#creed: next round
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ultrameganicolaokay · 2 years ago
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Creed: Next Round #1 by LaToya Morgan, Jai Jamison and Wilton Santos. Cover by Mateus Manhanini. Variant covers by (2) Valentine De Landro, (3) Paris Alleyne, (4) Jahnoy Lindsay and (5) Jung-Geun Yoon. Out in June.
"Ten years after the events of the blockbuster Creed III, Amara Creed is on her own path, stepping outside her father Adonis Creed's shadow and training like there's no tomorrow.
But when her division opponents no longer present a challenge, Amara's drive will have her following in her father's footsteps, going underground.
She'll also need the perfect trainer, but perfection comes with tangled strings attached.
Superstar writers LaToya Morgan (Dark Blood, AMC's The Walking Dead) and Jai Jamison (Superman & Lois), artist Wilton Santos (Break Out), alongside Creed III director and star Michael B. Jordan bring Creed to comics in a story no fan of the franchise can afford to miss!"
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keycomicbooks · 1 year ago
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Creed: Next Round #1 (2023) Mateus Manhanini Cover / Wilton Santos Pencils / Latoya Morgan Story / 1st Appearance of Adonis & Amara Creed "The Next Round" Ten years after the events of the blockbuster Creed III, Amara Creed is on her own path, stepping outside her father Adonis Creed's shadow and training like there's no tomorrow.  https://rarecomicbooks.fashionablewebs.com/Creed%20Next%20Round.html
 #RareComicBooks #KeyComicBooks #Boom #ComicBooks
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graphicpolicy · 1 year ago
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Creed: The Next Round #1 is an interesting start expanding the Creed world
Creed: The Next Round #1 is an interesting start expanding the Creed world #comics #comicbooks #creed
I’m a fan of both the Rocky and Creed franchises. Even in their cheesiest moments, they entertain and satisfy basic entertainment needs. So, I’ve been intrigued to see what Creed: The Next Round #1 would deliver for its opening round. Story: Latoya Morgan, Jai JamisonArt: Wilton SantosColor: DJ ChavisLetterer: Andworld Design Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit…
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smashpages · 1 year ago
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Out this week: Creed: The Next Round #1 (BOOM! Studios, $4.99):
Hey, it’s a Creed comic! I’ve seen several articles talking about how manga and anime influenced Michael B. Jordan’s work on the third film, so it makes sense to see a comic spin-off. It’s by LaToya Morgan, Jai Jamison and Wilton Santos, and it focuses on Amara Creed’s boxing career 10 years after the end of Creed III.
Wanna know what other comics and graphic novels will arrive at your local comic shops this week? Then click on through.
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noirsfantasy · 6 months ago
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𝕽𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖋 𝕯𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖗𝖊 | 𝖕𝖙. 2
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𝔭𝔞𝔦𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤 ➛ Jonathan Majors as Dame Anderson x Black!Plus-sized Reader
𝔯𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 ➛ Smut
𝔣𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔪 ➛ Creed
𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱 ➛4.2k
𝔰𝔶𝔫𝔬𝔭𝔰𝔦𝔰 ➛After not hearing from Adonis for a week, you realize that, maybe it really was just a fling. So, you decide to get your mind off of him. And the one who just so happens to be there is Dame…
𝔞/𝔫 ➛Y'all thought the first one was wild? Well, get ready for this next one, hehe.
𝔱𝔞��𝔰 ➛ @cardi-bre91
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I'm out with my girls on a Saturday night, turning up in a club. I was thrown ass on my girl, Ari, and my other girl, Liyah, is recording and hyping us up. We're all tipsy, enjoying ourselves as the music bumps loudly in the background. I don't usually go clubbing, but when I do, it's to get my mind off of something. And tonight I wanted to forget about my disappointment with men.
See, I'd recently been hooking up with this guy, Adonis Creed. He's a famous boxer, but that wasn't why I was interested in him. I truly enjoyed being around him. He gave me a touch of passion that made my body quiver. But all good things come to an end, don't they?
Enough about that. Tonight is all about getting drunk and forgetting about all my troubles. As I sway my hips against my friend, giggling as we dance the night away, I feel eyes on me. Men are staring, their gazes burning with desire. I smirk and ignore them, but I do enjoy feeling wanted. Under the glow of the neon lights, I dance the night away, as Liyah and Ari cheer me on.
Taking a break, we make our way back to our table, giggling and carefree.
"I can't believe you can move like that in that dress, girl." Liyah chuckles as she slides into the booth. I laugh as I slide in after Ari, laying my head on the table.
"Girl, ion even know, but that shit was movin'!" I reply.
"You shoulda seen all the guys you had drooling over you." Ari adds and I shake my head.
"Hey, I'm tryna get my mind off of guys tonight, remember?" I remind them and Liyah rolls her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, we know." She takes the bottle from our table and downs the rest of it.
"Liyah, seriously?" Ari asks disapprovingly.
"What, girl? There was barely any left." Liyah raises her hands in defense. I giggle and stand up, a bit tipsy but still able to function.
"Chill out, I'll go get us some more drinks." I say, sliding out of the booth. "Be back before you know it."
"How 'bout I get you ladies another round?" I hear a deep, sexy voice rumble from behind me. As I turn around to see who it is, I come face to face with a tall, handsome man looking down at me with interest. I recognize him as the current heavyweight champion, Dame Anderson. I know he and Donnie had a bit of a falling out and that they were preparing for a title fight. I'd only ever heard about him through media, but we've never actually met. So I have no idea what he's doing here, talking to me.
"Holy shit, is that Damian Anderson?" Ari slurs in surprise and he smirks at her.
"The one and only, but y'all beautiful ladies can call me Dame." He winks at them and then his eyes shifts back to me. I have to stop myself from biting my lip at the sight of him. He's a total stud— ruggedly handsome with an intense gaze and a muscular frame. My friends look at me with anticipation, sensing the attraction between us.
"That's very kind of you, Dame," I purr, looking up into his eyes daringly. "But we can't have you paying for our drinks all night. We might end up owing you in return." Damian cracks a lopsided grin.
"That' doesn't sound all that bad to me." he says, leaning in a little closer, talking over the music. The scent of his cologne wafts over me as he continues to speak. "I'm pretty sure there are plenty of ways you could pay me back." He says, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"Oh yeah? How?" I ask with a bit of challenge, stepping closer to him. My friends giggle girlishly as they watch. A confident, yet sly grin spreads across Dame's face as he leans in to whisper a low, suggestive response in my ear.
"How 'bout a dance?" As he pulls back, his eyes linger on me for a moment longer before he glances at my friends and looks back at me. "Whaddaya say, sweetheart?"
"Sure, why not." I respond, not having to give it much thought as I move past him, towards the bar. "And it's Y/n, by the way." I correct him, looking him up and down. A flicker of surprise crosses his eyes as he bites his lip, turning to follow me.
"Y/n," He repeats, testing out the sound of my name on his tongue. Although, something about the look in his eyes says that he already knew what my name was. After we stop by the bar and order a round for my table, we head out to the dance floor, the bass from the speakers vibrating through the room.
As we get to the dancefloor, Dame pulls me close to him, wrapping his arms around my waist. Mine instinctively wrap around his neck and our bodies move in sync to the music. Our bodies mold together perfectly, his hard planes against my soft curves. As we dance, he whispers in my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck.
"You know, you really caught my eye earlier, Y/n."
"Is that so?" I ask, gazing up at him as I grind my hips against his, causing a low groan to escape from him.
"Yeah, you did." Damian replies as his arms tighten around me for a moment before relaxing again. "I know you was fuckin' with Donnie. you've been on my radar." He smirks, leaning in a bit closer. I raise an eyebrow at him, somehow not surprised he's known about me.
"So what? You just been stalking me?" I inquire, causing Dame to chuckle at my response.
"Nah, just keeping an eye on who's eyeing my rival." He says, his eyes not leaving mine. "I had to know for myself what the fuss was about." I roll my eyes and turn away from him, feeling him press against my back as his hands migrate to my hips.
"It ain't like I'm his girl or anything," I say as I grind my body against his, feeling his grip on my hips tighten. His eyes follow the movement of my body, appreciating the way my curves fit against him.
"Good. Cuz I ain't really the sharing type" Damian smirks down at me.
"So, you only want me cuz he had me at some point?" I turn in his arms and he pulls me in closer.
"Oh, there's plenty of reasons why I'd want you, sweetheart." His eyes trail over my body for a moment before meeting mine again. "And if it happens to piss off my rival, that's just the icing on the cake."
His words send a spark of excitement through my body. Damian wants me and he isn't afraid to show it. This man, with his intense gaze and powerful presence, is hungry for me, and it makes my desire for him grow stronger. I can't help but bite my lip as his gaze pierces through me.
A part of me wants to at least be offended by him basically using me for his games. Although, the other part of me, the part that likes to live on the edge, doesn't give a fuck. I do what I want and who I want. And who I want right now is Dame. I smirk as I place my hands on his chest, pulling him close enough for me to whisper in his ear.
"You're gonna get me in trouble." A sly grin spreads across his face as I speak.
"Oh, I think you can handle it." He responds, his hands running up my sides, lightly touching my soft skin through my dress. "In fact, I bet part of you likes a little bit of trouble."
"Mm, you think you know me?" I ask teasingly as I lean in close to his face, looking at him through my lashes. He leans his face even closer, our lips nearly touching.
"I know enough." He admits with a smirk, his hands gliding over my hips. "And I know you like that I want you, even if it's to get under Baby Creed's skin." He chuckles softly. "But that doesn't mean I don't actually want you." His eyes lock on mine, a mixture of desire and challenge burning in his gaze. The world seems to slow around us as our bodies sway to the music.
"What exactly is it you're proposing?" Dame slides one hand around to the small of my back, using the other to gently tilt her chin toward me. Our faces are inches apart, and his eyes hold a mix of hunger and playfulness. A cocky smirk crosses his face as he answers my question with a low, gravelly voice.
"How 'bout you come find out, sweetheart?" He challenges. I decide not to waste any more time on words and I pull him towards me, crashing my lips into his. As our lips meet, it's as if a spark ignites between us. Dame responds to the kiss with a fierce intensity, our mouths moving against each other hungrily.
His large hands roam over my body, pulling me closer as he devours my lips. The sounds and lights of the club fade away as I lose myself in the moment, the taste and feel of him fueling my desire. My breath hitches as he bites my bottom lip, demanding more.
We break the kiss after what feels like both seconds and an eternity. I look into his eyes and they're dark with desire and a bit of challenge. Damian leans in close to my ear and whispers with a chuckle, "Let's get out of here. I want you all to myself."
I don't need any more convincing. Taking his hand, we make our way out of the club, waving to my girls as my heart pounds with anticipation. The night air is cool on our skin as we walk, the city lights illuminating our path. During the ride to his place, he keeps a firm, possessive grip on my thigh that sends tingles to my core. As we arrive at his luxury apartment building, Dame guides me inside, our bodies feeling electrified with desire.
As we step into the elevator and the doors close behind us, he gets a ravenous look in his eye. He presses me against the wall, my back coming in contact with the cold metal as his large frame presses against me. His mouth crashes into mine in a hungry kiss, his hands traveling to grasp either side of my ass. I ball my hands into the fabric of his shirt, moaning into the fiery kiss.
A low groan escapes Damian's lips as I pull him deeper into the kiss, our tongues tangling in a dance of desire. My body is on fire, the tension between us palpable. As the elevator reaches his floor, he reluctantly breaks the kiss, leading me into his penthouse apartment.
Our lips aren't parted for long as he lifts me up by my thighs, wrapping my legs around his waist, claiming my lips in another heated kiss. The feeling of being manhandled by this ruggedly handsome man sent sparks of excitement through my body. My heart races as he walks slowly towards the living room, his lips never leaving mine. He lays me down on the plush rug in front of the fireplace, the dancing flames casting an erotic glow over the room.
Dame gazes down at me, chest heaving. "Damn, baby. You feel even better than I imagined." He growls, his fingers tracing my curves. His eyes are dark with lust as he takes in the sight of me sprawled out beneath him.
I run my hands up his muscular arms, biting my lip coyly. "Well, you ain't seen nothin' yet." I purr, rolling my hips against him. A low groan rumbles in his chest as he dips his head, his lips trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses down my neck. His large hands slide up my thighs, bunching my dress up as he goes.
"I plan on seein' and feelin' a whole lot more." He murmurs against my skin, teeth grazing my sensitive neck. I shiver with anticipation, my hands moving to grip his shoulders as he continues his sensual assault.
Damian's fingers hook into the delicate fabric of my panties, his intent clear. I arch my back, silently begging him to take what he wants. This is what I came here for - to be devoured by this confident, powerful man. And I have a feeling he's more than ready to oblige.
His eyes darken with pure lust as he hooks his fingers into the waistband of my panties, slowly dragging them down my legs. "That's it, baby. Let me see all of you." He growls, voice thick with desire. His gaze rakes over my exposed skin hungrily, drinking in every inch.
With one swift motion, he tugs my panties all the way off, tossing them aside. His calloused palms glide up the silky smooth skin of my thighs, parting them slightly. "Fuck, you're gorgeous." He murmurs, pure want radiating from him. Lowering his head, his stubble-lined jaw grazes the sensitive skin of my inner thigh, eliciting a sharp gasp from me.
"Dame..." I breathe, fingers threading into his short hair. He pauses, eyes flicking up to meet mine.
"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm gonna take real good care of you." He promises in a low, raspy tone before burying his face between my legs. I gasp with pleasure, my back arching a bit as the feeling is more intense than anticipated.
Damian's expert tongue swirls and licks, sending electric shocks of pleasure through my body. I let out a desperate moan, my fingers tightening in his hair as I arch into his mouth.
"Oh fuck, Dame..." I gasp against his talented ministrations. He hums in approval, the vibrations sending tingles through my core. One of his large hands grips my thigh, keeping me spread open for his voracious appetite.
Just when I think I might come undone, he pulls back slightly, gazing up at me with lust-filled eyes. I whine as I gaze down at him.
"You taste so goddamn good, baby girl." He growls, voice rough with desire. Before I can respond, his mouth is on me again, creating a suction of pleasure around my clit.
My toes curl and my back arches as the coil of pleasure tightens within me. Dame's skilled tongue and lips push me higher and higher, the world fading away until all I can focus on is the mind-numbing sensations he's drawing from my body.
"Holy shit, holy shit!" I exclaim as I come undone faster than I intended, squirting forcefully into his mouth. I had expected to make a huge mess all over the carpet, but Dame laps up every last drop eagerly, savoring my sweet taste. His eyes flutter shut as he drinks me in, relishing the sounds of cries of ecstasy.
When I've finally ridden out the last waves of my climax, he pulls back slightly, gazing up at me through hooded eyes. His lips and beard glisten with my arousal, and he licks them slowly, not letting a single drop go to waste.
"You taste so fucking good, baby." He growls, his voice raspy. His large hands caress my trembling thighs as he repositions himself, settling between my legs. "And I'm just getting started."
With that, he leans back down, his face disappearing between my thighs once more. His tongue delves deep, stroking with a single-minded focus on my pleasure. One of his hands moves to my sensitive bundle of nerves, rubbing in firm, sensual circles.
I squirm and squeal under his touch as he holds me in place, keeping me from fleeing. "You can't run, sweetheart. I'm gonna make you come again and again and again." His words only serve to fan the flames of my desire and I know I'm in for a long night.
I can't make an intelligible response as I'm overstimulated, my hips bucking and my nails digging into his harms, drawing blood.
"Damian-" I gasp, my mind clouded. "It's- It's too much!" I manage to say, my body no longer under my control. Dame pauses, his intense gaze shifting to one of mischief.
"Too much, huh?" He murmurs, his strong hands stilling my shaking thighs. A devilish smirk spreads across his lips. "Don't worry, babe. I know just how to take care of you." With that, he shifts his position, strong arms wrapping around my waist as he pulls me up onto his lap. Our bodies are pressed flush together, his clothed length evident against my sensitive flesh. One hand tangles into my hair, tugging my hair back gently.
"I'm gonna make you feel so good, baby," he whispers, his warm breath fanning across my neck. "Just let me take control." His lips find mine in a searing, consuming kiss, swallowing any protests I was about to make.
As the kiss deepens, his other hand caresses my body, igniting sparks of sensation. A guttural groan rembles ing Dame's chest as he feels my arousal soaking through the fabric of his pants. He breaks the fiery kiss, dark eyes smoldering with desire as he drinks in the sight of me flushed and panting in his arms.
"Mmm, you're so fucking wet for me." He husks, one hand trailing down my side to grip my hip possessively. "I bet you're lacking to feel me inside you, aren't you?" His hips roll up, pressing his hardness against my slick heat.
Unable to form a coherent response, I whimper and nod desperately, my body betraying just how badly you crave his touch. Damian lets out a low, satisfied chuckle.
"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'm gonna give you exactly what you need." With that, he pulls his shirt off, exposing his large, defined muscles. I don't get much time to take him in as he quickly unbuckles his pants and lifts me effortlessly, positioning me over his throbbing length. Slowly, torturously, he lowers me down, stretching and filling me in one smooth motion.
The feeling is indescribable, a perfect blend of pleasure and sweet, delicious pain. I let out a strangled moan, my nails sinking into his broad shoulders as I savor the sensation of being so completely and utterly full.
"Shitttt~ Take me just like that, baby. You're doing so good." Damian praises, his voice strained with restraint. His hands grip my hips, guiding my movements as I start to ride him with desperate, rhythmic motions. I whine with desire as I stretch around him. This feels different than with Adonis. Donnie could barely push all the way into me with how long his cock was. Although, Damian could fill me just right. Not only that, his girth was thicker. I look down, watching myself slide down onto his length as I let out a high pitched moan.
"Please, please, please~" I beg with desperation as I pull his chest against mine, my brows knit together in ecstasy. Dame groans, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of my hips.
"Fuck, you feel so good wrapped around me, baby." He growls, his hips snapping up to meet my motions. I yelp as he fills me, the sound of skin slapping against skin filling the air. I can feel the coil of pleasure tightening once more, only spurring me on further. "Ride me like that, baby. I wanna feel you come undone on my cock." He whispers.
I press down and grind against him, his cock straining against my walls. Damian's eyes darken with pure lust as he works his cock deeper inside me, thrusting his hips up with more force. His hands slide down to where we're joined, his calloused fingers finding my sensitive bundle of nerves. He rubs firm, sensual circles, eliciting a strangled cry of pleasure from my lips.
"Dame~" I Whimper, my walls fluttering around his impressive girth. "I'm so close..." He let's out a feral groan, his tempo increasing as he chases both of our releases.
"Come for me, baby." He demands, his teeth grazing my neck as his arms tighten around me. I wrap my arms around his neck, leaning my head back as I bounce on his dick, my tits finally falling free of my tight dress. Damian's mouth latches onto one pert nipple, sucking on it with an insatiable hunger.
I let out a strangled gry of pleasure, my nails raking down his back as the sensations threaten to overwhelm me. Dame's cock stretches and fills me perfectly, each movement sending electric shocks of bliss ricocheting through my body.
"I- I'm gonna~" I don't finish my sentence as I gasp loudly, my movements becoming frantic and erratic. He matches me, his thrusts becoming more deep and punishing as his mouth crashes into mine. My vision whites out as the most intense orgasm rips through me, my body convulsing in Dame's arms. He swallows my cries of ecstasy as he continues to move within me, drawing out every last aftershock of my release.
"That's my girl," he praises, his voice strained with his own impending climax. He continues to rub relentlessly at my clit and I can do nothing but become putty in his hands.
"Dame!" I squeal, biting my lip hard as I try to take it.
"That's right, baby. Say my name," He says lowly, his thrust becoming harder and random. He pulls me flush against him with each punishing thrust until the tension within him finally snaps. With a guttural groan, he spills himself deep inside me. His hips stutter and jerk as he rides out his climax, his grip on me bordering on bruising.
As I feel his warmth fill me, I can't help but sigh heavily, laying my head on his shoulder. Damian lets out a deep, contented sigh as I lay my head on his shoulder, our bodies still intimately joined. As I pant heavily, he gently brushes a stray lock of hair from my face.
"That's right, sweetheart. Just relax." He mumbles, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead. HIs arms wrap around me, holding me close as the last tremors of our shared release subside.
"You did so good." Dame breathes with a note of awe in his voice. "I mean, I knew you'd feel incredible, but you've just... You're a goddess." He says as if he's just realizing now that he's met an angel in disquise.
"That was…" I start, unable to find the words. He chuckles warmly, pulling me close against his chest as his fingers trace soothing patterns along my spine. He softens inside me, pulling out slowly as he lays me down on the couch. Standing up, he goes leaves the livingroom briefly. My body relaxes as I lay on the couch, waiting for him to come back.
Damian returns with a warm, damp washcloth and gently cleans me up, his touch tender and caring - a stark contrast to his earlier intensity. As he wipes away the evidence of our shared intimacy, something stirs inside him.
He'd only known about me, because I was seen with Adonis. And, honestly, he only went after me to get back at him and throw Donnie off of his game. But seeing me like this, all he wants to do is take care of me and treat me right.
There was something so wrong about this. He'd slept with many women before and he had plenty of women still lined up that wanted him badly. After all, he's the champ. But as he gazes over me, my beautiful form on the edge of sleep, he can't help but feel something. He doesn't know what it is, but it's definitely not something he's felt with anyone else.
His hand comes up and brushes against the soft skin on my face. He pauses slightly as he wrestles with the unfamiliar emotions swirling within him. Something about me has reached past his carefully constructed walls, and Dame finds himself wanting - no, needing - more than a simple one night stand.
But he pushes those thoughts aside for now, focusing instead on savoring the moment. Once he's finished cleaning up our mess, he tosses the cloth aside and gathers me into his arms, cradling me against his broad chest. His fingertips trace feather-light patterns along my bare skin, sending pleasurable shivers through my body.
"I could hold you like this all night," he murmurs, dropping a soft kiss to the top of my head. "But I'm sure you're exhausted after that." I nod, my cheek pressed against his chest as I melt into him. The corner of his mouth turns up as he caresses my curves.
"Why don't we get you cleaned up and into a nice hot shower, hm? Then we can go to bed." He suggests, a loving look in his eye.
"Can we do that?" I ask, looking up at him wearily as my voice is barely above a whisper. His gaze softens as he looks down at me.
"Of course, baby." He scoops me up effortlessly, carrying me towards the bathroom as my head rests against his chest. The care and tenderness in his actions makes my heart flutter, and I can't help but wonder, where this is going to go. But I push that thought to the back of my mind as I just want to enjoy the moment.
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lipglossanon · 7 months ago
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♔ 𝔒𝔫𝔢 ♔
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• A Dozen Roses • Fairy Tale AU •
Warnings: MDNI, mention of a past death
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Magic. 
Such a simple word conveying the complete opposite. There are many in the castle who think your mother was a forest witch; how else did she ensnare the soon to be King? Her simple upbringing and lack of dowry only meant that she must have tricked the handsome prince into a marriage bed. 
Most of these came from the wagging tongues of the spurned gentry, whose daughters weren’t even looked at twice once your mother came into the picture. Your father never speaks of her in your presence which means everything you’ve ever gleaned about her is third or fourth hand from those around you. 
As a child, you loved hearing the stories of their unexpected love. How much your father doted upon her, how she breathed new life in this cold, desolate place. After such tales, you’d seek out the favored portrait where the King is wont to linger. He never said anything, but he acknowledged your presence by stepping to the side so you could stand next to him and gaze at her likeness. 
You believe your mother to be a forest witch even though the nurse maid tries to dissuade you of the notion. It explains the strangeness you feel inside you, especially near your father. He seems to be the only one who can sense this otherness in you and yet he still keeps his silence. He’s also the only one to witness you using magic— the rejuvenation of the dead bouquet of lilies beneath the ever benign gaze on the frozen face of your mother’s portrait.
That’s the first time you see him smile in all of your eighteen summers. It changes his entire demeanor and you see the boy your mother fell in love with, the one she fled the small cottage of her family to gift him her eternal devotion. His long fingers graze the stems of the flowers before his gaze drifts, not to the portrait but to you standing to the side. 
“You’ve grown up,” he states, serious blue eyes taking in your simple gown before meeting your surprised expression. 
You nod dumbly and before you can reply a lady-in-waiting enters to guide you to your embroidery lesson. His eyes trail after you; you only notice because you catch his gaze when you turn back as you round the stone entryway. His face is serious and blank, but it still sends a slight shiver down your spine. 
After that moment, the suitors begin in earnest. There were only two a year once your monthly blood began; your father didn’t seem interested in seeking out alliances with the neighboring kingdoms so you were never pressed to choose. The gentleman who came to call on you were much too old— older than your father, even. They made you uncomfortable with their spotted hands and leering mouths. The King made sure they knew their place at his table, making sure they left never to return. 
Now, your father has put forth a creed that only a worthy man will be allowed your hand in marriage. Worthy of him. Your opinion doesn’t matter at the whims of the King. You’re just a silly girl. He’s the one who shall choose the one to be your king consort, the one who will one day take his place on the throne and rule over the Kingdom bequeathed unto him by his bloodline. 
The first Prince to make the journey for your hand in marriage is a large dark haired man. Prince Redfield, your lady-in-waiting whispers to you as you look down from your window, seeing the Prince’s entourage unloading the wagon. He stands apart from his size alone, a knight honed by battle you think to yourself. A servant enters your quarters and states that you have been summoned by the King to be introduced to this stranger. 
Meeting Prince Redfield is actually quite pleasant. He’s cordial and polite, if a little stilted in conversation. He’s as old as your father, you realize, hearing them discuss old crusades from their youth and battles fought together; it seems more of a social call than an actual interest in marrying you. The men talk long into the evening, countless cups of mead has the Prince slurring and clapping your father on the back good naturedly. 
“Aye she’s a fine lass,” he nods to you, brown eyes soft as his smile, “she reminds me of Claire.”
“How is your sister?” Your father asks, tipping more drink into Prince Redfield’s goblet. 
“She’s to be wed when I return,” he laughs happily, “a young Lord who fought bravely in our last scrimmage against the band of heretics from the mountains.”
The King nods along, “We are fortunate to live so far from such turmoil.”
“I’ll toast to that,” the Prince tips his drink to your father and downs the entire cup, “I think I shall call it a night, sir.”
“It is quite late and you leave early,” the King nods, “thank you for the visit, friend.”
“Twas no hardship,” he grins, standing up to bow; he kisses the back of your hand, “the man to wed you will be quite lucky indeed, my fair lady.”
“Thank you,” you duck your head shyly as you drop into a curtsy, “I bid thee a good night, Prince.”
When you raise your head, he’s staring at you in contemplative shock. 
“She could be her,” he whispers, eyes darting to your father, “do you—”
“I’ll walk you to your quarters.”
The King rises from his seat and grasps the Prince’s arm; his blue eyes turn to you and you press your lips together to stop any questions. 
“Goodnight, daughter.”
You curtsy once more, “Goodnight, father.”
You watch in slight confusion as the two men make their way out of the room at the same time your lady comes to guide you to your quarters. She fusses over you as your other ladies help you undress from your stifling dress and corset, helping you into bed and placing more wood on the fire to keep the chill at bay. You gaze into the hearth of the fireplace and wonder what the Prince was going to ask before your father cut him off. 
Drifting to sleep, you don’t notice the vase of roses blooming to life—unnaturally red and vibrant, their perfume strangely compelling. The next morning, you sneak from your room early, intending to see Prince Redfield off and maybe ask him what he meant the night before. However, when you enter the great hall you see your father walking from the castle entrance. 
“Prince Chris has already left,” he informs you, “he sends his regards and apologizes he did not stay to say goodbye.”
Disappointment sits in your chest, but you smile and thank him before making your way back to your room. The servants hush when you enter your quarters, quickly changing out the strange flowers on your bedside table and rushing from the room. Your lady-in-waiting waves off your questions and easily diverts your attention to your lessons.
It’s the last time you know peace and quiet. 
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Kissed by Moonlight (Alucard x Witch! Reader)
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A/N: This is the newest part of my writing that I'm including! This takes place after season 3 but before the events of season 4 of Castlevania. I'm unsure at the moment whether to include season 4 plotlines, but I hope you enjoy it!
Summary: Born as a witch to a powerful coven, Y/N is destined for greatness. That is until the wrongs of the world destroy her life, leaving her in fear for what she is. It's when her life is on the lines that she runs into the infamous, ghastly castle needing shelter, that she runs into the newest owner. Or, two people join together, yearning for a life they wish they could build.
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PROLOGUE
They said that a red moon was a mark of God’s wrath. However, those born on a red moon were a sign of danger or foreboding.
The sign of a harbinger and the doom for mankind. The day of judgement for all who sinned against God and the heavens. It was one of the superstitions that caused those to feel the most judged and for others to be the most sinister in their beliefs against those.
God worked in many ways, and his followers worked to spread his word, regardless of what they proved was good or bad. They judged and they judged all, regardless of background or creed.
“An upcoming apocalypse,” they cried, “brought forth in the name of one borne from its blood.”
It was what was told to your mother, who carried you when she was abandoned at her lowest. She was welcomed anew by her new family, a coven of sisters. Her brood of many sisters protected and sheltered her: from the men who hurt her, to her village banishing her when her powers were discovered. It was only months into her arrival when the roundness in her belly hardened and swelled, that she found she was with child. Instead of the judgement of producing kin outside of wedlock, your mother was praised and celebrated. It was their words that spoke she was carrying a girl, a new witch that was promised to them after so long of waiting.
Moons changed in their cycles, as did your mother’s belly, growing with the babe inside. Both were pampered and doted, for the girl was claimed as the next to be as strong as the current matron, and all sisters could agree.
When the red moon appeared, as beautiful as its endless cycles before and after, was when the sisters prophesied you would come into the world.
The pain your mother carried her, the tears flooded down her face when she struggled through the night, spurred on by the chants of her many sisters. Eleven to be exact, the space in between was “for the leader himself”, Satan.
With the moon, bleeding and bright above their heads, they circled her in a formation, holding hand in hand as they chanted and praised into the night. Their cries blurred into one with your mother’s, the final push brought you forth with a shriek of your own.
Screaming, begging to be heard.
Swaddled in red, your mother gathered you in her arms. Skin as brown and hair black with small curls, she smiled as she wiped your brow, kissing your forehead lovingly, repeating the words alongside her sisters:
‘Red, red as autumntime. They shall fall in dread when you go by.’
-
1463
Six years Later.
“You’re late.”
“I’m sorry, mama,” the little girl came bounding into the hut, mud and twigs matted in her curly hair, her skin was scratched and bruised from falls, but her toothy smile was enough to bring her mother’s attention to softly scold her. “You’re muddy again, Y/N. Did you cross over the river?”
The little girl darted her eyes away, trying to keep up with her innocent smile. “No.”
“Your ears burn when you lie, did you know that?” She pinched at her round cheek, but her smile was soft compared to how the years had treated her. “I shall clean you up before supper. Instead, we shall continue our lessons.”
“Will I learn to fly again?” The girl beamed, spreading her arms as she flapped them, mimicking the birds she saw in the trees.
“Levitation comes with many years of practise, sweet girl. It will not come to you for many more years. And besides, I shan’t let you fly around these woods, who knows who would see you.”
The girl knew of what lurked in the woods beyond their small camp, of what stalked and hunted in the night. Vampires. The blood leeches that preyed on anyone they saw. Men, women and children were never safe, and the little girl was warmed by her mother and the many sisters of the coven to be wary of their powers, and their manipulations. Targoviste - although safe to protect her from the humans - was not safe in keeping the creatures away. Nowhere was safe for little girls, but Y/N was no ordinary girl.
“Now,” her mother continued, “we shall continue with divine power.”
A favourite of the girl, she rushed to the table, leaning to get a better look. Divine power held two pillars in its wake, a never-ending cycle of balancing life and death. To make life was to call death.
The girl watched on, seeing two potted flowers, one had petals as yellow and bright as a canary’s, but one had shrivelled and died after many days of neglect.
“You remember the words?” Her mother asked as the little girl nodded her head enthusiastically. “Very good, speak them loud and clear, focusing all on the flower that is alive.”
The girl stared at the petals carefully, making sure not to take her eyes off them. She could feel the way they drew life, and how life spread through from the dirt all throughout. With the simple words, the girl commanded, “Capio.”
As if witnessing time move in lightspeed beyond what any human could comprehend, the petals began to shrivel and darken, and the yellow bulbs of the flowers shrunk as they caved in one at a time, curling in as the soil darkened. The girl looked up at her mother, pride flourishing on her face, “Can I say the other one, mama?”
“You may.”
She looked at the decayed pot with the other flower already dead for some time, speaking clearly, “Do.”
The same happened, and the girl remembered her mother describing it as if the lungs of a human were breathing. She could feel how the flower rushed back with life into its soil, brightening and blossoming once again. Its petals developed as they rose high and mighty, taking in the appearance of being freshly plucked not long ago.
“Very good, Y/N. You have gotten very confident with that spell.” She spoke, taking the pots aside, stroking her daughter’s cheek warmly. “You will become a great witch.”
“Just like you?”
“I’m no great witch, my sweet.” Her mother laughed sincerely. “It is I who had to be trained further than I was capable of knowing.”
“How did you find out you were a witch?” The girl pondered.
“When I was a little girl, maybe the same age as you, I was teased by the other children my age,” her mother began, “It got very bad, to the point one day, I was pushed into the river, and they all laughed at me.” There was a sadness in her eyes, but her daughter could read that it was more than just sadness, but anger. “I don’t know what came over me, this feeling. It felt how the wind changes, when storms approach and you can sense it’ll rain. That’s how it felt, a sense of power.” She raised her hand, clenching it open and shut.
“I remember I was staring at a rock in front of me, staring at it so hard, that I hoped for it to move, to hurt them back… I knew it was wrong, but they hurt me.”
“Did you hurt them?”
“No, I gave them a warning. I scared them off by raising the rock for all of them to see. They screamed, running back to their families and accusing me of being a demon.” She laughed sadly before she knelt low to her daughter’s level.
“You must promise me something, Y/N.”
“Yes, mama?”
“No matter how much people hate you for what you are, no matter the pain they inflict. It is better to not hurt them back. We hold—extraordinary power, that no one but us would understand.” She squeezed Y/N’s shoulder in emphasis. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, mama.”
“Good,” she kissed her hairline. “Now, you have the choice to clean up or help me tidy in here before supper.”
“How about I go back outside again?” Y/N beamed, “I’m already dirty, but I can get clean when I return.”
Her mother thought of this for a moment, sighing heavily in defeat. “Very well, but you mustn’t cross the river. It is getting too dark.”
“I promise!” Y/N laughed as she chased the greying clouds, running as far as her little leg could carry her. It was by the time she caught up to the river when her lungs were burning and she stared at the pebbles.
“I could do what Mama did.” She said aloud, only the trees, and the birds in their nests could hear her, and sense her presence. “I can be strong like her.”
She concentrated on the smallest rock beside her, staring and staring at the smoothness of its surface. Holding her palm out, she clenched and unclenched, trying for a moment as she got the pebble to shift once, then again, moving the other rocks it was embedded in, wiggling it free bit by bit.
Her patience was wearing thin, it was taking forever! It wasn’t until she loosened it enough that in a fit of frustration, she yelled into the air, tossing her arm outward as she flung the pebble in its direction, startling her by the suddenness.
“It worked!” She toothily smiled, staring out as she watched the smooth pebble scatter across the water’s edge, catching itself in the mud on the other side.
She was about to happily go back to celebrate her victory, to tell her mother in hopes she’d be proud, but her eyes caught something in the low treeline. The trees blended, and she thought she had seen one move, until a silhouette emerged, tall and willowy, blending in naturally with its surroundings.
Y/N’s smile dropped as she took in the stranger on the other side of the river, staring her down despite her not being able to see their face. It was shrouded in a dark hood, and only their nose and mouth were visible, skin bone-white.
She felt frozen in the very spot she stood in, all sense of fight or flight dispelled from her body, and moving down her spine was the icy-cold sensation of true fear.
Run.
Run.
RUN!
Her heart felt as if it had stopped beating, replacing it with the ticking clock, seconds passing with the chances of escaping running thin.
It was only when the stranger’s face split open into a wide smile, that Y/N could feel the sensation come back to her legs.
Sharp fangs protruded from their mouth, gleaming like silver daggers.
She didn’t know what kept her going, the hope she would make it back alive, or the fact that she wanted to stay alive for her mother’s sake.
She could hear the creature move to keep up with her with ease, chasing the trees as it ran atop, keeping pace with her.
She had hoped the moment she got back to her mother’s hut that it was all a cruel nightmare. That she would wake up in her bed and nothing had happened.
Her small village grew closer in the distance, with the sounds of the winds and creatures close and surrounding her. She could almost feel their breath on the back of her neck, their laughter, mocking her to move faster—as if she was their prey and they enjoyed the chase. It felt like there were thousands of them, an army of them chasing after her.
Y/N’s lungs burned for air until she reached the front door, and everything was deadly quiet, except for the sound of her wheezing. No candles burned in the hut, nor in any other that she knew a sister occupied. Where is everyone? She thought, scanning the village, where no light was seen.
“Mama? You must let me in! There’s—” she pushed the door open to witness the horrors in front of her. “Vampires.”
The blood was the first thing she noticed, startling and fresh, with her mother’s body lying alongside it, eyes vacant and clouded.
Y/N didn’t know the scream that came from her lips came from her, crashing to the floor and coming into contact with her mother’s body. “No, no, mama, please! Wake up!” She shook her violently, staring only back into cold, lifeless eyes. “Wake up, please! Wake up, wake up, wake up!”
She scanned the room, everything had been scattered in places in the small room, as if someone had come in and pulled it apart, root and stem. Think, Y/N, think! She thought, and only did she spot the items that she crawled the smashed plotted plants.
She cradled it in her hands, pooling soil as she cupped them to keep the flower stable, chanting the words over and over again. “Capio.”
She watched, waiting, hoping and praying to whoever was out there to hear her prayers, but she continued and continued. “Capio. Capio. Do. Do.”
The flower in her grasp did not budge with death, instead, its petals remained its dull, yellowish-hue, staring back at her hopelessly as she had felt. It was only the realisation hitting her that she knew the others in her coven were not there anymore either, and she was the only one left.
Tears flooded down her cheeks, and Y/N cradled her mother’s body, already growing colder with the seconds passing. “Please come back… I need you.”
-
Latin Translations:
Capio – (I) take/seize
Do – (I) give/bestow
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Saving Ragnar
Paz Vizsla x reader
Mandalorian S3 E4 SPOILERS!
no beta read, we die like the younglings
1566 words, angst with a happy ending, no y/n
Literally just self-indulgence.
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“Mom, are you sure I’m ready to start sparring with the others?”
“Of course you are sweetheart. Why wouldn’t you be?” I respond, brushing some dust off of his brand-new helmet.
“Well… I’m… I haven’t been with the covert as long as the other kids. What if I haven’t trained enough. What if I embarrass you and dad. What if–” I hold up a hand to stop him and pull him into a hug.
“Ragnar, you could never embarrass us. We love you very much and know you have trained more than enough. But failing in a sparring match will teach you things that you will not learn otherwise.” I take his hands and crouch so we are eye to eye, well… visor to visor, “remember what we have taught you and trust yourself.”
“I’ll try.” he sighs. I shake my head.
“Don’t try. Do.” I say softly.
“She’s right.” I hear from the entryway of our little home alcove. I see my husband leaning against the wall. He walks towards us and crouches next to me, putting a hand on Ragnar’s shoulder, “We are so proud of you, and no matter what happens today, we know you will learn from today.”
Ragnar takes a deep breath and nods.
“Come, the others have already begun training,” Paz says, standing up and patting our son on the shoulder. This seems to get the young boy excited, he practically runs out of the alcove.
“He will be fine cyare,” Paz says, putting an arm around my shoulders.
“I know that, but does he?” I sigh.
“Let’s go find out.”
….
A few minutes later, Ragnar has begun his first-ever sparring match.
It begins quite mildly, with a little bit of a scuffle as both children try to gain the upper hand, but Ragnar comes out on top, throwing his opponent in the sand.
Once declared the winner, he looks over to us, watching from a distance. I clang my vambraces together in excitement.  He nods and brings his focus back to the judge. It is then that I notice Din’s little one standing across from Ragnar as if to challenge.
“Is he putting his baby into a match?” Paz asks no one in particular.
“He knows his child best,” I respond, continuing to watch as Din convinces the judge it will be ok.
Ragnar chooses to fight with darts to which Paz remarks, “good choice.”
While waiting for the training darts, Ragnar begins speaking to Din, asking why the child does not wear a helmet, then saying he is too young to fight. Din reminds him of part of the Creed, sounding a little bit passive-aggressive, but whatever, that's just Din.
I sigh when Ragnar speaks, “Well, I know.”
“Well, we know what he will learn today then,” Paz states, a smile in his voice at his son’s sass.
After a moment of Din teaching Grogu how to fire the darts, the match begins.
The first two points go to Ragnar, quite easily, seeing as Grogu looked like he did not know what to do.
After another brief talk from Djarin, the next round begins.
Ragnar fires his dart the same as before, but this time, the small child jumps out of the way and completely over him, then back to his original position, firing all three darts and winning the challenge.
Ragnar looks around, confused, before looking back at us. I nod to him as Paz says, “One doesn’t speak unless one knows.”
Ragnar visibly sighs before walking toward an empty part of the beach to calm down.
“A valuable lesson has been learned today,” the Armorer speaks up, “go make sure he remembers it.”
We both nod and begin walking toward our son, but the flying beast comes flying over the mountain.
My heart stops, this creature has been picking us off for weeks, and it is flying directly toward the easiest target.
My son.
I'm not even sure I'm breathing as I take to the sky, willing my jetpack to go faster and faster, but it is still not enough. The beast is getting further and further ahead, Ragnar still flailing in its talons.
My pack begins to run out of fuel and I feel tears streaming under my helmet. I whisper, “please…no.”
I am forced to land, Paz and Din not far behind.
Even though I can't fly, I can still run, so I do. I don't even think as I hurdle over rocks and bushes, ignoring the burning in my legs and lungs.
I don’t notice my husband and friend running behind me to stop me until they each grab one of my arms.
“No! We have to get him! I can’t lose him!” I scream, fighting to get out of their hold.
“We can’t get him like this, we need to regroup. Look,” Din points, “Bo-katan is following the beast to its nest. When she comes back we will know exactly where it is.” he reasons.
I take a deep breath, following the ship with my eyes.
….
When Bo-katan vets back to the covert she immediately proposes a plan to save the boy.
We leave the covert within the hour and land where we have to start walking.
The sun is setting by the time we reach the peak holding the nest.
We make camp for the night. I help prepare the food, thankful for something to keep my mind off of my son, who will have to spend the night alone and scared in the lair of the beast.
Din explains how meals work in groups like this as the food is distributed.
Bo stands up to find somewhere to eat, but Paz stops her. “You are the leader of the war party. You have the honor of staying by the fire. This is the Way.” he says, taking my hand so we can find a place to eat together.
We eat in silence, having nothing to say in this solemn environment.
Fifteen minutes later, our helmets are back on, and we are back with the group, settling down for the night.
Sleeping on the ground next to my husband is not an unfamiliar experience, but it seems wrong to sleep when my child is not safe at home, surrounded by his family. I stay silent I feel tears reach my eyes.
Paz seems to sense my distress in his sleep as he pulls me closer to him, mumbling nonsense as he dreams.
Eventually, my tears fade and the feelings of fear and sadness in my heart are replaced with resolve, we will get our son back.
I don't know when or how I fell asleep but I am woken by my husband, who is gently shaking my shoulder.
The second I remember where we are and why, I’m up.
We have a short breakfast before re-stating the plan and beginning the climb up the peak.
Reaching the bundle of branches and sticks, I notice the eerie silence within the nest. Once we reach the edge of the nest, Din scans the area, pointing out heat signatures from the left.
Paz takes off immediately, against everyone’s protests, “He’s my son!” he says running in the direction Din pointed, shouting for our son.
He is knocked over by three baby beasts screeching and snapping at him, hungry for food. The mother comes flying up to the nest, alerted by the babies’ noise.
Paz covers himself with parts of the nest, trying to hide from the bird.
The bird begins regurgitating something for the young ones, and I almost lose my grip on the edge of the nest when I see that something is my son.
“Help me!” he calls out when he sees us.
I let out a breath of relief as Paz exclaims “He's alive!”
Paz activates his jetpack, flying toward the creature’s face to get it to drop Ragnar. The beast holds Paz in its mouth and Ragnar in its talons as it takes off, the war party not far behind.
Bo-katan is the first to attempt to grab Ragnar, getting smacked down by a wing in the process.
I am the next one to approach, grabbing Ragnar’s hand and pulling. He didn't budge.
I latch onto the creature’s ankle, pulling out my blade to get it to loosen its grip.
I didn't account for getting scratched off the leg by the other foot, earning deep gashes on my elbow and side.
I cry out as I fall, spinning out of control until I steady myself with my pack, landing on the side of a peak.
Paz is then released from the beast’s jaws as Bo-katan stabs its face. He lands right next to me, groaning in pain.
“Are you alright?” I breathe.
“Yes, you?”
“I’ll live,” I respond, holding a hand to one of the deeper gashes.
We watch as Din lands a successful stab at the creature’s ankle. It drops Ragnar and Din races to stop his fall.
He latches onto Ragnar just as the others take down the beast, flying him over to where we hold on to the rocks.
When they land Paz firmly asks, “are you okay?” Ragnar clambers over to me, clinging to my chest before breathlessly answering, “I’m okay dad.”
“Thank you,” I say to Din over Ragnar’s helmet.
“This is the Way” he replies
“This is the Way” we echo.
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a-little-buggy · 8 months ago
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Hello! I wrote an Assassin's Creed fanfic based on @sulfies' ideas about the bleeding effect! (Plus some other HCs that he has mentioned thrown in for flavor) He has SUCH amazing art, you should definitely check it out if you haven't yet! This was actually my first time writing fanfiction, so feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!
Chased by Shadows
Word count: 2,699
Desmond raced through the streets of Firenze, bumping shoulders with people as he passed. Behind him, he could still hear the hurried steps of the guards. "Get back here! You'll suffer for this!"
He glanced back at his pursuers, but collided with a man carrying a heavy crate, which tumbled and busted on the ground. "Watch where you're going next time!"
"Scusami! I'm sorry!" Desmond kept running.
Ahead, he saw a stack of crates, leading to a number of poles and balconies. Surely the guards would be slow to follow. He leapt up, balancing himself briefly before taking another leap. Balance, leap, balance, leap, swing, balance; it was a comfortingly familiar rhythm. But Desmond was exhausted, and felt too at ease with the acrobatics. Relying on muscle memory that wasn't his. He reached for a clothesline, but it slipped from his fingers and he hit the ground.
He rolled enough that he wasn't hurt, (not badly), but the guards were nearly on top of him again. "Cazzo!" Desmond pulled himself to his feet, and was running again.
Ahead, the street was widening into a market. "Perhaps I can lose them in the crowd."
He slowed to mimic the flow of the people milling and shopping, weaving his way deeper into the stalls, always checking over his shoulder. The guards were always just behind him.
He passed through a group of monks, and turned again to check if he was still followed. The guards were further away now, but one of them turned and caught his eye. Desmond began backing away, preparing to bolt again, but squarely ran into someone.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He readied his blade.
"Are you alright, mi amico?"
Desmond wheeled around. "Ezio?" He breathed a sigh of relief. "Dio mio, it is good to see you! Can you help rid me of these guards?"
"What guards?" Ezio peered into the sea of faces.
"They've been chasing me all morning!" Desmond grabbed Ezio's arm, ushering him through the masses, barely steps ahead of his tormentors.
"Follow me then." Ezio took the lead, weaving and wending through the crowd, until they reached the edge of the marketplace. Here, the rows of houses began again. Ezio planted his foot on a windowsill, then leaped upwards. He climbed hand over hand, from the window, to the balcony, the banister, the roof. Desmond followed close behind, mirroring his movements exactly.
The two bounded between the rooftops. Desmond kept his gaze focused on Ezio's movements, but behind him, he heard the continued protests of the guardsmen.
"Up ahead!" Ezio quickly rounded a corner, and by the time Desmond had done the same, he barely caught a glimpse of Ezio's boots disappearing under the sheet of a rooftop garden. Desmond leaped in after him. He hadn't slowed down enough, but fortunately, Ezio grabbed hold of him before he could crash into the opposing wall.
The two assassins sat there, sheltering in the shaded box, waiting with hitched breath. Desmond could hear footsteps, murmers, "Did you see where they went?"
"Well," Ezio said, as he started dusting himself off. "That should take care of -"
"Shh!" Desmond slapped his hand over Ezio's mouth and rose a finger to his own. "They'll hear you!"
Ezio glared at him, but frustration was quickly replaced by perplexion and concern. He gently removed Desmond's hand, then clasped it in his own. He entwined their fingers together, staring fixatedly at the blackened hand, as if by some strange. . . burn? Ezio returned his gaze to meet Desmond's, then gestured his head towards the curtain, mouthing, "I'll check." He released the seemingly charred fingers, giving them one last reassuring stroke, then crept over to peer from a corner. He shifted and peeked out another corner, and then another curtain. Finally, he stood up.
"We are the only ones on this rooftop." Ezio looked down at Desmond, who was sat in the corner, wringing his hands. In an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, Ezio gave him a sly smirk and added, "Unless those pigeons are the pursuers you spoke of."
"I. . . I was. . ." Desmond shook his head, then rose to his feet to look for himself. The rooftops were empty. He gave a deep sigh, then straightened up. "Bene," He said, as he started dusting himself off. "Those lurido porci must have finally given up!" Ezio was still staring, and it was starting to make his skin crawl. "What is it?"
"I do not intend to seem rude, but. . ." Ezio trailed off, then leaned back against a corner post, folding his arms. "Have you always spoken Italiano?"
Desmond scoffed. "Of course I have!" He said, gesturing furiously. "Why wouldn't I speak my own-"
Oh.
Desmond slumped back down into the corner. He began wringing his hands again. His hands. Then why didn't they feel like his?
Ezio knelt down in front of Desmond, and lifted his face towards the dim light. "You look tired, Desmond. When is the last time you really slept?"
"I dunno. . ." Desmond shook his head, then gave a weak chuckle. "What year is it?"
"Not the answer I was looking for." Ezio's hand still rested on Desmond's cheek, his thumb gently stroking the other man's chin. Ezio lingered, seemingly lost in his thoughts. "Exhaustion can do funny things to a man."
"But don't fret, mi amore." Ezio lowered his hand, now playfully tapping Desmond's chest. "I know where to find the very best beds in this city!" And with this, Ezio rose, and doing a triumphant turn thrust open a curtain.
"I can't say I'm surprised," Desmond responded, and reached his hand up. Ezio in turn clasped Desmond's forearm, and pulled him to his feet, the two colliding slightly.
Ezio again held open the curtain, and with an overly dramatic bow held out his hand and said, "After you."
Desmond rolled his eyes. "Such a gentleman." He took Ezio's and climbed over the low wall. Ezio climbed out after, and they made their way back down to the streets.
Ezio led the way, making idle conversation as they went. "Now, normally, I would be going to La Rosa Colta, but if the intention is to actually sleep, there is a lovely inn a little further to the east, where. . ."
Desmond couldn't stay focused on what Ezio was saying. The streets were too busy; too many faces and voices. They all blurred together, taking on shapes that were old and familiar. He would have sworn that he caught a glimpse of Lucy. Or that he saw Rebecca sitting on a bench. Had Shaun just called his name? He turned around to look, but all of these people were strangers. His friends were not to be found here.
Someone grabbed his arm, and he flinched.
"You're lucky I didn't wander off without you." Ezio started to scowl at Desmond, but abandoned it quickly, instead examining Desmond's arm. "I. . . didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No! No, 'course not." Desmond pulled away, and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just. . . I'm feeling pretty out of it. That's all." He pleaded to whatever powers may be that if his eyes were wet, Ezio wouldn't notice.
"Well, I would hate to lose you in this crowd," Ezio said, taking Desmond's hand.
Desmond wished he could feel it, could take comfort in the sensation of Ezio's fingers wrapped around his own, but his charred skin had lost all feeling. As they walked through the busy streets, Desmond couldn't help but feel disconnected from this world. As though he wasn't really a part of it, or wasn't even really here. Some piece of him was grateful for the anchor to Ezio, leading the way through this unrelenting sea of people, but he couldn't help but feel that the noticeable numbness was just making this sense of unbelonging worse.
Ezio could apparently sense Desmond's unease. "We're getting close now. I promise."
Sure enough, after turning another corner they approached a modest inn. It was a tall building, with green banners and curtains to distinguish it from the other houses lined alongside. They entered into a lobby filled with chairs and benches which had a staircase to one side. On the other side sat an older woman at a desk, with several keys hanging on the wall behind her. She was presently checking in another traveler.
"You go ahead upstairs." Ezio released Desmond's hand, and patted him on the shoulder. "I will get us sorted with a solitary accommodation."
Desmond nodded, and proceeded up the staircase, which creaked under his feet. His head ached, and his legs ached, and he stopped after the first flight of stairs to lean against the wall. This floor had just a few large rooms, which would hold several beds, each with the understanding that many travelers would share. The private rooms were likely up another level. "Great," Desmond muttered under his breath. "More stairs." He continued climbing.
Fortunately, the staircase ended at the third floor, which had a winding hallway through many small rooms. Desmond breathed a sigh of relief, and walked a little ways down the hall. Out of curiosity, he tested one of the knobs, but it was locked. It was quiet up here, at least. Desmond slumped down against the door, halfway considering dozing off.
"Well, you took your time getting here."
Desmond jumped up, blinking his eyes. In front of him stood a young woman wearing a blue brocade dress. She was toying with her glittering necklace. Desmond finally realized she was talking to him. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"
She put her hands on her hips. "Oh, don't go getting coy now! Haven't I waited long enough already?" She reached out and rubbed her thumb along Desmond'shirt collar.
He looked at her in perplexement, and then drew away, realization dawning on him. "Oh. I get it. Look, ma'am, you've got me mistaken for someone else. And besides that, you aren't real. So maybe you could just. . . save us both some time and vanish? Or whatever?"
"I've been dreaming of this night for so long. . ." The woman crooned, drawing closer. Apparently, his words had no effect on. . . her? It?
He drew back again, this time anger and frustration welling up inside of him. "You know what? I have had enough of all of this! I am telling you, here and now, to LEAVE ME THE FU-"
"Desmond?" Ezio came jogging up the stairs, key in hand. "Who are you shouting at?"
Desmond threw his hands in the air. "NOBODY! Nobody at all! After all, who else would I talk to, if not some figment of my imagination!?"
Ezio reached the top step, and started searching for their door. "Well, you might have an easier time of it talking to me."
Desmond huffed. "Well, I also might have an easier time of it if you hadn't slept with half the women in Firenze!"
Desmond glared at Ezio, who, for his part, looked very lost and confused. Desmond took a deep breath, and buried his face in his hands. "You have no idea what I'm talking about. I have no idea what I'm talking about. Forget I said anything."
Ezio nodded. "You aren't feeling well. I will not hold it against you." Ezio started leading Desmond down the hall, looking for their room. "I remember once when I was young, I fell ill. I had a fever, and was lying in bed. And when Federico came in to check on me, I threw every. . . colorful word I knew at him. He simply nodded and left, and then returned a few minutes later with a hot cup of milk."
He chuckled fondly to himself. "Unfortunately, my mother overheard our one-sided conversation. I love her immensely, but the woman seldom forgives. And I swear to you, she never forgets."
By now they had found their door, which Ezio unlocked and entered. It was a little tight, but it had a bed and bedside table, and a window, and a small chest of drawers with an unlit candle on top.
Ezio crossed the room and closed the curtains. He looked back at Desmond, who had dragged himself up onto the bed and buried his head under a pillow. "Are you not even going to take off your shoes?"
"Mmfph" said the pillow.
"Va bene." Ezio flopped onto the bed next to Desmond, and the two laid there in silence.
. . . . .
"I'm sorry, I cannot do this." Ezio bolted upright and shifted to the foot of the bed, where he began unlacing his boots.
Desmond pulled his head out from under the pillow. "Weeeaak," he jeered.
"My mother may have raised an idiota, but she did not raise a slob." Once Ezio had removed everything but his pants and undershirt, he laid back down on the bed and sighed. "Much better."
Desmond gave him a sleepy smile, but then turned his attention to staring intently at the window. He shook his head and nestled back into the pillow, only to lift his head to peer at the window again a few minutes later.
Ezio rolled over to face him. "Desmond? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I just. . ." Desmond sighed. "Ezio, you would tell me if you heard something, right?
"Of course, if it seemed important. Why do you ask?"
"It's nothing, really. I just keep thinking I hear sirens."
"Sirens?" Ezio propped himself up on his elbows, and then placed a hand on either side of Desmond, leaning over him. Ezio's hair had come undone, and his shirt hung loosely from his shoulders, his collarbones and chest hair peeking out from underneath. Desmond gulped. "Desmond, I am right here. Why would you go to some. . ." Ezio's face scrunched with revulsion, "fish-women for sex?"
Desmond blinked. He blinked again, and then rubbed his eyes. "I think we're talking about two very different things."
"Oh." Ezio's ears turned slightly pink, and he sat back on his legs. "What did you mean by sirens, then?"
"Sirens, are. . ." Desmond trailed off, rubbing his temple. "It's kinda like an alarm, but strapped to a carriage?"
"I see." Ezio laid back down on the bed. "If an alarm is raised, I will make sure you are aware. But I truly do not believe there to be reason for concern." Ezio turned to face Desmond again. "I only hope that resting will do you some good. I fear I don't know any other way to help."
"Ezio, you've helped more than enough already. Hell, I might still be running from imaginary guards if it hadn't been for you." Desmond shut his eyes firmly, and took a deep breath. "I. . . I can't hardly tell what's real anymore." Desmond didn't say he was afraid, but he figured his voice had betrayed that already.
"Perhaps you can still find comfort in what you know for fact." Ezio reached over, taking Desmond's blackened hand in his own. "Perhaps you can find comfort with me."
Desmond stared at their hands. "Yeah. . . I guess. . ."
"You guess? You mean, you guess I'm real?"
"That isn't what I meant -"
"No, no. Come here." Ezio wrapped his arms around Desmond, and pulled him close so Desmond's head was now laying on Ezio's chest. "You are safe, Desmond. And you are not alone. So please, try to get some sleep."
Desmond laid there, in the still silence. He listened to Ezio's heartbeat, and felt the weight of Ezio's arms around him. He was grateful for the quiet and warmth. But sleep could not come quickly enough, and silence can also bring worry. Did I offend him? After all, how would I feel if someone else implied I might not exist? Will he resent me for all this?
Desmond's anxiety spiral was interrupted by a new sound. An intermittent low rumbling. He groggily lifted his head to look for its source, before realizing it was in perfect sync with the rise and fall of Ezio's chest.
He's snoring.
Desmond let out a deep sigh, laid his head back down, and closed his eyes. He allowed himself to sink into Ezio's warm, sleepy embrace. And for the first time in what felt like centuries, Desmond slept soundly.
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weirdsociology · 2 years ago
Text
Distractions (The Mandalorian, E)
Title: Distractions (6.6k)
Series: Part one of Creed, a non-linear series about Din Djarin and his favorite... distraction. 
Description: An artifact from the Mandalorian's past leads to trying something new - and remembering the past.
Pairing: Din Djarin x Female Reader
Content warnings: Explicit sexual content, sex toys, fingering, mutual masturbation, dirty talk, oral sex, penetrative sex, implied violence, spit, a touch of size kink, light manhandling, very mild D/s in all directions because we love a switch in this house, no betas we die like men, canon what canon
Tropes: hurt/comfort, idiots with feelings, angst but it all works out in the end, the helmet stays on
Author's note: I blacked out, I don't know what happened, and frankly I'm embarrassed that the first fanfic I've written in 20 years is kind of fluffy and not significantly more insane. This little offering is canon timeline-agnostic; I just wanted to give our armored dumbass a happy ending. Please don't think this reflects my personality, I am spiritually covered in the blood of my enemies at all times. Also there is one small bit of truth from my personal life in here and I'll give you a hint: it wasn't flashbangs, it was bayonets. This one is for @tarabyte3 who got me excited about what fanfiction can do again.
***
Sometimes, it's hard to sleep in hyperspace. A ship this old doesn't have the automated circadian rhythm programs that dim the lights according to species preference, and all the daylight bulbs are second-hand, their blueness dimmed by repeated use. Darkness is in plentiful supply, but that's only half the equation of an artificial night. You do your best, careful to check the time reads on the navigational display, and adhere to a schedule as much as you can. It helps give structure to long periods of transit, and you know that ten years from now, your body and mind will thank you for being careful to guard their rest.
The Mandalorian, by contrast, doesn't have a diurnal cycle as far as you've been able to tell. His sleep patterns are pure anarchy, having nothing to do with mood or physical need. Sometimes he'll spend a week getting no more rest than a few brief, truncated minutes on the ground after trekking in harsh terrain. Sometimes you'll go looking for him after a quiet stretch in flight and he'll be in the bed he calls his rack, completely dormant for the next fourteen standard hours. You don't know how he does it. He lives like someone who fully expects to die before their body has enough years to register protest - which on the one hand makes you anxious, and on the other you find it hard to blame him for.
Still, despite all your attendance to regularity, there are nights - times - when you can't sleep. Especially when you are headed past the Outer Rim, and the length of travel means nothing to do except read and watch holovideos you've already seen and eat stale food and exercise in cramped, artificial repetition. Nothing new to look at, nothing new to do.
Which is how you end up awake at this hour, dressed in nothing but your bandeau and shorts with goosebumps pebbling your legs as you lean over one of the big crates in the cargo bay. You're digging through the thermoplastic case that holds the Mandalorian's personal possessions, looking for one of the old holonovels you're sure he has stowed, when you find it. A smooth, round black cylinder with a cap on each end. At first, you suspect it's yet another esoteric firearm - but then why isn't it in the weapons locker above?
Curious, you gingerly remove the cap from one end. Life on the ship has taught you to be cautious about any unfamiliar object. You don't know if it's normal Mandalorian living style to have to shove aside a mountain of electronic flashbangs when looking for clean blankets, but it's certainly normal for this one.
What's inside isn't like any weapon you've ever seen. The cylinder is filled with something soft and yielding, silicone or plastisilk you think, and it gives disconcertingly when you brush a thumb over it. There's a small bore in the middle about the diameter of your finger, but the polymer feels like it would stretch. It's textured near where the cap would fit, small ridges inside and a gentle flowering of protuberances around the borehole. Almost like -
You stand up, unsure whether to blush or laugh, and snap the cap back on. You've certainly found something new this time; something that might help break the monotony of space travel if you approach the topic - and Mando - correctly. If you're right there should be something else nearby, something that would make this a little more... usable.
There is. A discreet bottle, neatly wrapped in plain paper.
You take cylinder and bottle and step out in the corridor from the bay, checking the location of your fellow crew. Mando is not in his rack or the lockers, which means he's in the cockpit. The Child is in his usual nest. It's late, and the kid should be asleep for a long while yet. You jam the - the toy, you suppose - and the bottle into one hand and climb your way up the ladder, half appalled at your boldness and half delighted at the thought of making your Mandalorian squirm for once. You're secretly hoping to catch him out, tease him with the evidence of his private sexual habits, a friendly nip around the edges of his Creed. 
"Look what I found," you say as you approach the pilot's chair. His head is turned away from you, bent over something in the navcomp, his long legs in front of him as stretched out as they can be in the small space. He hums an acknowledgement and takes a moment to finish entering something before he looks over his shoulder. You offer the cylinder to him flat across your palms, like a knight offering a loyal blade, which you hope is both funny and at least a little charming.
It doesn't work. He's still looking at you. You wave it in front of him instead, resisting the urge to waggle your eyebrows. The helmet drops to consider the cylinder, then you. "I'd forgotten I had that. Where did you find it?"
You stop, hands still outstretched. "Forgot-- your crate in the cargo bay, but... is this what I think it is?"
Mando can't raise his own eyebrows at you, but his chin twitches upward in the way you've learned to interpret is the same thing. "Do you think it's a cock sleeve? Because it is."
"Is that what you call it?"
"I've always been less concerned about what to call it than how to use it," he says. He's fully turned to face you now. The conversation is not going as you imagined. You flush and he gives you an appraising look, taking in your half-undressed state.
"Isn't that... Against your Creed?" How does he do this. How does he always turn the tables. How is it you're the one quailing under the calm scrutiny of his helmet. You'd meant this as a good-natured ribbing, not a come-on, but suddenly you're picturing what you were decidedly not thinking about earlier - Mando, years ago, alone in his rack or fresh from a hunt, with his beskar still on and his arming jacket rucked up, screwing the toy down onto himself with his fist. The thought makes heat pool between your legs. It also makes you a little melancholy. Suddenly you want to fuck him and hold him in equal measure.
"You weren't always here, you know," he says calmly, honest and unembarrassed as he is shockingly honest and unembarrassed about everything to do with sex. He reaches for you, captures your wrists, pulls you further into the cockpit and down into his lap. You thrill as always at his casual possessiveness, his desire to be close. At the breadth of his shoulders under your hands. "The Creed isn't against pleasure, only distraction. Sometimes it's more distracting to make your body suffer than to give it what it wants."
"Like me?" you ask. It's a joke that once would have stung, an echo of your first night together - you are nothing to me but a distraction from my work - but it's an old wound, long since rubbed over by the smooth edges of time and shared affection.
An amused huff through the modulator. "Like you," he agrees, and though the helmet dampers every inflection you now know, where once you only imagined, the statement is fond.
***
You'd been traveling together for months, a reluctant passenger paired with an unhappy custodian. It had been weeks since the first time the tension between you rose to the breaking point, pulling his hands to you like a gravity well. You were now fucking the Mandalorian regularly, enthusiastically, and, at least to you, inadequately. Regardless of how well you took him, how perfectly he fit when he slicked and stretched his way into you, your heart hammered the same rhythm: no room, no room. His attitude toward you had made that abundantly clear. There was no room for you in his life, on his ship, in his Creed. You were his... distraction. That's all.
You mostly ignored it. When you were working or hunting, you barely thought about it. You pushed the thought down and stored it away to keep from slicing yourself on its sharp edges. But there were moments when it pressed forward again, tumbling out of the drawer of your heart in disarray. The Mandalorian was behind you or over you or under you and you were crying out the name you knew him by even as your blood rushed in your ears demanding more. Not more sex, not more of the heavy punch of his hips against you or the feeling of his hands in your hair, but more of him. You wanted him. You wanted everything.
You wanted to know what it kriffing meant when he called you his distraction.
And sometimes, after you had been fucked within an inch of your life and left lying on your bunk or still pressed against the weapons locker, it hurt a breathtaking amount.
You were pretty sure the Mandalorian was not unaware of how he affected you. Beyond that first epithet which became routine, he was not intentionally cruel. Away from the heat that flared between you and his resentment at his own inability to ignore it, he was considerate and distant and respectful. Unfailingly polite. You loathed every moment of it with a growing bitterness that threatened to replace food and sleep. It reminded you of the time you'd run into a recruiter after she’d turned you down for a job. Sorry kid, you had your chance to convince me and you blew it. Except Mando, being Mando, had never given you a chance at all.
It was worse when you fucked. For weeks, you had resolved over and over to put an end to his careful handling of you. Better an angry rebuttal or cold silence than... whatever this pitiful halfway connection was. Next time he approached you with that weight in his step or crowded you into a corner, too close, you would force his hand. You knew that was the time to do it, when you had his full attention and the bargaining chip of your body. You'd seize his wandering gaze and stare into the helmet: "Why do you call me a distraction?"
You had told yourself this a dozen times. But his practiced fingers were already slipping inside you and all you could do was whine as his modulated voice, sounding not quite human, breathed a word that meant nothing to you in your ear: Mesh'la, mesh'la, mesh'la.
***
You had entreated him to show you how he used it, before you joined his crew. Before, as he drily puts it while running a gloved hand up your thigh and teasing along the waistband of your shorts, he had a far superior array of options. Now you're mostly naked in the dim light, seated between his spread legs, his helmet tipped against the headrest as he leans back. You're watching the arched column of his throat, watching his gloved fingers wrapped around the cylinder and most of all, watching his thick cock disappear into the plush expanse of the toy. He's hard but not fully erect, probably because you refused to touch him until you got to see him touch himself. Not that you needed to threaten - you both know that Din, and it's Din now, in the privacy of the cockpit with both of you partially undressed and warmth radiating from him, will deny you nothing where his body is concerned. Except, of course, his face.
His cock is stirring to full attention, and you suspect it has more to do with your rapt gaze on him than his own ministrations. It's a novelty for you to watch him for once. The way you two fuck, he normally has the better view, pulling back to see your cunt swallow his length and hear you moan in gratitude. He likes to watch you touch yourself while you're speared on him, chasing your own orgasm as you clench. He likes to see your thighs tremble when you ride him, and your face when he makes you come too much. "One more, mesh'la, one more for me, let me see you," he'll croon, as one hand worships your sore clit and the other bats away your arm as you try to bury your face in the crook of your elbow. Din likes to watch anything that shows him how good he makes you feel.
Your Mandalorian might be on to something, you decide. Watching certainly has its appeal. You can hear the soft slide of the toy, see the tension in his forearms and his stomach even through his tunic, his breath through the helmet fast but even. He looks gorgeous like this, a warrior half-undone for your enjoyment. You slide the palms of your hands up his thighs and run them lightly along the bare skin peeking through where he's partially shucked himself of armor and clothing. His breathing alters a little, hitching as your skin makes contact with his.
"How does it feel?" you ask, watching the steady rise and fall of the cylinder. You idly trace a finger up his groin and along the sensitive skin just under his sack. He hisses, and you twitch in response to the noise you know so well, your cunt giving a little spasm as if to remind you of its needs.
After a moment, Din answers your question. "Tight, but not warm. Better than nothing but... Like a ration bar when I have a meal right in front of me," he adds pointedly, and one booted foot slides between your folded knees, leather rubbing along the seam of your sex to make his point clear. "I like that you like looking at me, but we could have bought a mirror instead. I could be fucking you in front of it right now."
Your cheeks warm as you think about it: Din, arching over your back, holding your chin, making you watch your own face as he nudges the head of his cock into you. You don't know how you'd feel staring at yourself like that, but your cunt twitches again, letting you know that more important parts of you fully approve of the concept. The helmet has dropped back down. He's observing your reaction. You file the idea away for later. "I like seeing you like this, though. Did you really never use it after you met me?"
A chuckle. "Oh, I used it. Before... when you were first here. I used it so much I think I did permanent damage."
A little shiver of heat winds up from the base of your spine. This is new information. But he's not done. "Which is why I should be allowed to show you how much I appreciate you, not this plastic junk." He makes a show of slowing down, grinding up into the toy and letting out an exaggerated groan. You know he's still watching you closely, waiting for his cue.
You give him a wicked grin. "Sometimes... it's more distracting to make your body suffer than give it what it wants." Din groans for real in response, but you have other things on your mind. "Back before... when you... were you thinking of me?"
He makes an uninterpretable noise. "Oh no, mesh'la, I wasn't thinking of you. Only of your hips. And your hair. And your tits. And your ass. And your cunt, and if I could get you wet for me, and what that pretty mouth would look like around me, and how you'd sound when I put my cock down your throat."
"... Fuck," you say breathlessly. What started as a flutter has become an aching, empty pulse. "Fuck, Din," and you lean forward, bringing your face almost close enough to nuzzle where he's still sheathed in the toy, breathing in his scent. It has the unintended effect of driving the tip of his boot further into you, a solid mass pushing on the thrumming bundle of nerves between your legs.
When you first started doing this, he said very little to you. You could read nothing in his body except desire and frustration, both of which he extinguished in the furnace of your sex. Later, after Mos Eisley, when anger was no longer the single note of your shared existence, he talked to you constantly. The man of few words outside the ship became the man of many words when he was buried inside you. He told you what he was going to do to you, what he wanted to do to you, how good you felt and what you did to him. He talked like he was trying to construct a gilded cage of words you wouldn't fly away from. You had been dumbfounded by the change, shy and unsure, unable to find a way to reassure him you had already stooped to his lure. Part of you was afraid that if he knew the truth - that you'd have him any way he wanted, silent or talkative or babbling in Tuskan sign - he would stop. He hadn't, but the stream had slowed. More deliberate, less frantic. Somehow even more indecent.
He's being indecent right now, timing the strokes of the toy with his words. "I wanted you every morning and twice at night." Down. "I couldn't think - could barely shoot straight." Back up. "I wanted to bend you over the crates and fuck you until you felt the same." A slow slide back down. "Fill you up with me until you cried, until you knew you were mine, until that sweet cunt wouldn't want anyone else." Up, until just the tip of him is still out of sight. He's losing his even tone, the modulator turning gasps into static. "And then I did fuck you, and it got so much worse. You let me pull you open and put my cock in the hottest, wettest place in the galaxy and-- are you really going to come on my boot instead of letting me fuck you?"
You come to with a little start, pulled aware by the abrupt shift in subject. There's dampness under you, and you realize you've been rocking back and forth on his boot, rubbing the folds of your cunt against the worn leather, and moaning into his lap while he talks. It feels so good to be here, sitting at his feet as he strokes himself for you, hearing the jagged details of your shared past transformed by pleasure. The scruff of the boot against you, the bite of a seam into your tenderest flesh, the smell - steel and old smoke and hot sand - so uniquely Mandalorian it has you panting for him.
"Din," you breathe. "Stop -- stop. I want to feel you."
That's all it takes. The toy is gone in an instant, he's off the pilot's chair and dragging you upright and his half-bare hips are against yours, crowding you into the console. His cock is painfully hard against you, already smeared with precum and the lubricant that makes someone of his size using a toy like that even possible. You realize with dizzy delight that this is going to be one of those times where he fucks you without preamble, pushing his way in, making you feel every inch of his invasion. The pleasurable burn of your cunt adjusting to his girth will be revenge for making him use the toy - a revenge he knows you will enjoy.
More leather, this time at your mouth. The feel of his glove as he curls his fingertips under your chin. "Spit," he commands, and you do.
"Good girl. Now turn around."
***
It was after the first time he'd had you in the cockpit that you'd found the courage to ask. It had already been one of the worst days of your life, what more was there to lose? You were so numb there was no cliff you wouldn't jump off, no risk you wouldn't take. If you asked and the answer was indifference, well, it was just one more pain to add to the litany: your cracked lips, your shredded feet, your bruised ribs, your bloodied hands. And soon, maybe, your broken heart.
Mando had left, as he always did, after you were done, leaving you on the steel floor mostly naked and entirely without the desire to stand on your own. You told yourself that you would simply sleep there, if you had to, rather than getting back up on your cut soles. After all, you'd slept in worse places recently. Though you'd meant it to be fierce the thought sounded pathetic even to you.
The sound of boots climbing up the ladder interrupted your self-pity. Mando had not only come back, he had come back with a box: the medkit he kept in a crate in the cargo bay. He knelt beside you on the floor and started to lift you to him, one hand on your back and one hand under your knees. It was close and familiar in the worst possible way, like the fuck wasn't, and you made a hoarse inhuman noise and tried to kick him. You slammed a broken toe into a beskar vambrace instead and then you screamed for real.
He was patient with you and you hated it with every aftershock of white-hot rage in your body. You struggled even once he managed to get you up in his arms. After a bad moment where you thought you might actually try to bite him, he stopped attempting to haul you down the ladder and dropped both of you into the pilot's chair abruptly instead, pulling his hands away like you'd burned him. "Hey, it's me, just me, the one who's on your side," he'd said, attempting a touch of humor, and strangely it was the buzz of the modulator, so unlike the voices you'd been hearing for the past few days, that had incrementally slowed your galloping heart.
The medkit was in reach and at first he was gentle but even that was too much. You pulled away without leaving the chair, putting distance between you and that damned helmet. All you wanted was to rest, except you were afraid of what you might have time to think about if you did. There was a tense minute as he resumed his work with gauze and tape and bacta spray, but even in your exhausted state you somehow felt him make the decision to stop trying to be tender. He took your cue and bandaged you with impersonal efficiency, like you were a soldier in his regiment or a fellow Mandalorian. It made his touch tolerable, and you were so tired you almost resented him for it.
By the time he was done, you were nearly asleep. You heard the click of the medkit closing and, calmer now, a little more returned to yourself, braced for him to lift you down the ladder. But he surprised you by making no move to get up, resting his hands on his legs, around you but not on you. You could tell he was waiting for something but not what. Maybe it was something from you, but you were all out of give. It was his turn.
Another moment of silence, then momentary confusion as you both spoke at once:
"I have to tell you so--"
"Mandalorian, why are you--"
He stopped. You pressed on. "Why are you always calling me a distraction?" Your tone was flat. You sounded like you could be asking about the price of power cells.
The helmet twisted. This was clearly not the direction he expected your post-coital, post-triage conversation to take. "Because you're distracting."
You thought anger might be the only thing keeping you upright. "Not good enough. What the fuck are we even doing here? Why did you come after me? You told me we were done, that you didn't owe me anything. You could have left me there and pocketed the bounty for yourself. They would have let me go once they convinced themselves I didn't have the information.” A lie, but he doesn’t need to know that. “That doesn't sound like I'm just a distraction."
"I said you're distracting, and you are. That's different." You were sure he was being pedantic but your tired brain couldn't keep up with Mando at his most evasive. "You're not just a distraction. I don't make a habit of coming back for-- distractions."
Coming back for was a polite euphemism for the amount of killing Mando had done in the past few hours. None of it mattered to you if he was doing it because of his damned Creed. Maybe none of it mattered at all. Maybe you had kept your mouth shut for nothing. Your chest hurt and you had no idea if it was because of your ribs or because of your heart. You kept going.
"It makes no difference if I'm a distracting fuck or something worth coming back for or a kriffing bantha, Mando. I'm still..." Exhaustion made you blunt. "I'm still against your Creed."
He made a noise that could have been agreement, or negation. "The Creed is not against pleasure. Or companionship. Only... distractions." He sounded like he was reading out of a textbook. You'd heard it all before. You had wrung everything out of him you could about his Creed, because you wanted to find somewhere to fit. That was all he'd ever said.
He surprised you again. "Distraction is a-- it's not easy to describe. It's not as simple as wasting time or effort. Distractions are... things that pull you from your orbit without returning value, like a comet disrupting a planet's path around a sun. Too many and you begin to drift away from the tribe, the Creed, the things that make you a Mandalorian. You lose yourself chasing what streaks past you, already gone."
That little speech was probably the most words you'd ever heard Mando say at once, and there was too much there for you to process in your wasted state. You latched on instead to the thing that seemed most personally insulting, given how you'd been spending your time the past few days. "Maker, Mando, do you think that's all I am, a comet? That you'll turn around one day and I'll be gone? Do you think I did-- what I did– what we did– for fun? Do you think that's all you are to me?"
There, you had said it. Or at least implied it. Your cortisol response gave one last death rattle and suddenly you found you could sit up a little straighter, could feel your pulse in your throat. Your feet ached.
There was a long silence. 
Then the Mandalorian sighed, and in that sigh was more defeat than you'd ever heard after a hunt gone wrong. The sound seized you and squeezed your breath as it stuttered in your chest. When he spoke, it was low, tired, and edged with brutal honesty. "No mesh'la. I don't think you're a comet. Not after... today."
And that, somehow, was what did you in: his surrender. The first acknowledgement of what you had endured for him and what you'd done together and what it meant between you. You dropped your face into the filthy duraweave of Mando's shoulder, not caring if you caught the edge of beskar beside it. Something boiled up in you and you weren't sure what it was, only that you snapped your mouth closed hard over a noise like being struck and fisted your hands in his tunic. All the fear you'd put aside came slamming in, the torrential wave presaged by an empty beach. You drove yourself as close as possible to your Mandalorian and shook as though a blaster bolt had found its home in your brain after all.
When you knew where you were again, you found you had shifted - or he had shifted you. You were curled between his legs, your arms still around his neck, your face against where his cheek would be in the cruel parody of a kiss. You froze for a moment, anticipating the helmet to feel hostile against your lips, but it was only Mando, the smooth silver of him that you'd come to know and expect. With sudden resolve you drew back an inch or two, away from the spot where your  mouth left a sliver of fog. Your heart beat in your ears, marching steadily onward toward its inexorable conclusion. You had always known what you needed to do for both your sakes', and now you even thought you knew the bargain that could make it bearable.
"Mando," you whispered. "If that's the way it is, I wouldn't... I would never ask you to go against your Creed. I couldn't."
The warrior under you was so still you feared he might not respond at all. Then he blew out another long breath and put his hands around your waist, impossibly solid against you. It was the second time that night he'd reached for you with gentleness and, leaning against him, you could nearly imagine what it would be like to feel safe again. It would have been so easy to sink into shared delusion. But you owed him something more.
"I couldn't," you said again. "You couldn't. We could never-- it would never be right between us. I don't want that." You were certain you were crying by then, silent tears racing down your cheeks. "But please... I'm not ready yet. I'll leave tomorrow. Please, please... just give me tonight."
The hands on your waist spasmed, gripping you so hard that for one deranged instant you thought he might throw you down on the steel and fuck you all over again. He did the opposite and hauled you painfully upright, stood you in the tight space between his knees and the console. You winced when your abused feet took your weight. His own posture and the set of his shoulders told you absolutely nothing. He was still holding you like a lifeline.
"No," he said. After everything you'd done it was absurd that one word could make you want to crumple to the floor again, but you stayed upright, nails digging into the console for support. "I won't give you just tonight. I know you. You walked into that warehouse for me. You were so afraid for me you couldn't be afraid for yourself. You bled-- you killed-- because you hoped it would buy me time. I know you. Now you're offering– this. I refuse. You're not a Mandalorian, but your courage puts ours to shame. Who would I be if I returned your loyalty so little of my own?"
"Mando, what are you saying?" You were so numb with exhaustion that you weren't sure you had it in you to hope. You tried to keep your gaze steady, but you knew your eyes were wet.
"Stay with me," he said quietly. You did crumple then, your knees turned to water, and only his grip still on you kept you standing. "Stay with me, and let me prove my honor to you."
"Yes," you breathed, and that was all he needed. He hauled you to him, pulling you down, until your chest was pressed to him as he ran his gloves frantically over your neck, your shoulder blades, your hips. You rested your forehead against his, against the blood-warm beskar, and waited. You wanted nothing more than the feeling of his hands on you but you were so tired. "Will... will the tribe understand?"
A pause. He slowed, but did not stop, tracing soothing heat across your body. The blank faceplate tipped up to gaze out at the desert night. "Some will. Some won't. It doesn't matter. How I feel about you can't be against the Creed any more than my helmet. You can't turn a thing against itself." His head was still turned away, looking past the canopy to the starless sky outside. "You aren't a distraction from my Creed, mesh'la, and you never have been. You're part of it. You make me a better... a better Mandalorian."
His hesitation did not go unnoticed. You heard what he didn't say: a better man.
***
The problem with having sex in the cockpit is that when you want - no, need - to lay down afterward there isn't quite room for both of you between the chairs. Also, the floor is that textured, anti-slip steel they use for gantries, which pokes uncomfortably into bare flesh. You end up squashed together, half on top of your Mandalorian, letting his still partially-armored back take the worst of your combined weight as you roll on to your side and throw one leg over him, pillowing your head on his pauldron. It's not ideal, but after the three orgasms he pulled out of you with as much dedication as he'd ever chased down a bounty, you don't really have a choice. Going down the ladder in your current state might actually be the thing that kills you.
Din is still breathing hard from his own climax, sought only after he'd made you so sensitive that he'd had to put a callused palm over your mouth to keep you from shrieking and waking the Child. He'd started, as you thought he would, by pulling off your flimsy shorts and shoving the thick head of his cock into you with no preparation other than telling you to bend over the console and stay quiet. You'd cooperated, knowing that the position put his mouth conveniently close to your ear, and were rewarded with that smooth modulated voice telling you he was going to make sure you never made him use a toy again, never want his cock in anything but you. He told you he was going fuck you so thoroughly you'd beg for him to let you come on his cock. He'd started rough, his pace matching the coarseness of his words, and you'd bitten down your whimpers at the stretch. 
But Din knew you far too well to let you off so lightly. Fast had turned to slow and deep, caging your hips with one forearm while skillful fingers lightly circled your clit, never giving you quite enough pressure to get you where you ached to go. Then you had begged, and he'd almost given in: pulled out of you abruptly, replacing his cock with three fingers after ripping off his gloves. You'd come so hard Din had groaned at the feeling of you clenching around him, your legs trembling uncontrollably, but even that wasn't what you were hoping for and he knew it. He'd coaxed you to a second orgasm by turning you around and crudely shoving his knee between your legs, making you ride the textured cuisse on his thigh. He'd insisted you work for it, rubbing yourself against him and leaving streaks of arousal on the beskar, and that was less satisfying still. Only after you'd gotten yourself off did he ask you what you wanted, and by then you were so needy, so desperately raw and sex-drunk, that all you could do was whine, "You-- please, Din-- you." The sound of his name seemed to shred whatever last bit of composure he had left, and he'd pressed into you harder than ever as your hand dropped to provide the friction you'd needed. You'd come apart with him buried deep, your cunt gripping him like a vise, and he'd followed not long after, your name on his lips as his cock twitched and softened in you.
The nice thing about steel floors, you decide, is that they're easy to clean. You can feel Din dripping out of you and you're pretty sure you're going to leave a wet spot. You’re also pretty sure that the cylinder rolled under one of the consoles and is still jammed there, but that's a problem for later. You pull yourself even closer to him, enjoying his warmth in the shared quiet, watching the strange false light of hyperspace dance outside the canopy.
You don't notice that Din’s turned his helmet to you until he speaks. “Another 26 hours and then we’re off this boat.” He sounds relaxed, pleased both with your current configuration of tangled limbs and the prospect of no longer being confined to the ship. “Felucia is a jungle world. Plenty of frogs for the womp rat to chase.”
You grin. “Or eat. How long are we staying? Are we dropping in somewhere civilized or staying off the radar? And who are we even after? You didn’t show me the puck yet.”
“Off the radar, and this one’s a solo job.” You start to protest, but he stops you. “Really. The contact says he’s holed up in a cave in the middle of nowhere. We’ll set down in the nearest open spot, then it’s half a day overland to the hideout. No point in you coming, nothing for you and the kid to do but get wet and feed the gnats.”
After space travel, a hike doesn’t sound unpleasant, but you know he’s right. There’s no reason to go to the extra trouble of packing supplies for two more when it’s a straightforward retrieval. At least you and the Child will get to explore your landing site. You can do your work outside in the open air, and if all goes well, Din will only be gone a day or two.
“Hey,” you say softly. “You’ll come back, right?” It’s only half a serious question. You trust your Mandalorian. You’ve trusted his competence and drive and ability since the moment you met him, and have learned to trust that his desire to return to you is real. Still, you always ask. It’s a private ritual between you, something soft built over top of hard truths. 
You think of the times he’s left you. To work a job or on a hunt or sometimes just for the cold, hard recesses of his mind where you cannot touch him. Once, although you try not to remember it, for a black and shaking depression that terrified you both. Most of all, you think of that night, on Mos Eisley. The crunch of sand under his boots as he turned away. The glimpse of beskar through the door. The feeling of his hands on your battered ribs. His voice, very tired, I don't make a habit of coming back for distractions.
"Of course I’ll come back, mesh'la." You’ll never not thrill to Din’s electronic baritone calling you beautiful. "How could I do anything else? You're part of my Creed."
***
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ultrameganicolaokay · 1 year ago
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Creed: Next Round #4 by LaToya Morgan, Jai Jamison and Wilton Santos. Cover by Mateus Manhanini. Variant covers by (2) Valentine De Landro, (3) Paris Alleyne and (4) Mel Milton. Out in September.
"In the FINAL ISSUE of the hit comics adaptation under the Creative Direction of Star and Director Michael B. Jordan and Outlier Society, Amara prepares for the showdown of a generation, aided by family and coaching that only the ring can bring.
But winning the war in the ring can only go so far, while the war in the boardroom remains…"
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thegirlwiththeblush · 1 year ago
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Topolino
Ezio Auditore x Reader
Summary: A pickpocket runs into an unusual altercation on his way home from his daily antics. 
Words: 1.9k
Warnings: Swearing in Italian
Special thanks to @vorsdany, one of my fav humans who courageously proofread for me once again (love ya bro <3)
i hope at least one person enjoys this because i have no fellow assassin's creed fan friends :,D
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The wind whistled lowly through the alley I crouched in as I counted my day’s worth of findings. I shook the florins into my hand, trying not to grab the attention of passersby. Counting money wasn’t a crime, but had I been lucky, the total would’ve been incredibly suspicious.
But unfortunately, the victims of my shenanigans that day must not have been as wealthy as I would’ve liked, because I hadn’t even come close to my goal. I grumbled softly as I spilled my findings back into my leather purse, pulling the strings taut before stowing it in my shirt.
Findings, plunder, dirty money, call it what you want.
I rose to my feet with little enthusiasm; I didn’t like going home without hitting my target. Maybe on my way back I could sneak a couple more florins, just for the satisfaction. I’d have enough to buy something substantial for breakfast the next morning before starting up my escapades once again.
Peeking out of the alley, I joined the crowds with the smallest movements possible, careful to avoid the attentive gazes of any nearby guards as we headed into the town square. The sun sank lower in the sky as I shifted through the streets, jumping from group to group, never walking alone. People were quick to recognize a pickpocket, and if I ran into anyone I’d previously preyed on, my small collection from the day would be the least of my problems.
Shopkeepers all around were packing down their stalls, and travelling doctors were packing up their equipment. No doubt they all had families or friends to go home to, wives to complain to their customers about, frustrating children who took up their personal space, neighbours who intruded at the most inconvenient times. They must consider themselves so unfortunate, and yet I’d give anything to be in their shoes, instead of going ‘home’ to an abandoned, dilapidated gondola. I sighed heavily and shifted from the crowded town square into a narrower street, gently pushing aside an obnoxious minstrel as I went.
Only to stumble upon two figures dueling around three corpses.
I ran and grabbed a ledge nearby, hoisting myself up to avoid the clashing swords as the two of them moved up and down the alley with ease, their swords still swinging back and forth. I crouched and observed in stunned silence; one of the figures, garbed in a white, flowing cloak, appeared to be gaining the advantage over the other, who, upon closer inspection, I recognized as a guard, as were the bodies sprawled over the path. This guy appeared to be in over his head.
“It's a good thing I needed an excuse to test out this new blade of mine,” the mysterious man remarked. “I must be lucky, stumbling upon an eager idiot like you.”
I was shocked to hear the confident tone coming from the cloaked figure. He sounded young, but bold, and his wisecrack didn’t slow him in his advances.
“I wouldn’t call a man who lost his father and brother in one fell swoop ‘lucky’,” the guard sniggered in retort, and the cloaked figure’s strikes became swifter and even more aggressive as he growled lowly, “Fottiti, bastardo!”
The guard stumbled back, and the vigilante didn’t miss a beat; sheathing his sword with one hand and drawing a short blade with his other, he grabbed the guard’s shirt front with his now free left hand and spun him round, wrapping his arm around his neck. He held the blade to the man’s throat, his hood keeping his face out of my sight.
“Please,” the guard whimpered, “have mercy on me!”
The cloaked figure shrugged. “Va bene,” he relented, before sliding the dagger clean across his gullet. “I’ll make it quick.”
The guard crumpled to the ground, a few strangled moans escaping his mouth before he went silent. The cloaked figure knelt and wiped his blade on the guard’s shirt, and he snuck his hand into the leather pouch at the waist, withdrawing a few florins with a smirk.
Only then did I realize my mouth had been agape as I’d watched, and a short involuntary noise of shock flew out before I could shut it. The man spun round to face me, holding his dagger in a defensive position as he looked me up and down.
“Merda,” he murmured somewhat nervously. “What do you want? What are you doing here?”
“I- I-” I stammered, but before I could come up with an answer, he was on the ledge next to me in two or three steps.
“I didn’t even see you sneak in here,” he said, tilting his head like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. “You sly devil; were you sent to spy on me?”
“No, no, not at all,” I hurriedly assured him, my hands raised slightly, afraid he might not believe me. “I swear, this is my route home and I stumbled upon your little conflitto, and I did not wish to interrupt.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Conflitto, hm? You think that’s all it was?”
He acted as if he wanted me to call him out. “What, are you some kind of dangerous criminal? Or did they call you bambino and hurt your feelings?”
He inhaled sharply and stepped toward me, and suddenly I lost my newly-found confidence and raised my hands once again. “Just a joke, just a joke!” I protested, and gave a short laugh as if to prove it. He rolled his eyes and turned away from me, climbing down from the ledge.
I blinked in confusion. “Y- You’re just gonna walk away?”
“I have better things to do than entertain a little intelligentone who’s up past their bedtime,” he replied without turning his head. “I’m going home.”
I was no longer impressed by this guy; now, he was getting on my nerves. I jumped down after him, and before he could turn to face me, I snuck his stiletto out of its place in his belt, slipping it complacently into my own.
“What do you want, birbante?” he demanded roughly, swinging something around on his finger by the drawstring.
My leather purse. How the hell-
“Give me back my blade and you can have your dirty money, fair and square.” He held his hand out patiently, and I handed him the dagger with little hesitation, reaching for the purse. He smirked at my desperation, and I scowled. “You think you’re clever, hm, furfante? You want to play a little game?”
I couldn’t say I liked the patronizing tone he’d taken on, but after that stunt, his proposition was enticing. I wanted to know what else this mysterious and strangely dressed young man had up his sleeve.
“All right,” I relented. “What did you have in mind?”
He turned to face the town square behind us, his gaze settling on the tallest building, and he nodded to himself. “I want you to race me to the top of that building.”
I blinked once again, but I let the moment of hesitation pass. “Sure,” I agreed, folding my arms confidently. I had no doubt this man was incredibly agile, but I was not going to back down after he challenged me like I was a toddler.
He cracked his knuckles and smirked at me. “On my count, then.” He took a deep breath and shook out his legs and arms in preparation. “One, two-”
“Three!” I could not possibly have resisted the opportunity; I took off, leaving him in the dust and reaching the base of the tower in seconds. Leaping up and grabbing a small outcrop with both hands, I resisted the temptation to look down and check his progress. I reached up with smug satisfaction, sure that my surprise was enough of a headstart to ensure my victory.
Until a light grunt a few palms away from me startled me out of my reverie.
He was not climbing, but rather, leaping; as he flew up from each perch, he reached for the next, clasping with both hands and using his incredible upper body strength to hoist himself up.
Unlike me, he was unable to resist the urge; he snuck a peek down at me and sent a charming smirk my way before resuming his ascent.
I groaned in frustration when I realized I’d come to a complete stop to watch his method. I continued climbing, reaching for anything I could get a decent grip on. I was fast, but nowhere near fast enough; by the time my blistered hands had gotten me half-way, he was dangling his legs over the edge of the top, watching me with his chin in his palm and his elbow resting on his thigh.
“You’re like a little mouse,” he taunted. “You scurry, but ever so slow! If I’d known you were going to take so long, I’d have brought some bread and wine up with me; I’m starving up here.”
“Maybe I did this on purpose, then, to give you a taste of my life,” I retorted bitterly. “Not everyone can just go around murdering soldiers when they want to break the law.”
As I pulled myself up the last few arms and up onto an overhang, he narrowed his eyes at me. “You think I was fighting because I had to steal food?”
I shrugged slightly as I crawled carefully over to where he sat on the edge. “How should I know? I just met you.”
He grunted. “Fair point.” Sighing deeply, he added, “It’s far more complicated than that, I’m afraid.”
Unsure of what to say, I nodded slowly, waiting to see if he would continue.
“My name is Ezio,” he explained. “Ezio Auditore.”
I recognized the name. After a moment of contemplation, I remembered where from; two men by that name had been hanged a few weeks ago, for a crime I could not recollect.
“My family was falsely accused of treason,” he added, as if reading my thoughts. “I seek to avenge them. That is all you need to know.” He looked so sad as he finished this statement that I felt a twinge of pity for him, forgetting our petty competition. I had no doubt he was telling the truth.
“Well, I live in an abandoned gondola and I steal money from people,” I said, “so, if that makes you feel any better...”
He chuckled lightly, and smiled at me; the gesture filled me with a warmth I had not felt in years; something like what I’d felt when my mother or father would smile at me, but, a little different.
Before I could express any sort of feeling, he rose to his feet, dusting himself off. “Well, topolino,” he said, “this was fun. We should meet again and have a rematch someday.”
I laughed. “Topolino, hm? That’s quite an upgrade from birbante.”
He grinned mischievously, tousling my hair and filling my stomach once again with warm butterflies. “Like I said,” he whispered, “like a little mouse.”
He wrapped his cloak tighter around himself, perching on the overhang I’d pulled myself up on earlier. Turning back for one last look at me, he beamed and winked at me, before leaping over the edge.
My jaw dropped as he disappeared, but I breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of his body hitting a wheelbarrow full of hay below. I peeked over to watch him sprint away, already missing his charming aura, wily as it was.
Reluctantly, I began my descent, wondering if I’d ever see the hooded vigilante ever again.
Translation Guide: fottiti: fuck you bastardo: bastard va bene: all right merda: shit intelligentone: wiseguy/know-it-all/smart-ass birbante: rascal furfante: scoundrel topolino: baby mouse
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graphicpolicy · 1 year ago
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Creed: Next Round #1 begins with a predictable route but surprises by the end
Creed: Next Round #1 begins with a predictable route but surprises by the end #comics #comicbooks #ncbd #creed
I’m a fan of both the Rocky and Creed franchises. Even in their cheesiest moments, they entertain and satisfy basic entertainment needs. At their hearts, they’re about overcoming odds delivering a ride full of ups and downs along the way. The first two Creed films delivered a solid continuation of the series, not just delivering those highs and lows but sticking to themes underneath, giving each…
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mylordshesacactus · 1 year ago
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Suncrest Campaign Wrap-Up: The Duality Of Session Titles
Our player-notes document is a communal Google Doc, where everyone (including the beleaguered DM) can hop back to check details from earlier sessions--highly recommend this system, honestly. And, for ease of reference, every week after the session wraps up I go in and give the session a title, so that we can use the gdocs Table of Contents feature to easily jump between entries.
In general, I try to make these at least somewhat informative--I try to match the tone of the title to the overall tone of the session, and reference something that'll make it clear in six months what the hell I'm talking about.
So, in honor of the party reaching the campaign endgame: A final write-up of all our session titles over the course of the campaign.
A Long Time Ago In A Campaign Setting Far, Far Away (Level-1 Adventures & The Doppelganger Arc):
1: You Meet In A Tavern Fire 2: Patience Is A Virtue (in which the party got what was meant to be mid-campaign reveal information in session 2 due to excellent restraint and investigation, and also met long-term NPC Virtue Chirelli) 3: Secrets Of Shroudpost 4: Nightfall 5: Jumping At Shadows 6: Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
Both Parts Of The Name (Abandoned Temple Quest Arc)
7: Stories & Stoves (the party meets Arlette, who runs a magic-and-general-store called Staves & Stoves, and is given a quest) 8: Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Realistic Consequences 9: D&D A-Bridged 10: This Temple Is Weird (the party fights a water weird) 11: Big Fucking Dragon 12: Max and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Campaign, or: The Gang Gets Obscenely Rich
Night Hag Arc
13: Once More Into The Breach 14: #WWFD? (What Would Farrah Do--her player was absent that week) 15: The Power Of Friendship And These Tits I Found 16: GAH, Or: Wake Up There's Hags 17: Now With 33% Less Hag! 18: Hag-gling Over Loot 19: Good Thing We Didn't Leave Those NPC Guards Unsupervised
Werewolf Arc
20: Trouble In Thistledale 21: Family & Forestry 22: First Blood 23: There Wolves 24: Protectors 25: Assassin's Creed This Shit 26: The Silverlight Hounds 27: Overwhelming Force 28: New Moon 29: Firelight Festival
Election Fraud Arc
30: Political Theater 31: Landlords & Other Bloodthirsty Monstrosities 32: Hashtag Escapism 33: Of Mortgages & Murder 34: A Dish-tressing Discovery (a friendly NPC was almost murdered via sleep deprivation using a cursed goblet) 35: Jackoff And The Giant Beanstalk 36: The Key To Success
Requiem Arc
37: Directionality 38: Brought To You By The Letter 'N' 39: Long Rest 40: Please Do Not Bother The Violet Guard 41: Crimes 42: MASQUERAAAAAAAAADE 43: Everything Goes Completely Tits-Up 44: Breadcrumbs 45: A Suspiciously Well-Maintained Passageway 46: Foul Water 47: Several Discussions Of Traps 48: In Memoriam (the TREATY puzzle; the party learns everything about the day the world ended 50 years ago) 49: This Is Fine 50: Sax And Violince 51: You Have [36] New Messages
The Siege of Suncrest
52: Storm of Vengeance 53: Andromeda Gets Drugs From The Cops 54: Mindboggling (the party fights boggles) 55: The Siege Of Suncrest 56: What, Like It's Hard? (the party defeats what was meant to be a session-long boss fight in two rounds) 57: Breach 58: Your Stunned Silence Is Very Reassuring (death of a beloved NPC; the party was so stressed that nobody took a single note in the doc) 59: Tallyho 60: Release The Hounds
Faewild Arc
61: Crossover 62: The Tortoise And The Almost Perfect Aesop Reference (the party rides a dragon turtle and meets rabbitfolk) 63: Warren Of The Shining Wires 64: The Next Step 65: Perfect Time To Get Stoned (party fights a gorgon) 66: The Feathered Serpent 67: Plan C: Jo [the DM] Kills Us In Real Life 68: Frostfire 69: Wolves of Winter 70: Do It For The Vine
Endgame
71: [Preposition] The Hedge (the party begins infiltrating the Palace of Summer, which sits at the center of a giant hedge maze) 72: The Dread Gazebo 73: A Wolf A Goose A Cabbage And The Concept Of Summer Walk Into A Bar 74: Domination 75: In Which Nobody Touches Anything (the wizard, after spending the entire session of sneaking through several different trophy rooms frantically trying to keep the party from touching anything, pockets a legendary item off a display case without telling anyone) 76: The Hand Of Fate 77: Hold Fast 78: The Fall Of Summer 79: The Distant Light
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mjrtaurus · 2 days ago
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Thinking about early 20s Dragon waking up after the marine hazing ritual and the wing related trauma going forward.
This probably going to be the first in a multi-part series.
He’s been sick more times in the past couple of hours than he’s been in the last couple of years. He’s confused and mortified because he’s at his home and not the barracks. His mother is here with him on the guest bathroom floor, holding back his hair while his stomach turns itself inside out.
She’s not saying anything.
It’s scaring him.
There’s a sizable gap in his memory, though he at least knows the reason for it. Small comforts. He remembers he and a couple of other recruits sitting down with a few petty officers over a few celebratory drinks. Friendly shit-talking, stories from home, how your recruiter tricked you into joining up… the usual stuff you did with a weekend pass from your commanding officer.
He- naturally- got a lot of attention. He was the recently named Hero of the Marines’ brat, after all. People either loved him or hated him, and it turned out a lot of people at that table fell under the latter.
It was introduced as a game. It sounded simple and easy enough, which was probably why he went into it without much convincing. A round of shots for the table. Recite the Marine’s Creed from beginning to end. Screw up, take a shot, start over. Rinse and repeat til you either got it right, or cleared the round.
He’d been stupid. He’d been so fucking stupid. He should have just walked away. He should have just taken the insults and left with his dignity in tact.
But no, the competitive bastard in him wanted to win.
And now he was here, no doubt the shame of the family.
He must have done something terrible while he was blackout drunk. Hurt somebody. Made a fool of himself. Something that would warrant the silence he was getting from his mother…
She only got that quiet when she was close to crying.
He’s busy washing the bile from his mouth when he catches sight of why in the bathroom mirror.
His wings…
From anchor point to end, the flight feathers were some combination of mangled, missing, or bloodied. Ragged cuts in the shafts of each made in a hurry, like he’d been struggling against it.
A fleeting piece of memory.
An ugly one.
An alleyway coming in and out of focus. Voices talking excitedly amongst themselves, some laughing. Rough, burning hot hands holding him down. Cold and flithy flagstones biting into him from beneath.
Snip. Snip. Snip up the back of his shirt, exposing bare skin and ruffled feathers to the cold night air.
More hands wrestling open his wings. One voice he can just barely recognize as belonging to one of the petty officers calling out for the others to keep him nice and still…
Snip. Snip. Snip…
He doesn’t have the same restraint that his mother does. He can’t keep himself from crying. He can’t keep himself from remembering. He can’t keep himself from knowing.
He molts most of the damaged feathers, but some have to be pulled. Most of them grow back, but never as they had been. Some of them don’t. They aren’t soft and sleek anymore. They’re all brittle and ragged, some of the shafts are coming in bare and ugly. He wants to rip them out, because maybe they’ll come in healthier next time… but he can’t. He can’t bear to be preened anymore. Can’t even do it himself. The slightest touch, no matter from who, no matter how trusted, no matter how beloved, makes him want to vomit.
He’s been robbed of the comfort it’s meant to be. He’s never getting it back.
He begs his father to talk to the Fleet Admiral. He and Sengoku are friends, right? They can do a little doctoring to Dragon’s records… make that little bracket checked and filled in with “Sky Islander” in his medical charts and ID disappear, right? Find him a doctor that could turn a blind eye whenever he needed a physical, right? Get him stationed somewhere else, where he’ll be a fresh face that nobody knows?
As much as he loathes the special treatment, he’s just doing what he must to survive, isn’t he? Even if it feels horrible? Even if it makes his mother cry?
He’s still binding his wings flat against his back with bandages when he goes rogue. He meets Iva and Kuma in Sorbet. The former makes a fair- but incorrect- assumption upon seeing the bandages peaking out from beneath his drabs. He respectfully asks that they not worry themself about it. Kuma doesn’t ask. It’s a secret only Dragon can share, if he so chooses.
His body eventually rats him out before he has the courage to, some years later.
Some time after the Ohara Incident, a mild cough makes the rounds on the nameless flagship of the fledgling Revolutionary army. It’s more an inconvenience than any danger, but it spreads like wildfire.
Dragon- even with his strong immune system- catches it, and with the restriction of the binding, he just can’t shake it.
He at least has the small mercy of being in his cabin when he eventually drops, and not out on the quarterdeck where everyone can see him. Iva’s shrieking when they find him does end up drawing a crowd, though.
He’s long made peace with that sort of thing happening by now.
He remembers lashing out when someone with a medic’s patch on their uniform started to cut the bandages away, but the fever dragged him down into oblivion before he could do any real damage.
The snip snip snip of the medic’s scissors followed him well into his nightmares.
Recovery took a while.
Deserters were considered the lowest of the low to the World Government. Even the cruelest of pirates were treated with less hostility than a turncoat, and that made him and everyone along for the ride a top priority. This meant proper medical care was hard to come by.
He led the from a sickbed for nearly two weeks before he was back up to snuff. His voice- however- never did fully recover.
Rough and ragged, just like his wings.
He didn’t bind them anymore. He couldn’t afford to. If an insecurity was going to jeopardize the cause, then he had to do away with it. The only problem with that, though, was that this “insecurity” was a very clear trauma response.
Healing that would need time and energy he just didn’t have to give right now…
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abdullahblogsposts · 27 days ago
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Our war with the Mûshrįkįn will remain!
Allāh made the conflict between the people of Tawhīd and the people of Shîrk a tradition without end, as Islām and kûfr must inevitably contend in every place and time. Otherwise, the people of falsehood would seize the land and cause corruption therein through their Shîrk and pursuit of lusts and desires, as is happening today with the crusader takeover and hegemony of the world. Therefore, the eternal divine command for the people of Islām​ is to engage in war with Shîrk and its people, waging Jihād against them with their hands, tongues and hearts. Fighting them was enjoined to make them submit to the rule of Islām, to follow it and obey its rules, as Allāh (tabāraka wa ta’ālā) said, “And fight them until there is no more fitnāh and Dīn is entirely for Allāh” (Al-Anfāl:39). The people of Tawhīd will not stop their war against the Mûshrįkįn until they eliminate the existence of Shîrk in the world, and until there is no rule in it but that of Allāh.
The Knowing and Wise told His Muwāhîd worshipers that the people of Shîrk will always fight them, and that the goal of their fighting is to take them away from Islām and make them equally Mûshrįkįn. Allāh (‘azza wa jall) said, “And they will never cease fighting you until they turn you back from your Dīn if they can. And whosoever of you turns back from his Dīn and dies as a disbeliever, then his deeds will be lost in this life and in the next, and they will be the dwellers of the Fire. They will abide therein forever” (Al-Baqārāh:217). At the same time that Allāh (tabāraka wa ta’ālā) revealed the truth of their war and its purpose, He also warned Muslįmīn and enjoined them to prevent the Mûshrįkįn from succeeding in this war. He told them that the one who commits apostasy from his Dīn and is not patient amid the war of the Mûshrįkįn, thus dying in kûfr, will have lost all he had done of good deeds before his apostasy, even if he was a Muwāhîd, a Muhājir, and a Mujāhid. Allāh (‘azza wa jall) will not excuse the Muslim from fighting against the Mûshrįkįn, as fighting is not a form of ikrāh (unbearable coercion) for which a Muslim is excused if he fell into Shîrk.
How odd it is that we see today many factions and parties that attribute themselves to Islām boasting about not establishing the Dīn or ruling by the Shari’ah! They convince their soldiers and supporters that this is “wisdom” and “good policy” because it avoids fighting of Mûshrįkįn and retaliation from the hypocrites. Instead, they receive silent approval from the tawāghīt and satisfaction from the people of desires. They thus turn a blind eye to the fact that they have achieved the goal of the Mûshrįkįn by committing riddāh (apostasy) from the Dīn of Allāh (tabāraka wa ta’ālā). Thus, they have set aside the purpose of fighting them, which is the same purpose that Allāh (‘azza wa jall) clearly said the Mûshrįkįn will continue fighting the Muslimīn!
He who realizes these facts will understand the reason for the fierce enmity that is shown by the people of Shîrk, in all their various sects and creeds, against the Islāmîc St@tə and its soldiers. He will realize the reason why the enemies of the Dīn gathered to fight it, regardless of their differences and disputes. And he will realize that the war between Islām and Shîrk cannot end in one round or two, but it is a continuous, relentless war, through which each party strives to achieve its purpose. The Islāmic St@tə made the purpose of its Jihād servitude to Allāh (tabāraka wa ta’ālā) by establishing the Dīn in the land, and that is through waging Jihād against the Mûshrįkįn and preserving that which Allāh (‘azza wa jall) has secured for them in the land, as well as seeking to make the Mûshrįkįn and their countries submit to the rule of Allāh (‘azza wa jall), or eradicate them all if they refuse. As for the Mûshrįkįn, they must realize that they will never be able to remove the Muslįmīn from the land, yet they continue striving to force the people of Islām to leave their foundation or push them to abandon some of its pillars or branches.
Today, and after years of war between the Islāmic St@tə and the Mûshrįkįn, a war led by crusader Amərica, the Islāmic St@tə remains firm on its ‘Aqīdāh and its Mânhâj, for which it paid a costly price—the blood of its leaders and soldiers—for the cause of refusing to compromise in Dīn, while many others ceded their entire Dīn for the sake of preserving life, wealth, lands and authority. Thus, Allāh (‘azza wa jall) made the Islāmic St@tə remain, giving it consolidation, after substituting the fallen, atop what they left behind. So let the Mûshrįkįn kill of us as many as Allāh (tabāraka wa ta’ālā) fated them to do so, for Allāh (tabāraka wa ta’ālā) will provide a better successor. Let them capture what Allāh (tabāraka wa ta’ālā) fated them to capture of land, for we will restore it from their hands and more than that, by the permission of Allāh (‘azza wa jall). Let them destroy the cities, villages, and military vehicles as much as Allāh fated them to destroy, for He will compensate us as He has always done. As long as the Dīn is firm and the Mânhâj fixed, and as long as the Banner of ‘Uqāb is pure from the filth of Shîrk and its people, then the Islāmic St@tə will remain and its war will continue against them, by permission of Allāh (subhānahu wa ta’ālā). And the final result is for the Mûttâqīn.!!
Your Brother in Dīn Abdûllāh(TheSlaveOfAllāh)
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