#chain was so willing to let whatever happens happen bc hes so willing to just follow puns antics always but especially when drunk

[panncakes]

no but the way pun is braver than any of those other boys when he's drunk (nibbling on chain's ear, just randomly deciding they are sharing a noodle) and chain is just so willing to go with it. and the way matt is probably the only one to have ever called them out on their behaviour and chain just goes: 'so? i like it when we act in a way that could be seen as romantic?'

[springgirlshowers]

hii idk if you have time for a request rn but would you be willing to write about joost and reader staying in one night but the reader is kinda anxious about them moving things into the bedroom bc she’s not in the mood at all that night and joost notices and is just really gentle and kind and assures her they can just cuddle or whatever and she never has to do anything to please him? i just think that would be really nice to read about him for a change :’) if not, no worries!! thank you sm either way <33

this is such a sweet request!!! ty anon! this was so comforting to write honestly and i hope this comforts u, enjoy <333

wc: 643 (lil one for today)

Like always, you never could point out when the exact transition to this point happened. It’s like one second you were casually talking and the next second you were making out on the couch.

Kissing was nice, but you didn’t want to do anything more than that for now. Your libido was low tonight.

As Joosts hand began to wander further down your waist, fingers slipping underneath the waistband of your bottoms, he felt the way you tensed up.

Usually when you’d get this far, your body language was completely different. Your hands would be roaming all over his body, your muscles would be completely relaxed, and you’d let out those little breaths and noises of satisfaction.

Tonight you seemed still. Stiff. Quiet. Anxious. Joost paused his movements and pulled away.

“You okay?” He asked, his eyebrows knit together in a concerned way.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” You lied, Joost could see through your act.

“You can tell me if there’s something wrong, liefje. It’s okay if you’re not in the mood tonight.” He reassured you.

“Yeah. You’re okay if we don’t go any farther tonight?” You looked away as you asked, fingers fidgeting with the chain that dangled around his neck.

“Yeah, that’s perfectly fine.” Joost nodded, completely unbothered as he sat up, you copied his moments, facing him.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to kill the mood.” You said nervously as you looked down at your hands in your lap, feeling a bit bad that you ended the moment so abruptly.

“Don’t apologize liefje, you didn’t kill anything.” He shook his head, brushing a strand of hair that fell in front of your face behind your ear.

“Well, I just feel bad cause you’re in the mood and I’m not. I wanna make you feel good and I don’t wanna give you blue balls-“ Joost cut your rambling with a small shush.

“Hey,” He said sweetly, cupping your face and chuckling at your words. “I care about your pleasure over mine. And if your pleasure tonight is just cuddling and watching a movie, then we’ll just cuddle and watch a movie.” He shrugged, unbothered.

“Yeah. I’d like that tonight.” You smiled, “Sorry.” You said apologetically, eyes darting away.

“Hey, look at me. You have nothing to apologize for, schatje.” He soothingly rubbed his thumbs over your cheeks as your eyes met his.

“I don’t care about blue balls or any of that bullshit. I only care if you’re comfortable. So don’t think you have to make yourself do something you don’t want to do just because you want to please me. The only thing that will please me is you being happy and comfortable. Okay?”

“Okay. Thank you.” A true smile covered your lips, Joost could feel your body finally relax, all stiffness gone.

“Good. You don’t have to thank me either.” He grinned, placing another sweet kiss onto your forehead before leaning forward to the coffee table in front of you, grabbing the remote off of it and leaning back into the couch.

Joost put his arm along the top of the couch and you moved into the open space, snuggling against his side as he moved his arm from the couch to around you. He pressed a kiss to the side of your head, a small breath of satisfaction left you.

Joost wasn’t lying. He got the same amount of satisfaction and pleasure out of this as he would if you took things farther and into the bedroom. Hell, seeing you snuggled up comfortably next to him with a smile on your face was more satisfying than sex. It was heartwarming. He desires to see you happy.

And if you were happy like this, Joost could give less of a shit about what his libido wanted.

“Now, what movie are you thinking of tonight?” He asked, holding out the remote to you.

[imagining-in-the-margins]

Casanova (S.R.)

Summary: Spencer’s not the only person in his hotel room (and he really doesn’t want Derek to see who it is).  Request: The team finds out about bau!reader/spencer bc someone is unexpectedly at Spencer's Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!Reader Category: Fluff Content Warning: Mild embarrassment, minor allusion to sexual activity Word Count: 625

MASTERLIST

The hallways of the backwater hotel were mostly quiet this early in the morning. The few occupied rooms were all shared by groggy BAU members who were, more than anything, ready to get the hell home.

Of them, Derek had been the most excited. Particularly because he had been locked out of his shared room.

Between heavy fists against the door, he waited as patiently as possible to learn the truth about what happened last night.

He wasn’t really mad as much as he was curious. When they’d returned from the bar, the faint noises of pleasure and the Do Not Disturb sign were enough for him to figure out what had happened.

Yet no one had seen Spencer flirting with anyone at the bar, nor notice when he left.

Eventually, a bed-headed Spencer answered the door. He didn’t remove the chain, however, and he almost seemed surprised when the door stopped short.

“One second,” he mumbled before closing the door.

When he opened it again, sans chain, he leaned against the wall. He’d done it both to prevent Derek from looking in and—more importantly—to stop him from entering.

“Good morning, Casanova,” Derek teased, much to the chagrin of Spencer who only nodded at the reference.

“Sorry. Good morning.”

Derek noted that all he was wearing was boxers. With the most basic deduction, and the distant sound of a running shower, he could only assume that the woman inside was even more scantily clad.

“You know, you’re real lucky that Rossi hadn’t gone to sleep by the time I got back,” he chuckled. “You better have a damn beautiful excuse for locking me out.”

Spencer hadn’t appreciated the lecture so early in the morning, but he went along with it.

After all, he was in a very good mood after a very nice night.

“Now let me in to get my stuff, then I’ll be out of your hair again,” Derek offered kindly.

Once he took a step to enter the room, however, Spencer blocked him and immediately tried to shut the door again.

“U-uh, no, actually, sorry, I uh— I think she wants her privacy. You know.” 

Derek eyed the shifty man before commenting, “It’ll only be a second. She’s in the shower, she won’t even notice.”

“Yeah, but, you know, just in case.”

As if to prove his point, the shower turned off right on cue.

“See?” Spencer motioned toward the sound of happy humming echoing in the bathroom. Then, more hurried, “Okay… bye!”

That time, it was Derek’s turn to block the door with his foot. He continued his attempts to peek past Spencer, but the boy wonder was steadfast in his attempts to stop him.

“Oh, she’s real pretty, huh?” he teased.

“Yes, she is, so get out of here!” he begged.

At that same moment, as the two bickering boys were caught in a battle of wills, Emily approached them.

Uninterested in whatever the two were discussing, she waved her phone between them.

“Have either of you heard from (y/l/n)?” she asked with utmost concern. “She told me she would catch up with us this morning, but I haven’t seen her.”

A pause. A single moment of silence as Spencer tried to will the gears in Derek’s head to slow down.

But if he hadn’t already figured it out, he would soon.

“Spencer~!” you called from the bathroom.

The jig was up.

Derek immediately burst into a fit of laughter. In a show of mercy to the poor boy, he finally removing his foot from the door now that it didn’t matter anymore.

Beside him, Emily’s lips pressed together in an attempt not to join in the joy of his downfall.

“Never mind,” she strained, “I think I found her.”

Want more? This blurb is actually an excerpt of my existing work, Late Night & Bar Lights! Read part one here! 

[vancilocs]

i think i have enough ideas for another lore dump (details subject to change obvi)

so. third kingdom. kinda turmoilic

about 30 years or so ago there was this violent thronestealing plot that happened. there was king, and queen, and the heir to the throne and probably some younger siblings, but in one night some usurper cousin or a more distant relative snuck in and slayed pretty much everyone; except the heir managed to escape with like a handful of servants (and her own porcelain bodyguard). she was like 13-14 at this point. also trans, but not out yet, except to her bodyguard. this is relevant.

(she had a bit of a teenage crush on him, not in any real way, more like youre really cool and nice and oh no puberty got my brain scrambled)

but the escape was really narrow and while trying to get out the servants got picked off and the bodyguard held his own final stand and stayed behind to let the heir escape. so she had to run off all by her lonesome.......

she wandered the countryside for a bit to get as far away as she could and through some avenues she ended up in contact with Skullface whos?? a general nogooder??? has a skull for a face??? (and she/he pronouns. whats her agab? its a secret) who promised that hed help her take the throne back and take revenge on her relatives, if shed in turn make him an advisor/give her another high rank in her court. she agreed bc why not, she was a tormented teenager who wanted revenge in any way

thus began the training. it was p easy to hide away bc the new monarchs goons were looking for a prince, the eejits, so she just went by the name she had already picked for herself (also skullface shaved off the horn over her eye/covered the mark and her dragon eye with bandages to further hide her identity. shes a poor injured girl leave her alone. dyed her red hair probably too, it was quite distinctive) and began training sword and magic both

maybe a decade passes and skullface has molded her into a right meanie, while also working on his own to collect willing people to help her overtake the castle. the new monarch wasnt very liked overall.

(now skullfaces original plan was to basically use her and groom her into being his puppet on the throne BUT he grew to genuinely care for her and now truly wishes the best for her and only wants to be by her side to help. not quite a surrogate parent, more like your parents cool sibling? theyre partners in crime)

so they storm the castle one night. princess stabs people and skullface blasts them with magic (first_4_notes_of_megalovania.mp3) and the peasants and knights theyve rallied help also. princess stabs her cousin/whatever to death and retakes the throne. yahoo

and in the basement they find her porcelain bodyguard. hes basically been there for 10 years (since he was 14 or so) for the castles new occupants to torment - basically chained him down there and gave him a sword and people would go fight him for fun. mans turned semiferal atp. but when princess shows up he recognizes her, knows her real name bc she told him all those years ago, and he does an argos from the odyssey and dies in her arms immediately after.

shes inconsolable obviously, that was the Only Thing remaining of her past happy life, her family is gone, her friends are gone, the usurpers destroyed all the stuff that reminded her of home, paintings burned furniture destroyed history books torn etc. also that was her FRIEND

so she delves a bit into necromancy with skullfaces reluctant help, and drags him back to the land of the living (not super well, but somewhat). hes mangled, needs some prostheses probably or at least joint braces, has nightmares and short-term memory issues. tends to cut off at his death and after that everythings a bit hazy. but he remembers his liege and loves her, appreciates her coming back like he knew she would, is her bodyguard again like the old times.

sometimes she kinda regrets it tho, was it fair to bring him back like that? she didnt ask him, hes been through so much, didnt he deserve to rest? but he seems happy so she guesses its ok. he says its ok. also wonders how long the magic will hold up, will he stick around forever now?

(hes doing ok. most people dont really like him bc hes a zombie but some dont mind. im p sure he even has a kid, but for some reason isnt together with the mom anymore. probably bc her family wont let her marry an undead. but im not entirely sure bc why would her familys opinion matter when she could just live at the castle since he has a very prestigious position anyways)

anyway shes slightly tormented. but she has friends. shes got bodyguard, and skullface as her trusty advisor and support, but also shes got a wife and kids, And shes fairly close with fenrir. him and konoe did offer support for her taking her old home back. konoe is a good help when it comes to political knowledge and aid, but shes had good talks with fenrir abt grief and how daunting it feels to suddenly be a ruler. when fenrir lost his kid she even came to visit to offer her condolences.

other ppl in the castle include a giant snake tail woman. mothman probably also.

[pjowasmy1stfandom]

Okay, I got some sleep. Now. Notes. These are just from the first two episodes. Like, the originals.

Kai: Lord Garmadon? Underworld? What's going on?

Me: Welcome to the beginning of chaos, my friend

Kai: what is happening why are there skeletons and why did they take my sister?

Wu: story time!!!

Y'know? The picture of Kai & Nya's dad looks nothing like he does later on. Yippee

Wu is a lizard. He scaled that mountain like nobody's business

Kai: A monastery? You expect me to learn to fight in a place of peace?

Wu: Not fight. Train. (Same tone as 'Green' from the Lego Ninjago Movie)

Wu calls Zane 'a seer with sixth sense' and Zane literally makes his shurikins disappear. Is the sixth sense thing bc he's a robot? AND HOW DID HE MAKE THEM DISAPPEAR BOI KNOWS MAGIC

Y'know what, good for Jay for talking with Zane about humor

Wu called them the chosen ones... to protect the four weapons, but that's boring. They can all be the chosen one!! (That way Lloyd's not left out/ostracized)

Jay's accent has changed. By like, a lot. He's got more of a country/junkyard drawl right now in the first episode. I hadn't even noticed, but then again, my watching of Ninjago has been spotty

Jay: Let's chopsaki this lemonade stand

I don't think I realized how much Jay and Zane looked to Cole as their leader. Kai... does his own thing. As per usual. I think later, Lloyd becomes the leader, but I think it also becomes a lot more of a give and take, everyone coming forward with ideas.

Honestly, Cole, Jay, and Zane are working in sync really well

Lessons learned from Ninjago: putting something over your head and standing completely still hides you from skeletons

Cole: You said you were gonna teach us Spinjitzu

Wu: Spinjitzu is inside each and every one of you

Me: Wu, just tell them the training course taught them the moves. C'mon Wu

Why is Wu letting an inexperienced teen steer the ship through a dangerous ice passage? Training, obviously. I mean, having everyone be able to steer does come in handy later when they're in actual emergencies

Wu: The most powerful move in Spinjitzu blah blah blah (talking about the Ultimate Tornado or whatever where they combine their elements)

Me: Oh yeah, that exists. Why don't they use it, like, a LOT more often???

Cole: *is the one steering the ship*

Ship: *crashes into ice platform*

Cole: Uh, wasn't me

I forgot that Zane literally got frozen when he grabbed the shurikens and the other three had to carry him out like a battering ram, screaming all the way

Cole can play the drums/bongos. Not surprising, but fun fact

Garmadon created an illusion of Nya to lead Kai to the Fire Temple. I mean, it ended up being a shadow, but still. WAIT HE CAN CONTROL SHADOWS?!?!?!! (I don't think he uses it after he leaves the Underworld, so I think it was an Underworld thing. Maybe.)

Honestly, Garmadon being threatening here is being like, 80% effective bc I know what kind of person he is and he is fully willing to commit war crimes and at the same time, I know what kind of person he is and he is fully a good father which makes for a really interesting character. But yes, here, he hasn't been played for comedy at all yet, so he's very threatening. 9/10, I know what's gonna happen so it loses some effect, but otherwise, excellent threatening. Would watch again

I swear, it must have been so weird for Nya bc she just got randomly kidnapped by skeletons, dragged around in a sack for who knows how long and then tied up in chains and suspended from the ceiling above a lava pit in a random flamey temple. Then her brother shows up, the bad guy is monologuing from the walls, and her brother starts busting out NINJA MOVES. Like, where did he learn those??? WHEN did he learn those??? While she was stuck in a bag, he got to learn cool ninja moves??? Unfair. And THEN he turns into a mini tornado

Nya acting so terrified is so weird to me bc I'm used to her being fully caught up on things and ready to fight. Now she's just a scared teen who's so grateful her big brother saved her

Nya: Stay close, stay back. Make up your mind!

Wu: *lands on the fire dragon's head, looks down, realizes he's on a dragon head, and immediately flips off*

Again with Nya being terrified. I mean, I know that it really is in character for her right now, but I'm used to 'grown up/confident' Nya, or 'terrified but knows how to fight' Nya. Not... not this. I mean, I love her, but I can't wait until she stops screaming every time something dangerous comes. At least when the focus stops being on her screaming. She can scream, but everyone else screams too.

So, the guardians of the Four Weapons end up being the ninjas' dragons later, right? So did Wu plan that or was it just a 'hey, let's stick these really cool themed dragons to watch over these weapons' and then later he comes back to find the ninja standing there with four dragons behind them like, 'can we keep them? Pleaaaaseee??

I can't tell if Garmadon saying 'No, you fool!' was because Wu was taking the sword to the Underworld , Wu was taking THE SWORD to the Underworld, or WU was taking the sword to the Underworld. Like, caring about the sword vs. his brother

Say what you want about Kai, but he's a good kid. Sure, he's hot-headed and stubborn and all sorts of messed up, but he owns up to his own mistakes. He's the first one to pull the 'no, it should have been me making the sacrifice' card

I swear, Nya is just standing around like: 'Who's the old guy who just took my brother's sword and fell down a lava pit? Who's the creepy shadow on the walls who almost killed me? Is that a dragon? What is going on? Huh? Who? What? Where? WHY?'

Kai: It's all my fault. Sensei won't be able to hold up for long.

Me: Bro??? You underestimate your sensei. He's literally at least half god. And you know this. You know he is half god and you still believe that he will die???

The skeletons literally cross over to the Underworld by breaking the speed limit

It's incredibly impressive that Cole, Zane, and Jay were able to catch up to the skeletons when the skeletons were starting to go fast enough to break the world barrier AND THE NINJAS WERE TREE JUMPING (except Jay, he was running, which is almost more impressive)

ZANE'S LITTLE WAVE WHEN SAMUKAI LOOKED AT HIM I AM DYING

Jay: *for some reason thinks punching a lock will break it when the lock is literally bigger than his hand* Okay, that's why they make keys

Wait, did Zane always have such a fancy way of talking? Idk if it's quite British, but it's definitely fancy and I feel like that got relaxed in later seasons. I don't say I agree with that choice, but you do you, I guess

The underworld is apparently the one place no mortal can cross over to. I think I'd have to disagree there. Both because mortals did cross over and because there are plenty more places that are supposed to be like that

And okay, the dragon thing, Kai's idea. As usual. And yeah, that probably wasn't Wu's original plan, so that makes it funnier when they show up in the Underworld and now have dragons and Wu must be like '!??!??!?'

Why does the entire temple open in half like a dollhouse?? Merchandise

Kai's dragon: *roars*

Cole: *screams and backflips twice to hide behind a pillar*

ZANE BEING A GOOD WINGMAN FOR JAY OH MY HEART.

Jay: Ou Ike ue?

Zane: He cannot talk, but he wants to know if you like blue

Jay: *nods*

Nya: It's my favorite color

Jay: *VERY RASPY* Yesss...

Ugh, okay, I get that realistically Nya would not be able to join in with them and go kick butt, but I swear, she just does not fit the whole 'calm, patient little sister who promises to wait' vibe. Like, yes, she can, but if she doesn't have to, she won't. Can't wait for the girl to get fed up and make a role for herself (and incidentally get the boys all riled up at the same time, haha)

Where did they get the dragon saddles???

Also, why did they spend the time to go BACK to the places where the weapons were to get the dragons? Wouldn't they have wanted to hurry it up as fast as possible? Eh, whatever. I have bigger plotholes to worry about

Dragons: *turn into spinny darts*

Ninja: Oh, this may have been a bad idea

AAAAAA THE THEME COMING IN FULL FORCE AS THEY FLY THROUGH THE TUNNEL AAAAAAA

Love how the ninja just happened to land in a lineup... on the ground

WHEN DID THESE BOYS GET A COSTUME CHANGE THEIR GI NOW HAVE DRAGONS ON THEM

Helmet skeleton: Hold up! Nothing gets through without inspection

Eye patch skeleton: NINJA SEARCH!! *throws everything off* Okay. You're clear to pass

I swear, fall damage is not a thing in this world. It can't be. If it is, that's the unbelievable thing here

Eye patch skeleton: Uhhh, if there's more than one ninja, is it 'ninjas' or is it just 'ninja'?

Helmet skeleton: I think it's just 'ninja'

Eye patch skeleton: Oh. Okay. Then... NINJAAAAAA

Garmadon and Wu sound so CONTEMPTUOUS when they call each other 'Brother'. I like it

The true measure of a ninja: If they can backflip/front flip out of the way of a very dedicated tank class soldier

Honestly, I am now here for Jay and Zane interactions bc they are so funny together

The size of the Tornado of Creation is not equal to the size of the ninjas' individual tornados. I guess that's an example of synergy right there

One skeleton would rather jump off a cliff than get sucked into a giant elemental tornado. Honestly, I understand why. If I was facing that thing... Yeah, no thanks

Okay, I forgot this. They had the really cool scene with the Tornado of Creation and all that and when they finished... Ferris wheel cage. Okay, who's bright idea was that. Jay? I feel like that was you

WHERE DID EYEPATCH SKELETON GET COTTON CANDY???

Kai: C'mon, there's no time to waste

Me: And yet there was time to waste on an outfit change, I see?

Wu is the first one to actually make the weapons do anything elemental I see. Wu doing a lot of firsts here

Skeleton general guy is the second and WHY ARE THE NINJA JUST WATCHING. YES, IT IS YOUR SENSEI'S FIGHT. I STILL THINK HE'D LIKE A LITTLE HELP

Aaaand now it's too late, the bridges are gone

JAY NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR COTTON CANDY. Especially if it's eye patch skeleton's old cotton candy. You don't know where his bones have been. Also how are you eating that through your mask??

Idiot. Samukai you are an idiot

Wu, why you saying no one can handle all their power at once when your brother can?? And if Garmadon can, you probably can too??? I would assume that would be a FSM child thing

Me: *knows what's happening and where it's going*

Garmadon: You've fallen right into my master plan

Me: *surprised Pikachu face*

Okay, wait, Garmadon says that even he can't handle it all at once. But he also can handle the Master Weapon when it's forged. I guess that's... different? Somehow?

I don't think I realized that Samukai literally poofs into dust. First onscreen death, I guess. Unless the FSM fading into the paper screen during story time counts (I don't count it)

Oh. Garmadon doesn't have four arms yet. THAT's why he can't handle the Four Weapons. Honestly, I'm so used to seeing Lord Garmadon with four arms that I guess my mind just mentally put them into the scene instead of realizing 'hey, that guy's only got two arms'

Okay, Wu's accent just changed, like, completely. What the heck?

Wu, end of the second episode: Then I have done my part

Me: Nah, these guys gonna need a WHOLE LOT more help

Okay, wait, was there just an ominous cloud hanging over the workshop THE WHOLE TIME KAI WAS GONE??!?!?!

I feel that there was some off-screen relationship developing considering that Jay literally says 'my turn' and then goes right in for a hug with Nya and she whole-heartedly returns it, like??? when did you two get to know each other better??? (also love the moment right after when Kai smiles while watching them. I stan Jaya and I think Kai does too)

Random villagers: *cheering bc these four teens show up wearing ninja outfits and riding dragons*

Kai: *totally kills the mood by reminding everyone present that Garmadon will come back*

Honestly, 'Lord Garmadon WILL return' could literally be the summary of the entire first 10 seasons of Ninjago

Aaaand the ninja are dumb teens again and decide putting the very dangerous, very powerful weapons together when they KNOW that doing that sort of thing killed a skeleton is a WONDERFUL IDEA

I am also now keeping a sacrifice count (aka a list of who sacrifices themself and how many times). Currently we're starting off strong. Wu sacrificed himself in the second episode. Yippee.

Okay, I gave in and I'm rewatching Ninjago, and I am literally like five minutes into the first episode and I am DYING of laughter. Because imagine it. You and your little sister are doing your thing, just surviving on your own cause your parents vanished into thin air and this random old guy comes in, insults your blacksmithing, your armor, and your family's shop practically all in one breath and then vanishes. Almost instantly after, a bunch of living skeletons show up and start attacking. You're about to die from this four armed skeleton that couldn't have possibly ever actually come from any living thing you know of when this golden mini tornado shows up shouting in the old man's voice. The tornado turns out to actually BE the old man and the skeleton knows the old dude by name (bc of course he does) Old guy also knows skeleton dude by name. You almost die (again) and your little sister gets kidnapped. Your shop is trashed, your sister is now kidnapped, and the old guy is saying nothing helpful. Man, Kai is just having a rough day

[deripmaver]

laurent is a good person - book 1 meta

one of the most amazing things about captive prince is how the reveals in book 3 recontextualize all of the scenes leading up to them, including about laurent himself. in book one, all we see is damen pov as he’s being abused and humiliated by this supposedly spoiled, vile ice prince. when the regent comes to damen and subtly (and not so subtly) insults laurent, calling him unfit to rule - well, why would he think anything different? laurent has insulted him, had him whipped within an inch of his life, and even attempted to (and later successfully lmfao) have him raped while drugged out of his mind. 

after book 3 we can reread most if not all of book 1 as a very traumatized boy who has finally been confronted with the man who killed his brother, leaving him alone with his abusive uncle, and who he clearly has made into a complete monster in his own mind. damen of course sees him as a complete bitch, but there’s textual/subtextual evidence that laurent is well liked, and that his behavior during book 1 was actually pretty out of character for him. i’d like to provide some examples of that now!!!!

“Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult. Damen’s view, half-truncated by the short chain at this neck, had been enough to see that. But Laurent’s expression had shuttered quickly.” Captive Prince, Chapter One

i couldn’t resist adding this one in hehe. laurent recognizes damen!! he’s come down, knowing his uncle has devised another truly horrendous and triggering “gift” and that he’ll lose support if he calls it our for what it truly is, only to find out that it’s fucking damianos of akielos sent to him as a sex slave. a jab at laurent’s trauma about auguste and also a jab at laurent’s frigid sexuality - which ofc is completely the regent’s fault. fuck that guy so much lmfao 

“‘It’s so rare to see you at these entertainments, Your Highness,’ said Vannes.” Captive Prince, Chapter Two.

this is right before the fight between govart and damen in the ring, of course. damen sees laurent as depraved and vile as the sexual sadism on display by the veretian court, and considers him to be a willing purveyor of it. this is wrong, of course, as said by vannes here. laurent has only shown up because he wants to humiliate damen lmfao.

“He did remember being supported by two of the guards, here, in this room, while Radel stared athis back in horror. ‘The Prince really . . . did this.’ ‘Who else?’ Damen said. Radel had stepped forward, and slapped Damen across the face; it was a hard slap, and the man wore three rings on each finger. ‘What did you do to him?’ Radel demanded.” Captive Prince, Chapter Four

this scene, to me, was the most telling lmfao. it’s right after damen is whipped. you could argue that radel is just a servant in the employ of the royal household, so is of course going to be loyal to the prince, but he seems genuinely surprised of the prince’s cruelty towards damen. not only that, but he slaps him and immediately assumes damen must have done something. which - i mean, technically he did lmao. not necessarily enough to deserve having the skin flayed from his back, but you know. if laurent was in the habit of torturing pets and slaves, why would the overseer react this way?

“The men guarding him were the Prince’s Guard, and had no affiliation with the Regent whatsoever. It surprised Damen how loyal they were to their Prince, and how diligent in his service, airing none of the grudges and complaints that he might have expected, considering Laurent’s noxious personality. Laurent’s feud with his uncle they took up wholeheartedly; there were deep schisms and rivalries between the Prince’s Guard and the Regent’s Guard, apparently.” Captive Prince, Chapter Four

laurents relationships with his guards are also some of the biggest indicators that he isn’t just a spoiled brat, but can insire a deep loyalty in his men. even if they do all want to fuck him. ah, sexual harassment. it’s also hilarious that damen immediately assumes they’re loyal to him because they want to fuck him - nice projection there, dude. we know a bit more about laurent and his guards thanks to green but for a season, but this little bit here is interesting.

“Laurent was indeed good at talking. He accepted sympathy gracefully. He put his position rationally. He stopped the flow of talk when it became dangerously critical of his uncle. He said nothing that could be taken as an open slight on the Regency. Yet no one who talked to him could have any doubt that his uncle was behaving at best misguidedly and at worst treasonously.”  Captive Prince, Chapter Five

idek what to say here. laurent my beloved <3333

“‘When someone doesn’t like you very much, it isn’t a good idea to let them know that you care about something,’ said Laurent. Damen felt himself turn ashen, as the threat sank in. ‘Would it hurt worse than a lashing for me to cut down someone you care for?’ said Laurent.” Captive Prince, Chapter Seven

this isn’t really relevant to my thesis lmfao i just love this exchange bc it gives SO MUCH information about laurent and his uncle in just three lines of dialogue. what has the regent done, who did he cut down just to hurt laurent? when and how did laurent learn that? p a i n 

“Laurent’s fussy horse began acting out again, and he leaned forward in the saddle, murmuring something as he stroked her neck in an uncharacteristically gentle gesture to quiet her.” Captive Prince, Chapter Nine. 

HORSEY NO- lmfao this scene just hurts so badly on the reread. especially later on, in book 3 i think, where laurent says something like “i provoked my uncle.” he’s really blaming himself for his uncle KILLING HIS HORSE, his horse that his murdered brother trained, one of the only living connections to auguste... all because his uncle could not let a single miniscule plan laurent had set go through without some kind of repercussion. literally all laurent did was do something to stop an innocent group of people from being abused, nothing to undermine his uncle’s rule, but because the regent is VILE he could not let laurent have even this. he’s so good with her, too. he must have known by this point and also known that there was no way to stop this. P A I N

“‘I know that you have somehow arranged this,’ said Erasmus. He was incapable of hiding what he felt, and just seemed to radiate embarrassed happiness. ‘You kept your promise. You and your master. I told you he was kind,’ Erasmus said. ‘You did,’ said Damen. He was pleased to see Erasmus happy. Whatever Erasmus believed about Laurent, Damen wasn’t going to dissuade him. ‘He’s even nicer in person. Did you know he came and talked to me?’ said Erasmus. ‘—He did?’ said Damen. It was something he couldn’t imagine. ‘He asked about . . . what happened in the gardens. Then he warned me. About last night.’ ‘He warned you,’ said Damen. ‘He said that Nicaise would make me perform before the court and it would be awful, but that if I was brave, something good might come at the end of it.’ Erasmus looked up at Damen curiously. ‘Why do you look surprised?’ ‘I don’t know. I shouldn’t be. He likes to plan things in advance,’ said Damen.” Captive Prince, Chapter 9.

this is the first in-text confirmation we have that laurent has a good heart beneath his layers and layers of trauma-induced lashing out. book one often skeeves people out because of its graphic and, honestly, yes, kind of sexualized depiction of rape, slavery, and depravity, but beneath it all you meet these two protagonists who are going to have all of their most deeply held views about each other challenged. laurent from very early on is shaken to his core when damen refuses to rape nicaise in the ring - it cracks the very foundations of the person he’d built up in his head as this horrible monster who killed his brother in cold blood. and damen keeps defying laurents expectations by being a good person through and through. on the other hand, laurent spends the first part of the book taking out years of anger on damen, but here for the first time we see him do something just because its the kind thing to do. yes, torveld is an ally against his uncle, but laurent has clearly been scheming with him for a while now, and he’s now overlooking his hatred of damen and working with him just because none of the slaves deserve whats happened to them. it’s such a sweet moment.

“One of the other men, eyeing them, approached a moment later. ‘Don’t mind Jean. He’s in a foul mood. He was the one had to stick a sword through the mare’s throat and put her down. The Prince tore strips off him for not doing it fast enough.’” Captive Prince, Chapter Nine.

HORSEY NO- pt 2. this is just another really sweet and sad detail - laurent being so upset that the horse’s death could have been more painless. it must have hurt so much to see her in pain, and to know that the only way for that pain to end was being put down as quickly as possible. i wuv him. im sad

that’s it, though there are still a few more chapters left in the book. this isn’t providing any new information, of course, the path of the three books is to show that laurent isnt the man we meet in book one, that he’s actually sweet, and earnest, and he’s been fighting his own battle practically alone against his abuser since he was fifteen years old. also, the reveal that laurent knew who damianos was from the start makes it clear imo that all of his violence in book 1 was supposed vengence, not... him being evil. he apologizes explicitly in-text, and also, all of the acts of violence he commits cause serious problems for him in terms of his future alliance which he then needs to fix. i just love how layered these books are, how there’s so much information in them that makes rereading almost more fun than reading them for the very first time!

[elysianslove]

the little things ; haikyuu boys

synopsis; the little things he does that show just how much he loves you

pairings; karasuno x reader, aoba johsai x reader, fukurodani x reader, nekoma x reader, shiratorizawa x reader

genre; fluff

warnings; will make u hate being single <3

karasuno ━━

sugawara koshi; whenever your hair gets caught in anything, he’s so gentle yet quick at fixing it. if your hair is long, and you pull a bag or a shirt and your hair gets tucked in, he’ll wordlessly pull it out. if your hair is short and a bracelet or zipper gets caught he just continues whatever he was doing (talking to someone else for e.g.) while helping you out. also always makes sure your hair isn’t bothering you; if you’re leaning over writing something, he’ll always tuck it behind your ear so lovingly ahhh

daichi sawamura; massages. he’s descended from heaven for this purpose only. his hands are rough and like hard on your muscles, but it’s so perfect. he’ll approach you when you’re in school sitting anywhere, from behind, and just knead his hands into your muscles for a few seconds. euphoric. or if you live together, he always greets you with back/shoulder/neck massages in the bathtub hvjkwkd.

nishinoya yuu; always makes you try his food. always. whether it’s with a group of people or just you two, he just goes “hey babe open ur mouth” with this face 😏 bc he’s cheeky, and just shoves a mouthful of food. spoiler alert, it’s always way too hot. but it’s just tradition at this point. he takes a bite of his food, decides if it’s worthy enough for your mouth or not, then just. yeah.

kageyama tobio; buys you a snack whenever he gets his milk. if you’re special special, he’ll buy you your own carton of milk. he goes up to the vending machine and automatically thinks of you when he sees your fave snack, and it’s like mindless at this point he just routinely does it. it still surprises you to this day, even when he’s so nonchalant about it.

tsukishima kei; kisses your forehead. tsukki is not too big on pda, and even privately he’s not very touchy feely either tbh. but just a simple peck on your forehead grounds you, and it’s a small reminder of the fact that despite his outward coldness, he really does love you. he rarely does it in front of others, but sometimes, he’ll indulge both you and him, and settle a small kiss on your temple just randomly.

asahi azumane; anime jesus always has a hair tie/clip carried around for you on his wrist/in his pockets. i mean he’s always needing them, he just stocks up when he starts dating you. somehow he’s always there when you’re frustrated with your hair all over the place what a savior. later on it evolves to him carrying around your scrunchie and yes the boys make fun yes he blushes but no he does not take it off.

tanaka ryunosuke; carries you on his back, or your things, when you’re too tired to walk. whether that be if you’re too tired because of your heels or you’re just lazy, he just loves helping you out what a respectful gentleman. honestly it just becomes that every time he sees you he like barricades over to you so quick and flips you onto his shoulder or spins you around. anyways. walking with tanaka means walking empty handed bc he will never let you carry anything. ( shifts pile of bags on one arm just to hold your hand ).

hinata shoyo; learns hairstyles to try on you. whether it be short hair or long hair, expect his youtube search history to look a lot like “how to make a french braid” or “cute hairstyles for short hair for your cute girlfriend”. he’s always so entranced by you and watches so carefully whenever you do anything on your hair, and he gets do excited whenever you let him try and he gets it right. also !!! a lot of the times you’ll sit between his legs and he’ll just softly card his fingers through your hair or lightly braid it.

yamaguchi tadashi; buys you flowers a lot. he doesn’t overdo it, just so it doesn’t lose its value and worth. but for example, mondays suck ass and he knows how much you hate them, so he always makes sure to either leave a single rose on your desk/in your locker or give it to you himself if he can. it’s so endearing and motivating honestly, and the constant reminder every once in a while is so cute. continues to do it even like 3 years in, which is so fkn sweet honestly.

nekoma ━━

kuroo tetsurō; plans the best dates. seriously. like not one moment spent with him is dull. i don’t think being with kuroo entails a high energy relationship, i just mean that even a walk in the park is fun with him. he also always knows when to plan a fancy dinner and when it’s just something casual. like he always puts in so much effort, gives 120%, for every date with you. is your favorite band/singer/artist in town? he’s got tickets. the weather is amazing? you’re going to the beach. you’re sleep deprived? nap dates. 10/10

kozume kenma; he teaches you how to play his games. the fact that he’s letting you touch the console in itself says enough, but whenever he buys a new one, and learns it thoroughly enough, he will always sit by you and teach you its ways. picture you sitting in his lap while he guides your hands <333 if you’re not a gamer, he’s actually v flattered by the fact you’re willing to sit through this w him. but if you are a gamer, expect daily competitions. oh and if you beat him? you’re dead to him :).

haiba lev; instead of reaching for things that you’re too short for to grab it himself, he just lifts you up lmfao. i mean w the way he teases yaku, i can imagine he’d be v teasing with you as well if you’re even an inch shorter than him. but fret not! it’s all in the name of love. he’s very loving though, and if he sees you struggling he’ll just wordlessly hoist you up from your waist or something. at first it’s terrifying, but later on it just makes you giggle cause he’s like so willing to do it and it’s effortless for him hehe.

yaku morisuke; always makes sure you’re taking care of yourself, but kinda aggressively? lmao anyways. like he’s always “babe have u eaten” and if u say no expect him to start yelling like “what do you mean no??? are you insane???” v dramatic but honestly <333 he’s always texting you after parting ways “did you get home safe” or on weekends where he cant meet you, he’s asking how it was, if you indulged yourself a bit, relaxed. it’s very sweet and he makes sure it’s not overbearing. he just wants his baby to be healthy and happy.

yamamoto taketora; walks on the side with the cars. it’s not a very noticeable thing, but you see it, and you recognize it. he makes sure he’s always walking where cars are speeding by, a hand on the small of your back guiding you away and to the other side of him. it’s the little notions of protectiveness like if he’s driving and stops suddenly, he’ll put a hand out to keep you from lurching forward, he pushes you gently out of the way before you bump into someone. things like that.

aoba johsai ━━

oikawa tōru; he doodles in your notebooks, or on your skin. if you have class with him, and sit next to him, he’ll always be doodling on your notebook like little hearts or stupid, cute things like your initials + his in a heart. or if you’re at a study date together, and you’re focused on your laptop screen, he’ll leave little encouraging messages on your notes for you to notice when you’re revising. sometimes you’ll be sitting with him at lunch or even if you’re out w him and a bunch of other people, and he happens to have a pen. expect a little smiley face on your inner wrist, or a heart plus his initials ( o.t. )

iwaizumi hajime; he helps you take off your make up/takes it off for you. if you’re too sleepy, he’ll just take the products he’s used to seeing you use and start following it step by step after he props you up next to the sink. while he stands between your thighs he just so gently starts rubbing at your skin and washing away the make up. if you’re already asleep, he’ll have to like google the steps oh my god im gonna cry hes so cute. if you don’t necessarily wear make up, then he’ll just help you do your nightly routine, or even your shower routine, like using a body scrub or a face mask or, bruh, even shaving lmfao.

hanamaki takahiro; saves everything you buy/send/make him. i mean everything. has literally over two thousand photos of you, all the polaroids or postcards are saved in a little box he has under his bed. anything you make him (unless it’s edible) he has. if you make him a small embroidery thing he will literally attach it to his sports bag or something. any chain you make him is automatically added to his keychain. that flower crown you made with him on one of your first dates? he still has it. the flowers are dead but the memory loves babyyyy

matsukawa issei; carries extra clothes of his for you to borrow. hey have i mentioned that mattsun is big? 😃 because he is 😃. meaning regardless of your size or height or whatever, his clothes will drown you <3 i see him as preferring more oversized or just loose shirts rather than tight ones, so yk. on you???? if y’all are just hanging out and you even think about being slightly cold — here have five options of mattsun’s clothes to choose from. he always makes sure they smell like him too. it’s self indulgent really, because he loves the way they look on you, and he loves that it leaves a trace of his scent on you. territorial? i think yes.

fukurodani ━━

bokuto kōtarō; always hugs you like it’s the last time he’ll see you. sometimes, even if he doesn’t know it, you need his hugs badly. y’all are gonna try and tell me bokuto doesn’t give the best fkn hugs??? yeah get outta here with that bs. he SO does. he either kneels down and wraps his arms around your waist, picks you up, and spins you around, like he hasn’t seen you in 3 years, or he’ll just wrap his arms around your neck and pull your head to his chest, cradling it, and just sighing like he won’t see you for the next 3 years. his hugs always make you feel so much better, even if you weren’t feeling down to begin with.  

akaashi keiji; plays with your hands and caresses them. it’s the delicate feel and gentleness of it all. akaashi’s generally an anxious person, leaving him very fidgety. but once you two get together, and he starts being comfortable with you, expect to find your hand always between the two of his, just fondling with him. he’ll trace random figurines on the back of your hand, or have his fingers ghost over your wrist and up to your fingertips. if his hands are especially shaky, expect him to just grab one of your yours and hold it tightly between the grasp of two of his. it conveys trust, and all you have to do is kiss his knuckles gently and he’s melting.

konoha akinori; he has your reminders app linked with his, and sneaks in small, motivating messages. every once in a while you’ll get a notification from the app that tells you to drink water or have a snack (or text konoha he’s bored and he misses you). also always sends you pictures to distract you from stress. like it could literally just be a picture of him smiling with a thumbs up and you’d just ,,, melt bc you love him so much.

shiratorizawa ━━

ushijima wakatoshi; he has so many plants that are named after you, or your nicknames, and he’s like so gentle with them too. like strokes their petals and speaks to them so softly, the same way he does with you. you’re honestly so curious how he hasn’t run out of names, but he’s just a genius like that. whenever you go over to his place, and he’s bought a new one, he’ll take your hand and guide you to where it’s growing and just be like “look it’s baby y/n” and you just 🥺🥺🥺

semi eita; he has a playlist on his phone, that’s constantly being updated, for you and him to listen to. the first time he showed it to you, you were stargazing and he took out his phone and headphones and was like “i made a playlist for you wanna list” and every part of your body lit up in flames im not joking. now, a lot of the times, you’re coming back home on a train, and your head is on his shoulder and you’re sharing headphones listening to the playlist. when either one of you is driving you’re blasting it (a lot of the playlist is the hsm soundtrack)

satori tendō; tendo reads people so well, and being in a relationship with him means he will read you so well. so a lot of the times, in social situations, he’ll recognize the signs of you wanting to leave, for example, or if someone’s bothering you, he’ll know exactly how to approach it too. this also entails having a lotta inside jokes hehe, and also just like. talking with your eyes. yk that thing. yeah. all you have to do is look at him a certain way, and he just knows exactly what you just said.

goshiki tsutomu; he buys the both of you this small plushie, and whenever you’re missing each other you just. squish it. and he squishes his. he would rather die than let anyone know this, but you’re not too keen on letting anyone know yourself tbh. it’s just this little thing you have, and it means a lot more to you than just this. when he first bought it he was like “look we have matching plushies” and you passed away on the spot ❤️

shirabu kenjirō; loves trying out new recipes with you. he’s not too big on cooking or baking, but there’s just something about doing it with you that really — hits the spot yk. nowadays, whenever he comes across a new recipe on social media that he thinks you’ll like he just automatically sends it to you like with no words no texts just the post and you’re like “OMG CAN WE DO THIS” and he’s like “why else would i send it. yes we can :)” hvskwkeke

end note;  thank you sm for the love on my last two posts!! i’m glad you guys enjoyed them sm. if you have any requests, they’re open and i’m happy to deliver, mwah!

[vortexbeyondthestars]

decided to post some of my ideas for a ninjago/atla au besties. tell me whatcha think

under read more cus its kinda long lmao

some background first…

here, the first spinjitzu master is smth that doesn’t actually exist in avatar bc i couldn’t for the life of me figure out what to make him so now he’s like… he’s basically the child of all the original benders: the badgermoles, the sky bison, the dragons, and the moon spirit combined. he was born of their powers, and he was the first avatar, kinda like this au’s version of raava i guess?? so this au’s version of vaatu is the overlord, and like in ninjago, they have this never-ending rivalry. and the overlord is an avatar, too, but more of a dark one. it only cares about corruption and evil.

the first bending master, as he’s called in this au, manages to banish the overlord into the spirit realm, but he knew that one day, it would return. so he creates a land called ninjago and fills it with people of all kinds, each corner of the world having one type of bending. he gave the humans bending, but only one type for each person.

he didn’t want a repeat of the overlord.

so then he has two sons: wu and garmadon. he hemmed and hawed over what elements to give to them, but eventually he chose. wu gets airbending, the element of life and serene and calm. garmadon gets firebending, rough and harsh and the element of destruction. his fire is violet and incredibly hot.

everything goes fine, and the first bending master manages to keep balance of the world as its avatar. except the overlord does indeed return.

garmadon gets corrupted by its spirit and is bitten by the great devourer. he becomes obsessed with power and wanted to be the avatar more than anything in life. he believes that his father was holding his powers back because he didn’t trust him. and he believes that his father was going to hand over his power to wu after he died. and he couldn’t have that.

wu notices his downward spiral and suggests that he take a trip to visit the mortals. maybe that would help him realize that there is reason for their father being the only avatar in the world.

so garmadon goes down into the mortal plane. and meets fire lord chen and his second in command clouse.

fire lord chen is quite interested in an old legend of what is called the serpentine: ancient tribes of snake people said to have been born from the hatred and despair of the overlord, led by the toughest and the greatest, the great devourer. chen wants to bring these serpentine back, and at first garmadon agrees to help him, if only to get revenge on his father.

but he snaps out of it, because he realizes that its the great devourer’s fault in the first place that he’s like this. he betrays chen and clouse and warns wu of their plan, but without telling him whose plan it is. together, the brothers manage to gather together an alliance of the greatest bending masters in the world. garmadon wants their father to help, but wu gives some unfortunate news.

the first bending master is near his deathbed. he is very, very ill, and he is thousands of years old at this point. he wants rest.

so, naturally, garmadon is conflicted about this. he’s ecstatic bc he thinks that he can gain the powers of the avatar once his father passes, but also he’s sad, because, well, thats still his dad after all.

but anyway, the bending alliance manages to defeat the serpentine and seal them away in the spirit realm, like the first bending master had done to the overlord. this… turns out to be a bad idea.

fire lord chen and clouse both manage to shift the blame away from them, and since garmy was the only one who knew they caused the plan, he lets it happen. because he still is a bit evil.

something happens that gives him hope, though: he meets misako, who might be the love of his life. (also in this au that weird love triangle shit don’t happen) they get married, and for a while, garmadon seems perfectly sane. but.

the first bending master dies.

lloyd is born almost right after.

no one makes the connection, though, thankfully, but it is enough for garmadon to lose whatever sanity he had left. he completely goes insane.

he races back to their family monastery believing that he can and will gain the powers of the avatar, somehow, but he doesn’t. and that is too much for him to take. all of this… all of this… waiting… for nothing?

garmadon stares at himself in the mirror. he looks down at his hand, at the bite mark blemishing his skin, and grabs a ceremonial knife. he laughs to himself and places his hand on the mirror, slowly raising his knife towards it… he thinks he can stop all this pain in one easy swoop.

garmadon, sneering at himself: maybe… maybe this will fix it… if i just cut off the damn thing…

first bending master, in the mirror: i would not recommend it, son.

garmadon, face falling: why are you here?

first bending master: i came to speak with you. and to try and help you.

garmadon, snarling: don’t pretend like you care about me! i know what you really think. you think i’m a monster.

first bending master: i think you’re conflicted. the part of you that wants to be the avatar so badly you are willing to kill for it… that part of you clashes with the real you. the one that wants everyone you care about to be safe. your brother, your friends, your wife… your son.

garmadon: *laughs and turns around* why should i care about them, father? they don’t care about me! not my brother, not my wife, not my so-called friends, and certainly not you! the only one who does care about me is my son, and thats only because he doesn’t know any better. he’ll leave one day too.

first bending master, solemnly: you are wrong. i do care about you. i always did. i love you, garmadon. i do.

garmadon shakes, his hand gripping the knife tighter. his mouths trembles, and eventually turns into a scowl. he whirls around to face the mirror and slams his knife into it, shattering it into pieces.

he gets worse from there on. he begins to attack people left and right, villages and cities, even going so far as to consider breaking the serpentine free. he doesn’t get that far, though, because his brother interrupts him.

wu is very concerned, bc, well, garmy was a bit weird but never straight up insane like he is now. so he heads over to his family’s old monastery. there, he finds garmadon, seething and stewing. garmadon doesn’t take his arrival well.

garmadon: ugh! for once, can’t you just leave me alone?!

wu: no, i cannot. this isn’t you, brother! you must snap out of it!

garmadon: this is me! this has been me for my entire life, wu! i can’t change it now, and i can’t even be the avatar. what’s the point?

wu: the point is that father trusted us to take care of ninjago once he passed on. we have a duty.

garmadon: father was a fool, and father was selfish! i am remaking the world in my own image, an image that won’t let anyone have the kind of power that he did, except for those who are worthy!

wu: that’s crazy! you can’t just pick and choose who gets to be the most powerful bender in the world!

garmadon: isn’t that what father did, though, when he died? who is the new avatar, wu?! tell me!!

wu: i don’t know. and neither will you, if you keep this up.

garmadon: *laughs* are you threatening me?

wu: i am.

garmadon: fine. you want to take control of ninjago over me? fine. fine. fine. i challenge you to an agni kai! the battle that was always meant to be.

wu: very well.

garmadon: for the record… i’m sorry it had to end this way, brother.

wu, sadly: no. you aren’t.

cue final agni kai type fight, light vs darkness. fire vs air. obviously, wu wins, and manages to chain garmadon up so he can’t attack anymore. garmadon then has a complete psychotic breakdown like azula, complete with the spitting fire and sobbing hysterically while wu watches sadly.

wu banishes garmadon to the spirit realm, because he doesn’t think there’s anything else he can do.

ninjago is saved.

or so he thinks.

see, chen and clouse are still around. as are the serpentine, biding their time in the spirit realm. they meet garmy and decide that they should work together. garmadon, so torn up by hatred and despair, agrees to help them, if he gets to destroy his brother.

meanwhile, everything is going good.

lloyd is the avatar, obviously, but he’s only like. thirteen when he finds out. he’s an airbender avatar and lived with koko (bc its my au and i get to pick the mom i use) in one of the air temples (idk which one tho). he’s raised believing that he’s just a random kid who happens to serve the avatar, kinda like kyoshi.

that avatar he believes he serves is none other than morro, the adopted son of airbender sage wu. morro is four years older than lloyd, and he was just revealed to be the airbending avatar. morro, of course, is thrilled. but he also gets an incredibly big ego over it, believing that he is better than other people bc he is the avatar. the reason he was thought to be the avatar was because he appeared to waterbend at one point, but it is later revealed to have been simple airbending that pushed the water.

but morro doesn’t realize or know this until its too late. and when he does… its a shitshow.

basically, lloyd and morro are sent to meet with fire lord chen and his daughter skylor, along with wu, koko, and some of the other air sages. skylor is a chi blocker, an incredibly talented one who has mastered all of the different bending fighting styles even tho she herself is a nonbender.

ok so clouse is obviously there. he recognizes lloyd via koko and is fucking pissed. he’s like my ex-boyfriend rival’s son is here?? what the hell?? so he keeps a close on eye on lloyd bc he doesn’t like him. morro, meanwhile, is treated like a king at the palace bc chen wants to get into the avatar’s good graces.

and uh. well, as it turns out, morro isn’t the avatar…

they’re attacked by the serpentine, bitter at the bending masters for having locked them underground. morro is excellent at fighting, but lloyd has more adrenaline.

and lloyd firebends.

cue shock and horror and anger from all sides.

wu is the most horrified of all. the son of his brother… the man he banished… is the avatar?

so yeah thats the background AT LEAST. i dont really know what happens after that but lloyd runs away or something. i will write more i promise!!!

[takenyoomies]

Operation Pancakes

Title - Operation Pancakes

Summary - Chifuyu's plans don't have the best track record for working, so when Chifuyu plans to steal Kazutora's unlimited pancake stack at Danny's...All Baji can think is "This can't possibly work."

Tags - Food, some swearing, Takemichi slander, Chifuyu has some bad ideas, Tokyo Revengers spoilers, Alternate Universe, mild OOCness, Sassy Kazutora bc he's hungry, shrek jokes

Characters - Baji, Chifuyu, Kazutora, Takemichi(mentioned), Mucho(mentioned), Kokonoi(mentioned)

READ ON AO3

“You’re sure this is going to work?” Baji asked halfheartedly, tilting his head to meet the gaze of the dirty blonde who seemed to glare back at him incredulously.

“Of course, it’ll work. When haven’t my plans worked?” Chifuyu huffed back, picking up the pace in his step to walk in line with the dark-haired teen. Baji let out a small laugh, “Remember the time you told Takemichi to replace Mucho’s protein powder with Nesquick because he was jealous? And he found out almost instantly?”

“Okay, that was once.”

“And then time Takemichi wanted backup when confronting Koko about taking his lunch money, and you stood in the bushes with a notebook that said ‘COURAGE’ all while Takemichi was sobbing his eyes out and Koko laughed his ass off.”

“IT DID NOT HAPPEN LIKE THA- wait, you know about that?”

“Everyone knows about that, Chifuyu.”

“Okay, well, those are just two things.”

“And please, let us not forget the time where you told me we could make yakisoba in the coffee maker. MAY BOTH MY COFFEE MAKER AND THE YAKISOBA REST IN PEACE.”

“…I blame Buzzfeed Japan.”

It was established at this point, the plan they were about to pull off was high stakes. Stealing Kazutora’s unlimited pancakes at Danny’s was going to be the heist of the century.

---x---

The electronic bell chimed to the door as both Baji and Chifuyu entered Danny’s, both walking towards the back of the restaurant to find the dark-haired boy sitting in the booth, outstretched. In a way, he looked like a cat, but the moment he saw them, it was an onslaught of criticism.

“I thought we said five?”

“Baji-san and I needed to stop and get a drink somewhere before heading over!” A lie, they were planning the entire time. The long dark-haired boy’s eyes narrowed, suspecting something but not willing to deal with it due to hangriness.

“Whatever, just sit down and order.” Kazutora sighed out, rubbing his temples with his thumb and forefinger, “You guys really need to work on punctuality.” He reached over and pressed the button on the table to call over a waitress.

Baji and Chifuyu looked at one another before bursting out laughing. “Geez, Kazu, something crawl up your ass?” Baji said as he slid into Kazutora’s side of the booth, purposefully pushing the other teen’s legs off with a loud thud.

“No, it’s just you do this to me every time we hang out, and I’m actually starving!” Kazutora complained to Baji, gesturing with his hands over to the water glass, “Do you know how many times they came over and refilled this?”

“How many?”

“4!”

Chifuyu snorted as he slid into the other side of the booth, “Did they ask you if you got stood up too?”

“No, but I’m sure they were considering it judging by how late you were,” Kazutora replied with a sigh.

A waitress walked over, looking slightly nervous at the group, “I see your friends have finally joined you!” She said in a slightly nervous voice, “Are you ready to order?”

“Yes, I’ll have the Danny’s Unlimited Pancakes and a Fanta,” Kazutora said, pointing to the picture on the menu for her.

“And for you?” She asked Baji, her eyes seeming to catch on his amused expression.

“I’ll wait a bit to order, but I’ll have a Cola to start!” He said with a toothy grin, causing the waitress to blush a bit.

“Right, and what would you like?” She asked as she turned to Chifuyu, who had been studying the menu a bit.

“I think I’ll just have a hot chocolate, for now, thanks.” He replied, closing the menu and setting it to the side.

“I’ll have everything out shortly. If you’d like to order anything else, please press the button on the table, and I’ll be right over.” The waitress said before heading over to the computer to enter their orders in.

“Aren’t you guys hungry? I thought the plan was we weren’t going to eat lunch today, so we would actually be hungry?” Kazutora questioned, looking at Chifuyu, who was scrolling at his phone.

“Baji-san forgot and bought way too many yakisoba breads at lunch today and made me eat half of them.” Chifuyu breathed out, knowing Kazutora would not be pleased.

“How many is half?”

“3.”

“Baji, what the fuck.”

“They were half price Kazu!” Baji groaned as the dark-haired teen elbowed him in the side, “I thought it was a great deal, and the ladies at the school store charmed me!”

“You’re unbelievable.” Kazutora muttered in irritation, “Chifuyu, I don’t know how you deal with this daily.”

“Believe me, I don’t either,” Chifuyu replied in an exasperated tone.

“I’m right here, you know?” Baji said as a matter of fact.

“Here are your drinks, have the two of you decided upon anything?” The waitress asked as she placed their drinks down.

“Not yet, thanks though,” Baji replied, gingerly taking the tip of his straw off before shooting the paper at Chifuyu.

Chifuyu stared at him before reaching over the table and grabbing Kazutora’s straw, and repeating the same motions as Baji.

“Hey!” Kazutora yelled in complaint and attempted to reach Chifuyu before he put his mouth on the straw. Chifuyu blew on the straw, only for the paper to go nowhere, as the paper was a dud.

Baji howled in laughter, pointing while holding his side with the other arm, “Serves you right!”

“I regret suggesting this hang out. I can’t take either of you anywhere,” Kazutora said as he snatched the straw from Chifuyu’s hands and stuck it into his Fanta.

“Ooooh~ That’s an indirect kiss!” Baji jested before groaning in pain, Kazutora’s foot silencing the teasing as it stomped down onto the long-haired teen’s.

Chifuyu lifted the mug of hot chocolate to his lips and sipped the warm liquid as the chaotic scene played out in front of him. The main event had yet to play out.

“Alright, here’s your Unlimited Pancakes. Please press the bell when you’d like another stack.” The waitress said before walking back to her station.

The pancakes looked immaculate as they gave off a small amount of steam and a gentle aroma. Danny’s made some absolutely fire pancakes for a chain diner, and both Chifuyu and Baji knew that.

“You guys are drooling. I hope you know that,” Kazutora said in an annoyed tone, sliding the platter towards himself as he reached for the syrup with his other hand.

“Kazu, when was the last time you washed your hands?” Baji asked inquisitively, taking a sip from his cola as his eyes watched the other haphazardly pour syrup onto the stack of bready goodness.

“...I don’t know?” Kazutora replied as he picked up his fork, about to stab the cakes, “I guess I should wash them.”

“Probably, there’s been a weird stomach bug going around the group. Takemichi has been puking everywhere,” Chifuyu added.

“It would be Takemichi.” Kazutora sighed out, pushing Baji, “Move, you overgrown ogre.”

“Rude!” Baji replied as he moved out onto the aisle for Kazutora to sneak past, “Ogres have feelings, you know Kazu! We’ve watched Shrek enough times for you to know that!”

“Yeah yeah, don’t make me demote you to Donkey,” Kazutora said as he waved his hand back at Baji, Chifuyu snickering to himself as he slid the plate of pancakes over to himself.

“Like candy from a baby.”

“Evil doesn’t suit you, Chifuyu.”

[sanktnikolais]

Weather The Storm

A/N: Second piece from the three-year gap series (my house of stone, your ivy grows) of the trilogy and King of Scars lashkljhas another argument bc they have the trope of reluctant allies to lovers pining idiots and I want to explore that more ohoho

have this mess

Word count: 1996

Zoya's boots crunched in the snow as she tore through the crowd of bustling soldiers in the camp. She ignored the curious stares she got from the First Army men, her mind focused on one thing that was driving her feet faster. 

          The King is an utter fool. 

          She grit her teeth as another wave of annoyance hit her, threatening to make her lash out at anyone around. If it weren't for the hushed chatter of a few Grisha from the other side of camp, she wouldn't have known that he was here. 

          Didn't you hear? The King came along with the First Army to lead the attack in the left flank. 

          We would have lost the bigger part of the boundary if it weren’t for their surprise attack. 

          He wouldn't have been recognized if his disguise hadn't faded. 

          It was actually a good cover, but I would have recognized the redheads among our men. 

          Her jaw twitched, the wind picking up around her. She breathed deeply and calmed her powers. But the coldness only became worse. Annoyance had already clouded her reason. The wound in her right arm stung, and she was sure it had opened again, but she didn’t bother checking on it. 

          Zoya should have known he would pull off something like this. If she had, she would have chained him up in his chambers and locked him in there. She figured she had underestimated his stubbornness. 

          Ahead, the biggest tent that she recognized as the makeshift infirmary loomed, with people coming in and out restlessly. A small part of her worried that the King could be one of the wounded inside, but her irritation told her there was no way he would be there if he just hadn't come. That idiot. 

          She was almost by the tent flap when a familiar figure emerged from the inside. 

          "Well, isn't it the Commander?" Tamar was smiling brightly as she approached Zoya, completely unaware of her inner turmoil. Behind her, Tolya came out from the tent as well. They were unharmed, at least, and Zoya felt relieved at that. But unlike his sister, Tolya’s face looked grim at the sight of Zoya. 

          She appreciated the tall man's ability to read facial expressions.

          "I still can't believe—" 

          "Where is he?" Zoya cut her off, voice low. 

          Tamar went silent for a moment. Then she sighed, her smile fading. "He insisted," she said, shaking her head. “I would have locked him up if he hadn’t become all too authoritative.”

          “Then you should’ve tried harder!” Zoya’s voice rose. Some of the soldiers stopped to listen, and she fought the urge to berate them about being nosy and to mind their own damned business. “Do you realize the danger you let him walk into?”

          “Woah, Commander.” Tamar straightened, her sharp eyes narrowing as if she had been challenged to a duel. “Just because you go against him doesn’t mean I would too.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Unlike you, I am loyal to the throne. You could—”

          Tamar stopped abruptly, and Zoya’s anger flared. The winds howled atto her will. “Go on. I dare you,” she said. Thunder cracked in the sky despite the snow, making Tamar flinch slightly though she immediately regained composure and set a hand on one of her axes. Zoya knew she would regret this later, so she tried to calm herself down. But something inside her had been ticked, and the rage just overwhelmed everything. “Go on. I could what?” 

          It was then Tolya stepped forward and got in between them, his towering form almost intimidating Zoya. Almost. “Alright, that’s enough, you two,” he said, his deep voice more gentle than she had expected. He looked at her, then turned to his sister. “Let’s not do this now, or ever, if you may. We’ve all had a rough fortnight, and besides, we have a victory to celebrate.”

          A tense silence washed over them, neither of them wanting to back down just yet. But Tolya's words seemed to get to them because their stances slacked, Tamar letting go of her axes and Zoya willed the wind to calm down around them. 

          The people around them were still watching, so she sent a glare to their way that had them scurrying back to whatever it was they were doing. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Not the time to lose control. 

          "Where is he?" she asked again. Her voice was much gentler this time, though it took all she could to make it sound like that. 

          Tolya inclined his head to the side. "There, by the edge of camp near the cliff," he replied. “He went there just now.” 

          Zoya turned to the direction he was pertaining to. True enough, she could make out a small figure through the still falling snow. 

          "Let me guess, he wanted to be alone this time?" she said, tone a bit mocking. The King was out in the open, and he didn't even care about the worst case scenario. "Out there in the open? Good saints." 

          She didn’t let them say anything else as she stomped over her king. The title sounded funny to her, with the way he was acting. He definitely had to live up to his name if he wanted the people to trust him. Or if he wanted her to trust him.

          Lantsov was in a First Army soldier’s uniform, the olive drab looking black against the weather. The golden double eagle on his shoulder indicated an officer’s—a Major—rank, and Zoya was left wondering how he had gotten such a high place in the military despite being young. 

          He was near now, and if he noticed her, he didn’t acknowledge her presence. Zoya was already ready to call him out had he not moved and buried his rifle in the snow in front of him, its stock pointed upwards. She stopped in her tracks. Her eyebrows furrowed as she watched him take off his helmet and put in on the gun, along with a bunch of tags he was holding. There was a long silence, nothing but the sound of the wind could be heard. His head bowed, letting his hand linger on his helmet, and then he was standing straight again, the poise and stance of a well-respected leader.

          She eyed him for another moment, noticing the slump on his shoulders as he clutched at the tags on the helmet, and she was left wondering who owned them. Were they his friends? Mere soldiers he wanted to grieve for? The questions lingered in her mind, but she didn’t voice them out. 

          Another beat passed, and then he trained his eyes forward. “Come to give me an earful, haven’t you, Nazyalensky?” he said, a rueful smile on his lips. If it were some other time, Zoya would have sympathized with him. But now she was just angry. “Worry not, I think I deserve it, anyway.”

          Zoya almost laughed. “I am indeed glad you know your mistake, Your Highness,” she said. She considered her next words, but she couldn’t find a way to make it lighter. “You should not have been here.”

          Lantsov huffed incredulously, as if he were insulted. “And what, my dear Squaller? Sit back pretty on my throne and watch as my men give their life to the country I have sworn to protect?” 

          “As much as I hate to break it to you and your ego,” she said, “it is the only way for you to be able to protect Ravka.” She stepped closer to him to emphasize her point. “You have to live.”

          “I don’t think watching your people do things for you could be called living.”

          “You fool,” Zoya said through gritted teeth. “You’re missing the entire point. You’re the king. If you died in battle, who would have replaced you? Some distant relative who had no care to the throne? A pretender? The Triumvirate?” She shook her head in disbelief. “You’ve chosen us to steer this forsaken country alongside you, so don’t try to make any more reckless decisions that would lead to the nation’s and your own demise.”

          Lantsov became silent, a flash of hurt passing over to his face. It was gone in a blink, and Zoya questioned herself if she had just imagined it. His expression became stoic, the usual one he gave when he was wearing the mask of the monarch again, instead of a boy that had too much on his shoulders.

          “Sometimes I wonder if you knew how it felt like losing people close to you to this country,” he said. His eyes were hard, grief-stricken, and she realized that he had been through wars too, just like her and countless others. “Maybe then you would realize why I am willing to put my life on the line.”

          “We all lost people. And don’t you dare tell me that I do not know how it felt like,” she said. Her aunt’s kind smile flashed before her eyes. She blinked the image away. It wasn’t the right time to grieve, but the pain of losing her rekindled in her chest. “Because I do.” She paused, mustering up her strength to speak. “The only difference is that I don’t let grief consume the logical part of my mind.”

          She expected Lantsov to get angry, or leave, or even remove her from her post. But he just smiled ruefully. “No,” he said. “The only difference is that I am a royal and I am not permitted to die. Even if I wanted to save them, I couldn’t. But you could.”

          Zoya stilled. The words hit like knives to her heart, and suddenly she was fifteen again, crossing the Fold on her own in hopes to see her aunt again. But she never got to her in time. 

          She tried to shove the memories away, but it kept flooding. Her aunt and her niece weren’t just the ones who perished in the war barely a year ago. Sergei, mutilated by the Darkling’s nichevo’ya. Harshaw, struck by a bullet to the chest. Fedyor, thrown from the roof of the Little Palace and down to the waiting monsters. Marie. Paja. And countless others. Friends and companions, lying dead in the pool of blood in the hall they had been staying before the attack happened. 

          She had seen the Second Army on the brink of annihilation. He was aware she had been through the same war, and yet he still asked her if she knew how it felt losing people? 

          Her eyes stung, fists clenched. Her hands twitched at her sides, ready to summon the winds and even lightning to her will if it meant making her point to the king. But she chose not to. It would only make things worse.

          Zoya breathed deeply, letting her anger pass  before she spoke again. She hated this. She hated herself. But above all, she hated him because he was right. 

          She knew to herself she wouldn't have sat back too, waiting until her people made a difference. No, she would be with them and fight alongside them, and try to see the change with her own eyes. 

          But she wasn't the leader of Ravka,  and she never would be. So she would do everything she could to protect its king, even from him himself and his own foolishness. 

          She straightened then, slipping her own stoical mask on her face. “That may have been the difference, Your Highness, but I am not the one who chose your fate. It was you alone, and you would stand up to it.” She started to turn, wanting nothing more than to get away from him. “And your fate is to live. For Ravka.”

          With that, Zoya left the king standing on his own in the cold, the weight of her own words heavy on her shoulders. But she locked them away and continued on. She only did what she knew was right.

          For Ravka.

[angeltrapz]

howdy 💙 chainshipping ask time: on days when they’re feelin bad, what do they do for the other person? also favorite date night activities? + th first moment post-bathroom where they each realized they’d fallen in love w th other?

hi!! 💜

ooh I think abt this a lot actually. I think th two of them have a tendency 2 bottle things up, so it kind of takes a lil bit fr them to realize tht Hey, Someone Wants To Make Sure I'm Okay and fr them 2 then get to a place where they share how they're rly doing rather than bein like "no everything's fine wdym :)" but once they Do get past tht n r able 2 be honest w each other, it's a lot better fr both of them + honestly its own form of healing.

a lot of th time when Adam's having a bad day, he's either nonverbal or responds w as short of an answer as possible, so th big thing Lawrence does fr him is just let him know he's there when/if he's ready 2 talk + there's no stress 2 tell him what's wrong right away. tht's smth tht's rly important to Adam, n smth he appreciates greatly. often times, along w tht, Adam tends 2 seek out physical contact - so like coming up behind Lawrence while he's cooking breakfast n wrapping his arms around him, holding his hand when they're walking together, sitting close enough so their knees/shoulders/hips brush + just leaning into Lawrence's side altogether, etc. so another thing they do is either cuddle up on th couch or in th bedroom n they watch a few movies together. sometimes Lawrence will read 2 him too. it's rly all abt proximity + lil actions tht in reality r a wordless way 2 say "I'm here, it's okay, we'll get thru this together." Lawrence is patient, doesn't rush him, n stays close by. fr Adam, tht is more than enough + means th world. n it eventually leads 2 him being more comfortable voicing how he feels more often!!

Lawrence's bad days r a lil harder to catch bc even tho he knows Adam's there, he still feels a pretty intense amount of guilt + doesn't often feel tht he has like. a right 2 complain? bc I think, fr a long time, he views himself as th one most responsible fr what happened in th bathroom n how they got there. it takes a while fr him to break out of tht mindset, but th main thing Adam reminds him of is he's still here. bc Lawrence spends a lot of time thinking like, "if I wasn't a bad person, Jigsaw wldn't have chosen me or put my family in danger, therefore it's my fault + I need 2 atone somehow." Adam is aware of this, n they've found tht th best solution is fr him 2 just b very blunt n ask "well was I a bad person? was I so horrible tht Jigsaw chose me based on tht n I deserved what happened next?" n of course Lawrence will immediately be like "no of course not??? nothing u cld've done cld warrant tht?" (kinda like th way u mentioned Adam comforts William) so Adam gets to respond w "tht applies 2 u too, u know. yr not a bad person. nothing you cld've done wld warrant smth like tht, either."

n Lawrence mentally bluescreens th first time he hears Adam say tht bc it's just like. He's Right. if he doesn't think Adam is a bad person + deserved wht happened, why did he? so tht's like th big thing Adam does fr Lawrence. he reassures him tht despite his brain's best efforts 2 convince him otherwise, he is a good person who Adam loves n tht might've made mistakes, but they didn't warrant being chained to a pipe in a fucking bathroom somewhere w his family in danger + being tasked 2 kill his now-bf, christ.

favourite date night activities!! I think they're mostly p lowkey fr th most part just bc of like, th unease of potentially being around A Lot Of Ppl, but every once in a while they'll dress up a lil bit n go somewhere nice fr dinner bc Lawrence is a hopeless romantic + he likes being able 2 do tht fr Adam sometimes. Adam thought it'd be like, wayyyy too stuffy + uncomfortable esp bc it's not smth he's used to, but honestly it's rly fun n they get to spend time together, so in th end it's all fine! plus there's never any pressure 2 like, go all out w dressing up or anything, so tht's nice too. honestly, if Adam wasn't so in love w Lawrence, th way he holds his hand over th table while they skim thru th menu + talk abt what sounds good might make him think he was somehow th main character of a romcom.

a lot of times, too, they frequent this local diner tht Adam used 2 go to fr breakfast all th time when he n Scott were teenagers bc it was relatively cheap, th food was good, + th staff was full of kind ppl. the lighting is lowkey n they usually have some sort of seasonal decorations around th place, n it's just somewhere Adam feels Safe, which of course leads 2 Lawrence feeling tht way abt it too. it's rly nice fr when they still want to go out, but don't rly want to put too much effort into it (tht's not to say th diner is low-quality tho!). they're there so often some of th servers know them by name + are friendly w them, so there's tht too!

their favourite, tho, is nights in where they order takeout or delivery so tht neither of them have 2 cook (Adam is getting better w it, tho Lawrence still cooks fr th majority of th time) n they can just relax. sometimes they lay a bunch of blankets on th floor n camp out there, sometimes they make a pillow fort bc why not, n sometimes they just grab their favourite blanket n curl up on th couch while watching random TV fr background noise or movies. Adam’s head always ends up on Lawrence’s shoulder at some point. Lawrence will have an arm around his shoulder. sometimes Adam will rest his legs across Lawrence’s lap. it’s just being close + enjoying some downtime tht they both rly appreciate.

as fr th first time they realized they were in love each other... in all honesty, fr Lawrence, it was pretty much th moment Adam finally woke up in th hospital n looked at him n said “you came back fr me.” (like yr text game Still Life is Exactly how I see it happening!!) however, th first time Lawrence rly became CONSCIOUS of tht feeling n was able 2 put a name to it was honestly so simple and yet so meaningful. it was Adam standing in his kitchen th morning after he’d spent th night bc he cldn’t get to sleep on his own, too worked up n on edge n afraid 2 be alone.

it’s Adam in only a faded n too-big t-shirt n boxers trying 2 figure out how to use Lawrence’s keurig. it’s th sunlight streaming in frm th window above th sink n framing Adam’s face n turning his eyes this bright honey-green when Lawrence catches them. he’s in th middle of washing the dishes bc he’d been meaning to since th night b4, watching as Adam moves around n learns th placement of everything, his presence so natural-feeling tht it’s hard fr Lawrence to even imagine tht he hasn’t always been there. and then Adam turns 2 look at him bc he can feel him staring, his hands curled around a mug of hot coffee, eyes still half-lidded w remnants of sleep n hair a wild unruly mess, and he smiles - tht is when Lawrence truly realizes tht he loves him. he cldn’t imagine his life w/ out Adam in it. he can hardly remember how it felt to live w/ out him. tht’s when he knows.

I think fr Adam, th moment he became truly aware of how much he loved Lawrence was actually during one of his bad days where he was stuck in th mental bathroom, unable get out of his own head fr much longer than a few minutes at a time. he had gone mostly nonverbal n found the energy needed 2 keep up a conversation was just not smth he had, but instead of Lawrence being irritated by tht fact, he was going out of his way 2 be like, “I know yr not doing well, n tht’s okay, if u want 2 talk to me I’m here but if u don’t I’ll still b here anyways.” n tht’s like smth tht’s so foreign to Adam, ppl being willing 2 understand his struggles w things like speech n eye contact if he’s distressed + who don’t try 2 force him to power thru it, so tht first time he’s just sitting there on th couch, leaning against Lawrence’s side w/ his legs tucked up underneath him n w his weighted blanket covering them both, watching Lawrence fill out th crossword in th daily newspaper n just kinda coasting tht line between being present n checking out, he’s just like. Huh. This Is Nice.

bc no one’s ever rly offered tht kind of accommodation 2 him? esp not his parents, which is part of wht I mentioned earlier abt his tendency to bottle things up. neither of them have 2 say anything; it’s just comfy, reassuring, sitting so close + sharing a space while maintaining a comfortable silence bc Adam doesn’t think he can explain yet. n he looks up at Lawrence’s face, tracing th heavy line of his furrowed brows as he concentrates hard abt whatever word it is he’s trying 2 figure out, th tip of his tongue peeking out btwn his lips as he squints, occasionally mouthing a word or two, n tht’s kind of when it hits him. it’s just kind of like an internal ah, I see. Lawrence doesn’t mind tht he’s like this. he doesn’t badger him fr answers or expect him 2 be th perfect image of good mental health n is perfectly content 2 just sit w/ him as he rides it out. tht’s when Adam really gets tht this is love.

tysm fr this ask I had so much fun w it <3

[yanderepuck]

please don't hurt yourself. if it would help distract you i would love to hear about your ocs and their interactions with each other/the residents. I know you've already done so many, but they are always so interesting to hear.

I fell asleep like minutes before this. But I can never pass an opportunity to talk about my OCs.

Oddly enough I had a dream about Nicoleta last night.

But I don't think I've ever talked about Nadya. Mainly bc she has a vv tragic backstory. A good bit of my OCs come from dreams that I've had, and I wake up like I LOVE THAT IDEA. With Nadya I know she was in a dream, but I wish I knew wtf I did before going to sleep bc of all the shit that happened

~~~~~

Nadya is a werecat. She is what I call a Dimidium or a Dimidietas to be more specific. She has animal and human traits and the animal she represents is a Snow Leopard. She has fur covering parts of her body, but if she is fully clothed, besides her tail and ears she looks human. But she does have cat eyes and long claws.

When she was little she made friends with a human named Enzo. now Humans and Dimidiums don't really get along. Humans see them as lessers since they are part animal and treat them as such.

But Enzo just saw her as another kid and wanted to be friends with her and to play. But as they got older they drifted apart because he had more responsibilities for his village.

Side note: they live in snowy mountains and its roughly 10th century

They went two years without seeing each other. and when they did meet back up Nadya kissed him. Enzo knew this was bad, and that he can't be seen around her, but turned out he had feelings for her too.

They started meeting up again nearly everyday after that. Then Nadya came up with the idea of her moving in with Enzo in the village. Obvs that isn't a good idea. But they were both turning 18 soon, and Enzo was expected to get married and start a family. Nadya explained that she can trim the fur on her tail and body, and she was sure she could somehow hide her ears. But even doing that, there were still her eyes, her cat eyes.

Well, they made it work and even got married. They got their own place which made it easier on Nadya. She didn't always have to wear something on her head to hide her ears, or have to be ontop of trimming her fur. Normally she would hunt for herself, but instead she was in charge of cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. She stayed inside most days and couldn’t even bring up the idea of going hunting with Enzo. This didn’t bother her at first, but as years went by it was eating at her that she couldn’t do anything.

After 10 years of being married and Nadya not aging, she was becoming unhappy. She realized she can't live around humans. She brought up the idea of him being turned into a dimidium, (it is similar to the werewolf lore of getting bit and getting turned) but he wasn't sure if he wanted that.

As one can guess this broke her heart, he asked her if he could thinking about it, but she ended up leaving in the middle of the night. She went farther into the mountains than she ever did more, questioning if he ever even loved her. She was willing to do whatever she could to be with him, but he wouldn't do that same?

She should have known better than to get lost in her thoughts when she didn't know the area, she ended up getting stuck in a trap.

more in the undercut bc there are mentions of SA

The man who trapped her kept her drugged so she couldn't use her full strength. He kept her nails short so that she couldn't cut him. He kept her chained to the wall on a leash so there was no way she would be able to leave.

She refused to break and kept fighting him. He told her that he's now her master and she's his slave, but there was no way she was going to let that happened.

Everytime she tried to attack him, he would beat her. She refused to give up, but with being drugged it didn't take much to take her down. She threatens to kill him and she just gets pulled by her hair and beat more.

She wouldn't take any of his shit and always tried to fight back, until the day he violated her. She still didn't give up, but that day she realized what he was really capable of.

It was like that everyday for 8 months. She sat in a dark unlit room, naked, with only small beams of light coming through the cracks of the door. During that last month it was safe to say she was broken. She stopped trying to fight back. She didn't get beat as much due to that.

Because she had been such a good girl he decided to take her out with him. She was on a leash being led through the market where there were plenty of others being treated just like her. Suddenly she felt her tail being pulled and instinctively spun around and clawed it. It happened to be a little boy, who was now on the ground, his cheek gushing blood.

Needless to say she got beat in the middle of the market and taken right back to her room. She tried to fight back again. Her claws grew back since the man was no longer trimming them she she wasn't attacking him any longer, he lost track of how much time passed.

~~~

More months went by. When she didn't think beatings could get worse, they did. Her wounds didn't even have enough time to heal. Covered in blood and bruises. She hasn't been bothered in a few days, which has given her time to rest, but she can hear the screams from others in the house. She didn't know there was anyone else around.

Turns out that other scream came from Enzo. Only a few days after Nadya left he ran into a dimiduim in the mountains and begged to be turned. He was looking for her for over a year and he also got caught. He learned that mortals capture and sell dimidiums in a slave trade. The only reason why Nadya hasn't been sold is because she hasn't been broken.

But a few days after the two reunited they were sold. They were in separate cages in the same carriage. Turns out a King bought them to be servants in the castle. But there was more. They wanted to get the women pregnant so that they could have children born into the slave trade and have less animal instincts, hoping to sort of domesticate them.

Obvs Nadya did not want to go along with this, but Enzo explained to her that the only reason why he is, is because she won't be in danger. She reluctantly agrees and just tells him to be gentle with her.

Even with being pregnant, Nadya is still hit around and occasionally raped. She can tell she isn't getting it as badly as the other women. Rumor has it that they will kill you here if you don't obey.

Nadya follows the King around. She did get to see more of the kingdom than most and was able to go into locked off sections of the castle.

~~~~

Now I'm sure you are wondering how she gets out of this. She's had to deal with this for 3, nearly 4 years. This ties into the story with Ambrosia and Abigor.

As stated, she has been able to go to locked off sections. One of these sections include where mortals do experiments on transcendents, which in short is basically any supernatural being.

They were trying to figure out how to kill them, since they all have different kinds of weaknesses. Ambrosia and Abigor got themselves captured on purpose so that they could finally find the location of this place and save everyone. The two happened to underestimate the mortals in charge of the project however.

Nadya happened to see Ambrosia, who she thought was just a dead body tied to a table. Ambrosia was weakened, but still alive and jumped back into consciousness when Nadya touched her.

Turns out the two didn't even know what dimidiums were, so if Nadya hadn't been there in that moment they wouldn't have been saved at all.

Abigor happened to kill the King and they were all able to get out.

That is sorta where I have Nadya's story ended bc then it goes much into Ambrosia and Abigor and what they do.

But that's Nadya. If you happened to read all of this.....sorry for the trauma

[calumcest]

‘cause all of the stars are fading away (just try not to worry you’ll see them someday)

so i wrote this a while ago while looping stop crying your heart out with meg and sat on it for a bit bc i wasn’t sure whether i wanted to post it or not but y’know what. absolutely fuck it also i think? this is my first ever cashton fic that isnt a drabble like my first ever proper fic? isnt that exciting

@kaleidoscopeminds​ i think you know everything about this fic that you need to know already and i can’t be in sappy hours in the a/ns so all i’m going to say is in case you were under any illusions this is for you in every which way

Growing up isn’t easy. 

Nobody ever told him it would be. You’ll get hurt, his mum would say, eyes big and sad, and he’d shrug and say that’s life, not really understanding what she meant because he was yet to spend three nights in a row staring up at his ceiling, drunk and high and so miserable it somehow felt like everything and nothing at the same time. It’ll be difficult, his manager had warned, when they got their first tour with One Direction, and Ashton had shrugged and said isn’t everything?, not realising that what ‘difficult’ meant was sacrifice; his sleep, his home, his self, everything torn out at the roots and tossed aside for him to gather back into his arms again. 

The hardest part of growing up, though, isn’t when things happen to him, when someone breaks up with him or wakes him up two hours after he’s gone to bed or puts him on another plane six hours after he’s just got off one. The hardest part of growing up is when he looks around him and realises I’m not happy. 

It doesn’t hit him like a train, full-force to the face and leaving him no room for doubt. It comes piecemeal, comes in late-night conversations with Luke where he exhausts himself just to make sure Luke’s going to be okay until the morning, comes in brief flickers of clarity when he looks at himself in the mirror and thinks I don’t know who you are, comes in a moment where he walks past someone who smells like home and his heart, which he’d almost forgotten was still nestled somewhere in his chest, clenches and constricts. I’m overthinking it, he’ll tell himself, forcing down the panic that rises in his chest, or sometimes it’s just because I’m tired, or high, or on a comedown. It’ll pass. And it does, passes from his heart to his veins, from his veins to his lungs, but never strays any further from his core than that. 

So he just tries not to think about it, and most of the time, it works. Most of the time, he’s too drunk or high or tired to really think about it, for it to do anything more than thrum dully in his veins, buzzing below the surface. He tries to dampen it - never says no to a party, always says yes to a drink - but even when he’s laughing and dancing and grinning up at the ceiling of some dark, grimy nightclub in fuck knows where, it’s there with him, prickling at his skin like it’s trying to find a way to build a home under it. 

Being the oldest doesn’t help, either. It’s Ashton Luke turns to on a dark night, three lines deep and somehow still somewhere between a high and a comedown, and it’s Ashton Michael turns to after three nights with no sleep, exhausted and delirious and muttering I’m not worth it, I don’t deserve it nonsensically under his breath. Ashton has to shelve it, then, has to sit Luke down and let him use Ashton to counterbalance the coke, has to open his arms for Michael to crawl into and let him use Ashton to counterbalance the lack of sleep. He wonders whether Luke and Michael hear the deep breaths he takes to steady himself before he does, whether they know he’s using the air in his lungs to quell his own feelings, push himself down until he barely even remembers who he is besides their counterbalance. He wonders, if they know, whether they even care, whether what he needs matters to them at all.

Calum’s the only one who seems to get it, sort of. He never says anything, never offers any advice or commiseration or consolation, just sits next to Ashton wordlessly as he gets another line up his nose, or stands outside on the balcony at four in the morning while Ashton smokes all of Calum’s cigarettes, or lies next to him in bed while Ashton’s staring at the ceiling, fingers brushing against Ashton’s just to let him know he’s there. It’s something, Ashton thinks, as he’s relishing the bitter drip of the cocaine down his throat, or staring out at a city that isn’t home, or willing himself to cry while it’s still dark in the hotel room but unable to patch enough emotions together to form a single tear. It’s something, but it’s not quite enough to make Ashton feel like the pieces of himself will ever slot together in a way that fits.

And realistically, Ashton knows he can’t carry on like that indefinitely, can’t carry on catching brief glimpses of himself in shop windows and car doors and in Luke’s eyes and thinking I don’t know who that is, but what else is he supposed to do? Luke needs him, Michael needs him, and neither of them particularly seem to care what they’re doing to him. When Luke’s talking quietly, miserably, about missing home and his family and the fucking servo they used to hang out at when they had no money, and Ashton strokes his hair soothingly and says I know, and I’m sorry, he thinks what about me? D’you not think I miss home, my family, the fucking servo we used to hang out at when we had no money? When Michael’s mumbling incoherently into Ashton’s chest, something about not good enough and worthless, and Ashton presses a kiss to the top of his head and says you’re enough, Mike, you’re enough, he thinks what about me? Am I enough? They’ll smile at him brightly the next morning, throw him a quick sorry about last night, restored by all the energy Ashton’s given them, bleeding himself dry for just a few hours of their happiness, but they’ll never do anything more than that. It’s easy for them, easy to drain Ashton and hang around on the sidelines, bored, while he struggles to replenish himself only for them to get impatient and siphon off whatever he’s managed to get back again. But what else is Ashton supposed to do, leave them parched and gasping? 

What Luke and Michael don’t - or maybe won’t - see, Calum does. He sees the way Ashton zones out of conversations, the way he slumps on the sofa, the way he’ll close his eyes for a moment before plastering a smile on his face and cracking a joke. He always sighs, and usually gets that little crease between his eyes, but he says nothing.

He’d tried, once. You’re exhausting yourself, he’d said, passing his half-smoked cigarette to Ashton. Ashton had taken it, looked out at the light-polluted sky in front of them, and shrugged. Yeah, he’d thought, edged with bitterness. Who else is going to? 

See, that’s the thing about growing up. Ashton doesn’t have his mum seeing him exhausted and upset anymore, doesn’t have her around to march to his friends’ houses and tell their parents exactly what she thinks about how their kid is treating her son. He doesn’t have anyone to cradle him at night while he cries, no more home-cooked dinners brought to him in bed, no more trips to the supermarket for three tubs of ice cream. Nobody’s there to pick him up or to put him back together again, or to tell him when enough is enough. Nobody pulls the strings anymore; they were cut long ago, and Ashton’s only just starting to see the fraying threads. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” Ashton blurts to Calum one night, chain-smoking Calum’s cigarettes on the balcony of their hotel room. Calum doesn’t say anything at first, just hands him his next cigarette. “I can’t.” He doesn’t know whether Calum’s going to know what he means, doesn’t even know whether he wants to be saying it, but the words claw their way up his throat and out of his mouth before he has a chance to force them back down, a well-worn little dance between his head and what’s left of his heart. 

“You don’t have to,” Calum says, after a minute. He doesn’t, it’s true. It’s in Ashton’s hands, the decision to step away, to hold his hands up and say I’m not strong enough for this. But that would mean taking his life into his own hands, and Ashton’s not strong enough for that either. 

“Yeah, I do,” Ashton says, and Calum just sighs, and hands him the lighter. 

It’s not until Ashton’s almost finished the next cigarette that Calum speaks again. 

“What do you need?” 

It’s such a simple question, but it stops Ashton in his tracks. He spends all his time thinking I don’t want this, I need something else, there’s something missing, there’s something wrong, but when Calum picks up the other end of that thread of thoughts and asks what do you need? What can I give you? Ashton realises he doesn’t know.

He doesn’t know what he needs, he just knows that he needs something, something that isn’t this. And he doesn’t know what he wants, either, just knows that he wants something, something that isn’t this. He doesn’t fucking know anything, because he barely even knows who he is anymore, doesn’t know the hazel eyes that blink back at him in the mirror every morning, doesn’t know the curly hair he catches in the window of a passing bus. How is he supposed to know what will stitch the disparate parts of himself that he still has a hold of back together into something resembling Ashton Irwin when he doesn’t even know who Ashton Irwin is? 

“I don’t know,” he says eventually, and Calum hums, like he’s mulling the answer over in his mind. 

“Alright,” he says after a moment, like it’s okay that Ashton’s falling apart in front of him into too many shards to ever fit back together again, and hands Ashton another cigarette - there are only two more left, now - passing him the lighter along with it. Michael would probably frown at him if he knew, Ashton thinks, as he puts the cigarette between his lips, and Luke would whine and bitch and try and steal one of them off him, but Calum gets it. He gets that Ashton’s relishing the way his lungs are hot and burning from it, the way he’s choking from the inside out, revelling in the feeling of choking on something that isn’t himself, for once. He doesn’t like it - Ashton can see that in the way his lips are slightly down-turned, the glances he keeps sending Ashton out of the corner of his eyes - but he gets it. He always gets it, always knows when Ashton needs to be alone and when he needs to be with someone and when he needs to be high and when he needs to be sober, and Ashton’s never really thought too hard about it, but now he can’t help but wonder whether Calum gets it because he understands.

“Do you ever feel it?” Ashton asks. Calum looks at him for a moment, a little calculating, like he’s trying to work out just what Ashton means by that and how honest of an answer he should give, then looks out at whatever fucking city they’re in today, and shrugs. 

“Yeah, sometimes,” he says. 

“What do you do?” Calum shrugs again. 

“Let myself feel it,” he says. Ashton takes another drag of his cigarette, lets the words sink in with the nicotine. 

“Why?” Calum throws Ashton a look. 

“There’s nothing else I can do.” Ashton exhales heavily, watches the cloud of smoke as it turns from a plume into a mist between the two of them. He knows what Calum’s doing. He’s telling Ashton, as gently as he can, that it’s okay. And, Ashton thinks, he’s testing Ashton, challenging him to say you could repress it like me, seeing whether in the darkness and a few pints down he’ll admit to it. 

(But the city’s still lit up in front of them, and Ashton’s barely even tipsy.) 

“D’you think it’ll always be like this?” Ashton’s not even entirely sure what he’s asking. Will life always be this crazy, maybe, or will I always feel this way? 

“No,” Calum says, reaching for the pack of cigarettes again as Ashton stubs out the one he’s been smoking, and holds his hand out for another. He sounds so sure, so certain that things are going to get better somehow, and it makes the scraps of Ashton’s heart ache. 

“Are you just saying that to try and make me feel better?” Calum huffs out a laugh. 

“No,” he says again, a smile playing at his lips. “I’m saying it because it’s what you need to hear.” 

“What’s the difference?” 

“It’s not going to make you feel any better.” 

He’s right. It sort of makes Ashton’s stomach clench, the thought that things aren’t always going to be this way, because it means something’s got to change, and nothing will change until Ashton changes it. It’s comforting, in a way, knowing that he’s not always going to feel like this, but it’s equally as frightening as it is reassuring, because it means Ashton’s going to have to take a deep breath and step off the precipice he’s been hovering on for years, eyes wide open and still no idea where he’s going. 

But, Ashton realises, although his stomach is constricting and his heart has skipped a beat or two, he doesn’t feel any different. He doesn’t feel any more afraid, any more overwhelmed, doesn’t feel unsettled or like the weight pressing down on his chest has got any heavier. He doesn’t feel better, but he doesn’t feel worse, and that’s more than he’s ever had when allowing himself a peek into this abyss.

It doesn’t quite hit him so much as it nudges at him, knocking politely and waiting for him to answer the door. Ashton hadn’t known what he needed - still doesn’t know what he needs, doesn’t even know what he wants or where he wants to end up - but Calum had. Calum had found the right words, known exactly how to balance comfort and honesty, known where to draw the line and where to step over it. 

Ashton takes another long drag of the cigarette in his hands, watches it as it burns almost all the way down to the filter, and then stubs it out, lays the butt in the middle of his frankly impressive collection, and moves to the edge of the balcony, letting his forearms rest on the railing and his hands hang in the cool night air. Calum seems to sense that it’s a silent invitation, and steps forward to join him, arm pressing against Ashton’s when he leans forward over the balcony. 

Calum holds out the last cigarette, digs around in his pocket for the lighter Ashton had handed back to him after his last cigarette, that silent this might be my last after lighting every one that neither of them believed anyway, and holds it out in the palm of his hand for Ashton to take. Ashton puts the cigarette between his lips, but hesitates with his hand halfway to Calum’s. His lungs feel full, now, smoke and tar and something else, something Ashton can’t quite place but knows he doesn’t mind. 

Instead of pulling the lighter out of Calum’s hand, Ashton brings his fingers up and links them with Calum’s, squeezing their hands together. It’s a little uncomfortable, the lighter hard and still warm between the two of them, but Ashton doesn’t mind. It’s sort of grounding, in a way. 

What do you need? Calum had asked. 

You, Ashton’s saying, hand tightening around Calum’s. When Calum’s fingers curl around his own, warm and soft, thumb stroking gently over Ashton’s, Ashton knows what he’s saying. 

Okay. 

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[tanoraqui]

@rattyjol said I should write down all my theories from where I am, at the end of Act I of Harrow the Ninth, so here we go: Musings on the Nature of God, his Lyctors, and specifically Harrowhark Nonagesimus. (Needless to say, SPOILERS!)

first off, I want it noted that, while I do not believe it bears any relation to his role in the Homestuck AU that I highkey theorize was an early stage in the creation of this fictional world, I absolutely hate that his name is John. Stop that instantly.

on the continued nature of God...I detect a certain amount of passive voice re: the rapid death of the planets. You sure used the word “murder” in your analogy there, bud. Why are they hunting, uh, you in particular, huh? Listen man, I”m very sympathetic to mad science gone wrong, just admit that you killed every planet in the solar system - I don’t know yet if accidentally or for personal gain - and...I’m willing to bet that he’s chained one of them, maybe consensually? as his own lyctorean battery. That’s why he’s so OP, and why the other beasts hunt lyctors as well as him. 

or admittedly they may just look really tasty. Shining soular flares in the darkness

I highkey wonder if the Resurrection Beasts would be satisfied if he and the Lyctors just let them kill them. Probably not.

In the time between first waking up on the Erebos (GtN epilogue) and the start (post-prologue) of this book, Harrow has Done Something to make herself forget Gideon in every way but the very subconscious (she mouthed the name while thinking herself dying, she saw a red-haired body in the River and it broke her.) Well, she knows Gideon existed at some point, or some red-headed other girl did, but believes her dead as a child. Ianthe helped with this, the Emperor doesn’t know about it, and I assume it’s in pursuit of getting Gideon back alive and well

I can’t tell if she’s having a visceral reaction to the sword just from emotional memory or if whatever she did actually involves the sword. Given that we’ve been reminded that ghosts can be called back using objects they handled in life, probably the latter

the memory-rewritten flashbacks are fascinating. I wonder if something like some of them did happen - did she have a conversation with Ortus about the letter, before addressing the matter with Gideon? Did she ever meet Abigail and Magnus in a library and shove breadsticks into her bag and leave when Abigail asked about the imprints of 150+ other souls on hers? It could definitely have happened, while Gideon was off doing other things...but Harrow’s memory has been rewritten more thoroughly than to just leave out Gideon, because she also doesn’t remember meeting Camilla, and we know she interacted with the Sixths without Gideon. I assume this, too, was deliberate on Harrow’s part, but it’s hard to tell. She certainly is gambling here, desperately

it’s delightful to see more of Abigail and Magnus, specifically in a way that makes it clear why Cytherea killed them first. Abigail was very, very dangerous, with that plan to summon a Lyctor’s ghost and ask them questions.

Given the timing of the memory loss, even Harrow-who-had-a-plan didn’t know what happened to Camilla, Corona, and Judith, and clearly neither does Ianthe. I comfortably assume that the ever-competent Camilla and Palamedes have it in hand (a strong implication from a friend + my own faith in the Sixth having contingency plans assures me that Palamedes is...if not fine, then alive)

I judge it more likely that the Body is a hallucination/false memory, but the fact that she told Harrow to lie about her age suggests that maybe she is...the ghost of the woman in the tomb. I used to think that must be the Emperor’s own cavalier, but given that the Lyctors apparently came about after he was already God, and my theory that he’s more likely to be drawing energy from a planet...I don’t know. I’d guess that perhaps she’s Anastasia, the ninth house adept who never became a Lyctor, except the next book is called Alecto the Ninth, and that’s GOTTA be her

there’s no one in the Dramatis Personae named Alecto. I don’t know where she’s from. M a y b e she is/was a planet?

I thought the Body was Gideon at first, but she has dark hair and a slight build. She has gotten Gideon’s eyes, though, as though from Lyctor transformation...probably because Harrow did whatever she did?

Or it’s all just a hallucination and Harrow is blending the women she loves

A series of conjectures I’m pretty confident in:

Mercymorn asked about Harrow’s age on the suspicion that she’s, well, Gideon Nav

that is, the child who fell into the Ninth 18 years ago in the arms of a dead woman

I think that woman was a Lyctor - not sure which - and she wanted to be a mother? I guess? Because eternal life is a bitch and maybe you want to bring more life into the world, idk. But the Emperor sabotaged her attempts at artificial insemination and when she did it herself, he sent...another Lyctor after her. Maybe it was Ortus Gideon, once of Second House (it was him and his cavalier in that room, G&P), and they had a passionate - or at least pitying but productive - night and then her ghost said his name bc she wanted him to know that yep, they’d had a daughter?

Or she and (adult) Gideon had a romance and yes artificial insemination (it’s probably hard to get pregnant when you’re immersed in thanergy all the time) and...man, idk

I’m very sure that she poured a hysterical amount of thalergy, thanergy, idk into that baby, such that Gideon Nav was impossibly difficult to kill save by her own hand

...ok I think that’s all I’ve got, for now

OH, that line about a lyctor’s body lying empty being dangerous...that felt very foreshadowing. I don’t THINK Harrow is going to at the end of this book, bc we’ve already done that once, but I wouldn’t be surprised if her plan is to bring Gideon back in her (Harrow’s) body in place of Harrow’s own soul if necessary. Alternately, Alecto might end up in it? Or some other lyctor’s body will be lost...almost certainly, actually. I dunno whose or to whom (or to what), but I bet it’ll happen.

[whumpqin]

BTHB: Dragging Themselves Along The Ground

Teeny drabble bc I was struck by inspiration!! Here’s a late night treat <3

(fresh blood = requested, dried blood - finished! Feel free to send a request <3)

Requested by the lovely @galaxywhump <3

Elisha / Caleb tag @faewhump​ @imagination1reality0​ galaxy whump (not tagging u twice lol) @castielamigos-whump-side-blog​ @insanitywishes​

CW: Pet whump, creepy/intimate whumper, broken bones, starvation used as a form of torture, conditioning, brainwashing, being mean to people with stutters, referenced past eye trauma/gore, referenced past abuse, begging

Word Count: 1,045

Everything was agony.

Elisha drug himself forward against the rough stone, feeling it scrape against his skin as his legs are dragged limply behind him. The very motion made him bite his lip so hard that he managed to draw blood as a way to keep from screaming, but he ultimately failed as a pained sob wracked his body once more. He always cried, now, even after he had shed all the tears that he was able to. His hands reached forward to a white plate that was set in front of him, fingers outstretched desperately to wrap around the edge and bring it closer.

A foot slid forward to cut him off, pushing the plate away just a few inches more. Wide and dull green eyes watched him carefully, taking in every moment that Elisha’s breath hitched as he collapsed to the ground again, sobbing dryly.

His legs hurt so bad, and he could barely tell where the plate was in the first place. Elisha forced his head back up, gritting his teeth through the pain as he tried to pull himself forward again, only managing a small keen from his nose before he rested his head against the ground.

“You’re taking quite a long time, Caleb. Are you sure you want the food?” Jeremiah asked him from above, scathing fake judgement leaking from his voice as he watched with poorly hidden pleasure.

“I, I am, Sir, pl-please…” he begged. It was all he could do. It’s all they wanted from him, now.

“Without stuttering, and I might not drag it away this time.” His cold gaze narrowed into a light glare.

It was always his fucking stutter. Elisha couldn’t get away from it.

Regardless, he mulled over the words, forming the words on his tongue before putting sound behind it, as if it would genuinely do anything.

“Please, Sir. I… want the, um… food.” Slow, deliberate words drawled out between hushed breaths, trying to gain back what he had lost in the bid against his pain. “Please.”

Jeremiah liked manners. Liked begging. It might have been humiliating to play into those two facts before, going so far as to beg on command for his captor, but now it was what he clung to in order to not be hurt any more than he had to be.

The looming figure clicked his tongue, and Elisha cringed away so violently one might mistake that he had been actually hit. He trembled against the ground just a moment, before he uncovered his one eye and saw Jeremiah flick his head towards the plate, as if telling him to go after it again.

Elisha shifted onto his elbows again after carefully unfolding himself, fingernails digging into the stone as he tried to drag himself forward without using his legs. It hurt less when they were limply dragged, instead of trying to use his knees and accidentally moving them the wrong way. He had to move quickly anyway, and the pain would only slow him down. He didn’t trust that Jeremiah wouldn’t pull it away even after he had it in his hands.

But until that happened, he was willing to beg for every bit of food that he could see.

Jeremiah slipped his foot forward and pushed the plate away again. Elisha whimpered in response, outstretched hand falling against the ground from the wasted effort.

“I said I might not drag it away again. I never said I wouldn’t, pet,” he explained, a warm smile creeping across his face.

Elisha fucking hated it when he smiled. It always meant that he was enjoying whatever he was looking at. And he always enjoyed his suffering.

Was it too much for just a little bit of food? His mind wondered as he drug himself forward. Elisha refused to let himself give up, and pulled himself forward along the ground even as Jeremiah pushed it away over and over. Soon enough he got close to reach out with his hands, fingers just barely able to scrape the edge of the plate-

His chain pulled taut finally, stopping his progress in its tracks.

This time, Elisha’s sob was filled with hopelessness and despair as he fell back to the ground, body shaking from each one. He ached from the feeling of being empty, of being in pain, of being here. He just wanted to go home.

And he had failed.

“You know… Aridai was right. This is fun to watch,” Jeremiah commented, walking around him to see his agony from all sides. “You’re lucky they didn’t do so much worse. I can think of more painful ways to punish you for escaping.”

He tugged on the chain in a useless attempt to get closer. So lucky. I feel so lucky right now.

“Please, Sir…” he whispered, single eye looking pitifully up at Jeremiah, combined with a deep frown that made him look like a wounded animal.

It hurt when he remembered that a wounded animal was exactly what he looked like right now.

Jeremiah’s falsely kind smile only seemed to get wider, like a disguised predator luring prey into its trap. Something glittered in his eye and it only made Elisha more horrified.

“Alright, I think that’s plenty for today. You need to eat before your muscles start deteriorating.” He stepped forward and slid the food in Elisha’s direction, and he quickly hooked his fingers onto the plate to pull it closer.

It was gone in mere seconds. He didn’t even take the time to register what it even was, however little was there.

In the short time it took for him to eat, Jeremiah walked around him and settled into a crouch by his legs. A hand glided lightly over his skin, and Elisha stiffened at the feeling, unable to turn his head back to see because he was on his bad side.

“Let’s see how much you’ve healed since I last checked,” he murmured, pressing into the skin. The broken bones underneath shifted all the wrong ways, and Elisha’s jaws parted in an agonized scream. Jeremiah’s cruel hands were unmerciful as he worked, wrenching everything out of its place to ruin the bone just a little more.

“We don’t want you running away again any time soon, after all.”

[ahsbitch]

wait you take requests? awesome! does that mean you'll write, like, blurbs and stuff? bc i would Love just a quick smutty blurb/drabble/whatever with Michael and hickeys, if you wouldn't mind. I was thinking maybe F&R! or maybe Outpost! but it's totally up to you! do you write blurbs? if you don't take requests in this format then just completely disregard this ask lol

I’ve never actually written a blurb before (I tend to be kinda long winded lol) but! I’m absolutely willing to give it a shot any time someone wants one! I felt like I just had to go with Fire & Reign on this one, y’know? I hope this is what you were looking for!! (Is it even actually a blurb? IDK. I have no idea what I’m doing with my life) 

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

Michael Langdon had a tendency to be a bit possessive.

After all, he was powerful. He was smart, magically gifted, for fuck’s sake he was the Antichrist, he was working on bringing about the end of the world. He was strong. He could fuck you up, majorly, if and when he wanted to.

You knew that, you did, and you knew how dangerous it was to mess with him, but fuck, it could just be so much fun.

Which was why you flirted with other men, on occasion.

Just for fun.

Just to see his reaction.

The general reaction? Angry.

“You think you’re pretty clever, do you?” Michael snarled, slamming you against his desk roughly, “You think it’s funny to act like a whore in front of the members of the Cooperative? My subordinates? What exactly do you hope to gain from that?”

You shrugged, knowing you probably shouldn’t say anything, but he held your hips tightly, grinding ever so slightly against, just enough to make you desperate, and you strained forward, nipping playfully at his throat, “I like knowing I have your full attention.”

He gave a derisive laugh, pulling away from you completely, his eyes glinting as he watched you slump back, “That’s it, huh? Attention? I’ll give you attention, and anyone who looks at you is gonna know that you are mine, you understand?” Whimpering, you nodded, allowing him to tug you to your feet and rip your dress off of you. Before you were sure what was happening, you were against the desk again, and Michael’s teeth were sunk into your neck.

“Fuck,” You hissed, digging your hands into his shoulders, “Not so hard, Michael!”

A growl rippled its way, from the back of his throat, and you trembled as it hit your skin, Michael becoming suddenly frantic, sucking deep purple hickeys into your skin, coating your throat, lining neatly along your collarbones, covering the soft swells of your breasts, which he massaged roughly as he worked, thumbs dancing over your nipples.

When he finally pulled away, there was a dangerous look still in his eyes as he placed his hands firmly on your hips, “I’m not sure what it is that gave you the impression that you were in charge, that you can make demands, but I assure you,” He flipped you around, pressing you forward so you bent over the desk, and dropped to his knees, all so quickly that it was dizzying, and he continued his attack on your thighs and ass, his tongue occasionally surging forward to give your pussy long, urgent licks, “You are completely at my mercy, my love.”

And you were at his mercy, you knew you were. You thought it to yourself, struggling to keep your mind from drifting off into a pleasure filled haze, your attempts to grind yourself against his face only resulting in you being pressed harder against the desk, surely decorating you with its own bruises against your hip bones.

He spoke occasionally, although his mouth was mostly busy, he murmured against your skin as he went, “You're mine, don’t forget that. Your body is mine. Your soul is mine. You think that acting like a desperate slut gets you more of my attention, but it doesn’t. You’re always in my head. Pathetic, needy thing, I’m sure you could cum just from this, just from my words and my mouth on your skin. I could make you cum with anything I do. I could kill you, fucking incinerate you, and it’d probably still get you all hot and bothered, wouldn’t it? You’re mine, and I’m gonna mark you up so that maybe now you’ll remember your fucking place.”

Michael’s thumbs danced once more, rolling along your clit as he worked, slowly moving his way upwards to a point about halfway up your back, up either side of your spine, and then finally you heard him tug at his zipper, pulling his hardened dick out of his pants and pushing into you all in one slick motion.

“Ah,” He sighed, rolling his nose against the juts of your spine, “That’s it. This is why I bother to keep you around.”

Setting a brutal pace, Michael pounded into you, thrusting deeper each time you let out a cry, relishing in the way you shrieked and wailed.

His mouth was not idle for long, meeting where the trail of hickeys had left off and making many more, and you wondered absently to yourself what exactly he was doing, why it felt like there was some type of pattern to his movements.

When Michael had finished, he pressed a kiss to the center of your back, and just when you were on the edge of bliss, he pulled himself out of you, jerking fervently until he came onto your back, the first hot gush hitting where his kiss had just been laid.

“Michael!” You cried, turning just in time to see him slipping his cock back into his boxers, “Really? You’re still mad?”

He chuckled, wrapping a hand around your waist to pull you close, a wolfish grin covering his face at the way you flinched at the contact with your fresh bruises, and he touched the corners of your lips with quick, fluttering kisses, “Not so much anymore. I’ve made a masterpiece. Besides, darling, were you really hoping to cum? You should know better,” He tutted, a taunting glimmer in his eyes, “And why should you even need to? You pleasured me. That should be enough pleasure for you, in and of itself, should it not?”

You rolled your eyes at him, giving him a quick peck on the lips before pulling away, “Whatever you say, Michael.”

A gold framed, full length mirror sat in the corner of Michael’s office, and as you caught a peek of your appearance-fuck, you were absolutely wrecked-you turned yourself to the side curiously, trying to see how the hickeys were painted across your skin.

You turned back to Michael, smiling, heart fluttering, when you realized that the chain of bruises, all brilliant shades of pinks and reds and purples and blues, formed a heart.