#daily dino dose

[jolly-jello]

Daily Dino Dose!

🦕 today's dino is the Allosaurus 🦖

(: because it's my favourite and a great way to start this series :)

This magnificent beast was a top notch predator that lived in the late jurassic period,with thunder thighs,dozens of teeth,around 8.3m of pure awesomeness, a light but strong skull and powerful arms -suck it T-rex- it was a fierce hunter just like the his cousins from the bipedal theropod gang and could definitely flip you off if it so desired.

This bad boy ate mainly big herbivores and the occasional form of cannibalism. Scientists still debate on its hunting strategy, ranging from caring parents that function on a pack formation to lone predators that'd defo destroy anything stupid enough to step into its territory... alas a complicated case that only gets more confusing with time.

Allosaurus means "weird lizard" and boy oh boy does it's history lives up to that. First appearing in 1869 during the Bone Wars,being wrongly classified, receiving many names, being forgotten for awhile, getting caught in a scientific feud,more wrong classifications, being forgotten again until finally being exposed in 1908 with the name of Antrodemus -ew- then 50 years later finally settling on the good ol Al we recognize and love.

With 6 named species but only 3 officially recognized ( A. fragilis, A. europaeus and A. jimmadseni). Fragilis and jimmadseni are found in North America with the main difference being the shape of the jaw, while europaeus are found in Portugal and don't show any anatomical singularities that would separate it from fragilis.

This dino has risen in popularity as time goes on and became one of the vastly recognized characters, especially after the release in 2000 of "The Ballad of Big Al" by BBC. It holds special value to me as "Walking With Dinosaurs" was how my father introduced me to the amazing world of palaeontology

thank you for surviving my awful writing and sorry for any mistakes be it factually or grammatically and please let me know if there are any alterations that'd make this posts better, have a good one my pre-historic friends <3

[mymegrokosmos]

boyfriend seventeen when they know they're going to be home late

scoups - buys you flowers and comes home with a bouquet in apology. will have a hand on your waist as he kisses you softly and mumbles sorrys against your lips. falls asleep with his head in your lap while you catch him up on your day but will remember random details you mentioned weeks later.

jeonghan - leaves you a sweet voice message saying not to wait up for him and that you better have eaten. he somehow always knows if you didn't don't even try to lie to him about this. will make time the next day to catch up on hearing what he missed about your day and make sure you get your daily dose of hannie time.

joshua - brings you takeout and one single red rose. you can’t even be upset because he looks so cute and apologetic. will stay up to bake cookies with you as a late night snack and do face masks while they cook/cool. invested in hearing about your day while you enjoy them.

jun - lays on top of you and nuzzles into your neck, mumbling sleepy apologies against your skin as he cuddles up to you. boy barely managed to step out of his shoes and he's already half asleep, but he will cook your favourite breakfast as an apology.

hoshi - comes home dragging his feet and looking like a kicked puppy. please don’t be mad at him. will flop on top of you for apology cuddles and fall asleep the minute you assure him you're not upset with him. takes you for dinner the next day to make up for missing it.

wonwoo - texts or calls to let you know not to expect him until late so you don't waste dinner. save him leftovers and if you're up finishing your night time routine after doing some reading he won't be mad about it but he will bundle you into bed as soon as he finishes brushing his teeth.

woozi - types out a message but forgets to hit send. is confused when you say you didn't get his text until he realizes what happened. will go out of his way to spend more time with you for a week afterwards bc he feels so bad. don't be surprised if you come home to flowers or dinner at least once that week with no explanation, just a sheepish looking jihoon and his red ears.

minghao - makes sure to let you know as soon as he can. so help this man if you're still awake when he gets back, you'd better be resting well. will kiss your forehead and make sure to set his alarm 5-10 minutes early so he can say goodbye to you in the morning before work bc you aren't going 24hrs without seeing each other if he has anything to say about it. maybe packs you lunch for the next day if he's feeling particularly domestic.

mingyu - sends you the world's longest text message apologizing that he has to be late. don't wait up but if you happen to snuggle closer when he climbs into bed and mumble his name he'll feel better knowing you're at least aware of him. will wake you early to steal kisses in the morning but he made you coffee and breakfast in bed so can you really complain about it?

dk - will cuddle up to you if you're already asleep and mumble how much he loves you like you can subconsciously absorb how sorry he is in your sleep. leaves you a note to wake up to and absolutely runs to your favourite café to pick up a whole breakfast spread in the morning along with an extra large size of your favourite drink.

seongkwan - calls and leaves you a voicemail if you don't pick up. will sit and tell you about his day while he gets ready for bed if you're still awake. does not care how comfy you are, he will drag you to the bathroom to do skincare with him while he finishes filling you in on any tea you missed that day.

vernon - sends you a 'will be late, don't wait up' message. trusts you to look after yourself if he's working long hours and won't openly admit he misses catching dinner with you but if you bring him food to the studio instead he's smiling all night and will insist you stay and hang out in the studio while he finishes up for the day/night.

dino - sends you pathetic sad crying emojis until you offer to meet him at the company building for dinner. sit with him while he practices and let him bounce ideas or questions off you. will take breaks to lay with his head in your lap and apologize for dragging you away from home so late but also misses you if you have to leave before he's done and will be extra clingy for the next few days to make up for it.

[spicy30]

Echoes of a Stolen Fate 2/2

Pairing: Cregan Stark x Fem!Targ!Reader

cw: Blood, Bastardry stigma, infidelity, classism, regionalism (regional bias), childbirth

Rating: 16+

tags: AFAB reader, no use of Y/N, angst/no comfort, the reader has anger issues, reader is depressed reader takes issues against bastards, reader does not like the north, reader acts like a princess (discriminates against those who are not like her (gets it from her mom tbh, have you read about Rhaenyra?)), Reader has traditional Targaryen features (Hair and eyes, skin color nor body specified), Dino Dragon is named Acrocanthosaurus because I'm not original, Reader is assumed to be true-born due to traditional Targ features

(Not Proofread)

Bold text noted to be High Valyrian

First part: 1/2

Indulgence is based on this post. Inspo Dino Dragon is Acrocanthosaurus.

WC: 13.2K

You felt like you were withering as the weeks passed by here in the North, the same thing every day. You’d wake before your husband in the cold room, groom yourself until you were presentable, and then you would dress in simple clothes such is the Northern fashion, skip breakfast, and go to the cold Gods Wood to ‘pray’. Then you would begin your duties as Lady of Winterfell; planning meals, overseeing finance, delegating resources, planning events, preparing for the long winter cold that the Starks never seem to shut up about, planning the staff's daily doings, going to the Maester for your daily check in. They seemed eager for an heir for Cregan. Then and only then would you eat your one meal of the day, then get up once again.

You wrote daily to your brother and uncle for updates, and then you wrote letters to the alliances you secured through the possibility of marriage to you but as you are married now, they seemed to pull away. Those letters only served to infuriate you, so after a healthy dose of daily hitting the cold stone wall so no one would hear and toss their letters into the fire watching them burn, you would get ready to meet with whatever ladies you were set to entertain today.  

Then afterward, you made it a priority to go greet the commons of Winterfell, though you had to fight the urge to scowl when they smiled at you. Their ugly teeth greeting you, and commons touching you with their dirty hands. The only good thing about the North is the cold stifled the disgusting smell this place would surely have, but when commons got too close or spoke to you, you’d smell their rotten breath and their putrid scent. It was disgusting and every time you went out, you felt like running away, far away from here forever because Winterfell was oh so dull, gray, and cold.

Then after your daily nightmare of interacting with the commons of Winterfell, you’d go back home only to be badgered by the servants of Winterfell seeking guidance. Every day, every single damned day of your existence here in this cold desolate place called Winterfell felt like monotonous hell.

Then finally as the day comes to a close, you’d go to the dinning room only for your husband to bore you with his attempts at conversation. After your husband finishes eating, you’d both go to your shared chambers where you’d do your duty always having him finish fast never bothering to catch your own high then sitting still as you felt his seed sit inside you. 

You’d pretend to sleep until he slept, and then you would wake and sit on a nearby chair that was always cold, and stare at the map of Westeros. It was horribly dreadful as you wallowed in your own self-pity watching your allies dwindle.  

Truly a sad sight of you sitting there in a chair, bare as the day you were born with a sticky feeling between your legs looking at a map for hours never moving in this cold room. Then you’d stand up sometimes and just look at yourself in the mirror and at the nasty scar that was forming on your calf. Sometimes you’d stare so long that you’d hallucinate your face and body beginning to morph ever so slightly into the woman you wished you were. A woman with a crown on her head in the warmth of King’s Landing, a woman who was not wasted on simply being a lady of a cold household. 

Then you’d go to sleep for a couple of hours only to restart your pitiful day all over again. 

It was unbearable some days. On those days you considered simply flying off to the warmth of Essos and never turning back or just flying to King’s Landing and burning everyone in the Red Keep. Though sometimes you’d think you would just be content with burning anything or anyone, the heat would feel nice. 

So on those days, you’d take Acrocanthosaurus and fly him high, high above the clouds, and have him breathe fire and destroy the clouds around you as you relished the feeling of fire around you. You’d pretend he was burning the grimy eyes on you, the Northern accents that grated your ears, Aegon, Aemond, Alicent, Otto, and sometimes you even thought about burning your Grandsire. 

However, as the weeks went by, those days that used to be rare were now becoming all too common. Days where you felt your blood boiling at the desperation of your situation were becoming too frequent for your own good. 

So today as you made your way out to God’s Wood for your daily ‘prayers’ for the first time since you got here, you knelt. You knelt in the God’s Wood but in front of the tree, but in front of Acrocanthosaurus, and simply held him. You felt the warmness contrast the cold of your damp clothes and slowly you began to cry, anger that made you cry, uselessness that made you cry, an emptiness that made you cry.

“There is something wrong with me.” You whispered in a broken voice as tears fell from your eyes onto his snout. “I hate feeling like this, so pathetic. I wonder if anyone else can see me for how I truly am. I had everything, the gods were generous with me but now they don’t even answer my prayers, no matter how high I fly to see them.” Your body shivered from the cold that seeped into your bones. “I don't know why. What did I do? What is wrong with me?” You looked into the eyes of Acrocanthosaurus. “Please just tell me so maybe I can be better. I don't want to end up like my mother, fighting for people to simply accept me. I wanna be loved, I want to be supported like Aegon is, just for simply being born. I simply want to be.” 

…

It had been weeks into your marriage, Cregan had taken you several times, left his seed in you several times, left marks on your body several times, had touched you where no one else ever would, in all except one place, a place that he yearned for more than anything. 

Your lips.

Every time you’d avoid him, you’d never deny him any other part of your body, just your lips and it left him frustrated. What kind of wife does not kiss her own husband? It was all he needed from you. The very thing you denied him. Perhaps you did not feel comfortable with him? So he tried to give you gifts, they were always received and worn, but never once did you kiss him in thanks, he praised you for your work in Winterfell but never once did that ever result in a kiss, he talked to you during your shared dinner or more so his dinner as you never ate, and even then it did not make you any warmer when he took you once more. 

You were simply impossible. Never did you go out of your way to talk to him, touch him, hug him, kiss him. You were hard to talk to, only simply giving him those dismissive hums he was growing to hate. Despite the bed you both shared meant for sleep, he never really did sleep next to you. You gave him nothing on your shared nights or at any time, the only thing he could feel from you was a heartbeat.

Yet despite you only ever completing your obligation to him he never did find himself ever wanting to stop, because the only time he ever really got you to open up was when he got you undressed, and even if it wasn’t the way he wanted you to open up for him, this was still good enough, for now. 

Weeks passed and Cregan watched you, he watched you when he felt the bed shift from when you got up like you did every night after he’s marked you. He watched you sit in the same chair every night and simply stare at a map. He watched you become so lost that you never noticed that he watched you, every breath you took, every time you blinked, every time you shivered from the cold, he’d watch the tips of your breast harden then after a while soften only to harden again when you shivered as if suddenly noticing the cold again. He’d watch from the bed as you sometimes stood up and looked at yourself in the mirror, never noticing him in the same reflection as your mind drifted elsewhere. He watched you as you crawled into bed and slept beside him though the sleep never rejuvenated you. 

Cregan would always wake up as you left your shared bedroom. Cregan would always watch you, your practiced smiles to everyone, or the way you rode your dragon away from here. He always watched you, never understanding why you would not let him in. That night, that first night you told him: 

“I’d rather not share something so intimate.”

Those words haunted him, day and night. Never once did you let yourself be intimate with your husband and Cregan was starting to break. 

He didn’t know what they meant, there was no way you would have known about the kiss. There were only three witnesses and two of those witnesses had good reason to not tell and the third was a dragon who could not speak. You vexed him, vexed him, and frustrated him. You elicited reactions from him no one else has. Soon you were the only thing on his mind and it began to drive him insane. 

So he watched you and watched because it felt like that was the only way he could ever be intimate with you. Not when you were bare and your bodies connected but when he watched you.

He knows you don’t love him, not yet at least. He hopes you will, because it feels like he already loves you. You’re all he thinks about, but he can never tell you, not as you are now. It almost feels like a joke to him. One big joke, a joke he tries to gain insight into by watching you. 

Today when Cregan wakes and he looks over, he sees you, still in the bed beside him. You hadn’t woken up yet. Today he’d watch some more trying to understand. He watched your eyelashes flutter sometimes, he watched your hair become disheveled from moving, he watched your chest rise, and he watched every time you moved.

He reached over and brushed your hair back. It is shined with the light of the fire and your skin reflects the light. He was entranced watching you sleep. His hands traveled along the side of your face stopping on your lips. He touched them, and they were so soft and smooth. He pinched them softly and watched them turn a slight red and only then could he imagine how red your lips would be if you allowed him to kiss you. 

He moved closer to you, to observe every part of your face. He simply lay beside you, his hands never moving from your lips. 

Then you moved and he shut his eyes like a boy who was caught staying up late. He kept them shut pretending he was sleeping. He felt you stir more and finally he felt you take his hand in yours. He relished the feeling of your warm hands against his, though it was only to move his hand away from your lips. The he felt you stand and leave the bed. 

He opened his eyes slightly watching you get ready for the day before you walked out. Cregan quickly got up and put on simple clothes before following after you as quietly and quickly as he could. He watched you walk slowly through the walls of Winterfell as your calf held you back. He watched and followed you to God's Wood. He watched from behind a tree as you knelt, but not in front of the Weir Wood tree, but in front of your dragon, which he has told you to keep out of these woods. 

He watched you as you seemed to pray to your dragon, as you hugged him. He watched you shiver from the cold but felt the warmth your dragon exhaled. It seemed like you were saying something, but he couldn’t hear.  

He watched as your dragon then narrowed its eyes on him and for a second time stopped. He watched you turn your head slightly in his direction. He watched as you ignored him and instead grabbed onto your Dragon. 

He didn’t know why that rubbed him the wrong way.

You ignored him like you didn’t care that he was there. 

You didn’t care.

Cregan watched you fly away and you didn’t care that he was there. 

When you came back from wherever it is you went today, he didn’t greet you like he usually did. 

You didn’t care.

He didn’t talk to you during dinner.

You didn’t care.

He didn’t take you that night.

You didn’t care

For days he did this hoping you would do something, pleading that you would show him something, anything!

You didn’t care for it or his act. 

He did his best to ignore you, though he didn’t last long. How could he? When the Maester had just given him such great news. You were with a child, his first child with you. Something only you could give him, so how could he ignore his wife?  Damn the Wall and damn the South, all he could think of was his wife. 

However, the way things are would not do for him and the future child born between the both of you. There had to be something he could do to remedy this. He will be the first to admit that the game he is playing with you is childish. But he can’t help himself. He feels like a spoiled child crying and whining to get what he wants. He hasn’t acted like this since he was a child, yet this is what you have reduced him to, a little boy playing silly games vying for your attention hoping you’ll notice him and notice how desperate he is for you. 

Another gift perhaps? Surely it would be better than starving himself of you. 

You seemed to express a want for Arra Norrey to raise your children. He’d rather her far away from you, but if it is what you wanted, who was he to deny you that? 

Pulling out fresh ink and the seal of the Starks, he wrote to House Norrey. 

…

As you cried on Acrocanthosaurus, he breathed out steam that warmed your body. You looked into his eyes and saw them looking behind you. You looked over your shoulder and saw no one, however, it was clear someone was there watching you. Acrocanthosaurus reached his claw to you and you climbed onto it as he lifted you to your saddle. Not bothering to look deeper into who was hiding, you set off into the skies, hoping that maybe if you pray up there, the gods will hear you this time. Perhaps you’ll even fly to Old Valyria if you become desperate enough. 

Acrocanthosaurus flew and flew higher and you laid back on him. 

You sighed looking up. “It doesn't change anything. Nothing changes no matter how high I fly.  The Gods will never hear my prayers. I've lost everything. No matter how many times I pray, no matter how many times I plead, it's never coming back, Acrocanthosaurus.” 

You lift your hands to look at the simple clothes you have on. “And I’ve done this for what? For a man whose alliance was already secured? For a man who so clearly does not want me!? For a man who only seems to see me as what the world does already, a womb and nothing more?”

You crawled forward onto Acrocanthosaurus's neck as you held on tight. “Can't I just be loved? Be loved by the realm as they seem to love Aegon? Be loved…” Your voice lowered as you held onto Acrocanthosaurus trying to crawl forward as he made noises.

 “By my husband? Maybe if I had been born of love…” You trail as you finally reach the head of Acrocanthosaurus looking into his green eyes watching you as he flies. 

“You love me, don’t you Acrocanthosaurus?” You heard him make a deep rumble that you felt vibrate your body before he swung you high in the air. You screamed as he caught you with his snout. You sat as he continued flying and you hugged his face, holding on breathing fast.

“I hope that was a yes.” You breathed out as you held onto him. “Yeah, just you and me…forever. Maybe we could stay alone, just me and you, together.” You rested your head against his. 

You felt the rumble of his roar in the depths of your bones. “Yes, and while we're at it, burn the whore’s house down.”

…

After hours of riding and deciding against the idea of burning down the Norrey House, you flew back to Winterfell to a strangely quiet husband. He did not greet you, nor did he talk to you during his dinner, or even take you that night. Though it was all the same to you, one less person to talk to. 

It was all the same to you until it wasn’t. When you saw the coat of arms that held six green thistles crossing through the gates of Winterfell. For days Cregan hadn’t spoken to you, nor marked you. It wasn’t you missed it but he was still your husband, and the nerve of him to invite her to Winterfell. For what!?

Walking as fast as you could with an occasional limp and burst through his door interrupting his study. You saw him lift a brow and you swore you could see the smallest smile. 

“My lord.” You gritted out. “Why was I not told of the Norreys visit?”  He sat in all his glory, the gray stone walls surrounding him, his fur pelt, and the chair of Winterfell. He sat there with what you swore was a smirk and it aggravated you. 

“It’s not a visit.” He spoke as if it was the most normal thing. There were very few things that got under your skin and even fewer people who managed to bring out a resentful side of you. Yet this man here did it all without even trying!? 

Cregan Stark; the bane of your existence.

You spoke trying your best to hide your annoyance. “No? Then why are they here?”

“It is only one person. Arra Norrey.” He responded cooly watching you with eyes that seemed to drink up every expression you gave. 

“Why?” You walked forward looking at him leaning forward with your hands on the desk. 

“On the day of our wedding, you had told Arra Norrey you wished for her help to raise our children.” As Cregan spoke you felt your patience thinning.

“And?” Of course, the Northern brute did not register sarcasm, damn all these Northers who you swear will turn your white hair gray. 

You watched as Creagn stood and walked behind you taking you in his arms as you felt him inhale your scent. You watched as his hands intertwined with yours and finally had them settled on your belly. 

“Now that you are carrying our first child, heir to Winterfell, I figured you’d want her here.” As you listened to Cregan speak you felt your heart drop. Suddenly the feeling of his hands rubbing your stomach felt confining. The heir of Winterfell he called it. You felt as if he had just stabbed you through the heart. It shouldn’t hurt, but it did. It hurt to know that you were his excuse for bringing back his whore to Winterfell, and while you labored to grow this child, his heir as he called it. Cregan would be off fathering bastards, like his father did.

You knew the men of the realm did not see value in women, but it hurt a little more to know you had married one of them. A tie to your name and to your blood. 

“The Maester told me the news a couple of days ago-” You stepped out of his grasp, cutting him off. You took a second to recompose yourself. You turned and faced Cregan and smiled. 

“I was not aware of the news. Such grand news. However, I must make haste to prepare for Lady Norrey’s arrival.” You spoke in the calmest tone you could muster before dismissing yourself leaving Cregan in the dull, gray, cold room. 

…

The last thing Cregan wanted to do was to greet Arra. After what had happened between them, he never wanted to see her again. Guilt always pooled in him when he saw her. The day you became his wife, the day he was unable to take his eyes from you was the day he decided that what happened under the Weirwood tree was the biggest mistake of his life. 

Arra did not make him yearn. Not even after he kissed her, he did not yearn for more. He did not spend that night thinking of her. The night and days after his wedding only consisted of thoughts of you. In fact, in these past few weeks, the only time she has ever crossed her mind was when he thought that perhaps he should confess his mistake to you. Arra Norrey was only ever was brought up in his mind as a negative thought and in correlation to you. 

Arra Norrey in Cregan’s mind, never stood alone. 

Despite this, he put on his best face and gave a greeting that reflected his position, Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell. 

He watched as the Norrey guards held out their hands for Lady Arra. She walked with a big smile on her face as she greeted him first then you. As they welcomed her inside, she would not stop singing praises for Winterfell and how wonderful it felt to be invited back, this time as a lady-in-waiting for the Lady of Winterfell. Cregan watched for a reaction, a sign to assure him that he had done well. 

You gave him none. In fact, you seemed the opposite of pleased, you had recently gone on dragon back and had only come back an hour ago. Perhaps….the feast thrown in your honor would please you. 

Cregan felt nervous at your lack of enthusiasm. You were the one who wanted Lady Arra, were you not?

He would try once more to please the soon-to-be mother of his child in the coming days, try and have you lighten up as he prepared to share the news of your pregnancy.  

However, over those days, every time he stepped into your presence for something even as minuscule as holding his hand to your stomach, Arra would be there to ruin the moment. Never could he get you alone, and even then when he seemed to enter the same room as you, he felt Arra’s eyes on him. He had been the one to send the letter requesting her presence, but he did not invite the looks she would give him. Longing looks. Looks he did his best to ignore. Worst yet, you seemed to broil in anger every day since Arra’s arrival. 

Every day you would disappear for hours at a time leaving Arra with his half-sister Sara and consequently in his presence for all those hours you were gone for. Cregan found himself frustrated with your behavior and frustrated because he did not want to face Arra and what he had done on the day of your marriage. 

You were the one who held his hand so eagerly when speaking to Lady Arra about your shared children. How excited you had seemed, but now you detest being around him. Before, at the very least, you would give him dismissive hums, but now all you responded with was your eyes and the movement of your eyebrows, the rest of your face always set in a permanent scowl. 

He didn’t understand what he was doing wrong. He is trying, he really is. Trying to meet your every need and every want any lady could ever want. 

Sighing he pushed back his hair from his face as the background noise finally set. You had left once more early in the morning despite the Maesters advising you not to, leaving him alone with Sara and Lady Arra as they spoke of the upcoming banquet today in your honor.

Cregan figured that if he could not please you or Lady Arra, then perhaps Sara could, her talkative nature made it easy to become friends with. 

“Lady Arra, could you give my sister and I a moment alone?” Cregan spoke without looking up. He often tried to not look towards Lady Arra. 

He heard her obliged and stepped out. 

“Brother?” Sara spoke as she sat in front of him. He lifted his head showing his defeated expression.

“What do you know of my lady wife Sara?” He asked her with a sigh.

“Not much brother, on the day before your wedding I attempted to talk to her, though she seemed in a sour mood only giving me a smile before she left,” Sara spoke as she observed her brother. You had given him such a hard time, though Sara had seen your duties, you had even gone so far as to take what she usually did, giving her the excuse that you did more as Crown Princess and the work in Winterfell paled in comparison.

“Yes, she and her brother, Prince Jacaerys, were at odds that night.” Cregan rationalized.  

“In her days in Winterfell, I have not gotten the chance to speak to her much other than the greeting which she returned. The lady has such structured days that it is hard to find a time when she is not working on something. I believe the only time she spares is for you, Cregan.” Sara offered with a smile. 

Cregan nodded. “She does not seem fond of Lady Arra, though she had-” 

“I would not be fond of the company of Lady Arra if I was your lady wife either,” Sara said, cutting Cregan off. 

Cregan looked at her eyes slightly wide as his palms felt clammy. “Why?”

“Well if my lord husband invited the woman who he was supposed to marry and his childhood friend to be my lady-in-waiting, I would not be pleased either. Why would you even want to invite Lady Arra back to court?” Sara looked at her brother incredulously. 

Cregan felt a little sigh of relief, glad his sister did not know of what happened between Lady Arra and him under the Weirwood tree. However, this information should be unknown to you, how could you have come to find out? “Lady Arra and I were not promised to each other, my wife should not know of that.”

“Well, brother I may have…told her?” Sara mumbled as she watched her brother give her a bewildered look. 

“I did not expect you to invite her back to Winterfell!” Sara defended herself against the incredulous looks her brother threw at her. 

Sighing, Cregan rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “Today, during the banquet, you will keep my wife company and try to remedy this…misunderstanding. She needs a friend here that is not someone who was supposed to marry me.”

“Are you asking me to put in a good word you brother?” Sara gave a small teasing smile at her brooding brother. 

“No. I am asking you to fix this. My lady wife seems to always be upset these days.” Cregan spoke as he looked towards the window. Your dragon seemed to return, going back to land in God's wood. 

“How do you know? She seems as she always is. She is silent and does her duties. She still goes to greet the commons of Winterfell. She is doing well brother.” Sara reaches over for her brother’s hand as she looks outside to see your dragon give a loud roar before disappearing out of sight as it lands. 

“She only ever goes riding when she is particularly upset or displeased with something,” Cregan says, giving his sister’s hand a final squeeze before retracting her own hand. “She is pregnant now, Sara. The Maester says such harsh movement such as dragon riding is not good. Sara, she is angry all the time, I can see it every day on her face.”

“She is the blood of the dragon Cregan, of course, her blood runs hot and consequently; her temper. However, she is not in her home, her home is in the South, you know as well as I do, that the North is not welcoming to outsiders, especially Southerners from King’s Landing. It is only natural that she should find comfort in her beast. ” Sara reasons Cregan. 

She watched Cregan give an exasperated sigh. “Fret not brother, tonight, I will be her friend and give a good word.” Sara smiled before excusing herself. 

Cregan watched his sister leave before standing up himself to go to the God’s Wood. Ever since the wedding Cregan has avoided going due to the dragon that now resided there, and the guilt that would build up in him as he looked at the Weir Wood tree. However, if he decided that if he truly wanted this to work, he would not be bullied out of the place his ancestors had been going to for solace by a dragon or guilt. 

Getting closer to God's wood, it felt warmer than the rest of Winterfell. He felt nervous, yes he is Cregan Stark, Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell, but that does change that a dragon is a dragon. Dragons do not care for names or titles, only for blood, Valyrian blood, blood he does not possess. Despite this, he pushed forward into the new warmth of the woods. As he walked deeper he saw the growth of flowers he had never seen before. The more small life grew, the closer he went to the Weir Wood tree. Eventually, it was so warm he took off his coat and sat down on the bench near the Weir Wood.

This had been the place where he kissed a woman who was not his wife, in front of the ever-gazing eyes of the Weir Wood tree. Looking into the black water, which was so black it could work as a mirror. While looking into the black mirror he saw a figure moving across the pond. 

A large head reflected and Cregan simply looked at the creature through the water. The head was long, low, and narrow. Its eyes are big and green with black slits for pupils. The outside of its upper jaw up to its nasal bone looked rough and textured. Long, low ridges arose from the nasal bones, running along each side of the snout from the nostril back to the eye, where they continued onto the tear duct bone. As Cregan kept looking at the large dragon through the reflection, the dragon looked towards him. It did not bear its teeth but yet Cregan counted nineteen curved serrated teeth protruding from its mouth.  

From the pond Cregan watched it stand taller showing off its stocky body covered in scaly skin. It stretched itself seemingly intent on going towards Cregan now baring its teeth. Cregan looked up from the pond standing from the bench ready to back away if need be. Though despite the fact he had just spent the last couple of minutes looking at the dragon he never noticed you standing next to your dragon. 

It wasn’t until you stood in front of it stopping it from crossing the pond. He watched as your dragon nuzzled against you, more specifically towards your belly, blowing smoke, and even from the distance Cregan could feel the heat. It was hot, scalding hot, and he began to sweat. 

He began to worry that perhaps it may be too much heat for the child you carried, however, before he could say anything he was blinded by the large puff of smoke your dragon exhaled. His eyes burned from the heat and it wasn’t long before his skin felt like it was boiling. 

It hurt and he could hardly breathe, he panicked, but not for himself, but for you. What about you? What about the child in your womb? He found himself trying to yell your name, coughing with each breath he took. He yelled, coughed, and tried to find his way to you through the smoke. As he coughed he nearly fell tripping over a protruding root from the ground. Though suddenly with a large gust of wind, the smoke fell away leaving Cregan alone. You were nowhere in sight and your dragon was lying down ignoring his existence. 

Cregan stood up straight and wiped the tears away that had gathered from the smoke. 

“Cregan!” He heard a voice shout. Turning he saw Arra walking towards him. She was the last person he wanted to be seen with. Not with your dragon now opening an eye and looking at them both, where weeks ago he had committed an act that should never be repeated. He doubted whatever you had told your dragon would keep him at bay should Arra attempt to bring up what happened that day, or if she did anything he reckoned. 

“Lady Arra.” He spoke in a monotone voice. 

“Are you alright? I saw all the smoke and your shouts for the Lady, I rushed over as fast as I could.” Arra spoke as she came closer to him, seemingly trying to wipe soot away from his face. 

Cregan backed away, keeping a distance from her. He watched her face become confused before quickly giving a respectful smile. 

“I am alright, I was simply looking for my lady wife, have you seen her?” 

Arra nodded and stated that she had only recently entered your chambers to prepare for a bath. Content with the answer he left, hoping Arra wouldn’t be foolish enough to remain in the God’s Wood alone with your dragon. 

…

“The dragon’s blood runs hot maester. I assure you I will not burn if you increase the temperature.” You spoke feeling the water which was lukewarm. 

The Maester spoke to you trying to reason.“You may not burn my lady, but the child you bear has Northern blood-” 

That title, ‘my lady,’ it irked you. Something that came along with this cold place, something you were not used to when all your life you had been called ‘your grace,’ it was your proper title and to have someone speak to you in such a manner, it irritated you. You were still a Targaryen, you did not take the Stark name, a noble woman never take her husband’s name. Especially not a royal one who was set to inherit the Iron Throne. You were born a Targaryen and would remain one for the rest of your life. Your mother was born a Targaryen and even when she married your father, Laenor Velaryon, she remained a Targaryen, when she bore you, you took your mother’s name, Targaryen. The child you had growing inside you would also bear the name Targaryen, by right, your child was a Targaryen.

“The dragon’s blood runs strong within me, and it will run strong in my child. I am a cold maester, I have been cold for weeks. Can I not have one hot bath?” You countered cutting him off. Winterfell rarely saw the sun and you could not enjoy the warm rays of sunlight you had in King’s Landing or on Dragon Stone. The only warmth you ever found was near Acrocanthosaurus or hot baths.

“When you are not with child my lady, you may have the water as scalding as you’d like, however, until then, this is the warmest I will allow.” You felt the slightest twitch at the title as the Maester finished. He seemed determined to not let you have your bath. So finally, desperate for some alone time, you agreed and dismissed everyone.

As you disrobed and slipped into the bath, you relished in the slight warmth it provided. It felt good to rid yourself of the scent of dragon. You loved Acrocanthosaurus, you really did, but it didn’t change the fact that dragons didn’t exactly smell the best. 

You cannot say how long you remained in the bath as every part of your being soaked in the scented oils of the bath, your ears plugged from having half of your head submerged, your hair stuck to your forehead and your hand subconsciously resting atop your stomach which now protrude outward ever so slightly. While you were born and given the name Targaryen, as was agreed upon when your mother married your father, it seemed that your father still resonated with you heavily. You always love baths and the weight the water takes from you. Weightless, a feeling that only the seas and skies can give you.

However, the peace broke when you heard someone enter. Giving out a deep sigh of annoyance you rose from the water and you felt warm water fall out from your ears as you watched Lady Arra lay out the dress on the bed. It was the dull colors of the North. You had just about enough of all these dull colors. You wanted vibrant colors for your house, bright crimson colors or deep azures from House Velaryon. 

“Take it away.” You spoke as you sat properly in the bath and drops of water cascaded over you. 

“My lady, this is traditional wear of the North and it is in honor of the next heir of Winterfell…” Lady Arra spoke as you pulled up the dress trying to show off the minimalistic design. As you listened to her, you lifted a brow at the title. The assumption of your child being heir of Winterfell and not heir of the Iron Throne grated you. 

“I don’t care. Take it away and bring me….” You told her to roll your eyes again. “One of my Southern dresses, a red one, with dragons embroidered.” Your child may be fathered by a Northern brute, but you were Southern through and through, and so would your child. 

“Such tight corsets would not be good for the babe you carry, my lady. Southern dresses are also not good for the North, you will run cold.” Arra told you as she walked closer with a robe to help you get out of the bath.

There was that title again, ‘My Lady.’ A title that insulted you. You felt your annoyance grow every time Arra spoke to you.

“I am the dragon’s daughter, my blood runs hot. Now fetch me the dress.” You spoke with an absolute tone. They would not claim your child as a Stark, you will show your alliance with your name. Your child would be Targaryen, as were you. The throne will always belong to a Targaryen.

“My lady I don’t think that would-” 

“Nobody cares…what you think.” You cut Arra off as you stood in all your glory, steam radiating off of your body as you stepped out of the tub and standing in front of her, your eyes met her plain ones You took the robe from her and put it on before looking her up and down unamused. “So bring me my red dress with dragons embroidered.” You spoke in a slow tone as if trying to dumb it down for her. 

You watched her look down before nodding and excusing herself.

…

As you walked into the great hall of Winterfell, you felt all their eyes on you. Your deep crimson dress contrasted the dull grays and blacks of everyone else and your elaborate Southern hair-do stood out from the boring plain ones that Northern ladies wore. 

You were made for the limelight, born for others to look to, born to rule. That was your purpose, a heavy one to carry. 

As you sat next to Cregan, you nodded allowing the feast to begin. From the table you watched everyone scarf down the food and you felt your eyebrows crease in disgust. You felt sick when your own food was placed in front of you. The white meat was glistening under the candlelight and the smell wafting in your nose nearly made you lose your lunch. As you pushed the plate away you drank water, content with only that. You rested back drinking while looking upon the people of the North. The Northerners who thought you were bearing their heir. This was your child, your heir, not theirs, not anyone but yours. 

Just like that, you found yourself standing with your chalice lifted in the air giving a forced smile. You waited until it was silent and everyone watched you, the candlelight casting a dark shadow over you. 

“I’d like to make a toast, as the newest Lady of Winterfell and the alliance this marriage between my lord husband, Cregan Stark, Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell, and I, your Crown Princess.” You smiled as you reminded them of your position. “We hold this banquet in honor of the babe Cregan has gifted me.” You looked down at Cregan with the softest smile you could conjure, though it was an empty one. He looked up to you and as he nodded towards you then faced his men, and you swore he sat up a little straighter. 

“Who will be born Targaryen, as I was, and will be my heir to the Iron Throne as I am to my Mother, your Queen, Rhaenyra Targaryen.” You felt your smile widen into a grin as you saw the people in the hall make the realization that you had every intention of taking the Throne, making you first and foremost, their Crown Princess and then Lady of Winterfell.

“So I toast to the future heir of the Iron Throne.” The cheer they gave was loud as they drank. You gave a small sip. “And should the Gods be generous, Cregan will give me more children who will then bear the name Stark.” With a promise that the Stark name would live, the cheers increased in volume, though the only person you looked at was Arra Norrey who had a neutral face on, which amongst happy flushed places, looked misplaced. She met your eyes and you greeted her with a smug smile. 

Cregan was your husband, for better or worse.

Finally sitting down keeping your eyes on her, to drive your point further, once more, as you did on your wedding day, you took Cregan’s hand and held it near your belly, which now carried your heir.  

As you sat happy, you felt the hand that held Cregan’s being lifted. You looked and watched as Cregan brought your hand to his lips and gave a long soft kiss. You looked deep into his eyes and for the first time, you realized just how gray they were. Never had you really looked towards Cregan as you did now. The forming creases on his face from stress, his long brown hair, but he was handsome, more so now as he looked up at you mumbling a “your grace” acknowledging you as his Crown Princess. 

For the first time since you had met Cregan, since you had married him, since you had been with him, a genuine smile crept on your face unwillingly, forgetting the sin he committed against you. He looked like perfection at that moment. Such gray eyes you had never seen, a sharp nose, a nicely sculpted face. If you had a son, you desperately hoped he inherited his father’s handsome and manly looks rather than the beauty Targeryens were known for. 

“More children, may the gods bless us.” He murmured against your hand which was still resting on his lips. You felt a pulse of desire hearing his Northern accent. Never had you wanted to hear the damned Northern accent more than right now. You could imagine it, hearing his rough voice and pronunciation whispering sweet nothings in your ear while he gives you another babe. The mere thought made you take a deep breath to calm yourself. You felt the warmth of his soft lips leave your hand and you felt almost deprived of his touch. His lips which you had forbidden yourself from touching. 

Why? 

At this very moment while looking at your husband who had done so much for you, giving you expensive gifts, accommodating your every want, giving you the warmest room in Winterfell, excused your leaves with Acrocanthosaurus, putting up with your attitude all without complaining, and giving you an heir for yourself. You honestly couldn’t remember why you would deny yourself such a man. 

You looked into his pretty gray eyes and then down at his perfect lips. You felt yourself lean closer into him seeking him out. For the first time in weeks, you sought him out. As you came closer and felt his breath, which smelt of sweet wine, you grew eager to taste him. Taste the flavor of the wine which was surely left on his tongue. 

Cregan reached his hand to cradle your face and you leaned into the rough calloused hand. Despite the fact that he is a Northerner who came from the cold North, you swore his hand was the warmest one you’ve ever felt. A warm hand to comfort you in the never-ending cold Winterfell seemed to produce. 

Just as your lips touched his own you turned away as someone called for your attention. As you looked up, you saw none other than your lady-in-waiting. 

Lady Arra Norrey. 

Suddenly the cold reality came crashing down on you. Your refusal to share something that should only be yours reminded you of why you treated Cregan Stark, the way you treated him. What he represented to you. The loss of your home, your throne, your place next to your mother as you both fought for your birthright. As you drew your face away from him and his warm hand you looked up towards the woman who stole what was yours. 

Your eyebrow quipped up in annoyance as you looked at her. To your side, you heard Cregan give a sigh, it appeared you weren’t the only one who didn’t want her presence anymore. You didn’t want to see her ever. She too was a constant reminder, a reminder that she ruined something for you. 

As you tuned out her little ramblings you simply looked at her to see what she had that you did not. She wasn’t prettier than you, you spoke better than her, were probably better educated than her, you had a dragon and she didn’t. Why would Cregan want her? Suddenly you felt very annoyed by her. Annoyed by her presence as you had been these last couple of days. Annoyed that she caused you to doubt yourself. Annoyed that she would forever remain a stain on your marriage. 

“My Lady, I am grateful for you and I am also thankful to Lord Stark for extending the invitation.” Arra finished as she bowed and excused herself.

My Lady. She had called you my lady again. Insult after insult she gave you. You wanted her gone. 

Permanently. 

You kept your eyes as she went to converse with other Northern ladies. Ladies you never bothered to entertain. You watched her for as long as you sat, it wasn’t until the bastard of Winterfell tore your eyes away by tapping you. You looked at her with a perplexed look. The nerve of her to touch you. You watched as she smiled at you and as she was to open her mouth to speak, you stood up and excused yourself with a flat smile before she could get a word out. You could care less about what a bastard had to say.

As you made your way through the crowd to the corner where Lady Arra and her friends talked and laughed. You approached behind Lady Arra and the other ladies around her quickly fell silent. 

“Lady Arra.” You spoke and you watched her give a small yelp. 

“Oh, my lady, I was simply speaking to them about how wonderful it is to be your lady-in-waiting.” She gave a smile. 

Once again she insulted you and you felt your eye give a small twitch. You watched her take a breath and open her mouth again to speak. Before she could you raised your hand telling her to stop. She stayed silent. Then you looked behind her at the ladies whose names you didn’t bother with giving them a lifted brow. No doubt you’d have to spell it out to them to leave you. Luckily at least one of them had common sense and left. The rest followed like sheep. 

You looked Arra up and down with disgust and annoyance present on your face.

“That day in the GodsWood. You did something you weren’t supposed to do.” You spoke with a blank smile. You watched as Arra’s face fell. “Keep your face girl.” You were reprimanded. “That day you angered the dragon, my dragon. Who nearly burned Cregan alive, because of you. What do you think will happen when I’m not there to stop him? If he was willing to burn the Warden of the North, Lord of Winterfell. Do you think he would think twice about burning an insignificant girl, from a minor useless house that annoys me?” 

You watched her look away from you and towards the ground before looking back up at you with pleading eyes. “My lady, I never meant to annoy anyone!”

“But you are.” You stressed anger boiling threatening to spill over and cause a scene here in the middle of a banquet. “You’re annoying me right now. Every breath you draw in my presence annoys me, everything you do within these walls annoys me, so here is what I want you to do. I want you to leave my presence. Leave Winterfell right now and go back to whatever part of the North you belong to where they use pinecones as money.” You gave her an annoyed smile struggling to keep your face neutral. 

“My lady, Lord Stark, Warden of the North has-” You cut her off having enough of being called a lady. “Your Crown Princess is telling you to leave Winterfell. Whether in a carriage or a casket, I will be merciful enough to let you have that choice.” You watched her face drop at your implication. “So…are you going to try and wake the dragon who has already decided to burn you alive for your insolence against me, or will you appeal to me? Who’s still mulling it over?” 

You smiled as she bowed, mumbling a small ‘your grace’ before leaving the banquet. A smirk grew on your face as you watched her leave. 

Content with your work and a small smile on your face you went to walk back to your seat next to Cregan and on your side, the bastard of Winterfell. Despite the clear insult, you were happy with your work today. 

“Your grace, you are the eye banquet!” A cheerful voice sang next to you and you felt your smile nearly falter. 

The bastard of Winterfell stood next to you with a wide smile. Sara Snow. The same Sara Snow who had thrown a small look towards your brother Jacaerys during your wedding. As if a bastard would ever be worthy of your brother. Your brother was recognized by the crown and was named heir to Driftmark. This bastard had nothing to her name and only lived at the mercy of her brother. 

“Well, I am a Targaryen.” You give a smile as you look at her from your peripheral not bothering to even face her as you speak. 

“I am happy that you have taken well to your duties here in Winterfell. Even more so now that you have taken mine.” She spoke with such enthusiasm it hurt to listen. However, when she hugged your arm you looked down in shock that she would dare touch you. However, you kept face and kept that same practiced smile on your face. 

“I know my brother can be difficult at times and he can make such rash actions, but he means well. He has gone through so much in his youth. You must understand. However, you should not fret sister-” The moment she said sister you turned her out. You were in utter disbelief that someone who was not your family would touch you so casually.

 A bastard nonetheless. 

A bastard who was making excuses for her brother. She was an annoyance to you. A shame and right after you had just rid yourself of one. 

Breathing in you smiled towards her facing your body slightly more to her. “Who are you?” You asked with an unfaltering smile. 

“I’m sorry for your grace?” Sara looked towards you with furrowed brows and a smile on her face.

“Who are you Cregan?” You resisted rolling your eyes at her. You stood in front of her to block her face from Cregan who you could feel staring towards you.

“His sister,” Sara spoke in low tones as her grip around your arm lessened.

“Half-sister no? You have a different mother, yes?” You corrected her. She needed to learn her place. A bastard had no place talking to you or even a seat at the main table.

“Yes,” Sara spoke in even lower tones as she stared down in shame, feeling your burning eyes and unforgiving smile on her.

“Did the late Lord Stark remarry after Cregan’s mother?” You feigned confusion as tilted your head to the side slightly.

“No…” This she whispered out as you felt her hands start shaking a bit. 

“So that makes you what?” You lowered your face to her level as you leaned in with a mocking smile and fraudulent innocence. 

“A…” She couldn’t even say it as you saw tears on her waterline. It pleased you to know that you were the one to properly educate her on the place of bastards in society. 

“Bastard.” You finished for her as you lifted your hand which she had cupped in both of hers. “Even a common true-born is higher than a bastard.” You kept your smile as you peeled her hands off of yours. Finally, as her arms dropped and you forced her to look you in the eye your smile dropped revealing an unamused disgusted face.  “You ever presume to touch me or call me sister again, I will have Acrocanthosaurus burn your already average-looking face off. Nobody wants to marry a bastard, much less an ugly one.” 

You watched her give you an incredulous look. “And don’t ever make excuses for your brother in my presence again, do you hear me?” A futile effort on Cregan’s part to justify what he did on your wedding day. Your face twitched slightly as you watched her nod. Deciding you’ve had enough, you gave a flat smile and turned away from her, walking towards Cregan to inform him you were retiring for the night. 

…

Cregan watched you walk away. The Southern crimson dress contrasted the dark walls of the Great Hall and the clothes of everyone else. The Southern up-do of your hair, elaborate with jewels, twists, and braids. Gold dripped from your fingers and your neck. You were regal, and it was all he could bother to pay attention to, even if his sister came back with a solemn face and Arra had left after you’d finished talking to her. 

You had made a promise to him. More heirs, made by you and him. It was all his mind focused and soon his pants felt tight on him. He watched you until the doors of the Great Hall finally closed, your figure leaving his sight. He replayed the memory over and over in his head. His lips are on the back of your hand. Your eyes looking into his and a small smile on your lips. Lips that he was so close to kissing tonight. His hands are on your face tonight, when before, he was only able to touch you when you slept. The weight you pressed on his hand when you leaned into him. Everything about it was perfect. You were perfect, and tonight he was so close to tasting it. 

However, it is ruined when Lady Arra interrupts. A shame, though he supposes he could ease you tonight, as you seemed in a rather generous mood. To carefully undo the laces that held your Southern dress together, he’d hate to ruin such a dress that looked so pretty on you. The golds around your neck and on your fingers. It all served as a stark reminder of where you were from, and where he is from. Polar opposites. However, opposites attract, don’t they? 

The feeling in between his legs was beginning to hurt. So while he would normally ask his sister what was wrong with her, his mind was only clouded with one thing. 

You. 

So ignoring his sister, he stood and left the banquet, chasing after you.

When he entered you chambers he found you bent over placing your golden jewelry in a chest. 

He loved Southern dresses.

He raked the room finding it filled with your Southern ladies-in-waiting, and luckily for him, no Arra Norrey. 

With a look, the ladies bowed and left. He watched you look at him over your shoulder and he heard a sigh. 

Seems he would have to ease you just a little back into the woman he had in his hands hours before. Walking behind you he hugged you, praising himself. Northern dresses tended to be thick, better for insolation and keeping the women warm. These Southern dresses were thinner, let him feel you. Cregan would make sure to have more Southern dresses made for you. 

Inhaling your scent he pressed soft kisses against your exposed shoulder and like always you gave him better access to your neck. His hands traveled up your front side against the hard corset you wore until one of his hands cradled your face and the other lay on your stomach. He tilted your face towards him intent on finally claiming your lips after weeks of agony. 

As he went to kiss you, he felt your head tilt down and he instead made contact with your forehead. He sighed and closed his eyes in annoyance. 

“I am already with child Cregan.” You spoke in low tones as he rubbed your belly though he could only feel the hardness of the corset.  

He let your face go and buried his face in your neck. 

“Why do you deny me my wife?” He mumbled against you. He felt you shudder under him. Then he felt your finger massaging his scalp and you rested your head on his. 

“Why don’t you understand?” Cregan heard you mumble and he lifted his head looking towards you. You looked at him with unmoving eyes, a tired look on your face. 

“What is there to understand? Every night you deny me.” Cregan walked in front of you cupping your face with both hands looking down at you. “I have played your game, wife, what more can I give you?”  

“What game Cregan?” You lifted your hands holding onto his wrist, perplexed by his answer.

“I have tried to give you everything! I have respected your space, I have tried to understand you, and I have done more than what anyone else would do in my position!” His grip hardened on the sides of your face as he looked trying to decipher you. 

“It is truly a shame, I thought you were an honest man.” You pulled your face away from his hand as you pushed him away, narrowing your eyes at him. “You don’t think I know of your whore!?”

“What whore? I have been faithful to you, I have never needed anyone but you.” There was no way you would’ve known about the kiss, and in any case, you were not married to him yet. Though Cregan knew they were excuses. To kiss someone under a weird wood tree. Any Stark knows that only oaths are sworn under that tree.

“What happened that day? The day where you were nearly burned?” You finally asked him, your patience had run out. You watched him as he avoided your eyes and stayed silent. 

You scoffed and an unbelieving smile on your face. “You cannot even face yourself! I would’ve never thought it of you. You didn’t seem the lying kind, had it not been for my dragon, I would’ve been none the wiser.” You shouted at him while he stood in silence. You walked closer to him, your eyes narrowed in anger and betrayal. “And you never would’ve told me. You’d be happily prancing around with her, behind my back whilst I labor?” 

“Fine! Yes, I kissed her-” Cregan admitted, but never did he ever think of taking her as a mistress. 

“At the very place where you and I wed!” You cut him off. You didn’t know what to name this feeling. It was humiliation and something else. Something for which you did not know the words for, and it caused you to doubt yourself. What did she have that you did not? 

“It was a mistake, one I will spend the rest of my days atoning for it! I do not care for her!” Cregan spoke desperately trying to make you understand that Arra means nothing to him.

“And this!” You made a gesture towards yourself and him. “What a waste! This is such a waste!” Your hands covered your face as if trying to hide you from the ridiculousness of it all. “This marriage could’ve been so much more! If you had just- IF YOU HAD JUST THOUGHT WITH WHAT IS IN BETWEEN YOUR EARS AND NOT WHAT'S IN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS!” You screamed at him, it was the first time you had ever raised your voice at him. Raise your voice at anyone in Winterfell. 

“It was a mistake and I am sorry, truly!” He gripped onto you trying to keep you still as he reasoned with you. “You are the only woman in my life! Never once did I ever think of Arra once you and I married. Not another woman has held me as you have! I do not ask for your forgiveness, not yet, but I ask for understanding. I ask that you know that you are the only woman I will ever love, the only woman I will ever give children to. You are the mother of my children. You are all that matters to me!” He held your face and you tore away from him

“You have disrespected me, Cregan! Humiliated me in front of someone who doesn’t compare to me in any way. Yet you…” You breathed before looking at him with an accusatory look.

“You made me doubt my worth.” You spoke in low tones as if confirming it to yourself. 

“Do you know how much I was worth before I married you?” Your voice rose as you pointed to yourself. “I secured crucial alliances all with the possibility of my hand! Not even a promise, but just a possibility that my blood, the blood of the dragon, would flow through their family line!”

Cregan watched you and though you yelled at him, he felt pity for you. All you saw yourself, all your worth was from your name. From what you stood to inherit.  

“I am worth a thousand of your men and twice as many noblewomen because of my blood! There is not a power that can hope to stand against the House of the Dragon if it were united!” You yelled your chest oscillating as you attempted to catch your breath. Your hair was loose as golden trinkets fell on the floor. 

Looking at the gold that fell, you pulled out another piece and threw it at Cregan who had just been standing there, giving you this…a look you couldn’t describe but it irked you.“Do you see this gold? All of it means nothing when compared to me! Others wear gold to elevate themselves in the eyes of others. When I have gold, the gold wears me. I elevate anything I touch and you make me doubt myself! And for what? A lady of a lower house!? Nearly common!?” You yelled. That woman was nothing to you, yet he saw fit to degrade you to her level. It was unthinkable. You were heir to the Iron Throne, the blood of the Dragon. You would always be worth more than anyone else. 

You watched as Cregan stepped closer, and as he did you stepped back. For every step you took backward, he took one forward. You wouldn’t let yourself fall for this man. Someone who did not see your worth. Someone who had you questioning everything about yourself. Suddenly your back hit the warm rock. You had never noticed the walls being warm. They always seemed so cold to you. 

Cregan’s warm rough hands cradled your face once more. You tried to move but his grip was firm. He had never used this force with you, always letting you tear yourself away from him, but now, you were caught between a wall and him. 

“Let me go.” You hissed out looking away from him. 

“That is not what you are worth to me,” Cregan spoke in a low voice. 

Your eyes turned to look at him with confusion. “What?” It was a small whisper that came out a bit muffled with his hands on your face. 

“The blood of the dragon means nothing to me. I did not agree to marry you for the blood you carry.” He spoke as he watched your face morph into a puzzled look then into a defensive one. Your hands came to hold his own while they held your face. “You are to be the mother of my children. You simply are yourself to me. That in itself is worthy enough. Your blood was not the one that captured me when you first kissed me, even if it was not where I wanted you to kiss me.”

You felt disappointment pool in your stomach as he spoke. “I only matter because I will be the mother of your children!?” 

Cregan sighed as his thumb caressed your cheek. “You matter to me because you are my wife. If you were not, then you would matter to me because I made an oath to you. You matter to me not because of the worth you carry, but because you are mine and I am yours. There is no one else.” He rested his forehead against yours.

As you felt his skin against yours, you wanted to rip yourself away. Your entire life has been defined by one thing. Your blood. Blood of the Dragon, Blood of the Seas. It had been questioned, your worth had been brought into question. All your life had been spent telling you how important you were because you were your mother's heir. Always had to act the part, always had to look the part because your it was your blood’s worth, your worth was always called into question. For someone to tell you this, for the very man who had managed to make you feel as if you lost all your worth by marriage, for him to tell you this, it was like poison to you. No one can live with such poison. The hope that it gives you, the hope he gives you. It is a poison that anyone could become addicted to. If taken away, it would kill you. 

You shook your head refusing to accept the poison he was feeding you, but as much as you shook your head, you tilted your face upwards, closing your eyes, a yearning that should not be there. 

You felt his lips brush yours. A slight roughness to them, and before you could register, you found yourself pulling his hands away from your face desperate to kiss him.

However, he lifted his face upwards instead of kissing your forehead. 

A pang of humiliation hit you hard as you looked down. Even now he humiliated you, even as you gave in to him.

You felt his hands cradle your face again and made you look up. But your face was a shade of red that no matter how hard you tried to push down, it wouldn’t leave. This room that had once been so cold, now you felt as if it was burning your skin. 

“I swear to you, my Crown Princess. Your grace, now and forever, till the end of our days. I will always tell you the truth, truths about yourself, and truths about myself. Never will I give you a reason to doubt me. I will not let myself have you until you accept your worth to me.” Once more he leaned forward and you let yourself close your eyes not having the will to say anything back. 

You felt his soft lips against your cheek before he let you go. 

You stood there as he let you go. You kept your eyes closed as you felt the cold air hit your face when he walked behind you, his body no longer shielding you from the cold. 

You felt his hands on your hair, taking out the gold pieces and undoing your braids. Then you felt his hands undo the laces on your dress. As he took your arm pulling out from the sleeve of the dress, then doing the same to the other. Until your dress fell down leaving you bare, safe for your undergarments. 

Despite that, you felt awfully vulnerable as his hand went to take yours. You had been bare in front of him many times before, but this time, you felt like hiding away from him. Your hand went to cover your breasts as he sat down on the bed facing you. 

Cregan took your hand and pulled you to him. You fell onto his lap as he laid back. You hid yourself in him. He fixed himself on the bed bringing you with him as you stayed hiding within his chest. You both stayed like that. His hands wrapped around you holding close to him as his fingers traced symbols on your back, and you relished the safety of being able to hide away and the warmth he provided. In the same room where the cold had been unbearable, you now took cover from it using your husband.

…

You cried out shaking your head begging. “I can’t, I can’t! Make it stop! Please! Please make it stop, I can’t, I can’t!”

“You must push!” The Master spoke as the wet nurse cleaned the sweat from your brow. 

“No! No! No, I can’t!” You cried as you felt the excruciating pain between your legs. The child refused to come out, and you couldn’t anymore. It was too much. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t” It was all you could say and only stopped to gasp for air. 

“It’s too much, it hurts, it hurts. Please just make it stop” You continued to cry. 

Cregan stood by you watching as you struggled. He watched the Maester stand as Cregan followed.

“Help her.” It was a command. Cregan had watched you struggle for hours, but the child simply wouldn’t come. The Maester looked at him with a helpless look as your cries continued in the background. 

“I do not think the child will live like my lord.” The Maester spoke. 

“Will my wife?” A child, they could make another, but you? After these past months, everything he’s built with you? There was nothing that could replace you. 

“Possibly, at the expense of the child my lord.” The Maester spoke with such carefulness. “We can extract the child and it will live…however it would cut into the mother’s womb directly-”

“No, save my wife.” Cregan rejected the idea immediately. There would be too much blood loss, he would lose you and that wasn’t an option for him.

“If the child does not live, there is a possibility that she will become infertile.” The Maester tried once more. “Save. My. Wife.” Was all Cregan said before returning to your side as you cried. 

“They're going to take out the baby, it’ll be over soon.” Cregan watched you nod as tears spilled from your eyes. 

He watched the Maester as you gave one final push.

“The child! It was crowned! Push once more! Once more, the child will be out!” The Maester urged and gave it all you had, you pushed and you heard a cry. 

Cregan furrowed his brows. The Maester had said only one of you would live. Cregan stood up leaving you to carry your newborn. 

“What did you do?” Cregan asked in a low tone, narrowing his brow at the Maester. “I did nothing, I swear it. It was your wife. She persevered.” The Maester assured him.

Cregan looked back at you, a gleam of sweat on your face as you held your child. White hair on the top of its head. 

“A boy your grace.” The wet nurse smiled. You looked towards Cregan and gave him a smile and he returned it. 

Cregan walked to you and kissed your forehead as he looked down at his son, your heir. “He looks like you.” 

“A shame, I wished he took after his father.” Cregan gave another smile as he pressed another kiss to your forehead.

“Hold him.” You told him as you handed him off to your husband smiling, feeling the warmth radiating off your husband. Though you think the window is left open, because even as you felt Cregan’s warmth, the cold air seemed to overwhelm it. You shivered a bit as you looked towards your child and Cregan. 

“A Valyrian name. He was born Targaryen, as his mother.” Cregan leans against you, warming you. 

“Meaximus.” You whispered out smiling. “Meaximus Targaryen, my heir.”

Cregan went once more to kiss your face, but before he could process it, you moved yourself so that you would be kissing his lips. Your lips fit perfectly against his, moving in perfect motions as if this was your millionth kiss when it was your first one. The first kiss was shared with your husband. 

As you broke off the kiss to breathe, you gave him a smile. “You are my love,” You kissed him again. “My joy.” Once more you kissed him cupping his face. “You are my refuge.” Kissing him as if it were the last and he returned your eagerness. “And the truth of my life.” Once more you kissed him hoping to feel the warmth you had spent the last months basking in.

However as you kissed him, the warmth that he once filled with was overwhelmed by a cold. As you pulled away from him shivering and giving a smile you pulled the sheets up trying to keep yourself warm. You had never felt this cold, the fire in your blood, never allows you to run this cold.

But here you were, shivering. “P-perhaps they should…close the window no? It’s cold Cregan. He could catch a cold.” 

Cregan furrowed his brows. There were no windows open, in fact, this room was the warmest in all of Winterfell. He had made it so, knowing you much preferred warmth. He looked back toward the Maester whose hands were coated in blood. A slow shake of his head made Cregan shiver. He looked back at you, the flush of your face that always seemed to be there was now gone, and instead, your teeth clattered and your eyes looked tired. 

“Come!” Cregan spoke in desperation trying to keep you warm. “Just come,” You listened and cuddled close to Cregan, fingertips touching the cheek of your son who flinched away and made a face as he began to cry. 

“I’m cold Cregan.” You spoke as your hands touched his face. You were trembling, but he reaches over and he touches you, like a prayer for which no words exist. 

Cregan felt your cold hands draw him closer and once more he kissed you, but your lips were no longer warm, instead, they were cold and he felt them chapped. He leaned back. He watched you give a small smile as you began to cry. 

You looked up at him, then down to your son and as you did a lone tear escaped your eye. You didn’t want to die. Not yet, not now. Not when everything was going so well. You wanted to live, to have more children with Cregan, give him an heir. To see your son grow and you hope that he inherited his father's rugged handsomeness and not the beauty from the Targaryens. To see your little brothers meet your son. To see your mother rise to the throne and bless your son. You didn’t want to die. Not yet. However, it didn’t stop the black dots from taking your view. 

“Please…” You heard it faintly being spoken, like prayer or more so begging and you faintly registered a feeling of something on your lips. Closing your eyes you leaned into the kiss. A final kiss from your husband.

…

“He is beautiful,” Rhaenyra whispered as she looked at the boy whose beauty was unparalleled by any other child she had ever seen while tears escaped her eyes. She watched as Cregan nodded. The son between you and Cregan would be beautiful. A beauty that would transcend time and be sung about in ballads hundreds of years from now. 

Your son, your heir, your legacy. All that remained of her firstborn child. Her first and only daughter had lived with her. Try as she might, Rhaenyra could not stop the tears from falling. Her daughter, her heir, lost to childbirth as her mother was. Your dragon, Acrocanthosaurus, stood off to the side ready to burn you when commanded. Cregan had been kind enough to bring your body back to her to be burned like how all Targaryens left. 

Once more, she was made to burn her own family. As she tried to move forward, she couldn’t. She couldn’t bring herself to burn her daughter. Not her daughter. So she stayed still watching what remained of you in his father's arms. 

“Dracarys!” Rhaenyra heard and she turned her head to find Jacaerys with that same look she once had when she had to burn her mother. Rhaenyra watched her sons, Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey look at their sister as she burned. Little Aegon and Viserys in Daemon’s arms as he watched ahead with an unmoving face. 

Then she looked over to see your son who did not look upon your burning body but instead looked up towards Acrocanthosaurus. A wobbly smile grew on Rhaenyra’s face as she began to sob. 

The only thing that remained of you, it would only make sense if your blood once again reclaimed Acrocanthosaurus.

Notes: Jon Snow would hate to see reader coming. She does not fw these bastards 😭

Took inspo from Cerslay of Cuntly Rock (this edit pushed me to finish it)

All credit to tik toker: moonqsnat

To be added on Tag list: !(•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

[emileeknow]

Finally | Joshua Au

Pairing: Joshua X Reader

Genre: Soulmate!au, fluff

Words: 2.1K

Summary: You see your soulmate’s face in your dreams but can never interact with them.

The8 |  Jeonghan  |  Mingyu  |  Hoshi |  S.Coups |  Jun  | Woozi  | Wonwoo | Dino  | Vernon  |  Seungkwan  | DK

Joshua was having one of the dreams again. They were a regular occurrence, he found them strange at first, but he didn’t think much of it anymore.

He wasn't sure when they started, but he first took notice of them when he was 19.

It was said that the faces you saw in dreams were real people you had encountered in your lifetime. A combination of people you recognise and an array background faces you had caught a glimpse of when going about daily life.

Aside from the people he knew and the random background faces, there was one face that kept showing up in his dreams. Yours. 

He didn’t notice it at first, so wasn’t quite sure when you started appearing. 

It was after a few weeks of seeing your face that he started to recognise you. He didn’t know where he had seen you before, but you were appearing far too frequently to be some random passer-by he’d seen on the street one day. 

He thought about it a lot.

Who are you?

Why did you keep appearing?

Was he going crazy?

You were never a main character and he’d never had an interaction with you in his dreams. You were just always in the background somewhere. Always present in the scene but not always noticeable. It became a game he would play with himself to find you in his dream that night, like a game of hide and seek.

Once he found you, he always tried to interact with you. Fate never let him though. You always disappeared, wisping away into nothingness before he could get close enough to utter even a greeting.

He thought about you a lot, both in his dreams and in his conscious mind. But no matter how much he mulled it over, he still couldn’t place your existence in his everyday life. You were just a mysterious constant in his dreamworld. 

-

You on the other hand were completely indifferent to the man that was always in your dreams. You were aware of him, but instead of pondering the significance of the man’s existence, you just shrugged it off as meaningless.

When you saw his familiar face in the crowd you would think, ‘oh it's that guy again’ and continue on with the dream as if nothing had happened. 

You assumed it was someone you always saw on your daily commute. Just another face at a bus stop, or someone in the coffee shop that you regularly saw in the background when you went to get your morning dose of caffeine.

You didn't really remember what happened in your dreams after you woke up, once the drowsiness had worn off, the night’s events just phased out of your memory, it wasn’t unless you focused on it that you could really process what had happened in your dream. Therefore you didn’t really think much of the man that was always there. 

You didn’t give much thought to the fact that it probably had some kind of deeper meaning. It’s not like the world you lived in, revolved around strange inexplicable connections to other people…

You went about your daily life as usual. You’d recently started a new job so were still settling into the new office. There were so many new names and faces to remember and it meant you had to go through all the general get to know your co-worker questions all over again. 

What’s your name?... Y/N

Have you met your soulmate yet?... No

What’s your connection?... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You had already had the same conversation with around 5 people this morning and to be honest you were getting a little tired of it. Whenever you would respond that you didn’t know what the connection was, the other person would either nod politely and give you some words of encouragement, ‘Oh I’m sure you’ll find out eventually’, or they would try to shake your hand to check the tingles. 

It was reasonably well known that when soulmates touched they would feel the connection. This had resulted in a culture whereby people who were unaware of their connections would try to make physical contact with others upon meeting them. 

The idea you didn’t mind, it was logical and many did find their soulmates this way. However, the past three people you had met had done exactly that and then promptly left the conversation. Any interest in getting to know you dissipating the moment they found out that you did not mean anything to them. 

Since you were new to the company, you just had to accept it, although it did make you uncomfortable. 

Luckily for you, there was a girl chatting with someone at a nearby desk that noticed your discomfort. She quickly stood up and shooed away the small crowd of people. You silently thanked her and she smiled brightly at you. 

She introduced herself, and to your delight didn’t ask any of the usual questions. 

Turns out her desk was next to yours, and you were so glad that your new desk buddy was a nice person. It only took a couple of days of working together for the two of you to become friends. 

-

You and your new workplace bff, were sat eating lunch in the office cafeteria one day, when the conversation drifted to soulmates. 

“How come you never asked me about soulmates?” you ask curiously.

“I figured if you wanted to talk about it you would, I also had a hidden connection, so I know how annoying it is when people try to get you to talk about it. Especially the ones that made it seem like I didn’t have one, you know when they say. Oh I’m sure there is someone out there for you.” 

“Or, You probably aren’t one of the 0.01%.” you continued. 

“Or my personal favourite, I know most people have found theirs' by your age, but don’t lose hope”

“Are you sure you already found your soulmate? Are you sure you aren’t mine?” you smiled sweetly at her.

The both of you chuckled.

“I didn’t know what my connection was until I met him”

“How did that work?” you ask curiously. 

“Well our connection was dreams, we had been meeting each other in our dreams for years before we actually met.”

“So you both communicated in your dreams? How did you not know that that was your connection then?”

“We wouldn't remember anything when we woke up, it was like we were living a separate life in our sleep. It wasn’t until we touched for the first time that all of the memories from our dreams came back to us.” She was smiling fondly, looking off into the distance as she thought about her soulmate. 

“I didn’t realise connections like that existed” you ponder. 

“Neither did I, until it happened. Who knows, you may have a similar one, one that you are not consciously aware of.”

“Maybe…” you wondered.

“Talking of soulmates, Jeonghan and I are going for dinner tonight, so do you want to come with us?” She asks.

“I’m alright, I don’t want to third wheel you and your soulmate”

“Jeonghan’s friend is also coming, if anything I’m the third wheel, please save me” she pleads with an adorable pouting expression.

“Fine” you relent.

You were curious to meet your new best friend’s soulmate. The way she would gush about the cute dates they went on made you curious about what he was like. 

-

That evening, Joshua and Jeonghan were on their way to the restaurant.

“Why do I need to come to dinner with your soulmate?” Joshua asked, not appreciating the last minute invitation. What if he’d had other plans? He didn’t of course, but he could have.

“Because otherwise her friend will be uncomfortable.” Jeonghan stated in response.

“Huh?”

“Y/N Won’t come if they think they’re going to be the third wheel, so you my friend need to be the fourth” he clarified with a smile and a pat on the back.

“Is it that important that Y/N comes?”

“Apparently yes. Anyway it’s not like you're paying so...”

“Why didn't you say that earlier?” Joshua smiles, patting Jeonghan on the back, as he starts to walk with a bit more of a spring in his step.

“Unbelievable” Jeonghan rolls his eyes. 

Joshua had no idea why it was so important that this Y/N person came out for dinner with Jeonghan and his soulmate, but Joshua was not about to turn down a free meal. 

Additionally, he knew the discomfort of being the third wheel all too well. Over the past couple of years his group mates had all been meeting their soulmates. Whether he liked it or not, he was being bombarded by loved up couples left right and centre.

He’d waited patiently for it to finally be his turn but Seokmin had met his soulmate several months ago, yet there was still no sign of his own.

It was disheartening. He never let it show since he didn’t want the pity that came with being the only single one left. Everyone always invited him to join their outings, in an effort to not make him feel left out.

He appreciated the thought, he really did. But no matter how inclusive everyone tried to be, there came times where it felt like he was sat alone at the back of a roller coaster filled with twelve happy couples in front of him.

He’d inadvertently become the ultimate third wheel of the group, so if he could help some complete stranger not feel the same awkwardness, and get a free meal out of his friend in the process, then he would happily come out to dinner.

-

Jeonghan and Joshua entered the restaurant. The two immediately started scanning the tables to locate the one they were looking for. 

Joshua froze as his eyes landed on you. The rest of the room became irrelevant as his eyes scanned your face.

You were looking intently at the menu but he recognised you immediately. 

Was he dreaming? He didn’t feel like he was.

Was this real? He could smell the mouth-watering scents from the kitchen, so it definitely felt real.

Were you really there in front of him?...

Before he knew it, he was snapped out of his daze as his impatient friend dragged him over to a table in the far corner. The one you were sat at.

Jeonghan greeted his soulmate warmly before sitting down opposite her. Joshua just stood there, staring at you in disbelief since for once he was right beside you and you hadn’t disappeared into thin air. 

-

Jeonghan introduced himself to you before gesturing to his friend, which you thought he’d lost along the way, as there was no one taking the seat next to him. 

You looked around, your eyes trained on the man looming nearby, he stood frozen by the side of the table.

Your first impression was that his lurking presence at your side should have been unnerving. But for some reason it wasn’t. You tilted your head in thought. He looked familiar but couldn’t quite place where you’d seen him before. 

“Y/N, this is Joshua,” Jeonghan announces, breaking the silence that had settled as the two of you continued to stare at each other. 

“It’s you….” Joshua finally speaks, finally shuffling himself into the seat opposite you without breaking eye contact.

“You know each other?” Jeonghan asks, leaning forward onto the table and resting his head on his hands, slightly intrigued. 

“I don’t think so, but I feel like I’ve seen him before.” You mumble, deep in thought as you try to place him in your mind.

A small smile appears on Joshua’s face, which for some reason had your own lips naturally curling upwards in response. 

“Have you perhaps seen me in your dreams every night and wondered who I was, or why I kept appearing?” he asks softly.

You nodded slowly, eyes widening as realisation dawns on your face.

“Hold on a second…” your friend looks at you in utter disbelief, swatting your arm to grab your attention away from the stunning man in front of you. “You mean to say you’ve been seeing a man you’ve never met before in your dreams every night, and you didn’t think that it could have some kind of relation to your soulmate”

“....Yes?” you mutter.

Your friend shakes her head judgementally. 

“Why didn’t you say you were having dreams like that?” an equally puzzled Jeonghan turns to Joshua. 

He simply shrugs, “I didn’t realise that could be a connection.” 

“Even after I told you about my bizarre connection, you didn’t think that maybe those dreams probably meant something?” Jeonghan said incredulously.

Joshua doesn’t respond, he was too busy looking at you, now that you were actually sitting in front of him. It didn’t feel real, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“Even on my day off, I’m surrounded by idiots,” Jeonghan sighed to himself.

Minghao  |  Jeonghan  |  Mingyu  |  Soonyoung |  Seungcheol  |  Junhui  | Jihoon |  Wonwoo |  Hansol  | Seungkwan  |  Seokmin

A/N: 

… So I finally finished this. Truth is I wrote the draft of this part two years ago but never got round to finishing it. Somehow I’ve managed to write 300k words of VegasPete fics in the past year, but couldn’t get my ass in gear to finish and post this one tiny one shot. Over the past few months I’ve had loads of tumblr notifications come through from people binge reading the series and liking all the parts. So the guilt of leaving Shua out has finally caught up with me. Thanks to everyone for the support over the course of this series, even if it did take nearly 6 years to complete <3

Taglist (I know it’s been two years since the last part, so sorry if you no longer wanted to be tagged) : @ohmygyaaah @btsarmy7-2013andrandomthings​

[boxyheadbry]

Pushing myself to draw more dragons (or drawing in general), so I'm gonna try to do a daily dose of dragons, dinos or droids this month. (I'm a bit behind already, I know)

Here is a tiny one with a caterpillar tail.

[skylandart]

Did I decide I wouldn’t post this? Yes.

Did I still post because we need more Javelia? Also yes.

[stiles-o-dylan24]

I ALMOST FORGOT TODAYS DAILY DOSE 😩😩😩

Here’s a sad looking Dyl for today ‘cause I almost forgotted 🥺🥺

Still a great picture like wtf he’s like Barney, can never take a bad photo

🥺 Hoech is me when I realised I saved the photo to send but never actually sent it

[mandakatt]

Something on your face.

A/N: Dorky title is dorky but I’ve had a slump of creativity the last few days. So, this is the best I can do for now. I may change it later, but we’ll see.. maybe I’ll just let laziness win out and … well whatever. XD

So, this is just a small gift for @crowncitizens - because not only has she been such a positive light for me lately, but the lady was nice enough to buy me a ko-fi. ♥ Hope you like it!

Tagging: @momokitty27 @blossattic @major-artery @teambleckpowa @ffxv-milkshake @suzunesays

Characters: Dino x Reader Warnings: None Wordcount: 756

Stretching your arms over your head you gave off a deep groan as you screwed your eyes shut. Your whole form began to tremble with your stretch before you slumped against the bench with a deep sigh. When a soft chuckle reached your ears you straightened up, your eyes wide as you looked about, only to feel heat creep across your face as he made his way down the stairs from the restaurant.

“If I didn’t know any better,” Dino began softly as he approached. “I’d have to say you’re bored.”

You shook your head and gave him a smile. “Nah, I’m not bored, just, relaxed.”

He made a soft noise and hummed as he moved to stand before you, gently offering his hand. “Ya got a sec Doll?”

Lifting your brows a moment you gently placed your hand in his and rose to your feet, only to give off a soft noise of surprise as he pulled you against him. You could feel his chuckle rumbling in his chest as he gently kissed the top of your head.

“Dino!” you huffed but smiled up at him.

“What, I can’t surprise ya?” he grinned down at you a moment.

With a roll of your eyes you gently tried to move back only to feel his arms wrap about you a bit more tightly, keeping you firmly held to his chest. When he rested his chin on top of your head you hummed softly, but made no movement to pull away.

“Dino?” you asked softly. “You alright?”

You felt him nod slightly as he started to sway with you a little, causing a chuckle to spill past your lips as you finally let yourself relax, your arms wrapping about him and gently grasping the back of his blazer.

“Finally,” he mumbled softly. “That’s better.” He pressed another gentle kiss to the crown of your head before resting his cheek against it.

“If you had wanted me to hug you, you just had to ask dummy.”

“Dummy?!” he gasped mockingly before he chuckled. “I will have you know, that me being a dummy is just a facade.”

“Oh?” you chuckled and slowly drew your head back to look up at him, a brow lifting slightly. “You could have fooled me.”

He smiled down at you charmingly, dipping his head a little to lightly brush his nose against yours. “Just means I’m good as good at actin’ as well as makin shiny things, huh Doll?”

Rolling your eyes gently you huffed up at him, and gently pressed a kiss to his chin, smiling a little at the soft content hum he gave off before you started to pull back only to blink up at him as his hands suddenly gripped your shoulders.

“Hold on…”

Watching as his brows knitted together he seemed to frown a bit as his grey eyes searched your face. Lifting your brows a little yourself you tilted your head to the side a little.

“Dino?” you called his name softly, concerned. “Is there something–”

He cut you off gently by cupping your face in both of his hands. “Hold still Doll,” his eyes again roamed your face before he let his eyes lock with yours. “There’s something on your face…”

Lifting your brows high you were about to ask him what it was when he dipped his head, and kissed you. Making a small noise of surprise, you tensed up a little, but as soon as his thumbs pet gently against your cheeks, you relaxed into his kiss, your hand moving to grip his wrist gently, letting your eyes flutter shut.

He let it linger, gently massaging your lower lip before he slowly pulled back, pulling on your lower lip slightly with his teeth. When you finally opened your eyes, your face felt warm under his hands, and he smiled at you charmingly.

“Ah there, I got it.” he chuckled softly.

You hummed. “Are you telling me,” you began softly as you started to grin. “That you, were on my face?”

“Well,” he laughed and once more pet his thumbs against your cheeks. “Maybe. Did ya want me to be ‘on your face’ again Doll?”

Rolling your eyes you clicked your tongue a little, only to him a bit of a sly smile. “Dummy.”

Reaching up, you grasped the lapel of his blazer and pulled him down for another kiss, catching him off guard. When you pulled back, you smirked up at him, giggling softly to the goofy grin on his face.

[keisshortcake]

Soft morning Kei~

Basically Kei’s reaction to you wanting to start a morning exercise habit. 

Slight nsfw if you squint, but nah, it’s all fluff ///v/// ~

1337 words.

~~~

It's 8am in the morning. Somehow, you managed to be awake quite early without your alarm for once. On your left, you could see Kei's back, rising and falling softly as he hugged his beloved giant dino plushie to sleep. Well, to be precise, he was cuddling you to sleep. But for some reason now his back is facing your direction, leaving you slightly cold under the blanket. Maybe the lack of warmth from his chest on your back is the reason why you woke up.

In any case, the gentle rays of the morning nudged you to get up and start your day. You have always loved the morning, but ever since you started living together with Kei, you have adjusted your lifestyle habits to accommodate to his late night volleyball games and museum duties. Taking your phone with you, you got up to get a glass of water, while mindlessly scrolling Instagram only to see those fitspo posts about quick morning exercises to get that flat and supposedly beautiful tummy.

You haven't been exercising lately, well, you hate sweating in general. You and Kenma shared the same passion against gravity when it comes to exercising or playing sports.

Yet, the thought of doing 5 sets of 20 leg raises and 10 sit-ups to get fitter and look better piqued your interest. “That doesn’t seem very difficult”, you thought to yourself.

Glancing at the sleeping figure on your shared bed, you suddenly remembered how whenever you go out with Kei, eyes would turn your direction because your shortass self is a stark contrast to his towering height and well-built body.

So you've decided, while Kei is still sleeping, maybe you can try working out for once. 

Going back on the bed, slowly and quietly so that you don't wakeup your tired boyfriend, you lift your legs up and down to try and complete the exercise.

Little did you know, Kei was awake the whole time. The way the bed shift behind him signaled him that you were going out, perhaps to get a glass of water, or to the toilet.

He was waiting for you to snuggle into his back like how you've always done it whenever you woke up earlier than him, so that he can start getting his daily dose of morning cuddles. 

But instead, there was nothing. His back remained cold, and there was no sign of you going to cuddle him soon even after he felt your presence back behind him.

Then, he heard the bed rustled behind him. 

In the quiet of the morning, the only thing he could hear now is the sound of your breath, softly but rhythmically huffing and puffing.

Why are you panting beside him? Are you serious? He could only conclude one thing. You can’t be touching yourself in the morning while he's sleeping next to you right?

Last night he returned late from work due to some last-minute changes regarding the new safe distancing regulation for visitors in the museum. He didn't get to spend much time with you at home, and although you two managed to have a small talk and cuddled to sleep, that was nowhere near enough. 

He longed to touch you.

But seeing your sleepy face and greeted by your innocent "Welcome home Kei..." made him felt so damn guilty for having such selfish thoughts.

After seeing how much you loved him all this while, even before you two started living together, he had always made a mental note to give himself more for you instead of greedily take advantage of your overflowing love for him. 

He knows the feeling is mutual, he never admitted it but he too wanted to spend his whole waking time with you. Well maybe no, but at least for now, he missed you. 

Yet, the sharp inhale of your breath and the sound of your voice carefully hitched on your throat made his mind go wild. There can only be one thing right? Should he take this opportunity to start his day with a nice morning sex with you? It’s not selfish if you started this yourself right..?

While he's deliberating on the right action to take, suddenly his keen senses picked up unusual noises. Occasionally, he heard joints cracking noises, and that made him doubt his guess.

That sure doesn't sound like you are touching yourself. You have a habit of flicking your wrist, after a long time of prodding your fingers down there.. That is the only time he would hear cracking noises. Plus, if you were really fingering yourself, it can't be this quiet. He knows you all too well.

Now more curious than aroused, he gave up and decided to just observe instead of jumping to conclusions. He slowly turned to face you, dino plush in his arms and all that. 

You were surprised when Kei suddenly turned to your direction. Your arms were behind your head and one of your legs was up in the air as you were doing your 8th leg raise on your 3rd set. Everything was going pretty well until this man ruined your focus. 

You saw him rustled a bit, his head gently nestled on the soft giant plushie in front of him. Your eyes focused on his closed lids, a rare gentle expression adorned his beautiful face. But you know Kei really well and how good he is at pretending to be asleep.

None of you said anything, until you heard a mocking snort from him, to which you softly sighed and quietly replied, "S-since when were you awake?"

"Since you leave the bed. What are you doing?"

It was such an embarrassing moment. You relaxed your body and your head thoughts of million excuses but he cut you short,

"Finally decided to get some exercise huh, lazy girl?"

You couldn't look at him in the eye. You know he's not gonna stop teasing you about it. Quietly inching closer to him, you hid your face out of embarrassment in the soft giant plush tucked his arms, and mumbled a small mhm.

To your surprise, Kei only hummed in response. You were waiting for his usual mean remarks, but that was it. He didn’t say anything further. 

Suddenly, you felt the plushie shift and a soft kiss landed on your forehead.

"Then.. Good luck."

You were appalled. Since when was Kei this soft?! Before you could ask further, he pulled the dino closer to him and slowly turned his back against you, careful not to hit your head with his wide shoulders.

"I'm going back to sleep, continue doing what you're doing."

~~~

It's not like Kei doesn't want to tease you. He found it hilarious that you out of all people suddenly decided to get some exercise. But, seeing how red your ears were when you shyly admitted what you were doing made him realize that he should just let you have this one.

He had ran through his mind on the possible actions that he could take.

He could've teased you about it and risked making you feel discouraged to start again.

He could've say "that's it." and fuck you, because boy, you looked really adorable when you are just being so honest.

Or he could have let it pass.

After all he knows, if you're that embarrassed, you were probably thinking about hiding the fact that you want to look better from him. And that is likely because you want it to be a surprise for him. The thought you wanting to present your best self for him made him feel giddy, and he mentally scolded himself for being out of character.

But as he gently squeezed his beloved dino plushie, his birthday present from you a few years ago, he reminded himself of just how much he loves being loved by you.

Ah, and of course. If you are really serious about getting more fit, there are going to be a lot more opportunities to tease you in the future. 

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

In Brazil, Vaccine Diplomacy Can Help Save the Climate

Washington should bypass Bolsonaro and open a direct dialogue on Amazon deforestation with local leaders in regions hit hard by COVID-19.

On March 18, the Biden administration confirmed that it was finalizing a plan to send 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico, just as the U.S. government petitions its southern neighbor for assistance with managing a record rate of migration through Central America. This might be the first example of the United States using coronavirus vaccine diplomacy to advance a policy objective other than public health. But it shouldn’t be the last. U.S. President Joe Biden should similarly help Brazilian states in order to open a dialogue on Amazon deforestation.

In a meeting on March 5, the governors of the nine Brazilian states of the Amazon region petitioned the U.S. ambassador to Brazil to help get direct access to vaccines produced by major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. The Amazon region has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, which continues to ravage Brazil. The country recorded its highest daily case count of over 100,000 infections last week, and the death toll has surpassed 300,000, second only to that of the United States. As Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government continues to falter in addressing the human toll of the pandemic and in securing vaccines, governors of Brazilian states are increasingly seeking to take matters into their own hands.

The Biden administration should answer the request from the regional governors. As Flávio Dino, the governor of Maranhão and the leader of the Forum of Governors of the Legal Amazon, made clear in his meeting with the U.S. ambassador, the issue isn’t cash but rather commercial access. In the absence of federal support, the governors want to acquire vaccines directly from pharmaceutical companies and distribute them via their own public health systems. Companies, however, are reluctant to deal with actors other than the central state. In a sense, the governors hope that Washington can help where Brasília has so far failed.

It’s sensible for the Biden administration to seek to help the Amazon region, the hardest-hit area of a country with one of the highest caseloads globally. It’s also of note that these regional leaders have the ability to help the new U.S. administration deliver on one of its most important and daunting climate priorities: slowing deforestation in the Amazon.

Continue reading.

[jolly-jello]

Just learned that there's a theory that triceratops ate bones to fill their need for calcium and like, I know there are animals that do this but it's so badass to think of an already pretty cool herbivore to just be munching on some bones.

I just think they are neat.

My live reaction

[books-and-glitter]

You literally asked for this directly

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Should be 69 of those 😚

I hate you so much. You monster. I only expressed that I was surprised and you did this to me. I didn't ask for this.

Nonetheless....

🌻 - there is a bug in the kitchen and I am now too scared to go in there.

🌻 - Harper is trying to protect me but she is frankly useless.

🌻 - it's not like a big bug but it is definitely not small.

🌻 - I saw moth put a flower before each of these and thought it was neat. So I am now doing it.

🌻 - the person who sent me this sends a "Daily dose of disappointment" in a group chat we are in. Except it is not daily. It's whenever she has one.

🌻 - Kool Aid originated in Nebraska.

🌻 - The Omaha zoo has both the largest indoor desert as well as the largest indoor rainforest. The rainforest is my favorite.

🌻 - there is a rope bridge in there though that used to scare me a lot.

🌻 - nebraska also apparently originated the reuben sandwich which is gross.

🌻 - the Ogalala aquifer is the largest underground water supply in the US.

🌻 - the 911 system originated in Lincoln so that's kinda cool.

🌻 - the largest Woolly Mammath fossil is from Nebraska. If I remember correctly it's the one in Morrill Hall. His name is Archie and I will die for him.

🌻 - speaking of Archie, he was found on a farm by chickens. The farmer got confused at why the chickens were pecking at something, went to look, found big bones and called an archeologist.

🌻 - okay the bug is still a problem but I now have you to save me when it shows it's little fucking face again.

🌻 - the word Nebraska comes from the Oto word meaning flat water.

🌻 - hell yeah we going back to nebraska facts. Next is that the goldrod is the state flower. Flower is kinda pretty but the paper color by the same name is stupid.

🌻 - blue agate is the state gem and I vibe with that. Agate is cool as fuck.

🌻 - UNL's weight room is supposedly the largest in the country at 3/4ths of an acre (32.6k sqft)

🌻 - the Nebraska capitol had a 9.8 million budget, came in under budget, was paid for by the time it finished construction.

🌻 - I think the capitol looks weird but I am also desensitized to it but objectively it is really cool.

🌻 - cliff notes was founded in Nebraska.

🌻 - unfortunately when the UNL stadium is seated to capacity it technically becomes the 3rd most populated place in the state..... It's also really loud.... And I hate it.

🌻 - Arbor day comes from Nebraska. Which is cool because trees.

🌻 - the Scotts Bluff National Museum has a section of the oregon trail wagon roadbed that you can hike. The museum itself is also kinda cool so I suggest it if you ever are in the area.

🌻 - I wish to kill you, kathryn.

🌻 - more Nebraska facts I hear you cry! No problem! Nebraska has Car Henge! So if you ever want to get the vibe of Stonehenge except stupid and made of antique cars in a field in the middle of fucking nowhere you're in luck.

🌻 - Runzas are the official state food and I hate it. Runza makes decent chicken strips but Runzas are gross. Yes handover that cabbage meat bread 🤢

🌻 - Nebraska has a navy apparently. I know this but I cant tell you what the fuck they do since we are like the most landlocked state in the country.

🌻 - That one president, Gerald Ford, born in Nebraska. That's kinda neat. (I know nothing else about this man or his presidency except he is the only one not nationally elected.)

🌻 - Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, and Johnny Carson (I think, or he just went to UNL, the media arts building is named after him) are all from Nebraska.

🌻 - getting sick of nebraska facts? Suffer. Nebraska has more miles of river than any other state, which is weird because we were called the great American desert.

🌻 - apparently the Nebraska state insect is the honeybee!!! 🐝

🌻 - the Niobrara river is apparently really good for canoeing and has like 90 waterfalls.

🌻 - I am running low on nebraska facts.

🌻 - there is a park/reserve just outside Lincoln that has some bison in it. Do not fuck with bison. They will wreck your shit.

🌻 - I don't know if he is still alive but there used to be a bald eagle in the same park that only had one wing. (Actually I think he was missing half of one but still)

🌻 - the cottonwood tree is awful and on a bad year can look like a light snow if too many trees are nearby.

🌻 - the ashfall fossil beds are where you can go to see an active archeology site with the fossils of tons of animals killed by a volcano 12 million years ago.

🌻 - Nebraska has a unicameral. Which is basically instead of a state house and state senate we have one legislative body that is elected on a non-partisan ticket.

🌻 - it is illegal to fish whales in Nebraska. Once again we are completely land locked and there are no whales but.. its still illegal.

🌻 - I am dying here. Kathryn I will punch you.

🌻 - Morrill Hall also has elephant hall which is the main hall right when you pass the entry desk. It has like 15 (?) fossils in it and apparently it's the largest collection of elephant fossils on display.

🌻 - speaking of Morrill Hall, it only displays about 1% of it's collection. The rest is stored at Nebraska Hall nearby.

🌻 - I think the cranes in North Platte are lame.

🌻 - nebraska furniture mart in Omaha is apparently the largest in the country. Which I can believe. I went to the discount part and it was a giant warehouse. I don't know what the actual sale floor is like.

🌻 - cherry county is bigger than Connecticut.

🌻 - O street (highway 6) is the longest straight main street

🌻 - Nebraska has a testicle festival. It's probably exactly what you think it is. Too many fried cow balls is what it is.

🌻 - there is a really cool church between Lincoln and omaha called the Holy Family Shrine. Its got massive arches and is mostly glass. Im not catholic so it's not really a religious thing but a bitch can appreciate some cool architecture.

🌻 - the Hall brothers who made Hallmark (card company) are from Nebraska.

🌻 - UNL's Love library has a Shakespeare Folio. Its in the Special Collections and Archives' vault. I want to see it so bad and one of the archivists told me she would show me it next time they opened the vault but then corona... :(

🌻 - UNL's library also has like 5 million+ physical items in it's collections.

🌻 - the serial killer Charles Starkweather is buried in Wyuka in Lincoln.

🌻 - Kearney, NE is dead center geographically between Boston and San Francisco.

🌻 - 92% of the state is farmland/ranches.

🌻 - if you have made it this far I am sorry.

🌻 - Nearly every fun facts about nebraska page has mentioned that the food stuffs Spam is manufactured in Fremont. So I'll mention out of peer pressure.

🌻 - the bug is still in the kitchen. Kathryn has foresaken me. I may perish in the night.

🌻 - 10 more. There is a roller skating museum in Lincoln. It's at 48th and South streets. Has largest collection of historical roller skates.

🌻 - Larry the Cable Guy I'd from Nebraska and he has recorded narrations for some exhibits in the Lincoln children's zoo. Or he used to it's been awhile.

🌻 - going back to UNL stuffs. Morrill Hall is a pretty cool museum and you should definitely go there. If only to say hi to Archie.

🌻 - the bronze Archie that is outside the museum is currently sporting a fashionable face mask set both over his trunk and his actual mouth.

🌻 - there are a couple dino fossils in that museum and if you step over the barrier and onto the decorative rocks an alarm will go off. And staff will be pissed because now they have to tell at you.

🌻 - said museum also has a lot of cool rocks on the third floor.

🌻 - and the bottom floor has like a hall of nebraska animals where you can hit buttons to listen to animal sounds.

🌻 - aaand a room with a plesiosaur embedded in the floor which is really cool.

🌻 - there is also a cool museum in Nebraska called the SAC. Which is the museum for Strategic Air Command. It has a lot of planes and some stuff from moon missions and air force stuff. When I was little some oil from the big plane in the entrance leaked onto a pillow I had when I was sleeping under it on a trip.

🌻 - nebraska is better than iowa but nebraska kinda sucks too so it's not like it matters truthfully.

🌻 - Nebraska has a lot of weather like giant hailstones and tornadoes but Lincoln doesn't get much because it is in a geographic dent so weather tends to weaken over the city. Which is lame. I want lots of snow.

And there we are folks. 69 fucking facts. 58 of which are about Nebraska purely out of spite. I counted.

I am now off to murder my roommate.

(jk but you should expect to be quizzed)

[nanamis-bigtie]

Fuck Mary Kill - X Drake, Sanji, Killer (the most random bunch that popped in my head) and ehm.... your top 5 youtube (or other platform) videos that never fail to make you laugh!! Hope you get loads of distraction, much love and hugs sent to you babe!!

Oof, starting with hard questions, aren’t we? Tbh wish I could answer them both, but I don’t have any compilation of favorite videos/music/anything like this. I scroll through recommendations and play whatever I find interesting, mainly some One Piece compilations, birds, instant karma compilations etc. Oh and Daily Dose of Internet and Exotics Lair - only 2 English speaking channels I subscribe. (Yeah, I do have arachnophobia yet I watch channel about tarantulas, dunno what is wrong with me besides everything lmao)

When it comes to FMK - I hate you.

Fuck - Killer. Everything nice, buddy, but marrying you would mean marrying Kid as well and this one is NOT happening xD

Marry - Sil will get me for stealing her man but Sanji. I mean. Free food. Lots of free food. I can forgive nosebleeds for a plate of his food.

Kill - X Drake T^T AND IT’S NOT MY FAULT OKAY?? I mean, probably mine, but I like walking around shirtless way too much, I’m so sorry, sweet dino boy T^T

Sleepover

[kinktae]

KAJDHC HOLD UP I SAW THAT ASK U ANSWERED AND?? THATS U IN YOUR SPOTIFY PLAYLIST PFP?? OMG ROSE PLS STEP ON ME YOURE GORGEOUS??? HECK I KNEW U WERE PERFECT BUT I WOULD LITERALLY HAVE A FEMALE BONER FOR U PLSJSHX p.s here’s your daily dose of love!! i love love love you you cutie and you’re so amazing and i hope you never forget that!! you can get through any hardships you may possibly face and we’re all here for you through it💞💞 -rex🦖 (it’s me again!! :) )

Anonymous said:i just realised that I always say “we’re here for you!!💞💞” at the ends of my asks kakd but we rlly are!! love and support coming your way rosieee!!!💗💗💗 -rex🦖

STOP R LITERALLY THE MOST ADORABLE HUMAN BEAN THATS EVER ROAMED THE EARTH (dino joke ehehhe) ily and thank you :’( i wish all the berry same to u!!

[daydreamindollie]

l.ch | breakfast mischief

Pairing: l.chan x f.reader

Genre: fluff

Length: o.9k

A/N: Hey lovely dolls! I’m here to deliver some Seventeen content after what? 987 years? So sorry for that but here it is! It’s been requested quite some time ago, I’m really sorry but hey, here it is!

Drabble Prompts:

“You're not as quiet as you think you are”

“That’s my shirt. So is that…wait?”

“You’re so clingy. I love it”

masterlist

Chan had expected to wake up with his arms wrapped around you, the love of his life. He had been eager to press you closer into his chest and nuzzle his nose into the crown of your head. All he wanted was to smell your sweet lavender, vanilla scent but was disappointed to, not only, wake up to an empty bed, but also have the morning peace be disturbed by the obstreperous cacophony of clanging pots, pans and kitchen utensils.

It was Saturday, also, which further added to his displeasure.

The two of you were supposed to always sleep in and cuddle every Saturday; it’s been your ritual for months now. He couldn’t believe you would betray him like that, considering you were the one responsible for making that promise between the two of you.

Missing your warmth, vexed but also curious of your activities, Chan wills himself to get out of bed and make his way into the kitchen, where he has to hold in a laugh at the clumsy appearance of you. Dressed in an oversized top and juggling the task of cooking multiple things at once, he leans against the door frame to the kitchen with an amused smirk on his face, the annoyance he once had having already evaporated at the endearing sight of you.

“Have to make sure this is perfect…” he hears you mutter, “gotta feed my handsome dino~” you coo, not realising the heart-fluttering effect you were having on the love-struck man behind you.

Concluding that he finally needed to make his presence known, Chan steps forward to lean his upper half against the kitchen island as his palm prop up by his chin, “My sweet jagi is such an angel~” he sighs dreamily but also as a way of teasing you, not expecting to have you jump so high that you almost touch the ceiling with your messy bun.

“Chan!” your shrill scream has him cringing at the volume but quickly returning to his adoring smirk, “This is supposed to be a surprise!” the pout you send has him laughing because the entire time it seemed as though you made no real effort in concealing this good-morning-gift from him.

As you outstretch your limbs, attempting (in vain) to shield your surprise from him for as long as possible, Chan moves to stand before you and takes the time to wrap his arms around your waist. Still running on the habit of the ritual the two of you had developed, he goes on to kiss your forehead before burying his nose into your hair, where he proceeds to inhale his daily dose of your intoxicating smell.

“You’re not as quiet as you think you are, Jagi,” he teases with a chuckle as you shove at his chest, forcing him off you so that you could get back to cooking his breakfast with a prominent pout of disappointment on your face.

Again, he chuckles and steps forward to press himself against your backside, hands on your hips and would have proceeded to tease you further if it weren’t for a sudden realisation, “That’s my shirt. So is that…wait,” he also notices the slippers you were wearing were much, much bigger than your actual foot size.

You wearing his oversized black top with his too-big-to-fit sliders on as you had your hair up in a messy bun that still, somewhat, remained intact, had Chan at awe of how raw with beauty you were. You didn’t need to dress up like a fashion model to catch his eye, all you had to do was wake up, attempt to make him breakfast secretly but end up ruining your own surprise by how loud you are and you’ll have him - hook, line and sinker - ready to do your bidding.

“I should have you wear my clothes more often…” he whispers to himself as he bites his bottom lip to contain his sudden surge of happiness. Just seeing you in his top and slippers had him feeling a certain way, that you were only his and he was only yours. It brings about such a satisfying feeling. Now he wants to cuddle with you all day, whether it's in bed, on the sofa, the living room rug with your puppy or outside on your apartment balcony, he’s more than willing to cuddle anywhere, so long as you are wrapped up in him and him, in you.

“You’re so clingy,” you whine as you feel him wrap his arms around you and squeeze for a long second before sighing into the crook of your neck, “I love it.” came your assurance as soon as he starts to whine and stomp his foot, preparing to argue that you secretly liked it but, to have you just admit to it, had him soaring high above the clouds.

“So…what’s for breakfast?”

“Your favourite,”

“Yummy!” he hums but smirks against your shoulder, which he had exposed after pulling the sleeve of his shirt down, “So, what are you still in the kitchen for?”

“Making your breakfast, dummy,” you send him an incredulous look, confused by his enquiry.

“But my favourite thing to have for breakfast is you...”

“CHAN!”

“It’s the truth!”

“You’re so dirty!”

“I don’t lie to my Jagi~”

“Where do you think you’re touching, Mister?!”

[lucywithlupus]

What is arthritis?/ ¿Qué es la artritis?

Arthritis: (noun) friend, enemy, part of your body, the victim, bully, strong, weak, ally or oppressor?

We talked a lot about arthritis in this blog: about what it is, how it affected me and how you need to take of yourself if you have it. But we never really started how we should have, in the "Tutorial" section of the game. Which is why this post today will bring you your daily dose of facts and nerdiness to further explain a couple of key points:

   1. What arthritis is?    2. Who has arthritis?    3. How do you know you have arthritis?    4. Where does it come from?    5. How can you treat it?

Don't worry! Each of these will be short and simple, just like they should be. No medical terms or bad internet connection is going to stop me from delivering the truth to the masses!

And now, without further ado, here we go: What is arthritis?

What is arthritis?

"So.. What is it? What is it?!"I see you yell at your computer screen.

I understand that need for an answer. When I first got diagnosed, being told I had arthritis was relieving for 5 seconds, until I realized I had no clue what I was facing and what was causing this.

Well here is your answer, pal! Grab that popcorn!

Arthritisis a symptom of joint inflammation and stiffness that may develop from a completely separate illness or may be independent as a medical disorder. If it is a disorder, it means that there is a chemical disbalance in your body that chronically or temporarily causes pain in your joints.

See? Simple.

Arthritis is what is known as an autoimmunedisorder, in which your body- aka your white blood cells and antibodies- basically attacks itself in a specific region, in this case, your joints.

There are two types of arthritis: systemic, which affects all of your body, and localized, which may affect one or a few joints.

Now, there are more than 100 types of arthritis and arthritis-related conditions. Next up,  a speedy round of the most frequently found types of arthritis in the USA and the UK:

   1. Osteoarthritis:your bones and cartilage are compromised and damaged by breaking of the joint, caused by aging.

   2. Rheumatoid Arthritis (hi!):your immune system attacks itself, targeting your joints.

   3. Psoriatic Arthritis:similar to rheumatoid arthritis, with the addition of itchy red patches on your skin known as psoriasis.

   4. Gout:a very painful form of arthritis, which basically collects uric acid crystals in your joints.

   5. Juvenile arthritis:similar to rheumatoid arthritis, only that it specifically refers to those patients that are diagnosed before the age of 16 years old.

There are other autoimmune conditions like lupus and fibromyalgia, which are similar to arthritis. However, here we are generous and we share, so they will have their own informative posts soon :)

Who has arthritis?

In one of my first posts, we discussed how people with arthritis come from so many different walks of life and that, because it is an "invisible illness", it is very hard to tell if someone has arthritis just by looking at them.

We also noted that some types of arthritis (like osteoarthritis and lupus) tend to be more common in certain age groups (elders and young adults).

A study by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded the following after a two-year study of the American population from 2013 to 2015:

       ○ 49.6% of people with arthritis are elderly people        ○ 26% of people with arthritis are women        ○ 4.4 million with arthritis are Hispanic, followed closely by Caucasians        Basically, I fit into almost all the categories, thanks to life. At least I still consider myself young. For now.

This pattern repeats itself across specific types of arthritis. If you do fit these criteria, it's better to do a checkup and seek early treatments. Before it's too late, people!

How do you know you have arthritis?

You can't until it's too late! We're doomed! Bye!

Just kidding. The first step is seeking is, obviously, a doctor if you feel pain constantly, weaker than usual or just not well.

The doctor (seek a rheumatologist for joints specifically) will most likely begin with a normal checkup and an initial joint evaluation. They will examine your hand, knees and feet, and perhaps, arms and legs. They will look for clues such as visible swelling, stiffness or redness.

After that, they may or may not ask for a blood test or an X-ray, depending if they suspect the presence of arthritis in your body. Normal blood test indicators for arthritis are Sed rate (or erythrocyte sedimentation rate or ESR), C-reactive protein or elevated antibodies. If these three are elevated, then there is a fat chance that you have arthritis and it is inflaming your joints right now.

X- rays are mostly to visualize joint damage. Ultrasounds or MRI may show the loss of tissue, fluid accumulation in the joints, etc.

Warning:Doctors will begin treatment rather quickly when arthritis is detected in the slightest. This is because arthritis doesn't play: it gets worse and worse unless you apply anti-inflammatories asap. This is not harmful to you or your health at all, the doctor is only trying to avoid further damage from happening. Of course, further checkups and tests will give you plenty of time to discuss alternative treatments with your specialist.

Where does it come from?

Nobody knows. That is the right answer this time.

Some medical professionals believe that arthritis is caused by genetic mutations that may or may not hereditary. It has been proven by research that arthritis, in comparison to other autoimmune disorders like Type 1 diabetes, is not as hereditarily transmissible as it once was believed to be.

The class II genes, HLA–DR1 and HLA–DR4, are the ones now being investigated and partially blamed to be primary suspects.

However, many believe that lifestyle and environmental conditions can increase the chances of having arthritis. After all, stress, long work hours, pollution, low, and mental illnesses tend to go hand in hand with arthritis patients.

So do not worry that much yet. But always stay ready!

How can you treat it?

I have talked about these two already:Ibuprofenand Paracetamol, queens of the universe, saviors of today and tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow….

You get the point. Normally, if a doctor detects arthritis, they will right away prescribe paracetamol. This is because ibuprofen and other NSAIDs are very common allergens that may be risky to give to a new patient right away, especially when they do not have a complete medical record.

So, if your doctor gets suspicious and gives you a high brow, just take the paracetamol as instructed, inform them of your progress and come back later if you need to. Don't go through the pain without any help! It will only get worse! Trust me!

Aaand there you have it, folks! I hope you learned something today and hopefully will not forget your weekly dose of facts featuring me, the voice of reason. Take care of yourself, go to your checkups and don't worry too much!

Love you! Bye!

References

(1) Sed rate (erythrocyte sedimentation rate). Available from:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/sed-rate/about/pac-20384797

.(2) Robert F. Meenan, Paul M. Gertman and John H. Mason. Measuring Health status in arthritis. Arthritis & Rheumtology. 1980; 23 (2): 146-152. Available from:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/art.1780230203

.(3) David N. Glass, Edward H. Giannini. Arthritis & Rheumatism. Official Journal of the American College of Rheumatology. 1999; 42 (11): 2261-2268. Available from:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/1529-0131%28199911%2942%3A11%3C2261%3A%3AAID-ANR1%3E3.0.CO%3B2-P

.(4) Joseph Lee Hollander. Arthritis and Allied Conditions: A Textbook  of Rheumatology. ; 1960.(5) DrAngeloRavelliMD, ProfAlbertoMartiniMDa. Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. The Lancet. 2007; 369 (9563): 767-778. Available from:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673607603638

.(6) Sources of Arthritis Pain  Available from:

https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/understanding/types-of-pain.php

.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Artritis: (sustantivo) amigo, enemigo; parte del cuerpo; víctima, abusador; fuerte, débil; camarada o opresor?

Ya hemos conversado mucho a cerca la artritis en este blog: qué es, cómo me afectó y cómo necesitas cuidarte si la tienes. Pero nunca iniciamos donde debimos haberlo hecho, en el nivel "Tutorial" de este videojuego. Por eso, en este post les traigo su dosis diaria de ciencia y verdades para explicar unos puntos clave:

¿Qué es la artritis?

¿Quién tiene artritis?

¿Cómo sabes si tienes artritis?

¿De dónde viene la artritis?

¿Cómo la puedes tratar?

No se preocupen! Cada una de estos puntos serán rápidos y sencillos de enter, justo como deberían ser. Ningún término médico o mala conexión al wifi me detendrá de exponer la verdad a las masas!

Y ahora, sin más preámbulos, aquí vamos! ¿Qué es la artritis?

¿Qué es la artritis?

"Así que… dinos ya, qué es? Qué es?!"Te veo gritarle al monitor.

Entiendo tu necesidad de una respuesta. Cuando a mi me diagnosticaron, el diagnóstico definitivo de artritis me dio tranquilidad por 5 segundos, hasta que me di cuenta que no tenía ni idea de qué estaba enfrentando y qué lo causaba.

Bueno aquí están esas respuestas también! Agarra tu canchita!

La artritis esun síntoma de inflamación articular y rigidez que puede desarrollarse por una enfermedad totalmente diferente o puede presentarse de manera independiente como una condición médica. Si es una condición, significa que tu cuerpo tiene dolor crónico o temporal articular.

Ves? Eso fue fácil!

La artritis es una condición autoinmune, lo que significa que tu cuerpo- tus células blancas y anticuerpos-  básicamente se ataca a sí mismo en una región específica, en este caso tus articulaciones.

Hay dos tipos de artritis: sistémica, que afecta todo tu cuerpo, y localizada, que puede afectar una o más articulaciones.

Ahora, hay más de 100 tipos de artritis y condiciones relacionadas. Proseguiremos con una ronda rápida de los tipos de artritis más frecuentes en los Estados Unidos y en Gran Bretaña:

Osteoartritis:tus huesos y el cartílago están comprometidos y dañados porque la articulación se está deteriorando, es causado por el envejecimiento.

Artritis reumatoide (hola!):tu sistema inmune se ataca a sí mismo, atacando tus articulaciones.

Artritis psoriásica: similar a la artritis reumatoide, pero también incluye ronchas rojas y picazón en la piel, una condición mejor conocida como psoriasis.

Gota:artritis altamente dolorosa, que acumula cristales de ácido úrico en tus articulaciones.

Artritis juvenil:similar a la artritis reumatoide, solo que es específicamente diagnosticada antes de los 16 años de edad.

Condiciones autoinmunes como el lupus y la fibromialgia son otros diagnósticos similares a la artritis, pero que aquí los trataremos con cariño y les haremos sus propios posts informativos :)

¿Quién tiene artritis?

En uno de mis primeros posts, discutimos cómo las personas con artritis tienen vidas totalmente diversas y, por ello, es muy difícil distinguir la artritis solo con mirar a una persona.

También vimos que hay tipos de artritis (como la osteoartritis) tiende a ser más comunes en ciertos grupos de edad (como los viejitos).

Un estudio por el Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluyó lo siguiente después dedos años de examinar a la población estadounidense del 2013 al 2015:

49.6%  de personas con artritis son ancianos

26% de personas con artritis son mujeres

4.4 millones de personas con artritis son hispanas, seguidas de los caucásicos

En pocas palabras, yo califico para casi todas estas estadísticas, yupi. Al menos todavía me considero joven. Por ahora.

Este patrón se repite a lo largo de todos los tipos de artritis. Si crees que tu perfil es parecido a lo descrito, es mejor hacerte chequear y buscar un tratamiento temprano. Antes que sea demasiado tarde!

¿Cómo sabes si tienes artritis?

No puedes! Es demasiado tarde! Estamos condenados! Adios mundo cruel!Solo bromeo. El primer paso es, obviamente, ir al doctor si sientes dolor constante, debilidad o simplemente no te sientes bien.

El doctor (un reumatólogo es un doctor para enfermedades articulares) iniciará con un chequeo regular y una evaluación inicial de las articulaciones. Examinará tus manos, rodillas, pies y quizá, brazos y piernas. Se encontrarán pistas como inflamación visible, rigidez o manchas rojas.

Después de eso, te pedirán o no que completes un análisis de sangre o una prueba de rayos X, dependiendo si hay sospecha de artritis.

Los indicadores de sangre más comunes para la artritis son la velocidad de sedimentación or ESR, la proteína C reactiva o anticuerpos elevados. Si estos tres indicadores salen elevados, hay una buena chance de que tengas artritis y esté causando un proceso inflamatorio en tu cuerpo justo ahora.

Los rayos X se utilizan para visualizar algún daño articular. Ultrasonidos o MRI pueden mostrar pérdida de tejido, acumulación de fluidos en las articulaciones, etc.

Advertencia:Los doctores inician rápidamente el tratamiento para la artritis cuando esta es detectada, incluso de manera mínima. Esto es porque la artritis no es broma: solo se pone peor y peor si no aplicas anti inflamatorios de inmediato. Este tratamiento inicial no debería comprometer tu salud en absoluto, pues el especialista solo esta tratando es disminuir el daño lo más rápido posible. Claro que, después de futuras consultas y pruebas, deberías pensar y discutir con tus padres y doctor acerca de la posibilidad de tratar la artritis de otros modos.

¿De donde viene la artritis?

Nadie sabe. Esta vez si es la respuesta correcta.

Profesionales de la medicina creen que la artritis es causada por mutaciones genéticas que podrían o no ser hereditarias. Fue probado en múltiples ocasiones que la artritis, en comparación a otros desórdenes como la diabetes Tipo 1, no es tan transmisible por herencia como se pensaba.

Los genes de clase II, HLA–DR1 y  HLA–DR4, son los que ahoran están siendo investigados y parcialmente puestos como sospechosos principales.

No obstante, muchos creen que el estilo de vida y las condiciones medio ambientales incrementas las posibilidades de tener artritis. Esto es parcialmente cierto, pues el estrés, las largas horas de trabajo, la polución, la baja estima y las enfermedades mentales van de la mano con los pacientes de artritis.

Así que no te preocupes mucho de eso todavía. Pero siempre mantente alerta!

¿Cómo tratar la artritis?

Ya hablé de estas dos: Ibuprofenoy Paracetamol, reinas del universo, heroes del hoy y del mañana, y mañana, y mañana….

Creo que ya lo entendiste. Normalmente, si un doctor detecta artritis, prescribirá panadol de inmediato. Esto es debido a que el ibuprofeno y otros medicamentos no esteroideos (AINES) pueden causar alergias, por lo cual es riesgoso en un paciente nuevo sin un historial médico completo.

Así que, si tu doctor se pone sospechoso, solo toma el panadol como indicado en tu receta, informa al doctor de tu progreso y regresa más adelante si lo necesitas No vayas por el dolor sin ayuda! Toma el panadol por ahora! Confía en mí!

Yyy eso es todo lo que tengo para ustedes hoy, amigos! Espero que hayan aprendido algo hoy y no olviden su dosis semanal de información conmigo, la voz de la razón. Cuídense, vayan a sus chequeos y no se preocupen mucho!

Los amo! Chau!

References

(1) Sed rate (erythrocyte sedimentation rate). Available from:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/sed-rate/about/pac-20384797

.(2) Robert F. Meenan, Paul M. Gertman and John H. Mason. Measuring Health status in arthritis. Arthritis & Rheumtology. 1980; 23 (2): 146-152. Available from:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/art.1780230203

.(3) David N. Glass, Edward H. Giannini. Arthritis & Rheumatism. Official Journal of the American College of Rheumatology. 1999; 42 (11): 2261-2268. Available from:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/1529-0131%28199911%2942%3A11%3C2261%3A%3AAID-ANR1%3E3.0.CO%3B2-P

.(4) Joseph Lee Hollander. Arthritis and Allied Conditions: A Textbook  of Rheumatology. ; 1960.(5) DrAngeloRavelliMD, ProfAlbertoMartiniMDa. Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. The Lancet. 2007; 369 (9563): 767-778. Available from:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673607603638

.(6) Sources of Arthritis Pain  Available from:

https://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/understanding/types-of-pain.php

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