#but instead we're just ships in the night passing by or whatever

[phagodyke]

I love to talk but I rly do feel like we have to be talking for a minimum of 8 hours straight before I feel like I can even begin to rly broach things on my mind or that have been bothering me a lot that I actually want to talk abt without being vague or deflecting or omitting or lying and if the conversation takes a break at any point it resets back to 0 and its still nice regardless but.

[ninjaturtlemaniac]

Part 10 Trolls Headcanons/ Theories/ Thoughts/ Ideas

This may be my last headcanons list, my friends. Will still do art and stuff but I am fresh outta ideas.

Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 Part9

Enjoy 💕

Sub Tribes - KPop/Reggaeton/Yodelers/Chaz etc. there's not many of them around because they came from overseas.

King Peppy - Didn't tell Poppy about Viva because he was in the early stages of dementia. (Canon?) For a while he thought Poppy WAS Viva. By the time he realised his 'mistake', Poppy was already grown.

Vacay Island - the brothers sometimes help Bruce at his restaurant. They have name tags with funny 'work names'. Flood, Big Fish, Classy, and Big Brunch. Viva and Poppy have done the odd shift as well, as Pinky and Vista. 😝

Brozone - they became world famous, argued and left BEFORE the cage went around the Pop Troll Tree. (Canon?)

Brozone - there was a rumoured 'unfinished' Brozone song that was supposed to be released after that tour. John finally finishes it and the brothers offer to sing it for Poppy's bridal entrance song. Poppy immediately faints. In my head the song is 'Helpless When She Smiles' by The Backstreet Boys

Brozone - whatever the Trolls equivalent of the Superbowl is, I feel like Bruce and JD would be very into it. Jerseys and face paint and everything.

Bruce - cameras make him self-conscious. If he is in a group he can tolerate it but hates being the only one in the photo.

Bruce - has caught his kids trying to do the Brozone dance routines. He tries to stay out of it best he can and let them have their fun but then they ask him to teach them and doesn't he just melt.

Bruce - has a wedding ring but it is Vacationer sized. He keeps it in his hair mostly but will braid it into his hair like an accessory for special occasions.

Bruce - 100% certain Poppy and Branch's first born would be a boy. "We're a family of five brothers! It took Brandy and I thirteen tries to have a daughter. Trust me, I have no doubt your first egg will absolutely be a boy." *They have a girl* Bruce 😑

Floyd - can only sleep comfortably near an open window. Sometimes can only sleep sitting up.

Floyd - will randomly stare off into space or mutter to himself.

Floyd - *clears throat* I ship Floom! 💕🏳️‍🌈

Floyd - can't stick to new hobbies for very long, he hyperfixates for a week or two then gets bored. Macrame, candle making, soap making, jewelry making, photography are some examples.

Clay - his brothers collectively tried to convince him that he was the adopted brother.

Clay - is quite squeamish. The sight of vomit, open wounds and bodily fluids; Clay will absolutely pass out. Snotty babies make him very uncomfortable.

Clay - gets Viva to braid his hair out of his face only when something really serious is happening *cracks neck* "Viva?" "Yah?" "Braid me" "Yes, Sir." Shwoooop

Clay - Found out the Classical Trolls have a library larger the Pop Village. "Viva, they have a whole wing dedicated to tragedies! Tragedies, Viva!"

Clay - okay, so he and Viva have never been a couple, even if he ever considered it, their work came first and he didn't want to jeopardize what they had. Buuuuuuuttt the thought that another Troll could one day be Viva's person, that she would go to them instead of him for comfort or ideas or laughs or safety or hugs... it makes Clay feel... weird.

Clay - at some point is named some kinda Troll magazines most eligible bachelor. Bro was in a boyband, co-runs a society of survivors, runs a business, is close friends with royalty, has been knighted, has a license to practice accounting and was part of the only known Perfect Family Harmony. He's apparently a hot commodity now.

John Dory - takes night classes to finally get his highschool diploma. Is too embarrassed to tell anyone until he graduates.

John Dory - doesn't get sick often. But when he does, he keeps going to the point of exhaustion.

John Dory - has indeed crossed paths with Delta Dawn before. Both of them have very different versions of the story. "I serenaded her." "The fool was whining something from the inside of a jail cell."

John Dory - has been known to sleep with his eyes open. Freaks people out.

John Dory - will drink milk straight from the carton and put it back in the fridge.

John Dory - teaches Bruce's kids all the swear words and does in fact tell them his rendition of where eggs come from.

Viva - tries to hide sadder feelings from Poppy. Worried that Poppy won't want to hang out with her if she isn't fun.

Poppy - sometimes feels guilty, if things had been different, Viva would have been Queen. Viva tries to reassure Poppy that she is "The right Troll for the role." 👍🏻 Also Viva tries to argue that they both technically get be Queens now anyway.

Guy Diamond - Trolls have eggs when they have powerful feelings of love. Guy Diamond was able to have Tiny because he loves himself so much.

[wheels-of-despair]

The Family Holiday Pairing: Eddie Munson x You Summary: It's December of 1985, and Evil Woman is ready to spend her first real Christmas with Eddie… why is he being weird about it? Contains: Christmas stuff, insecurity, love, a meaningful gesture, tears, being hopelessly devoted to Eddie Munson, a happy ending. Words: 1.6k

"We're putting the tree up and decorating tonight. Probably end up drinking some hot chocolate and watching something Christmas-y. You in?"

You and Eddie had finally been sprung from detention, and thinking about tonight's festivities was the only thing that had kept you awake. The rest of the boys had escaped your cruel fate and gone home when they were supposed to, so it was just the two of you in the van now.

"You need help?"

"What, like 'oh please, big strong man, won't you come help us feeble women-folk put up this heavy plastic tree'?" you tease. "Don't NEED help, but we'd love for you to come hang out."

"Actually…" he licks his lips and concentrates on the road. "I think I might just go home tonight."

"What?" Eddie Munson, passing up Family Fun Time? And hot chocolate?!

"I'm, uh… I'm just really tired. Think I might be coming down with something."

You reach over to feel his cheek, which does look flushed and feel a little warm.

"Are you okay?" He hadn't said anything. Not that he'd been allowed to make a peep during the last hour, but he'd seemed fine at lunch.

"M'fine, just wanna sleep."

You watch him suspiciously as he turns onto your road. You know something's brewing in that twisted little mind of his, but you don't know what.

"Okay," you agree, deciding not to pry. Maybe he just needs a little time to think about whatever he's got going on, and he'll get over it on his own. He pulls into your driveway.

"You want us to wait and do it tomorrow?" It would probably require a little groveling, but you'd do it. You'd do anything for him.

"Nah, don't change your plans on my account."

"Okay," you say again, a little hurt. "If you change your mind, you know where we'll be."

"Don't wanna get you sick too."

"Eddie, you had your tongue down my throat just a few hours ago. That ship has sailed." You tilt your head and wait for a smile. He forces one that doesn't reach his eyes. Maybe he really is getting sick.

"Call me if you need anything?"

He nods. You lean across the van and kiss him on the cheek, then hop out and walk to the door. He doesn't start backing out of the driveway until you've got it open. But this is the first time in forever he hasn't come in with you. It feels strange. You don't care for it.

He didn't come that night, and he didn't call.

Your mother had asked about him, and you'd said he wasn't feeling well. Which, as far as you knew, was true. You thought of him the whole night, from the time you helped wind the lights around the tree, to hanging the stockings, to watching the marshmallows melt in your mediocre cocoa while some claymation special played in the background. Everything was better when Eddie was around.

He arrived the next morning to pick you up for school as usual, but still felt a little distant in the seat next to you. You let the boys ramble about the current campaign while you watched him out of the corner of your eye.

You made an effort to act normally throughout the day. Like nothing was wrong. Like he hadn't unexpectedly bailed on something he was supposed to be a part of. Like he wasn't being weirder than usual.

Despite your efforts to act normal, Eddie remained quiet. He nodded and let out a half-hearted laugh or two at your attempts to break him out of his funk on the ride home. When he pulled into your driveway, he didn't even turn off the van. The rest of the boys had gone to Jeff's to play video games. No one was home. Eddie should be jumping at the opportunity to spend some time alone with you. Unsupervised. Instead, he glances at you like he's waiting for you to get out.

You turn in your seat to face him.

"Alright. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit. Tell me what's going on."

"It's nothing."

"Edward."

He sighs.

You cross your arms. "I'm not getting out of this van until you tell me, so you better either start talking, or get fucking comfortable."

He turns off the ignition, then sits quietly for a moment.

"Don't you ever get sick of me hanging around all the time?"

"Nope. Try again."

"Doesn't your mom?"

"You are aware that she refers to you as her favorite child, correct?"

He huffs out an exasperated breath, and it fogs up the windshield in front of him.

"Look. I appreciate you including me. I really do. But Christmas is a family holiday. Like, THE family holiday."

"You ARE family, dummy."

"I'm not."

"You are. You're more family than most of the people I'm related to."

"That's not how it works."

"That is absolutely how it works. I chose you. WE chose you. Those other people are just assholes we happen to share DNA with."

"Look, just…" He grips the steering wheel. "I appreciate you trying to include me, but eventually you're all gonna get sick of me. I don't want to wear out my welcome."

Your heart sinks. Your annoyance fades. How has he not realized that he's your entire world?

"Eddie, you're always welcome, wherever I am," you tell him gently. "You're my favorite person in the world. I fucking love you. I want you with me all the time. Whether it's Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or a random Wednesday, or the day we get married."

He stares at his lap.

"What's it gonna take for you to realize how much you mean to me?"

He shrugs.

And then, you get an idea.

"Come with me."

You get out of the van, but he doesn't. You walk to his side and open the door.

"C'mon, I want to show you something."

He slides down and follows you with his feet dragging, like a big insecure baby. You kick off your boots and drop your jackets, and you take his hand and lead him to the living room. You come to a stop by the fireplace.

"Look."

He lifts his head and takes in the garland and the holiday-scented candles and the nutcracker and the four stockings…

You can see him re-count.

He looks to you with tears welling up in his eyes.

"Told you so."

Your mom has made him a stocking. It matches the ones you and your brother have had since you were babies. She's even stitched Eddie's name onto it. His stocking fits right in, just like he does.

He bursts into tears. He hides his face in his hands and sobs, and you wrap yourself around him the best you can.

You want to tell him that THIS is why you wanted him to come over last night. That you wanted your mom to see his face when he saw his stocking for the first time. That you wanted him hang it himself. But the lump in your throat won't allow it. So you hold him and let him cry and hope that he finally gets it: He's family. The best kind of family; the kind you all chose, because you all love him.

His eyes are red and puffy when he pulls away from you. You brush his hair away from his face, before the tears can dry and glue it to his skin. You don't know what to say. Apparently neither does he.

You take his hand and tilt your head toward the tree. You lead him to it and flip on the power strip. The tree comes to life. You cross the room and switch off the overhead light, letting the tree's colored bulbs fill the room with a warm glow.

You return to the tree and sit down in front of it, lie back, and maneuver your head underneath the branches.

"C'mere," you finally get out. Eddie sits on the floor beside you and copies your movements, his head coming to rest beside yours on the white blanket your mom has wrapped around the base. You reach for his hand and hold it tightly as you stare up at the inside of the tree.

"When I was a kid," you begin, finding your voice again in the familiar calm of the tree's glow, "I used to spend half the holiday season under the tree. Dad always insisted on a real one, but Mom fought him and switched to a fake one after an unfortunate incident involving sap in my hair. THAT was fun."

Eddie chuckles. You're so happy to hear that sound again. You lie there and hold his hand and stare up at the twinkling lights in a peaceful silence.

"I haven't had a stocking since my mom died."

"Really?" you ask, turning your head toward him.

"Mhm," he hums, still staring upward.

"Wayne wasn't a Santa Man?"

"No chimney in a trailer," he says matter-of-factly, like he's heard it a few times before. "Wayne said that's why Santa sometimes forgot to bring me stuff at Mom and Dad's house. Because they didn't have a chimney either, and Santa couldn't remember how to get in."

Wayne's solution brings a smile to your face.

"Did Santa figure out how to get in at Wayne's?"

"He left the presents on the porch," Eddie grins. "Me and Wayne would put out a can of beer and a bag of Fritos for him. He said Santa would want something salty after all those cookies."

You laugh. "Good thinkin', Wayne."

Eddie finally turns his head toward you.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Eddie."

This is the fic that I fought for 2 days, posted, trashed... and then took another run at and gave it a better ending, inspired by this thought from @munson-memories. 🥰

[the-golden-vanity]

I've already heard of at least a few of the stories you mentioned from your time aboard the Pride of Baltimore (I think), but I'm very intrigued by the mention of the nightmare guest?

Oh.

GOD.

(Long post incoming)

So this guy was a retired ex-navy guy, and he'd signed up both to go on the transit up the coast, and on the transit home, because of his belief in "symmetry and balance." He sure loved to hear himself talk. Mostly about himself, or things he was interested in that weren't necessarily things other people were interested in. If the person he was talking to moved away, he would keep on talking. He walked around constantly in swim trunks, or even just his underwear.

So far, so annoying, but not any worse than your standard annoying guy, right?

Shipmates, it gets worse.

We were delayed a day getting out of port due to a tropical storm, but once we got going, this man's complaints started. Mainly, that he couldn't sleep because the timbers of the boat were creaking. He said it was louder than the Navy rifle ranges, and that he was now "on strike" and would no longer be doing any guest crew activities. (It was not louder than a Navy rifle range. It was normal boat noises.)

...sir, this is a wooden ship. The timbers are going to creak. You should have known this when you signed up.

Anyway, old man yells at cloud, whatever, but one afternoon during the trip, my watchmates and I are on deck, and we see this man emerge from the main hatchway, in his swim trunks, and open the engine room hatch. NO ONE should be going through that hatch except the chief engineer and whichever crew/guest crew members are doing boat checks, and since he wasn't on watch, we had no idea what he was doing. He reaches in, pulls out a pair of the noise-canceling headphones that hang on the engine room ladder for use in the engine room when the engines are on, and heads back down the main hatchway to his berth. All of us hanging out by the helm just kind of look at each other and shrug.

(I wasn't around for this part, but the chief engineer told me later that when she realized the headphones were missing and went to ask him for them back, he went ballistic on her, threatened to call OSHA on the ship, blamed her for all the noises, and threatened vandalism. Lovely.)

Anyway, fast forward about 12 hours, I'm on watch again! One of my watchmates offers to go below and get us some snacks. On this particular vessel, snacks are stored under the captain's seat (aka the "snack settee") at the head of the mess table. But my watchmate comes up empty-handed, and tells us that one of the guests (guess which one) is currently passed out on the snack settee, which we all think is really weird, but we don't want to be the people to wake him up.

WELL.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, after we'd been relieved on watch and fallen back into our bunks asleep, the captain found this man pissing himself and projectile vomiting all over his berth and the main salon. I woke up for lunch (0-4 and 12-16 watch, eyyyy) to find the captain sitting on the floor with this man, who is bemoaning everything that led him to this, and the trash bags full of all his piss and vomit-covered belongings. Right before I go up for watch, I'm asked if this man's former bunkmate, another Boat Owning Old Guy, can berth with me instead, so I say, "yeah, sure," because what else could I do? I wouldn't want to stay in a berth where all of that had happened, either.

Anyway, after this, nightmare guest doesn't interact much with the rest of us, which is honestly... fine, but the real kicker comes after a fast transit and an unfavorable wind to our eventual destination, which results in us spending a two nights in the delightful queer resort town of Provincetown. On our second night, mindful that we're going to be mustering all hands to sail out at 5 AM, I come back to the ship at around midnight, and get a text from the first mate asking if I've seen the nightmare guest, since now that I'm back he's the only one missing. I tell her I haven't seen him since lunch, since that's true. My now-bunkmate is still up, so I ask him. He says he and two other Boat Owning Old Guys (including the nightmare guest) had gone to a country music bar, and when he and one guy left, the nightmare guest didn't want to go. As I drift off to sleep, I notice the captain and the first mate taking turns checking the main salon, checking up on deck, seeing if he's shown up without their noticing. No luck.

Well, 5 AM rolls around, we're about to take down the gangway, pull in the hawsers, and leave, but the nightmare guest still hasn't returned to the ship. The captain and the first mate are openly talking about leaving him behind. And then they get a call: he's in the drunk tank at the local jail. He apparently stayed at the bar where the other guests had left him until closing time, and then was too intoxicated to leave under his own power, so they had to take him to jail to sleep it off.

...Anyway, he had to be informed that he was not going to be making the return journey with the ship, and would have to find his own way back home. I'm not sorry to have seen the last of him.

[soaringthroughthegalaxy]

hi! i saw the soaring’s tour post (love the name btw it’s soo cute!) and i figured i’d book a trip💕✨

my travel companion is wolffe (i love this man so much😭)

our luggage is slice of life/family and romance

we were thinking of going to tatooine and yavin 4

i’m the wolffepack’s medic. i’m the sunshine to his grumpy storm cloud, but he’s always had a soft spot for me. we’ve been together for a while now, and i think he’s gonna pop the big question during this trip, if you know what i mean *wink wink*

that’s all i got to tell you! i can’t wait for this trip, but absolutely no rush though!! thank you so much for helping to plan this trip! have a wonderful day/night!!!

Thank you for booking with Soaring's Tours. We're now ready to board your flight. Please mind the gap between the transport and the platform. We wish you a pleasant journey!

Part of the Pack

Amidst the chaos of the war, you've found solace and love in the arms of your grouchy Commander. As you steal a moment away from the battlefield, the future becomes all that more exciting.

Pairing: Wolffe x f!reader

Word count: 2k

Warnings: fluff, sweetness, grumpy and sunshine.

Translations: meshurok - gemstone

The sound of your heels clicking echoed down the hallway of the ship, and every trooper you passed gave a slight dip of their head in greeting. You returned it with a smile, hands smoothing down the front of your dress.

Two years you’d served as a medic for the Wolfpack - two years of patching them up after they charged headfirst into chaos. Two years of being madly in love with their grouchy Commander, too. You wouldn’t trade it for the galaxy.

Although outwardly calm, your mind raced. This morning, your comm had beeped with a message from Wolffe, asking you to meet him in the hangar – with the stipulation that you wear something nice instead of your usual gear.

As you approached the hangar entrance, your heart quickened with excitement and apprehension. The hum of activity intensified, with mechanics scurrying around and ships being prepped for departure. Amidst the organised chaos, you could easily spot Wolffe standing near the edge of the hangar, his back turned towards you. Gone was his armour and blacks; instead, he was dressed in civilian clothing – black pants that hugged in all the right places and a grey button-down with the sleeves rolled up. His presence still exuded authority and confidence, yet there was a subtle tension in his posture that you’d learned to recognise. He wasn’t happy about something.

Approaching, you stopped at his side, biting the inside of your lip to suppress your smile as you came face to face with the source of his ire.

A droid.

But not just any droid.

That blasted protocol droid that had joined you all on Aleen.

As the droid prattled on, you could sense Wolffe’s frustration rising. His posture was rigid, shoulders back, lips pressed flat. While it would’ve been fun to remain silent and watch him become increasingly annoyed, you figured it was time to end his suffering. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I need the Commander.” You interjected, offering the droid an apologetic smile.

Wolffe finally glanced at you, hand flexing at his side as he tampered down the desire to reach for you. “No need to apologise.” He answered, gaze shifting to you. “We were just finishing up here.” With a curt nod to the droid, he gestured for you to follow him as he strode away towards a small ship docked nearby.

Together, you entered the ship, and once the ramp was closed, you found yourself pulled into his arms. While your relationship was no secret among the pack, it wouldn’t do for prying eyes to spot you.

“You look good enough to eat, meshurok.” Wolffe complimented, his voice low and warm. While the droid had raised his ire, one look at you had swept it all away. “I hope you’re ready for a little adventure today.”

Your heart fluttered, and you nodded eagerly, excitement bubbling within you. Whatever Wolffe had planned, you knew it would be unforgettable, just like every moment you’d spent by his side. “Do I get a clue?” You teased, smiling up at him as you smoothed your hands across his chest, enjoying the softness of his shirt and the firm muscle beneath.

Wolffe grumbled under his breath. You were always teasing, using your pretty smile to make him melt. But not today. Today was too important. “No clues.” He muttered, but there was a hint of amusement in his tone. Leading you into the cockpit, he settled you into the copilot’s seat before taking the helm.

As the ship hummed into life around you, you couldn’t help but steal glances at him, admiring how his jaw tightened in concentration, yet his eyes softened whenever they met yours. Despite his tough exterior, a tenderness was hidden underneath, a gentleness reserved only for those he cared about. His grumpiness might have been legendary, but so was his unwavering loyalty and fierce protectiveness towards the pack and you.

As the ship lifted off smoothly and soared into the endless expanse of space, he made the jump to hyperspace. “I wanted to steal you away for a moment,” Wolffe admitted, his gaze fixed on the star-studded vista beyond the view-port before he glanced your way.

“You’re taking me on a date.” You stated, unable to stop your wide smile from appearing again. It wasn’t often the two of you had time away from the war effort, and you could count the number of actual dates you’d been on on one hand. Most of the time, you made do with stolen moments between missions - the quiet brush of hands in silent hallways, passionate kisses in empty med-bays, and stolen hours tangled in sheets when no one would disturb you.

Wolffe’s lips twitched into a faint smile at your deduction. “Something like that.” He replied cryptically as his fingers tapped against the controls.

Curiosity curled through you. Wolffe had always been an enigma, but he’d never kept you in the dark. He’d taken to you surprisingly quickly, growing more comfortable around you until one night, when you’d swung by his makeshift office to check on him, you’d ended up pinned against the crates that had been turned into a desk, the firm planes of his body pressed against you as he’d kissed you wildly.

By the morning, he’d made you his, complete with his tags around your neck.

As the ship finally dropped out of hyperspace, you found yourself gazing upon a breathtaking vista - the planet below bathed in the soft glow of its sun, its surface a patchwork of vibrant colours and swirling clouds.

Wolffe glanced over at you as a hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, taking in your awestruck expression. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” He remarked softly. “But not nearly as beautiful as you.” He tacked on.

Pulling your gaze from the view, you offered the man by your side an amused smile, feeling warmth in your cheeks. “Sap.” You teased, still not used to the compliments after all this time.

“Don’t go telling anyone.” He grumbled though mirth danced across his face.

The sun started setting as you leaned back against Wolffe’s chest. He’d set the ship down atop a small hill, and upon exiting you’d been surprised to find a blanket already laid out, along with a basket of food. He’d neither confirmed nor denied that he’d sent Sinker and Boost out earlier to set it up.

The two of you had spent some time catching up, enjoying the food and each other’s company. Without eyes on you, you were free to share as many kisses and touches as you liked. Wolffe had finally propped himself up against a nearby rock, drawing you to sit between his legs, wrapping his arms around you as his chin came to rest on your shoulder.

The sky above painted a breathtaking palette of oranges, pinks, and purples as the sun dipped lower on the horizon, casting a warm glow over the landscape. The gentle breeze tousled your hair as you leaned into Wolffe’s embrace, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against your back.

“I could stay like this forever.” You murmured, your voice barely above a whisper as you watched the colours of the sky blend and shift with the approaching twilight.

“Me too.” Wolffe pressed a soft kiss to the top of your head, his arms tightening around you in a silent promise of protection and comfort. “You’re my anchor.” He confessed quietly, a tenderness reserved solely for you in his voice. “In this chaotic galaxy, you’re the constant I can always rely on.”

Warmth spread through your chest at his words, and you turned your head to meet his gaze, finding a depth of emotion reflected in his eyes that took your breath away. “And you’re mine.” You whispered, reaching up to draw your finger down his cheek, across the scar from the close call that had nearly taken him from you. “No matter what, I can always count on you to be there for me.”

Wolffe’s expression softened even further at your words, his rough exterior giving way to a vulnerability he only showed you. “I may not always say it, but I love you.” He confessed, his voice barely above a murmur as he pressed his forehead against yours. “More than anything in this galaxy.”

Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes as you leaned into his touch, overwhelmed by the depth of emotion between you. “I love you too.” You whispered, your voice trembling with emotion. “More than words can express.”

With the confession hanging in the air like a delicate promise, Wolffe’s heart pounded in his chest, nerves fluttering like a thousand tiny butterflies as he watched you turn your focus back to the sunset. He knew what he wanted to say next, but the weight of it pressed down on him. He never thought this moment would come, that he’d get to love someone as bright and beautiful as you. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself as best he could, unwrapping an arm from around you as he reached into his pants pocket to find the small box he’d kept a secret for weeks now.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” He stated, his voice slightly hoarse with emotion.

Your heart skipped a beat at his words, but before you could turn around to face him and ask him what was wrong, his arm was back around you, and in his hand, he clutched a small box, open to reveal a delicate ring nestled within.

As you gazed at it, your breath caught in your throat, the metal gleaming softly in the fading light.

“Ner meshurok,” he began, his voice husky with emotion, “I know we’re living in uncertain times, fighting a war that seems to have no end. I can’t promise you a lifetime of peace or stability, but whatever life I have, I want to spend it with you.”

“Wolffe…” You whispered, your voice barely a breath as you looked over your shoulder at him, meeting his gaze. Tears welled up in your eyes as you took in the unexpected nervousness on his handsome face.

Wolffe swallowed thickly, moving his free hand to brush your hair from your face. “Will you marry me?” He asked quietly.

The words hung in the air, a silent plea for your answer. But before you could respond, you twisted in his lap, throwing your arms around him, burying your face in the crook of his neck as tears of joy streamed down your cheeks.

“Yes.” You whispered, your voice choked with emotion. “Yes, a thousand times yes.”

As Wolffe held you tightly in his arms, relief flooded him at your answer. He buried his face in your hair for a moment, breathing in your scent, before you both pulled back slightly to look into each other’s eyes. Carefully, he slid the ring onto your finger, his touch gentle yet sure. As the metal settled against your skin, a sense of completeness washed over you, like puzzle pieces finally falling into place.

You couldn’t help but marvel at how it caught the fading light. The moment felt surreal as if you were suspended in time, cocooned in the warmth of Wolffe’s embrace and the promise of a future together.

“There, all official.” A rare grin crossed his lips. “Guess I’m stuck with you now.” He grumbled good-naturedly, lifting his hand to wipe away the tears that had rolled down your cheeks.

You couldn’t help but laugh, the sound bubbling up from deep within you as you leaned in to press a kiss against his lips. “You wouldn’t have it any other way, Commander.” You teased, your heart overflowing with love for the man who had become your everything.

Tag list: @clonethirstingisreal @starrylothcat @cw80831 @dreamie411 @issa-me-bry-blog @leftealeaf @isaidonyourknees @padawancat97 @dangraccoon @jedi-hawkins @sverdgeir

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[ninjatrashpanda]

Figured I could share this here.

I'm currently working on a Tevan Little Mermaid AU/Retelling and these are four "blueprint" scenes I have written so far (as in, they're scenes I had clearly in my head and decided to write down, but they'll probably be different in the finished product.) Any thoughts are appreciated.

Also, full disclaimer, yes, I cast Hen as the sea witch, but she is not the villain! I based her on the original fairytale's version of the witch, who was a true neutral party who did what she was paid to do, no more, no less.

Also, Eddie's a seahorse and Bobby's a crab. Feel free to read under the cut.

"Buck, for Neptune's sake, slow down!"

Without missing a beat, Buck turned on his back, his tail still cutting through the ocean without slowing down even an instant. He felt a slight ping of guilt upon seeing how far Eddie had fallen behind, his little fins flapping on his back, but he couldn't afford to care right now. Chimney had told him that the prince's ship was coming back to town tonight, and that they humans would shoot their colorful exploding lights into the sky in his honor. He had to see it, he just had to!

"I can't slow down!" Despite himself, Buck quickly rushed back to grab Eddie and press him against his chest before turning again dashing in the direction of the shore again. "I've calculated everything to the last minute! We're gonna arrive just as the ship comes to port, watch the exploding lights for a bit, then go home! We have to capture the right currents at the right time for it all to work out!"

Eddie, pressing his little body snug against Buck's chest, grunted at that. He didn't understand. Buck knew that, had never had much of an issue with that because Eddie was still always down to explore the shipwrecks and sunken treasures the humans had lost at sea.

"Your parents don't want you at the surface, Buck!" Eddie tried with a huff, but Buck chose to ignore it and push on. They were almost at the last current, the one to take them to the beach in front of the castle. He couldn't stop, not now. "They'll go insane if they find out you went!"

+

"Look, Eddie, there it is!" Buck exclaimed, excitedly pointing over to the large vessel. It was still several yards away, Buck knew better than to get too close, despite what his parents and Bobby thought. He respected the old crab more than he cared to admit, but Bobby still had the incredibly annoying tendency to see him as nothing but a silly little guppy instead of the 18-year-old merman he was.

A small splash at his back told him that Eddie had also breached the surface, but Buck's eyes stayed locked on the royal ship, which was still on its course toward the human city's port. Dusk was turning into night rapidly, so the exploding lights should begin any moment now. The anticipation of the spectacle Chimney had described to him warmed Buck's chest from the inside out, his patience wearing thinner and thinner with each passing second.

"Buck, come on," Eddie started to plead once more, and Buck had to actively bite back the groan that threatened to escape him. He knew Eddie didn't think of him as stupid. Eddie was worried for his safety, and was rightly scared of what Mother and Father would do if they ever found out he had come up here. He was still tired of having the same Neptune damned conversation for the who-knows-how-oftenth time. "Let's just go back, whatever the bird said, a bunch of lights can't possibly be worth all this!"

+

The witch—Hen, her name was Hen, Buck reminded himself—quickly made her way around the room, collecting ingredients, from a diverse array of corals, and various bottles, to what looked like some strange kind of seaweed, all of which she put together by her large cauldron.

"Here's the deal, little prince," she addressed him once she seemed satisfied. Her figure, though shorter than him, was imposing, commanding respect and authority. Buck was almost envious of how confident she was. "I'm not a fairy godmother. My magic has its price, and it has its conditions, and I don't control any of it. Every spell has its own unique consequences. If the spell is strong, so are the drawbacks, you understand?"

Buck's brow creased in confusion. Price? Drawbacks? What was that even supposed to mean? Granted, Buck had never been taught much about magic, but he had figured Hen would just cast an incantation, and poof, he was human and able to live on land with Prince Thomas happily ever after. But now magic had consequences he had to consider?

"Buck, this isn't worth it," Eddie whispered in his ear. He had diligently kept his post above Buck's shoulder throughout Hen's explanations, his eyes always narrowed, always studying every move of every single finger and tentacle Hen was moving. Buck wasn't sure what exactly Eddie planned to do to protect him, given his rather tiny size, but Buck appreciated the sentiment. "You can't trust her."

And as eager as Buck was to be human and to be with Prince Thomas, he knew he had to contemplate this. Eddie certainly had a point. Hen was a sea witch, who lived in a cave in the darkest part of the ocean floor, the entrance of which was decorated with the skull of a... creature, he had no clue what the hell that thing was, but it wasn't any kind of fish he was familiar with, and everyone in the kingdom shunned and warned of her (the teachers told the guppies daily to stay clear of her, even). And yet... Buck somehow felt that he could trust her.

+

Tommy hummed lowly to himself, every row of the paddles bringing a new tone, while his eyes kept studying the stranger. There was something about him that intrigued him—and no, it had nothing to do with the fact that he was beautiful, or that Tommy had found him naked on the beach with only a small crystal around his neck, no matter what Gerrard said—but Tommy couldn't quite put his finger on why there was a small part in the back of his head that seemed to scream every time he looked at the young man.

"Y'know, I don't even know your name yet," he said, a soft smile playing on his lips. The stranger, who had been almost entranced by the trees and flowers along the lagoon's bank, looked over to Tommy, his wide sapphire colored eyes shining in the light of the moon. "I could, I don't know, guess. And you nod or shake your head?"

The man's surprised expression softened, a light, almost bashful smile making the corners of his eyes crinkle in it's stead. The slightest hint of pink blushed over his cheeks, making the butterflies in Tommy's stomach go ever wilder. He nodded, and gestured for Tommy to begin.

[samcat71470558]

K, but consider this.

Goose Echo had a friend. Like, a brother friend. That died in an accident. Delta. Like. When Goose died in Top Gun but it's Mav instead.

969 words <3

tw/death, drowning (not really descriptive), grief(..? Kinda..?)

I swear these guys are such blanc slates according to the wiki yk I had to give 'em some trauma 😔/j

-------

Echo hated the empty feeling in his tanks when he was alone. Bravo was out, doing god knows what, Delta (Mav) has other things on his head, and he's stuck on board the ship. His engines ached for a little action. Suddenly a bang sounds through the hall, followed by a scream. Delta!

"...Delta?!"

Echo's engines flared up with fear. Delta never, never screams like that, unless he's in real trouble.

"Delta!"

He rolls forwards, cautious for any debris or gas or whatever could cause his best friend to scream. Glass cracks under his lading gear. "...N-no..." His movements get more frantic, every corner he passes feeling like a clump of ice drops in his tanks. It's quiet...

He rounds another corner, and...

"BOO!" Delta jumps out, wings folded with his wingflaps up. He's grinning like an idiot, his red-blue helmet shining in the dim light. "HAH! Oh man, Echo... You should've seen the look on your fa-ha-haace... Wooooh..." He snickers, putting his wings and flaps back down when he sees the annoyance in Echo's face. "Sorry, sorry... I just... y'know, I had to. But you gotta admit, that was good, huh?" Echo groans, angrily swatting Delta with his wing. "...Bastard... I thought you were in real trouble."

He sighs, and gives Delta the Disappointed Dad™ stare. Not that he's his dad, he just likes doing it.

"I'll be on deck if you need me, scrubbing window-washer fluid out of my eyes."

Delta just snickers, and starts cleaning again.

«»

"Okay, so lemme get this straight. You two figures are going to do what?!" Bravo never heard so much bullshit in one sentence. First, Echo and Delta were gonna do the most dangerous stunt he'd ever heard of. And they were gonna do it in opposite directions, at the same time. This could only end in chaos.

Echo snorts, flapping his flaps up.

"Come on, you gotta stop being so ice cold to these ideas, man! Come on, join in! Delta knows what he's doin'."

Delta, who's standing a little away, does in fact not know what he's doing. "Come on Echo! Let him sulk, we're gonna have some real fun!"

And Echo believed him.

«»

It went so well, and then...

"DELTA!" Jet wash, the most dangerous thing in aviation. When Echo and Delta passed each other at the top of their loops, Delta flew straight through Echo's. His engines splutter, his eyes wide as he loses altitude. "ECHO!" He tries everything to get out, to just climb, gain altitude, gain his engines back... There's tears dripping down the sides of his face (not from fear, but from the fact that he's plummeting to the ground at mach 11045 or something), teeth gritted in concentration. Bravo tries snatching him out of the sky, but in the process he almost takes himself down too. At the last moment he has to disengage, letting Delta splash into the icy ocean below. For a second they see his terrified face below the surface, before he sinks into the deep, dark blue. And Echo can't stop the soft whine his engine makes.

«»

The funeral is short, but even that's too much for Echo. He blames himself. It was his jet wash, after all. That must make him guilty, right?

He got send to the mainland for a few days, getting a court reading where they explain neatly how this wasn't his fault, since a jet wash is invisible, and he didn't intent to down Delta, and blah, blah... Echo'd stopped listening after they said he wasn't guilty.

But still, he felt incredibly, incredibly guilty.

"...I should've gone down, not him..."

He barely left his room for a week after coming back to the carrier, his head hurting from the many sleepless nights he'd spent in his quarters.

"...It's just... not fair, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know, buddy."

Only Bravo could coax him out of his room sometimes, getting him some fuel and talking for a bit. But he knew it too; the old Echo was gone. Replaced with a shivering wreck of a plane that was almost too scared to even fly...

Until that faithful day when he did. Bravo finally managed to convince Echo to go out flying with him, promising to not even go near his rear to avoid the jet wash. It was stupid, but anything to get his best friend back was worth a shot.

They loaded onto the catapults, and took off. The second Echo got airborne he sunk down, landing gear out as if trying to land on the water. His eyes lock onto the ocean, seeing the face of Delta sinking down slowly into the blue...

"...B-Bravo..? I... I'm gonna go back..." Bravo whirled around, spotting his friend slowly moving back to the carrier. "No. Echo..." He quickly caught up, giving Echo his recreation of the other jet's famous Disappointed Dad™. "Come on, one lap. You agreed to one lap around the perimeter. It's just 83 kilometres..." Echo sighed, regret and desire swirling in his tanks until he got nauseous. He did agree to one lap...

He sighed, then pulled up. "Fine. One lap."

«»

Once Echo got up to speed, the doubt slowly started to melt away like snow in the sun. Hell, he even found a smile tugging his mouth as he sped up more and more, overtaking Bravo at Mach 1. In less than four minutes he'd cleared the lap, engines roaring for the second. "Keep up, slow coach!" Bravo growled, engines flaring up as he caught up to Echo again. "There he is! There's my stupid idiot Echo!"

«»

After the race, the ice clump in Echo's tanks melted slightly. He still felt chilly and alone, but knowing Bravo had his tail fins really made everything a lot better for him.

[fanby-fckry]

Saw you are fan of both The Amazing Devil and Hazbin Hotel, so, combining those two, what TAD songs would you assign each Hazbin Hotel character?

Ooh, this is a good ask!

Ok, not a character, but I once was someone say that Farewell Wanderlust is Lucilith coded, and they’re so right.

"Come, devil, come, " she sang, "Call out my name" Let's take this outside, 'cause we're one and the same Our gods have abandoned us, left us instead Take up arms, take my hand, let us waltz for the dead

Especially if we’re including the Lucilith divorce, tbh.

He said, "Hey, darling, hey, hey, darling, hey I'm the hardest goodbye that you'll ever have to say"

…

Because farewell wanderlust, you've been, oh, so kind You brought me to this party, but you left me here behind So long to the person you begged me to be She's down, she's dead Instead what is left but this old satin dress And the mess that you left When you told me that I wasn't right in the head

…

Because farewell wanderlust, you've been ever so kind You brought me through this darkness, but you left me here behind And so long to the person you begged me to be He's down, he's dead Now take a good long look at what you've done to me

He's down, he's dead He's gone, oh, he's lost He's flown, he's fled Now take a good long look at what you've all done to me

But, you didn’t ask for ships, you asked for characters!

Charlie as The Horror and the Wild

I will admit, I cannot fully explain this one. It’s just. Vibes.

You were raised by wolves and voices Every night I hear them howling deep beneath your bed They said it all comes down to you You're the daughter of silent watching stones You watch the stars hurl all their fundaments In wonderment, at you and yours, forever asking more

…

Fret not, dear heart, let not them hear The mutterings of all your fears The fluttering of all your wings Welcome to the storm, I am thunder Welcome to my table, bring your hunger

Think of all the horrors that I promised you I'd bring I promise you, they'll sing of every time You passed your fingers through my hair and called me child Witness me, old man, I am the wild

Something, something, her parents’ legacies; something something fighting against the establishment and sniffling and repressive traditions.

Vaggie as King

Just change up the pronouns a bit, and it’s surprising how well it works. Very similar to her part in Whatever It Takes.

Every moon in the sky, every promise and lie (All that matters) All hell and its fire Waits for us

I’ll keep the king (all hell, all hell) I’ll keep the king (all hell, all hell) I’ll keep [her] safe from the dark things that wait In that house at the top of the In that house at the top of the I’ll keep the king (all hell, all hell) I’ll keep the king (all hell, all hell) I’ll keep [her] safe from the dark things that wait In that house (all hell) at the top (all hell) (All hell, all hell, all hell, all hell, all hell, all hell) Of the rock

“Every promise and lie,” you say? “All hell and its fire,” you say? “I’ll keep [her] safe from the dark things that wait”? Is that not Vaggie’s arc?

Angel Dust as The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace

I waffled on this a little bit, but in the end I always kept coming back to The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace for Angel.

This part in particular stands out to me:

'Cause I've been here so many times before Don't you think I look pretty Curled up on this bathroom floor? But where you see weakness, I see wit Sometimes I fall to pieces Just to see what bits of me don't fit

Romanticizing his own breakdowns, self destructing because it’s the only way he knows how to cope.

There’s also something to be said for the way that the glass metaphor mirrors Poison:

Somehow now I'm drinking, and I'm lifting my glass To that last good man grace Who has left me, he's left me at last

…

Then the hollow folk pour me another shard full of glass And I toast to their talents and I forgive them at last

Mmm yummy broken glass, yummy poison. This is fine. He’s fine, guys, don’t even worry about it!

Narrator Voice: He was not fine.

Angel using humor (often sexual humor, but still) as a shield comes up here, as well.

And I laugh, and I laugh 'Cause laughing right now, it's all, all that I have

And the conflicting forces throughout the song, the Old Witch Sleep and Good Man Grace, themselves, can be fitted over the conflicting forces on Angel’s Afterlife.

I could see an argument in either direction for which force matches up with which, but personally, I’m for the Old Witch Sleep as Angel’s addiction and the people with a vested interest in keeping him from being sober vs Good Man Grace as redemption and the pressure to get there.

There's a fire burning, and I'm learning to be So much more than my tiredness So much more than that old witch sleep wishes She kisses my eyelids And I breathe

The Old Witch Sleep represents the comfort in familiar, yet ultimately unhealthy coping mechanisms.

In the song, alone, I would say she sounds a lot like depression and the symptoms and coping mechanisms that come with it – telling the singer to rest, to give in to his tiredness.

And isn’t it easier to sleep? To lay in bed for hours, wasting away because you’re so, so tired, and everything is too much, and it’ll all be there when you get up (if you get up), so sleep, just sleep.

When applied to Angel Dust, specifically, she sounds like addiction.

Return to the comfort of your vices, break yourself so that it hurts less when he breaks you, escape through drugs and sex and dissociation. Isn’t it nicer here, where your thoughts and your feelings and your memories and your pain are blurred and distant and forgotten as you rewrite the narrative from trauma to indulgence? Isn’t it easier than trying to face it all sober?

She’s well intentioned, the Old Witch Sleep. After all, sleep is a necessity. The problem comes in excess, and even then, it can be seen as a kindness – as shelter from the inherent cruelty of being awake.

It kind of reminds me of Cherri, trying to comfort Angel by bringing him back to his vices. Her intentions were good, but ultimately she wound up putting him under even more stress.

So, what about Good Man Grace?

"You're better than this" He says as a hand slaps my face and I stand And say, "No good man grace" I can't do this (you can) I can't do this (you can) I can't do this (you can) I can't do this, you don't understand

Yeahh, remember Charlie and Vaggie’s whole thing in the first half of Masquerade? And to a lesser extent, Video Killed the Radio Star?

Good Man Grace is expectation. Being told that you can do better, trying to do better, wanting to do better, and oh fuck, they don’t understand, because there are forces here beyond your control and it’s harder than it looks, damn it!

And (through Angel’s slightly skewed lens of things) when you don’t make progress fast enough for his liking, Good Man Grace turns his attention to some fucking snake and you wonder if you were ever worth anything to begin with.

Ultimately, neither extreme is helping him.

(Luckily, though, I think Charlie and Vaggie are willing to give him a bit more leeway now that they understand the circumstances behind his resistance to change and his clinging to the mask of his persona/the comfort of his old coping mechanisms. And Cherri may become more of a neutral party, now that she’s stopped viewing the hotel as the problem.)

Alastor as That Unwanted Animal

LISTEN. I know this song is about sex. But can we pretend for a moment, that it isn’t?

Can we take its metaphors about violence and animalistic hunger literally, and transfer the themes of vulnerability in sex to vulnerability in human contact of any kind?

Honestly, as an aroace, I find myself doing this to a lot of songs about sex.

Actually, as I’m writing this, I’m realizing that it is very fitting for @prince-liest’s 666 Live On Air! Alastor, specifically. Which allows us to add the sex back in, but in a uniquely aroace way.

I’m not going to go into a full analysis, here, but I will drop one very relevant, already somewhat aro-coded line:

You try so loud to love me I cannot seem to hear

Lucifer as Welly Boots

Is it cliché to choose the dad-est song for Lucifer? Perhaps. But come on.

I get to watch you grow up now and make me proud Make all of the mistakes that make me laugh Oh, darling, Lord, how you make me laugh Get drunk for me, sing louder than you've sung for me Grow young each time that thunder in your lungs Begins to rumble at the world

Cause you were always strong When you were young, you'd kick things just to see if they would fall They said, "That girl, she's wrong" But I'll stick up for you, even though you haven't got a clue You haven't got a fucking clue

And I'm so proud of you And when they laugh at us You'll feel my fingers down your back And when you scream, "I'm not alright" And throw my picture at the wall You were supposed to be my light And keep me safe against them all

Bonus Round: UH!Lilith as Pray

I’m not going to attempt to get into canon!Lilith outside of her relationship with Lucifer until after we see more of her onscreen, but oh the things I could say about Lilith and Pray if we use the version of her from my pre-season 1 fanfiction.

If you knew all that I'd done The words that shone are all but gone, oh whoa The hearts I've broken, the minds I've woken Sweet nothings are screamed, not spoken, oh whoa

God made all man in his image (God made all men) Honey, I'm, I'm no man I'm what's left when children go to war Run from you, I'll run until I begin to understand (run from you, understand) What holy men really mean When they speak of sand and sons and seams And symphonies and sweat and sex and sin

Pray is undoubtedly her song. The first woman, the first feminist, who dared to disobey her husband and was forever branded a temptress and a whore, who redefined her womanhood, and who wears her sexuality and her femininity proudly.

She is a wife and a mother, but she is not subservient to her husband or to God, himself. She saw Eve take her place, endure the burden of the role she broke free from, and rather than acting superior, putting Eve down, or drowning her in pity and condescension, Lilith met her with kindness, open arms and listening ears.

Also, can you tell my favorite TAD album by looking at this post? I um. I think I mayy have a The Horror and the Wild bias, lol.

[hymn-of-muse]

A Haunted Mind 6 | Breaking Silence

[a haunted mind 6 | breaking silence]

chapters 1(link), 2(link), 3(link), 4(link) and 5(link)

books on quotev(link) and wattpat(link)

"anything?" Bow glanced over entrapta's shoulder at the scanner to see if she had picked up anything within range. Another ship, a planet, something.

"No" the purple haired princess grumbled, frown almost turning to a pout as she looked up at the large window and out at the starry nothingness in front of them outside the ship.

"We've been out here going for three days." Bow whined, sounding bored out of his mind. "There has to be something"

"We have enough fuel to last us a good while, we're not in any rush to find a place to land" Hordak pointed out.

"Bow just gets antsy, besides I'm sure we'll find something soon. In the meantime let's um...think of a game to pass the time? Something to keep us occupied for a while." Glimmer offered, placing a hand on the archers shoulder with a soft smile.

"Ohh games are fun! What kinda game?" Entrapta asked, glancing over with an enthusiastic grin. Ever the energetic one.

"As long as it isn't eye-spy, there's not much to spy on the first place" adora grumbled from her seat in the chair, shoulders slumped as she leaned back. She looked just about as bored as bow.

"Okay, cross that off the idea list" glimmer sighed, very likely about to suggest just that. 

"Oh! We could spar!" Adora sat up with a brighter expression.

"No, no fighting on the ship, we established that the last time after the incident" Hordak protests, glimmer nodding her head in agreement.

"We could...play a couple rounds of tap-out?" Bow suggested with a shrug.

"What's tap-out?" Adora asked, tilting her head to the side in curiousity.

"It's like truth or dare, except you keep 'raising the stakes' until someone taps out, the last person to tap out wins" glimmer explained. "We haven't played it since we were kids" 

"Oh, we used to have something like that in the horde, except there wasn't any questions just stupid risky dares" adora shrugged.

"Why am I not surprised?" Glimmer chuckled. 

"What do we get if we win?" Entrapta asked 

"Um...we didn't really do prizes, but maybe if you win you can ask for something?" Glimmer offered.

"Good enough! I'm in!" Entrapta smiled.

"Okay...catra...? What do you think? ....do you want to play too?" Glimmer gave an awkward look towards the other, asking in a bit of a lower tone.

Catra felt her hair raise as she leaned against the wall, her silent presence among the conversation finally acknowledged. The pit in her stomach returned.

"N...no I'm good, sparkles, You guys mess around all you want" she responded, eyes avoiding glimmers. 

There's another awkward pause. Catra could feel the stares again but she didn't want to think about it. Glimmers presumably either accusatory or pitiful and guilt-ridden look, adoras worried glance...instead of meeting anyone's gaze, she pushed herself off the wall and knelt down to pet melog.

"Okay I can't take this" bow spoke up. "We all see it, this isn't good, this needs to get worked out" 

"Bow, it's okay" glimmer put her hands up as if to try and defuse things.

"No, glimmer, it's not. It's been like this since last night, you and catra-" bow was quickly cut off by catra's protest

"She said it's fine, and it is." She insisted, narrowed eyes directed at him. She didn't want to lash out in anger but her defensive nature was starting to get the best of her again.

"No. You two are working this out. I'm not letting tension linger, this is the best friend squad and we talk things out" he insisted further.

"There's nothing to talk about!" Glimmer shot back, getting defensive.

"You snapped at each other in the middle of the night! That's not nothing! There's clearly something to talk about!" Bow stressed before taking a breath and placing his hands on glimmers shoulders to get her to relax as well.

"Please. Things aren't going to get better if you guys don't work through whatevers going on. We're supposed to be friends not acting like one another's a bomb that could be set off at any moment" he glanced from glimmer over to catra as he spoke.

Catra failed to find anything to respond with, instead looking over at adora as if asking her girlfriend to back her up.

"Bow's kinda got a point...it's been like this almost the whole trip, and we're not sure how long we'll be just floating in space so maybe it's not a bad idea to get it out of the way..?" Adora tried to reason.

Catra groaned in response.

"If catra doesn't want to talk about it, then we're fine. There's nothing to talk about. Right catra?" Glimmer huffed, looking over at the other.

"Guys" Entrapta spoke up with a slight rise in her tone.

"Yeah. Just peachy." Catra practically seethed. "Nothing to talk about, so let's just drop it, 'kay?"

"Guys?!" Entrapta tried again, attention on the scanner. 

"You can't keep trying to dodge this, you're going to have to talk about it sooner or later" bow stated with his hands on his hips.

"Guys!!" Entrapta shouted.

"Will you all shut up and listen!?" Hordak yelled on entrapta's behalf, finally earning everyone's attention with a loud "WHAT?!" in unison.

"WE GOT SOMETHING!!" Entrapta squealed excitedly, pointing to some new coordinates on the monitors of the ships controls.

They all looked through the wide window in front. At some distance sure enough, they were approaching something.

"What is that?" Adora squinted.

Finally, catra relaxed, a change of topic and a chance to get off the ship.

"Well it's hard to tell right now...buuuut it could be either a small planet or a ship. Like a big ship." Entrapta added some emphasis to a few of her words when she spoke, trying to estimate the size of whatever they'd just found out in space.

A distraction from all the tension and arguments. Another reason to avoid breaking the silence between her and glimmer.

reblogs are appreciated!

feel free to request more angst, fluff or whatever comes to mind!

be sure to check my pinned post!

[morningmask27]

Thoughts on the new excerpt ?

it seems promising.

the chapters all had their good moments. FrostWhistle is basically becoming canon (sad that Whis isn't the cat that accompanies Frost on the journey), but Whis was so kind and it was so fun to see Whis In the text instead of in my head constantly. I have to admit I squealed in delight when Whis appeared. my little whiw has speaking lines! finally! (ok yeah Whis appeared briefly in River, but that was all)

the lack of buildup was a bit sad. I don't really believe Frost has spent a lot of time with Whis in the books as very little time passes between them atm. but in a magical otherworld (daily whis verse), they're spending a lot of time just having fun! I like that Frost trusts Whis so much, even when she has no reason to do so. She has to Trust Nobody, but Whis is an exception (is Whis Nodoby?) and it's so cute to see

Nightheart is Nightheart, he's ok. it's a bit annoying that the narrative makes it seem like he was actually wronged instead of him being an ass, but whatever, can't change that. but at least the female characters aren't portrayed as vile anymore. honestly my first thoughts when reading his chapter was that Myrtlebloom was going to steal his girl, and then Finchlight had that one line "Finchlight was heading toward Sunbeam. “Don’t worry,” she told Nightheart as she passed him. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t feel lonely.”" like damn girl, you're stealing your brother's gf almost immeditately there.

the rest of that chapter was a bit grating. i liked Myrtlebloom and Bayshine being sillies (and pulling out the Nightheart cringe comp) and Spark, Lily and Finch getting positive spotlight was fun, but the bigger clan stuff was fun to see finally, but annoying. Why Are So Many Cats Against Squirrelflight Becoming Leader? i mean yeah, it could be seen as them being weaker than before, or some other political stuff, but the total dislike of Squirrelflight by a grand part of the clan irks me. Twigbranch is an mvp for truly believing in Squilf. Lionblaze please stfu, you have done enough dumb things.

and i'm not that big a fan of deputy Ivypool. I know why she was chosen, both in a watsonian(in universe) and a doylist(our world) explanation, but it's a bit annoying. If they make the drama between dove and ivy good, While Also portraying Ivy in the wrong (because she is!) then maybe i'll allow it.

and then Sunbeam. it was an interesting chapter to end on, but if the Erins make Sunny fret over Night for a whole book I will riot. it will probably not 100% be the case because Berryheart has very clearly proven herself to be A Problem, but damn hell if she spends all her chapters thinking about her dumb boyfriend. Sun had some great moments in that chapter, being a bit awkward now that she's on her own (kinda) in a camp she barely knows, but luckily she has her two girlfriends Myrtle and Finch (plus Bay and Spark) who love and support her.

Berry's whole spiel was also a sight to beckon. Really well done, and Spark was having her "i'm the mom who steps up" moment and using it like a champ. I also Loved how Finch implied that Berry might be the reason Sun bailed. Finch is right, Berry is excruciating. The worries she planted in Sun's head better develop in Sun discovering she's in a wonderful environment now, surrounded by cats she loves and that love her, romantically or not. that she finds value and joy in living in this clan

just please, Erin Hunter. You made Bristlefrost so bland in the latter half of tbc, that was already enough, please don't do this again.

so yeah, I liked this preview. I can't buy it because i'm not shipping this bastard over from america to read, but maybe i'll grab the pdf and buy it once it gets translated in dutch (in many, many years, we're only at darkest night (avos book 4) atm)

[chaoticbard]

Alaara ducked her head and smiled warmly.

"It is a pity, but I think meeting in a tavern is dull compared to pulling you out of a magic portal. Bonus points to you for a memorable introduction." Memorable and a little bit funny. That's what it had been. For all of the bluster and show he'd put on to come off as grand and important man, he'd not been able to hide his true self. Not one iota. It set him apart from countless other wizards who were, by her own estimation, right arseholes about being what they felt was better than everyone else. Actual skill be darned.

"If by the end of this mess we're in you can still put up with me, I'd be glad to go to the Yawning Portal with you. We can make up for all the years we spent playing as ships passing in the night."

Yet again the conversation drifted close to secrets Gale held close. His gaze unfocused and he went quiet and pensive. Whatever he'd seen and done on his adventures away from home bothered him. The tadpole in her head wriggled in anticipation, begging her to try diving into his thoughts to learn the truth. But like before she refused to do so. No matter how tempting the idea was, it was wrong. She impressed that idea of wrongness upon the parasite and it went still.

"A Dekarios? Hmmm. Let me think."

{{ History check: 17 }}

"Yes. I met a woman with that last name in the market just before we were captured by the mind flayers. She was buying ingredients for supper. Some gormless twat tripped her up as she was leaving and she spilled everything out of her basket. I helped her pick everything up and she refused to let me leave without some sort of recompense.

...Morena. That was her first name. She tried to invite me over for dinner, but I asked for a conversation instead. We spoke until the sun was near setting about all sorts of things. Lovely woman. Why do you ask?"

The mention of the Yawning Portal made the already excited wizard perk up even further, his favourite haunt in all of Waterdeep if he excluded his own balcony.

"Alaara! I do wonder if there's been a chance we've both frequented the Portal at the same time. I would say what a shame to have not met you then, but perhaps, now that I've put a moment of thought into this, it's possibly better to have met now. No drinks, no chaos of drunken adventures, we aside from our dear companions here. Even still, I consider it a great shame to have not met you sooner overall.

But yes, I suppose at the time of the event regarding the Zhentarims and of course the Black Network. I was rather caught up with some work elsewhere but my mother did not hesitate to fill me in on that upon my return. Before my reclusion to my tower, I was often away from Waterdeep on small adventures of my own, well more accurately, on a pursuit for obtaining more knowledge of the Weave..." His voice trailed off, his mind flashing to the cold corridors of what remained of a tomb close by Netheril. The only light illuminating the passageway was the soft glowing orb above his head, stepping carefully over the crumbled stone and not looking too closely at the skeleton beneath. Twisting vines that threatened to grip anyone who was foolish enough to stumble too close but an easy obstacle for an archmage.

At the time, Gale was so sure, so confident as he meandered through the ruins relatively easily. That itself should have been a warning, yet alone the many remains of wizards that tried to follow the same path as he wandered over many centuries. None were as powerful as Gale, he thought.

How he wished he had heeded those warnings.

"You could certainly say I learned a lot on those ventures. However, this discussion is to be about you and your ventures in Waterdeep. I'd much rather discuss home than any tales beyond it. In fact, dare I say, have you ever had the pleasure of meeting a Dekarios throughout your time in the city?"

[toomanyfandomssss]

His Girl - Seven

Violet and Octavia were talking when they heard the voices of Clarke and Finn as they made their way back into camp.

"I need boiled water to make the medicine."

Bellamy then spoke up, "Get Clarke whatever she needs."

Wells left to go dig the grave.

Violet followed Octavia over to Bellamy.

"It's about time. They're gonna kill Jasper." Octavia was the first to speak up. She went to walk past him to see what the guys had set down.

"Octavia just stay there." Bellamy had tried to hold her back.

"Bell stop." she shoved past him. Violet watched Octavia with furrowed brows and went to follow her before Bellamy grabbed her hand and pulled her to him.

They watched as Octavia crouched down and uncovered Atoms lifeless body.

"There's nothing I could do." Bellamy tried to explain.

Octavia held her hand up at him, "Don't." She covered his body and stood up and walk past the couple. Bellamy tried to grab her her but she wasn't having it.

Violet turned to Bellamy. "I'm gonna go after her."

"Wait!" Bellamy stopped her. "It wasn't my fa-"

"I know Bell. She's just upset. She'll come around."

As she went to leave he stopped her again.

"Bell wha-" He interrupted her with a kiss that left her breathless.

"Go ahead," he motioned her along. She walked backwards for a moment touching her lips. "Right," she said breathlessly. She left to go find her Octavia.

*****

"O wait!" Violet yelled as she caught up to her.

"Vi I really don't want to talk about it."

"You don't have to." Violet instead just wrapped the girl up in her arms and held her tight. Octavia let out sigh and reciprocated the hug as she slightly sobbed into the older girls shoulder. "Just let it out O, I'm here."

They stood like that for a few minues before Octavia gathered herself up and wiped away the tears. "We should go help Clarke with Jasper."

"Yes. We should." The two started walking into the drop ship. "Hey V?"

"Yeah O?

"Can you stay with me tonight?"

Violet smiled. "Of course. Anything you need."

*****

Both Octavia and Violet watched as Clarke fed Jasper the medicine. Octavia running her hands down his face.

Clarke looked up at Octavia, "I'm really sorry, about Atom."

Octavia stiffened up at the mention, "I guess we're gonna have to get used to people dying here, aren't we?" She looked down at Jasper and spoke softly, But not you. You hear me? You're not allowed to die."

Violet smiled at the interaction. She felt good that Jasper was going to make it through this. Not only was he great person and she adored him, but he was another person that would look after Octavia.

*****

"Smooth." Finn remarked watching Monty cough down the whiskey he had found in the old car. Monty handed the bottle to Octavia.

"Disgusting, Love it." she passed it to Finn who then passed it to Violet. After taking a swigg of the nasty old whiskey a familiar voice was heard.

"Can I, uh, get a hit of that?" Jasper had woken up making everyone get up and walk over to him.

"Jasper!" yelled Monty.

"Lets start with the soft stuff." Finn gave him some water. "Welcome back buddy."

"Was that a dream or did I get speared?"

Clarke came up the stairs "You'll have a very impressive scar to prove it."

Jasper lit up, "My savior!"

Clarke smiled. "Thank you, for not dying. I  don't think I could've taken that today."

"Well, I'll try not to die tomorrow if that's cool. " Jasper replied making everyone laugh. He spotted Octavia and smiled "Oh hello!" he soon passed back out, exhausted.

Violet waited a moment before standing up and walking over to the door. "O, I'm gonna grab some things and then I'll meet you in your tent. Take as long as you need."

*****

Bellamy found Violet in his tent, grabbing a blanket and some clothes.

"Where are you going." he sounded panicked.

"I'm staying with O for the night. She asked me too."

"Oh, ok." he let out a sigh of relief. He walked up to her and took her things from her and set them down. He grabbed her and held to him like it was the last time he was ever going to see her.

"Bell, Clarke told me what happened. It wasn't your fault." He nodded but didn't let go. He cupped her face and looked into her eyes. His gaze trailed to her lips and back up a few times before he kissed her passionately. Their lips stayed connected until neither of them could breath. He trailed kisses down her neck and gripped her waist. Eventually she had to stop him before he got to far.

"Bell, hey Bell!" she pushed him away slightly. "As much as I'd love to continue, your sister needs me right now. He nodded, agreeing.

"I know, I just missed you angel."

She smiled. "I missed you too."

*****

Violet walked into Octavia's tent with her things. There the girl was laying down just staring up at the ceiling.

She placed down her blankets and changed before laying down next to Octavia. There was a few moments of silence before the Blake girl spoke up.

"I can't believe he's just gone. Just like that."

Violet nodded, "I know I barley knew him, but he seemed like a good person. A good guy."

Octavia smiled "He was." she scooted closer to Violet and laid her head on her chest and wrapped her arms around her. Violet started to run her fingers through the O's hair.

"I'm really happy my brother found you.  You are by far the best thing that's ever happened to him....To us." Octavia told the older girl.

"I love you like a sister O. And I will always be here. Never forget that."

*****

Violet was standing with Charlotte helping her out with things around the camp when they over heard Murphy and Conner get into a spat. Violet rolled her eyes as she listened to Murphy be a complete dick the the poor guy. Luckily Bellamy came over and demanded his most loyal follower to get Conner some water.

He looked over to Charlotte and pointed to the large branch on the ground. "Hey! You got this?" Violet raised an eyebrow at the boy. Nonetheless, the twelve year old reached down to grab it. However Bellamy stopped her before she did. "Just kidding." Violet smiled and shook her head. She watched as he lifted the branch and carried it away.

Charlotte giggled, "You're drooling."

Violet looked at her and shrugged. "He's hot. I can't help it."

Suddenly there was a yell, Conner "What the hell is wrong with you Murphy?" "I'll kill you!"

Violet grabbed Charlotte hand ready to protect her just in case.

Murphy smirked at the boy, "You wanted a water break." He addressed the rest of the camp, "Get back to work!"

Violet returned to work but not before shooting Murphy a harsh glare followed by a look of disgust. Where does he get this shit? She thought.

*****

Murphy was still barking out orders when Clarke suddenly barged out of a tent and charged towards him. "You son of a bitch!"

"Woah" he laughs "What's your problem?"

Clarke holds up a knife. "Recognize this?"

"That's my knife. Where'd you find it.?

"Where you dropped it after you killed Wells."

Murphy looked around at the crowd forming. "Where I what?" he continued "The grounders killed Wells not me."

Clarke denied it, "I know what you did, and you're gonna pay for it."

"Really?" he looked past her, "Bellamy you really believe this crap?" He received no response before Clarke spoke again.

"You threatened to kill him. We all heard you. You hated Wells."

'Plenty of people hated Wells." Murphy stated matter of factually. "His father was the chancellor that lock us all up."

Clarke yelled at him "Yeah but you're the only one that got into a knife fight with him."

"Yeah I didn't kill him then either."

Suddenly Octavia jumped in, "Tried to kill Jasper too!" A quiet "What" was heard from the boy himself.

Murphy looked around. "Come on this is ridiculous I don't have to answer to you. I don't have to answer to anyone."

"Come again?" Bellamy's deep voice rumbled.

Panicked, Murphy walked up to his leader, "Bellamy, look, I'm telling you, man I didn't do this." Despite the fact that she didn't like the kid very much, something told Violet that he was telling the truth.

"They found his fingers on the ground with your knife. Bellamy shook his head. He couldn't help him.

Clarke started speaking to the crowd, "Is this the kind of society we want? You say there should be no rules. Does that mean we can kill each other without-- without punishment?"

Murphy walked back up to the blonde, "Look I already told you I didn't kill anyone."

"Clarke make we should listen to him." Violet tugged her arm a bit but it was no use.

"I say we float him!" Conner offered. Suddenly there were many voices heard saying "yeah float him!"

"That's not what I'm saying." Clarke tried but it was too late.

"Why not? It's justice." Conner argued.

Clarke denied it, "Revenge isn't justice!"

Conner threw his arm up in a chant "It's justice. Float him!" Everyone started chanting "Float him!" after that.

Murphy tried to run but someone tripped him. Many of the one hundred gathered around the boy and started beating him as Clarke tried to get them to stop. They bound his arms and legs and rolled him down a hill. Violet held Charlotte close. "Charlotte get out of here you don't want to see this."

As Violet tried to make her way to help Murphy she was grabbed. "Hey!"

"You're not going near that." Bellamy held her tight and talked into her ear. She could only watch on helplessly as her boyfriend kept her tight against his chest. The criminals were stringing Murphy to a tree. They were going to hang him.

Clarke charged up to the two addressing Bellamy, "You can stop this! They'll listen to you!"

Conner turned to the two leaders, "Bellamy! You should do it!."

"Bell NO!" Violet screamed. The crowd started chanting Bellamy's name.

Clarke kept trying, "I saw you in the woods with Atom I know you're not a killer. Bellamy don't do this. Don't"

Bellamy looked at her before pushing Violet towards Octavia and storming over to Murphy. "NO!" Clarke continued to plead. "You can't do this! Bellamy!" Bellamy then kicked the crate holding Murphy up. "NO!" Clarke screamed once again. "NO BELLAMY NO!"

He turned around and shoved her, "This is on you princess! You should've kept your mouth shut!"

Finn came shoving through the crowd and yelling, "What are you doing! Cut him down! Charlotte get out of here now! Cut him down now!" Conner drew a at him warning him if he got any closer.

A high voice came through all the fighting, Charlotte, "Just stop okay! Murphy didn't kill Wells! I did!"

"Oh my god," Clarke said before taking the axe from Bellamy and cutting the rope down.

*****

"Bring out the girl Bellamy!" Murphy's strangled voice came from outside the tent.

"Why Charlotte?" Bellamy questioned the little girl.

"I was just trying to slay my demons. Like you told me." She defended.

Clarke jumped in, "What the hell is she talking about?"

"She-she misunderstood me. Charlotte that is not what I meant."

Once again there was a yell "Bring the girl out now!"

"Please don't let them hurt me!" Charlotte cried out.

Bellamy turned to Finn and Clarke, "If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up." He waited a moment for an answer. "Now you stay quiet."

"Those are your boys out there!" Finn reminded him.

Bellamy yelled back at him, "This is not my fault! If she had listened to me those idiots would still be building the wall."

"Hey you want to build a society princess? Lets build a society! Bring her out."

"No!" "Please Bellamy"

Violet, who had just been watching the whole ordeal spoke out, "Okay, Finn and Clarke, you take Charlotte out the back, Bellamy and I will distract Murphy. Got it?" Everyone agreed and the three left quickly. Violet turned Bellamy, "You ready?" "Yeah, stay behind me angel."

The couple walked out together, Murphy lighting up quickly.

"Well well well look who decided to join us?"

"Dial it down and back off."

"Or what? What are you gonna do Bellamy? Hang me?"

"I was just giving the people what they wanted."

"Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea. Why don't we do that right now." Murphy turned to the crowd. "So who here wants to see the real murderer hung up? All in favor?" Only four or five hands went up making Violet feel a little bad for the guy. They just really hated him.

"I see. So it's okay to string me up for nothing but when this little bitch confesses, you all let her walk!?" There was a pause. "Cowards! All of you Cowards!"

"Hey! Murphy! Murphy. Its over." Bellamy yelled.  Murphy steps back, "Whatever you say boss. As Bellamy turns to walk away, Murphy hits him with a log making Octavia scream "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Violet immediate ran over to him and started checking his pulse and wound.

Murphy bursted into the tent and when he saw that she wasn't in there he stormed out and screamed, "Charlotte! Charlotte I know you can  hear me! And when I find you, you are gonna pay!"

*****

Octavia and Jasper managed to wake up Bellamy after a few minutes. He stood up and looked around. "Did Murphy go after Charlotte." The two nodded. Bellamy looked around again. "Where's Violet?"

"Bella-"

"Where is she Octavia?"

Octavia swallowed, "She went after them."

Bellamy immediately got angry, worry blooming in his chest at the thought of Murphy or a grounder getting to her. "You let her leave camp alone!?" He yelled at his sister.

"I tried to convince her to wait but she wouldn't listen. She wanted to get to Charlotte before Murphy did. She was extremely stubborn about it."

Bellamy huffed before taking off towards exit of the camp.

***** Violet luckily had found Charlotte and was dragging her through the woods, intent on avoiding Murphy and his gang of idiots. Suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth and an arm when around her waist. She started screaming and clawing at the arm.

"Hey! Hey. It's me. It's just me angel." She stopped struggling and he let her go but kept her close. "What the hell did I tell you about leaving camp alone?"

"Just because were dating doesn't mean you can control me."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!"

"Well-"

"Hey!" "MURPHY I'M RIGHT HERE!" Charlotte started yelling,

Bellamy grabbed her. "LET ME GO!" Charlotte screamed at him. "Hey! I'm trying to help you!

"I'm not your sister! Just stop helping me!" Charlotte started running again, "I'm over here!" Once again Bellamy grabbed her arm. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"Just go! I'm the one they want!"

"Ok Charlotte. Listen to me. I won't leave you."

"Please Bellamy!"

Bellamy hauled the twelve year old over his shoulder as she kept screaming. "Vi come on!"

They came up to a cliff, Murphy not far behind them. The had no where to run.

"Bellamy! You cannot fight all of us give her up."

"Maybe not. But I guarantee I'll take a few of you  with me."

Clarke and Finn showed up, "Bellamy! Stop!" She turned to Murphy, "This has gone too far, Just calm down and we'll talk about this. There was a pause before Murphy grabbed her arm and held a knife to her throat.

"I'm sick of listening to you talk!"

"Let her go!"

"Back off! I will slit, her throat!"

Violet went to walk forwards but Bellamy pushed her behind him, "No," he growled.

Charlotte cried, "Please! Please don't hurt her!"

Murphy looked at the girl "Don't hurt her?" Charlotte shook her head. "Ok I'll make you a deal, you come with me I will let her go."

"Don't do it Charlotte," begged Clarke.

Charlotte went to walk forward but Bellamy pushed her back. Charlotte fought against him, "No! No I have too!"

"Murphy this is not happening."

"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore. Not because of me. Not after what I did." Charlotte's last words before she turned around and jumped of the cliff to her death. Bellamy and Clarke sat at the edge and watched, Clarke in tears screaming no over and over.

Bellamy turned around and made eye contact with Murphy, "Bellamy," he pleaded. But Bellamy was blinded by anger sadness and guilt and tackled Murphy, punching him over and over again.

Violet had to sit down, still trying to catch her breathe after what just happened.

"Bellamy Stop!" Clarke begged. "You'll kill him!" Finn went to grab him.

"Get off me! He deserves to die!"

"No! We don't decide who lives and dies. Not down here."

"So help me god ff you say people have the right to decide--'

"No! No I was wrong before you were right." "Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if were going to survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want, we need rules."

"And who makes those rules huh? You?"

"For now we make the rules. Okay?"

"So what then? We just take him back and pretend like it never happened?"

"No! We banish him."

Bellamy walked over and grabbed Murphy, dragging him over to the edge of the cliff. "Bellamy! Stop!" Clarke yelled after him. He ignored her.

"If I ever catch you near camp, we'll be back here. Understand?" He threw him back down and addressed the gang of idiots. "As for the four of you, you can come back and follow me, or go off with him to die. Your choice."

Bellamy walked over to where Violet was sitting, staring down into the abyss where Charlotte's lifeless body now was. He cupped her face. "Hey, come on, lets go home angel." She nodded and grabbed his hand, the two walking back to hand holding tightly onto one another.

*****

The group had arrived back at camp physically safe but haunted by what they just witnessed. Clarke and Bellamy told everyone what had happened and why they had banished Murphy.

After the crowd had dispersed, Bellamy found Violent and took her by the hand and walked towards their shared tent. When the got in he immediately clung onto her. "Oh Bell," she cooed. "I'm so sorry." She rubbed his back.

"Come on, lay down." He did as she said and she laid down with him. He put his head on her chest and shut his eyes. Violet ran her fingers through his hair which soothed him into a deep sleep.

:)

[separatist-apologist]

I’m so confused on how wanting Elain to leave the Night Court = misogyny. Like we’ve been in the NC for the past 4-ish books and it’s getting a bit boring. Also, how is she being “taken away from her sisters” when she can literally be winnowed back to Velaris in a second?

So I want to be known as the blog that roasts fictional men + likes star wars without any irony. In that vein, I don't care about e/riel theories. However, maybe it's worth saying this once to offer some of my peace to the rest of you.

It doesn't NEED to make sense. If they were looking for cohesive theories, we could have interesting conversations about Elain. This is literally about shutting down anyone with a different interpretation and shaming people into silence. After all, if someone weaponizes the language of social justice for a series of books that are DEEPLY heteronormative and steeped in patriarchal norms dressed up like sexy feminism, that can cause well meaning people to panic and reevaluate. "I don't want to be seen as problematic," or "Maybe I should reexamine why I like this" or even "I'm a bad person for liking this"

I'm tired of pretending that shit isn't intentional. I'm tired of being told in books where men routinely sexually and physically assault their partners that it's wanting to see Elain do the thing she always said she wanted to do (travel) is the ACTUAL misogyny. I'm tired of being told if you don't think gardening and having babies are a personality you're a misogynist from people who don't care about women's issues outside of shoving their ship down peoples throats. It's the height of fandom activism which IS NOT REAL ACTIVISM. "i can bully people for their fun escapism if I think they're wrong about a pretend character" and they'll say the most OUT OF POCKET shit in defense of Elain. Cool. Very feminist.

But also, it's the constant cherry picking that makes it like pulling teeth. "You don't respect her CHOICE" babes he told her it was a mistake and she returned the gift. Why won't you respect those choices? She handed it back, if we're Elain stans why do we have to construct elaborate theories we're passing off as canon instead of respecting that at least for now, Elain is stagnant and not the subject of anyone's romantic lust. He wants to eat her out, okay??? Welcome to all four years of the college experience, how many of those people did you marry? Oh none of them? Wild. We're in his head, he never once thinks of her in non-sexual terms and yet it's canon proof they're in love and we're disregarding it.

We're crackshippers who deserve to be bullied on twitter by people who literally do nothing else but talk shit on ships they swear will never sail. Ok. Reeks of insecurity and too much time on your hands but whatever. It's literally not about cohesion, it's not about an interesting story (because apparently they're already pregnant and the story is happening in the background which begs the question- why give her a book a all if you can heal her off page and give her an off page romance?), it's not about uplifting marginalized voices or respecting women. It's "i'm right, you're wrong, and I can make you feel bad about it if you question anything I've said."

It's also, just as my last little thing, really boring. If you've read all of SJMs books, which I have, you'd recognize her formula. All of her heroines follow a very similar, predicatable trajectory. And while she definitely changes things up when new things become interesting (Rowan in book 4, keeping Hunt in CC), "four" books of build up is not compelling evidence when you consider how much SJM loves mates, loves heroines living at rock bottom, and the men who complement them in obvious way. Fire and wind? Lightning and stars? Lady Death and the Lord of Bloodshed...and the gardener and the son of Day Court.

Come the fuck on.

[between-two-fandoms]

Who We Used To Be (Ray/Rose/Trevor)

As told by myself and @thesevenumbrellas tag teaming the whump in the 18+ JatP discord. Sev I swear we operate on the same braincell levels, we do be clowning. @bobbywilsonsupremacy  let us know what you think of this! I know you and I both hardcore ship Raybse.

Cover was created by @thesevenumbrellas​. Please don’t steal it.

This post got long so fair warning.

We wrote this in a discord server over the time span of hours so there’s some mistakes but i’m too lazy to go back and fix it all. Basically we tag teamed on a Raybse Trevor Wilson-centric whump story and can destroy a fandom with a single touch.

You’ll understand once you click the cut.

Don’t Steal Our Writing (but please reblog this to spread it around).

Trauma Time.

major whump warning

(Ren) Okay so if we're gonna be starting at 90's ot3 my children ray/bobby/Rose know that Ray is a panic bi and loves both of these humans very much with his whole ass heart.

(Ren) He takes pictures of his girlfriend and boyfriend while they’re on dates because he wants to capture the moments he was happy the most. Bobby always shed away from the camera burying his face in Rose's shoulder or leaning in for a kiss. Anyways as time goes by Ray notices Bobby's change in behavior. From being his go-happy-trauma boyf to being caught up in the music scene, often out at all hours to parties and label meetings only to come to to sleep on the couch, not even sharing the bed like he used to. It reminds Ray of the time when Bobby was grieving his boys. Ray hates it, but he loves bobby so he pushes his feelings aside to try and arrange more dates for the three of them to go on together.

(Sev) Ray waking up to only Rose in the bed and not Bobby, and it feels too cold in bed without him. So he'll try to call him, because it's 3am and he's supposed to be home and he's not. And Ray remembers what happened to Bobby's bandmates, and he can't admit it out loud but he's worried. Because what if that happens to Bobby? He knows it was a freak accident! What are the odds of it happening again?? But he can't shake that feeling when Bobby doesn't come home at night and Ray stays up all night worrying. Anyway he tries to call Bobby and Bobby doesn't answer. He'll leave loads of voicemails, trying not to be pushy because he knows Bobby doesn't respond well to that. But he's worried. He'll say "hey please call me when you get this." and then ten minutes later try again "hey just text me that you're safe okay?" He can't sleep because Bobby still isn't home. It's 5am. He has to go to work in two hours. Rose keeps telling him to go to bed but he can't.[2:58 PM]Bobby finally texts back. "I'm okay! Was playing with some friends, the gig went over time and then we went to  party." Ray wants to be angry because seriously? No phone calls because he was at a party? But he knows that'll just push Bobby away more!

(Ren) And so Ray has all of these festering emotions that boil down to worry and concern at the core but he's just so scared hes losing Bobby cause he never really had his own family to begin with and then one day when Ray comes home early from a photoshoot he can hear Bobby and Rose fighting over Bobby signing the contract that says he wrote Luke's songs but Ray just hears yelling before he even opens the door with his name thrown into the mix and then he gets even more scared because what if he loses Rose and Bobby? if he lost both of them he'd be destroyed. So he doesnt knock. He doesnt go home. Instead he walks around the city until he was supposed to go home originally and he opens the door and there's a sort of eerie silence in the air.

(Sev) Trevor’s unable to shake the feeling that something terrible will happen to Rose and Ray because he's with them. His entire family were killed in 1 night because he wasn't there with them. So at first he's clingy as fuck to Rose and Ray because what if something bad happens when he's not there? What if what if what if... But as time goes on the thinking flips. Maybe it's the music industry that's the problem. It's these weird connections in his head of if he's too successful, bad things might happen. But he can't quit music like that, he can't give up on Luke's dream. He owes his boys to become successful. So instead he distances himself from Rose and Ray. That way they won't be caught up in whatever bad thing is going to happen to him. He distances himself and he waits for it all to drop. He waits for the universe to punish him again.

(Ren) And the universe punishes Bobby when the tension between him and Rose tightens so much he knows there's no going back from it but he's not admitting to stealing the songs because he didn't. He helped Luke write all of the songs more than Alex and Reggie ever did, staying up late with Luke after fights with his mom and Bobby didn’t want Luke to be alone so yeah, he wrote the songs. Maybe not as much as he claimed but he sure as hell made sure his brother wasn’t alone so that counted for something right? And it did. Until Rose kicks him out of bed because she's pissed he'd even consider stealing music and he cant tell Ray because of the NDA the label got him to sign at a party when he was drunk and the only reason Rose knows about it is because she was there when he signed the damn thing and so Bobby pulls away from Ray because isnt it going to be easier in the long run? If he doesn’t attach himself to Ray who'll just get angry at him like Rose did?

(Sev) It's the guilt that grows inside of him every passing day. They're my songs too he tells himself over and over again. But during the dark nights, three glasses of whisky in when the world is getting hazy... even he can't believe the lies he tells himself. He fucked up Sunset Curve. He fucked up his friends' memories. And now he fucked up the only good thing he'd ever had. Ray texts him nonstop. He doesn't understand why Rose kicked Bobby out and he doesn't understand why Bobby listened. Bobby can't take Ray away from Rose. He's fucked up and a terrible person, but even he can't do that. He doesn't give Ray his new address. He refuses to meet up even for Ray to give him his stuff back. All Bobby can do is hold onto Ray's sweatshirt he stole away and a bottle of perfume the same brand Rose always wears. He cradles these things in his arms and cries.

(Ren) And that's the last he sees of Ray for all of 5 years, 20yr old puppy-dog eyed loving precious ray who Bobby would run to the second Rose says its okay. But rose never does. And then Bobby meets a cute blonde and six months later the barista shows up on his doorstep shoving Carrie into his arms calling her a bastard child. Carrie is not a bastard child Carrie is his and he loves her the second he sets eyes on her and so Bobby turns into Trevor when the new year rolls around and he starts his own album. It doesn’t do as well as Luke's his first album did but it was his. And then one day Trevor signs Carrie up for dance because Trisha from first grade made fun of her for not being able to do the splits and on the way out of the dance studio Trevor bumps into Ray, a terrified looking girl clutched to his leg. Carrie doesn't miss a beat. "Hi! I'm Carrie let's be friends!" and Carrie drags Ray's daughter off and Trevor shifts awkwardly and is suddenly 17 again but Ray's eyes still twinkle like the did when they were kids and he's still wearing eyeliner so Trevor almost missed it when a flicker of recognition crosses Ray’s face and a smile quirks at the corners of his lips and he says, "hi im Ray, thats my daughter Julie. Wanna go out for a drink?" With that same mischievous glint in his eye that made Bobby fall in love with him in the first place.

(Sev) Trevor almost stops breathing. He should say no. He knows he should say no. He's an awful person. He doesn't deserve someone like Ray. He never deserved either of them. He knows that. But can't force himself to say no. Maybe it's the twinkle in Ray's eyes. Maybe it's the soul crushing loneliness he's felt ever since he left them. Or maybe it's the way Carrie and Julie are giggling in the corner like they've known each other all their lives. He says yes. The drink ends up at a family friendly restaurant with both the girls in tow.

(Ren) Rose shows up because Ray the asshole apparently texted her while he was in the car saying he met one of Julie's friend's parents and wanted to go out on a date (keeping things pg ofc) aklsdf. And when Rose does show up Trevor sees how... sick she looks. How much paler she looked than she did all those years ago how - he still knew he loved her even if she still decided she hated him.

(Sev) The mood drops quickly. Trevor wants to ask about Rose, but not in front of the kids. Ray wants to ask about their past, but not in front of the kids. Rose... Rose who holds all the answers... doesn't know where to start first. She had never regretted not telling Ray the truth. She never wanted to change Ray's perception of Bobby like that. Ray who looked at their boyfriend as if he'd hung the moon. Ray who stayed up worrying all night until Bobby came home. Ray who held Bobby through countless nightmares... But that makes the truth staring them in the face so much harder. Because she never gave Ray the choice. She realized that a few years too late after she catches Ray staring at old pictures of Bobby in their photo albums. She'd made the choice for him. And then there's Trevor... still beautiful, staring at her with so much concern her heart breaks all over again.

(Ren) The tension doesn't fly over Carrie's head like he hoped it would, she talks to Julie about My Little Pony and Pokemon and High School Musical and their mutual hatred for Trisha from school but Carrie's hand never lets go of his and he finally plucks up the courage and stretches his arm out and says "we're vegetarian for the most part, hope that's okay." And a smile quirks at the corner of her lips and she asks "for the most part?" and Trevor nods and Carrie pipes up from her seat saying "daddy hates hot dogs,” in that blatant fact kind of way kids say things without realizing how problematic it could be. It wasn’t her fault though, Trevor has yet to tell her about her uncles, about how he was in a band, about how they were going to be legends.

(Sev) Rose and Ray both freeze at Carrie's voice. He doesn't know if the girls notice, because he's too busy trying to fight back the panic in his throat. It's been a long time since anyone had brought up ... what happened. It's easy to pretend it didn't happen when his name is Trevor and no one knows him. But these two people know him. They know him more than anyone else ever has. Even the boys. The truth hits him hard at that moment. A truth he'd been avoiding for almost two decades. Ray and Rose know him better than even he knew himself. Maybe that was why Rose had been so furious with him, or why Ray continued to chase after him even months after he moved out. Trevor hides the building panic and sudden realization with a smile. "What an I say," he said as causally as he can. "I'm a picky eater." A few hours later they end up back at the Molina's house. Bobby has no idea how it happened. -No, Trevor has no idea how it happened, he scolds himself. He's Trevor. He has to be Trevor. Trevor got him this far, Trevor made the difficult choices. Bobby was the one who got his friends kill and destroyed the best relationship he ever had. Still, it becomes harder and harder to remind himself of that. To stop himself from slipping into the comfortable shoes of Bobby, boyfriend of Ray and Rose as if the past 17 years had never happened. He finds himself on their sofa, a sofa that brings back memories both good and bad... he finds himself in a familiar home, his old studio just a short walk away, his ex's giggling in the kitchen as they make his coffee the way he's always liked it without asking for a reminder.

(Ren) Trevor can remember the day he stopped drinking the coffee Ray made for him, the morning after his first fight with Rose, when he wakes up cold because Rose basically cocooned herself around Ray's body, keeping her back turned to him and as much as he wanted to reach out to Ray, to hug him and comfort him and tell him it was all going to be okay... everything was too stuffy and too tense and deciding he just had to leave because he was going to suffocate otherwise.

(Sev) He should leave, just like last time. What was he even doing here? He should take Carrie and- Then Ray's in front of him, pushing a hot cup into is hands. "The girls are playing upstairs," he says. His voice is so calm, so understanding. "We don't have to talk if you don't want to." Trevor almost laughs. Because that's so like Ray. Almost a decade without answers and he's giving Trevor the option to ignore it all. To pretend like nothing ever happened. But he can't be that selfish again. So he shakes his head. "I'd... like to talk to you... to both of you."

(Ren) And then suddenly rose is eyeing him sus but he's been putting this off for to long and honestly fuck his label because they screwed him over one too many times for him to still even consider their relationship anything other than employee-client1[4:06 PM]and so Trevor takes a sip of Ray's coffee holy shit how did go so long without it?! and he explains it. he explains everything.

(Sev) Ray doesn't speak as Trevor explains. He never interrupts or even look surprised. His face is completely unreadable. He doesn't move until Trevor's done. And then once he is, he only stands up to start pacing the room. Trevor's oddly reminded of Alex as he does so,  and the memory is enough to make him flinch. "This... this is what you two have been hiding from me for so long?" he asked, voice brittle. "This is... this is what cost us... I mean..." But he can't finish. Ray just shakes his head, back to both Rose and Trevor.

(Ren) Suddenly he's seventeen again. Seventeen and a mess in Ray's arms burying his face into the man's chest finally feeling the weight of the world lift off of his shoulders and suddenly Rose is hugging him from behind, her too-skiny bone arms snaking around his chest and hugging him tightly threatening to never let him go saying "amour," and pressing a kiss to the back of his head, "amour we never stopped loving you."

(Sev)It's like no time has passed by the time he's done crying his eyes out. They're all huddled on a sofa that was always too small for three. Trevor's in the middle, clutching at them both as if they're going to disappear on him. Ray sits with his legs underneath them, his arms pulling the both of them into his chest. And then there's Rose, suddenly so much more delicate than Trevor remembers. She sits half on his lap, curled into them, her fingers knotted in his hair. "I can't believe you two kept this from me," Ray whispers. There's no anger. He doesn't think Ray's ever been capable of being angry. "I'm sorry," Trevor whispers, throat raw from tears. Ray answers with a firm kiss to his temple. "We wasted so much time..."

(Ren) Trevor just lays between them in their bed, nothing sexual and nothing tense it’s just them being together and Rose playing with his now-long hair, braiding it right down the middle despite it being too long for others to braid. Her fingers feel nice as they tug at his roots, familiar and a sense of calm washes over him. He lets ray fop on top of him like they used to, burying his head in his chest just listening to his heart beat, his steady constant breathing because Ray used to be afraid one day he'd wake up and Bobby would be dead too. Rose humming lightly, soft lullabies that chased away dark thoughts and Trevor just finds it so comforting, a feeling of home he hasn't had since the day he left and so he wraps his arms around Rose and Ray tight, promising himself he won't screw up his second time around.

(Sev) It's a few hours later when he speaks again. The girls are asleep in Julie's room (delighted at their surprise sleepover.) Ray's almost nodded off, head resting against Trevor's chest. But Rose is wide awake. She's laid out, tangled between them, eyes focused on something far away. He can see it more clearly now. The tremble in her hands, the way she's so still, the circles around her eyes. He takes her hand in his. "What is it?"

(Ren) And Trevor wants it to be a prank, he wants the sinking feeling in his gut twisting around his heart, the same feeling he had the morning of Sunset Curve's Orpheum performance coiling up his spine to go away. He wants everything to be okay, that he told the truth, that he was forgiven, that the universe was finally on his side for once but of course it's not because when has it ever been.  Rose's fingers run lightly over his knuckles and Ray wraps his arm around him from behind, his hands resting against Trevor's chest, something solid for him to focus on and as a tear starts to roll down Rose's cheek he reaches up to brush it away, running his hand through her hair only to pull out a clump as he pulled away but he couldn't run when his instincts to run kick in like they always used to do when situations turned emotional, bury it in his mind and lock up his worries like he always did but this wasn't going to be something he could run from.

(Sev) Life is not the fantasy or a fairy tale. There are no happy endings, only happy moments. He'd like to say they picked up right where they left off, Rose lived until a ripe old age, and they never fought again. But he'd be lying. It was hard to fold their lives back into place again, especially with Carrie and Julie. To just pick up after their seventeen year old selves was an impossible dream. But they could do breakfast. And breakfast became dinner. Dinner became one date which became two which became many. It took trouble and care, but they slotted themselves back into each other's lives again. There were lunch dates, and movie nights. There were late night wine dates and early morning coffee dates. They found their happy moments. A decade of separation had smoothed out the rough edges. If Trevor stormed out after a harsh argument, he'd return the next day with flowers and apologies. If Rose snapped and lost her temper, she'd take herself off for a walk to cool down. If Ray was bothered by something, he'd speak up instead of pushing it all down. They found their happy moments. And when 1 month became 1 year, they celebrated with moving boxes and a new, bigger couch. When 1 year became 2, they celebrated with promise rings and whispers of a better future between light kisses. 3 years became 4, became 5, and so on... They found their happy moments. But life is not a fantasy or a fairy tale. Their story ends in a hospital. Rose dies with both her husbands at her side, with both her daughters and son clutching on her hands. She dies with a smile on her face, knowing she is not leaving them to suffer alone. Ray and Trevor grieve together.

(Ren) And this time the girls are the ones who get into the fight but Trevor and Ray are there for Julie and Carrie no matter what they're fighting over carrie told julie she liked flynn but julie said flynn was hers first and doesnt understand how she can feel squishy love for two people. And this time the girls are the ones who get into the fight but Trevor and Ray are there for Julie and Carrie no matter what they're fighting over carrie told julie she liked flynn but julie said flynn was hers first and doesnt understand how she can feel squishy love for two people. They stick to their daughters through the worst of it but they don’t let the girl’s fighting rip into them too. It’s not what Rose would’ve wanted for them, it’s not what she would’ve wanted for Julie or Carrie either.

(Sev) And when Julie plays with her ghost band, it's much earlier that Trevor recognizes who she's playing with.

(Ren) Luke’s mad at first, ofc he is but after everything is explained and out in the open Trevor finds himself at home in a building that never felt like home despite the fact he grew up in it.

[writr4luvrs]

[♡]

Request: Rhys and reader reunite years after break up

Note: This is just part one, I really enjoyed writing this btw.

Look what your doing to me - BANKS, Francis and the Lights

Rhys Strongfork/Reader

Part |

After Helios fell from the sky, you and other refugee Hyperion employees were left on Pandora to become a community, bandits, or end up being some wild creatures meal. You didn't know Rhys until you found out he was the cause for Helios' fall and some no name that managed and help plan to fight a vault guardian and collect the treasures it protected. Easily, you were impressed and with confidence, you were able to talk to him. He spoke about rebuilding the Atlas brand, helping Hyperion refugees, and get the hell off Pandora, that was enough for you.

While Rhys rebuilt Atlas, you took the time to learn to use various weaponry, hunt the ruthless bandits and creatures of Pandora, and despite losing some of its citizens, the Hyperion refugee camp was improving. And with busy schedules and months passing, you and the business man got to spend what quiet moments you could with each other. "Y'know..." you begin, strolling to sit by Rhys one night as he cautiously poked a low fire. "All the big talk of Atlas and all, I hadn't thought a pair of business slacks would be able to build a community like this."

"Thanks, you know, I didnt think even Hyperion workers would last this long, usually caring about the dust on their snake skin shoes or worried about the lack of gel in their hair. But its good." You laughed at him, he was a complete dork. "What?" he scowls at you, small smile on his face. "What's funny?"

"Usually Hyperion are big talkers with lack of strategy and more and of fucking over their friends." You air quote 'friends.'

"Did you doubt me?"

"I did, ambition is nice until the person doesnt know what they're doing."

"I- haha, know everything, I know what I'm doing. Everything...that I'm...doing, I mean." You snicker at him.

"There's the Hyperion cockiness."

"Seriously, Hyperion was the worst,"

"Absolutely."

"But they," he referred to the refugees. "Are better than they let on and has great potential that Hyperion didnt let them explore and show. Atlas is gonna be bigger than that." You nod, yeah, he was much cuter than you initially thought.

"Deep."

"Yeah." he chuckles.

"You're exactly what they need, a chance is all anyone ask... don't let that get to your head."

"Pfft...it's not like I'm Jack...or...whatever. "

"You've got the handsome bit down."

"Haha, yeah..." he smiles. "Oh!" he blinks, his smile becoming shy in realization. "And you've got the killing skills and attractiveness and good looking and I dont...know how to flirt, wow, is it, um... Yeah. I'll stop talking."

"Yeah," you peck him on the cheek before standing to leave. "Keep at it, Handsome Rhys."

"Oh, god. Don't call me that."

In time, Rhys had actually done it. He was able to influence sponsors to help the manufacturer, to help get a ship built and was able to blast off Pandora. You accompanied him to various Eden planets, Atlas was gainingtraction and workers, and best of all customers. Rhys was getting more paperwork than he could handle, becoming more busy and eventually sent a request for a vault hunter Zer0 to aid him. He was becoming an influencer himself, working his ass off. The sweet messages he'd send you, the dates the two of you would go on, the rants you two would have had almost seen to vanished. You missed being around him and having chats instead of being told that he had to talk later, which was understandable the first few weeks only for it to be routine and soon ending up with no reply. He spoke highly of you and you were flattered but it soon felt like nothing when you rarely had the chance to see him. You felt years of commiting to him were being thrown away.

You began show up to his office on Promethea. "I have a call to take." "I have to go to a meeting." "Too much work to do."

"Are you even listening to me, Rhys?" you accidentally raised your voice, Zer0, of course, his best bro couldn't even give you two alone time.

"Look, I'm sorry, I really am-"

"But I just don't have time!" You finished for him. "I have to go to the Eos solar system and blah blah blah Greek names of whatever bullshit business deals. You never make time, let alone a echo, Rhys! I know work is important but I have been patient- and for hell sake Zer0 can you please get out?!" Understandably, Zer0 did leave.

Rhys shut down the holograms and placed his echo away. "You dont even make time for me anymore, do you even see what you're doing to me?" You sit yourself in a chair.

"No, I- I know." He walks from behind his desk to be closer to you. He wanted to hug and hold you but it's almost like he didnt know anymore, instead he kneels on the floor. "I'm sorry, I should've realized what I was doing, I'm sorry. I want us to work, I really do."

"I've tried so much, Rhys."

"Yes, I know. And I'm sorry. I love you okay, I'm going to be better and put more effort into us. I promise... I-"

"Rhys..." You knew he meant it, he wasn't a liar. "That's why this is so hard..." You were trying so hard not cry but your voice only became raspy and your face more heated.

"What?" You paused.

"We're done." You simply say before standing, the stood with you, trying to protest but you already had escaped into the elevator.

[winterswrandomness]

Run, Virgil, Run

This was written near the middle of the night so it's not stitched together as well as it could be, but I tried to capture what I felt one time.

Word Count: 600

Warnings: Paranoid thinking, descriptions of panic, bittersweet ending. [Let me know if I missed anything]

Pairings: Platonic Roxiety (I don't know Patton, Roman, and Virgil's ship name)

~~~~~♡~~~~~

"We're going the right way, I swear." Virgil mumbled, watching the school on the other side of the road as he passed it, reading the big white letters on the side.

"All I'm saying is that it'd be easier if we just continued North." Roman defended himself, though Virgil didn't see him since he was focused on the buildings.

They were walking down a long road, with Patton as well. The three of them had gone out for ice cream but were now aimlessly walking in an attempt at heading home after getting lost.

Virgil huffed. "Fine, be like that. I'm going to go ahead, without you." He marched on, eyes now trained on the sidewalk ahead of him instead of the buildings around him. But when his hearing zoned in on the footsteps behind him, he sped up, listening as the footsteps followed suit.

They were speeding up with him. Rationally, it could only be his friends. But what if it wasn't? What if someone captured them and were now after him? 

A million questions, possibilities, zoomed through his head all at once, a harsh rain against his reasonable thinking, causing him to propel himself forward without a moment of thought.

He needed to get away now.

With only the path on his mind, he dashed forward. He went past a family of four before they reached the sidewalk. Would it be selfish to hope whatever was chasing him would get slowed down by them? Maybe, but he couldn't comprehend morals right now! It's fight or flight, and he's taken flight. 

But a car stopped in his way. He halted for a moment, looking to the driver. The footsteps grew closer with each millisecond. The driver gave the signal that he could go, and he flung forward. The end of the road came near. 

There was a stop sign. Was it stupid to hide behind it? Clearly. Did it matter? Never!

The pounding of shoes against the ground behind him was growing unbearable and his breathing was in small gasps as he simply stood next to the sign. What was he doing just standing here? 

His friends, Patton and Roman, stopped and stood in front of him. He couldn't process. He heard everything around him, saw everything around him, but couldn't respond.

"Are you alright?" Roman reached a hand out to him, but Virgil stepped back, away. 

"Do you want a hug?" Patton had offered, a familiar phrase Virgil was used to. He liked familiarity. 

With the smallest, broken murmur of "Yeah," Virgil latched onto Patton, the other's arms looping around his upper arms and back. Virgil took this seemingly long amount of time to watch the cars and clouds roll by, which pulled him closer to a calmer state. 

When they pulled apart, Roman offered a hug as well, which Virgil accepted. Differences were that this hug was but a few seconds long and felt empty. Virgil got away in no time.

Still with shaky breaths, Virgil readjusted his scarf to be wrapped looser around his neck, since the yarn warmth was feeling like it was suffocating him. Not like the other two noticed, though. They were still learning his cues and what happened after his anxiety spikes. 

Maybe they didn't even know it was anxiety, since they slowly stepped back into walking even as Virgil was still fragile as paper.

"I'm sorry, I thought we were just running for fun." Roman said just before they crossed the road, making Virgil confirm his thoughts. They probably didn't even know, but it was okay. It was better this way.

~~~~~♡~~~~~

General Taglist: @heathers-dorkness-0923

General Angst Taglist: [I just made this up, let me know if you want to be added!]