#but i love eugene i will be thinking about this game for weeks

[bearyplanet]

Found this game at random but it completely changed the chemistry in my brain and I cried FAT tears

I love found family

[barblaz-arts]

Do u have any wenclair (or individual) headcanons that havent found their way into a fic or comic of yours? One of my favs is Wednesday stashing weapons on Enid/in Enids space bc she is nothing if not prepared.

That's pretty cute actually lol

Ooh I have a few, yeah. Some of these ideas are ones i hope to put in a comic or fic somehow someday

- Wednesday's favorite season is summer. Enid is surprised because she expects it to be fall or winter. Wednesday just likes summer because it's the season when Enid puts away the fluffy coats and sweaters and wears sleeveless shirts that show off her arms and more scars

- enidtendo drew Lucas and Enid taking Bianca and Wednesday on a double date to a hockey game and I really love the thought of that being a regular thing. Maybe even movie dates to action movies. Just a really nice bonus that it forces Bianca and Wednesday to bond lol

- there was a time when they had matching lockscreen photos. Enid's was Wednesday's half of The Window while Wednesday had Enid's side. Wednesday begrudgingly did it but then got mad when Enid changed her lockscreen only after like a week or so

- when Wednesday isn't in the mood for much physical contact, Enid will show affection by kissing her braid

- Enid has a petty, one-sided rivalry with Fester for being Wednesday's favorite person ever. Fester is oblivious.

- while people think that Wednesday is too gloomy, Enid knows that Wednesday is actually fuckin hilarious

- Wednesday totally got tickets to Loossemble, Odd Eye Circle, and Chuu's concerts when they toured in America for Enid. Wednesday glared the fuck out of Hyeju.

- When Enid is mad, Wednesday scrambles to buy/cook her favorite food. When Wednesday is mad, Enid tries to find the weirdest and/or oldest shit she could see in Uriah's Heap

Bonus, married Wenclair headcanons:

- there's always a rookie detective that makes the mistake of crushing on Wednesday when she started assisting crime investigations and Enid hates it

- Since Enid is a fan of kung fu movies, I like to think that she's a big fan of martial arts actresses like Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock. 40's Enid has a pixie cut and no longer dyes her hair because it has damaged her hair, so when she was really sad about this, Wednesday cheered her up by saying "It makes you look like that Rothrock woman you liked watching".

(Rothrock is the white lady at the end of this video fyi. Also featuring Michelle Yeoh in the chase scene)

- Enid has a few simps because of her mild internet fame. Wednesday threatens them when they leave comments in her vlogs and Instagram posts ("i got the divorce papers ready bby just say the word" "YOU WILL START COUGHING IN THREE DAYS--")

- in the wedding, Yoko was Maid of Honor and Eugene was Best Man(or Man of Honor?). Pubert was the ring bearer. Later on, Yoko and Eugene are Vega's godparents(they also develop a rivalry over who is Vega's favorite)

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

why do you wanna keep us a secret?

plum, chapter sixteen

warnings: Joel Miller x reader, MILD SPOILERS for the last of us (both games and the hbo series), timeline wise this is set in between the first and second game (so when they live in Jackson), slow burn, age gap (20 years), ptsd, arguing, kissing

word count: 695

∼ gentle reminder that feedback, but especially reblogs are the way you support writers on here ∽

previous chapter | series masterlist | next chapter

masterlist | join my taglist 

“But do you really have to go?” you whined into his chest, your arms only tightening around his form, “I’m sure Eugene would fill in for you, uh, or Jesse! He’s all young and eager to be out there.”

“You’re killing me, you know that, right?” he chuckled, tilting your chin up to catch your eye. 

You were officially on the verge of marching over to Maria, once more, to ask if you could go out again. You both craved the morbid normality of going on patrols, loathing so deeply the way everyone in the town treated you as if you were made of fragile porcelain, the infected out there would never change no matter how much you did, and that fact was weirdly comforting to you. But it was also, deep down, because you hadn’t left Joel’s side for weeks now and the thought of being alone again, of going back to that house that you hadn’t even slept in for who knows how long, the thought of him maybe not returning, those too clouded your mind and caused your arms around his body to cling on even more. 

“Stay here with me where it’s warm and there aren’t any infected and where you can enjoy much much better company than Tommy. I’m sorry, I love the guy, but it’s true,” you jested, “I am way more fun than him.” 

“Yeah, you wanna tell him all of that when he comes a-knocking in a bit looking for me? Let him find out that you’re the reason I’m not doing my job?”

Slowly unravelling your arms, you took a step back and inspected his cautious expression, “Joel, are you-… are you scared of your brother finding out about us?”

“I don’t know if I’d call it that,” he apprehensively tried, “I just-”

“What?” you severed the remnants of your clinging hug, “are you ashamed of me or something?” 

“No! Oh my god, no!” he rushed out immediately, his coffee eyes growing wide, “Y/n, I am not ashamed of you in any way, please believe that,” his words dripping with desperation. 

“Alright,” you breathed, though your brows not unfurrowing in the slightest, “but then why do you wanna keep us a secret?”

“I don’t wanna keep us a secret, I just-…” he averted his gaze and uttered, “they trusted me to help you, you trusted me enough to let me in and then I-…”

“Then I kissed you. I was the one taking that step. Do you really think your brother would believe that you took advantage of me?”

“Plum, I know what you mean to him.”

“Even so, you really think he’d believe that? That he would think you would ever do something like that to a person?” 

Exhaling slowly, “I don’t know… He’s known me all his life. Seen every side of me, good and bad. I don’t know if he’d believe that, but I know I would if I was in his shoes.”

Staring down at your feet, you gnawed your bottom lip and eventually spoke, “when will you get back?”

“Maybe tomorrow or the day after that.”

Slowly lifting your eyes up to meet his, you nodded simply “okay,” though didn’t move to offer him another warm farewell.

Picking up his backpack that waited by the front door, his fingers stopped right before turning the handle and glanced back at you, “you know,” his fingers that weren’t clutching the door fidgeted apprehensively at his side, “you can stay here while I’m gone,” your shoulders relaxed as he essentially read your mind, “if you want. If that could somehow make things easier-”

But he didn’t get to finish his kind offer as you marched over towards him and snatched his head down for a kiss. 

“Be safe,” you rested your forehead against his for a moment as you felt his warm palm slide over your waist accompanying the relieved sigh that flowed out of him. 

“You too,” he breathed in your scent a second longer before he slipped out of your grasp and exited the door, not daring to look back at your form through the small window adorning the door even once. 

© 2023 thyme-in-a-bubble 

[onlymurdersintheafterparty]

OMITB S4:E4 "The Stunt Man"

Ok I've rewatched the episode with fresh eyes and ready to do a recap. I really appreciate the pacing that this season is taking regarding sleuthing because it gives us more to enjoy and theorize about each week. And as always there are a million new questions for every question answered. Spoilers ahead!

The episode intro was narrated by a man with an Irish accent who is later revealed to be an Irish stuntman for BEN GLENROY! In all four seasons nothing has had me more shook than that reveal. Glenn Stubbins is odd and goofy and while amusing I am 100% ok with him not returning for the rest of the series.

Shock aside, I found the stunt man bar Concussions to be interesting, especially the funeral they held for Sazz. I know some people think the real bottle was to hurt Charles but I think it was genuinely inserted to add chaos and may just be a gimmick amongst the crew. I love how Charles stood in for Sazz and did it for both her and her friends and it shows just how dear she was to him.

I'm someone who believes ancestors and loved ones can visit you in dreams to send messages so the idea of Sazz helping from beyond the grave is fascinating to me. But I'm so confused about a few things. Was she only going to retire or was she sick as wel? With all the trauma her body went through could she have been battling with onset ALS symptoms and needed to retire? I know she built and had plans for her academy which could have still been run up until she could no longer move. Also the relationship she wanted to get away from is clearly not Charles and I'm thinking Scott Bakula or even Eugene Levy or whoever else she did stunts for.

I don't trust the Westies. Cheap rent? Ok that I can buy. But I still think they're running some sort of. crime ring. They tried to say Helga was troubled but I think she was being serious. The Westies all say they've met him so I think it's safe to say Dudenoff is a real person but I don't think he's in Portugal. Vince says Helga was the wrong type of weirdo so I wonder if she's the one in the photo with her face crossed out. If that's the case what if Sazz bore a resemblance to Helga and one of them mid card game saw her through the window, thought she was telling Charles and exposing them and killed her for it? Also why did Beverly put a notice under Dudenoff's door when everyone said he was out of town? It's as if she wanted to lure Howard out since he didn't even get the role. Could Beverly herself be Dudenoff? That could also explain the scratched out face in the pictures but still doesn't explain why Sazz was killed. I don't know it just all seems connected and I can't quite figure out how.

Oliver and Loretta's storyline could easily be wrapped up with an honest conversation and full transparency from Oliver but I guess we'll have to ride this wave until the finale.

I know we always joke about Howard being Moriarty, but I'm really starting to think he might be. This episode he said he has no friends and each season he becomes more involved in the investigations even though he himself isn't involved. It could have started out of jealousy of their friendship then transitioned into him being power hungry with the knowledge that he can manipulate things behind the scenes to help or hurt the investigations. So I guess this is me saying that I don't think Moriarty is violent (anymore bc he did poison Wnnie) and that it's out of loneliness and boredom than malice at this point hence none of the trio or near circle getting hurt by him since then except for the actual murderer(s) each season.

[pansy-picnics]

Hiya!

I’m curious, what do you think uknighted dream would argue about and how would they apologise to each other?

Cause I personally think Cass hates apologising, Eugene’s not used to it, and Rapunzel according to the show can do no wrong!

Oh, and if you don’t mind me asking, are you planning on updating Children of the moon soon? Sorry, it’s just one of my favourite fics for this ship!

Thank you x

God ive been so bad about that fic i swear i have so many ideas for it but this year has been SOOO busy for me 😭😭 most of my free time has been dedicated to drawing and playing games cuz writing doesn’t come as naturally to me ngl….BUT SOON ENOUGH I WILL LOCK IN I PROMISE!!!! its been crossing my mind a lot more recently snd ive started a little bit of the next chapter…Ur guys’ support means the world to me im so happy to know people enjoy it as much as i do 🥹 and i desperately wish i had more time to dedicate to all my projects

as for your first question though….LMAO yeah the show did rapunzel DIRTY….Honestly it really depends for me, but i think you’re definitely right about cass and eugene. and rapunzel definitely struggles i think to apologize Genuinely, because she can get really overwhelmed with her guilt and anxiety to the point that she loses sight of the actual problem. its kind of a rough spot for all of them

I honestly haven’t thought abt it a lot so idk if i know what they’d fight about Specifically, but what i can come up with off the top of my head is ummm

rapunzel is a chronic Fixer. whenever someone expresses a problem to her shes quicker to try and “solve” it than she is to just. Listen because she kind of has grown up with the idea that everything is Her fault and She needs to fix everything. I think cass and eugene can end up feeling really unheard because of this. Usually it’s just something they can quickly talk through but when put on top of other conflicts it exacerbates things a LOT.

Raps, cass and eugene can all be INCREDIBLY stubborn and set in their ways and they sometimes struggle to hear each other out. rapunzel i think has her moments, but generally she isn’t too bad about it; eugene has a temper and he can be VERY petty but i think unless he REALLY has a reason to hold a grudge against you, he usually just needs about a week to cool down- but Queen of Anxious Attachment Cassandra Tangled (tm) can end up going AGES holding a grudge and just refusing to check in with anyone. as you probably can imagine it does not go well

i think bc rapunzel has such a strong belief that love is transactional she sometimes gets trapped in a cycle where she basically attempts to min-max her time with eugene and cass respectively because she worries if she isn’t spending “equal” amounts of time with them then it means she must not love them enough. as you might imagine this causes a lot more harm than good….

cass is REALLY REALLY bad at asking for help and being vulnerable and especially admitting when someone does something that hurts her. i think this causes a LOT of really stupid miscommunications between them. eugene or rapunzel are both usually able to talk her through it depending on who shes upset at…and it really helps to have a third party there who she trusts because otherwise it could easily just spiral out of control and cause her to grow bitter and distant (As seen in canon LOL)

Ummm….To be completely honest i cant really see a lot of situations where cass and eugene like, Genuinely fight after they get with rapunzel. they obviously still bicker a lot but like, frankly after they’ve both figured their shit out i just don’t think they have much of a reason to fight anymore. Their whole rivalry has always been really childish and most of the more serious stressors have already been taken care of by the time the series ends. i think most of their fights are just over stupid shit and get resolved within the hour. i think they’d have to both go through a MAJOR traumatic event to actually get as bad as they were in season 1 again LMAOOO

How they apologize definitely depends a lot on the situation (go figure) but i genuinely dont think they get into Big fights very often…so when it does happen it takes a toll on all of them.

eugene i imagine is a little extra but sincere. doesn’t do Too much because he doesn’t want to overwhelm the girls, but probably just picks a quiet night and orders takeout or makes a small dinner to talk over. sometimes it can take eugene a while to realize when he’s fucked up but when he DOES realize it, it hits him like a TRUCK and he IMMEDIATELY jumps to do everything in his power to rectify it. he’s a big softie <3

cass is a lot more prideful than raps and eugene whether she realizes it or not, so its a lot harder for her to admit her faults, even when she knows she was wrong. she doesn’t like to make a big deal of when she apologizes because it’s really embarrassing for her. she’s the kind of person to send the apology text to the group chat and have to like physically put her phone down and start pacing around the room. To me.

rapunzel, like i said struggles to genuinely apologize because her anxiety and guilt can just become so overwhelming….she usually has to spend a bit of time away before shes ready to Really talk things out. When she is she definitely shows it quietly but clearly, she writes little notes with a paper bouquet and leaves them around where the other two will find them. they leave her little notes back and let her come to them when she’s ready.

admittedly i’m Not good with thinking of character conflicts off the top of my head, they have to come to me in Visions, and i just don’t end up thinking about a lot of ukd conflicts so hopefully this is okay LOL…..I would love to hear other ppls thoughts….. :3

[monsterblogging]

So, I think I finally sorted out why I find Karl Heisenberg kind of weird and incoherent as a character concept when I actually stop and think about it. It took me several weeks and two watchings of Why Do You Always Kill Gods in JRPGs? to finally put my finger on it, but here it is.

So, the Resident Evil franchise is a series that has been loaded with metaphor and allegory from day one. The games have talked about stuff like labor exploitation under capitalism, eugenics, theocracy, neoimperialism, and even how the existence of counter-terrorist organizations creates perverse incentives to make more terrorists so the organizations have something to do.

Now the thing is, these are all systemic issues. For most of the franchise, the focus has been on large scale systemic problems.

Resident Evil 7, however, changed things up a little. While systemic problems are still a thing, they're put on the back burner in favor of focusing on a toxic family dynamic. Specifically, it focuses on what happens when people internalize a loved one's irrational fears and unhealthy behavior patterns. The mold here represents the emotional bonds between these people, and the way it's rotted their physical home represents how it's destroyed the family as a home. As a concept it's pretty solid; the only issue here is the execution, which treats Eveline as if she's an unsympathetic monster when she's actually the primary victim here. But still, solid base concept.

Resident Evil 8 tries to do both interpersonal issues and systemic issues. It took a lot of cues from Resident Evil 4 (the "theocracy is bad, oh my god keep it out of the government" installment) and threw in a lot of systemic issue shit while also trying to be about a toxic family dynamic. For the most part, this works out fine.

You got Mother Miranda representing the power of theocracy. Lady Dimitrescu's here representing stuff like conspicuous consumption and worker abuse/labor exploitation. Donna's representing toys/entertainment used to distract people with unhealthy illusions rather than giving genuine enrichment. Moreau represents a neglected healthcare system. Heisenberg is here to be the military-industrial complex... or, is he?

The first three characters do a solid job of embodying actual systemic issues. Heisenberg, however, is kind of a mess because the game tries to code him as two completely different kinds of people: the militaristic leader, and the exploited blue collar worker/engineer/mechanic.

Many of Heisenberg's lines seem to suggest that he sees other people as means to an end; things to be weaponized. He frequently praises Ethan's body and wants to weaponize him against Miranda. He also wants to do the same with Rose. This is, of course, how the military as an institution tends to view people.

But one problem here is, Heisenberg doesn't dress the part. They could have put him in a ratty old officer's cap and jacket and given him a dozen swords (the weapon of the ruling class) to magnetically control. But instead, he dresses like a member of the working class and carries a fucking hammer. So while Capcom probably meant Ethan's rejection of Heisenberg's offer to come off as "fuck off, I'm not letting you exploit me!", it... sorta also comes off as "fuck you, I don't need no stinking unions!"

Heisenberg also complains that Miranda has humiliated him by putting him under her control. This might have been meant to reflect how actual militaristic shitheads love to complain that they're being humiliated and emasculated by not being allowed to inflict violence willy-nilly. But the problem is, Heisenberg's complaints are actually valid, because he's actually being abused by his mother figure. Your militaristic shitheads aren't being abused; they're just pissed off over not being allowed to go kill people wherever they feel like manifesting their destiny and becoming great men of history.

Additionally, Heisenberg just doesn't embody the toxic masculinity that your militaristic shitheads insist makes you a Real Man™. Yeah, his traumadumping is ill-timed and obnoxious, but he's actually talking about his trauma instead of just bottling it up. He's doing what toxic masculinity considers unthinkable - making himself emotionally vulnerable to another man. He's actually less aggressive than the other lords, since he doesn't actually try to kill Ethan until Ethan tries to kill him. Furthermore, in calling Chris Redfield a "boulder-punching asshole," he displays contempt for over-the-top displays of male-coded power.

And of course, Heisenberg making soldats could be read as a metaphor for how the military dehumanizes people by turning them into instruments of destruction, but the problem is that he's using people who are already dead. Sure, he's definitely been considering using living people, but the fact that this thought only comes after years of nothing else working and he's never actually done it says that he hasn't actually committed himself to this, so if that was the intention here... it also doesn't work.

So yeah, IMO Heisenberg ends up being a kind of weird, incoherent character concept because the game wants him to represent both the military-industrial complex and the exploited engineer/mechanic literally just trying to survive, and uh, these are two very different concepts and don't really work together in the same guy.

[throuple-tournament]

Throuple Tournament Info

Rules

Submissions are closed.

Polls will run for a week and I will give you at least a days notice.

I will not answer asks while a poll is up unless it's propaganda or a question about the polls.

I will not answer asks about discourse. I might think about what you said but I don't want discourse on this blog.

I will also not respond to rude or mean asks.

Please send asks that are propaganda. Also, please send asks with your fan art or your favourite screenshots that you wouldn't mind me using for polls.

Please send in a description of your favourite throuples if you want to; these will be used in the polls.

Please do not be rude about other people's interests or the other throuples in the tournament. You can talk about your preferred throuple without talking badly about the other/s.

Please don't jokingly threaten others or joke about suicide. I've noticed that some polls I follow have had this issue and I don't want this to happen on my blog.

I don't know when I'm going to have the first polls ready as I'm going to be getting busier from this week onwards but I'll let you guys know.

Match Ups Under Keep Reading

Group 1

Marco/Star/Tom vs Marco/Janna/Jackie from Star vs the Forces of Evil

Adaine/Fig/Ayda vs Em/Sofia/Dale from Dimension 20

Kala/Wolfgang/Rajan vs Lito/Hernando/Daniela from Sense 8

Willow/Luz/Amity vs Willow/Hunter/Gus from The Owl House

Raz/Lilli/Dogen vs Ford/Lucretia/Otto from Psychonauts

Finn/Rey/Poe vs Rex/Anakin/Padme from Star Wars

Makoto/Sayaka/Kyoko vs Hajime/Nagito/Chiaki from Danganronpa

Ryunosuke/Barok/Kazuma vs Clay/Apollo/Klavier from The Great Ace Attorney

Jason/Roy/Koriand'r vs Dick/Barbara/Koriand'r from DC Comics

Marius/Ivy/Raphaella vs Orpheus/Narcissus/Eurydice from The Mechanisms

Group 2

Selina/Harley/Ivy vs Tim/Bernard/Kon from DC

Sam/Tucker/Danny vs Vlad/Jack/Maddie from Danny Phantom

Rose/Lissa/Natalie from Vampire Academy vs Bonnie/Caroline/Elena from Vampire Diaries

Jay/Nya/Cole from Ninjago vs Red Son/Mei/MK from Lego Monkie Kid

Rilla/Arum/Damien from Penumbra Podcast vs Howard/James/Cel from Rusty Quill Gaming Podcast

Haru/Legosi/Louis from Beastars vs Ranpo/Poe/Mushitarou from Bungou Stray Dogs

Adrien/Marinette/Kagami from Miraculous Ladybug vs Anne/Marcy/Sasha from Amphibia

Ichika/Nene/Kanade vs Rui/Mafuyu/Tsukasa from Project SEKAI

Parker/Hardison/Elliot from Leverage vs Neal/Peter/Elizabeth from White Collar

Yamato/Ace/Deuce from One Piece vs Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere from Arthurian Legend

Group 3

Ichigo/Minto/Retasu from Tokyo Mew Mew vs Hikaru/Lala/Yuni from Star Twinkle Precure

Kyle/Rogelio/Lonnie from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power vs Pearl/Rose/Greg from Steven Universe

Rapunzel/Eugene/Cassandra from Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure vs Zuko/Sokka/Suki from Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Doctor/Rose/Jack from Doctor Who vs James/Bones/Spock from Star Trek TOS

Nancy/Steve/Jonathan from Stranger Things vs Merlin/Gwen/Arthur from Merlin (2008)

Rachel/Chloe/Max from Life is Strange vs Thanatos/Zagreus/Megaera from Hades

Vincent/Victor/Albert from Vincent: The Secret of Myers vs Rinne/Himeru/Niki from Ensmeble Stars!

Jack/Kirtash/Victoria from Idhun's Memories Series vs Qibli/Winter/Moonwatcher from Wings of Fire Series

Ludivine/Rielle/Audric from The Empirium Trilogy vs Vlad/Nathan/Ursula from Hunger Pangs:True Love Bites

King Kelp/Lord Cabbage/Bagel from Cucumber Quest vs Camilla/Nyra/Dendro from Muted

Group 4

Neptune/Uranus/Pluto from Sailor Moon vs Aira/Rizumu/Mion from Pretty Rhythm

Mickey/Goofy/Donald from Disney vs Pepe/Sylvester/Penelope from Looney Tunes

Draculaura/Clawdeen/Frankie from Monster High vs Ruby/Weiss/Penny from RWBY

Nathan/Annalise/Gabriel from The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself vs Quentin/Eliot/Arielle from The Magicians

Leon/Claire/Ada from Resident Evil vs Jaskier/Yennefer/Geralt from The Witcher

Abigail/Sam/Sebastian from Stardew Valley vs Candy/Sapphire/Zack from My Sims

Sweet/Capn/K_K from Deltarune vs Shiver/Frye/Big Man from Splatoon

Chris/Millie/Conrad from Chronicles of Chrestomanci vs Sadie/Walt/Anubis from The Kane Chronicles

Rah'oxah/Legzi/Ryjnah from Drawga: Dungeons and Drawings vs Grendan/York/Rose from Drawtectives

Jean/Scott/Logan from Marvel Comics vs Wu/Li/Gao from Iron Widow

Group 5

Yuji/Megumi/Nobara from Jujutsu Kaisen vs Misa/Light/L from Deathnote

Lucy/George/Anthony from Lockwood & Co vs Louis/Lestat/Armand from Interview With A Vampire

Chel/Tulio/Miguel from The Road to El Dorado vs Manolo/Maria/Joaquin from The Book of Life

Henry/Charles/Ellie from Henry Stickmin Collection vs Steve/Alex/Herobrine from Minecraft

Soldier/Demoman/Zhanna from TF2 vs Susie/Magolor/Taranza from Kirby

Morgana/Launchpad/Drake from Darkwing Duck vs Yoo/Han/Kim from Omniscient Readers Viewpoint

Isabela/Merril/Hawke from Dragon Age 2 vs Dorian/Orym/Fearne from Critical Role Campaign 3

Vivi/Arthur/Lewis from Mystery Skulls Animated vs Aizo/Yujiro/Hiyori from Honeyworks

June/Dave/Karkat from Homestuck vs Trevor/Sypha/Alucard from Castlevania

Elizabeth/Jack/Will from Pirates of the Carribean vs Cyrano/Christian/Roxanne from Cyrano (2021)

[blood-mocha-latte]

~ miscellaneous tag game ~

tagged by the lovely @mutantmanifesto and @dontirrigateme <3

Favorite place in the world you’ve visited?

rough draw but munich! 'twas gorgeous and also where I got engaged

Something you’re proud of yourself for?

dragging my ass through college in two years and double majoring. nearly killed me but by god it's done

Favorite books?

the awakening by kate chopin - the woman in white by wilkie collins - all quiet on the western front by erich maria remarque - a tree grows in brooklyn by betty smith - letters from the 442nd by min masuda

Something that makes your heart happy when thinking about it?

mah wife (borat voice)

Favorite thing about your culture?

god what even is my culture. how unhinged would i sound if i said swamps and rigatoni

When did you join the HBO War fandom? What was the first show you watched?

joined about three years ago but not on tumblr, but watched the pacific first

Have you read any of Easy Company’s books? If so, which ones were your favorite?

no because i. have a reading list and they aren't up in the queue lmao

Favorite HBO War character and your favorite moment with them?

leckie. he’s like. webster if webster was a wet cat what’s not to love. favorite moment is all moments ever EXCEPT for the sex scenes because what kind of hallucinogen did i take to have to watch that

Do you make content for any fandoms, if so; what sort of content?

i write fic and am. a little consumed by it at all times. i also make edits but am going through a bit of a rut with that so for now only writing thank you

Favorite actor/actress and your favorite film of theirs?

eliza dushku for her wonderful performances in buffy the vampire slayer and angel (i'm gay. can you tell)

Favorite quote/s that you wish to share with others?

just this entire dick allen poem which is luztoye coded forever and ever

Random fact your mutuals/followers don’t know about you?

hm. idk. i once got bit by a raccoon in a bayou and had to get rabies shots for the next two weeks

If you’re a writer, do you need a beta reader (say yes so I can be your beta reader 🤭)?

i write everything by hand and then put in in the Computer which is like. a built in beta edit. and then mah wife (borat voice) betas for me because she's wonderful

Three things that make you smile?

mah wife (borat voice) (i'm predictable)

our air purifier (i’m old)

our vintage dog teapot

Any nicknames you like?

my name is three letters long like there's not a lot of leeway there. i went by adelasia for a while which is my middle name but like. that's it. does papera count

List some people you love to see around on tumblr!

@lamialamia is the pillar of my entire person at all times and genuinely one of the nicest people i’ve ever met. linh wrote this wonderful fic for the secret santa exchange, which i am currently reading and fawning over

@staud is easily one of the talented people in the entire hbo war fandom and has the fucking VISION for gifs and videos. most recent of which i’ve watched (and panicked about) being an incredible eugene sledge video. erin is also just fucking funny bro idk what to tell you

@mutantmanifesto is someone that is like. genuinely a celebrity to me. every time i see lenora’s drawings anywhere i have flashbacks like i’m in the louvre. also just a wonderful person with incredible taste

@ep6bastogne is on a tumblr hiatus right now but always deserves a shoutout. she did incredible edits of skinny sisk, eugene roe, ron speirs, and david webster for the secret santa exchange that changed my brain chemistry forever and is one of the warmest people i’ve ever talked to

@ewipandora is someone that i’m ALWAYS holding hands with <3. both a genuinely funny and wonderful person and has incredible taste in reblogs. ewi is currently doing a band of brothers ship series that i plan to Consume as soon as possible because i have no doubt that they’re incredible

@dcyllom is an incredibly underrated and kind part of my Dashboard Experience™ and is also just wonderful and one of my favorite Tumblr People :)

@educationalporpoises is a genius and an INCREDIBLE writer. zee was my secret santa gifter and this luztoye fic knocked it all the way out of the park and into the cemetery, which is how hard it slayed. also wins for best mutual handle

@almost-a-class-act is ridiculously supportive and kind, and a backbone of the hbo war fandom forever and always. sam’s also one of the best fucking writers to ever grace this earth, with the most recent thing i’ve read being this top notch luztoye fic <3

What would you do during a zombie apocalypse?

die. girl i work in an er i'd be the first to go

Favorite movie?

ladri di biciclette for all time favorite movie ever. a perfect movie

Do you like horror movies?

it depends entirely on the level of homoerotism that can be found in those movies. and also if matthew lillard is in it

Tagging:

everyone mentioned above as well as anyone who wants to do it since i have no clue who’s been tagged :)

[canirove]

The Princess & the Football Player | Chapter 34

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

"Wow, Ellie. Your face looks so red... Did I catch you shagging Declan?"

"Shagging?" I laugh.

"Yes, shagging. You know what it means, right?"

"I do, Sophie."

"And?"

"And what."

"Did I interrupt anything?"

"No, you didn't."

"Yet!" Declan says as he walks into the bathroom. 

"Ignore him" I reply, rolling my eyes. 

"Then why are you so red?" Sophie asks.

"I joined him and the boys at the gym and then when they were done training we played a little football game."

"Wait, they know?"

"Yep, he told them yesterday. I was starting to bore myself to death because I couldn't leave the apartment or do anything when they were here."

"And how did they react?"

"The new players freaked out a bit, they didn't know what to do or what to say."

"The usual around you, then" Sophie chuckles.

"Yeah... But the ones who were already playing for West Ham when Dec and I were together, were really happy to see me again."

"Because they also know you are meant to be" she smiles. "Have you talked about when you are coming back home? How long do you plan on living there?"

"I don't know. We've decided to spend the new year with Mason and Roberta because I haven't seen her in ages, but nothing else."

"I'm sure she'll love that. But then you could come over. Both of you. We all miss you, and you owe mum, dad and grandmama a chat."

"I know I do" I sigh. "Them, and Charles too. Do you know anything about him? David told me he left for Monaco."

"No, nothing. But he looked so gutted that night… Ellie, he loves you."

"I know he does. But I couldn't keep lying to him or myself. You know it better than anyone."

"I do, yes" Sophie sighs. "Anyway, I better go. Our beloved cousins have invited me to have tea with them and share gossip."

"Enjoy" I chuckle.

"Yeah, enjoy" she says, rolling her eyes. "Once we hang up you'll leave to go shag Declan, while I'll have to listen to Eugene talk for hours about her dog having problems going to the bathroom or how she's fallen in love with a new guy she's met twice."

"You'll be fine, Sophie. You can do it."

"I can, but I don't want to" she complains. "So you better enjoy your shagging, make one of us happy."

"Sophie, we aren't..." 

"Bye, sis. Love you!" she says with a big grin before hanging up.

"So... Are we shagging or not?" Declan says behind me.

"Jesus Christ, you scared me."

"Sorry. But are we shagging or not?"

"Can you all please stop saying that... word" I say as a turn around to look at him. He's leaning on the bathroom's door only wearing his boxers, his hair a perfect mess after training, his arms crossed over his chest and making his biceps pop. And all that while giving me that smile that he knows makes my insides melt. "We are shagging. We definitely are. But one thing" I say as I get up from the sofa. "Please stop using the word shagging."

"I promise, your Royal Highness" he smirks before lifting me in the air and throwing me over his shoulder, walking towards our room while I giggle like an idiot.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"I'm so glad you could come, bro" Mason says, hugging Declan. "It must have been crazy these past days."

"It has, yeah. And it still is" he sighs.

"How long are you gonna be staying at Rush Green?" Roberta asks him. 

"I'm not sure. Eleanor has an event in a couple of weeks and they are planning on letting the press ask her questions so she can explain everything and stop all the bullshit, but she also wants to talk to Charles first."

"I wish she had come. I miss her so much..."

As Roberta says those words, someone rings the bell at Mason's house. 

"I'll get that" he says.

"Is anyone else joining us?" Declan asks.

"I don't think so. Mason asked around and everyone is either staying with their families or going to a party."

"Who could it be, then?"

"I... Eleanor!" Roberta yells, running towards her friend and hugging her.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Eleanor!" Roberta yells, running to hug me. "Oh, Ellie, I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too" I say, hugging her back. 

"Aren't they cute?" Mason smiles.

"Very" Declan replies.

"But what are you doing here?" Roberta asks. "Declan said you were staying with your family!"

"That was a little lie, we wanted to surprise you" I say, breaking our embrace. "Oh, shit. I think my hair has got tangled on something."

"Let me... There."

"What are you wearing on that hand?" I ask while scratching my head. "That actually hurt."

"Oh... I just... Umm... We got engaged!" she yells again, showing me the huge diamond on her hand.

"You what?" Declan and I say at the same time.

"Surprise!" Mason says with a shy smile.

"When did that happen?" I ask.

"And why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend, Mase!" Declan says.

"I know, I know. We just wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while, you know? And since you had enough on your plate already with what happened over Christmas..." he shrugs.

"But you could have told me you were planning on doing it! Ask me for advice when you went to buy the ring, about how to do it… I don't know!"

"I'm sorry, Dec. Please don't get mad."

"I'm not mad, I'm just... You are engaged!" Declan says, hugging his friend.

"I'm so happy for you, guys. But now I want all the details" I tell Roberta.

"Why don't we tell you everything while we have dinner? I don't want the risotto to get cold" she says, linking her arm with mine and starting to walk towards the kitchen. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Three, two, one... Happy new year!" we all scream, fireworks being heard all around us, the sky full of different shapes and colours. 

"I love you, future husband" Roberta says to Mason.

"I love you too, future wife" he replies before kissing her.

"Can I get a new year kiss too?" I ask Declan.

"Just one?" he says with a cheeky smile.

"I mean, making out with you to start the new year sounds perfect" I say, wrapping my arms around his neck. "And it is a bit cold here in the garden, it will definitely help me warm up. But doing it in front of Roberta and Mason..."

"They are too busy with each other, they won't care."

"Yeah, they won't" I chuckle.

"Making out session to start the year, then?" he says, gently brushing his nose against mine. 

"Making out session to start the year" I giggle. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Are you guys naked?" Roberta asks after knocking on the door.

"What?" I mumble. 

"What time is it?" Declan yawns.

"Guys, I need an answer. Are you naked or not?"

"Yes, but you can't see anything."

"Oh, great" Roberta says, storming into the room. "Because I don't want to see your dick first thing in the morning, Declan. That's not how you start the new year."

"That's how I've started the new year" I smirk.

"And you definitely enjoyed it. Have you always been that loud?"

"I… guess? But maybe you heard us because you aren't loud enough anymore. The boring married life has started" I tease her.

"Whatever" she says, rolling her eyes. "Breakfast is ready, so if you want to join us, you know where to find us."

"Thank you, Roberta" Declan says.

"And happy new year!" I laugh, lifting the duvet on his side and leaving him stark naked in front of her.

"Oh my God!" she screams before running away.

"Eleanor Victoria Alexandra!" 

"Yes?" I say, giving Declan my most innocent smile.

"I'm gonna have to do something with you. That behaviour isn't appropriate for the future Queen of England."

"Something like what?" 

"Remember that time you tied my hands with my belt?"

"I do. It is a very fond memory" I smirk.

"Well, it's time I get my revenge" he says, leaving the bed.

"It's been years, Declan! Time to move on!" I laugh. "What are you doing in the bathroom?"

"I needed this" he says, showing me the bathrobe's belt.

"And what are you going to do with that?" I ask, biting my lip in anticipation.

"Lay down. Hands over your head."

"Yes, sir." 

"That's perfect" he says after tying my wrists together. "Are you comfortable there or is it too tight?"

"I'm good."

"Great. Now open your legs. Wide" he orders me again.

"And now?"

"Now I'm gonna eat you out, and then fuck you until neither of us can't keep going. And you can't put your hands down. If you do, I'll stop or go so slow you'll start begging."

"That won't happen" I smirk.

"We shall see" Declan replies with a similar smile before disappearing between my legs.

[withoutcontxt]

Would you consider doing HCs for how VAT7K interacts with the Tangled crew?

(Absolutely love your hcs btw)

Oh boy, do I.

Tangled Crew loves their collective baby bro, and would die for him, but when he went off on a 2-3 year journey with almost NO COMMUNICATION back home. They are needless to say, very shocked when he, out of the blue, walks into the castle. And oh boy, he went through a life changing experience.

His hair is slightly singed, wearing clothing that he definitely didn’t own before (they were gone for 2-3 years, at some point team radical changed their clothing styles and now have similar looking clothes, still unique to them but similar), about 6 inches taller, with more friends (and a bf, but they don’t know that yet), no adult supervision, and without the very woman he went to go find . “Varian if you went on this journey to find, and if need to rescue, your mom, and bring her back. Where is she?” “Oh yeah, she turned into a demon and tried to kill us all. Don’t worry she’s gone now.” “She did what now?”

Varian did actually send letters, mainly to his dad, but most of them were intercepted by enemies or Don.

Rapunzel gets along well with Nuru, and before the younger girl has to go back to her kingdom they paint stars together and talk royal business.

Anytime Hugo and Eugene see each other, it is 👏 on 👏 sight. At least for the first week, after that Hugo keeps making piano jokes (that varian is giving him) and Eugene is tired.

Varian and Hugo both work as Royal Engineers and Librarians, with rotating days of who works where and what place is open for business.

Cass doesn’t trust any of Varian’s friends for the first 40 minutes she meets them, then Yong says hi to her and she’s like: Oh my god a child, must be protected at all costs.

Eugene is tired with a Hugo’s bs, but he makes a varian happy so it’s fine.

Rapunzel doesn’t understand any of the inside jokes any of them have. What’s this about Hugo’s mom once being apart of a gang?

Hugo and Varian REFUSE to tell them what actually happened in the library. The place is very important, useful, and they like their jobs there, but if Raps, Eugene, Cass, Quirin, Lance, or anyone else found out? Oh no, that place would be closed for good.

Raps likes Hugo, thinks he’s a good match for Varian. Unfortunately for her, and everyone else, she doesn’t know much about what happened in vat7k.

Since Varian’s letters never came, no one really knows what all happened during vat7k outside of team radical and few others.

Yong and Cass get along very well! Big sister and little brother vibes. They like to prank Varian, Eugene, and Hugo together.

Lance loves all of them equally <3 and will make favorite foods.

Hugo helps Eugene with teaching guards on how to catch thieves, since Eugene has been out of the game for a few years and it’s good to know what tricks are new and not.

When Varian comes back, Quirin absolutely starts telling his son more about his life. (I saw someone else have a hc like this but can’t find it, whoever came up with that is a genius)

Yong visits every month or two, and then proceeds to cause chaos with Varian and Hugo. After that, he knocks them both out so they can get some god forsaken sleep. The tangled crew have never been more grateful.

Nuru will also visit a lot (like Yong) and cause chaos with varigo.

If Nuru and Yong ever move into the castle, team radical would be thrilled. The tangled crew would only ever dread game night.

I have more headcannons, but their mainly varigo based. Otherwise this is all I can remember right now.

[quoththeowl31]

LGTS Spin-Off starring 18 year old Apfel

Picked up Little Goody Two Shoes again after taking a break from it for awhile. I kept accidentally soft-locking myself out of the rest of the game. (Finally got the Moira ending last night).

I was thinking about a potential spin-off and frankly if there was a spin-off, I think the best character to star in it would be Apfel.

Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn't played the game:

This poor kid went through the ringer during the entire game; got sick with an awful fever, he got marked by Murim, was taken into the woodland, almost devoured by Murim and his flock, and then no one believed him about seeing the Witch afterwards thanks to Elise making sure to essentially gaslight the kid. The rest of the week it's clear he's still dealing with the aftermath of all that, so it's likely he's going to be haunted the rest of his life too.

Imagine the story of now 18 year old Apfel returning to Kieferberg when a letter from his mother tells him about his sister, Angelica a.k.a Grune, acting strangely and hopes that maybe he could come visit for the festival and snap her out of whatever she's doing. (I kinda figured Grune and Apfel were twins).

Apfel ran away from Kieferberg at 16 and got an apprenticeship in Primeldorf, maybe got help finding one thanks to Eugen.

Upon returning to Kieferberg, he greets familiar faces like Freya and Lubkuchen, and Jakob, and meets a few new faces as well such as a group of strange travelers who have set up an encampment near Elise's old home. The people of Kieferberg are suspicious of them despite the fact that these travelers have been nothing but kind and overall harmless.

The general idea is that Grune is trying to get into contact with Him, Apfel is unwittingly recruited by St. Walpurga to act on her behalf to reclaim her grove from Him.

The travelers are followers of older faith and offer their help to Apfel in order to protect himself and his loved ones against these ancient deities malevolence.

Generally speaking the best route is forcing Ozzy and his crew out of the Woodland and returning it to Walpurga which also saves Grune from making a terrible choice. Potentially encountering Elise, now Lady Elise die Heilige and gaining something from her in the encounter.

Rozenmarine as a Golden Maiden may be encountered too.

[nerdasaurus1200]

For the ask game, #3 and #8 for Cass and Eugene? (not romantic tho ahah)

I am so so so sorry this took so long, anon. I started this and life got in the ay and then the holidays came around. But I finally got around to finishing this! Consider it a late valentines day gift ^_^

3 and 8, "snuggle weather" and "warm soup"

To say Cassandra was exhausted was an understatement. Her ankle was still tender, but the royal medic insisted the cast had to come off today. She didn't see why it mattered, she would still be wheelchair bound for weeks to come. And even worse, there was a terrible storm brewing so she couldn't even spend the evening mapping like she had originally planned. Normally she liked storms; autumn storms were the best. The storms in Corona were freezing thanks to the coastal winds, which made it perfect to snuggle up in a blanket. And she always enjoyed watching the lightning split the sky. Something about it was soothing.

Unfortunately this storm was different. Both Rapunzel and her father were stuck out in it. According to the briefing she was coming back from, Rapunzel had decided evading her security was a good idea and her father had gone after her to make sure she came home safe. Thank goodness she'd put on a pot of lamb stew to simmer before the briefing; she was now far too tired to start cooking. As Cassandra entered her room, she heard Owl ruffle his feathers and give her a soft sleepy hoot in greeting.

"Hey. Go back to sleep for now." She whispered, giving him a boop, "But wake me when the stew's done." Her wheelchair rolled right beside her bed, Cassandra stood up and let herself fall onto the...body??

"Heyyyyy get oooff..." a man's voice whined and Cass jumped back. Instantly, Owl hissed at the intruder as he sat up.

"Fitzherbert." Cassandra snarled, "What the fiddlestick are you doing in my bed???"

"Calm down, Cass, I just woke up, gimme a second." Eugene mumbled tiredly, rubbing his face to wake himself up. After a stretch that was far too long to be real, Eugene finally spoke, "The girls are cleaning my room, and yours is comfier."

"Well they're probably done by now." Cassandra rolled her eyes, "So go nap in your own bed."

"I'd love to, but I'm too tired to walk all that way." Eugene shrugged. Owl snapped his beak at Eugene and puffed his feathers so he looked nearly twice as big. Even though the sight was clearly a display of aggression, Cassandra always found it so adorable.

"Easy, Owl." Cassandra carefully limped over to Owl and stroked his head, "Rapunzel's boyfriend needs his eyes for preening. He preens way more than you do, after all."

Eugene opened his mouth to make a retort back, but then he finally got a good whiff of what was on the fire.

"Ohhh no, Cass!" He scolded, "You know what happens when you cook!" He made a move to "save" the pot, but Cass yanked him back.

"It's lamb stew, Fitzherjerk. For your information it's the one thing I can actually cook. And it's almost done, so don't touch it." She snarked at him.

"Wait, something you can cook? This I gotta taste!" Before Cassandra could stop him, Eugene made a beeline for the pot again and eagerly tasted it.

"Holy moly, this is delicious!" Eugene marveled, "How'd you learn to make this? This is even better than when Mis Claire made it at the orphanage!"

Cassandra blinked in surprise and smiled at him. No one had ever asked about her stew before.

"It's an old family recipe...I think. The secret ingredient is Saporian black pepper." She answered. She leaned over the pot a bit and gave the stew a stir, carefully checking if it was ready.

"You think? What, are you and Cap a little fuzzy on family recipes?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I've been making this since before my Dad found me." She explained, "Mother...my mum...I think she taught me. I remember standing over the pot, with my hands on her wrists as she was stirring."

"That...that sounds nice..." Eugene mumbled.

"It was." Even though Cassandra wasn't looking at Eugene, he could tell that she was smiling sadly. Shoot, his plan was failing! Gotta think of something to avoid missing parents....

"What are you doing?" Cassandra asked when she noticed him rummaging through her shelves.

"Looking for a good book, but all I can find is maps and history stuff." He griped, "Oh my god, of course you're a Seven Dragons fan."

"Hey! That's the best book of all time!" Cassandra defended, giving him a playful glare.

"Oh come on, it's the worst book in the Flynn Rider series! He's barely in it!" He protested, "That's why I only read it once."

"That's because it's Ramona's story, not-" Cassandra began, but then cut herself off, "Wait....you only read it one time?! How long ago?!"

Eugene bit his lip to hide his smirk. He had her right where he wanted her.

"I dunno, like ten years ago, why?" He asked, maintaining the perfect air of nonchalance.

"Oh that's nonsense, we're reading it now. Get in the blanket. But don't get any stew on my bed." Cass instructed. Eugene finally let himself smirk once Cassandra turned her back towards him. She fell for it, hook line and sinker. Hopefully this would be enough to keep her from worrying about Rapunzel and the Captain until they came back.

[lowkeyclueless5137]

Day 5- To Make A Promise

Pair: Malleus x Idia x Azul

Prompt: Handcrafted, perfectionist

Notes: Malleus is silly in this one. Trust U-Ub

Warnings: Book 7 Spoilers! :v

It was a very pretty day. So pretty, in fact, that most students were hanging outside, enjoying this fine day in between classes.

Malleus, for a change, just finished his PE lesson. As such, he had to give his brom to the lockers. Most people were changing in their uniforms, but it was nothing a small spell couldn't fix.

"You heard it? In a week is the culture festival... I heard Tim from 2-E is giving his girl a handmade vase from the pottery club." Malleus perked at that. He didn't know who this 'Tim' was, but by the tones of the students, they seemed to praise his dedication to make a vase.

"Really? That Scarabia first year, Maau, is rumored to make a poem for the Ramshackle prefect. Imagine that!" "Kinda lame, dude... Frederick from 3-A is said to be sewing for his lover a whole outfit! From scratch, dude!" "There's also Eugen... That lonely ass is sending something over to his brother overseas." "I think he's looking pretty happy as a single Pringle..."

Malleus tuned out of it for a hot second. How lovely! So many students put effort in a gift for their loved ones.

"And you? What did you get for your girl?" "Dude... I got some chocolate and maybe get some flowers too, you know, to be fresh..." "That's kinda lame..." "When you put those try-harders next to it, yeah... But she likes when I get her favorite flowers."

Malleus thought about it. He didn't consider the culture festival as a romantic event. But he figured that those with lovers not apart of the school would want to have a beautiful moment alongside their dear ones.

Maybe his lovers will also enjoy this?

But it had to be memorable! Worthwhile! It was the very first culture festival since they were together properly. He should step up his game! He should get a gift that will have the 2 thank him and praise him to others for his caring nature. Something that would show that he's a caring spouse, an attentive lover and, definitely, make others want to strive to his kindness.

But then, the conversation of the 2 students gawned at his attention. Others were crafting items or writing poems. They did so without magic, only putting their raw talent and passion in such gifts.

What would his lovers like? He could do anything if he put some effort in it. And effort seems to be necessary in making a gift memorable.

Well, Azul likes shiny things. The coin collection in his room speaks for itself. And Idia seems to dwelve into fictional likes, such as the ever so elusive video-games or 'anime' as Malleus learned to address the said genre. Azul always restricts himself on food and Idia was a picky eater, so cooking would be an option, but a very unsatisfactory one. He couldn't yet fight against an unpredictable foe such as personal tastes.

Both sides needed to be fulfilled. Malleus wanted to make something that satisfied both of his lovers. But he also wanted to do something by himself. Without magic, without monetary exchanges, without help from outside at all!

"Malleus? Honey, are you alright?" The Fae blinked as he looked at Azul. He ended up at evening, in Idia's room. The firehead was setting up some movie they were going to watch as Azul was setting their snack: a big bowl of pop-corn in between them. Finishing up, Idia snuggled next to Malleus's side as Azul hugged both of them, head rested on Malleus's chest. "You seem out of it... Did something upset you?" He asked with concern laced on his melodious voice. Idia grumbled, resting his head on a pillow next to Malleus's arm. "Did something happen? You can tell us..." He asked.

NO! He couldn't tell! He needs to keep it a surprise!

A surprise that Malleus himself wasn't yet aware of what it could be.

"Nothing." he breathed out. The 2 seemed yo exchange glances, before snuggling closer. They knew Malleus liked to snuggle. And so they catered to this desire when the fae felt it needed.

Now he felt like it needs to be a special gift! He has to make it worth it!

Azul was the first one who fell asleep, his soft snores drowned by the movie noises. Idia smiled weakly as he put a blanked over the 3 of them, the movie rolling its end credits at this point. Setting the bowl on the nightstand, Idia's flame hair already showed signs of dimming down, a sign which Malleus learned it meant the latter was sleepy. "Good night, Malleus..." He mumbled, closing the screen and his eyes as well, snuggling a bit more comfortably in the hold of the fae. It felt right. The 2 by his sides, sleeping peacefully in a quiet room, only worry being of some trivial things tomorrow has to bring.

Yes, Malleus needs to step up on his game. He had now around a week to make something truly amazing and worth it.

So first 2 days of his master plan were all boiled down to 1 thing: researching. He researched costumes of mers and humans, he looked at the peers of his 2 boyfriends, at their habits and at what they seemed to enjoy more than other things.

Lilia told him that this was stalking and that it wasn't a nice thing to do, but it was for research purposes!

"Malleus... I know you are there... Please get out... People are looking..." Azul breathed as he bearly entered the lounge that he saw the fae trying to hide behind a lamp and failing miserably. "I know no Malleus... I am a lamp..." Came the response. "Lamps here don't talk, Malleus..." The mer replied with a groan as he passed by him. "What do you want?" "I am doing research..." "Research?" "Research." "on what?"

Here came the hard part. Malleus had to be smart and craft a good enough answer to steer away Azul's suspicions.

"On human mating calls!" good enough. Malleus internally praised himself for the answer.

Azul looked at him with a tilted head, clearly confused. "Dates? You are spying on dates?" came a nod. "Malleus, that's highly inappropriate... Go home!" The latter gestured with a puff. Malleus pouted in response, which got a tug by the back of the collar and him being dragged like this to Azul's office.

That was his first day. He got grounded on his first day.

On the 2nd day, he was following Idia's tablet around, making sure that the device didn't catch him in its aera of sight. Ortho was also there, but the fae was able to bribe the latter into compliance with the excuse that 'he's researching'. This time he wasn't asked what exactly he was researching.

But, it all came downhill when Ortho abandoned Malleus with the tablet and the thing seemingly died at the end of the class. Malleus was afraid of Idia accusing him of killing the tablet. He didn't even think of homicide, let alone of a technological device, but he felt guilty and so he had to cater to that guilt.

Creeek...

When Idia tried to sneak in the empty classroom, he was met with Malleus, seemingly trying to give a burial ceremony to his tablet. It took a wild back and forth until the fae was explained that the device's battery just died and as such there was no murder implied and Malleus shouldn't burry his tablet in the classroom floorboards.

He still got nagged for his 'research methods'.

After these 2 days of research, Malleus could finally take a paper and draw his conclusions:

Nothing.

Blinking in surprise at his own notes, Malleus frowned. There had to be something! Something that both would enjoy. Something that could be craftable by his hands alone and that they could keep with them forever.

His gaze turned towards the window, but his mind tried to remember every little detail he could about his boyfriends. From their laughs, to how Idia got so fired up with topics of interest, how Azul liked to present himself as clean and organised, how all 3 of them would close the door before fully cuddling in the bed. How there were little to no marks to say 'this is my boyfriend', yet the loyalty remained.

Marks... That's it!

Springing from his place, Malleus almost smashed the door to pieces as he ran out of diasomnia. At this display, the other dorm members assumed it was dinner time, so they followed their leader's action and ran out of the dorm as fast as they could.

"Malleus... For the love of 7... What are you doing?" Azul asked as Malleus happened to find him first, taking his hand and measuring it at all the angles. "Research!" he promptly said. "Your 'research' could also be made anywhere else, but the main hall." The mer exhaled. Really, it seemed like the fae was set on pulling his nerves out.

Azul was at least compliant without much explanation. On the other hand...

"EEEK!" the second Malleus appeared without announcement and touched Idia's hand, the unsuspecting firehead yelped and accidentally punched Malleus's jaw. "ACK! M-Malleus!?! What in the world are you on?!" Idia breathed in and out, trying to calm his woshing flames. "The floor... I am currently standing on the floor if you wonder." he responded promptly, before finally managing to grab the hand in question. Idia didn't protest anymore, rather it seemed like he complied as he now knew who took his hand.

"What are you doing?" "research." "Azul told me about it... But is it really necessary?" "knowing your hand measurements is vital!" the latter declared as he finished. "Thank you." He mused, kissing the back of the palm before disappearing.

Idia surely was wierded out by that interaction.

On his 4th day of the plan, Malleus had to gather materials. Azul almost lost his mind when he saw the fae scouting for something on the sea floor in his dorm. Idia surely was on the verge of a heart attack when Malleus almost got shot by the security system, for trespassing in his search.

"I tell you, he lost his marbles!" Idia whispered to Azul. "You are jumping to conclusions... He's focused on something... You know how he is..." The Octavinelle Dormhead exhaled. "But I wish he would tell us... I'm worried he'll just fall into a ditch at this point and stay there." he grumbled.

"Dears!" Speaking of the devil, Malleus passed by the 2, not without giving each a small kiss on the cheek. He then left, with a smile and a skip in the step as he carried a big cardboard box. Looking in between them, the other 2 didn't even know what their boyfriend intended to do. They wanted to question him, but already Malleus was out of their sight, probably very hurried to do something.

As the culture festival approached, Malleus was even more unavailable. Usually he was retreated, but it was a first when the fae refused an invitation to the lounge or to see some new cliché, sappy movie. Even studying together or maintenance on Gao Gao were postponed by Malleus.

It was concerning at best.

"Where is Malleus?" Azul asked as he looked around. "Well... He did say to wait here..." Idia mumbled, checking the said letter both of them received. Malleus's neat writing was played elegantly in black ink. He told them to wait by the coliseum back, where no people were. Many rushed to see Neige perform at another stage, so the back of the building was deserted.

Malleus also didn't specify the time of meeting, hence why the 2 were nearing the 1 hour mark already.

"My dears!" Finally, the 2 perked at the new voice. Malleus came, hurried, which wasn't in his person at all. He would've simply teleported. But he was holding something in his hands, careful as if it was the most fragile thing in the world. "Malleus! There you were!" "We waited for you..." Idia grumbled, but seeing the excited face of the latter, he couldn't stay mad for long.

"I apologise... But I had to make the last touches." "Touches? Malleus... What are you even talking about?" Azul tilted his head. The Fae smiled as he showed what he was carrying, 2 jewelry boxes. Opening them, both Azul and Idia looked in between them, then at Malleus.

2 braceles made of strings, decorated with colorful beads. They were juvenile at best, but one was predominantly purple, while the other blue. Looking at Malleus's right wrist, he also had a similar bracelet, but more green. "I made these for you! It seems a common costume of courting is having matching jewellery as a form of marking. I made them myself! Without magic!" The Fae proudly puffed.

"It's... Uhhh... It's very pretty, Malleus..." Idia mused as he slipped his on his left hand, looking at it. 5 beads were more eye-catching than the rest. 2 were white, framing the other 3, who were green, blue and lavender respectively. Azul and Malleus both had on their bracelets the same 5 beads, in the same order. "So thoughtful to make this yourself, Malleus..." Azul mused, with a small blush. Malleus tho, puffed proudly as he received 2 pecks on his cheeks.

His hard work was repayed! He won the satisfaction of his dear lovers!

"And! Since the child of man invited me to the VDC performance, I asked Lilia to aid me in this... 'online shopping' activity, so I could purchase these!" The Fae presented the 2 VIP tickets, the 3rd still in his pocket. "Oh, Malleus... You shouldn't have." Azul put a hand on his chest, touched by the gesture, as Idia's hair was gradually becoming pink.

A few weeks later, Azul was closing up the lounge, the twins helping him with a few more formalities.

"Oi! Azul! What's with the silly thing on ya hand?" Floyd asked, pointing at the said bracelet on Azul's right hand. Immediately, he received a smack behind his head. "How dare you. It's not silly... It's a gift... I cherish it a lot..." He nagged the latter. "Fufufu... It is perhaps... Of romantic importance?" Jade asked with a sly smile on his face. Azul simply scoffed, preffering to continue his work. "I... Promised I'll keep it on my hand..." he mumbled.

And that was a promise for sure.

As the overBlot of Malleus walked through the diasomnia lounge, his eyes casted over everyone. They were all asleep. Lilia set on a chair, Sebek and Silver on couches.

And his dears, they fell asleep on the carpet. Poor them... Malleus hummed for himself. Idia made an effort today, to come and support him at the party. So did Azul try to make this day hurt less. The truth was, Malleus wanted it to not hurt. He will make it not hurt anymore. As such, he gently grabbed the 2.

Thud!

Perking at the sound, Malleus looked at the ground, where a blue bracelet, with colorful beads, fell off. Idia's hands were limp, probably shaken off when he picked them up. Azul had his head rested on his chest, snuggled close for the warmth. Idia was more easy to move around, like a doll one could pose as they wanted. Both were in his arms, safe, peaceful, warm. And he found it enough for him.

So Malleus stretched his hand, where his own beady bracelet was, picking the blue one and setting it on the firehead's wrist. They promised him they'll keep his gift.

And in exchange Malleus will make it last forever.

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Split up

Previous

When they had got back to the church, they pushed the trolleys up the stairs and into the place.

Abraham was under the bus, fixing it up whilst Rosita helped him.

Sully ran towards Natalia, barking as his tail wagged, but he halted when he sniffed her, walking in a circle as he ran his nose along her legs, trying to work out what it was.

"What the hell happened to you?" Carol asked, looking down at her from the steps, Daryl was smoking, as he leaned against the railing.

"Oh, y'know, just a leisurely swim in walker infested water, that has been brewing for god knows how long, heh, get it, god knows." She pointed at the church. "Anyway, I got a cool jacket." Natalia shrugged, "I'm going to be fishing walker goop out of crevices for a week, and almost got killed cause of a priest, all in a days work."

"What?" Daryl asked, talking to her for the first time in a while, looking around for Gabriel.

"Got scared, shoved me out of his way as he tried to flee, totally bombed it though."

"Did you get hurt?" Carol asked, Daryl was still scanning the brunette, like he was trying to find any injuries.

"Nope, no bites, no scratches, all good."

"Are you sure?" She pressed.

"Yes, you want me to strip so you can check?" Natalia huffed, walking past the pair and heading into the church, Sully walked beside her. "I'm offended people ask me that so often, I can handle myself."

"It's okay to accept the fact that people love and care about you." Carol called after her.

Later that night, when the sun had set, The group sat around the church, enjoying their first proper meal together in a long time, chatting and laughing, enjoying each others company, feeling at peace for the first time in a long time.

Glenn and Tara had formed a game of how high can Sully catch, where they would take in turns throwing a piece of food into the air and see the furthest he could catch it from, the people around them found this pretty amusing, pitying the dog by giving him a spoonful from their own plate, he was definitely enjoying the buffet.

"I'd like to propose a toast." Abraham gathered the rooms attention, standing at the front of the room with a glass of wine in hand.

Michonne and Natalia took their seats beside each other as everyone went quiet, waiting to see what the man had to say.

"I look around this room and I see survivors." He started. "Each and everyone of you has earned that title. To the survivors."

"Survivors! Cheers!" Everyone chanted, raising their glasses.

"Is that all you want to be?" Abraham continued, Natalia knew where this was going, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? 'Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. Thing is, for you people, for what you can do, that's just surrender. Now, we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip. Eugene, what's in DC?"

"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics. Even of this Fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart."

"However this plays out, however long it takes for this restart button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one. Save it so you can take your dog on walks without fear of it ending up something's dinner. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there... who don't got nothing left to do except survive."

Judith began to make noises, as she sat on her fathers lap.

"What was that?" Rick asked her as people laughed. "I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in. Let's do it."

Everyone cheered and clapped for the plan, Sully let out a howl, joining in on the noise, Tara copied the dog, letting out her own howl.

After a while, people gradually went outside, getting some fresh air.

"Has anyone who's gone outside come back yet?" Natalia asked Rick, looking around.

"Sasha went out to look for Bob, said he'd been out for a while." Tyreese weighed in.

"Carol and Daryl's been gone for a while, too." Natalia hummed.

"Alright, me and Tyreese will go look for them, everyone stay here, I don't want anyone else disappearing." Rick said, standing up.

"I'll help." Natalia offered, going to stand up, but Rick stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"No, I need you here, to keep an eye on Gabriel, he does anything, I know you can handle it, we'll find them." He assured her.

"But-"

"Natalia, I need you in here." He repeated.

"Fine, take Sully, he'll be able to sniff them out from anywhere, especially Daryl." She mused, knowing full well how much fond the dog and man were of each other, even if Daryl didn't express it, but she could tell by the way he kept Sully's rabbit in his back pocket If the dog had forgotten it, or dropped it when something else caught his attention.

"We'll take care of him." Rick nodded.

"I know you will." She offered a small smile.

Natalia was sat in a pew, her eyes never left the father, watching his every move, her gun in her hand, resting in her lap.

The other people went about doing their own thing, waiting for the arrival of their family to return.

The doors opened with loud creaks, Tyreese, Rick and Sully returned with Sasha, but no Bob, Daryl or Carol.

Sasha walked towards Father Gabriel.

"Stop." She told the man in a hushed voice.

He stared at her, pausing the motion of pouring himself another glass of wine.

"What are you doing?" She asked. "What are you doing?" She repeated, much more slower, when he had yet to answer. "This is all connected. You show up, we're being watched, and now three of us are gone."

"I..." He started. "I don't... I don't have anything to do with this."

Sasha pulled out her knife, walking towards the man as he backed up.

"Wait!"

"Don't!" Rosita ordered, lunging forward, but Abraham grabbed a hold of her.

"Sasha, put it away." Tyreese told his younger sister.

"Who's out there?" Sasha asked, ignoring the other people in the room.

"I... I don't have anything to do with this." Gabriel put his hands up in surrender.

"Where are our people?"

"I don't have anything to..."

"Where are our people?" Sasha screamed at him.

"Please, I don't have anything to do with this."

Rick pulled Sasha back, taking her place.

"Why'd you bring us here?" He asked.

"I... I... please." Gabriel stuttered.

"Are you working with someone?"

"I'm alone. I'm alone. I was always alone."

"What about the woman in the food bank, Gabriel?" Rick pushed forward. "What did you do to her? "You'll burn for this." That was for you. Why? What are you going to burn for, Gabriel?"

Gabriel had yet to answer him, ticking the man off even more.

Rick grabbed him by the collar, pushing him against the table full of candles.

"What? What did you do?" He shouted, his jaw clenched. "What did you do?" He pushed the man away, taking a step back.

"I lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night. I always lock the doors at night." He repeated, breaking down. "I always- They started coming, my congregation. Atlanta was bombed the night before and they were scared. They were- They were looking for a safe place, a place where they felt safe. And it was so early. It was so early. And the doors were still locked. You see... it was my choice. There were so many of them and they were trying to pry the shutters and banging on the sidings, screaming at me. And so the dead came for them. Women... children. Entire families calling my name as they were torn apart, begging me for mercy. Begging me for mercy. Damning me to Hell." He sobbed. "I buried their bones. I buried it all. The lord sent you here to finally punish me." He collapsed to the ground as he continued to cry.

Natalia was feeling more angry by the second, he was the sole reason that countless of families had suffered brutally, because he couldn't be bothered to help them, to offer shelter, and he was feeling sorry for himself?

"I'm damned. I was damned before. I always lock the doors. I always lock the doors."

A whistle sounded outside the church, Sully began barking and howling at the door, Natalia headed towards him, pulling the dog away as Glenn headed for the window.

"There's something... There's someone outside lying in the grass."

Sasha had ran for the door.

"Sasha." Rick followed.

The others chased after them, running outside.

"Oh! Bob!" Sasha shouted, as everyone set their sights on the passed out Bob.

Two walkers were heading for them.

"His leg." Maggie looked in horror, Bob's left leg was missing.

"Get Bob inside. We'll take care of them." Glenn ordered, him heading for the first walker as Natalia ran to the other, her knife pushing into it's eye.

"Can you help me, please? Help me. Help me." Sasha sobbed to Tara, trying to pick her boyfriend up.

"Get inside! Go!"

More walkers were appearing, Rick had started shooting at them as Natalia and Glenn ran back to help everyone with Bob.

"Rick!" Natalia called out, staring at the big red A that was painted on their wall.

"Let's go." He told her, pushing the small woman in the building and locking the door.

Everyone gathered around Bob, he had managed to wake up.

"I was in the graveyard. Somebody knocked me out." He told, once he was able to. I woke up outside this place. It looked like a school. It was that guy, Gareth. And five other ones."

Natalia looked at Rick, they were the ones who demanded to finish it off.

"They were eating my leg, right in front of me. Like it was nothing. All proud like they had it all figured out."

"Did they have Daryl and Carol?" Rick asked in a gentle tone.

"Gareth said they drove off."

"What?" Natalia hissed. Why the hell would they drive off? Unless... that black car.

Bob tried to sit up, groaning in agony.

"He's in pain. Do we have anything?" Sasha asked Rosita.

"I think we have a few pill packets in the first aid kit." Rosita said, getting up to fetch them.

"Yeah." Sasha nodded at her.

"Save 'em." Bob called towards her.

"No."

"Really." Bob sniffled as he sat up, pulling his T-shirt down to reveal a tear of flesh.

Bob was bitten.

"It happened at the food bank." He told Sasha, who stared wide eyed at it.

"It's okay." She whispered, helping him lay back down.

"Bob?" Sasha asked, when he fell. Tara caught his head, so he didn't hit it on the floor.

"There's a sofa in my office." Gabriel offered. "I know its not much, but..."

"Thank you."

"I got him." Tyreese stood up, helping Bob into the office.

Rick and Natalia moved towards the father, seeming to have the same thought.

"Do you know the place Bob was talking about?" Rick beat her to it.

"It's an elementary school. It's close."

"How close." Natalia asked, before he even finished the word.

He hesitated.

"How close?" Rick pushed.

"It's just a 10-minute walk through the woods from here, due south of the graveyard."

Judith started to cry, so Carl carried her into the other room, in her basket.

"Does he have a fever?" Rick asked Maggie.

"He's just warm."

"Jim lasted more than two days before we left him." Glenn remembered.

"Time for a reality check." Abraham called out. "We all need to leave for DC right now."

"No way! Not when Daryl and Carol are missing." Natalia snapped.

"They're gonna be back." Rick agreed. "We're not going anywhere without them."

"I respect that, but there's a clear threat here, to Eugene. I need to extract his ass before things get any uglier. So if y'all won't come, good luck to you. We'll go our separate ways."

"Well, bye!" Natalia waved at the large man.

"You leaving on foot?" Rick asked his retreating back.

"We fixed that damn bus ourselves." Abraham turned around.

"There are a lot more of us." Rick marched towards him.

"You want to keep it that way? You should come."

"Carol saved your life. We saved your life."

"Well, I am trying to save yours! Save everyone's."

"We're not going anywhere without our people."

"Your people took off."

"They're coming back."

"To what, picked-over bones?"

"You're not taking-" Rick reached for the man.

"Do not lay your hands!" Abraham grabbed him.

Natalia took her gun off safety whilst Glenn ran over to intervene.

"Abraham!" Rosita shouted.

"Hey, hey, stop! Now!" Glenn came in the middle of the pair, creating distance. "Do you really think that you're gonna be any safer leaving right now, in the middle of the night?" Glenn asked Abraham.

"Yeah." Abraham nodded. "Yeah."

"What about tomorrow? We need each other for this. We need each other to get to DC. We can get through all of it together." Glenn expressed.

"I have an idea." Tara stepped forward. "If you stay here just one more day and help, I'll go with you to DC no matter what." Abraham seemed to think this over, when she turned to Maggie. "Okay?"

"Glenn and Maggie, too."

"No." Rick declined.

"Good luck, then. I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here. Rosita, grab your gear."

"Abraham."

"Now." He ordered. "Eugene, let's go. Eugene. Move it."

"I don't want to." Eugene stayed seated.

"Now." Abraham growled.

"Okay." The scientist whispered, getting up from the pew.

The three moved towards the door.

"You're not taking the bus." Rick told him.

"Try to stop me." He responded.

Rick waited a moment, before walking towards the redhead, who passed his gun to Rosita.

"Hey, wait, wait wait, wait, wait, wait!" Glenn ran forward, breaking them up again. "Hey, hey, hey!"

He looked between the pair before speaking again.

"You stay. You stay and help us, and we will go with you."

"No." Rick refused.

"It's not your call." He looked back to Abraham. "You stay, help us."

"Half a day." Abraham bargained. "Come high noon, we're taillights. I'm not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop."

"And we will leave with you." Maggie spoke up.

"12 hours." He declared. "Then we go." He walked towards the first pew, narrowly missing barging into Rick.

The group gathered around, as Rick hatched out the plan of action to put an end to Terminus as they loaded up guns and got ready for the fight.

"We're in here and they could be anywhere." Rick said. "But we know exactly where they are."

"Plans got stones, I'll give you that." Abraham said.

"Make our move before they do." Glenn nodded.

"That's right." Rick nodded. "They're not counting on us thinking straight"

"But what if that's their idea." Natalia thought out loud. "Draw us out to their spot and leave our vulnerable unprotected, give themselves leverage, just like how they used Carl at the train carts."

"Then we make sure we get to them first, before they get the chance." Rick said. "Tyreese."

"Yeah?"

"You up for this?" Rick asked the man, who looked to be somewhere else.

He didn't answer, their attention moved towards Sasha, who had walked out of the office.

"I'm going with you." She declared.

"You should stay with Bob." Tyreese told her.

"No, I want to be out there. I want to be apart of this."

She didn't give anyone a chance to argue, walking back into the office.

Tyreese went after her.

The group carried on, whilst the siblings spoke in the office.

Rick had took on what Natalia had suggested, Carl, Judith, Gabriel, Rosita, Eugene and Tyreese sat in the office with Bob's passed out body, Sully paced around the room, missing his owner and sensing that something was happening.

If the cannibals were to turn up, they would be ready to deal with them.

The remaining members of the group vacated the church, heading into the woods and towards the elementary school.

When they had got there, the place was empty, no one in sight, a fire was put out recently.

"I knew it!" Natalia hissed.

"Go, lets go!" Rick ordered, and they all ran back towards the church.

They had got back quickly.

Before she was given a chance to get turned down by Rick, Natalia sneaked up the steps and into the open doors, the rest were on her tail, making sure they were deadly silent.

"Are we done?" A man with a hood up asked, he was stood behind Gareth.

"We'll hit the hinges." Gareth said lowly, gesturing for the two people who were stood outside the office to do exactly that.

Before they were given the chance, Natalia shot down the man, than the woman at the door to their people.

"Put your guns on the floor." Rick had walked further into the church, the end of the building looked pitch black to the enemies, not a person was in sight.

"Rick, we'll fire into that office. So you lower your gun..." Gareth pointed at the door.

Rick took aim, shooting the mans two fingers straight off as he screamed in agony.

"Not nice when someone takes your body parts off, is it?" Natalia pouted, staying in the shadow, her gun aimed at the next potential threat.

"Ah!" Gareth whimpered, keeling over.

"Put your guns on the floor and kneel." Rick repeated, walking forwards.

"Do what he says." Gareth groaned.

Natalia put her gun away, taking out her knife as Terminus followed the order.

"Martin there's no choice here." Gareth told the only person who wasn't kneeling.

"Yeah, there is." Martin disagreed.

Abraham stepped towards him, his gun pointed at the mans head.

"Wanna bet?"

He threw his gun down, kneeling.

The group stood in front of the surrendering cannibals, Sasha and Rick had boxed Gareth in as he moved around on the floor, looking at Rick.

"No point in begging, right?" He asked.

"No." Rick breathed.

"Still, you could of killed us when you came in. There had to be a reason for that."

"We didn't want to waste the bullets." Rick shrugged.

"We used to help people. We saved people. Things changed, they came in and After that I know that you've been out there, but I can see it. You don't know what it is to be hungry. You don't have to do this. We can walk away. And we will never cross paths again. I promise you."

But you'll cross someone's path." Rick said. "You'd do this to anyone, right? Besides, I already made you a promise." Rick pulled out his red handled machete, slashing it into the man's head.

This was the signal, to attack the other terminus members.

Michonne, Sasha, Natalia and Abraham attacked them brutally as the others watched in horror.

Natalia slit one of the men's throat, blood spraying around as she kneed him in the face, letting him fall on his back as he choked on his blood, before ending his misery and stomping hard on his skull, smashing it into brain matter and goop.

The room was silent when they had dealt with every single one, blood, stained the floor of the church pooling on the wood and the carpet, as mangled bodies layed across it.

Michonne had found something among the Terminus's stuff, pulling it out, to reveal her missing sword.

"It could have been us." Rick told the group.

"They gave us a reason, we were just food to them." Natalia agreed, wiping her knife on the dead bodies shirt. "This was self defence."

"Yeah." Sasha whispered, her voice shaking as she took in what she had just done.

Gabriel stared in horror at what had happened in his holy sanctuary, Rick, Natalia, Abraham and Sasha passed him, walking into the office to check on their loved ones.

"This is the Lords house." Gabriel uttered.

"No." Maggie denied. "It's just four walls and a roof."

The sun had rose, and Bob was losing the battle against the fever, everyone gathered around the office to say their final goodbyes.

"You'll always be with us." Maggie told the man. "Part of us." She kissed his hand, smiling at him reassuringly.

"And, if It clears your conscience, I forgive you for the time you went to shoot me." Natalia teased, as they both laughed, smiling at each other.

"I'm glad I didn't." He told her.

The group went to leave the man in peace, Sasha moving towards him.

"Rick." Bob called out to their leader.

Natalia took Judith off his hands, so he could talk to Bob.

"Come here, Judy." Natalia cooed, walking outside the room, Carl beside her.

She sat on the pew, Judith on her lap, and Carl next to her, petting Sully, Judith reached out for the dog, grabbing at his ears.

Natalia wondered if he was reminded of someone else, the same person she was thinking off as she watched the baby interact with the dog, who was gentle and patient as anything, making the little girl giggle as he licked at her hands, that Natalia made sure went nowhere near her face before being cleaned.

"He's good with kids." Carl said.

"He's good with everyone." Natalia smiled. "I got really lucky with him."

"Do you think Daryl and Carols gonna come back?"

"Of course they will, something probably just came up and they had to deal with it, they wouldn't leave us." She tried to reassure him.

Soon enough, noon had come.

Sasha sat by Bob's grave, wearing his jacket as she made sure the cross was tied securely.

Abraham was bidding Rick, Michonne and Natalia goodbye.

"This is our route to DC." He said, handing Rick a map. "We'll stick to it as long as we're able. If not, well, you got our destination. Once Eugene gets to the big brains left up there, things are gonna bounce back. This group should be there for it. You should be there for it."

"They will be." Maggie assured.

"We will." Michonne nodded.

"We will." Rick repeated.

"I guess we will." Natalia joined in.

Abraham nodded, turning around and back to the bus.

"Let's go."

"You both better be safe, save the world for all of us." Natalia told Glenn and Maggie, hugging both of them.

"You better make sure everyone here is alright." Glenn told her, patting her back and stepping away, patting Sully's head.

"Keep her out of trouble." Maggie told the dog, patting his head as well as he let out a woof of agreement.

The DC group got into the bus, as the others stood on the steps of the church.

Rick and Abraham shared another nod before the redhead closed the doors of the bus, setting off on their journey.

At night, Natalia sat on the front steps of the church, keeping lookout, but also wanting to keep an eye out for Carol and Daryl, they still hadn't come back, she missed them both, and was driving herself mad, coming up with loads of different scenarios of what could of happened, if it wasn't for the fact that she had no idea where they could be, she would be out looking for them, she knew that she was being harsh and cold towards the pair, especially with Daryl, but she didn't know how to act around him, after what happened, they were equally mad at each other, how they handled the claimers, and they weren't given a chance to hash it out, but he had made it obvious that he still cared and worried about her, she just couldn't deal with it, when everything was still so fresh, and she could feel the lingering weight, the bruises and cuts on her face still stung, her back was itching as the graze was scabbing over, it was too much, she felt she was suffocating but she didn't have the time to cry for herself, to reflect on the events, Natalia had to push through, put her energy into protecting her friends.

Michonne had come outside, sitting beside her friend, her sword in her lap. Neither woman had to say anything, just sat in each others company as they battled their own thoughts.

Longer into the night, the door opened, Father Gabriel stepped out.

"I can't sleep." He announced, leaning against the wooden rail. "And now, sitting in there... Quiet."

Natalia, nor Michonne answered him.

"It isn't just what happened last night. Saying what happened before out loud, I see it all again. I hear them."

"Yeah." Michonne whispered. "That won't stop."

"But it'll get quieter." Natalia added.

"And it won't be all the time."

A rustling sound cut the conversation.

Natalia jumped up, grabbing her knife, as Michonne slowly followed, signalling to Gabriel to be quiet, who went back inside.

Natalia moved towards the sound, Michonne was right behind her, unsheathing her sword.

They walked towards the trees, where the sound had come from, but not being able to see anything.

Something was emerging from the leaves, coming towards them.

It was Daryl.

Natalia stepped towards him, hitting his chest before wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, as he put his arm around her middle, as Michonne laughed, breathing in a sigh of relief.

"Where the hell were you? Where's Carol?" She asked, looking behind him, but not seeing the woman.

Daryl stepped back from Natalia, looking over his shoulder.

"Come on out." He said.

Next

[dustyjumpwjngs]

thank you to the lovely @sharkboyandlavalieb and @fidelias for tagging me in this ask game :)

name/alias: dusty

country: usa

which of the series have you seen? bob, the pacific, gk, and mota

use an emoji or one word to describe your favourite character in an hbo war miniseries: ✂️ + 🦄 about sums it up

ultimate ship: never ever shutting up about gale/john aka buck and bucky!!! apologies in advance

favourite fic: the first bob fic i ever read was @himbowelsh’s eugene roe x renee lemaire fic where they dance together which i cannot for the life of me find anywhere but when i do i will be reblogging that so fast because that was the most beautiful story i’ve ever read. i think about it 3x a week

what are some of the ways you interact in this fandom? i post silly little memes, reblog excessively, and i actually am an artist ! but i'm just a little too shy to post my art

favourite colour: summer green

current favourite song: victim of nostalgia by mxmtoon because i am a sentimental bitch

complete this sentence: "where the hell is ___ company?!" fox !

other accounts or socials: this is my one main blog :)

list one other fandom member (mutual or a follower you admire) for some appreciation: @mastersofthe-claire because she is so so sweet to talk to, plus @major-mads @love-studying58 @xxluckystrike @artvmisia and @footprintsinthesxnd i absolutely cannot get enough of them i love you guys <3

[loonysama]

For the AO3 wrap game, number 29?

#29 What is your favorite passage/line you've written this year?

Surprisingly, this is an easy question to answer.

It's from Chapter 13: Curls from The Refugees.

Six weeks later, Thursday…

About six weeks later, Anna woke up to Kristoff lying next to her in bed, completely naked, his hair a floppy mess that hadn’t ever seen a comb. His face was bright from the ray of light pouring in through the window. Glittering crystals shimmered along the lower half of his face and arms, and all of his muscles were contoured in a very flattering way. Anna bit her lip. 

He kissed her stomach just below her navel while his hands ran along the sides of her body. Then one hand wrapped around her rib cage, supporting her breast from below, while the other traveled to her center. She buried her nose in his neck and inhaled when his fingers set her on fire.

She tried to touch him, too, but he moved his body between her legs. The full impact of the bright light streaming through the window blinded her, and Kristoff covered himself with the quilt Anna had kicked to the end of the bed. He put her feet on his shoulders and drew one of her hands between her legs, and curled her fingers. “Will you show me?”

Anna didn’t have time for embarrassment because she needed it so badly. She twisted a strand of hair as she reveled in her own touches. Then she squeezed her eyelids so tightly that a rainbow danced behind them; there was nowhere for the light to bounce, so she let Ahtohallan's love infuse her body. When she felt so full she arched her back in absolute pleasure and burst into a heavy pant as she fell to the bed. She didn’t have to look in the closet to know she just destroyed another box. She didn’t even need to know what was in it because it didn’t matter anymore; it was gone, and she felt so much lighter.

She lay still on the bed, her tired body and shaky hand warmed by the heat of the rising sun and glowed like the brightest moon. She raised an arm to protect her eyes from the brightness while her other hand covered the laugh she couldn’t keep inside. A laugh like that only happened when a smile wasn’t a strong enough expression of happiness. 

Kristoff put her cramped fingers in his mouth, then said, “Thank you, Anna, for showing me the real you.”  

She reached out to share some of the light and laughter with him, but he kissed the back of her hand and placed it on her stomach. “I don’t think you have time for that right now,” he teased.

Then he winked and said, “I’ll save you a seat in gym class.”

She opened her eyes to see a rapt smile dance on his lips, but she found she was alone.

Her smile broadened anyway as she put on the nearest bra, and she got dressed so quickly that she didn’t even button her jeans until she got to the hallway.

Rapunzel, who was singing to herself as she tied off her braid, beamed at Anna when she entered the bathroom

She held up the flat iron in one hand and asked, “So what will it be?"

She clamped the flat iron a few times in the long-short, long-short rhythm of a horse’s hooves trotting against a stone walkway in one hand, and asked, "Maximus or Pascal?"

Then she clamped the curling iron with a chameleon-like grip onto a lock of Anna’s hair.

It was an easy choice.

---

Later that day…

“Hey, have you seen Anna today?” Kristoff asked Eugene, who was sitting in front of him in gym class.

Eugene whistled and pointed, “Oh, you mean, that Anna?”

Kristoff looked up to his right where Anna’s whole body was framed by sunlight so bright he could only focus on her shadowed figure. But then she turned her face towards Kristoff and she became the light. Kristoff pushed on Eugene’s back so he’d move forward, then he wiggled back as much as he could so Anna could squeeze between them. It was a tight fit and Anna was so close to him that she was partially sitting on one of his shins.

Kristoff scratched her shoulder, and leaned toward her so he could whisper, “Ahtohallan’s light brightens your everything today.” 

Anna looked over her shoulder and smiled flirtatiously. Her cheeks were light pink, but not from embarrassment, and her shiny lips were sprinkled with glitter, which meant they tasted like vanilla.

It wasn’t until she looked forward again that Kristoff exhaled the air trapped in his lungs. 

Then he noticed that her hair hung in a ponytail with gentle curls rippling like a babbling brook along her back. It wasn’t wild and random like she had just taken out her braids; this was neat and intentionally done.

He ran his fingers down a small section, following the curls rather than stretching them out, and Ahtohallan’s rays revealed thousands of tiny gems. Kristoff always knew her hair was made of jewels, but her braids hid so many more than he could have possibly imagined.

“Your hair,” he whispered in Arendellian. “It’s so shiny.” Anna took a contented breath and sat a little taller. She turned her head enough that Kristoff could see her small smile, but he wanted more.

He leaned a little closer, and said, “It pleases Ahtohallan.” 

Anna turned her head back, her ponytail gently flicking against Kristoff's chest, to ask, “Does it?” 

Kristoff chuckled nervously and whispered, “And I also—” His voice was a little shaky and high-pitched so he cleared his throat and switched to Northuldran, “And I also really like it.”

He squeezed his eyes shut in case that was too much praise for Anna, hoping it didn't undo all her efforts. 

She twisted her torso and put her hand on his knee long enough to lock onto his eyes and say in Northuldran, "Thank you."

Her words, more than anything, melted him into quiet submission, and he’d never felt so put in his place before. Kristoff put both hands over his lower face until the red faded, but they did nothing to slow his heart rate.  

Neither did her black bra straps, very visible under her white t-shirt, protruding on either side of her ponytail. He sensed they were also intentional. He briefly contemplated wrapping his arms around her stomach and sweeping her to his lap, moving her hair to one side and kissing her neck and along her collarbone. His tongue swiped his lips at the thought of kissing her all the way past her navel this time to where he definitely shouldn’t be thinking about in gym class—in general, really—because he didn’t know if he had the strength to stop himself again. Not when random hits of lavender teased his nose.

Kristoff let go of her hair and leaned back. Then he took a deep breath, and, thankfully, the coach blew her whistle and they headed towards the track.

Kristoff tried to hide the smirk forming on his lips as Hans jealously leered at Anna, then scowled at Kristoff as he ran ahead of them on the track. The sour look on Hans’ face brought a little humor to the ecstatic feeling of Anna warming Kristoff all the way to his bones with Ahtohallan’s love for her. She was never going to end up with Hans because she and Kristoff were fated by Ahtohallan to be together. But Anna didn’t know that, and she chose Kristoff anyway. 

“Are you ok?” Anna asked Kristoff as they began jogging.

“He’s just really glad you’re here,” Eugene chimed in. 

Kristoff pursed his lips and made his eyes as big as he could until Eugene’s lips cracked into a small smile and he jogged a few paces ahead.

Anna hooked her index and middle fingers around Kristoff’s pinky and ring fingers and gave him a couple of quick squeezes.

Kristoff looked at her sideways and nodded in acknowledgment and they ran in silence after that, except for Eugene’s random complaints about anything and everything. Kristoff couldn’t help falling behind them every once in a while, just so he could watch Anna’s ponytail sway and sparkle under Ahtohallan’s light. Each time it swept to one side, Ahtohallan revealed facets he couldn’t see on the other. But when he remembered Anna was a prism, and she was reflecting tiny rainbows that made him feel loved, he jogged next to her. He didn't want to steal all of Ahtohallan's love; she needed it more than he did right now.