#but as a coming back to recall your legacy and own it

[endofbeginings]

"Yes, next time. The important thing is that you return, Raimunda"

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[andy-15-07]

The Legacy of House Harkonnen

masterlist ! pairing Feyd-Rautha x reader

Summary: Feyd trains his daughter, Lysandra, while Y/n reminisces about their past joys and the family's enduring bond, showcasing a lineage of strength and love.

Dune Masterlist

The vast training arena echoed with the metallic clangs of swords as Feyd Rautha Harkonnen, the feared and formidable heir to House Harkonnen, sparred with his daughter, Lysandra. She was seventeen, possessing her father's sharp wit and agility, a true reflection of her lineage.

"Faster, Lysandra!" Feyd urged, his voice echoing across the training ground. "You're leaving yourself open."

Lysandra nodded, her focus intensifying as she countered her father's strikes with swift precision. "I'll do better, Father," she promised, determination gleaming in her eyes.

Feyd smiled proudly, his heart swelling with paternal pride. "Good. Now, remember what I taught you about footwork. It's crucial to maintaining your balance."

As they continued to spar, Y/n watched from the sidelines, a soft smile playing on their lips. They remembered the day Lysandra was born, the joy and happiness that had filled their hearts as they held their newborn daughter for the first time. It seemed like only yesterday, yet here she was, a skilled warrior in her own right, training alongside her father.

Memories flooded Y/n's mind, transporting them back to the early days of their marriage, when Feyd was not just the heir to House Harkonnen, but also a devoted husband and father. They recalled the tender moments they had shared, the laughter and love that had bound them together through triumph and adversity.

Lost in reverie, Y/n's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden clash of swords as Feyd and Lysandra engaged in a particularly fierce exchange. With each strike and parry, it was evident that Lysandra had inherited her father's skill and determination, a testament to the legacy of House Harkonnen.

"Feyd, watch your flank!" Y/n called out, their voice filled with concern.

Feyd heeded their warning, swiftly adjusting his stance to deflect Lysandra's attack. "Thank you, my love," he said, his gaze briefly meeting theirs before returning to the fray.

As the training session drew to a close, Feyd and Lysandra stood facing each other, their breathing heavy but triumphant. It was a scene that filled Y/n's heart with pride and joy, knowing that their family's legacy would endure for generations to come.

"Well done, Lysandra," Feyd praised, a hint of admiration in his voice. "You're improving with each session."

Lysandra beamed, her eyes sparkling with gratitude. "Thank you, Father. I couldn't have done it without your guidance."

Feyd placed a hand on her shoulder, a rare display of affection from the stoic warrior. "You have the potential to surpass even me, my dear. Never forget that."

Y/n approached them, a sense of contentment washing over them as they watched father and daughter share a moment of mutual respect and admiration. "You both make me proud," they said, their voice filled with love.

Feyd and Lysandra turned to them, their expressions softening with affection. In that moment, surrounded by the echoes of their past and the promise of the future, they were reminded of the unbreakable bond that bound them together as a family, a legacy that would endure for eternity.

[my-writings-and-musings]

Continuing to break through my slump with more indulgent fics! Here's some Starscream x Reader in response to some earlier polls, where our beloved Seeker has just become a sire to three precious bitlets. As reader gets some much needed sleep, Starscream admires the triplets.

He'd been terrified of the diagnosis at first, for both your sakes, but had recovered quickly and even made a point to brag when telling others the news. There were few who could recall the last time a Cybertronian managed to kindle with an organic, but none would forget his success after spending a mere minute in his company. It was about what one might expect from Starscream, especially with how he went on and on about how your progeny would be the start of a glorious Cybertronian legacy without equal. You'd actually found his enthusiasm both sweet and comforting.

Then came the scan that revealed you were expecting triplets.

He'd fainted upon the medic's pronouncement, though claimed upon waking he'd merely lost his balance. Seeing three separate sparks nourished by your own heartbeat had been quite shocking for you as well, and you'd needed his support once he came to. Thankfully, it had been provided then and every moment after, which had made those long months that followed a great deal easier to endure. Cravings were much easier to handle when you had someone capable of traversing the continent in mere hours to fetch them.

Now that the longest day of your lives so far was done, all the work had been rewarded with three perfect little bundles, and the Seeker had yet to take his optics off you or them. Such constant supervision had allowed you to drift off into a much needed slumber in the company of your equally sleepy bitlets.

Watching your sleeping form like a father hawk, Starscream slowly moved his gaze over the sparklings snoozing between the two of you, his much larger frame across from yours and leaning forward like a protective wall. He didn't dare sleep while you finally rested, despite being thoroughly exhausted himself. It had taken hours for the triplets to arrive, and while they'd come as smoothly as one could hope, the toll on your body had been considerable. Primus only knew how you hadn't fallen asleep as soon as the bundled newborns were lain in your arms.

One of the seekerlets trilled softly, and he reflexively dipped his helm to check on them, unable to help being paranoid. The newborn only made another quiet coo before nuzzling their rounded helm back into the nest, fluttering the stubs of their wings as they drifted back to sleep. His spark warmed at the sight as he welcomed a fresh burst of pride. All three were incredibly tiny for now, but with time and care, they would grow to be his equal in size and strength. Your genetic influence would also show itself in equal time, influencing their abilities in ways Ratchet had explained could not be predicted. Primus, he just couldn't wait to see...

Another tiny sound startled him back into active alert, and he leaned down once more to check on the group, optics scanning for any sign of distress. The bitlet that had made the noise only cracked open a sleepy optic and yawned, stubby servos smushing against their ample cheeks as they adjusted themselves in the nest with a tired squirm. As he watched them settle back to sleep, Starscream had to bite his lip to avoid making a sound at the painfully adorable antics. He'd known that they would be cute, but Primus, these little ones were precious beyond reason.

Spotting a microscopic flaw in the blankets, he adjusted it with the precision of a surgeon, wanting to be absolutely sure that you and the sparklings were covered. Once you all were secure and cozy, he allowed himself a moment to drink it all in: you, your sparklings; a little unexpected family he'd made by accident. It was more than he deserved, but he'd never let anyone lay a hand on you or your precious bundles. Every ounce of his strength would forevermore be dedicated to your safety.

Laying himself on his side, he stretched out an arm to encircle the lot of you with his bulk, the gentle sound of your breathing tempting him to sleep. He resisted, and used the closeness to tenderly brush his digits over a sleeping sparklings chubby cheeks. The warm softness of their mesh was enough to crack his spark, but the little one's reflexive cuddle into his touch absolutely shattered it. A single, joyful tear fell to the berth as his sparkling snuggled into his palm and pulled him closer.

When you woke, you wouldn't have to ask for anything ever again. It was the least he could do for three of the most precious gifts he'd ever known.

[milunalupin]

Hi! It’s so cute what you’ve written about Regulus. Could I request a blurb about Regulus being so smitten with reader that he pretty much forgets how to breathe and therefore never answers whenever she talks to him? Either with them already dating or just being classmates ☺️

Hope you have a lovely day!

sorry for the wait lovely, i hope you enjoy !! :)

— take my breath away

regulus black x reader ★ 1.1k words

Divination is shit. A complete load of dragon shit. There's no hard research behind it, no factual information, just conclusions based off of feelings. Regulus doesn't understand visions and wanting to know what's to come. He's has his future planned out for him, so what were tea leaves and crystal balls going to do for him?

Continue the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black family legacy, be the perfect son and the top student in every class. Easy enough for Regulus, except for being 3rd in Divination because he "lacked natural aptitude". How ridiculous. Lucky for him his parents were far more focused on him doing well in Charms and Potions than reading tarot cards and interpreting dreams.

The one thing he doesn't mind seeing during this period was you, someone he could never dream of having the pleasure to call his. You weren't born into a pureblood family, and weren't even close to rivaling him academically. He doesn't ever recall seeing you at a quidditch match either, at least not when Slytherin was playing. With your effortless beauty and blinding smile, he's confident he would have noticed you among the others in the stands.

Regulus doesn't know when he started to crush on you, it just kind of happened. One day he started to notice small things about you, from your baby blue nail polish to your lavender perfume that did everything but calm his heartrate. He would pass by your table on the way to his own and see you reading what he assumed to be muggle poetry. The quiet Slytherin would look for those same muggle poetry books in the library late at night. He liked it when the sun sometimes shone right on your face, your eyes squinting and nose scrunching adorably. You would often mumble haikus and villanelles to yourself during class, plush lips moving quietly as you stared out the window, in your own world.

Just like today, you hovered over your parchment, your quill moving in a way that it was obvious that you were not taking notes on the lecture being given. The professor noticed your distracted state, calling your name out. "Please tell us all what ovomancy is."

"It's.. erm.." you giggled nervously, your face flushing with embarrassment. "Sorry Professor, I wasn't paying attention."

Regulus held back a lovesick sigh, smiling to himself as you continued to doodle on your parchment as soon as the professor sighed and turned their back. As lucky as he wished he was, he wasnt daft enough to believe he was your only admirer.

Edgar Bones was a charming guy. Regulus wonders what was so funny about him that he had you giggling behind your hand, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his quill a little too tight. Every table was assigned a different method, so while he and his partner were busy taking notes on capnomancy, you and Bones were having fun with palmistry. The bitter Slytherin supposed the smoke he felt coming out of his ears meant jealousy, watching Edgar asking to hold your hand to see if he can read it that way.

"Merde, ça n'a rien à voir avec.." he hissed, his anger turning to yearning as he craved to be the one holding your hand.

Ah, less-- less bright

Are the stars of night

Than the eyes of the radiant girl!

And never a flake

That the vapor can make

With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,

Can vie with the modest Eulalie's

most unregarded curl-

Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's

most humble and careless curl.

Regulus Black feels pathetic, writing love notes like a little schoolboy. Especially if his parents found out he was quoting muggle poetry. But there he was in the corner of the library, copying down yet another poem to leave on your table at the beginning of your next shared class.

He arrived early to Divination, quickly setting his folded parchment on your table and then sitting at his own. It's been weeks since he began to anonymously leave you poetry, too shy to talk to you face to face. You always read the letter and put it into your school bag, so hopefully you were keeping them and not tossing them out later when no one was watching. Regulus' knee bounced under the table as the other students started to file in, his eyes darting between the door and the folded parchment he left for you. He decided to get started on his next letter, hunching over his parchment to get the words just right.

Regulus was too distracted by perfecting his penmanship to notice you walk into the classroom and watch as he gently placed today's poem on your table. You smiled to yourself and went to your seat, tracing your beautifully written name with your finger. You had felt flattered when you first started receiving the letters, assuming that it had been your flirty class partner Edgar, but quickly realized that he wasn't the type to do such a thing.

"Your cursive letters weren't this perfect when you first started leaving me poetry, have you been practicing for me Regulus Black?"

Regulus gasps a little too fast, choking in surprise at your discovery. He turns away to cough into his sleeve like the proper boy he is. You grinned at the young heir, picking up his newest letter he had been working on.

His eyes widened and frantically waved his hands, trying to take the letter back but you held it behind you out of his reach. "You don't have to read th—"

"Shut up Regulus."

He placed his hands back in his lap, his ears burning red as you read his letter in front of him, the corners of your mouth turning upwards. Regulus felt himself holding his breath, knowing he had to say something now or sit there looking like a fool. He took a quick breath and kept his eyes on the parchment as he rushed his words out. "Perhaps, we could go to the library one day and read poetry together?"

He shouldn't have looked up because he felt himself lose oxygen again when he saw your enchanting self was smiling cheekily down at him.

"Or we could go down by the lake and you could read me some of your favorites?"

Regulus agrees with a shy nod and makes a mental note to use the Bubble-Head charm in case he forgets to breathe. He'll forget all about the charm later when your head is laying sleepily on his shoulder as he recites old poetry from his journal.

[synergysilhouette]

Things I'd want for an an "Ever After High" reboot

As much love as "Monster High" has gotten--and as much attention as it's gotten, thanks to 2 reboots--I think it's time for a reboot of Ever After High, for the lore/show if nothing else (and yes, I know it was all for the dolls). And note: I say "reboot" instead of "revival" because the show had a gaping flaw with it, and I'll include it in one of the things I'd like to see in a Gen 2 of EAH:

More nuance--The BIGGEST issue with the show was how biased it was when it was trying to see itself as a complex story. The Royals were written as selfish, hypocritical, and vain when discussing the future and their legacies, and it made being a Royal unlikable, which was probably done by the writers to make us sympathize with the Rebels more, not to mention the fact that Raven was always kind and level-headed, making Apple come off much more disingenuous. It wasn't even a "the Rebels are slightly more right"; the Rebels were written as 100% right and the Royals weren't "good" people until they came around to the way the Royals thought. I'd enjoy them embracing the Royals' positive side (which have been shown when not involving the RvR debate), as well as highlighting the fact that following tradition isn't always a bad thing, and that those who followed their destiny didn't have to follow it to the letter, but were allowed to make changes here and there (ie Apple marrying a prince; it didn't have to be Daring). As such, destinies are vague, giving you a beginning and end while omitting the in-between parts. And given this change to what is considered a Royal, there are no in-between groups like Roybels.

2. Don't forget the guys--Part of what made EAH an engaging "girly" show for me was the fact that they still had significant male characters (usually it's like a 10-1 ratio; here it feels like 5-1), all of whom have unique designs and appearances. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be an issue, but I still wanna point it out.

3. Headmaster Grimm is more altruistic and wise--I swear, "Wish" has ruined me forever. I'm on a Magnifico kick. Headmaster Grimm, while still lying to the students and kinda misleading them, doesn't do so just because of the flimsy "This is how things are done"; he's more of a lawful neutral/true neutral character, where he understood after years of seeing people try to change their destinies it either comes true anyway or ends up getting their own Happily Ever After, but it does more damage than good for everyone else. As such, he understands the fact that good cannot exist without evil, and vice-versa, explaining his own motivations for manipulating events at EAH, with the proposed destinies being what he believes to be the best-possible scenarios. (Plus the evil headmaster at school is so cliche to me at this point. It feels very juvenile.)

4. More lore in the show--Albeit, less confusing. I don't remember the show exactly, and I didn't get into the novelizations, but I do recall that the books fleshed out the Legacy Day ceremony a bit more, citing that the current students at EAH were descendants (rather than children) of fairy tale characters, and embracing your destiny was something done for generations--with one disturbing detail being that Ashlynn's mother would eventually die and her father would marry one of her stepsisters, making the new stepmother's daughters Ashlynn's new stepsisters who would make her enslaved. AND EVERYONE KNEW THIS. This circles back to #1 about making being a Royal less terrible. Put emphasis on following your destiny and the history of the world, but I'd prefer to avoid the "we do this every generation" thing; the characters are still descendants of fairy tale characters, but it hasn't been a wash, dry, repeat cycle; it only happens when the descendants' circumstances start to match up precisely with their ancestor's, and it's believing that by following their destiny, they preserve the balance of good and evil. Not to mention, most of the other students don't get to accept or deny their destiny; they're just regular people in that respect, while the special descendants (let's say that Maddie, Raven, and Apple are only a small handful of people who have Legacy Day this school year) get to see what their futures hold. Not to mention it'd be fun to see more of the characters' lives outside of the school, ie Briar's relationship with her younger brothers and the fact that her mom is always tired and her dad (who needs a name; can we avoid nameless characters here?) is always slaying monsters.

5. More emphasis on fairy godparents (and magical characters in general)--I'll always question why Cupid coming to EAH didn't reinvent her as a fairy godmother or something similar. In any case, I like the idea of fairy godparents and their children being one the only major characters in fairy tales who's destiny was flexible and no one had any qualms about it; they were above good or evil (though they typically chose good), and had a business where people would pay for their services, powered by their wish and conviction. Grimm being a fairy godfather would also make sense for his grey mentality in the series. Plus I feel like we don't have enough magical characters, with Cerise, Farrah, and Raven being the few that come to mind.

6. It's not just about Raven--Something I liked about "Monster High" was that while Frankie started off as the main character (before she sadly became underrated), many other characters got the spotlight outside of her. Given that the EAH webseries was story-driven, they gave Raven the spotlight. But I'd like to focus on other characters who may be dealing wit the consequences of following/rejecting their destiny, as well as more people fighting with their "inborn" morality issues, similar to Raven fighting her evil urges.

[exitpursuedbyavulcan]

The Silver Dragon (4)

The Book

Though Arianwyn wants nothing more than to devour the book Aemond gifted her, she finds herself tear her mind from Aegon’s taunting words. But as she recalls a difficult conversation with her cousin and lady’s maid from the night before, she decides that perhaps she does not want to be married – ever.

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x OC (Daemon and Rhea's daughter)

Warnings: none

Author's Note: An Alicent POV? It's more likely than you think...

Series Masterlist - Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Arianwyn sat at one of the great oaken tables in the library of the Red Keep, elbows on either side of the great tome before her as she pressed her balled fists into her still-flushed cheeks. She had been waiting for the answers contained in this book for as long as she could remember, but now that they lay before her, all she could think about was Aegon’s words.

“As soon as your father acknowledges you’re alive…”

What did it matter that he acknowledge her? Had she not been taken in by the King and Queen themselves? Lived in their castle, raised alongside their own children? Was she not the Lady of Runestone, head of an ancient and noble house in her own right? Why should her fate be determined by a man she had never met?

Daemon Targaryen was across the Narrow Sea, living happily with his young wife and two daughters. According to the latest ravens, a third child would join them soon.

Did Lady Laena know about her stepdaughter—or Baela and Rhaena about their sister? Did they care? Did they yearn to know her as she did for them?

Likely not, she told herself. Daemon had remarried before Arianwyn had seen her first full moon. He had not written to inquire about her health nor that of her mother. He had said nothing before fleeing across the sea. Ten years had passed, and he had never once written to his firstborn daughter.

He did not want her as part of his family.

“Aria?” Aemond’s soft voice echoed through the cavernous library. He had been wholly silent as they raced through the stone corridors of the Red Keep, passing by her chambers to retrieve the book before coming to the library.

Now, he sat next to her at their usual table, a stack of parchment in front of him. They had been here many times before – at this same table, delighting in each other’s companionship and curiosity, but their hours here had grown quieter in recent years. They were no longer the rambunctious children they once were. Aemond would readily admit much of the fault in that lay with him.

He was not as happy as he once was.

But he was still happy here, in their place. It was perhaps the only place he could still depend on to find comfort and respite. Here, he was never alone. Even if Aria was elsewhere, he could still find her in the books. The winding rows of shelves held happy memories of their childhood, when they first delved into the paper forest in search of knowledge.

Here, they had uncovered the great tales of their ancestors and felt the great legacy that sat upon their shoulders. Only now, Aemond realized the true, overwhelming weight of that legacy.

Just after his tenth nameday, Aegon had caught Aemond reading one of the more romanticized books of Valyrian history in the library. He snatched it and began reading aloud. “And so the fair Princess Elaenyra was granted mercy by her uncle, the noble King Synar, for he knew she was not to blame for her father’s treason. They were soon married, and Elaenyra became Queen. In the end, Prince Vaerion succeeded at placing his blood on the throne, but at the cost of his very life.”

Aegon laughed, holding the book aloft so Aemond could not take it back. “Is this history, or is it one of your fairytales?”

“It’s history!” Aemond whined, jumping to try and reach the book to no avail. “You would know that if you actually cared about our family’s past. Now give it back!”

“But it’s so stereotypical for real history,” Aegon finally let Aemond have the book again, but the mischievous smile remained on his lips. “The king rescues the fair princess, and the second son is killed for his hubris. Actually…” He made a show of looking over his brother from head to toe. “I suppose that’s quite realistic.”

Something about the way he said it made Aemond panic. He went into a deep obsession, trying to prove Aegon wrong. He read through the histories furiously for every mention of second sons. Not just Valyrian history but that of the Andals, First Men, and every other civilization.

In every book he read, the second son never got a happy ending. Most died young, having been sent to battle in the place of their more valuable elder brother. Some survived, living to see their sibling take the throne. Of these survivors, many became valuable advisors and received the great honor of being mentioned, however briefly, alongside their King’s noble deeds. Others earned more notoriety by attempting to build their own legacy. Whether they tried to usurp the throne or establish their own lands, those men died bloody. From what he could glean from the stories, the best he could hope for was to fade into the annals of history.

Aemond had never told Aria of this revelation. He knew she would not understand.

She still saw the glory and romance of these stories. And why shouldn’t she? As the only daughter and heir of an ancient Westerosi house and a dragonriding descendant of Old Valyria, there was no doubt that her story would be a legend told for ages to come.

Until fate decided otherwise, Aemond would cherish being a small part of that legend.

Aria dropped her hands from her face, draping them over the book he had given her only that morning. “What?”

Her steely eyes were more distant than Aemond had ever seen them. No girl should look that way on her nameday, especially not her. “Are we going to read the book?” He asked, tapping his quill on his parchment for emphasis.

She looked down at the faded title pressed into the linen. Then, to Aemond’s delight, she finally smiled.

“You never told me how you found this,” she said, carefully prying open the ancient tome.

Aemond grinned eagerly. This was a story he had waited a long time to tell.

“I wrote to my Uncle at Oldtown,” he began. “Not Hobert – Devran, the Maester. He is an archivist in the library at the Citadel. Maesters there have been studying the Runes since the Andals first came to Westeros. I told him how important being able to understand them was to you, as the future Lady of Runestone.”

Aria looked away, focusing instead on the inscription on the book’s first page. It did not stop Aemond from spotting the way her cheeks flushed.

He continued, “Devran spoke to the other archivists and the Conclave to find out if they had any information there that we did not and if he could get permission to send it here. But they had nothing to send.

“When King Jaehaerys made peace with the Faith, he ordered copies made of everything in the Citadel. Knowledge is powerful, and he did not want the Maesters to be the only ones able to wield it. But the libraries of the Citadel were not exhaustive. A few libraries of the older houses, especially in the North, had books the Maesters considered unholy, so they weren’t copied. An initiate from north of Winterfell told Devran about the library at the Wall. It is small and ill-cared for but has been untouched for hundreds of years. So he wrote to the Maester there – I forget his name – and found this.”

He reached across the table and touched the page, indicating the title. Deciphering the Runes of the First Men. The author’s name had long since faded. “I don’t know how accurate it is. Devran made sure I knew it was only a theory, but it’s still more than you ever had before. I had my mother write to the Maester at the Wall to get it sent here. It took two months; I was almost worried it wouldn’t arrive in time.”

Hearing his tale, Aria’s smile had returned in full force. That was why he had spent so long trying to find this perfect gift. There was no sight quite like that smile. It illuminated her whole face, sending a delicate sparkle into her silver eyes.

He loved that smile.

“I don’t know how to thank you, Aemond,” she whispered, unable to tear her eyes from the book. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” he replied, “just read.”

Hours later, both children lay underneath their table, their chairs long abandoned. Instead, Aemond lay on his belly, chin resting on his crossed arms as he tried yet again to comprehend the page in front of him through increasingly blurred eyes. Arianwyn lay perpendicular to him, using the flat of his back as a pillow while she sorted through the dozens of pages of parchment Aemond had filled while she read aloud.

Again, they were silent. But it was not the angry silence from earlier that day nor the melancholy silence that often followed Aemond. It was a happy silence—comfortable and inviting, like the silence that fills the air of a fire-warmed family hall on a snowy day.

Aemond groaned and let his head topple onto the book before him. “Aria?”

“Yes?”

“Why did Aegon make you so angry? Earlier, at the party. What he said was no worse than usual.”

Arianwyn tensed and sat up. She did not face him but crossed her legs and folded her arms around her. The words, when spoken, had evoked burning hot anger. Now, their memory only caused her heart to race with panic. “Because I am afraid to be married.”

“What?” Aemond shot up so swiftly that he hit his head against the bottom of the table with a loud ‘thunk.’ He stared at her as if she just said she wanted to marry her dragon. “But you haveto get married someday. It’s your duty. Why should you be afraid?”

Arianwyn scoffed, “And it may be your duty to go to war one day! Are you not afraid of that?”

“Of course I am,” Aemond insisted, “but that’s war, not marriage!”

“Marriage can be just as dangerous,” she whispered, too soft for him to hear. For the second time that day, her mind drifted back to what happened the previous night.

After dinner, Ser Gerold had insisted Arianwyn retire to her rooms early. He claimed she needed rest to prepare for the party the next day. But when the door closed behind them, he dismissed all her servants but one. Brynna Taler, who had formerly been a lady’s maid to her mother, Rhea, and was now Arianwyn’s, was allowed to remain.

Arianwyn knew immediately that something was wrong. Gerold was always so happy around her, loud and nearly boisterous. But as he sat in front of her now, elbows on his knees, he seemed nervous and visibly struggled to find words.

Brynna, at last, stepped forward. “Tomorrow shall be an important day, Aria. We wish to speak with you before the party to prepare you.”

Arianwyn looked between her cousin and her maid. “What is there to prepare for? It is a party.”

“It is not just any party,” Gerold said, speaking at last. “It is the party celebrating your tenth nameday. The Queen and I have discussed it, and we agree that tomorrow is the right time for you to start... meeting the young men of the realm.”

“But I have already met them,” Arianwyn said, puzzled by her cousin’s words and grim tone. “Most of them, at least. They have been to court before.”

Gerold laughed once, an uncomfortable sound. “Yes, I know. But it is time you start to… get to know them better. To consider them not just as visitors to court, but as potential companions.”

“I don’t understand,” Arianwyn said, beginning to mirror her cousin’s nerves. “I already have friends.” She looked toward Brynna, “And companions.”

The maid smiled. “Oh, my dear child. Allow me to explain.” She knelt on the floor in front of her. “Ser Gerold and I have both feared this day, but we have put it off for too long.”

She cupped the girl’s face in her hands, savoring her innocence. “Tomorrow, the Queen shall introduce you – or reintroduce you – to many of the noble boys your age. For when the sun rises, you shall no longer be a girl but a woman coming into her own.”

Arianwyn shied away from Brynna. “I am not a woman until I am twenty, and I take charge of Runestone.”

“That is when you shall come into your title,” Gerold said. The age had been decided when she was first put in the king’s care. She had never learned its reasons. “But you will be a woman before then. And though I am loathe to admit it, a woman needs a husband. You need a husband.”

At last understanding, Arianwyn nodded. “So, I must meet him tomorrow.”

“No!” Both adults shouted at once.

Gerold cleared his throat. “Tomorrow is only the beginning. We let the nobility know of your eligibility and allow you to meet their sons. No decisions need to be made tomorrow, nor the next day, or even in the next few years. I personally do not want to see you wed until you are six and ten. But we do need to begin somewhere, so it shall be tomorrow.”

Arianwyn nodded. She had expected a husband to come more naturally. He would save her from tripping on a dance floor or bring her wine at a ball. She had even imagined, on occasion, of saving a dashing young knight with Emrys, and together they would fly off to Runestone. She had never expected to meet him by appointment.

But she was the Lady of Runestone. To marry and bear children was her duty. Her romance may not be like the stories she had read for so long.

“I understand. I will do my best to present myself well tomorrow.” She stood from the couch and began to make her way to her private chambers.

“Wait.”

Arianwyn turned back, unsure what else there was to say. But a grim look from both her companions chilled her blood. Tentatively, she stepped back to the couch and sat down. Such a gloom fell over the room that she dared not speak.

“It is time you learned how your mother died.”

Tears sprung to Arianwyn’s eyes at the memory of the gruesome tale. She had come to realize that Daemon did not care for her, but she had never imagined the depths of his cruelty. She was so consumed by her thoughts of grief that she did not realize when Aemond crawled along the carpeted floor to sit beside her until he put his arm around her.

Noticing her wet eyes, he lowered his voice. “Why are you afraid to marry, Aria?”

She could not tell him. Gerold had told her so. They could not predict what Daemon would do if the tale got out. Besides, there was no law against a man raping his wife, and the King had never truly punished his brother before.

“I am afraid,” Arianwyn started, “because I do not want to leave. King’s Landing is my home, and all my friends are here. I don’t want to go back to Runestone with only a stranger for company.”

She supposed it was not a lie. The Red Keep had been her home since she was two months old. Except for Gerold, all her family and those she cared about were here: the king, queen Alicent, Helaena, and Aemond.

“Then I shall come with you,” Aemond declared, sitting as tall as he could under the table. “I shall travel to Runestone with you and your husband and make sure he is kind and treats you with honor.”

Arianwyn smiled. He had no idea how reassuring those words were, even if what he proposed was impossible. “And what will you do if he does not? If he is cruel to me?”

A fire blazed in his violet eyes, the fire of so many Targaryen kings and conquerors that came before him. “If he does anything to harm you or even make you sad, I shall cut off his head and feed it to Emrys!” he declared, entirely serious.

A brief moment of devoted silence passed between them. But in a heartbeat, both children collapsed into laughter, their studies and troubles forgotten.

Queen Alicent Hightower observed the children from between two distant shelves. She had witnessed the confrontation earlier at the party but had been too deep in conversation with some lord from the Reach to intervene. Not that her interventions had any impact on how her children behaved. Not anymore.

“Were there any tempting offers?” her father’s voice rumbled behind her. He had been sneaking up on her like this for years – she did not flinch anymore. He had only been back at court a few days – ostensibly for Arianwyn’s nameday – and already he was grating on her nerves.

Alicent sighed, hand instinctually flying to grasp the amulet around her neck. “A few. None I plan to pursue.”

“Hmm,” her father placed his hand around her shoulders to lead her away from the sharp ears of the children. “I think I best to seal her betrothal while her father remains in Pentos. We don’t want to lose that advantage.”

The Queen brushed off her father’s arm. Rage took root in her heart at the mention of Daemon, the horrific tale Gerold had relayed to her just hours ago still ringing in her ears. “Arianwyn is not a political advantage to be leveraged.” Her voice was as fierce as she would allow in the quiet of the library. “She is my niece, dear to me, and a great friend to my children – two of them at least.”

Otto blinked, raising his chin to look down his nose at her. She hated that look. He only used it when he considered her behavior foolish and immature.

She steeled herself to continue, “She is a young girl who has lost her mother and been abandoned by her father. I do not doubt that if he ever returns, Daemon will see her as a pawn for his own aims. Until she comes of age, there is little I can do to protect her from him – or any other man who seeks to manipulate her. So, I will do whatever I can for her while I still can.”

Not waiting for a response, the Queen swept out of the library.

Taglist: @heartb8k2 @queenofshinigamis @leptitlu @xxxkat3xxx @malfoycassimalfoy @lokiofasgard12

[itsabouttimex2]

Plot Idea: Azure Lion unknowingly had a child with his lover before his defeat and death at the hands of Sun Wukong. Subsequently leaving his lover (and future Cub) to live on without him. Maybe their mother passes away during their birth? The kid long out lives their human family and their friends and their village.

Alone, sad and bored they go off on their own to explore the city that they’ve heard traveler’s passing through their village speak off. Megapolis is a bit overwhelming for them at first but they come across Pigsy’s Noodles. Pigsy seeing this borderline feral kid looking in his shop hesitated on shooing them away and offers them some food, a few years later MK arrives and the rest is history…

They finally meet Azure with MK and Mei trying to get the scroll. The kid has no idea that he’s their dad and Azure is just shocked to see them. He sees both himself and his old lover in their features.

His kid feels extra betrayed and he can see it in their eyes when the group confronts the now reunited brotherhood. They are 100% on MK’s side and don’t hesitate to fight with the group.

Maybe they land some heavy enough hits the Azure has to leave them behind or maybe he’s able to capture them and force them to come along with him and his brothers. Though with their rather vicious stubbornness they might be more of a hinderance to his quest than he’d like. Maybe he traps them in the scroll and keeps them on his waist like he does with Wukong?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this idea 💖

Leonine Love

This is a really fun (and kinda sad) idea! I’m a big fan, actually! I loved this so much that I wrote a little (admittedly, non-yandere) intro because this is such a creative and interesting story idea.

Just… Lion!Y/N being pried from the arms of their dead mother, taken in by humans who recall Azure not as a delusional tyrant but a hero, recalling his mighty blade and fondness for mortals. How he knelt to level with children, how he stopped to help with the harvest. Feeling as though they owe him, the village takes you in and raises your as their own, watching in awe as your leonine ears and tail come in, marveling at the cyan growths.

Through a few generations you grow from infant to child, just in time for the legends of your father’s exploits to be consigned from legend to rumor, and now all the love you were lavished with has turned to dust.

To these new folk you are more fixture than family, an ever-present individual that they merely accustom to.

No more praise or warm embraces, no further tales of your ‘heroic papa’. All that you know about him is written on an old scroll that none are allowed to touch. Each story has been carefully penned, allowing you to preserve the legacy of a father you’ve never met.

With that scroll, a notable stash of pilfered money, and the clothes on your back… you bid farewell to a village that is no longer home, trudging out to find somewhere new.

And what name do you hear again and again?

Megapolis.

A few kind strangers help you along the way, hikers and hermits pointing you to the illustrious city and sharing supplies with what they take as a hapless child.

It feels too much like how you were treated by the original villagers, a communal child to be cherished and loved. Still, you thank them and leave, still intent on seeing this city with your own two eyes.

Of course, you’ve spent all your life in a slow and quiet village, so nothing has prepared you for even a single neon billboard, much less an entire futuristic city of light and noise, electric sugar for the eyes and ears.

The photonic onslaught of blinding light sears your eyes, leaving you disoriented and dizzy. Your stomach turns in circles, empty and begging for food. A strange black post that reaches to the sky blares with sound, causing you to scatter into the back alleys.

Any note of wonder at the electric rainbows and thrumming music is dashed by now, leaving you to curl up and sob, paws clamped tightly over your ears. There’s no one to wipe your tears or ask you not to cry, no one to tell you to be strong and brave. All you can do is crawl into the nearest discarded cardboard box, feeling like a coward and an outcast as you weep yourself to sleep.

And you wake up in a cozy little store, wrapped up tight in a two-tone changpao. A scholar argues at the front counter, the porcine demon behind it looking at you cautiously.

“They’re starving, Pigsy! You can see their ribs poking out, can’t you?!”

“I can see that! I’m just not sure about feeding a demon, Tang…”

“You’re a demon! A pig demon!”

“No, that’s different! I am a perfectly respectable noodle-chef! Not some damn ‘pig demon’!”

Hic. Sniff.

The little pitiful noises draw their attention, looking upon your quivering form with split reactions.

The scholar is worried, clearly. There’s a kindness in his eyes that looks almost ancient, like it’s been passed from generation to generation. He nudges his… friend? Rival?

You can’t tell what their relationship is, really.

The pig isn’t unkind with his gaze or words- cautious, maybe a little nervous. But he grumbles to himself at the sight of tears, stomping off to his kitchen and turning on the stove.

“You better be right about this kid, Tang…”

The scholar- Tang, then, comes to you and ushers your shivering and scrawny form onto a chair, pulling the changpao tighter around you.

“It’s alright, dear,” his soft voice promises. “Just sit down and try to relax. We’ll get a nice bowl of noodles ready for you-“

“There’s no ‘we’ about this, Tang!” Calls Pigsy, his voice booming above the clatter of metal and the sizzle of oil.

Actually, they do remind you of something- the old couples in your village who had been together a little too long and thus grown sick of one another.

But those were always men and women, weren’t they?

Tentatively, you wipe your eyes and ask:

“Are you two married?”

———————————————————————-

“That’s how we met Y/N,” Tang cheerfully explains, patting your head as you fixate your eyes on the ground.

The child (or is he a toddler?) -MK, as your fathers are calling him, looks up at you, stumbling over to your slowly swishing tail. “Kitty,” he says, a new animal he’s learned from the children’s books that you gave him. Tang had gifted them to you not long after he had convinced Pigsy to take you in, and now you had given them to the new kid.

New. Younger. Cuter. No demonic features. No fangs or sharp pupils or sheathed claws.

Are you being replaced?

“Kitty,” the little one repeats, tugging on the cyan fur of your tail. “Meow.” The babbling of a toddler or at least a very young child, stilted and happy. “Kitty.”

“Very good,” Tang praises, clapping his hands to provide encouragement. “What other animals do you like, MK?”

You step out of the room just as the adorable little thing starts to make loud oinking noises.

The storage room is tiny, just big enough to fit a few people and a cleaning cart. It’s fortified in case of emergencies, serving as a tornado shelter. You’ve spent a few prospective storms in here, clinging to Pigsy and sniffling at the sound of blaring sirens. Thankfully, nothing bad had ever even come close to happening, and eventually you shifted to viewing it as almost a break from the world. Just you and your…

Guardian. Boss. Caretaker.

You want to add father to that list. But taking that first step is a terrifying ordeal, and would involve putting yourself through a potential rejection.

You don’t think you could recover from that.

Another person enters the storage room, one hand on your shoulder. It’s not rough or big enough to be Pigsy. Not warm enough, either.

“Y/N? Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine, Mister Tang.” Too fast. The words slur together, a falsity even by the first second you speak.

The freeloader sighs, lightly moving to tilt your chin up, meeting you eye-to-eye.

“You don’t come to hide in here when things are ‘fine’, dear. And you don’t slur your words like that, either. Why not tell me what’s wrong?”

“…do you think Pigsy likes MK better than me?”

“Wh-what? Y/N, why would you- dear, what’s going on?”

“…MK is a normal kid, isn’t he? He’s not some half-breed freak like me, and-“

“Y/N. I know you’ve been through a lot, but I don’t ever want to hear you say that again.”

A scholarly man with the build to match, Tang is far from strong. But he’s got just enough strength to pull you into his arms, letting you bury your head into the cloth covering his shoulder.

“Please, Y/N. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m scared that he doesn’t see me as his child,” you gasp out, clinging to Tang. “I’m not just his sous chef, tell me I’m not just his sous chef! Dad, please-“

“Dad?”

You break down a little further, legs giving out as your body struggles with the fearful anticipation of potential disappointment. You wait there against his chest, weeping.

“I don’t mind if you see me as a father figure, dear. If anything, I’m actually flattered. You don’t need to be worried about that.”

“Not mad?” You manage to spit out, face thoroughly drenched in your own tears.

“Not mad,” he confirms, patting your head. “Now, let’s dry those tears and get you something to eat. I talked Pigsy into making grilled cheese dumplings with canned tomato soup.”

A moment to compose yourself is taken, wiping your puffy eyes.

“Pigsy hates using canned food, though. He always says: “It’s a disgrace to my profession, using canned ingredients! There’s no alternative to fresh!” and then he’ll throw a spoon at whoever asked.”

“Well, MK loves them. And you know that Pigsy can’t say no to kids.”

And Tang was the only one who got spoons thrown at him, but he left that little bit out.

“Now, come on. Let’s get you to the bathroom to clean your face up. If Pigsy asks you can just say you got peppercorn dust in your eyes and needed a moment.”

The door opens, and you see the other half of this family, Pigsy and MK.

Family.

A real one, this time. Flaws and cons and stumbles thorned all along interwoven vines of love and adoration.

It wasn’t perfect.

But it was yours.

[fuckyeslilkim]

Lil Kim's Squat Pose Is Iconic. Its Photographer Discusses it for the First Time

In a rare interview, Michael Lavine discussed the day he shot Lil Kim’s Hard Core cover, the booklet, and that feisty, nearly 30-year-old poster we just can’t get enough of.

Even though Michael Lavine has photographed OutKast, Ghostface Killah, JAY-Z, Missy Elliott, Foxy Brown and many others, he didn’t start out capturing larger-than-life rap acts. Like multiple moments throughout his career, he just fell into the next phase of artistry, which was deifying a generation of Black storytellers.

Lavine’s interest in photography goes way back. He led his high school’s yearbook committee as the head photographer. Soon after, at Washington’s Evergreen State College, he studied traditional street photography in the style of Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand. While in Washington, he befriended the group responsible for the record label that became Sub Pop, and documented a then-emerging sound that, to this day, continues to inspire chart toppers. He wasn’t interested in being married to any particular genre or group though, because boxing yourself in isn’t the move. “I just never felt comfortable kind of being pigeonholed in anything to my own detriment. It's not good for business to do that,” he said. “You're supposed to kind of dive in, not pull away. But that's just how I was wired. I wanted to do my own thing.”

After fostering the trust of music industry greats (“I started working for Rick Rubin. He was one of my first clients and he hired me to shoot a bunch of his Death American acts because he was starting to do metal at that time,” Lavine recalled) and becoming a Black Book highlight, he fell into shooting some of the biggest rappers on the scene. His knowledge of capturing Black talent helped. “I was very good at skin color and doing warm skin tones and lighting people,” he said. “For some reason, I think there was this problem with white people who didn’t understand how to light Black people, which was just ridiculous.”

In short, he came, he saw, he snapped. Legacies were cemented in the process, most notably with an image of one of the greatest female rappers that has become one of hip-hop’s most beloved and recreated photos — Lil Kim’s iconic squat seen ‘round the world.

Below, the retired photographer gave Okayplayer a rare interview where, for the first time, he discussed the day he shot Lil Kim’s Hard Core cover, the booklet, and that feisty, nearly 30-year-old poster we just can’t get enough of.

This interview, which took place over multiple conversations, has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

When did you first meet Lil Kim?

The date was 7/30/96. The anniversary just passed.

What was your first impression of her?

My impression overall was she was not like she is, as in the present. She was very quiet and under the thumb of Big Un. Remember Big Un?

Are you talking about Lance “Un” Rivera?

Yeah. He was there. He was the man in charge of her and was kind of in control of the shoot. Kim didn't say a word. I don't think I spoke to her once about anything, but we had a nice rapport in front of the camera. She was great and we made a lot of pictures together, but I felt like there was this circus going on around us and it was just me and her. You get this intimate bond with your subject a lot of times. She's in her lingerie and rolling around on a bed. So, I was trying to be my normal, respectable self, and being professional and making the images with her in tandem.

I would direct her like, "Let's try this. How about coming over here? What if we lean this way?" There were a lot of sets. We had rented a brownstone in Manhattan probably. It was a couple floors. It might have been two floors. So there was a bedroom, a little balcony, a fireplace, and those big doors.

I interviewed Kim last year and she told me she just kind of dropped into the squat pose naturally.

It was very spontaneous. When you're doing photo shoots, at least when I was working, it was an organic process and you let things happen. It's like a creative flow. Whenever you have a creative director there holding out a [composition] like, "Here, do it like this," it just was always bad and kind of nothing. It was like the safest way to get whatever it is that they had in their minds. But to make a great photograph you have to let things happen. You just have to go with it.

There was no layout for her to do that pose. It just was natural. Part of it, I spent a lot of time low angle, meaning I was always kind of lying on the floor, crouching down myself. So, it's possible that one of the reasons she did it was because I was probably sitting on the floor looking up at her because that's kind of how I do. My style was based on the hero, meaning my job was to make people look like heroes with iconic style.

My style was based on making people look cool and giving them lots of options. So, we would take a lot of different kinds of photographs. I used different kinds of lighting. We moved very quickly. A lot of things happened and it was very much an exciting experience. Somebody had a set prop person there bringing flowers. For the cover shot, we had all those flowers in front of the fire, and the bear skin rug we brought that in. It was a normal hip-hop shoot. I was intimidated. It was a very hard day. Everybody was being kind of tough and intimidating, and nobody would talk to me.

Were you scared?

I was never scared, but they all had guns. It's not that I was scared..scared is not the right word. It's more like I felt kind of out of place a little bit. I didn't even speak with Kim. I was dealing with Un mostly, and Un had a lot of ideas. So we were trying to do all the things. I was getting coverage for him. He wanted to have her hold the honey bear. Remember, there's a shot of her holding a honey bear on the black satin sheets? We had a lot of props. I had a props guy. His name was Jerry Schwartz. He was very good and we had brought a bunch of stuff.

So, for example, I remember Puffy came in for a shot and I did one shot with Puffy and Kim together. And Puffy, I worked with him many times. He didn't even say hello to me.

I was just like, “Really? Do you have to be that way? You're so cool you don't want to embarrass yourself talking to the photographer, actually acknowledging him?”

I never really felt at home around Puffy. I think at that time, because I don't think he's like this anymore, but at that time he was — and I know this happened to several other people that I've witnessed throughout their careers — they're really striving. It's very hard at the beginning and they'll push, push, push. They're just about their thing and they don't care about you. So, he was yelling at everybody all the time.

On set that day?

Not that day. Other days.

Oh, just in general?

Just in general. Barking orders. But that day he came in briefly and we did the shot and then he left. There's one shot, I don't know if you've seen it, of them together on a wall. I don't even know why he was there. I can't remember. He had something to do with the record, I guess.

"There was no layout for her to do that pose. It just was natural," Lavine said of the image.

The image came out as the poster, “Lil Kim Coming Soon.” When you're there that day, you have no idea what images are going to stand out. Zero. There's just no way anyone could know. It isn't until there's time to contemplate the session when you edit it and you start to live with the images. And the graphic designer who, I can't remember who it was. Maybe you can find that out.

Maybe.

Let's see if there's a name on here. I don't know. Big Beat records? I don't know who that would've been. Atlantic maybe? I think it was Atlantic Records, no?

Lil Kim was [signed to] Atlantic.

It was Atlantic? Maybe it was, I don't know who it was. Liz Barrett? There were a bunch of people in the Atlantic art department at the time. I could probably look at the invoice.

Do you still have the invoice?

I don't know. Let's see if I do. '96...

If you do, you're the best records keeper of all time.

Yeah, there's Kim and Puffy right there. I have the whole job here. Ed and Carl were my assistants. The location was 24 West 10th Street. That's where we shot it. Here's something for you. Ready for this?

Yes.

So, these are notes from my conversation with the manager. "Little Kim. Female. She's the other woman, somersaults in bedroom, not raunchy. Doorway of bedroom, satin sheets. Blouse, undone. Honey in hair, on bed and on phone. Down pants. Unbuttoning pants. No whips and chains. Classy, sexy, lush, lustful. Candles in the background. Fruits and chocolates." There you go.

The notes Lavine was given prior to the Lil Kim shoot.

So, those were the notes that you were given before the shoot?

Yep. Those were the notes I was given before the shoot.

"Not raunchy" really stands out because I think you conveyed that.

"Not raunchy" — peekaboo, sexy shit.

Oh, man. Well, you did it. You accomplished the goal. And that actually flows really well into my next question, which was what do you believe they were trying to convey with the shoot?

It was funny that they hired me because I was known for not exploiting women in my photos. That was one of the reasons I didn't ever shoot women because back in the day, you were expected to shoot women with clothes off. I refused to do that and I never did it. I think this crouching picture was the raunchiest picture that I had ever done. Actually, that's not true. I did one once. But it was not my normal style, shall I say.

But also, it's an empowering image. I just generally felt uncomfortable sexualizing women throughout my career. That shoot was uncomfortable for me because I had to do that, and I think she was a little unclear as to what she was doing herself. I have no idea. I didn't talk to her. I'm not sure what she was thinking. Years later, I talked to her because we were both well complaining about this image being bootlegged.

She did mention that during our interview. That people were making t-shirts and making their own memorabilia.

It's completely illegal what they're doing, and it's got to be the most bootlegged image of mine. It's like whack-a-mole, you can't stop them. You send out your lawyers and then they just shut down and open with a different name. I could probably go out, spend some time and sue them all and she could, too. Who has time for that? If you have a lawyer and you have a lot of money, you could do that.

That sounds like a lot.

I mean, it's unfortunate. But she was talking about trying to do some merch of her own. The smart thing to do would be to get a deal with Merch Traffic or somebody that does merch, and then they would take care of trying to squash the illegal competition. But I thought that she was going to maybe have that happen this year, but I haven't heard from her.

But the image is just getting more and more famous. It's funny, you never know what kind of resonance an image is going to make and impress upon the culture at the time when you make it. It's rare that there's an instant classic. It's very hard to have that kind of impact these days just because of the nature of social media. Back then, there was a poster and that poster was the only poster. There was no other place to see it but the poster.

Now, it's everywhere.

That image really stands the test of time. Very few images stand the test of time like that image that I've worked on. It's one of my more recognizable images and I have a lot of them.

You do.

So, what can I say? It was a perfectly nice day. She was lovely. We had a nice rapport. The pictures came out great. I continued to work for many years after, and I'm retired now.

What made you jump into hip-hop photography?

Well, that's a funny question because I think my whole life, until recently, has been me falling into things that I wasn't planning on. I was driven to do photography so I was on that path. But if you would've told me my senior year, my fifth year of college, I was going to be shooting rock bands for a living for the rest of my life, I would've said, "Really?" I would've had no idea. But that fifth year [of college] I got a job to shoot a rock band and it just turned into —

The rest of your life?

It turned into the rest of my life. I never said, "I'm going to be a rock photographer." I never said that until I was one. Then, I had no plans on shooting hip-hop. It was an up-and-coming market at the time. I didn't know anything about it. I was friends with Kurt Cobain hanging out at rock shows, and really was unaware of a lot of hip-hop.

I did some hip-hop jobs early. I shot De La Soul, who I loved. I shot a few bands and hip-hop acts that were popular around that time. I got to know a lot of people in the business over time because I worked in it for so long. I was really close with Groovy Lou, who I loved as a stylist. June Ambrose. A lot of people.

But this was a defining moment. That shot, that poster when it came out, it made a lasting impact. It's still gaining speed. At that time, nobody knew who she was.

Did you know who she was?

I might've heard her name but not really. I just got hired on jobs. That's how I learned about people. I listened to the record before anybody else heard it. I got it first. But a lot of people were that way — I would learn about them on the job. That's how you learn because if I'm shooting 100 jobs a year, I don't have time to do anything but the job that's in front of me.

Did you listen to the album before the shoot?

Oh, I'm sure, of course. I don't remember the exact moment I listened to it but I always did. But that was part of the job, and we listened to it all day long during the shoot because that's what we did.

When did you realize that photo was really making waves?

Well, I think it happened over time. Obviously, the poster immediately was like, “OK, that's intense.”

Was it everywhere? Was it all over town?

It was everywhere. And when the poster came out it was powerful. It was a dramatic statement and it sent shock waves immediately. It was clearly influential at the time, I will say that. It was shocking and effective. It put her on the map.

Do you think it put her on the map more so than the cover?

Oh, yeah. The cover, who knows what the cover looks like? Nobody does.

[eepyuii]

frostbite — pt. 13

pairing ; childe x gender neutral!reader

content ; childhood friends to “rivals” to lovers, slowburn

cw ; none

notes ; april fools prank where i actually post a new chapter!!! (i actually just speedran finishing this one bc i couldn’t sleep. it’s 2:30 am :3)

anyway, more of these pining idiots (france edition)

previous | next | masterlist

“…fontaine?”

at this point, you’ve forgotten why you were even crying. your heart is still hammering in your ears from childe’s words towards you— recalling his exact wording almost makes you want to sob again, but your head is already thrumming with ache too much for that. childe explains further his reasons for wanting to go to fontaine but you can’t bring yourself to focus, still replaying what happened previously in your mind.

“i’ve been having these strange dreams and mood swings… i think they’re related to the abyss.”

now that gets your attention. the mere mention of the abyss seems to create a flash of everything in your mind, from the day he disappeared to the day he came back, to when you saw foul legacy for the first time, to when he told you about the abyss— it hits you so abruptly that you physically flinch.

“w-wait what..? why?” you ask meekly, pit forming in your stomach at what this could possibly entail.

“well… you remember the sword master i told you about, right? the one that taught me all i know— skirk was her name. at one point while i was learning under her, i asked her why she took me in at all.. and her answer was extremely cryptic. she something along the lines of ‘because i awakened it’ and that i was ‘connected’ to it.”

“…’it’?”

“hah, she never told me what it was, that enigmatic lady.” childe tries to laugh it off and lighten the sober mood, but you can still gauge that it’s really a vexing matter to him.

“but i’ve got a hunch— i think it’s a whale.”

the vivid image of his whale attack blinds you momentarily, like you can still feel the chilling breeze of its waving water anatomy as it launched upward and slammed down on the floors of the golden house. no wonder childe used it while in his foul legacy form.

“a whale… is that why it’s one of your moves?”

“perhaps, that was never my intention though. my hunch isn’t due to that attack specifically either— it’s more about what i see in my dreams. within them, i find myself in the deepest depths of the sea, not a trace of anything except seawater, and then… there it is, a colossally big whale.”

“and- and the mood swings, how do you feel?”

“i don’t know— lately there’s just these moments where my mood completely flips around and i just feel… bad, like there’s something pulling at my throat. and then the next second it goes away.”

almost as if childe’s own description affects you, as a pit forms in your stomach and a clawed grip pulls at the back of your throat. besides the glaring bad news of anything abyss related, you have a feeling that… something might genuinely go wrong. like this is a bad idea.

“a-and you’re sure you want to go to fontaine to investigate that?”

“yep, positive.”

all of this feels entirely off and you’re not willing to take any chances anymore. you’re not losing this idiot to the abyss again, even if it means jumping down there to pull him back up yourself.

“then i’ll come with you.”

the way childe’s face entirely lights up at that makes it seem as though it’s all he’s ever wanted to hear in his life. for a moment you even think you spot a reflection of the inazuman street lamps in his irises, making him seem utterly starry-eyed. as he’s about to exclaim something about how glad he is, he pauses pensively for a moment and hesitates.

“wait— we’d have to go through sumeru again… are you sure you’re okay with that?”

you nod with full certainty. “i’ll be okay, because this time i’ll be with you.”

the two of you simultaneously turn away from each other discreetly the rest of the way to the hotel, as both try to suppress the grins that creep onto your faces and the heat that rises to your cheeks.

—

the trip to fontaine is arduous and tiring.

by the time you’re on land again, you and childe bee-line for your new hotel. after a long night’s sleep, you finally get to take in the breathtaking architecture, the unimaginable technological advancements and the extravagant lifestyles of the hydro nation. it’s almost overwhelming how much there is to see. childe, simultaneously, furthers his investigation in how to battle the champion duelists— spars with some of them even. and the more he does, the more you’re confident he’s signing up to get his ass kicked if he’s looking to go for tougher champions.

today, you’re whiskered away and into a fancy café in an impromptu invitation by the knave before you can even think of choosing where to go next. once lead into a private conversation room in the café, you’re met by the sight of the knave herself and… three teenagers? childe doesn’t seem to be as taken aback by their presence as you are, perhaps he’s known of them prior to the meeting— either way he doesn’t even spare the three a glance, being far too busy trying to contain the tension in his posture upon seeing arlecchino.

you don’t blame him for that either, as the fourth harbinger is someone you’ve only heard poorly of. she was never much present in zapolyarny palace, in fact you can only recall hearing of her staying in snezhnaya at all for the fair lady’s funeral. other than that, it’s only snarls and shuddered comments from childe saying that he does not like her entirely.

alas, all conflict represents a failure in diplomacy. and she doesn’t seem like someone fun to fight.

“childe… and— sargeant y/n, is it? be very welcome to fontaine, i’m glad to see you’ve accepted my invitation for this chat. be assured this meeting is solely meant for cordial conversation, so, please, relax.”

the knave gestures for you both to sit on the loveseat facing hers— assorted sweets, steaming tea atop a table between them and a collected smile on her face. her eyes seem to hold more than just… cordiality in them, in fact her gaze has a predatory hint to it. you feel so utterly scrutinized under her stare that you almost forget the three teenagers still standing at a corner of the room.

“as you might’ve noticed, i’ve brought three of my children from the house of the hearth— lyney, lynette and freminet. i’ve brought them here in the spirit of… first contact, they’ve never met one of my fellow harbingers before.”

oh that’s right, the house of the hearth. for a moment you feel bad for those three kids, having to stand nearly unregarded at the corner like actual children at an awkward family gathering, merely because the orphanage that took them in happened to be associated with the fatui. you wonder if they’re well treated in the house— rather you hope they are, being under the wing of someone you’ve only heard be described as psychopathic.

arlecchino and childe engage in small talk, she asks about his recent comings and goings, family, work and such while he responds with cautious answers. you can tell childe is as on guard as he can be, before someone who is unpredictable even to him. meanwhile you only stare boredly into your teacup, tracing its intricate painted patterns with your fingers.

your eyes trail over to the three kids almost involuntarily and you see that they haven’t moved an inch since you’ve arrived, merely watching carefully with unreadable expressions. well, at least the tallest one of them does, you think you’ve seen his face in flamboyantly decorated posters around the city, perhaps for a spectacle in true fontainian fashion. same goes for the girl, who seems to be a cat hybrid, bears an even more unamused expression than yourself and she seems to be much more entertained in watching her own tail sway back and forth lazily. finally, the other boy is crouched down over a rounded device as he tinkers with it with a screwdriver in his hand, you can’t discern exactly what it is though.

finally, you notice that besides what you, childe and arlecchino have nibbled on, the rest of the food on the coffee table remains untouched. you don’t know what it is, but a small voice in your head tells you to walk over to them.

a few silent steps, unacknowledged by the two still chatting, and you’re standing in front of the three teens. their shoulders immediately tense at your looming stature and it’s then that you’re reminded that you’re fatui— much more fatui than any of these orphans will ever be.

“hey, uh, aren’t you guys hungry?” you whisper awkwardly.

the taller boy seems to be taken aback by the question and his previously guarded expression melts into relieved amusement.

“ah— don’t worry about us, sargeant, we’ve eaten.” he chuckles politely.

you nod, feeling a tinge of embarrassment creep at your fingertips at how simple and foolish your question seemed. your eyes scatter as you search for something else to bring up in conversation.

“o-oh um… this may seem silly to ask but— are you two part of any show? i think i’ve seen these posters on the streets with two people a lot like you.”

“why yes, i am known as the great magician lyney and my sister lynette is my assistant.” lyney presents proudly, giving you a humorous bow— a complete 180 of his demeanor before, while lynette remains stoic and merely nods to you.

you’re intrigued by the reveal. you’ve seen street ‘magicians’ both in snezhnaya and liyue, mere entertainers fooling the naked eye for petty change, but to be titled a great magician in a nation as grandiose as fontaine, it must say something about lyney.

“magician, huh? i’ll be sure to catch one of your shows sometime.” you grin.

the other boy, who through your supernatural investigative skills you determine is named freminet, remains unbothered and undistracted from his activity. you quietly crouch down to his level and watch with intrigue as he works on his device, either unaware of your presence or uncaring of it.

“hi,” you whisper in a gentle tone, grabbing the boy’s attention as he raises his head to show so, even if he doesn’t fully face you. “freminet, right? can i ask what is it that you’re working on?”

“a-ah uhm… i-it’s nothing too intricate, just fixing up my diving helmet.” freminet fidgets with the edge of his helmet— still not once making eye contact with you, rather his eyes scatter back and forth toward the ground, much in the same way you were before.

“woah, a diving helmet? i would’ve never been able to guess that’s what it was. it’s so cool looking… can you see well in it?” you gasp with wonder.

as soon as you ask, it’s once again as if the teen’s entire mood shifts, his posture becomes more relaxed and his eye light up as they finally meet your own. freminet visibly attempts to hold himself back from getting too excited.

“yes! i-i can’t see very well with the visor but… it’s the best i can get for a helmet meant to sustain such high levels of water pressure!”

“oh sweet— i’ve heard that fontaine’s waters have so much to explore… how deep can you go with it?”

“i’d say about thirty five meters. the maximum safe depth for humans is sixty, though.”

“that’s already so far! what do you usually encou-“

“y/n? we should get going.”

childe calls out faintly as he stands by the door, fond smile on his face. you say goodbye to the three, who return it parting smiles, even lynette flashes you the most microscopic grin though you didn’t directly speak to her. scurrying to formally say goodbye to arlecchino, you join childe outside the café. in such a hurry, you don’t even catch the intrigued stare of the knave towards you.

as the two of you return to touring the streets of the city, you notice childe chuckle and grin to himself as he looks away aimlessly, any of his attempts to hide it fail completely.

“what’s gotten you so giggly?” you ask amusedly.

childe has always reddened easily, perhaps it’s a trait of his redheadedness or a trait of his shy nature as a kid— just like then, his ears immediately give away his embarrassment and he can’t hope to evade explanation.

“ah well, it’s just…” he trails off, hand coming up to scratch his nape sheepishly. “i find rather amusing how good you are with kids.”

the answer surprises you and your step halts momentarily.

“w-what do you mean?”

“oh c’mon, y/n… look at how you were talking to those kids. they were so hostile and serious before and then when i looked again, there you were chatting with them and making them feel comfortable. i was surprised anyone could even be that comfortable in a room with that lunatic…” childe grimaces briefly.

“and it’s not the first time this happens. my siblings all adore you, especially teucer and tonia. she always asks about you in our letters.”

as if karmic, heat rises to your own cheeks— you’d say it’s due to the vulnerability that childe brings out with his words, but the back of your head focuses the mere fact that childe paid attention to that at all to the point where he’d smile at the thought and summons pesky butterflies to your stomach.

you’ve found that lately, most times you think about childe those butterflies are there again. you’re not an idiot, you’ve read fairy tale books, but now was the least appropriate time to indulge any further— your best friend has heard callings from the abyss again and it’s affected his well-being, get your head in the fucking game, y/n.

“s-sure but you know that’s not always been the case! don’t you remember when tonia was born? she always cried whenever i was around…” you retaliate in an attempt to dismiss your embarrassment.

childe opens his mouth to reply but his attention is caught by something else. following his gaze you spot a gathering of people and it seems to be rather more confrontational than merely social. looking further, you recognize one of the men as a representative of conferie of cabriere, a shady organization with even unclearer relations to the northland bank branch of fontaine city. while you haven’t bothered to visit the branch, childe has passingly spoken of his findings there about said organization.

you also spot an all too familiar head of blonde hair— the traveler and paimon. before you can ask anything, childe steps briskly ahead, though he does not disturb the conversation just yet and watches from the sideline.

“…that you won’t go running off by the end of this month? i want fifty percent. today. no— seventy percent.” you hear part of what the man says.

“huh?! you…” the woman in front of him exclaims incredulously.

“hey, hold on! before you go trying to collect payments, why don’t you settle your own debts first?” intervenes childe in a taunting tone.

“if confrerie of cabriere wants to poach clients from northland bank, that’s fine, but i’m afraid you still owe the bank a hefty sum of mora. so why don’t we work things out between us first before you get back to your little conversation here?”

the man visibly cowers slightly, chuckling nervously.

“ah, you’re from northland bank? but we said we’ll pay you everything we owe next month. why are you hounding me now?”

in the midst of that, paimon waves from where she and the traveler stand and it catches childe’s attention. he immediately saunters over to them with delighted surprise in his face, as if completely brushing his prior interaction off, and you take that as your que to join him.

“oh, traveler! paimon! didn’t think i’d run into you here in fontaine. what are the chances?”

“we’re surprised to see you too! what are you doing here in fontaine? didn’t want to stay in snezhnaya?”

this time you answer. “ah, we were actually in inazuma before this for a little… leisurely trip.”

at that, the traveler eyes you suspiciously and it’s very clear that both of you catch onto her meaning, as childe chuckles nervously and you fidget with your fingertips. as discreetly as you can, you shake your head at the traveler, who drops her glare with slight disappointment.

“haha! yeah, long story short, we’ve been in fontaine for some time now. and honestly— things here have been pretty mundane. but it seems that fate has brought our paths together today!”

childe throws you a delighted look as his chest puffs up proudly. his demeanor has completely changed from its mellower nature from before, like spotting a conflict to participate in has lightened his mood exponentially— painfully in-character for him. he shows to be as excited as a little kid on their birthday, in such a manner that it almost takes away the weight of the fact that he’s excited to beat the shit out of someone. you won’t anote that verbally though, you know very well he’s been craving a fight ever since you landed in fontainian grounds.

“not only will i have more good friends here now, but ones who always seem to find trouble. either way you look at it, it seems things are going to get a lot more interesting now.”

dear tsaritsa, you know him so well.

paimon chuckles nervously. “pretty sure we’d want to avoid anything you’d find interesting… besides, our trip here has gone pretty well so far, right traveler?”

the traveler shrugs. “i don’t mind a little excitement every once in a while.”

you almost reprimand her for encouraging childe’s tendencies, but instead the sound of someone clearing their throat is heard behind you.

“ahem, uh… hey you, northland bank boy. aren’t ya forgettin’ somethin’?”

“don’t interrupt— it’s not often we’re all reunited like this. why don’t you wait for me over there for a while?”

“hah, you kiddin’?! aren’t ya the one lookin’ for us? you really expect us to sit and twiddle our thumbs while you catch up with your friends?! listen to me, boy. if you want your mora, fine— why don’t you come and take it?”

oh well. rest in peace whoever this asshole was.

“hey! i said not to interrupt. oh! by the way, traveler, y/n i forgot to tell you this one too… the last time i took tonia and teucer ice fishing, teucer said—“

“HEY! that’s way over the line! alright boys, let’s see who has to pay up now!”

“ugh, can you at least let me finish one sentence? fine, though the bank told me not to get rough with our clients…”

you’re not exactly worried about the outcome of this fight, so you just continue the topic childe was interrupted from.

“you still take them ice fishing?” you ask him fondly, warm smile on your face.

childe is rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms as prep, but he still turns his head to throw you a playful wink. “‘course i do. i’ll tell you all about it after i take care of these guys.”

“alright, want me to hold your earring?” you ask teasingly.

“hah hah..” childe feigns a laugh, rather very obviously fake than convincing.

you may fake it all you want in front of other people, but there was no point in lying to yourself and saying you didn’t feel your heart stutter at that wink, it makes you like a silly teenager. the traveler and paimon almost instinctively expect you to try and hold childe back from getting himself into trouble— but when you don’t move an inch to stop him, perhaps too distracted thinking about how heavily your heart strums against your chest, they both give you a judgemental glare.

“what happened to your common sense?” paimon deadpans and you can’t bring yourself to respond.

as expected, childe single-handedly takes down the confrerie’s gaggle of goons without even breaking a sweat. soon enough, only the leader remains standing, already panting heavily and stumbling on his steps.

“what’s your deal brat..? how are you so strong if you’re just a staffer from snezhnaya’s northland bank?! …wait, don’t tell me you’re a—“

“ohoh, now you notice— s’ a little late, don’t you think? just make sure you understand that you don’t mess with northland bank, got it?”

to finish off, childe summons his dual elemental blades… or rather he tries to.

the water swirls into the silhouette of the blades, but when it means to solidify in shape— the water vanishes. you frown in bewilderment almost immediately, did he just change his mind? no, you look towards childe’s expression and see that he’s just as taken aback as you, looking down to the hydro vision at his waist that sits inactive. his opponent takes the distraction as an opportunity to strike, but much to his dismay it takes childe only a punch to knock him out instead.

seeing that all of the men have been taken down definitively, you rush over to childe’s side— you instinctively give him a once over to check for injuries or anything off. the traveler and paimon join you soon after.

“huh, that was weird…” he mutters.

“yeah… safe to say that wasn’t intentional. you okay?”

“what happened?” adds the traveler.

“i’m not… sure. it’s as if i lost control of my hydro powers when i needed them. maybe there’s something wrong with my vision?”

“strange. how could that happen? first time paimon’s ever heard of someone losing control of their vision.”

childe shakes his head dismissively and sighs. “nevermind, it doesn’t matter. if i wanna stay sharp, i shouldn’t be relying too much on my vision anyway. besides, i always have my delusion in case i need it.”

you throw him a glare. “hey, we know better than anyone that a delusion isn’t the remedy for a vision.”

“so what’re you guys actually doing in fontaine? and don’t say it’s work for northland bank…” paimon asks, in hope of changing the subject.

“well… i guess it’s because i’ve been having these bad moods lately.”

“huh? what kinda reason is that? wait, since when do you feel down about anything?”

“haha… i dunno, maybe i still have a lot to learn about myself. but recently, there seems to be some sort of restless power stirring inside of me— and i don’t know why but every now and then, i feel like i’m a in terrible mood.”

at a realization, that familiar anxious feeling returns to your chest, claws at it. it was only just recently that you felt free from it, yet your mind replays the moment where childe’s vision failed him against your will and causes that old weight on shoulders to return.

“what if… that’s why your vision did that? because of ‘it’?” you suggest meekly and childe nods thoughtfully in consideration of the possibility.

“‘it?’” paimon questions.

childe explains his story with the abyss and his swordmaster, almost verbatim to the way he told you. perhaps partially due to deja vu, you can’t bring yourself to listen intently— your mind is far too addled with fleeting and overwhelming whispers of what could happen to childe after this new development. you instinctively start to fidget with your fingers anxiously, as your eyes stare off into nothing while you’re deep in thought. your time for relaxation was dismantled so fast… like the worried thoughts were stalking you from a distance like patient predators— waiting to pounce and overtake all of your neural functions.

there’s a light tap on your shoulder.

coming to, you realize that the traveler and paimon are no longer standing in front of you and your eyes scatter to find them already taking off into the streets, waving goodbye absentmindedly. secondly, you turn to see childe looking down at you with a somber air in his eyes.

“y/n? seems like you spaced out a bit there… you alright?”

you scoff, though the scoff feels more demeaning at yourself than childe. “your powers are malfunctioning and you’re worried about me?”

he laughs. “yeah well… guess i picked that up from someone. listen— it’s fine, maybe it was just a random hiccup, we don’t know anything yet. i was going to tell you that i’ve got to go keep my appointment with the champion duelist but… speaking of my vision, here.”

a palm opens up in front of you, sapphire-esk gem neatly sitting on it.

“…you’re giving me your vision? why?” you frown.

“heh, i know i just said it could’ve been a hiccup but… it’s still not reliable, i’d hate for it to get in the way of my duel.”

as if childe senses your wholehearted reluctancy, he holds up both of your hands, puts his vision in them and closes them beneath his own.

“besides, there’s nobody in this world i’d trust more to keep it safe for me.”

he holds both of your hands there for a moment, a moment in which you realize how warm his hands are and how cold yours are. it’d be easy to say it’s due to his gloves— but he’s always been like this. you still recall how ajax would complain about your ‘subzero temperature hands’ whenever you tried to tickle him. and the irony is even funnier, for you to have received a vision that summons powers of ice and for childe to have received a vision with control over the waters… essentially the warmer version of your powers. perhaps it’s a coincidence, or perhaps a silly little play put on by the gods.

with all the time you’ve had to ponder over all of this, you realize that the two of you are still holding hands— not a falter or pull from either of you. as you’d been looking down aimlessly once again, when you look up to face childe, your gaze is already met by his. like he’d been looking at you the entire time.

at that, your arms start to tremble, seemingly causing childe to realize the reality of the situation himself. he brings a gloved hand up to cover his cheeks, pretending as if he’s scratching something on his face.

finally, he mumbles something about wishing him luck in his duel and takes off briskly.

his vision feels heavier in your hands now that his aren’t there to hold it with you.

taglist ; @kentply @osaemu @rain-and-a-nice-nap @koichirana

[itmeansiris]

The Solar System Legacy Challenge: Random School Holiday Gen 1 pt.77

The weekend was over and Monday morning came with the promise of a busy schedule. When M and Kason came downstairs the triplets were nowhere to be found.

They were normally raiding the fridge or crowding the bathroom trying to get ready for school. Sure, it was still raining, but they hadn't gotten any notification about school closures due to the weather.

Kason: Think they packed up and went to live in Moonwood Mills with the wolves?

She swatted his arm before pointing at him.

M: If they did guess who gets to go bring them back smartie pants. I'll check upstairs, can you run the coffee machine?

M figured she'd start with Venus. She stopped outside her door hearing faint voices from inside. She knocked twice before opening the door.

M: V? Oh! Good morning ladies.

Venus spared her mother a moment's glance before returning her focus to her void critter battle as Aphdroite rambled off things she learned about Chestnut Ridge. Venus wasn't truly listening as usual, just adding the occasional head nod or half grunt to keep Dite appeased.

Venus: Morning Mom.

Aphrodite: Good morning Mom.

M: How come you guys aren't getting ready for school?

Aphrodite: It's a 3 day school holiday Mom. They put the reminder in our backpacks, it's hanging on the chores board downstairs. Nana put it there.

M tried to remember if she'd seen the note Aphrodite was talking about and could vaguely remember her mother mentioning it during lunch the day before. Luckily, Kason had the next two days off, and M had finished her latest book, freeing up plenty of time. This was the start of an eventful week.

M and Kason had the kids spend Monday morning skill-building. In the afternoon as the kids got restless unable to go outside because of the continued rain Kason suggested a family-friendly yoga session. Kason and M were graceful in their movements showing off a little. Dite caught on quickly striving for perfection. Ishtar and Venus were not as interested in the peaceful nature of the activity. They tumbled and fell over one pose after another until they were on the floor in a fit of laughter. Though their parents didn't mind, Dite on the other hand wasn't pleased with the giggling duo.

Aphrodite: Do you guys ever take anything seriously?

That evening they made homemade pizza and Spirit helped the kids build another blanket fort. They finished the night by breaking out the popcorn maker and settled in for a spooky movie night.

By Tuesday morning the rain had stopped. M took Zohreh with her to Comet's Vet appointment while Kason and Spirit taught the kids how to ride their bikes.

When M and Zohreh got back Spirit and Kason were in the kitchen with the kids. Spirit and her favorite little helper Venus were making spooky day cookies. M went and got changed to join the others downstairs when she got a call. She'd barely answered when the voice on the other line came in strong and without a greeting.

Winter: I'll be there tomorrow.

She bleated before M could say hello.

M: That's a day early is everything okay?

She heard Winter scoff. She could hear the rapid fluttering of Winter's massive black wings. She could recall all the times she had seen Winter flutter her wings without taking flight it normally meant she was anxious or worse mad.

Winter: Can't a girl want a little time away from her kids and husband to grill her best friend about the rumors she had to hear about from Peyton? Is that reason enough? Plus I still need a costume for your spooky day party. Figured I could drag you shopping.

M hadn't spoken to Winter in weeks and hadn't seen her since they were in Tomarang for Jorden’s funeral service, which meant she hadn't had a chance to explain what had happened with Paris recently. Winter and Peyton (Kason's twin brother) were coming to Brindelton Bay for the fall holidays. They planned to arrive on Thursday (the day before the party), but it seemed Winter was expediting her own arrival. M didn't offer any objections, it had been too long since she had seen her best friend.

M: I'm sorry Winter. You never need a reason to come and see me. I can't wait to meet Hannah.

Winter: Yeah, well that will have to wait.

Winter responded flatly. M wasn't sure if the hint of annoyance she was picking up in Winter's tone was real but she didn't like the way it made her feel.

M: We clearly have a lot to talk about. But do you mind if I invite Kiersten, the girl I told you about?

Winter: Sure. It's about time I met the person who's been occupying my bestfriends time while I've been away moving and having a baby.

M: Oh watcher Winter..I'm a horrible friend.

Winter's wicked laughter was enough to pull M out of her own head. Winter had always been a little mischievous and her antics didn't exclude Mercury. M had always blamed it on the spellcasters who had trained her but part of it was just how good ole Winter was.

Winter: I'm just busting your balls. You've been busy too M. I was upset-though, having Peyton show me the pictures and you never even calling that hurt. But I know you were dealing with it and the kids are excited to see their cousins and Uncle Kason. I can't wait to see you and hear all about the drama. Oh, and I can't wait to meet your friend.

M smiled as Kason came into the living room to steal a kiss.

M: Winter Lotus you better behave yourself she's nice but no one could replace you and you know it.

She warned using her parenting voice. On the surface, it may have been a joke but M couldn't shake the feeling that she had been neglecting her friendship with Winter and wanted to reassure her friend (and herself a little) that no one could ever take her place in M's life. They weren't just best friends. They were like sisters but were legally sisters by marriage to the Gratz twins. They were aunts to each other children. Winter was her family just as much as Beckett was her blood brother.

Winter: Does that mean I can't show her any magic tricks!

Winters laughter filled the line again along with the familiar twinkle noise that indicated she was using her magic.

M: Winter!

Winter: I'm just kidding! Love you M, See you tomorrow.

Previous Next

Beginning

Sidebar: Venus is playing on @ravasheencc voidcritter tablet. They still own the battle station but V likes to play alone or online sometimes! She’s determined to be the best.

Pose:

Willowsworld: Two bodies, One mind

Libet: child emotions

starrysimsie: On the line

[terabyteturtle]

Hii! Could I request a Reina SFW alphabet? If not thats ok!! I know there isn’t much to know about her 😓

💜 Reina SFW Alphabet 💜

I'll probably have to rewrite this eventually as we get more information about her, but I did my best with what we have so far! I tried my best not to assume much of anything, but I feel like Reina would be a bit of a loner type, especially after the death of Heihachi (whom we assume she was close with). Hope you enjoy!

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Reina shows a regular amount of affection towards you; it’s neither constant nor rare. She’s very casual and doesn’t make a big deal over it. Being as clever as she is, Reina is very smooth and sly with most of her gestures. For example, you guys will just be having a conversation, and she’ll just slip an arm around your shoulders without you noticing. The only displays of affection she won’t be subtle with, though, are punches and shoulder bumps. Despite having a penchant for being smooth, Reina also enjoys playfighting as a sign of affection. If she punches you in the arm or rams into you with her shoulder, then you know she’s into you. She’ll do all of this no matter where you are. However, when it comes to hugs and kisses, those are saved for private interactions only.

B = Best Friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Honestly, being her best friend isn’t that much different from being in a relationship with her (minus the kissing). Be prepared for tons of sarcasm and teasing galore, and anyone who talks bad about you will get a Mishima-style beatdown. Oftentimes, you’ll have to be her voice of reason and hold her back from fighting people who piss her off. This makes her mad initially, but she always ends up thanking you later. Reina doesn’t really interact with anyone aside from you; for a long time, she’s danced to the beat of her own drum and kept herself company. You’re one of the few people she actually cares about, so she always tries to take your thoughts into account and listen to what you have to say. The friendship would probably start at the Mishima Polytechnical School, with you both being students there. As mentioned before, Reina’s typically a loner, but something about you just catches her eye. One day, she’ll just start talking to you, and you’re kinda stuck with her from that point on.

C = Comfort (How do they comfort you? Are they good at it or are they kinda awkward? How do they like to be comforted?)

If you need comfort, Reina will hug you from behind and sit there for a little while, allowing you to vent if you need to. When you’re finished speaking, or you just have nothing you want to say, she’ll launch into a pep talk. Well, sort of. In these specialty speeches, Reina hypes you up but also throws in slight digs to tease you at various times. She doesn’t mean to upset you further; rather, she’s trying to make the situation more lighthearted. She wants to see you smile and build up your confidence more. Are you really gonna let those negative feelings show you who’s boss? Not on her watch, you aren’t. Is this comfort method typical? No, but it has a surprisingly high success rate, and through it, Reina shows you how awesome of a person you are. As for herself, all she needs is a great big hug. If you find that she’s feeling low, just embrace her and tell her that it will all be okay. As cliche as it sounds, it works.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Reina hasn’t really thought about settling down much. She recalls her father saying something about continuing the bloodline and passing on the legacy, but right now, she has several things on her plate that she’d rather attend to first (getting good grades and acquiring the Mishima Zaibatsu). In terms of housekeeping, Reina will help out with whatever she can, but chances are you’re gonna have to be the one to do most of it. She has a lot on her mind, so she’ll only think about keeping her little corner of the place clean, meaning everything else will be left to you unless you ask her to lend a hand. When it comes to cooking, Reina can make herself a sandwich, but she doesn’t really know how to do much else. Somehow, she’s managed to collect a ton of coupons for various local restaurants, so she’s pretty much survived off of those. If you’d like to make her food, great! If not, she’s happy to share some coupons with you.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with you, how would they do it?)

If Reina had to end it with you, the encounter is either gonna be snarky or angry. There’s no nice way to do it with her. If she’s snarky, she’ll act like it doesn’t affect her and tease you ruthlessly, saying really harsh things that’ll destroy any self-confidence that you might’ve had. Reina’s an expert on getting inside people’s heads and getting on their nerves, and by the end of the conversation, she will make you hate her. If she ends up being angry, then prepare yourself—things are gonna get ugly real quick. She’ll yell at you, insult you, and is not afraid to get up, close, and personal. Depending on how things go, she might even punch you in the face. Either way, breaking up with Reina is gonna suck.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

She hasn’t really thought much about commitment, as she has a lot of other things on her mind. Reina knows she wants to avenge her father and inherit his conglomerate, but she hasn’t really thought past that. She’s young and still has a long way to go in life, so she doesn’t see any point in rushing to make a commitment. Reina definitely wants to marry you eventually (because how on Earth could she not, you’re amazing), but right now, she just wants to take things one step at a time and wait until she’s older.

G = Gentle (How tender are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Physically, Reina’s pretty rough. She doesn’t mean to half the time—it’s just her default setting. She’ll playfully punch you sometimes, but it just means that she cares. If she didn’t, those punches would be far more brutal. If she’s feeling lazy and wants to cuddle, she’ll just kinda flop on top of you. Emotionally, she’s also rough around the edges. Since she was raised by Heihachi of all people, Reina’s inherited some of the old-school, stone-cold mentality. On top of that, she’s naturally spunky and sarcastic, always ready to make a wisecrack out of anything. If something serious is going on, however, she’ll lose her typical spunkiness and be gentler.

H = Hugs n' Cuddles (Do they like hugs/cuddles? What are they like? How often do they happen?)

She loves them! Reina will hug you from anywhere—from the front, from the side, from behind, she’ll give you hugs of any kind. As for cuddles, those just consist of her flopping on top of you and you dealing with it. She might shuffle a bit to make herself more comfortable, but for the most part, wherever she flops is wherever she ends up staying. Both of these happen regularly, and they happen way more in private than in public. Once in a while, she might give you a side hug while you’re out somewhere, but typically, Reina prefers to hug you while you’re alone together.

I = I Love You (How quickly do they tell you they love you?)

It takes her a while for her to say it like a normal person would. Reina loves being sarcastic and teasing you, and when it comes to her feelings, she’d rather voice them indirectly than saying them outright. “Life would be boring without you” and “If I didn’t have you, who else would I waste my restaurant coupons with?” are the two closest things she’s said to “I love you” thus far. Eventually, when Reina does say it, she’ll slip it in casually and you almost don’t catch it right away. She says “I love you” the same way one would say “Yo, dude”. Once you realize what Reina’s said to you, she’ll give you a smirk and a wink before pulling you into a side hug.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they're jealous?)

Reina doesn’t get jealous. Compared to herself, she doesn’t see anyone else as a threat. Could anyone spoil you with free ramen like she does? She doesn’t think so. If anything, she’ll make them jealous instead. If any brave soul tries to charm you, Reina will just tell them you’re taken. If her arm isn’t around your shoulders already, it’s going to be there now. She’ll show you off and indirectly rub it in their face that you belong to her. Reina has what they want, and she’s not going to let them take what’s hers. However, if the person persists after she’s made her point clear, that’s when she gets fired up. She’ll lose her temper and become borderline territorial, challenging the person and getting in their face. You’ll have to distract her quickly if you want to avoid a fight. If the person continues harassing you, then there’s no hope left for them, and no chance left for you to intervene; Reina’s already got her mind set on putting this person in their place.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Reina’s kisses vary depending on her mood. If she’s feeling pleasant and just hanging out, she’ll give you quick pecks. If she’s feeling tired or lazy, kisses will be slow and sloppy. Sometimes, she’ll miss her initial target and wind up kissing some other random spot. She doesn’t mind though; as long as she gets to kiss you, she’s content. If Reina’s trying to comfort you or show her love for you, they’ll be sweet and deep. Often, she enjoys tricking you into believing that she’s going to kiss your lips, only to peck your nose instead. She also loves kissing your neck, as it feels soft and sensitive. Reina loves being kissed on the cheek, as it allows her to focus her attention on multiple things while still receiving much-loved affection.

L = Little Ones (How are they around children and what are their thoughts on them?)

She thinks they can be annoying sometimes, but she doesn’t have any particular grudge against them. If the kid’s a brat, she’ll get pissed off, but if they’re nice, she might talk to them and play along with whatever they’re saying and doing for a little while. Reina’s not perfect with kids, as she has a quick temper, but if she spent more time around them, she’d become better with them. She hasn’t thought about having kids herself, since she’s still a student and has other priorities. However, she might consider it eventually, especially if you’d like to have kids in the future as well.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Most mornings typically involve the two of you getting ready for school together. She’ll wake up begrudgingly to get ready and will act grumpy throughout the early hours of the day. Reina doesn’t mean to offend you; it’s just that she’s not a morning person. It’s best not to say much until she’s started to perk up a bit, unless you want to get hit with a sharp remark that she doesn’t truly mean. Reina doesn’t mind getting the school lunch, but if you’d like to pack lunches for both of you, she’d greatly appreciate it. She only has the energy to do the bare minimum, so anything extra is beyond her reach by herself. Occasionally, you’ll go out to eat breakfast somewhere local, and from there, you guys usually take the train to school and walk from the station to the front gates together.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Reina is typically much happier and more sociable at night. You guys often study together and help each other with homework, with some nice lo-fi music playing in the background. After all of that’s done, you guys will just chill out, watch TV, cuddle, and talk about whatever comes to mind. She’ll often gossip about people she hates or vent about her least favorite classes while you sit there and listen. If you’d like to talk about something, then she’s all ears. There’s a large chance that she’ll want to go out somewhere, even if it’s a school night. This usually contributes to why she’s so tired in the morning, and you tell her this constantly, but Reina doesn’t care. Ultimately, she wants to live life to the fullest and see what the world has to offer. Since she’s been living on her own, she’s had more freedom to do what she wants with her time. Reina might mean business when it comes to certain things, but she won’t ignore a good time if presented with one.

O = Open (At what point would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or take their time with it?)

Reina enjoys being mysterious and cryptic, which mainly stems from how much she likes to mess with people. As much as she likes to toy with you, she’ll eventually start sharing things after a while. She understands that it’s annoying to keep dodging questions, especially in the manner that she does, so she’ll gradually open up about things as time passes. Reina will take her time and share secrets on her own terms and in her own way. Due to her sly, mischievous nature, it’s rare that you actually get a solemn moment with her. Usually, she ends up talking about things either matter-of-factly or sarcastically, even if it's a serious topic. If she opens up about something deeply personal, she’ll downplay it as though it weren’t incredibly important. It’ll take a bit of time, but when Reina starts talking, it’d be in your best interest to listen.

P = Patience (How patient are they?)

Generally, Reina’s got a quick temper, and it doesn’t take much to set it off. People who are quick to judge her or count her out don’t earn much patience from her. If she’s dealing with someone she’s cool with (which is rare given her loner tendencies), she’ll be more patient with them. With you, Reina tries her best, but you can tell when she gets impatient because she’ll get a little snarkier than usual, which is saying a lot referring to her.

Q = Quizzes (How much do they remember about you? Do they remember every detail or kinda forget everything?)

Reina remembers a lot about you. She’s inherited that sharp Mishima memory, which is made sharper by the fact that she still attends school and has to retain a lot of information across various subjects. Considering you’re one of the few people she deeply cares about, she’ll soak up every detail about you like a sponge.

R = Remember (What is one of the most important moments of your relationship?)

One of the most important moments in your relationship was when she told you she loved you the first time. You were so used to her sarcastic comments that whatever nice thing she did say caught you off guard, so hearing her tell you those three words, especially in such a casual manner, almost gave you whiplash. You stared at her for a moment and debated asking her to say them again. But she must’ve read your mind, because she said them again, that time a little more solemnly. You smiled, which made her heart flutter, which was a feeling that she’d never experienced before. She smirked and winked at you, pulling you into a side hug. It was a simple moment but still super sweet, and you’ll look back on it for the rest of your life.

S = Security (How protective are they and how would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Reina gets very protective, especially when you’re in an unsafe area. She’s always on her guard, keeping her eyes peeled for folks who might cause trouble for the both of you. Consider her your personal bodyguard. She doesn’t mind getting into fights if it means keeping you safe. Reina feels protected whenever you’re around her. Your presence never fails to make her feel safe. It’s gotten to the point where she can’t fully relax unless you’re there with her. Unless you’re around, she doesn’t let her walls come down.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, etc?)

Since Reina enjoys going with the flow, dates are often impulsive. You guys just go to your favorite places without thinking twice. Meanwhile, gifts have way more thought put behind them, since Reina wants to make you feel special. She wants any gift that she gives you to reflect something personal. Initially, she never really thought much about anniversaries, but as time goes on and you’re nearing your first one, Reina will start thinking of a ton of random ideas, each one grand and extravagant. She always tells you that once the Mishima Zaibatsu becomes hers, you two are going somewhere nice and getting away from it all.

U = Ugly (What are some bad habits of theirs?)

Her hot-blooded temper and cold-blooded arrogance make a deadly combo, especially for those brave enough to cross her. It can make her difficult to deal with at times, and on some days, it's like her anger is on a hair trigger. She's never taken it out on you, but you've seen her take it out on other people, and it's not pretty.

V = Values (What do they value in a partner?)

Reina values someone she can be herself around. She understands that there are a lot of people who hate her, and to them she gives a big middle finger, but it sucks not having many people to hang around. She had her dad, but he's been dead for a year now and, until you showed up, she didn't really have anyone to talk to. Reina’s had to be a loner for a while, and she's had enough of just keeping to herself. As much as she'd like to deny it, she's a human being, just like anyone else. She needs someone to vent to, to share secrets with, to love. If she just starts to hate everyone, life won't be fun. But with someone like you, it is.

W = Wedding (How are they on the big day? How do they help plan it out? Are they emotional or stoic?)

Reina would want to make it a spectacle. She wants to show off her lover and display their beautiful love for each other. By this time, she'll probably have the Mishima Zaibatsu in the palm of her hands, so she can make that happen. She's excited; there’s no doubt about that. She claims it’s not a big deal, but you can see the pleased gleam in her eyes as she helps you plan everything out. She has a hand in every aspect of the wedding—catering, decorations, themes, you name it. While you’re standing on the altar, Reina gives you this big smile that just screams with pride. She could not be more proud to have you by her side, and she can't wait for you both to rule the world together.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them)

Reina likes flicking your forehead every so often just to tease you. She loves teasing you in general, but your reaction to this gesture in particular is priceless.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they can't stand, both in a partner and in general?)

Reina doesn't like anyone who's entitled or believes that they have a right to everything. She's also not one to take to sensitive people. If you don't have a backbone, you're considered a weakling in her eyes.

Z = Zzz (What are some sleep habits of theirs?)

Reina will snore a bit, but it's never too loud and you don't have any trouble falling asleep to it. She’ll hug you as you guys fall asleep, but since she often moves in her sleep, she won't stay there throughout the night. Reina will move around, but she's never been too disruptive. There have been times however when her arm will just randomly flop on top of you, and one time, she even smacked you in the face by accident. Aside from that, though, she's not too bad. Reina typically has a lot of crazy dreams as well, so expect to hear all about them during lunch the next day.

[waytooinvested]

Forgotten, Not Forgiven - Chapter 33

This and previous chapters are also on AO3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The takeout bag hit the roof with a soft thump as Lena and Kara turned to face Lex, sushi rolls spilling out across the too-short distance between them.

‘Lex. How long have you been here?’

‘Long enough. I was surprised to hear from you after all this time, so I thought I’d teleport in quietly and get the lay of the land before I revealed myself. Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find you not in a deadly battle for your life, but casually sitting up here doing nothing in particular. I considered that maybe you had just come round to my way of thinking and were ready to join your family, but then who should show up but Little Miss Blonde Ambition herself, and you all but tell her you’re trying to lay a trap for me. Not a very good one I’ll admit, but that still hurts Lena.’

‘It’s not like that. Kara followed me up here, and I was trying to get rid of her. Just because I didn’t want to let you kill her doesn’t mean we can’t still be on the same side.’

Lex shook his head pityingly.

‘I almost admire your attempts to salvage the situation sis, but lets be honest, we both know that I could outwit you with my wits tied behind my back. So shall we just cut to the chase?’

Lena took a cautious quarter step towards Kara, trying to get between her and Lex, but it was no good. She was standing just too far away to block without being obvious about it, and that would only draw further attention to her.

‘Alright, fine. But lets keep this in the family. Let Kara leave, and you and I can discuss things like adults.’

‘Really, Lena? Even now, that – creature – is all you can think about? After everything I did for you, after how generous I’ve been all this time, letting you have your way with your little toy when you should have been focusing on building our legacy? No matter how far I lower my expectations of you, you always find a way to disappoint me. You’re pathetic.’

‘HEY, don’t talk to her like that!’

Kara stepped forwards, fists clenched and jaw set with fury at Lex’s casual cruelty, though she hadn’t seemed to care a bit when he had insulted her. She seemed taller suddenly, a new set to her shoulders that recalled Supergirl more than Kara Danvers, a steely look in her eye that said she was ready to fight for Lena if it came to it.

Lena threw out an arm to stop her before she could move any closer, her own stare flint as she met Kara’s steel and struck sparks.

‘Stay out of this Kara.’

Her tone was a sharp rebuke, though inside she was more touched than she could express that even without her powers Kara was willing to go up against the mass-murdering maniacal genius who had very nearly taken down Superman at full strength, all for her sake.

But her best hope of getting Kara out of here in one piece was to have Lex dismiss her as beneath his notice, and her noble but ill fated attempts to defend her were not helping with that.

‘Yes, stay out of this Kara. Or should I call you Su-’

‘DON’T. She’s nothing to you, she’s not a threat. Just let her walk away, and I’ll come with you. I can help you.’

‘You think I need to bargain for your help? You’ve been helping me for months. Just imagine – DEO backed beta testing for my patented alien neutering technology with full, if unwitting, co-operation from the primary test subject. It’s been most illuminating.’

Of course.

Of course Lex had factored her attempts to restore Supergirl into his plan, and if Lena hadn’t been so laser focused on Kara the whole time she would have deduced that from the start . Not that it would have mattered anyway. After all, what other choice had there really been? Her brother had set up a situation where he won whatever move she played, and Lena stood by her decision to at least try to get Kara’s memories back. Besides, it might even work to her advantage now.

She tilted her chin up and flashed a sharp, self-satisfied smile worthy of Lex himself, conveying all the arrogant Luthor confidence that was her birthright as much as his.

‘And doesn’t that just go to prove my point? Leave the Danvers girl out of this, and I can help you with your real objective. You know she was never the one you really wanted anyway.’

‘And you’d be willing to go after my real objective, in exchange for her?’

‘Lena, whatever this is, you don’t have to-’ Kara tried to chip in, but Lena spoke over her, her eyes never leaving her brother’s face.

‘If that’s what it takes.’

She was lying of course. Once Kara was safely clear of Lex and she had access to his hideout, she would revert to plan A and find a way to get the information she needed out of him, and then kill him before he could carry out his intentions against Superman. She tried not to dwell on what she would do if things went wrong and the only way to save Kara’s life was to remove Superman’s powers for real, leaving the world at Lex’s mercy without either of its Kryptonian protectors.

It wasn’t going to come to that.

And… well, if it did, she’d just have to find a way to save the world herself, and then restore both of them. She’d do it if she had to.

Whatever it takes.

The silence between them lasted just long enough that Lena began to feel an inkling of hope that he might be considering it, then Lex shook his head.

‘As soon as you let go of the chess piece you’re committed to your move, you should know that by now. You broke a sacred trust today Lena, and you have to accept the consequences.’

Lex kept eye contact with her, his expression almost regretful as he pulled a gun from the concealed holster in his jacket and took quick but careful aim at her chest. Lena’s fingers twitched to reach for her own weapon, but as her plan had been to gain her brother’s trust she had compromised accessibility for discretion in her packing, and she had been so intent on getting Kara away that the risk of retrieving it had felt too great compared to what could happen if she failed. Now it was too late: by the time she realised what he was doing, Lex had well and truly outdrawn her. The moment echoed with all the other times it had come down to the three of them, and the choice she had to make between her xenophobic brother and the alien woman she had fallen in love with.

Only this time Lex was the one with holding the gun, and Lena was staring empty handed down its barrel at her own demise, knowing that once she was shot the choice would be out of her hands. There would be nothing she could do to save Kara.

‘It’s time to say goodbye, baby sister.’

The apparent regret in Lex’s eyes hardened into gloating satisfaction, and Lena had the brief, awful understanding that the brother she had once known was so far gone that he was going to enjoy watching her die. Somehow that knowledge hurt even now, and the spark of anger it kindled made her shift her stance, preparing for one last ditch, pointless effort to, if not save herself, then at least wipe the smug look off Lex’s face before she died.

She was preparing to spring when, at the very last second, the barrel of the gun swung from Lena to Kara, Lex’s finger tensing on the trigger as he recalibrated his aim. Lena, watching him intently throughout for any hint of an opening, caught the shift almost before it appeared and threw herself at Kara, shoving her hard to the ground and out of Lex’s line of fire even as Kara tried to do the same for her.

The gunshot rang out, deafeningly loud in the still night, and there was a spray of red as Lena staggered backwards.

She stumbled, off balance, her knees colliding with the low barrier at the roof’s edge.

Time stretched out into slow motion as Lena felt her centre of gravity shift. Her arms pin wheeled desperately, but there was nothing she could grab, and she tipped, agonisingly slowly, out into empty space.

‘LENA!’

Through a rush of tears she saw Kara above her, leaping the railing and launching herself off the edge. Lena couldn’t get enough air into her lungs to make a sound, but her mouth formed a silent howl of no, no, NO as she watched Kara plummet down after her, arms outstretched like a diver from the high board.

She hadn’t even hesitated.

Lena had been having nightmares like this ever since Kara’s accident, but now she wasn’t waking up with a jerk and a cold sweat in her own bed the way she should have been. She was wide awake this time, and Kara had thrown herself off a roof in a doomed attempt to save Lena’s life. Because this wasn’t like her parkour accident. They were a hundred stories up, and there was no surviving this fall.

In the distance behind Kara’s shoulder Lena saw Alex’s stricken, chalk white face appear over the edge of the roof, grabbing uselessly for her sister even though she was well out of her reach by now.

Where the hell had Alex come from?

But the thought slipped away as quickly as it had come as reality rushed in to replace the first seconds of shocked dissociation from what had just happened.

She was about to die.

Kara was about to die.

Lena’s ears were full of screaming and she wasn’t sure which of them it belonged to, or if the world had simply reduced to one long howl of anguish that would echo and rebound throughout eternity.

Unable to bear it, Lena closed her eyes. She didn’t want to risk seeing the moment that Kara shattered on the unforgiving concrete that was rushing up to meet them.

I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.

And then the whistling of wind past her ears stopped. Her hair fell lightly back against her shoulders as gravity seemed to lose its grip on her, and she heard the soft thumping of a heartbeat that wasn’t her own against her ear.

Was this what dying felt like? Whatever came afterwards, she had at least expected there to be more pain at the moment of impact.

Very tentatively, Lena opened her eyes.

Kara was looking down at her, her expression full of mingled concern and fierce determination. Somewhere during the fall she had lost her glasses, her hair was standing out wild about her face from the wind, and a strange, detached thought came to Lena that she couldn’t believe she could ever have missed that Kara and Supergirl were so clearly the same person. Kara Danvers. Kara Zor El. Just, Kara.

‘Are you okay?’

Somehow Lena managed to reinflate her winded lungs enough to choke out a reply.

‘I… think so? Are you?’

‘Yeah, I’m okay.’

Tears flowed down her cheeks as her survival instinct panic spike began to drop out of fight or flight and towards shock.

‘Thank you. Thank you so much.’

‘Of course, you know I’ll always catch you Lena.’

Lena made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and the yelp of a puppy being stepped on.

‘I actually wasn’t sure this time. You have… not been entirely yourself recently.’

‘What do you-?’

And finally Kara seemed to realise where they were and what she was doing. Her eyes widened, and for a moment Lena was afraid that the realisation would cause Lex’s barrier to snap back into place and they’d both plummet to their deaths after all. She cursed herself for not insisting that Kara fly them down immediately and tried to calculate whether they could keep their balance on one of the narrow window ledges if they could get to it before Kara’s flight cut out.

But rather than tumbling from the sky, Kara stared back at Lena with a pained expression and eyes rapidly filling with tears of her own.

‘Lena… you saved me.’

This time her laugh sounded more like a real one, if slightly hysterical with the potent cocktail of adrenaline and relief still pumping through her system.

‘Given our current situation, I’m pretty sure that’s my line. Kara, you just threw yourself off a building for me when thirty seconds ago you had no access to your powers. How did you know you were going to fly?’

‘I didn’t. I-’

The truth seemed to catch up with Kara then, and she shook her head in wonder at what had just happened.

‘I really, really didn’t. I just knew that I couldn’t let you fall.’

It was the purest, most sincere declaration of love that Lena had ever received, and she had no idea how to process it in this moment.

She wanted to tell Kara that she would jump off a building for her too.

That she would bend the laws of nature and unravel the very fabric of the universe.

That there was no line in any reality she would not cross, and while she never, ever wanted to hurt another person, if it came down to it she would choose to let the rest of the world crumble to dust if it meant that Kara would be safe.

The words burned inside her heart, but they were too big, too intense to be allowed out into the open air, especially when Lena was still reeling from their near brush with death, and in the end all she managed to get out was:

‘Now who’s the marshmallow?’

Kara smiled into her eyes, infinitely gentle in spite of her newly restored muscles of steel.

‘Still you.’

‘Honestly, I can’t even argue with that right now. I really want to be mad at you for jumping off a building again, but I am just so, so glad not to be a red stain on the sidewalk.’

Kara gathered her in a little closer against her chest, protective even now the danger was past.

‘Me too.’

‘HEY! If you two don’t get your asses back up here so I can hug you for not being dead RIGHT NOW, I’m going to kill you both!’

They looked up to see Alex glaring down at them from the edge of the roof, gesturing emphatically with one hand while the other held the railing in a white knuckled grip.

‘Oh, right, oops! BE RIGHT THERE!’

Kara began to rise easily back up the way they had come, and in another few seconds Lena found her feet on firm ground and she and Kara were being hugged so tightly that the air was squeezed from her lungs. There was no room to draw another breath to replace it, but still she never wanted the moment to end, because this was everything she had always wanted and never had, and she knew that no matter who she was born to or who raised her, this was her family now.

‘Alex, I can’t believe you’re here. How are you here?’

Alex shrugged, flashing a grin that was half cocky, half guilty.

‘I followed you. Well. Technically I had a drone follow you. I’ve had one in place since our text conversation last night actually, because I could see you were too much of a stubborn ass to back down, and I at least wanted to be there give you some back up if things went badly. So when I saw you sitting up here for no apparent reason I had a hunch that it was somewhere worth being. I’ve been hiding behind your solar panels for hours waiting for something to happen. I was sure you were going to find me when you started pacing, we were practically face to face at one point.’

‘Well, I was a little distracted.’

‘Yeah, no shit. And then Kara showed up and I damn near broke cover to get her the hell out of here, and maybe chain her to a radiator for real this time.’

‘Hey!’

‘Sorry Kara, but it was for your own good. You could have been killed.’

‘So could Lena.’

‘I know. I can’t even imagine what I’d have done if anything happened to either of you. Lex so nearly shot you, and then you both fell…’

Alex shuddered at the memory of watching them plummeting over the edge of the roof, but something else in what she said caught in Lena’s mind – the missing piece that had been niggling at her ever since they had touched down.

The last thing she had been aware of before she fell was the ringing gun shot, and a spattering of blood. She had thought in that brief, chaotic moment that she must have been the one who had been shot and was just too much in shock to feel it yet, but here she was, completely unharmed, along with a very definitely not shot Alex and Kara.

Which meant…

‘What about Lex? What happened up here after I fell?’

The happy relief dropped from Alex’s expression, and her gaze slid over Lena’s shoulder to the expanse of rooftop behind her.

Dread pooled in Lena’s stomach.

Had she been keeping her back to it on purpose? Knowing, on some subconscious level, that she didn’t want to see what was there?

But she had to see now.

Lena turned slowly, and was confronted the thing she should have noticed as soon as they had regained the roof, despite the gathering darkness around them.

Lex lay spread-eagled in a spreading pool of blood, a hole no bigger than a dime in his shirt showing where the bullet had passed through him.

Such a tiny thing to end such a big life.

Lena’s legs felt numb as she left Alex and Kara and went to kneel beside her brother, though whether from her recent near-death experience or the sight before her she couldn’t have said for certain. She reached out a tentative hand to check for a pulse at his throat, but there was nothing to find.

He was gone.

She closed her eyes, and a single tear seeped from beneath her lashes to roll down her cheek, a traitorous admission of the grief she was trying so hard not to feel.

Even though she had tried to kill him twice now and had come here with the intention of doing it a third time, it was still hard to believe that Lex could ever really die. He had been such a permanent presence in Lena’s life since early childhood, first as her champion and role model, then as the dark shadow reminding her of all she must never become. She felt strangely untethered without him, as if a strong breeze might just blow her away to scatter to the winds like the seeds of a dandelion clock.

Somewhere in the background she was vaguely aware of Kara saying her name like she was about to come over, only to be stopped by Alex, their murmured voices dropping just too low to make out the words as they – presumably – argued about whether they should join her or give her time to say goodbye alone. She tuned them both out and instead took Lex’s still-warm hand in hers, allowing herself just this one moment of weakness.

I’m sorry it came to this big brother.

The pool of blood around him looked black in the gathering night, as if all the darkness was leaking out of Lex to leave him in death as the boy he once was, and the man he could have been if only he hadn’t let hatred and resentment take him over.

There was so much blood.

It had reached Lena’s knees now, and she could feel the wet stickiness of it soaking into her slacks, but she didn’t try to move away. It didn’t matter. She would never wear them again after this anyway.

She stayed where she was until it was too dark to easily distinguish the blood from the roof surrounding it, or to make out how unnaturally still Lex was lying, as if he might be merely unconscious after all. The idea sent a ripple of unease through her, for all Lena knew it wasn’t true. She sat back on her heels to put a few more inches between them, and became aware of someone else nearby. Her movement must have been taken as a sign that she was done with her silent vigil, because a hand came to rest gently on her shoulder, and she glanced up to find Alex standing over her.

‘I’m sorry Lena.’

‘Don’t be sorry. You saved Kara.’

‘YOU saved Kara. I was trying to save you. I saw Lex aiming at you about to pull the trigger, and I couldn’t let it happen, so I killed him before he could. I’m not sorry I stopped him from shooting you, but he was still your brother, and now he’s dead because of me. I understand if you don’t feel like you can be friends with me anymore after this.’

Lena turned away from the slack, lifeless features of the man who had once been her greatest hero to focus instead on Alex’s tear stained face, grim and still slightly spattered with Lex’s blood. She laid his hand carefully back down by his side, and rose to stand beside Alex.

‘I knew Lex had to die. He was my big brother and part of me will always love him for who he once was to me, but he was never going to stop no matter how securely he was locked away. Killing him was the only option, I knew that when I came up here, and I was prepared to do it. But then... you did it for me. You shot him so that I wouldn’t have to, just like you said you would.’

She met Alex’s eyes through the unshed tears still swimming in her own.

‘Thank you.’

Alex made a soft sound that was almost a whimper and pulled Lena into another tight hug, the motion pressing her face hard into to the armoured vest of her friend’s tactical gear, but she didn’t care. She hugged Alex back just as fiercely, pouring all her gratitude and relief into the embrace.

‘Guess I have two little sisters now, huh? Or... maybe that should be sister in law…?’

Lena’s cheeks heated and she broke the hug to give Alex a stern frown, but she couldn’t help ruining the effect with a slight watery grin at the implication.

‘It is way too soon for that kind of joke Danvers. You know Kara and I have a lot to talk about...’

Her gaze drifted up to where Kara was silhouetted against the full moon, evidently reveling in her newly regained power of flight as she gave them space to clear the air over Alex’s role in her brother’s death, and (hopefully) resisted the urge to practise her super hearing by listening in on their exchange.

‘I’ll take being your sister though. Whatever else happens next, you’re my family, and I don’t want that to change.’

Alex gave her a warm, genuine smile, then reached over to ruffle Lena’s windswept hair like she was an unruly puppy.

‘You know this means you’re going to be Lulu forever now, right?’

Lena rolled her eyes, swatting Alex’s hand away from her head more forcefully than she would have with any other friend, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that it would be taken as the gesture of affection she intended it to be.

‘Urgh, fine. But if anyone apart from you calls me that, I break their fingers.’

[sailorshadzter]

some random jonsa

somewhat inspired by the mufasa & simba scene in the lion king lol

“.... Father…”

He groans, softly, rolling onto his other side.

“Father…” 

There it comes again, the voice unrelenting as a hand shakes his shoulder.

“Your son is awake,” it’s another voice this time, his wife’s groggy vocals filtering into his brain. 

“Before the morning call, he’s your son,” he replies, attempting to draw her into his arms, but she shrugs him off, rolling onto her other side and drawing the furs over her head. A sigh escapes him and he turns back to face the son that stands at the side of his bed, barely tall enough to come up over its edge. “It is early, my boy,” Jon yawns, reaching out to ruffle the boy’s dark locks, though the child frowns, arms folding over his chest. “Get into bed,” he gestures towards the space between he and Sansa, a place he once slept religiously, but the boy shakes his head.

“I want to learn to use a sword,” he says with all the determination of a boy his age, his gray eyes flashing. 

“Can’t it wait until sunrise?” Jon asks and the boy pouts, bringing a chuckle from his lips. 

“Alright, alright, I’m up,” he says next, pushing back the covers so he can swing his legs over the edge of the bed. Of course his son was far too young to wield a sword, but he recalls those days when he and Robb had begged to do the same, and he softens, deciding he might as well put a wooden sword into the boy’s hands. He’d be King in the North someday, after all, and despite the peaceful times they lived within, it was only fitting he learn the way of the sword. 

And so he rises up and dresses in the dark, putting back on the clothing he’d discarded the night before, stuffing his feet back into his boots. “Will you let me use Longclaw?” The boy asks as they make their way down the hall, pausing only for a moment to peek into the room where the baby slept, unaware that his brother had left his bed. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before that babe also wanted to learn the art of the sword. 

“You have much to learn before you hold a steel sword, my son,” Jon replies as he puts a hand to his shoulder. Though the boy makes a face, he steers him along, until they reach the main floor. At this early hour there is no one around but them and so he pushes him along, out the double doors and into the twilight hour of dawn. 

“I do?”

Jon chuckles, taking in the sight of his son, a boy that is every inch his, from his dark curly hair to his Stark gray eyes. “Aye,” he replies, gesturing for him to follow him towards the door that opens up to a storage room, which from within he takes hold of two wooden swords. “I too once yearned to learn to swing a sword, to cut down my enemies, to protect my family… But there is more to it than that.” He thinks of every battle, of every enemy, of every moment that had led him to this very one… He smiles, handing one of the swords to his young son, a boy of six, the very same age he’d once been when Ned Stark had taken him and Robb out into this very courtyard. 

Now he stands here with his own son, another Robb Stark, the successor to the legacy left behind by the uncle he’d never know. “Your grandfather always said," The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.” The boy’s gray eyes widen with these words, his young mind trying to grasp the depth of their meaning. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die. Those words still echo in his own mind, all these years later. He thinks of every sword swing that has taken a life and he knows he has lived up to those words his father once said.

Little Robb stares up at his father, eyes wide, wondering what it might feel like to take a man’s life. He knows his father has done it, more than once, including taking the life of a tyrant queen that spared the lives of all those who still yet lived in Westeros. His older foster brother, Samwell, told him often of the stories he’d heard of Jon Snow- now Stark- from his own father, the elder Samwell. A hero, the boy had said, my father says he’s the greatest hero of all time. Better than any of the stories. “Father…” The boy begins, following after him as he steps closer into the center of the courtyard, where the ground was firm, perfect for their first lesson. “Is it true… What they say you did to the dragon queen?” 

Jon freezes, turning back to face his young son, who looks up at him with those same gray eyes he knows he has himself. “Aye,” he says honestly, dropping to a knee so he might look his son in his face. “I did,” he knows the rumors that still swirl all these years later- the truth caught somewhere between the tales. “I did what I had to do to protect my family, to protect my home.” His hand falls into place against the slim shoulder, giving it a tender squeeze. “Someday you too may have to make a difficult decision to protect those you love.” He hopes for a better life for his son, for all of his children, but there was no telling what their future would bring. All he can do is prepare them the best he can for what may come, gods willing. “You must always put your family first, as a man and as King.” The boy is nodding, slowly, his young mind doing its best to fully comprehend the meaning. Jon knows there will come a time where he will recall this conversation, just as he recalled the one with Ned Stark, and know he’s held onto his father’s wisdom all the years of his life. 

And all Jon can do is hope that Robb will smile looking back, thankful for his father’s voice in his mind.

[gffa]

I know you’ve said before that you view prequels!Anakin and clone wars!Anakin as separate characters, so I’m curious what your thoughts are on Ahsoka series!Anakin are? (This ask was sent by someone who has not watched any of the Ahsoka series, so if he hasn’t shown up enough for you to form an opinion feel free to save this for later)

Hm, I don't recall having said I saw prequels!Anakin and clone wars!Anakin as separate characters befoe, you might be thinking of someone else, or maybe you meant that I have struggled with reconciling the different properties with each other--though ultimately I usually manage to do so fairly well, as I do consider them the same character and each part of the bigger whole. The Ahsoka series!Anakin is hard to figure out how to blend in there, because I go back and forth on whether or not it really was Anakin or not, if it was a Force vision or Ahsoka projecting or truly Anakin himself, because each idea has such interesting and deliciously heartwrenching implications. But for the sake of this post specifically, let's say it's truly Anakin in the series--he fits perfectly well with how I see the character, even after his death, because the whole point of him showing up is that he was there for Ahsoka and her issues. This version of him isn't really about Anakin's story, it's about Ahsoka's story, and right then she needed him to represent both Anakin and Vader to her, to force her to confront her fears about what he became, her loss and fear that she could be responsible for more darkness in the galaxy, and her hurt that she wasn't sure she had anything to offer other than being a soldier. In the episode, Anakin says that she's more than just being a soldier, she's more than a legacy of death and war, because he's more than that. If this is truly Anakin, I love that for him, because being a Force Ghost is about truly letting go of all the shit you're holding onto in life, that you find balance within yourself again, that just by dint of how the Force and Force Ghosts work, Anakin has to have come to peace within himself about how he was more than just Vader, he was more than just death and destruction. He may wear his ROTS era clothing because that's what Ahsoka needed from him, he may not be glowing blue because this is in her mind not in the real world, he may be flickering back and forth with Vader because she needed that from him, but I have no problem seeing this version of Anakin as the same as this one:

Because the most selfless thing Anakin could do for Ahsoka was show up and help her confront her fears and deal with her issues. The most selfless thing he could say to her was: you're more than just this because, if I can be more than the monstrous things I did, you can be more than the mistakes you've made that are far less, because that's what she needed to hear. The most selfless thing he could do was dig into his own horrible past and say, yes, this happened, it's part of me and thus part of you, but you can heal from this, because I know you loved me and you weren't wrong to do so, you're not wrong to love someone even though they did so much wrong. She comes out of her vision with a new peace beginning to settle inside her and, given how much Anakin worked to drag himself out of the dark and let his attachments go, let his fears go, and embrace compassion for others again--it's a beautiful continuation of everything with Luke, with being willing to embrace compassion for the children who come after you, the ones you're meant to protect and teach and guide. Maybe it wasn't perfect, maybe there was still some sadness in him or fear of how she saw him, some crankiness that she wasn't learning the lessons he was trying to each, but ultimately I see him as being there entirely for her, not for his own closure, but for hers, because she needed him, so he was there for her.

[punishing-eden]

Hello. I'm sorry if this is sudden but I was wondering if you took story requests and if you do, could you make a platonic Dan heng IL story with the reader being the child of his previous incarnation and with the reader still being quite young and Jing Yuan is the one to tell Dan Heng about them even though he's only met them a couple and doesn't know them personally, but Jing Yuan felt like Dan Heng had the right to know about the reader especially after the reader had an encounter with Blade. (If this is too much or if you don't do requests that's completely understandable and I wish you a good day/afternoon and or night😊)

Author's Notes:

Hi, I haven't done the latest Trailblazer mission yet. But my stupid ass, low-key, accidentally spoiled myself with the whole thing about Blade :') . So, I guess I can give this a go.

Tbh, I am not a lore person when it comes to Hoyoverse. For me, it's too confusing and convoluted. I just pay attention to the details in the story and reread character lines over and over again to get their speech patterns.😅😅😅

I hope for the best.

Also…is this Dad!Dan Heng, or Creator!Dan Heng?

-Punishing Eden

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

His Legacy…

Dan Heng x Child!Reader (Ft. Jing Yuan & Bailu)

Summary:

Before Dan Heng leaves, he learns of your existence; his next of kin from his previous incarnate. Despite not harbouring much memories or parental familiarity, Dan Heng wants to see you one last time.

Tags: Lore (that I only know 10% about), platonic, parental relationship, request, one-shot, potential spoilers, possible ooc, canon divergent, request

It was a risk.

With every decision made, there’s always a risk. And, Jing Yuan knows that, by releasing the Stellaron Hunter; by the name of, “Blade”, was definitely a risk.

“General… are you sure we should do this?” Yanqing had expressed his concern, yet, for the General, Jing Yuan continued to execute his plan. Knowing, if everything is under control, the fruition will worth the risk.

Jing Yuan had given precaution to each step along the way. However, he never anticipated that the Stellaron Hunter would have other plans of his own.

___

“Who are you?”, you asked, looking at a man with a nonchalant, yet, troubled look.

Blade looked at you. The colours of his irises swirled. He didn't answer, as his dark presense towers over you.

Troubled, as if he was baring all the burden on his shoulders. Troubled, as if he held onto the anguish and hatred of the past. Troubled, as if he holding on to a thin line between ‘monster’ and ‘man’; of what is left of his sanity.

___

The guilt weighed on Jing Yuan when he had heard of your encounter with Blade. Were the precautions not enough? We're his predictions not good enough?

The General recalled, how the Master Diviner had given him a warning, prior, to the operation.

“Was it worth, to put so much risk to simply catch the Stellaron Hunter, Kafka?” Fu Xuan asked, she made her disapproval as clear as day.

"Nothing can escape destiny and fate..." Fu Xuan's voice rang in Jing Yuan's ears.

Maybe, despite all the precaution that were made, your encounter with Blade was inevitable. And, maybe it was also fate that brought Dan Heng back to Luofu.

“Dan Feng…” Jing Yuan began, “I see that you have finally returned to Luofu.”

“Dan Feng?” Dan Heng questioned, amused by how Jing Yuan called him by his previous name, “I don’t go by that name anymore… everything is in the past, I see no need to look back.”

Hearing what Dan Heng had said, brought a frown on Jing Yuan’s face. However, the General nodded. He accepted the fact; what had happen centuries ago was of a tragic demise. Done, out of the succumb of “immortality”.

___

“You’re hurt…” you said, trying to grab the man’s bandaged hand, “Lady Bailu can help you.” You offered.

Before you could wrap your tiny fingers around Blade’s hand, he immediately pushed you away. His eyes stared with intensity, seemingly glowing at the sight of his target. His chest heaved, as he felt his throat tensed up at the bubbling emotions of anger emerging.

Looking at the small child getting up from the ground, Blade fixated his gaze on you, as if he was planning to strike his next move. His grip held onto his sword tightly.

___

“Indeed, the past is the past, but…” Jing Yuan said, “ the legacy of your former self, will continue over the centuries to come, Dan Heng.”

He hinted something to Dan Heng.

“Whether you, like it or not…” Jing Yuan added.

Dan Heng’s foot step paused. There was a small weight in his heart. Was it something he did, when he was still Dan Feng? He turned around to look at Jing Yuan, the memories swirled in Dan Heng’s mind, trying to comprehend the muddled and missing pieces of the image of you. An sleeping child, hibernating until it was time for you to be awaken from your birth.

“… [Y/N]…?” He spoke of your name.

___

He lifted his arm up, the cracks on his sword glowed, as he looked down at you with an intense gaze. At that moment, Blade had felt he had snapped. He wasn’t a “man”, but a “monster” blinded my his emotions.

The animalistic growl grumbled from his throat, the anticipation of spilling crimson right before his eyes when he brings his arm down. Yet, his arm remain frozen. Your cries began to alert the guards of Bailu’s estate.

Blade struggled against his mind. Your childish cries was giving him a headache. “…Just…a…small…child…” He mumbled to himself.

“Who’s there?” The guards came running to your direction, “It’s him! The Stellaron Hunter! Quick, alert Lady Bailu!”

“Tsk..”Blade clicked his tongue. Without a word, he fled.

___

“[Y/N].” Dan Heng said.

You looked up at him. Your creator, that you never knew.

Without saying anything, you handed him a cup of tea, before returning to Bailu’s side. Warm light illuminated the living room of Bailu’s house.

“Do you know how tiring it is to look after this child, General?” she complained, “how long will you be keeping this child with me?”

Jing Yuan chuckled, “I understand, Lady Bailu. You have ‘just’ been through a rebirth, and I am certain that having a child under your care while still being…quite young…is tiresome.” The general took a sip of the tea, avoiding certain words, “But, please bare with this arrangement for a little longer. Until the time is right, you will be free of such services.”

Bailu was a little surprised, “W-wait!? What does that mean?!”

“Why do you sound like I want to get rid of this child?” Bailu accused.

”Oh?” Jing Yuan held a surprised look, “Was that not what you ask for?”

“I mean…yes, it will be less of a burden to have this child under my care... But, I have taught a few things about medicine to this child…” the dragon girl said, thinking of a excuse, “…so it will be a loss of my effort if the child leaves so soon. How are you going to compensate that?! ” She crossed her arms.

Dan Heng continued to look at you. You were at a corner playing by yourself. The way you look, the expression and features, were a reflection of him. Dan Feng, your creator, your father.

He let out a heavy sigh. There was a part of him, that wants to engage with you. There were so many things he wanted to say, to do, and to ask of you. Yet, the lack of familiarity and parental feelings for you, made him hesitate.

“…well, it will be quite some time before further arrangements can be made on the child’s welfare…” Jing Yuan grabbed his chin, a mock gesture to convince Bailu to fall through his plan.

“As I thought, General,” Bailu scoffed, “Now, if you are not asking for prescriptions or diagnosis, leave.”

“Yes, of course. Are you alright with that?” Jing Yuan looked at Dan Heng, who’s eyes were fixed on you.

He snapped out of it and replied, “…Yes, I am ready to go. The Astral Express will be leaving soon.”

“We’ll see you both out… [Y/N], the guest are leaving.” Bailu hopped off her chair. She gently took your hand and walked Jing Yuan and Dan Heng to the door.

Both men looked back as they walked out. Dan Heng gave you one last look. You were waving goodbye at him. With Bailu, the Elder High of the Vidyadhara, as your guardian. He knew you are in good hands.

The front gates closed. The image of you disappeared behind the structure with along with Bailu.

That was the last time, Dan Heng saw of you.

(C) Punishing Eden

[thatcheeseycandle]

T2024: Day 5, Exhibition | TC-LRAU

The New Hall would fill with the sounds of conversation and excitement faster than building it, another year, another round of visitors from all over the region, every spot in there would be filled with all sorts of steam engines.

Each batch of engines that came would represent the railway they’re currently owned by, the more well-known ones coming to the exhibition.

All kinds of steam engines there; from narrow to standard gauge, and from 19th century to new builds, a big and broad roster of engines.

But before we get to them, we’ll focus our attention on the person who’d tap their mic twice lightly, clearing their throat as they caught the attention of the spread out crowd.

“If I could have most of your attention, visitors and contributors, old and new, I’d like to thank you all for coming here to see another moment of history in motion.”

The man started, as the sounds coming from the crowd would die down as he spoke.

“I am honoured to be passed down with the role my father, Seth Harken once had. Continuing the legacy of, not just of his love for engines of all types and how much he's done for both engines and humans, but his own personal legacy. To all of us, including myself.”

His gaze softening, he'd straighten his posture as his grip on the microphone tightened. Taking a quick glance at his watch.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

“But, in his words, let the hour begin!”

Tock.

As a cacophony of whistles blasted in the air, echoing across the halls, the event would officially be in full motion.

——

“Why so worried, dear sister?” Came the comforting voice of the Stirling Single, N. 1, separating himself from the group consisting of Flying Scotsman and Black 5s, glancing curiously at his younger sister.

To which said younger sister would flinch at the sudden call, her train of thought breaking. Though glancing at him with a warm smile once she recognized who it was.

“Ferris, hello.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, Milly, what's the matter? Is it those Midlanders again?”

She'd chuckle softly at such a claim.

“You say that as if you weren't mingling with those Black 5s, dear brother,” she says as she glances at said Black 5s, overhearing their conversations mixed with jabs at each other and general gossip, not dying down a single bit considering the Flying Scotsman was practically the host of that session.

“Well, I wasn't exactly mingling. I was simply offering up advice.”

“Advice about mentoring the newest edition to the LBSCR? It seems your reputation as a mentor yourself is still kept up, well, you're more like a fath–”

“Oh hush, they'll hear us!” Ferris’ face would flush with red a bit in embarrassment, reversing into the buffers behind him as Emily held in a laugh, even with the decades that flew by, she still wondered why he hid things like this from those he loved.

She will admit, even if it was rare, he tends to be quite the silly engine when being straightforward about his clear affection towards all the engines hes taken under his wing, or cab, and right now is one of her favourite examples.

She’s seen how much he’s rubbed off on the Atlantic, they’re practically father and son as the humans say. It’s quite heart warming, like how some of the shunters back before the grouping era had picked up on Ferris’ mannerisms. It’s very amusing.

“I know that look of yours Milly, what’re you planning to pull on me now?”

“Oh please, if you had known said look, you would’ve known it wasn’t that.”

“Then what on Lady’s name are you plotting in that scandalous mind of yours?” He jabbed jokingly at her, though would be met with an Emily who’d gaze out in front of her thoughtfully.

“But not in a Great Western manner, it is similar to how the humans would cope with lost. If you recall how my fireman in the 80s had coped with the news of his aunt’s unfortunate passing with his religious beliefs as I recall, then it is similar to how I’m thinking now.”

‘Well,” she sighed before she started. “I suppose it’s just the faint yet vivid presence of our siblings, our colleagues.”

“Ah.”

“I see.”

In all honesty, she didn’t mean to drag down the mood this quickly, but she can’t exactly help it.

Looking back at it all. It’s most likely the toughest run to have experienced, from speeding through the glorious sight that was the River Trent to then having to take in all the neglect the rest of them had to face. Though thankfully it was willingly, since the remaining of them had agreed to it before being locked away-

“Well, I suppose I’ll place down that note for myself.”

“If it helps, Emily, I could recommend a relief crew from the Mid-Norfolk. They’ve been quite the help for myself and mostly to others, an example being that Thompson.”

“Mayflower?”

“Yes, him. He’s been in need of it for quite a while from the looks of it, I will admit.”

“Just contact my crew with yours, ask for a Mr. Onix, and they’ll come right away. Though it will depend on how far and busy they are when you do so.”

“I see-”

The sudden buzz of a radio would echo in Emily’s cab, her firebox starting to warm up again as her fireman threw coal inside it. Good gosh, why did it have to be now?

“Well, I bid you farewell for now, Ferris. I hope to see you soon after this run.”

“Same goes to you dear sister!” He replied as the both tooted both of their whistles at eachother, watching Emily leave with a wheesh of steam.

——

“Now that was a blast!”

“A blast of whistles you mean!”

The three would burst into laughter as they arrived at their designated spots within the new hall.

A little flow of people would form around them, murmurs of conversations blurring together and curious people eyeing them in either surprise or admiration, or both! Either way, the engines would simply chat among themselves as if they were the only ones in the room.

Though there would be one engine in between those atmospheres, st always taking a glance behind them, as if waiting for something. Something, someone.

Time moving slower than a tank engine trying to pull an express consisting of eight full coaches on their own.

It was painful, in simple words. It was crawling from the back of their mind to consume their thoughts. 

Not the greatest thoughts to go through your mind during a wonderful time like this.

No, no. They just need to be calm. He's received the overhaul, he's been checked out, hell you were there in some of those sessions, he'll be fine.

Just enjoy the moment, enjoy the momen-

“Nadi?”

They'd snap out their train of thought, looking to wherever the voice came from, to which they'd get a bit embarrassed at. Well shit.

“Yea- Ah, what is it?”

“You were staring at that 9F, the Black Prince, are you okay?”

“Well, Betto-”

“Do you have a crush on him?”

“The fuck? No, of course not!” Nadi’s smoke deflectors slid back as they glanced at Lyd, as she rolled beside them on the narrow-gauge tracks next to the standard-gauge tracks the three were on, quite baffled at this sudden claim. Considering how the Black Prince is more of a brother than a lover, it was odd.

Though they couldn't exactly blame Lyd, Nadi doesn't talk about other engines much often, other than the ones they usually speak of.

“Besides, why would I have a crush on him?!”

“Well, why would the Flying Scotsman have a crush on that King Arthur class? Hmm?”

“Okay fair point, but stil-”

Suddenly, a familiar whistle would blast through the atmosphere, cutting off the four's conversation. Considering their brakes would be applied by their crews, Lyd would reverse to see who it’d be.

Though as she did, her eyes widened in surprise as she took a glance at their nameplate, now recognizing who it was.

“Oh, Leslie!”

——

Oh how loud it was here, well, at least it wasn’t as chaotic as Sodor. It’s just louder than it.

He’d reverse into the coaches behind him as the shunter behind them uncoupled from the coaches and let out a little “peep!” of a whistle, to which he’d whistle back at them.

As he glanced to the sign that read-

“We’re at Redworth! No- No, I’m not fucking with you I’m serious!”

“Sounds like she’s fucking with you, old chap.”

He will admit, he did miss them. He missed how comforting they were to him, that light feeling that swirled in his firebox whenever he interacted with him. It was an odd feeling, in a good way, and it seems to run in their family as the same feeling has started to resurface in recent years since the 2000s started.

“You’re older than me!”

Gordon would hold in his laughter as he heard his crew jab at each other a bit. The two have been with him for about, nearly a decade as he recalls. Wow. Though they’ve technically been with him for nearly two, since they go back into the late 90s as his crew. Being the brother and cousin of his crew before them.

As much as he’d like to go into detail of this feeling, he just couldn’t find the right words to. It was similar to this feeling he had felt before, it was the bond between him and his siblings, though that didn’t fully match up with what this odd, swirly feeling he felt with them, with his crews.

Though unfortunately he wouldn’t be able to further his research and guesses into it as the sound of a whistle blasted through the air, his hearing being pierced like a bullet shooting through paper. As he glanced to his left, the whistle would be muffled as it fades out by the sound of pistons pumping, surprised at who it is as his eyes widened.

“Hello there, little brother.”

“Ah, ah. That’s my phrase, little brother.”

“A phrase that’s originated from me, Scotsman, or would you like me to refer to you as one of the elderly considering your memory might not be working too well?”

Scotsman would slide back his smoke deflectors, revealing his jokingly ‘offended’ look as he took a glance at Gordon.

“Oh says the one who’s beyond a century old!”

“You’ve literally just become a century old, little brother. And you do represent a century.”

“Oh fuck off," he muttered jokingly, unconsciously letting his american accent slip out as it mixed with his natural one.

After a slight pause between the two, they’d burst into light laughter as they sped down the line side by side, blasting their whistles in a duet as they wheeshed steam, doing what they love. Their purpose.