“Either way, it would be nice to have someone who is more sympathetic to humans on the throne,” Eowyn said, coming to a halt. You looked at her confused. “There he is - that is Faramir, the new Steward of Gondor.”

You followed her eyeline to see a man, leaning over one of the walls, looking out at the wreckage of the grounds that had been the battlefield. His hair was to his shoulders, a messy light brown - it was a look that many of the human men wore. Aragorn. Boromir -

Of course! This had been the brother that Boromir had mentioned to you during the nights when you two had watch together. But with some more burns upon him than Boromir had ever seen. You had heard of what had happened to him. His own father had tried to kill him.

“Shall we introduce ourselves?” You asked. Eowyn, who was far from timid even while she was wearing a gown rather than armor, nodded her approval.

You approached him together, which did not seem to intimidate him, for he gave you a surprising smile when you reached him. “I hope we aren’t interrupting your thoughts,” You said, pleasantly.

“Not at all,” He inisisted. “I always have time for two of our heroes.”

You beamed down at Eowyn, seeing the little flush on her cheeks. It was amazing seeing her talent be recognized. You were about to praise her even more, just to see if she could go as red as a rose, when one of the healers came running up, interrupting the mood. “You should be resting Lady Eowyn!” She chided.

“But...” Eowyn started, but then gave in rather easily. “Excuse me. I hurt my hand while killing the Witch King. I hope you understand my quick departure.”

You couldn’t stop grinning at her little amount of bragging. She deserved that much. Faramir bowed his head respectfully as the healer took Eowyn away, who was still complaining that she was fine. “Did you receive an injury while doing something important like killing a Witch King?” He asked.

“I stubbed my toe while taking down an Oliphaunt,” You shrugged, making him grin. You realized while he was doing so that he was actually pretty handsome .. for a human. He had a softer face than both Aragorn and Boromir, the only two humans that you could claim had been your friends. Or still were, in Aragorn’s case. He wasn’t as bristly. And he had very kind eyes. The race of men really was starting to grown on you.

Your father had come to Aragorn’s coronation. You had not expected him to. He very rarely left Mirkwood. Not since the Battle of the Five Armies had he ventured anywhere near this far. But the King returning to his throne was a grand deal, so you supposed it wasn’t that out of the ordinary. You stood beside your brother in welcoming your dear friend to the throne, and had managed to position yourself in a way that let you look at the Steward. He stood with Eowyn, who had become as wonderful a friend to him as she had to you. A sister to the both of you, though she needed no more siblings - not with a gruff one like Eomer about.

“When are you going to tell father?” Legolas whispered after Aragorn had passed.

“Tell him what?” You hissed.

“About how you are in love with a human,” He said, smiling widely. You nudged him and he nearly fell into Gimli, but his elf-like reflexes stopped him from doing so. “He can’t take his eyes off of you. Is that why you dressed up today? It is so weird to see you in a gown.”

“Can you please be quiet and enjoy our friend’s special day?” You asked in Elvish. Legolas did quiet down but you kept sneaking peeks over at Faramir. The two of you had gotten rather close in the last couple of months. And you might even think that you had given your heart over to the man, though it was very painful to think about. You would continue to remain youthful for many, many years, barely gaining a wrinkle while this man would grow old, wither, die. Life was cruel that way. Unbelievably cruel.

You saw eyes looking at you behind Faramir, and caught your father’s stern gaze. Your eyes widened, and like a child caught doing something bad, you immediately looked anywhere but your father, pretending to be distracted by the leaves, or the sweet little hobbits.

After the ceremony was a lovely party, which Aragorn did not attend because he went straight into his duties. You could say a lot of things about Aragorn, but not that he wasn’t dedicated to his work. You walked through the party, surprising a great number of people by wearing an intricate Elven gown for the occasion. Most of these people had only seen you in your fighting garb, which looked a great deal like Legolas’s. In fact, on more than one occasion, you had been mistaken for one another. Definitely not on this day, though.

You wandered, before Faramir’s hand lightly brushed against your arm, pulling you into conversation. “You look...” He said, gazing at you up and down, trying to find the words. You decided rather than waste time, you would finish his sentence for him.

“-like a beautiful Elven lady?”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Faramir said with a grin. He looked bashful, an expression that became him. He could be the most cold, hardened warrior, but around you, he seemed to be a bit more of a bashful mess. It was a very endearing trait. And it was something that brought the warmth right out of you.

“Yes, my daughter is a very beautiful Elven lady,” Your father’s familiar voice said from you behind you. Your eyes said ‘Uh-oh’ faster than your mouth could, and you turned to see him standing there. The blonde hair that the whole family had was gleaming brightly in the sun light. “I’m stealing her for a moment from you, Steward.”

“Of course,” Faramir said with a nod. He walked away with his hands behind his back, having recovered very well from his injuries. You watched as he walked towards Eowyn, and they struck up a friendly conversation. Your two favorite humans - and yet it gave you a feeling in the pit of your stomach that you did not like. You were wary of them being close. You were fond of both of them and you would not be surprised if they became overly fond of one another.

“Is that him?” Your father asked, following your line of sight. You stopped staring, and turned back towards him to give him the respect that he both deserved and demanded.

“Is that whom?” You questioned, your eyebrow arching upwards.

“The human that has stolen your heart?” Your father’s steely gaze cut through you like a knife. So he knew. You looked behind him for Legolas, and once you had caught his eye, you gave him a glare. “Do not blame your brother like you are some sort of child. He didn’t tell me a thing. It is entirely obvious.”

“Do you think that he knows?” You asked, swallowing any denial that you might have had bubbling.

“Since he is an inferior human, I would suppose not.” Your father said, chin held high. “I was going to ask you to come back with me. Take your place as the ruler of Mirkwood. There is a lot of work to be done.”

The happiness that you had felt for Aragorn, and then the slight giddiness that you had around Faramir had dissipated entirely. You were back to the way that the elves usually were. Hard-browed. No emotion showing.

“I’m sure that there is,” You said, not excited at all about the prospect of returning to your home. “And you are sure that you want me to be doing it?”

“As the oldest, it is your duty. Female or not,” Your father said. But he wasn’t catching your eye - he continued to glance over at Faramir. “You have caught his attention most ardently. He will not stop looking in your direction. It almost reminds me of your mother.”

Your heart started to beat in your chest, but your expression did not change. Still, there was a little bit of hope shining through. You tried to catch your father’s eye, but he kept looking away, which was unusual. Usually, he enjoyed looking right into the eyes of the person that he was talking to. It was a power play. And now you were the one who was trying to be the one in power.

“Is there any way that we can postpone it, father?” You asked, trying to make yourself taller so that he could not avoid looking at you. “Just for a few decades? Hardly any time at all - and all of that work will still be waiting for me.”

“A couple of decades? So you can come back after your human lover dies, and take out your grief in your work like I had?” Thranduil asked, tutting. You have never heard him tut before. But you also knew that he had a point. You remembered how he had thrown himself into his duties as King when your mother had died. He hadn’t given himself the proper time to grieve, and his leadership was lack for that. “We’d better give it a century or two. I might be able to finish my own tasks in time for that.”

“Surely - you’re joking? This is the first joke that you make and you decide for it to be this?” You questioned, unable to take your father seriously at this moment. His expression had not changed at all. In fact, now, it looked a little bit angry.

“I do not joke.” He said, glaring at you. “I am trying to give you the opportunity to love.”

You tried to search for any sign of deceit in his eyes, but could find none. He even looked a little ... flustered? Uncomfortable at the idea of talking about love with his daughter? Either way, you weren’t going to pass this opportunity up. You clasped your hands in front of yourself and gave him a bow which he then returned, before sweeping himself away to talk to Legolas, which was always much less about emotions.

You walked back over to Faramir and Eowyn, and put your hand on Faramir’s arm like he had to you just moments before. “May I speak with you for a moment?” You asked him, looking over at Eowyn. The blonde woman gave you a knowing smile, and walked off to speak with Merry, whom she had grown fond of over the war. The Steward of Gondor looked at you, still with that soft grin that you enjoyed looking at so much.

“What is it?” He asked, the grin faltering slightly. You’ve never asked him to talk privately before, and he wondered if something was wrong. But you took that away from him with your own lips, which you softly pressed against his once you were sure you had a little bit of privacy. “My lady?” He questioned, after returning it.

“It is unconventional, but it appears that I’ve fallen for you, Faramir, Steward of Gondor.”

“You have?” He asked, bewildered, but then seemed to regain his senses rather quickly. “I thought you never would. I’ve already resigned myself to growing old by myself.”

“You don’t have to,” You said, taking hold of his rough and calloused hands, giving them a squeeze. “If you will have me, I’d like to be by your side as you grow into a handsome old man.”

“While you stay the same?” He asked, his voice going softer.

“Yes,” You said with a nod. There was no point in beating around the bush - he would grow old and you would stay exactly as you were. It would be quite some time before you started to look older than you already were.

“My beautiful wife,” Faramir said, leaning in for another kiss. You granted it happily.

#Faramir #Faramir x reader #Faramir oneshot #Lord of the Rings #Lord of the Rings oneshot #x reader #oneshot #one shot #lotr #lotr oneshot #request

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osakasshitpit · 3 years ago

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I love Final Fantasy XIV

So I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIV, and after playing for around 180 hours, I haven’t even finished A Realm Reborn. Normally, 180 hours is an insane time frame for a game to manage and hold my attention. Persona 5 Royal was 180 hours of game time, and that was slowly outstaying its welcome. FFXIV must be doing something right, because just recently I went to a convention and bought a Y’shtola Keychain in a heartbeat. I haven’t had time to play XIV a lot prior to this, since I was stupidly grinding Praetorium for days and got burned out. I haven’t played much in 2 months, and Y’shtola only really has a minor role during A Realm Reborn’s Storyline. Despite that, I started in Limsa and Y’shtola stuck with me since then. I just had to buy that keychain. My girlfriend asked me about it and despite me staying away from the game after being burned out, I explained to her in great enthusiasm why I loved Y’shtola and why I loved the game so much. I think that’s the first time I really realized how attached I was to this world, these characters, this game.

I came to FFXIV after having played WoW from Vanilla through WotLK, after having barely ever touched a MMO since quitting WoW. Honestly, I was very skeptical of XIV but holy fucking shit did it ever win me over. They are completely different games, mind you, but that is a good thing in my opinion.

So here is the longest tumblr rant post I have written so far, I think.

To be fair, the first 20 levels or so were kinda slow. You get thrown into the deep end and get bombarded with lore and characters, terms and phrases that you don't understand. For fucks sake, the opening cutscene shows Louisoix fighting Bahamut front and center. Its this big, epic moment of sacrifice, but to someone who has not played 1.0 and who doesn't know anything about the lore, this just zips right past you. During the main story of ARR, they keep talking about Louisoix and how important he is, but you haven't even seen the guy because he died before the game even started. I only really realized this today, it took me 180 hours and a look at the wiki to connect the dots. It really is a slow burn, but that slow burn was okay because everything else was so fantastic.

While the world can arguably be more subdued than Azeroth in parts, there is still this distinctive style that I quickly fell in love with. It’s fantastical, but it still feels grounded. Part of that has to do with how the game introduces you to the world, and how the main story quests explain to you the lore bit by bit. I feel like much of the world design of WoW was down to “the rule of cool”. Now, I’m not saying XIV doesn’t have that, but I feel like XIV always goes the extra mile to explain why this cool shit is here. Everything you see out there in the world feels like it has a purpose, a reason to be there and an explanation on how it works. The factions make sense, the political conflicts you get entangled in are believable. I feel like I am kind of biased to be honest. What got me to play FFXIV in the first place was seeing that Viera are a playable race. I’m a sucker for Final Fantasy, not in short part to my memories of Playing Final Fantasy Tactics and XII. XII is still my favorite game in the series, and much of that has to do with the world, Ivalice. Viera were always my favorite race of the ones seen in Ivalice. Seeing as you can play a Viera in XIV, I just had to try. Thinking about it, XII and XIV have a lot in common when it comes to world building.

One of the weirdest things to acclimate for me was how FFXIV handles story. I was used to WoW, where story was basically non-existent and you did what you did to see numbers rise and to unlock now content you could do. You are basically never involved in the story of WoW, you are just kind of there for the ride. In FFXIV, you are the main character. You are involved in what happens at all times, and that is kinda strange coming from WoW. At first I thought I wouldn’t like it, but the game made it work in my opinion. I also didn’t expect there to be so much of story to begin with. Kind of ironically the moment I realized just how much there was to experience was when I went through Ul’dah and saw a blue quest. Now, blue quest markers mean there is some content you can unlock by doing this quest. A lot of these are kinda short, with a bit of dialogue and some bits of lore for you to enjoy and I thought this one would be no difference. After all, the hook is basically just to help this lady mourn for the death of a friend. What I got was a fabulous detective adventure that spanned over the entire continent, where in I had to help the worlds most manly detective uncover the secret behind a mysterious phantom thief. To say the least, this 21 quest long quest line brought be hours upon hours of joy and had me in stitches throughout. And it was completely optional. I don’t think I even remember a single moment from any quest in WoW that made me this excited for it, optional or otherwise.

Ultimately these are very different games that try very different things.

Dungeons and Raids were a different thing. I remember when I rolled a new character for WotLK and wanted to do karazhan because I used to like doing that raid with my guild back in TBC. I could not for the live of me find a group willing to do it, because everyone was way more focused on the new content, so they could get better gear. Regardless, it just wouldn’t have been the same experience anyways I fear, because the new gear from the new Dungeons outclassed the raid gear from TBC, so karazhan would be way easier and a much different experience. In FFXIV, every dungeon is level synced by default, meaning if a higher level character joins, they get basically downgraded to the level the dungeon was designed for. Couple that with the Duty Roulette feature and suddenly, there was always someone to do any given dungeon with. I remember when I had to do the crystal tower raids and thought “why would they tie main story progression to a raid, I will never find a group to do that properly” but low and behold, I found a group within 30 minutes or less and raided through the entire set of raids within a day. Dungeons and Raids are generally a very pick up and play thing in FFXIV. To be fair, dungeons got easier and more pick up and play in WoW too, but Raids were always the endgame thing where you had to gear up and learn to play. In FFXIV, much more lenient. No corpse walking required. I say this, but I have yet to do the Coils of Bahamut or any Savage Raids. I have only heard that there is plenty of hardcore raid content for those who want that.

That’s nothing to say about the actual gameplay. FFXIV is a tab-target MMO, like so many others, but it manages to keep this kind of gameplay fresh by introducing a lot of mechanics that make the game more active than the typical “I stand here and hit my rotation a lot”. For starters, most enemies have special abilities that you can actually dodge by moving out of the way. There will a area marker on the floor and everyone within that area will be hit. It starts out easy, but later dungeons really start kicking your ass with this mechanic. You really need to say on your toes. In addition, every class is extremely different. They all have special mechanics unique to them, special meters and resources they will have to manage during combat and so on. For example, a Red Mage (the class I’m playing currently), has two meters that fill up as you cast spells. They generally have two types of spells, white and black magic. Each type fills its respective bar. Once they are both full enough, you can go in and do a more powerful melee rotation. However, if one bar is fuller than the other, the other bar will fill up slower. Since you need to fill both, you want to balance that out. You get instant casts for spells after performing a damaging spell, and you have some spells with a short cast time and good damage output that you want to cast and then use the instant cast of to cast a more damaging spell that has a long cast time. But these short cast, good damage spells require a you get from casting a spell of the respective type. So, in essence, you want to balance your use of black and white magic, but you also want to use the proc you get from casting your white and black magic, which means you cast more of the type which inherently unbalances your gauges. It becomes this micromanagement game you play with your procs and instant casts, so you can go in and do the big, flashy sword combo. And that’s just the red mage at around 50. Every class has something like this, and it’s all unique to them. Learning a class is not just learning the rotation and spells you have anymore, it’s really learning how to effectively play your class. Also, positioning. Some abilities do more damage from certain positions, so you will have to dance around an enemy to hit all the sweet spots with classes like monks. These complexities get introduced slowly as you level up, so you have plenty of time to learn the mechanics. My favorite feature might be the class system itself, though. In FFXIV, you aren’t limited to one class for the entire duration of your characters career. You can, from a certain point forwards, choose any class you wish and level that up instead. You can freely switch between classes outside of combat, too. If you are dedicated enough, you can level them all up to max, even. This means if you don’t like a class or the direction a class is going in, you can switch. I for my part started as an arcanist, so I unlocked Summoner at 30. I played Summoner up to 50 but I was just not meshing as well with the direction the summorer went in. So, I switched to Red Mage and after some getting used to, Its now my new favorite. Arcanists are special, because you actually unlock two classes at 30, so I also unlocked Scholars. Scholars are healers and that became my main dungeon class, since queue times are way shorter for healers. This would be unthinkable in WoW, and love the fact this is a thing here.

If I had to describe it, WoW is an MMO with RPG Elements, while FFXIV is a JRPG with MMO elements. I didn’t know I needed that, but in retrospect, it makes sense. The thing that really killed my progress in WoW was that I didn’t have anyone to play with anymore. My friends all dropped from the game and while I generally like doing solo content from time to time, I’m pretty introverted, after all... MMORPGs are usually most fun with friends. Final Fantasy XIV is a JRPG first, an MMO second. There is so much to keep your attention as a solo player, its nuts. All my friends who play this game, play on a different data center, so I can’t even visit them. Despite that, I had a lot of fun in my time with the game.

My experience with the game was incredibly positive, and I don’t think it will get worse from here. Everyone keeps telling me how great Heavensward is. I just have to finish 16 more quests and I’ll be able to see for myself what the fuss is about.

Honestly, if I had to say anything negative, it would be how longwinded ARR is. I mean, its not bad by any means, but I can see how someone could be turned off by this huge storyblock. Worst of all is, after you hit 50 and reach the end of ARR’s story line, there are 80 quests before you can even start with Heavensward. Since everyone keeps going on about how great it is, it’s kind of annoying how long you have to work to even get to it. In retrospect, it kinda makes sense though. These quests are meant to be played over months and months throughout a update cycle and bridge the narrative gap between one storyblock and the next, but holy fucking shit why did it have to be THAT long. They even cut like 20 of the quests from this already insanely long quest line. What the fuck. This is supposed to be an epilogue to ARR and it feels like I played a whole fucking JRPG in between ARR and Heavensward. Oh well. Thankfully, they learned from this and made the post-story blocks shorter.

I will just say that I can recommend this game. You should give it a try. Just... try not to drop the game before it gets really, really good.

#Rant #final fantasy #Final fantasy XIV

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lokigayforhela · 4 years ago

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Hi, may I request Hela x reader where reader is a soldier or a warrior of Hela and unfortunately the reader gets heavily injured during a conquest? Thanks and btw I love love love your writing.

drops in in the middle of the night to give you this Briefly proofread story that I wrote in an hour

Sorry I’ve been gone so long. Apartment hunting, packing, and moving really take a lot out of a girl, but I’ll try to get back into writing a little more consistently now.

Trigger Warning for mention of blood and violence, but nothing too graphically described

The battle around you had been raging on for more than an hour, and you’d watched as friends and enemies alike had fallen, one after the other, sometimes multiple at a time. You’d been doing this for long enough that none of it was very shocking to you anymore, but you had to admit that Hela was rather… creative in the ways that she killed sometimes.

While the rest of you were left to fight in hand to hand combat, with little more than swords, and daggers in a pinch, Hela had the distinct advantage of her powers. Her ability to draw weapons from thin air, and send them off just as quickly as she conjured them, was an unmatched asset on the battlefield, and often you found yourself wondering if the only reason Asgard was so often successful had little to do with the legions and everything to do with your commander.

Not that Hela’s skill made your job any easier. You were still a warrior, and you were still necessary, and a handful of times you’d even managed to keep soldiers distracted from Hela so she could be unhindered while she worked, circumstances that had not gone unnoticed by Hela, which had led to the… special arrangement between the two of you.

Long days on the battlefield had, indeed, become much more bearable now that you got to spend nights with Hela. It was your little secret, and if anyone else had any idea of what was going on, they were smart enough to keep it to themselves, something you and Hela were both extremely grateful for.

The stark sound of two weapons clashing together brought you back to the present, and you cursed yourself for getting lost in thought at such an inopportune moment, and immediately got back to the task at hand, fending off a couple of enemy soldiers who had gotten a little too close to Hela for comfort, and once they were down, you glanced back at Hela, to see how she was faring in the battle.

For the briefest moment, you let yourself watch in awe as Hela turned, far gracefully than anyone else you’d ever seen mid-battle, sending a spray of weapons in every direction that found their marks in at least a dozen soldiers, their pained cries echoing around you amidst the other sounds of the battle. You caught Hela’s eye for a fraction of a second, managing a tired, albeit proud, little smirk that quickly soured on your face as your brow furrowed in confusion as you saw Hela yell out something you couldn’t quite make out.

It wasn’t until she started running toward you that you became aware of the burning sensation that felt like it was ripping you in two, and you looked down to see the very tip of a sword protruding from your stomach.

You weren’t entirely sure what happened in the immediate moments afterward. You heard screaming, but you couldn’t tell from whom, or for what reason, but the next thing you knew, you were on the ground, and all you could focus on was how much everything just hurt, hurt, hurt.

“Soldier. Y/N. Keep those eyes open, we’re getting you an escort off the battlefield.”

That sounded like Hela, but it also sounded like she was speaking from somewhere far away, or perhaps underwater, you couldn’t decide. You blinked your eyes open, unaware of when they had even closed, and tried to focus on the figure leaning over you, to unaware to realize that it was Hela herself.

“Get her out of here, right now. That’s an order!”

You felt your eyelids growing heavy again, and when you let your eyes close, you were subsequently met with a pat on the side of your face.

“Eyes open, soldier.”

You couldn’t even find it in you to be upset that Hela was being formal with you. You were too tired, too confused, too hurt.

You didn’t even realize when you slipped into unconsciousness.

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The sound of hushed arguing woke you, and you spent what felt like hours struggling to find the energy just to open your eyes while you tried to hear what was being said.

Whoever was speaking currently sounded extremely angry, and it only took you a few seconds to realize that it was Hela, and she was furious.

“I’m not asking anymore, I’m telling you I am going inside to visit my soldier, and you will leave us. I’m still the princess.”

You heard nothing but the sound of movement in response, and then moments later you heard a door open as you finally managed to blink your eyes open, trying to focus on the ceiling above you to ground yourself.

“….Y/N?” Hela’s voice came out much softer, then, and you knew you must have been alone now. She never spoke to anyone that softly around others, even you, even after everything the two of you had been through.

You intended to answer her, but your brain was a little too foggy, and your tongue a little too heavy in your mouth, and all that came out was a tired little pained groan, but it was enough to catch Hela’s attention as she sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over you to look at you better.

“Thank the Norns, you’re awake. We were all worried we hadn’t gotten you to the healers in time.”

You only nodded in response, and tried to push yourself up to sit, wincing when you felt pain shot down your body. Hela shook her head with the ghost of a fond smile, and placed a hand on your shoulder to keep you still.

“You’ll aggravate the wound if you try to move.”

You blinked at her, and after a short while, you began to remember what had happened. The battle, the soldiers. The wound you’d sustained. You swallowed a few times, in hopes it would help you to work your mouth a little better, and then tried to speak.

“…what happened?” Your voice came out far raspier than you’d intended, but Hela only smiled tightly in response.

“You, my lucky little warrior, survived a sword through the abdomen. Not many can say that. We had to get you here as fast as possible so the healers could stop the bleeding enough to work with their healing crystals.”

“I meant… the battle… What happened with the battle?”

Hela seemed to fixate on the headboard behind you, and you could tell she was choosing what to say and how to say it. “We… retreated.”

You stared at her in complete disbelief. “…you’ve never retreated.”

“Yes, well. I’ve never had a compelling reason to retreat.”

Oh.

That made things a little more interesting.

“…you retreated… because of me?”

Hela glanced at you, as if she was sizing you up a bit, and then went back to staring at the wall. “Well, what was I supposed to do, Y/N?”

“You were supposed to let me die, like all of the other Asgardians who have laid down their life for the cause, for your cause.”

“Y/N…”

“How do you think the other warriors feel, knowing you’ve let their friends and family die in countless battles, but I get injured once and you pull all the troops from Vanaheim?”

“Y/N, that’s not-”

“None of us are meant to get special treatment. We all knew what we were signing up for when we started training, and I’m not any dif-”

“Y/N, you’re not like all of the other soldiers!” Hela’s voice was harsher than it had been, and you found yourself blinking dumbly at her in response, unable to say anything and instead opting to see if Hela had more she wanted to say. “You’re not just some soldier that signed a few papers, and did a few months of training, and then went off with the rest of the ranks. You’re not them.”

You swallowed thickly. “…then what am I, your highness.”

Hela visibly winced at the formal title, and you wondered if you had taken it too far. The long silence that followed wasn’t any easier to sit through, and Hela took so long to speak that you were worried she wasn’t going to speak at all, but finally she took a deep breath, and looked back at you.

“…you’re the woman I love. And I can’t just let you die because of me.”

A part of you wanted to soften at the admission, but you found yourself feeling just as confused as you felt relieved that she felt the same way you’re realized you were feeling.

“Hela, it wouldn’t be because of you. Every single one of us that goes off to fight, in any war, knows there’s a chance we won’t come back. We’re trained for that. You know that.”

Hela said nothing, only averted her gaze to look down at the bed, and you wondered when she’d taken your hand in hers. The expression on her face was so uncertain, so vulnerable that you couldn’t find it in you to be upset any longer, and you gently squeezed her hand, running your thumb along her knuckles.

“…I guess I owe you my life now, huh?”

Hela huffed out a quiet laugh. “You’re never going near a battlefield ever again.” Hela looked back up at you. “I mean it. You’ve been honorably discharged.” Hela smiled a bit, something a little closer to her usual cocky smirk. “I hear there’s talk of a medal, as well. Something about dedication to protecting your commander and princess.”

You laughed quietly. “Oh, yeah? And do any perks come with that, or is it all just for show?”

“…you might or might not be getting special quarters in the Royal apartments here in the palace.”

You looked at her, unsure if you’d hear her correctly. “…is that allowed?”

“Please. I’m the princess, and I get what I want.”

“…I suppose I can’t argue with that logic.”

Hela grinned. “No, you cannot, so don’t try to change my mind. Besides… that’ll make our little trysts much more convenient.”

You smiled a little, as well, and fought the urge to sit up and kiss her. “…do you have to go soon?”

“…not for a while.”

You nodded, and tugged on her hand gently. “…lay with me?”

That was all it took for Hela to kick her slippers off and shift so that she could lay next to you, carefully curling into your side so as not to jostle you.

For a few long moments, you just settled in silence, threading your fingers with Hela’s as the both of you got comfortable.

“…how bad was it? Truly?”

Hela turned her head to look at you. “I thought we were going to lose you. I’ve been fighting since I was a little girl, and I’ve never seen so much blood come from one person so quickly. Your face was whiter than a sheet by the time you finally lost consciousness.”

You nodded slowly. “It all happened so quickly, I hardly had any time to react.”

“I know. Lucky I was already looking at you when it happened, or I might not have been able to jump to action as quickly as I did.”

“…what happened after that?”

Hela kept watching you, gaze soft as she studied you. “I called for the Bifrost right then and there. Told all the troops to follow, and brought you to the healers as quickly as I could. I didn’t even let anyone else touch you. I knew I was losing you.”

You couldn’t bear how sad Hela looked, and you brought your hands up so you could kiss the back of her hand gently. “…but you didn’t. And that’s what matters.”

“…you’re right. You’re safe here, and healing quickly. Did you know you’ve been out for most of a week? You woke up a few times, but were in so much pain all we could do was give you more sedatives in hopes of getting you to get back to sleep again.”

You kissed her hand again, and brought her palm up to press against your cheek. “Well, I’m not going anywhere now. You said so yourself.”

Hela nodded, and looked at you in silence for a long few moments before finally leaning forward to close the distance between you, pressing her lips to yours in the gentlest kiss she had ever given you. When she pulled back, she was looking at you so softly that you weren’t sure you could handle it. “Rest now, my darling. I’ll be right here when you wake.”

You nodded, and tried to shift a little to get more comfortable, using Hela’s shoulder as a pillow, but she didn’t seem to mind, and as you drifted off, you could just make out her humming softly to lull you to sleep.

You didn’t think you’d ever want to fall asleep any other way.

#Hela x reader #Hela Odinsdottir x reader #Hela #Hela Odinsdottir #anonymous #ask #answered #thank you for the ask!

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windblooms · 4 years ago

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matchups.

hihi :’) way overdue – but here are the matchup requests that i received. please check for yours below if it was sent in! ctrl+f on desktop for your mbti/zodiac, or something you remember adding in if the post is too long to scroll through.

Hello! I'm INFP and 98% Type 4 & 92% Type 9. I'm a sun Pisces & moon Aquarius. I'm fairly introverted but can be kinda silly if I'm trying to be social. I'm also empathetic & sympathetic with plenty of self-confidence issues. My main hobbies are playing games, looking into social issues, thinking about game characters,etc. I keep bouncing between visions but Geo might be fitting since current Geo characters are a little more on the introverted side. Not sure if I'm late but wanted to try <3 I'm the INFP Pisces & Aquarius Geo asker and forget to mention that I'd like 1 platonic and 1 romantic!

romantic match-up: kaeya.

although it might be odd at first to pair him with a sensitive and introverted soul such as yourself, on the contrary, kaeya won’t have any issues relating to your emotional nature, even if outwardly it doesn’t seem so (behind his light-hearted and diplomatic dialogue, he’s got a transactional relationship with the knights he’s “loyal” to; his own brother is distasteful towards him; and he’s got an agenda that goes against everything he currently lives with.) he’ll get a knack out of teasing you when the mood is fitting, and while he may not be the one to give you the best of pep-talks, his self-assured disposition does have its uses: confident words soothe over the creases of your worries and troubling thoughts, and when things are more light-hearted, the two of you will bounce off of each others’ playful mannerism.

platonic match-up: barbara.

barbara is a sweetheart who’s incredibly devoted to both her companions and her aspirations. wholesome and energetic, she’s sure to keep you on your toes dancing, whether it be about how beautiful it is outside or the potential of a rainbow after a storm. while she’s a clear extrovert, barbara is also insightful to the feelings of others – after all, an idol must understand her crowd! – so she’s sure to dial down the energy if you’re ever feeling weary that day.

hihi !! can i please submit myself for the matchups ? i'm intp-t, scorpio sun and leo moon. i'm 5'11, female, and am described to be a very energetic person. i like to think optimistically and have a special love for philosophy and chemistry !! my hobbies include reading and writing - i've also recently picked up baking. i think i would have a hydro vision in genshin - hydro users tend to be healers, and i think that's something i would specialize in. can i please have 2 romantic matchups 🥺

i'm the scorpio sun leo moon intp matchup ask !! i forgot to mention that my enneagram type is seven, sorry 😔

romantic match-ups: childe/tartaglia and jean.

childe hyperfixates on individuals he deems strong. while this usually translates into people who have experience on the battle field, in your case, he finds it admirable that you’re able to keep up with so many hobbies and interests. your thirst for new experiences and stimuli is akin to his own sense of adventure, and your devotion to each and every one of them resonates with his own conviction to his aspirations. you’re strong mentally, and when you interact, he always has to dedicate himself to you fully in order to keep up; there’s never a dull moment when you’re around him.

a workaholic in denial, jean’s position as acting grand master never gives her a break. she’ll insist that she’s fine, that she’s content with her oversight of the knights, that they are her priority. and while this is true, when you talk about how your interests range from chemistry to baking, it’ll remind her of the time she doesn’t have to do “normal people things.” again, not that she’s miserable with the knights, far from it – it’s just that your life and spontaneity reminds her of the things outside of the knights that she wishes she could do, too. your genuine energy never fails to make her smile – perhaps you were who she’s been waiting for.

hi, congrats on the 1k followers! i really enjoy your writing and i’m glad to see that you’re doing well! i hope the rest of 2021 goes well for you!

for the matchup event, i’d like one platonic and one romantic relationship. i'm an infp, 6w5, scorpio sun and virgo moon. my attention span isn’t the best and i’m an impulsive dumbass, but i still manage to get good grades somehow. i try to be sociable, but i have a habit of clamming up so i usually just end up sticking to the people i know. i’m kinda all or nothing with the effort i put into things; i run out of steam pretty easily so i tend to leave things unfinished, which i hate, but sometimes i’ll go wild and finish a semester-long project in one afternoon. overall, i really like helping others and being seen as reliable! i was really dependent on others in the past, and although i still kinda am now, i’m trying to be someone others can depend on.

as for hobbies, i mostly just play video games and scary stories. i’m also into a lot of crafts, particularly knitting and bracelet-making. i find the motions relaxing, but i enjoy it the most when i have someone to make things for.

as for my vision, i think hydro suits me best because it seems more support-oriented overall, which is the kind of role i’d like to have. however, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be used to do some serious damage if needed.

has lots of energy that’s hard to direct, but can plow through things they set their mind to. likes security of things they know, and wants to give security as well. creative outlets. seems a bit finicky? but insightful with their own emotions.

romantic match-up: mona.

outwardly stubborn but inwardly self-critical, mona has dedicated her entire life to the stars, and it shows: her masterful grip on astrology is nothing to scoff at, and she’s arguably the most practiced mage in all of teyvat. at first, she’ll be baffled at your impulsiveness and “lack of focus”: how will you ever get anything done? she’ll wonder. but when you prove her time and time again that you can plow right through an obstacle just like scissors through paper, so long as it seizes your interest, she’ll take moments to think about her own outlook on life. when she realizes your comfort in abstract, artistic past-times, she might ask cutely for you to teach her. surely, if she can talk to the stars, she can make bracelets . . . ? o-of course they’d be for you! who else would they be for, if not someone she deems endearing.

platonic match-up: beidou.

the personification of a tidal wave, beidou’s ferocity hits hard and leaves a mark. the two of you will find it easy to bounce off of each others’ ideas – maybe even concerningly so to the rest of the crew – and hell, she might even sway you to sneak into a hilichurl village to steal some carrots if it’ll provide for some overdue fun. lots of pats slaps on the back, and she’ll always beckon you over when she learns about something new, thinking that you might find it interesting, and when she wants someone else’s input. she trusts your judgement like family, and knows that you’ve always got her.

hi! i would like to request a genshin character matchup (2 romantic). my mbti is infj and enneagram 2. i am a cancer sun and aries moon. i am calm and reliable, but i do have a mischievous side and use a lot of dry humor. when it comes to having fun, i like to enable others! i am also deeply passionate about community service. my hobbies include yarn crafting. my genshin vision would be cryo because i am highly motivated by love/emotion, can come off as cold, and love the ice aesthetic! tysm!

romantic match-ups: diluc and lisa.

often broody and contemplative, diluc has a whirlwind of thoughts in that hard head of his. through your first interactions, he’ll piece together your intense devotion towards your loved ones and willingness to help others. he’ll warn you that you should take time to consider yourself, too, and that it shouldn’t always be give, give, give, but those same traits in you that he worries about are the same qualities that draw him in. once, too, he was as uninhibited as you, had the same energy. perhaps it’s because you’re both so similar, both in internal hopes and mannerisms, is why he finds it easier to loosen up – even if he doesn’t immediately let go of that deadpan attitude of his when he knows you can come back just as hard.

she’s enthralled by your willingness to engage in her banter. often, those she teases (flirtatiously or otherwise) leave with a red face and an adorable stutter, but it just so happens that you’re one to fluster her instead. it’s been a long time since she’s met someone who can keep her guessing, yet is incredibly insightful to themselves and those around them. she finds your qualities of fun and sincerity to be charming. you’re a breath of fresh air compared to the stern knights she’s around all day, and she looks forward to meeting you after work, conversing with you as you walk down mondstadtian streets and eat over dinner. there’s never a dull quip from your lips, and she’d love to hear everything on your mind.

hii hope I'm not making this too hard on u lol one romantic and one platonic please! either gender is fine I'm bi as Hecc mbti: enfp-t sun taurus moon aries I think my vision would be cryo because people say it's connected to loss and I've lost some pretty important people to me and also. I hate the heat I really like cards, wolves and the stars, my hobbies include working with robots and the general aesthetic of the mid 2000s, my favorite season is winter and I love buying ppl gifts ♡

platonic match-up: chongyun.

immediately, your avoidance of heat and affinity to the calm will give him someone to relate to, and your attraction to the abstract will pique his interests. (perhaps, once he’s become more confident with his exorcist abilities, he could pick up some of your hobbies?) your practicality, in contrast to his often self-critical mindset, will ground him in times of need, and he’ll always ask you if he can help you out in return. while he looks up to you as an individual, he’s honored to also be your friend, or at least someone you devote time to.

romantic-matchup: ningguang.

you both understand sacrifices and loss. while it’s a rather bleak realization upon getting to know each other, your rationality and perseverance despite the past stirs her respect for you; your mindsets are incredibly alike, and she’ll often input your reasoning into her plans, and deem you a trusted associate of the liyue qixing. in her demanding position, you are someone she can readily relate to and rely on. in times when things are less hectic and the two of you can more freely relax, she’ll indulge in a shopping spree with you. as someone who’s intimate with her in both profession and emotional relations, she’d love to show her gratitude.

hi! i'd like to participate on the match up event!

i'm an infp, and also type six on the enneagram test, my sun sign is aries and my moon sign is pisces. i like arts in general with my favourite ones being music and painting, but i also enjoy writing and i spend a lot of time songwriting! also as a person i'm rlly clumsy and i kind of look mean bc of my resting bitch face lol. i think my vision would be anemo because i think it can be really useful in many ways and i like the reactions it has with other visions. i'd like two romantic match ups! i hope this was understandeable, as my english isn't the best. thank you! 💌

romantic-matchups: mona and zhongli.

mona will find your interest in the arts intriguing. you always seem to get ideas at the most random of times, often startling her with how active your mind is. and despite how she doesn’t reply much in return – she’s not versed in words or drawings, even if she won’t verbally admit it – you seem to be satisfied with her . . . reactions? even if the most she can relate them to is astrology, it seems to be enough for you, so long as she isn’t uptight that day. your creativity and attraction to the abstract gives her comfort: there aren’t many people in mondstadt who appreciate her profession, so even if you aren’t into the exact same things, she’ll at least know that there’s someone who looks forward to seeing her.

on his quest to “learn what being a human” is, zhongli encounters a myriad of occupations. typically, the people of liyue are wound up with economics and realism, but your joy in the possibilities – how you can convey your emotions, through what mediums – of life has to offer reminds him of humanity. with you, he’ll explore what mortals call “the small things” in life: akin to the spark of appreciation for flying lanterns, autumn-colored lights at night, feelings of wonder – that’s what you instill in him.

hello!! id like a matchup please!! im an INTP-T and im Type 5,, im capricorn sun and libra moon. im a reserved person and kind of angry all the time,, and i get overwhelmed easily. im not that good with affection,, but me actually welcoming you into conversation or my room or smthn, or actually responding to you means something. im just scared to be open with affection because its always done me wrong in the past. anyways,, id like a platonic matchup and romantic matchup please!! thank u and congrats!!🥳🥳❤️❤️

hello,, im that Capricorn sun libra moon anon,,, very sorry to disturb you,,, but i didn’t mention what my vision would be!! i think id be pyro,, ive always been a bit cold or i usually shun people away,, so i think id be cryo!!!! or maybe hydro because im constantly having a mental breakdown LMAO(but i fr think id be cryo)

platonic match-up: sucrose.

while she’s constantly on-edge from work, sucrose will always make time to check on her dear friend. after all, you do the same for her, even if you insist that you might not have the right words ready. “partners in stress,” kaeya would teasingly dub the two of you as, but you don’t pay mind to him. as quiet and reserved individuals, you find tranquility within each others’ company.

romantic match-up: venti.

whimsical and regarded as a mere bard by most, venti puts up a convincing front. but it’s just that: a front. the real venti is concealed by a chipper voice and mercurial agenda, when underneath, there’s a solemn musician who’s burdened. you’ll most likely be off-put by his facade, as he’s trained himself to constantly be lively – comes with being a performer – but will soon find that he understands your turmoil. he’s not the best with sentimental words, but will instead convey his sympathies through strums of his lyre. while it isn’t obvious that there’s security in freedom, he’ll be sure to encourage you that there’s a way.

Hello Al! For the match-up event would it be possible for me to ask for 1 romantic and 1 platonic? As for my MBTI I am an INFJ-T. As for the ennseagram I am 98% type five and 90% type 6. I am a Taurus sun and an Aquarius moon. I tend to come off as polite and often times a bit shy/reserved irl. I love learning new things. Conversations that have all parties thinking critically are definitely my favorites. My hobbies are writing, drawing, learning new things, reading, and playing video games. As for Genshin vision I'd have to say cryo. I've taken a quiz on quotev and got a tie between cryo and anemo. Cryo's description seemed to fit my personality better. I also seem to have a connection with the cold. Let me know if you need any more info. Remember to take care of yourself. ~Taylor💙

platonic match-up: albedo.

you both have your inquisitive sides, and albedo is more than willing to talk to you about his discoveries. while he might not proactively reach out to you – more like, if you’re nearby, and he happens to catch you peeping at his work, he’ll engage with you. he finds your takes thought-provoking and your candor respectful; a fellow of agreeable disposition, your calmness and supplementing nature also makes it easy for him to work.

romantic match-up: zhongli.

both intuitive and practical in your approaches, zhongli’s given a new perspective when you converse, or at least, a new thing to ponder over. many regard him as stiff besides his gentlemanly disposition; your focused and insistent care will enrapture him as heartwarming, that there are “acceptable” vulnerabilities, but they’re not weak points at all – far from it. your security and assuredness is harmonious with your emotion insight, making for a stable lifestyle that he easily molds into. the conversations that the two of you engage in are nothing short of provocative. just as much as he learns from you, he also provides with tales of the old days.

Is - is the matchup thing still relevant? If not you can just ignore this message - its ok, i know ur busy :)

If it is still on tho, i wonder if i could get a platonic and romantic one?

Im a INFP-T(??), Type 4, pisces sun sag moon.

Im a dumb nerd with big glasses who loves t shirts with puns ot jokes on it. Im not sure about my hobbies, i just like anything that can make me think - memes, books, music, games with lore. I dont like boring, overly normal stuff. I have shitty sense of direction and i suck at math.

I think that my vision would be anemo since thats (i think) an element that requires both creativity and knowledge to work with, which is very special and interesting to me.

Thank you so much in advance! Or sorry if i sent this too late 😅

platonic match-up: xinyan.

both of you are free-flowing and seek excitement. you’re the gasoline to xinyan’s match: you both feed off of each others’ knack for new things, stimuli, and the bold. you could be walking down the streets of liyue, eating bags of mora meat, and then suddenly run down to the northern wharf to catch passing boats and playfully debate over which snobby aristocrat is being shipped off. there’s never a dull moment between the two of you, and the plan is always no plan. spontaneity is the name of the game, and it’s one that you can go at for ages.

romantic match-up: beidou.

there’s hardly a moment to breathe on the crux fleet, that’s for sure. be prepared to explore the entirety of teyvat with beidou, because she’s got you covered with all of your “new thing” needs, alongside your ocean-borne family. she’ll find it humorous that you’re not practiced in navigation – ironic for a seafarer. but steering is complex, and she’d gladly help you out in learning, just another thing to do in a day’s work.

Hi! For the match up event, I'm 98% type 3 and a 97% type 7, I'm am Intp and my moon sign is scorpio, my sun sign is Pisces. I'm above than average in math and I like to draw from time to time, I've tried to learn the ukelele but ultimately failed. I'd like my vision to be an electro cause my fav color is purple and I like how the electricity sparks and stops my enemies, I'm also a fan fic writer and love manhwas

Hi! I'm the last anon that you reminded that should have put 2 romantic in the ask! Sorry about that, it just completely flew over my head

romantic match-ups: ningguang and childe/tartaglia.

your ambition knows no bounds, and your drive is a force to be reckoned with. some may call your approaches headstrong, but your ability to take initiative is something that ningguang greatly admires. it’s something she professes that you two have in common – granted, even if her economic tendencies are more cutthroat. while the two of you have incredibly firm opinions that might send shocks across the room you’re debating in, ningguang trusts your rational thought and explorative mindset. your like-mindedness, in this instance, brings great relief to her in her position.

childe is also someone who would take interest in you. he’s not one for schemes like the rest of the harbingers, and would appreciate your straightforward approaches and the focused energy you put into each project/obstacle you face. it makes it easier for him to speak his mind, and he’ll find comradery with you fairly easy to come by. gradually, the zeal the two of you share can draw you into more adventures, and he’ll have someone he can call a trustworthy partner.

Hello! For your generous match-up event, could I request two romantic matches please? My MBTI type is INFP and my enneagram type is four. My sun sign is Aries and my moon is Gemini. I am a quiet but curious person who can be really flirty and sarcastic in private. I am very caring to those I love. My hobbies including writing and drawing. For my vision, I think I would be cryo? I’m a secretive person who has trust issues and can be cruel. I love your blog, you’re so skilled! Thank you so much!

romantic match-ups: kaeya and jean.

you’re a trusted soul by all, even if many also regard you as reserved. kaeya isn’t one to grow attached (it’s hindered him in the past), however after being paired with you on multiple missions, he’ll feel more at ease around you due to your good nature. your duality is also a breath of fresh air, and each time he talks to you afterwards, he’s reminded that there are individuals who have others’ best interests at heart. many knights will catch the two of you tossing jokes back and forth at each other, but for once, kaeya isn’t trying to swindle anybody.

the acting grand master has a lot on her plate, but she finds that when she’s in your company, the tray is a little lighter. she relates to your sincerity and good intentions, a welcome refresher in the world of forced diplomacy and tedious hours. you also seem to know just the right things to say to lighten the mood, with a cute smile to top it all off.

hello! Could I request 2 romantic match-up? I'm ENFP, enneagram 2w3. Sun Sagittarius, Moon Scorpio, Asc. Virgo. My hobbies consist of anything generally creative, gaming/anime, hanging out with friends esp!! I'm the type of person to show affection by physical touch and by gentle ribbing-- I love making other people laugh. I'm always down to do things, new or not, and an honest and easy-going person. My Vision would be Geo bc I think it reflects how I am as a person-- stable n loyal :) thank u!!

romantic match-ups: venti and beidou.

no one would’ve thought that you and venti would be a pair – then again, when they consider your tendencies for jokes and charisma, it’ll all come together. wherever the two of you go, laughter follows, like dandelions in the breeze. venti hits it off with you almost immediately after you meet, your natural social nature enabling easy conversation. you’re also very zealous with topics that pique your interest. it’s a genuine, eager curiosity that he can’t help but consider endearing.

the two of you are always searching for new things, be it small islands in the horizon or neat little specialties that you manage to catch in the corner of your eye. there’s never a dull moment when the two of you get going on ideas, and while you may be the more rational, beidou will always insist on adding some more “zest” into whatever you come up with. if you push her, she might accidentally shove you off the boat with the playful enthusiasm of a golden retriever.

Hiya~! Thank you both for doing this! For the character match-up, I'd like to request two (2) Romantic please lmao, with a side of French fries.

I'm an INFP, Libra sun/Scorpio moon. My external personality might lead ppl to think I'm a charismatic extrovert, but that's the face I show for the 5 whole minutes I'm socializing, and then return to my introvert turtle shell for the next week. I cycle through hobbies since I get bored quickly, but I always come back to music since singing is my passion. I know for sure my Vision would be Anemo bc I need to be free to feel comfortable and tend to react rather aggressively when I feel restrained 🤔

I'm deeply emotional, sometimes impulsive, and dislike relying on others. I tend to be cat-like in my affections... sometimes I Love, other times Do Not Want. Except for animals, they always get my love ❤ ehehe....

romantic match-ups: mona and kaeya.

mona considers your nature incredibly easy to grasp. but don’t take it as an insult or offense – in fact, your simplicity is a constant in mona’s life: you like time to yourself, and when you’re alone is when your energy comes out. she doesn’t have to worry about reading too much into your feelings when she can see that you’re independent. your interactions are calm and reassuring; she doesn’t have to be uptight around you, because she knows you trust in her abilities and lifestyle, and security with herself and those she cares about is her top priority.

kaeya’s able to relate to your social tendencies. there’s a front that he puts up in front of his colleagues (purely for professional purposes) before reverting back to his natural state of mind. he finds your distance understandable, and considers it something the two of you have in common. when you talk one-on-one, it’s easy to bounce ideas off of each other about mondstadtian culture and other topics of interest; while your independent natures may lead to some time apart, there will always be fresh experiences waiting when you do meet again.

#matchup reqs

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bookspined · 4 years ago

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❝ that’s all history is after all: scar tissue. ❞

{ cis-man, he/him } huh, who’s FROY GUTIERREZ? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually SCORPIUS MALFOY. he is a TWENTY-TWO year old PUREBLOOD wizard who is A HEALING APPRENTICE. he is known for being CAPTIOUS, RETICENT, FACETIOUS, DISMISSIVE, and DRAMATIC but also RESOURCEFUL, CONSCIENTIOUS, FERVENT, INNOVATIVE, and OBSERVANT, so that must be why he always reminds me of the song IN DREAMS BY BEN HOWARD. i hear he is aligned with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, so be sure to keep an eye on him. { merry, 24, gmt, she/they }

CHARACTER PARALLELS: Amy Santiago (B99), Claire Temple (Daredevil), Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place), Giles (Buffy TVS), Michelle Jones (MCU), Simon Tam (Firefly), Elizabeth Swan (PoTC), Spock (Star Trek), Clarke Griffin (The 100), Harley Keener (MCU), Gregory House (House) suggested honorable mention Gizmo (Gremlins)

pinterest [blood, medical imagery tw]

wanted connection ideas

Full Name: Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy Gender/Pronouns: Cis man | he/him Age: Twenty-three Birthdate: January 20th Parents: Draco Lucius Malfoy & Astoria Céline Malfoy (née Greengrass) [Not biologically Astoria’s due to her health, if you ever point this out he’ll flay your eyeballs] Siblings: N/A. Birth place: St. Mungo’s Hospital, England Height: 5’11” Weight: 56 kg Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Demiromantic Bisexual Nationality: British Body Alterations/Marks: A ragged diamond shape scar at the base of his throat.

Blood Status: Pureblood Hogwarts House: Slytherin Wand Arm: Right Pet: His pet toad, Jarvis, recently passed away. Patronus: Arctic Fox Wand: 11 2/3 inches, Willow, Supple, Dragon Heartstring.

Willow is an uncommon wand wood with healing power, I have noted that the ideal owner for a willow wand often has some (usually unwarranted) insecurity, however well they may try and hide it. While many confident customers insist on trying a willow wand (attracted by their handsome appearance and well-founded reputation for enabling advanced, non-verbal magic) my willow wands have consistently selected those of greatest potential, rather than those who feel they have little to learn. It has always been a proverb in my family that he who has furthest to travel will go fastest with willow.

Personality Traits: Brilliance, innovative, empathetic, individuality, openness, social consciousness, inventive, logical, practical skills and self assertion; lack of attachment to people outside his circle and the “real world,” over-intellectualizing of the emotions, dismissive, anxious, crotchety tempered, facetious, rigid, prone to self-isolation, intellectual arrogance, and stubborn. Zodiac Sign: Aquarius/Capricorn Cusp Moral Alignment: Neutral Good Core values: Loyalty, Knowledge, Hope Four temperaments: Melancholic

HOGWARTS HOUSE ANALYSIS

Slytherin Primary and a Burned Ravenclaw Secondary.

Slytherin Primaries prioritize their own selves and loved ones first. Slytherins don’t feel guilty or selfish about this– they feel righteous and moral. The most important thing is to look after your own. Abandoning or hurting one of your own is the worst thing you can do.

A Burned Ravenclaw Secondary might want to be skilled, curious, and prepared, but they feel like they are (or like people think they are) limited, clumsy, or inconstant. Gathering knowledge, hobbies, skills, or tools is the right way to achieve their goals, but Burned Ravenclaws know that’s not going to work within their capabilities. So they take other paths and use other tools– maybe a Gryffindor’s bluntness, a Slytherin’s flexibility, or a Hufflepuff’s slow and steady dedication.

You may have a Hufflepuff Secondary Model.

Hufflepuff is the House of grit, reliability, and determination, and Hufflepuffs use those values to help live, act, and succeed. If you model Hufflepuff Secondary, you also value these things and like to live by them. You like to be hardworking, dedicated, and consistent– but you wouldn’t feel guilty for abandoning those values in the service of other, higher priorities. If there’s another, easier way to get what you want– you’d take it. You think hard work provides valuable rewards– and those rewards are why you work. The work doesn’t have persuasive value in itself.

Despite his very best resistance he’s always been pretty empathetic in nature, he tries to rule his emotions as well as he can but fails more often than not. He was always one of those toddlers that if another kid started crying he’d be right along with them, not because he wanted attention but because he just couldn’t not. A bit of a crybaby, has researched how to magically seal up his tear ducts. Obviously managed to keep the family’s flair for the dramatic there as well. After a few years he leant into the sarcastic vague-snobbishness to hide the core of overwhelming anxiety.

Just managed to scrape through his schooling with nearly all top grades, this isn’t really due to him being a model student. He has always accrued information with a voracious appetite. Any knowledge he could find, even if most people would consider it entirely useless. His mind clicks into that place? You can’t keep him away. However, when there is not an immediate stir of interest on his approach to a topic he has to fight with himself tooth and nail to carry on.

Predictably found exam season highly stressful, was never open about it but was quietly competitive and silently smug over his good grades. Could comprehend well above his reading level from an early age and would often look into experimental research and complicated magic but found himself lost in OWL level History of Magic when chapter upon chapter lay ahead of him about something that didn’t catch his interest. Some people he beat just to spite cause he hates them. It worked, whatever.

Tends toward introversion and finds himself tired sometimes quite easily by a large amount of social interaction. Witty and big-mouthed when he feels comfortable or is in the presence of those that embolden him and very likely to get flustered and snap at people when things are becoming a bit too much. Especially if he feels however unjustly that someone is blocking his escape. Has matured slightly in this since leaving school but it happens still, he’s just anxious. Quite fickle and can at the drop of a hat decide that he’s done with you for the day once his Give Me Attention Meter is maxed. Could be an absolute bloody brat when he felt like it but feels he has grown out of it, which he mostly has.

Always been very, very aware of many people’s distrust of him and his family, he used to sneer and play it up if anyone tried to bring up his dad and go on the offensive but was genuinely affected quite deeply by it all. In his early school years, despite his weakness to the cold, he constantly had his sleeves rolled up to the elbow so that his blank forearm was bared as a statement to just about everyone. I am not marked, I never will be. Now he’s older he has more of a handle on things and can be diplomatic in situations where people are clearly discomforted by his presence and his family history.

Even though the war culminated far earlier in this verse I imagine Scor would have had to have been relatively sheltered as a child if not for how emotionally sensitive and prone to periods of ill-health he was, it was definitely for his own safety. He is still the grandson of a known high-ranking Death Eater and that made him a media target and put one on his back for anyone else that might happen to be watching.

Never produced much of a talent for offensive magic and wouldn’t resort to those methods unless he had literally no other choice, not a front line fighter by any means. His talents with strategy, potion-making, healing and his perseverance with defensive magic are what define him to the Order. While everyone kind of knows who he hung out with at school and who his friends are he is deliberately very mischievous with releasing rumours and misleading people. He deliberately keeps his cards very close to his chest so most people don’t know that he is aligned with anyone, he usually uses glamours or a scarf to conceal his identity if he has to.

While he is knowledgeable about healing and anatomy, he is the WORST at taking care of himself. The literal embodiment of Healers make the worst patients, tends to forgo sleep and basic bodily needs if he’s locked into what he’s focusing on. Sometimes needs reminders to sleep and eat, like a child.

Healing is the most satisfying part of his life and he would never give it up, he likes to experiment as he has a fascination with magic and muggle science and where they might intersect. A fucking nerd honestly. While he thinks he’s being fairly subtle about it a large part of his academic life has been doused in research into blood maledictions, for obvious reasons. He does his best not to flutter too obviously around his Mum. She is capable and ten times stronger than he is.

Lives in a small studio flat in Diagon Alley that is mostly stacks of books and makeshift shelves.

the stillness of the world the moment you take the first step into fresh snow, cashmere and fine wool, the pearlescence of dreamless sleep draught, the scratch of a quill on parchment, faintly tremoring fingers, a shiver up your spine in a warm room, the exhilaration of a problem solved, a thunderous grey overcast sky, the bite of a stitching charm, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, petrichor, the burn in your eyes before a well of tears.

Always had somewhat fragile health tending toward sickly. Hands are never warm, his existence is an endless heat seeking mission.

Went to one Slug Club meeting and used his time to verbally berate and or challenge most of the contacts in attendance, he was not asked to return.

Potions Club, Charms Club, used to sometimes be willing to be dragged to Dueling Club but didn’t enjoy himself.

Plays quite a bit of chess.

Bruises like a fucking peach and scars so easily.

Views quidditch as a good fly spoiled.

Is a very skilled pianist almost entirely due to his Grandmother’s tutelage.

Surprisingly great with children/toddlers/babies, no one including himself expected this, he mostly feared them beforehand.

Bit of a mummy’s boy in that he practically GLOWS when people talk of Astoria’s achievements.

When he has time off from healing he will have chipped black nail varnish on.

Highly intelligent but rarely manages to match a pair of socks, chews his quills but no one else’s.

While very eloquent and well spoken, he is markedly less posh than when he first arrived at Hogwarts.

When he isn’t prone to bouts of insomnia he can take a nap pretty much anywhere. He was once found in a tree after several frantic hours search.

[ CREDIT : CHARACTER PSD template by @karmahelper (defunct url) I tried to find a current social this week by messaging around but couldn’t find anything unfortunately. Forgot to copy this over from the google doc! ]

#potterintro #finally #sorry if this is missing anything

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reachfolk · 3 years ago

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1, 6, 13, and 16 for Alexi and Ursula and shoot anyone else you wanna answer for

💛 from @korvanjund

thank you sm for the ask darlin!! i decided to also include my little haglet ophelia since i've been adding more to her storyline today, and it's about time i start talking more about my other character lol.

who are they closest to? how did they meet and what do they like to do together?

i already answered this for alexi here!

ursula: she's obviously very close with her wife, bothela. like i said in her chara sheet, the two met when markarth was under reach control and they worked together as healers. they spend most of their day running the hag's cure together and training their apprentice. when they aren't doing that, they mostly focus on their own little projects and research; bothela seems to somehow never tire of alchemy even long after the shop closes, and ursula likes to tinker around with dwemer texts and tech to see what she can find out. then they get back together and discuss whatever interesting things they learned. she's also super close to her niece and nephew! isobel doesn't love having the kids spend time with her, but the few times they are together, they love hearing all her stories from when she was in the uprising and just stories of the reach in general.

ophelia: she'd literally lay down her life for every single person in her coven dklfjskdj, she's very dedicated to them!! but of course, she's closest to her mother, helle. helle was in the forsworn uprising, and she had ophelia not long after markarth was secured. after it all fell apart, she raised filly to continue fighting for the reach, but the rebellion was never the same after madanach was imprisoned. eventually, the two (along with some of ophelia's closest friends from the forsworn) disbanded and formed an independent coven. ophelia supported her mother through the ritual to become a hagraven matriarch, and she's gladly willing to take on the same burden should anything happen to helle. helle taught ophelia a LOT about everything she knows about magic, and she's working on honing her skills as a seer to better guide the coven. although helle is the matriarch, her daughter is her right hand man of sorts and is just as responsible for everything they do. she runs around the coven doing just about anything that needs doing to help the members, whether it's hunting with hypatia, babysitting honey while beatrice is busy, or assisting esmeralda in her expeditions to old ruins.

on an average day, what can they be found doing after dinner?

alexandria: the short answer is: way too much !! the long answer: girlie has the worst case of insomnia ever and she compensates for that by using Way Too Many stamina potions, so it's usually her companions that even have to remind her to stop for dinner at all. even after dinner, she knows she wouldn't be able to sleep unless she majorly tires herself out, so she likes to run around doing more and more stuff. if her companions are too worn out from the day to do that, she likes to restock their potion supply or practice her spells. if after that she still can't quite fall asleep, she'll usually go on a late night hunting trip. there have been a few times when the local blacksmith tries to open shop and just finds her tanning leather at their station lol

ursula: she's quite the scholar, especially when it comes to the history of the reach! this goes beyond just the reachfolk; she also studies the history of the dwarves in the reach, the dragon cult, etc. she's published a few books covering the subjects, and is considered a leading expert on the matter. if she's not having a chill evening with her wife, she likes to continue working on those books, whether she's writing for them or just doing some research. she makes occasional visits to isobel's family, as the kids absolutely adore her, but those are few and far between.

ophelia: she's a little like alexi in that she does way more than anyone has any business doing kdsjfhd. she doesn't have the same ailment of course, but she wants to take off the pressures of managing the coven from her mother's shoulds, at least as best as she can. by the time they finish dinner, she's already thinking about where to go hunting for the next day's meal. she prays at the shrines to the old gods, who often send her visions to guide her. she checks in on each of the members and their individual duties and their work. she'll sometimes read honey a story before bed or sing her to sleep when her mother is away. she takes care of helle when she's in pain (i hc that the hagraven transformation can be pretty painful and draining, not unlike the briarheart transformation). when she does have a moment to relax, she likes to spend it by the river, soaking her feet and watching the stars.

what special abilities or talents do they possess? did they develop through training or were they born with them?

alexandria: she's always had a knack for alchemy, like i said in the other post! it was why her tutor encouraged her to apprentice at the hag's cure, where she built on that natural talent with a lot of hard work. despite her young age (around 22-27 depending on her point in the story), she's practically a master alchemist already. she'll insist she's not a master—"well i don't think anyone could ever know everything there is to know about alchemy. it's an evolving discipline and—" she's the worst lol. but the point is, she's one of the best ones you'll find around!! she's not an expert in things like sword fighting or marksmanship, but she makes up for it with her potions and poisons, making her a formidable foe.

ursula: she's pretty well rounded i think, having been a fighter and a healer for much of her life. she's also fairly good at alchemy herself. a lot of those things weren't really inborn, but she had a lot of great guidance from the other people that were part of the uprising. since it was in the works for many years, and ursula joined in during the early stages of its planning, she had a lot of time to hone her skills. by the time of the main story with lex, she's pretty much a master at restoration magic in particular, as that's the one she's used most in the 30 years since the city was reconquered by the nords. when the temple of dibella is closed, she's looked to as the town's primary healer.

ophelia: like i said before, she's a seer. it was always an inborn gift she's had, but her training with her mother as well as her devout worship of the old gods give her visions a significant boost. she's most devout to vaermina, who shows her visions of omens and looming threats to both her and her people in her dreams. she's actually the one that told alexandria to go to helgen, because she got a vision of what was going to happen and knew alexi was central to it. her visions can sometimes come in the form of metaphors rather than exact tellings of what'll happen, so she thought that alexi being personified as a dragon in these visions was some odd metaphor, as was helgen being burnt to the ground. needless to say, she later realized those visions were more literal than initially thought lol

how do they like their baths/showers? hot/cold, long/short?

alexandria: like absolutely scorching lol. when she bathes, she often uses a flames spell to get the water damn near boiling before she hops in. when it's revealed that she's the dragonborn, she makes a lot of jokes that it's because of her dragon blood, but tbh she's just Like That.

ursula: warm, but not as much as lex. she's still spry and healthy, but she is Old (tm), so she finds a warm bath nice and soothing, yk? especially since most of her work is on her feet.

ophelia: cold or lukewarm at best. she loves bathing in the karth river, and she appreciates it regardless of the weather. the karth is practically sacred to the reachfolk, and she finds the embrace of the cold water bracing and energizing! lord knows she needs that considering how much is on her plate.

#tes #tesblr #skyrim oc #oc: alexandria silver blood #oc: ursula dain #oc: ophelia #cozy answers

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queenaeducan-writes · 3 years ago

Text

Healing Hands

Fandom: Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, 3DNPCs/Interesting NPCs Pairing: Rumarin x Eilonwy Rating: General Audiences Words: 2k

Repost of a work that’s since been deleted on Tumblr. Rumarin is a character from 3DNPCs and not in any way my OC!

Read it here on AO3.

For weeks they’d been travelling together, now. Sharing food and shelter, stories and songs. It had been an experience, to put it delicately. She’d come to Skyrim seeking knowledge, but had found a friend instead. Eilonwy watched him sit by the newly lit fire, trying his new ward out. As his hand unflexed a frail shield manifested, causing his arm to tremble until the ward broke. “You are improving,” Eilonwy said gently.

The other high elf scoffed. “At least it’s big enough to shield my head, now. I suppose my innards will simply have to fend for themselves.” He was smiling as he nodded his head toward her, looking at her hands. “In the meantime I can cower behind yours. They’re big enough for the two of us.”

She laughed, stifling it with her hand. Whenever he made her laugh she’d always snort something terrible. It was not the sort of noise a woman of her age ought to be making, especially not on account of a man. “You assume I will remember to cast them.”

“That is true. Though I like the strategy we’ve worked out. You go in, hands blazing, towering over your foes, and I swoop in and finish them off!” Rumarin swept his hand over the fire, slashing the air with an imaginary conjured blade. “It works surprisingly well.”

All over Skyrim they had walked, all in the hopes of teaching him a new spell. They’d visited healers, eccentrics, and even the undead. Each time they failed, it had always been her who seemed more upset about it. Rumarin laughed it off with a joke, while she stewed about it for hours. A good teacher did not dismiss a student because they required a different style of teaching. It was difficult to tell how serious Rumarin was about learning new spells, but he had travelled across Skyrim and back to learn one. That required dedication.

Eilonwy traced her fingers over the fabric of her robes, pulling at the frayed ends. “May I ask you a question?” she said, moving around the campfire until she caught his gaze. “We went from border to border trying to find a mage that could teach you, yet in all that time you never thought to ask me. Why?” She’d asked herself that question for a while now, ever since they’d met Valgus at the sign of the Steed. It didn’t make sense to her, but then again many things about Rumarin didn’t make sense to her.

“I did ask for your help, remember? You blasted me with lightning. I still don’t have any feeling in my left foot,” he replied evasively. “Thank you for that, by the way.”

“Before that, though,” she pressed him.

“When we met you wouldn’t shut up about the College, I didn’t think you would be able to offer me anything.” Eilonwy knew she ought not to be hurt by that, that by now she ought to have thicker skin. Still, it stung a little.

“I came to the College to seek a safe haven, for research. There are a few hundred years of magic-using before them. My first spells I didn’t learn from tomes, I repeated their names and effects. I told myself again and again that I could walk on water, until the spell was the only thing in my mind, and my words became true.” She still remembered what it felt like, to feel her foot touch the water, but not sink. Two steps later and she sank faster than a rock, but for that one moment she thought herself the most powerful mage in the world. “The spell you learned today will save your life one day, especially if you keep following me. If you’re willing, I can help you learn more.”

Rumarin’s attention had returned to his hand, contemplating it with an expression rarely seen on the blade binder’s face. “No tomes?”

“None.”

“Fine, but if it doesn’t work then you pay me 100 septims. No, you treat me to a meal. And the next time you drag my up High Hrothgar you’ll have to give me a piggyback ride.”

“It’s a deal,” she said. “We shall start tomorrow.”

* * *

When Eilonwy had told him they were starting tomorrow, he had imagined that meant they’d be starting bright and early. He was surprised to find that by the time he stirred, she’d packed half the camp away. It wasn’t like her to back out of a promise, which was lucky because half of her life seemed to be made of them. It was always ‘I’ll find your lost amulet’ or 'I’ll kill the bandits’ with her. She’d kept every one so far, as far as he could tell the only two promises left unfulfilled were saving Nirn and, well, teaching him a spell.

“Are we leaving?” he asked. “I always find it easier to learn when there’s a beer at hand, don’t you think-”

“When we stop for the night, then we can begin. In the meantime, it gives you time to practise your ward spell. Master that, and I’ll determine where we can go from there,” she explained, slipping her blue robes on over her clothes. She was always so matter-of-fact with him, as if she were compensating for his… his everything. There were days when Rumarin wanted to get her drunk, just to see what embarrassing thoughts she kept hidden under lock and key.

“Yes, Ms. Eilonwy,” he said with a smirk, shrugging on his knock-off college robes.

They were on the road within the hour, their camp strapped to the back of the sturdy palamino that Eilonwy had steadfastly refused to name. He’d taken to calling it Apple, anyway. When they were walking it was mostly him who did the talking, he liked to think his jokes brought life to the frosty tundras of Skyrim. Of course, here in the Rift there was already plenty of life to be had, but Rumarin didn’t see much harm in adding to it.

Eilonwy had taken a liking to his jokes right away, even the bad ones. It had been ages since someone had laughed at the punchline to 'Have you seen a healer?’. He had been in the midst of forming a comment about the forest when the first arrow whizzed by them. “Would it be too much to ask for one leisurely stroll through the forest that doesn’t end with a bloodbath?” he moaned.

His companion already had a fireball at the ready, throwing it into the face of the first bandit who stepped into her line of sight. “It seems like the perfect time for you to try out that ward spell of yours,” she said, before charging off. He lost sight of her fast. The bandits came out of the trees from both sides, they were on him in seconds. Apple turned tail and fled, the horse had even less appetite for battle than he. A bandit swung at him from his left, and he’d barely enough time to cast a ward spell as the mace connected with his shield. It shattered in an instant, and he remembered what that Tolfdir had told the apprentice mages. Cast the spell before you need it. Right.

He stepped out of the way of the bandit’s next strike. Conjuring a blade, Rumarin couldn’t help but smile as he swung at his foe’s chest. The bandits had probably been expecting another spell weaver, not another sword to cross blades with. He was ready for the next strike, his ward up well before the mace clashed against it. It was nerve-wracking to see a spiked ball of death mere inches from his arm. As he took the opportunity to stab, he found himself wondering if there was a way to make wards more solid looking.

His blade found the weak point in the bandit’s armor. He didn’t have to guess if that was it for the bandit or not, the look in his eyes said it all. Rumarin pulled out his sword, and slashed it across the bandit’s throat. He never knew if he did it out of pity, or habit. He didn’t have time to dwell on it, as there were others that had to be dealt with. Some fled, he liked to think it was he that frightened them, and not the fireballs that exploded in their faces. The ones that remained soon met the end of his sword.

As the bandits dispersed, he began to think about finding their horse. Hopefully it hadn’t stampeded into a den of frostbite spiders in its haste. Or worse, a dragon. It had happened before, it was a miracle poor Apple still lived to tell the tale.

A cry grabbed his attention, however, and in seconds he forgot about the horse. “Eilonwy?” he called, seeing nothing but trees on either side. A bolt of lightning caught his eye, and he ran towards it. Another bandit lay against the ground, the smell of burnt hair overpowered the smell of blood. Not a few yards away Eilonwy lay, propped up by a tree. She clutched her side, blood seeping between golden fingers. “What happened?”

“She snuck up on me,” Eilonwy muttered, avoiding his gaze.

Rumarin managed a smile, though it felt more forced than his usual grin. “Well, not everyone can be as skilled with wards as I am. Luckily, you’re better at about everything else. Heal up, I think Apple’s half-way to Whiterun by now.”

“I can’t.”

“Can’t?”

“Ran out of magicka.”

“Er, here, maybe we have a potion.”

Eilonwy attempted what he thought was supposed to be a smile. It looked more like a grimace. She looked at him, eyes squinting from the midday sun. “When I told you I felt like we’d forgotten to pick something up in Riften…”

Rumarin felt the blood drain from his face. He’d had the rug pulled out from under him before, but never like this. “Shor’s Stone isn’t too far down the road. I could-”

“You need to do it.”

“The horse could probably heal you better than I can.” The joke fell a little flat, but it was hard to think of anything when all he could see was blood on her robes.

“Rumarin.”

“I’ll try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll give you a week to recover before I expect that piggyback ride.” He saw the crows feet in the corner of her eyes crease, and he knew she was smiling.

It had been so much easier when she was the one using a spell on him. There wasn’t any time to tell her jokes about the long-term effects of this one paltry restoration spell. No time to tease her and tell her that she’d probably fall in love with him after this, and if she did he wouldn’t blame her. Women liked the sensitive types, and healers went hand-in-hand with sensitivity.

He held his hand over the wound, trying to remember what it felt like when she felt him. It always felt… warm. It felt stupid to compare it to a hug when their bodies never met, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Rumarin traced his teeth with his tongue, concentrating on that feeling, no matter how stupid it was. After a moment he felt a tingling in his fingers. He heard a tiny jingling sound, like there were small bells ringing in the palms of his hands. The wound on Eilonwy’s side began to close, growing together like it had never been split in the first place. Surprise lit up the bladebinder’s face, and before he could even finish he looked at her, beaming. “You should get injured like this more often! That way I’ll have it mastered in no–” As quickly as the magic had come, it was gone. No sooner than that, he saw her her skin start to bruise a brownish-pink, like the wound had opened up again inside.

Eilonwy didn’t seem put off, however. From her pack she pulled out a tiny blue bottle, and chugged it down. In a flash the bruise was gone, leaving nothing but smooth golden skin behind. “But you- I, did you do this on purpose?”

“No,” she replied, sitting up a little straighter. “Er, yes and no. The bandit did get me, but before I lost my strength I managed to find this on her person.” Eilonwy waved the empty bottle in her hand. “I thought I’d use it as a learning opportunity. It saved me the trouble of staging something else later." Rumarin let out something that was somewhere between a scoff and a sigh, sinking onto his knees. "I was afraid you would catch on. After observing how quickly you learned to use a ward in a controlled, but dangerous environment, I thought it only natural to apply the same to healing spells.”

“You’re…” Words failed him. He had known the mage had a reckless side, every adventure did, but this?

“You’re a healer,” she said. Eilonwy stood carefully, using the tree to balance. A second later her hand reached out to him, waiting for him to take it.

“I am, aren’t I?” he said. Grasping her hand, she pulled him up. Rumarin barely had a moment to steady himself when she pulled again, this time into a hug. After the nonstop action of the past five minutes or so, it was a refreshing change of pace.

“I’m proud of you. Sorry if I, er, if I scared you.”

The nice thing about Eilonwy was that he knew she was being genuine, whether he deserved the comments or not. “I wasn’t scared,” he said, already feeling his predisposition for jokes returning. “Maybe I was a bit… concerned.” She giggled, pulling back to smile at him.

“Does this mean that you’ll buy me dinner at the next town we pass?” she asked, her hands slowly letting go of him.

“I think that part of the deal only extended to me.”

“In that case maybe I’ll have to teach you another spell. While I was lying there I thought about riding through the entrance to the Greybeard’s temple on your shoulders.”

His ears had to be deceiving him, was that a joke? “I’ll consider it.”

Eilonwy laughed again, beginning to walk back towards the path. “I can even incorporate it into your training. I happen to know a few feather spells…”

“Ask me again later,” Rumarin said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, guiding her towards where Apple had run. “I need to recover from the trauma of this last lesson first.”

#fandom: elder scrolls #fandom: skyrim #fandom: 3dnpc #character: rumarin #character: eilonwy #pairing: rumarin x eilonwy

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