#did she miss the whale ? possibly

[immobiliter]

@apocryphis sent a meme: so you lied to me. (from neuvillette to furina)

       Thank you, Furina. From this moment on, please live happily as a human. Just as I wished we could.

       The water had... gone. Just like that. As she'd stepped outside of the Opera Epiclese, having expecting the encroaching flood to burst its way in through the windows and doors, submerging her gilded throne as the prophecy had always foretold, Furina had been surprised to see those same waters recede without a trace. More surprising still was the sight of the people of Fontaine still living, breathing — as bewildered as she at the turn of events, but not dissolved. Alive. There, by the Fountain of Lucine, were a couple helping each other up. There was somebody else emerging from beyond the hill, soaked through, but walking.

       She did not understand what had just happened, whether the prophecy was wrong, whether the true divinity of Focalors had intervened somehow... or whether she hadn't failed after all. But the shock soon turned to terror as she glanced behind her, back through the doors of the Opera Epiclese, where her once-beloved courtroom and the Oratrice still remained. Everyone now knew that she was not the true Archon. She could not stay here.

       And so that was how Furina found herself back in the Palais Mermonia. Amidst the chaos and combined rescue efforts of the Maison Gardennage, the Spina and the Fortress of Meropide, it had been easy for Furina to return there unnoticed. Or so she thought. Her one prevailing impulse, one that had served her well throughout her endless charade and she found herself leaning on once more, was to run. She had to pack her things and leave. She did not know where she would go, but if the trial had proven anything, it was that she would no longer be welcome here. The people of Fontaine would never accept her again.

       Unfortunately for her, Furina was caught half-way through packing her belongings by a painfully familiar voice. She whirled around on the spot, feeling as guilty as ever under the weight of that steady, discerning gaze.

       “ No! I didn't, I — ” Oh, but she did. She'd lied to him and everyone else, for hundreds of years, though hearing the words spoken by Neuvillette held far more of a sting than they would have from anyone else. She'd had no friends, after all, only subordinates — and the Chief Iudex had been the most constant of them all.

       Lying, pretending, acting... it had become as natural to her as breathing, and even now, she could not force a truthful admission to her lips. She simply stared helplessly at Neuvillette, words deserting her in favour of an anguished cry, forcing her to turn away. Surely she'd already cried enough tears, and yet here they were again, pricking at the edges of her vision. Furina reached up to rub her eyes, steeling herself. Strength, Furina, one last time. Then you can leave the Palais Mermonia and never come back.

       “ Something happened in the courtroom. What was it? ” It was with a much smaller voice that she spoke now. Furina could recall little of what had happened after the Oratrice's verdict was read out, but she was sure that there was more to it than even that. Why had she heard Focalors', Mirror-Me's voice again, after all? Why had it felt like a goodbye? “ The prophecy... it didn't come to pass? ”

[woso-dreamzzz]

Sharks V

Meadema x Child!Reader

Summary: It's your birthday

"This is a big thing, liefje," Mummy says to you, smoothing back your hair," And you have to promise me you can be responsible."

"I can!" You say.

You've just come back from your birthday party. Well, it was more like your birthday celebration. You didn't have enough friends for a party so Mummy and the Arsenal girls took you to the aquarium and Peanut and her mummies flew over from Spain to join you too.

You showed Peanut everything at the aquarium and she even gave you a whale shark that she and her mummies adopted for you that you could track anywhere in the world.

Mama couldn't come with you today and that was sad but she got you up this morning and made you a special birthday girl breakfast.

You missed her today at your celebration but Mummy's being very secretive and said that Mama's got a surprise for you.

You let Mummy take off your shoes and hang up your coat as Mama comes down the stairs.

"Mama!" You cry, running into her arms and letting her squeeze you nice and tight.

"Hey, liefje," She says," Did you have a good birthday?"

You nod. "Me and Peanut saw the seahorses."

"Wow, that sounds fun."

"Is it my surprise now?" You ask," Because Mummy said you couldn't come because you're making my surprise."

Mama laughs and nods. She covers your eyes with her hands and Mummy helps you up the stairs.

You have to concentrate really hard to work out where you're going. You know you've moved past the adult room and your one too but also the office. You think you're going into the spare room.

It's kind of like your play room but it's mostly empty.

"Okay," Mama says, sounding oddly excitable," Are you ready, birthday girl?"

You wiggle.

"Ready!"

"Okay, one, two, three!"

Mama takes her hands off your eyes.

The play room is different now. For one, the big light is off. You like that because you're not a fan of the big light in this room. It's too bright and it buzzes sometimes.

Instead, the only light is coming from the backdrop of the massive aquarium that's been moved in while you were away.

You're practically vibrating as you run over to it.

Mama's done a very good job because it's massive and takes up a lot of the room. There are plants and little hideaway caves and coral everywhere and you gasp when you spot the creature floating along the bottom.

"Wobbegong!" You exclaim, pressing your face up to the glass as close as possible without scaring it. "Mummy! It's a shark!"

Mummy laughs and nods. She doesn't seem to want to come any closer though. "Yeah, you're right. It is a shark."

You look between her and the wobbegong. It's not very big so you don't think it's very old yet. You kind of know how big adult wobbegongs get so you step back to look at the series of interconnecting tanks to see if it will be big enough.

It is.

You smile and point at it.

"Mama! You got me a shark!"

Mama, unlike Mummy, comes forward. "I did. Do you like it, liefje?"

"Love it!"

You giggle when Mama tickles your tummy and sends you on your way to thank Mummy too.

You know that Mummy doesn't really like sharks. She thinks a lot of them are scary looking so you don't make her come to you. You hug her really nicely though.

Mama drags a chair over so you can stand on it and see your shark better.

"Do you know any facts about wobbegongs, liefje?"

"Er..." You think for a second. "They're lazy 'cause they sleep all day and come out at night."

"Wow," Mama says," What else do you know?"

"The mummy wobbegongs don't lay eggs. They have live babies like people do."

"Very interesting. Are you going to give it a name? I don't know if it's a boy or a girl. Sorry, liefje."

"Hmm." You look at the shark, studying it closely.

"Carpet," You say.

Mummy laughs. She's still keeping her distance from it all but she's got her phone out and you think she's recording. "Why do you want to call it Carpet, liefje?"

"'Cause wobbegongs get called carpet sharks like how I get called liefje!"

Mama grins, stroking through your hair. "I think that's an excellent name."

"Mummy," You say," Can you send a picture of me and Carpet to Peanut's mummies?"

Mummy laughs. "Alright. Go on and pose and I'll take a picture."

"Peanut got me a shark in the wild and you and Mama got me a shark at home!" You say," This is the best birthday ever!"

[whore-4-drewstarkey]

Surprise- dad!Drew Starkey x Fem!reader

Summary: In which drew surprises his daughter at her kindergarten holiday after being away for work.

Warnings: Angst, fluff, mean mothers 🥴, gossip

A/N: dad drew makes me melt 🫠 again idk how i feel about this. but oh whale. some friends wanted me to finish this so i did. NOT EDITED (bc i’m lazy asf)

Y/N and roslyn had just arrived to the elementary school located in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. Y/N opened the drivers door to her Toyota Venza, walking to the back door behind the passengers seat, opening it to reveal her and drew’s daughter roslyn. roslyn looked up at Y/N, giggling lightly as her mom unbuckled her seatbelt, lifting her up and out of the car, and grabbing her pink unicorn backpack.

“you ready sweetheart?” Y/N asked roslyn sweetly as she grabbed her daughter’s tiny hand. “yeah but is daddy coming?” roslyn asked shyly, as she looked up at her mother with pleading eyes.

“baby, i already told you, he’s still working on that project in Charleston. i know he wishes he could be here for your school party, but you know he can’t baby” Y/N had bent down, caressing roslyn’s face as she’d told her baby girl the bad news.

“oh. okay then. maybe next time?” roslyn sweetly smiled back at her mama.

“yeah, maybe next time. just remember he loves you so much and hates being away” Y/N cooed back to her and drew’s creation.

as soon as the two were done with their discussion, they walked into the elementary school, and to roslyn’s classroom. roslyn was only five years old, and was the female spitting image of drew starkey. she had the beautifully straight, dirty blonde/brown hair and his piercing ocean blue eyes. but she got her mothers softness and care free attitude. the perfect mixture of the two.

“oh hello ms Y/L/N! and little miss roslyn! are you guys excited for the easter party today?” roslyn’s teacher, mrs. richmond, roslyn’s kindergarten teacher spoke with enthusiasm.

“good morning! she couldn’t stop talking about how excited she is for today the whole ride here” Y/N smiled sweetly as she played with roslyn’s pigtails. Y/N bent down to roslyn’s level and continued, “go put your bag up baby and go play with maisey before class starts” and with that roslyn obeyed, and went to find her friend.

“Y/N could you possibly help set up the decorations outside the classroom, like in the entry way and hallway? some of the other mothers are out there now” mrs richmond had asked Y/N sweetly. mrs richmond was an older woman in her mid to late fifties. she had dark brown hair that had started to turn grey and was decently tall.

“yes of course!” Y/N smiled as she sat her purse down, on the round discussion table in the back of the classroom, but grabbed her phone out of it, shoving it into the back pocket of her dad jeans which so happened to be a pair of drew’s old jean from set. but of course she had to roll them as his legs were so abnormally long to her as she was roughly 5’4.

as soon as she finished grabbing what she needed she walked outside of the classroom, to the hallway near the classroom entrance, being met with all the other mothers. compared to the other moms, Y/N was pretty young, at only 24-years-old compared to them who were around 30-34 years-old. she knew that she was judged for being a young mother, but she never let them get to her. there, however was one other young mother, maiseys mother, aka roslyn’s best friends mother; stella. stella had maisey when she was 20, so her and Y/N connected quite quickly. stella had been the only one Y/N had really ever communicated with outside of school events. that was her friend. Y/N had met drew when she was only just barely 19-years-old. drew had come to kent university one weekend to see his baby sister brooke, and his dad, todd, who was the head females basketball coach. Y/N had been roommates with his little sister brooke, and had become best friends with her instantly. Y/N had gotten drew’s number early on and as drew had visited more and more that year, they’d started dating, and shortly after they started dating she’d become pregnant with their sweet bundle of joy, roslyn.

“oh hey, Y/N? it’s Y/N right?” daniella, another mother asked Y/N as she attempted to not give Y/N a judgy look, but failed miserably.

“uh, yeah it’s Y/N. so what are we doing out here today?” Y/N smiled sweetly, telling herself she wouldn’t let her facial expressions affect her.

“you and stella can go hang these little floating easter eggs down the hall” daniella asked, well more so demanded Y/N and stella to do.

and with that, Y/N and stella made their way to the end of the hall entry way to hang the floating easter eggs from the ceiling.

“so, how’s drew? is he coming today?” stella asked Y/N knowing how much Y/N and roslyn had been missing him.

“i’m not sure. he said he had to stay in charleston another week for some voice overs for the fighting scenes. who knows. but i’m not gonna count on it, only because i know how busy filming has been and how anticipated season 4 has been” Y/N stated as she focused on stapling the string that had an egg attached at the bottom to the tiled ceiling.

“okay, do you guys think her rings real?” daniella blurted out in a loud whisper to the other moms, referring to Y/N wedding ring.

“um, what do you mean?” becky, another mother who was a part of daniella’s posse asked back.

“like do we really think she’s married? that ring is at least 50k. if it’s real, plus her last name is y/l/n and between us ladies, her daughters last name is starkey, so why are they different?” daniella ranted on about her suspicions about Y/N.

“hm, i never knew that. that’s definitely weird” tracy, another mom in the posse commented.

“yeah, and when have we actually seen this ‘husband’ of hers? never.” daniella continued.

“honestly, she probably got knocked up young, and gave her daughter the fathers last name” becky chimed in.

“wait, have any of you tried looking her up on facebook?” tracy asked out of curiosity.

“well, duh” daniella stated before continuing. “but like everything is private. plus, the only thing that isn’t is her relationship status, and it says married, but not to who. even tried instagram, same thing there. both profile pics are of her on the beach or something.”

ever sense drew had started acting in bigger roles, she’d turned all of her social media to private mode, as she didn’t want the hateful messages her way, nor the paparazzi. she didn’t need it and roslyn definitely didn’t need it. it’s something she and drew had agreed on the moment she found out she was pregnant. she never advertised her relationship with drew publicly. of course drew advertised his with her, but with her consent. plus none of the mothers there knew anything about his existence directly so it didn’t matter.

“oh my god, are they still going on about my marriage?” Y/N giggled down to stella as the two women listened in on the not so private conversation going on just a mere 10 feet from them.

“ugh, don’t you just wish drew would come in today, just to shut them up?” stella laughed up at her as she continued to staple the floating easter eggs up and across the hallway ceilings.

“more to see the looks on their faces actually” Y/N giggled out before continuing, “or to see roslyn’s face when she sees her daddy” and with those words coming out of Y/N mouth, stella chuckled to herself as soon as she saw the tall, lean actor round the corner of the hallway, sending her a smile, pleading not to acknowledge he was there.

drew slyly came up behind Y/N as she stood on a classroom chair, on her tippy toes and all due to her shortness, stapling even more floating easter eggs to the ceiling. drew, grabbed Y/N hips, speaking, “sees who’s daddy?” he’d chuckled. Y/N gasped, and jumped back, but didn’t fall due to drew’s strong, muscular arms, catching her from falling. she turned around, looking up, facing her husband of three years for the first time in person in over two months. he’d been wearing a crisp white tshirt paired with his favorite navy blue carhart jacket Y/N had bought him for christmas, along with his usual blue jeans and iconic vintage green stussy hat. Y/N took in the sight before her, seeing as his hair had grown out to its mullet form, and his facial hair had also started to grow longer during the early spring months.

“shut up. oh my goodness, you scared me! and to answer your question, your daughter” Y/N yelped out as she smacked drew’s chest. he leant down, whispering, “am i not yours too?” and with that Y/N smacked him again, “joseph andrew starkey!”

“okay, first off, no hug, no kiss, no ‘babe, i missed you! oh my god!’?

“well, yes, but i’m preoccupied love. also we’re in a school right now and people are lurking” Y/N chuckled lightheartedly, as she pointed up at the ceiling full of her work. as soon as she said the first half of that sentence, drew engulfed her in a huge hug, squeezing his wife tight, head resting on top of hers. his arms wrapped around her waist. Y/N had her arms wrapped around his neck, as she stood on her tippy toes.

as the two lovers hugged, just ten feet away the little mom posse was watching and listening very content.

“did she just say starkey? isn’t that what you said her daughter’s last name is?” tracy asked daniella.

“uh, yeah. wow he’s tall” daniella spoke as she stared at Y/N and drew hugging. she chuckled coldly, continuing, “wait a minute…. that’s her daughter’s dad? him? she got with him? how? have you seen her?”

“maybe they’re not married? maybe engaged? i literally don’t understand it” becky questioned, as the three stood in disbelief.

“i wonder how old he is” daniella spoke her thoughts out loud as stella had come over to join the older women to give the the couple some privacy.

“he’s 29 and they’re married. have been for over three years” stella spoke to the women matter-of-factly.

“wait, how much do you know?” tracy looked at stella quizzically.

“she’s my best friend. i know everything. they’ve been together since she was 19. you guys have absolutely no shot with him so give it up already. they’re soulmates. she’s been with him every step of the way, she’s known him before everything happened” stella chuckled at how dumb these moms were to her best friend’s relationship.

“what do you mean?” becky asked quizzically.

“yeah, not saying anymore” stella smirked at the moms again.

back over at the couple, they broke away, as they each held the others forearms. “i missed my girls, ya know that?” drew spoke softly to Y/N as he stared down into her eyes.

“i know and we missed you so much. roslyn can’t even sleep without the stuffed tiger you bought her. says it reminds her of you” Y/N softly spoke up at him. she soon continued, “and i cant sleep without one of your hoodies on. thanks for the attachment issues” she teased.

“awww that’s so cute oh my goodness, i cant wait to see my baby girl” he cooed at the thought of his daughter.

“what about you? were you able to sleep well away from home?”

“i mean not really, didn’t have your body against mine” he spoke quietly as he saw the mom posse staring at the two of them. “could barely survive without your touch” he whispered into her ear, earning a scoff from from her in return, but he continued to speak “had to bring out the old pictures in my hidden folder”

as soon as those words left his mouth, Y/N had a light blush covering her cheeks, as she knew exactly what he was talking about. “drew! we’re in a school, tone it down” Y/N spoke up in a normal tone on accident. drew looked down at her, as a warning to her loud tone, nodding his head towards the moms. she immediately understood and scoffed at the thought of them listening. she couldn’t wait to face them now.

“but babe, in all seriousness can i please just get one kiss? i know we’re in a school… but fuck it. right?” he began to plead.

“hmm, and have the mom posse over still watch the show?” Y/N asked as she placed her right hand under her chin, thinking. she came up with an answer and began to speak again, “sure, why not. fuck it” and with that drew gripped her jaw sternly but gently, tilting it upward, caressing it, and dipped his head down to Y/N level, since he towered over her. Y/N wrapped her arms around his neck as drew placed his lips onto hers for a slow, passionate kiss, in which she reciprocated. the two of them just giggled after a second during the kiss as they knew the moms down the hallway were sure to be saying something about it.

“oh my god they’re kissing? in a school? with children around?” daniella scoffed in jealousy.

“i wonder what they’re talking about” becky thought out loud to the other moms.

“probably something you don’t wanna know. catch you ladies in the classroom” stella smirked proudly, mainly at the fact at how jealous the moms were. she couldn’t wait to talk to Y/N about their reactions to drew’s appearance.

as drew and Y/N finished laughing, Y/N spoke up, “well hunny, as happy as i am to finally see you in the flesh again, i think someone else will be even more excited”

“oh my god take me to my little girl. lead the way babe” drew chirped out so happily as Y/N started dragging drew by the hand towards the classroom. not before being stopped by the mom posse first though.

“oh, Y/N who’s this?” daniella asked in a sweet tone.

“this is drew, drew, meet some of the other moms. daniella, tracy, and becky” Y/N introduced nervously. drew, however noticed early on how nervous she’d gotten, instinctively wrapping his left arm around her from behind, splaying his large left hand on her left hip, wedding ring exposed.

“hi, nice to meet you all. i’m roslyn’s dad, but i feel like that’s easy to figure out because she looks just like me” drew chuckled as he did a slight wave, as he’d said hi.

“so lovely to meet you drew! why haven’t we seen you around… like ever?” becky interrogated.

“well, i’ve been doing a lot of work stuff these past few months unfortunately. i have to go out of state for business a lot for long periods of time” drew spoke, beating around the bush; his job.

“oh so what do you do for work?” tracy jumped into the conversation to draw as much information out of drew as possible.

“uh… i’m actually an actor” he blushed as he became a bit nervous, letting random strangers know of his job.

“hey, uh if you don’t mind, we’re gonna go see our daughter. he hasn’t seen her in over two months and she really misses him” Y/N sassily spoke to the mean mom posse.

“oh- uh yeah. right” daniella stuttered out as she became slightly embarrassed in front of the couple.

“take me to my baby girl please” drew smiled down to Y/N, who in return started to walk away, grabbing his large right hand into her left and dragged him into the classroom.

as Y/N opened the classroom door slowly, she could sense how excited drew was to see his daughter again due to his urgency, softly pushing Y/N ahead. “hurry up baby” he urged softly into Y/N ear from behind her as he bent down to her level.

as drew neared his daughter, who’d been sitting in her tiny chair at her tiny desk, he spoke up softly as he squatted his large frame down, “hey angel, what are you drawing right now?” as he pointed to the piece of paper roslyn had been drawing on.

roslyn simply dropped her crayon, slowly turning to her right to be met face-to-face with her daddy who she’d been missing for the past two month. her mouth opened as it began to quiver, as fears brimmed her blue irises. “d-daddy? you’re home?!” she stuttered out as she began to sob, attempting to put her tiny arms around drew’s neck.

“aw babygirl, don’t cry. are you trying to make daddy cry too?” drew cooed as he lifted roslyn into his arms, standing up with her crying into her neck. drew’s heart clenched so type at the sound of his precious little girls happy cries. “and yes baby. i’m home. i got done with filming early” he continued to coo as he cradled her tiny head against his neck, shushing her weeps.

with that, roslyn lifted her brown head of hair to look up at her father as her tears began to dry up, only to be met with her father’s face. tears brimmed his striking blue eyes, making the tiny girl twist her face in worry, wiping away any tear of his that fell. “don’t cry daddy. please don’t cry” she pouted as drew let out a chuckle at her words.

“happy tears my little girl…. happy tears. i promise. i missed you so much. you’re my little princess. ya know that?”

“what about mommy? what’s she?” the young child asked her father. “well, she’s my queen, and you’re our princess. how does that sound?” he smiled right at her, as she wrapped her arms around his neck again.

“i love that. i want a puppy. don’t princesses have puppies?” she questioned as drew let his head fall back in laughter of joy.

“we will think about that. yeah?” he smiled down to his little girl again.

“mmhm” she hummed in response, as Y/N approached the two loves of her life with adoration filled in her eyes. she was most happy seeing her daughter and her daughter’s father reunite. every time she witnessed it her heart was filled with pure love and bliss. nothing could compare to how she felt when the two were together.

Y/N walked up behind drew and to his side, brushing roslyn’s light brown hair from her face and behind her ear, as she smiled at the two, who looked back at her. “you good drew?” Y/N asked as she smirked at her husband who still had a few years every now and then leak from his eyes. she brought her soft, dainty hand up to his face to wipe them away as he smirked at her, still cuddling their daughter in his arms.

he simply responded with a sincere smile, “i’m just happy to be back with my two girls”

Taglist @slut4drudy @runningfrom2am @maybankslover

[peachesofteal]

Dad!John Price/female reader The Ocean anthology - previous

You haven’t been inside a bar this crowded since you graduated from university. 

You settle in the corner, avoiding nearly everyone’s eyes, hands cupped around a chipped glass full to the brim with beer. 

You weren’t expecting an island on the brink of a full winter assault to be so… lively.

The room is a party. A party full of people who know one another well enough to call them by first name. There can’t be more than one hundred people living in this town year-round, and you think they might all be inside this dimly light pub, crowded around the waxed cedar bar, laughing and smiling with like they’ve not seen each other in eons. Like they’re long lost, disjointed members of the same family.

Well, all most all of them. 

You don’t see the Ranger. The Caribbean blue eyes, brusque moustache and beard, low brim black beanie, all are missing.

Somehow, it doesn’t surprise you. 

He didn’t seem the socializing type.

Still…

You hadn’t expected such a… clipped welcome. 

And you surely hadn’t expected your ferry buddy, the spunky six-year-old girl who talked to you for most of the ride, to be his daughter.

Somehow, that made his cold, distant nature even worse. 

Here’s a man capable of warmth; his smile said, when he scooped his daughter into his arms. Here’s someone you can trust. Someone who is friendly, genuine.

Just not towards you. He was stiff, uncomfortable, and even though the drive to town was fairly short, he barely spoke to you, answering your questions with the shortest syllables possible. 

He was every bit the Ranger you had heard so little about. Every bit the man turned myth.

And handsome. Rugged.

Older.

Your new friend in the backseat was better company than the man you’d be working with for better part of a year, the Ranger who you’re afraid you can’t do it without. Can’t navigate the island or the tides without him, can’t do half the work you needed to do without a partner. The thing his role is supposed to be, when needed. 

Worse was, the provided housing is a duplex, and he’s on the other side, a fact he gritted through his teeth this afternoon when he dropped you off, gesturing to the right side of the house with a callous wave. His front door was as green as the forest. 

The other was black. 

Your boss did warn you. 

She was tactful, cautious. The island itself carries a reputation; one some may be intimated by, but not you. 

Who are you to fear stewards of the land? They are more akin to you than others, after all.

John though, she lamented with a mournful expression, John was different. 

“John is less than pleased about this placement but assures me it won’t be an issue.”

“Less than pleased?” 

“He’s… protective, but he’ll warm up to you in time, I’m sure. A few days, and he’ll be showing you the ropes. Don’t worry.” 

You keep your nose in your beer. When you’re finished, the next one comes immediately, without prompting, and the bartender swoops low, voice heavy in your ear. 

“On the house.” He winks, and the woman to your left slides closer, curiosity wet on her lips between her drink and the question you know is coming. 

“You’re the scientist?” 

“No, the marine biologist. Cetologist, to be specific.” You cut to the quick and she stares at you, rightfully so. You have the good grace to grimace. “Er, sorry. I’m uh… not great with people.”

“That’s alright. Neither are we, really.” She lifts her drink with a cheers, gesturing to the room, and knocks it back. “So, what’s a cetologist?” 

“I study whales.” She nods knowingly.

“Ah. You’re here for the pod.” 

“Well, I’m interested in the humpbacks too, but yes. I’m mostly here to study the residents.” You were only here to study the pod, but you never said no to a whale, no matter notoriety, or size. You might be getting paid to study the residents, but you were going to soak up every second you could on this island. It’s wilderness was protected and almost pristine, an untamed landscape of mountain and sea too great of a call for you to resist.

The woman stares at you, intrigued, thin veil of amusement dancing in her eyes. “We’re happy to have you. You respect us, we’ll respect you.” The bartender pauses, shining a glass with a hole pocked rag, and glares at her. “Most of us will. Can’t say how John’ll take to ya.” 

“Oh, I work on my own mostly.” You lie, giving her a fake smile that feels awful, and she humphs. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you…” she flounders, and you provide your name, letting it settle in the air, others turning to give you a questioning look, like they’ve been waiting for it too, and she grins, repeating it with a handshake. “Skip the shortcuts through the forest at night.” She adds over her shoulder, hopping off the stool and wading into the crowd without another word, leaving you confused. 

Skip the… skip the what? 

“Ignore her.” The bartender hastily reassures you, but the emotion doesn’t touch his eyes, lingering gazes in the room enough to have you swallowing the rest of your beer in haste and beelining out the door. 

The walk to your rental is short, up the street and take a left, then another, until you reach the only house at the top of the hill, a duplex with a sweeping, wide planked front porch. 

The top step creaks beneath your weight. An ember glows in the dark. 

“Jesus chr-“ Your heart slams against your ribs, pulse thundering between your ears.

He’s silent. The cigar illuminates his face, a flicker of brilliant blue, crystal clear and piercing, pinned onto you like a laser. 

“It’s late.” It’s the admonishment of a father, and indignant rage flourishes down your spine. 

“I’m an adult, thanks.” He’s unmoved by your spite. Settled like the cedars that grow at the heart of this place, tall enough to blot out the sun, wide enough to build houses, boats. 

He pulls. The orange cinder burns red, honeyed smoke and mahogany sweetening the air. 

The smoking is attractive. It's intriguing, dangerous, and draws you closer, other foot coming to rest on the top step, tempting fate.

"You shouldn't be out around here late."

"The entire town is down at the bar." You shoot back, still rising in anger, rattling with it. You’re a grown woman, who is this guy to tell you what you can and can’t do?

His jaw flexes, mouth tightening into a straight line, invisible string pulling him taut before he speaks again.

"They live here, know their way around. It's not always safe." The protest builds, words coming quick, rapid-fire, but before you can speak, you lose your voice to a chorus of howls.

Wolves.

[wintertime-in-june]

Kissing Booth

Inspired by a piece of art by izumicrazyworld on Instagram.

It was a Saturday, a sunny, yet breezy Saturday afternoon. The fair had been going on since ten that morning and the crowds of people milling about the marques were unrelenting.

The fair had been set up in an effort to raise money for the public service of defence. It encompassed stalls from the police, selling books and cakes; a tombola from the air force; pin the tail on the whale from the marines and more.

The private military stall ran by KorTac sat at the edge of the room, despite its sub prime location the line was long, wrapping all the way around the hall.

...Well, one side of the booth's line was long.

König stood there, trying his very best to look approachable but failing miserably as the young recruit beside him kissed women after women after the occasional man.

Who's idea was this anyway? A kissing booth for goodness sake! How infantile... he told himself as he fiddled with his fingers...

Yet still... he couldn't help but wonder why no-one wanted to kiss him.

He thought he would be supervising, just sitting back and wasting his day, so you can believe the shock he had when the Lieutenant said his shift was over and the Colonel's was just beginning.

You stood with your friend on the other side of the room, just finishing up a lovely cupcake you had gotten from the Police's stand, strawberry frosted.

You watched, as you often did, the scenes before you, taking in each and every person as they went about their day.

He was easy to miss, despite his towering height, but your eyes locked on him nonetheless. It was as if he was trying to blend into the background, to compensate for his immense size. Dressed in all black, with a mask to obscure his face and trying to make himself look as small as possible... to no avail.

That's when you saw it, a long line leading to his booth, but not to him, no, to the soldier beside him.

The mask didn't help... and the fact that the booth's sign was as tall as him, covering his face... also didn't help. But still, how could no-one want to kiss him!

Your friend looked over, noticing the look in your eyes, like a person who had just found a lost kitten, wondering if they should keep it or not.

"Go on," she said with a smile, giving your shoulder a nudge.

You snapped out of your trance, there was no point denying where you were staring, it was that obvious.

"I can't, I couldn't, really! A kissing booth, I mean... I would never!" You protested, feeling your heart beat quicken.

"He is so your type." She retorts with a sly smirk.

You didn't know whether to be insulted or not... she wasn't exactly wrong.

"Oh, alright then..." You say with a little sigh, you knew you wanted to and it was for charity after all. Smiling a little to your friend, you couldn't help the excitement that bubbled inside you, a kiss was a kiss.

As you walked, a woman on a mission, towards the booth, you tried to regulate your breathing. How were you going to do this? How long do you hold the kiss? How do you even kiss? Over or under the mask?

Before you knew it you were there, standing below this towering figure, looking up and up and up and up until you saw, crystal blue eyes staring back at you, it was for lack of better words, intense.

You gave a small smile putting the money on the worktop in front of you.

"Hi, please... um, please can you." You decide to stop speaking at that point, your sentence being a disaster from start to finish.

He slid the coins from the surface into the basket below, looking down at you.

He bent down slightly, then realised it would not be enough, he bent his knees, going lower and lower until, he was just above eye level.

He may have looked stoic and unfeeling on the outside, an overall fear inducing demeanour, meanwhile his heart was going a mile a minute.

You're gorgeous, so beautiful, a girl like you doesn't have to pay for kisses! Was all that ran through his mind as he got on your level. Let alone from a beast like him.

Your perfume was sweet, fruity, perfect. Your face was so, so close.

You blinked, tilting your head slightly, was he going to lift his mask up or...

You decided to show some initiative, you had paid for a kiss, you were getting a kiss. You lifted your hands up slowly, gently holding his mask and lifting it up yourself.

You only had a second to look before the natural motion of things took hold. There was a scar, a cut upwards on the left side of his upper lip. He was clean shaven... that was nice.

You smiled lightly as you leaned forward and your lips met his. Surprisingly plush, slightly chapped.

It wasn't a quick kiss but it didn't go too far.

It was sweet. It was lovely. It was undeniably, the best kiss you had ever had.

It only had wholesome intent behind it, just perfection.

The two of you parted slowly, the person beside König having gone through three other people in the time it took the two of you to have one kiss.

Your strawberry frosting breath fanning his face as you parted slowly. His eyes filled with longing.

He remained on your level, not standing up even as you let go of his mask.

He was completely awestruck.

He will never forget this.

[burnednotburied]

Chapter 5: The Aquarium

AO3 Link | Masterlist

Pairing: Abby Anderson x fem!reader

Fic Synopsis: Abby goes looking for Owen and ends up on the wrong end of your knife.

Tags/CWs: angst; slowburn; enemies to friends to lovers; talks of purity culture/ideals and “sin”; internalized homophobia and some comp-het feelings (they’re both so gay but so dumb about it); animosity between WLF and Seraphites; blood/gore; descriptions of being hanged; religious/cult-like ideas; sorry (but not that sorry) to any Owen fans, but he’s kinda a huge asshole in this

Note: I added chapter titles and finally figured out exactly where I’m going with this story lol. Hooray for having a plan!!

(Sorry it took more than two weeks to get this chapter out! End-of-semester craziness, ya know? I hope this chapter being like twice as long as usual makes up for it!)

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Abby realized too late that she probably should’ve warned you about the life-sized whales on the ceiling.

By the look on your face, she could tell you’ve never seen anything like it.

Which made sense. She hadn’t either before she and Owen found this place three years ago.

She paused to watch you for just a second, taking in your amazed expression as you marveled at the enormous hanging sea creatures above you.

Abby could easily remember what her first time here was like. How incredible and other-worldly this place felt. She imagined it must be even more overwhelming for you, this fractured piece of a world you were not a part of and knew little about. A world where humans built a place where they could go to look at fish for no reason other than that it was entertaining. A world where people did things just for fun.

Of course, Abby had also never been a part of that world, but at least she knew about it. She’d caught glimpses of it, carefully and intentionally gathering bits and pieces. She watched films and documentaries. She read novels and history books, newspapers and magazines if she could find them.

Knowledge was power. And, to Abby, having power was important. Having power meant being able to keep the people she cared about safe.

And if you had enough power, no one could ever take it away from you.

So she dedicated herself to becoming powerful, both of mind and of body. It’s all she had known and cared about since she lost her dad.

It’s why she lost Owen.

She still wasn’t sure if that had been a good thing or a bad thing, but she knew she felt guilty about it.

Three years ago, Owen had quickly claimed the aquarium as his own. He cleaned it up, made it feel as homey as possible, and spent as much time here as he could get away with. Abby didn’t tell anyone, not even the rest of the Salt Lake crew. It was right around the time they were breaking up. She felt like she owed him her discretion at the very least. Not that it really made up for anything.

Yesterday morning, when Nora told Abby that Owen was missing, she assumed he’d come here.

God, she hoped she was right.

Abby shifted the injured Yara in her arms, her muscles burning from carrying the girl for so long.

It was early in the morning now. The sun had just begun to rise as the four of you had been making your way into the aquarium.

“Owen!” she shouted, leading the way down one of the hallways off the main entrance. Abby thought he would most likely be out on the boat, either sleeping or continuing in his never-ending attempts to get the thing in working order.

“Owen!” she called out again. “Owen! Are you here?”

She paused for a moment, listening. Nothing.

“Owen—”

“I’m here.” She heard his voice just before he rounded the corner, stopping short when he saw the whole group of you. “Are those Scars?” he asked, genuinely surprised and definitely confused as hell.

Abby ignored the question. “I need whatever medical supplies you have.”

Before Owen could respond, Alice came barreling around the corner, barking aggressively at the perceived enemies.

The next few seconds were chaotic to say the least.

You screamed and jumped back. Lev reacted quickly, his bow drawn and an arrow notched.

“Alice, no!” Abby yelled out.

Owen grabbed for the German Shepherd, holding her back as she continued to lunge forward, trying to attack.

“Put the bow down! It’s okay!” Abby shouted.

Owen gripped the dog’s harness tightly. “Put that down!”

“Alice, shut up! Lev, put the bow down!”

“Alice, stop—Abby, what the fuck?!”

“Lev, listen to them! Put it down!” you insisted, putting a hand on his shoulder as you tried to push him behind you.

All of this happened simultaneously, muffled by the sound of deafening, echoing barking.

“Alice!” a new voice, one that Abby knew belonged to Mel, shouted. To her, the dog listened, sitting down obediently with one final bark.

Mel stood next to Owen and Alice, staring.

There was a moment of silence.

Abby turned to the young boy. “Lev, lower the bow. It’s okay.”

Reluctantly, he listened.

“Abby, who are these people?” Mel asked.

“They saved my life,” she said, hoping that would be enough of an answer for now. “Can you take a look at her?” Abby looked down at Yara, who seemed to be barely conscious in her arms.

Mel dropped a hand on Alice’s head, instructing her to stay, as she slowly stepped closer, eyeing you and Lev cautiously.

“This is Yara,” Abby said before nodding over to the kid at her right, “That’s Lev. And that’s—” She stopped short. She wasn’t about to introduce you to them as Prophet.

Behind her, you spoke, offering up your name. Abby and Lev’s eyes both swung to you, widening for two entirely different reasons.

Abby’s because she was hearing your name for the first time. It was your name. It was like she discovered a brand new piece to this puzzle she had been frantically trying to assemble since the moment she saw you.

She wasn’t sure why Lev looked shocked, but it seemed like a big deal, for you to use your name in place of the title that had been forced upon you by the other Scars.

Abby quietly repeated the name, committing it to memory.

Mel gave a small nod, unaware of the mini revelation that was happening right in front of her, instead focusing on Yara with a concerned look on her face.

“What did this?” she asked, looking down at the girl’s mangled arm.

“A hammer,” you said, stepping forward until you were standing right next to Abby.

“It wasn’t me,” Abby quickly added. Guilty, despite her innocence. She was ashamed that she needed to make that clarification. Worried about what you would think about it.  

Mel hesitated, regarding each of the Scars one by one again before sighing. “Alright. Let’s lay her down.”

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The pregnant woman—clearly someone Abby knew but wasn’t exactly friendly with—decided that Yara had compartment syndrome, which apparently meant they would have to cut her arm off.

While everyone else argued about the best way to accomplish that task, you stood off to the side, feeling sick. If you had been able to stop Emily’s men last night, this wouldn’t be happening.

It shouldn’t be happening.

Yara was going to lose her arm or die because you failed her.

You were trying not to spiral. Trying to be helpful now. (Too little, too late.) Trying to pay attention to the Wolves’ conversation.

They didn’t have the supplies they needed to perform the amputation safely. Yara didn’t have time to wait the couple days it would take Abby to travel all the way to the hospital and back.

“What if we could get you there in two hours?” Lev asked, hands grasping the metal table where Yara laid in the center of the room. “The Wolf hospital, right? On the west side?”

The man—Owen—stood, interested. “How?”

“The bridges,” you said, realizing what Lev was getting at. All eyes turned to you. “Our people built them. High up.”

Lev nodded. “It’s how we get around the flooding. And… you people.”

After a quiet moment, Abby stepped forward. “Can she handle two hours?”

The woman considered this, her hand comfortingly placed on Yara’s shoulder. “Probably, yeah.”

Abby nodded. “Then make a list of what you need.”

Owen stepped closer, joining the circle the rest of you had formed around Yara. “Wait. Are you serious? Abby, these bridges are used by Scars.”

The fact that he was arguing against the plan frustrated you. Yara didn’t have time for this.

“They only send in small groups at a time,” Lev said.

“You heard that? Small groups.” Abby said, watching as the other woman jotted down the supplies on a loose piece of paper and handed it over.

“This isn’t a joke.” Owen looked only at Abby, trying to catch her eyes. She seemed to be actively avoiding making contact.

Instead, she turned to you and said your name, followed by, “Let’s go.”

You looked up at her, at a loss for words. It was sad that something as simple as hearing your name could have this effect on you, but it had been eight years since you’d heard it… And this was already the second time Abby had said it.

You wanted to turn and walk right out the door with her, happy to follow her anywhere, but reality set it.

“I can’t,” you said. “I don’t know where the hospital is. And I don’t know our bridges well enough to guide you. It will have to be Lev.” It looked like Abby might argue with you, or at least tell you to come with them.

You wanted to. The idea of letting Lev go back out into danger without you made you sick with worry. But, foolish as it may seem, you trusted Abby to look out for him. And you didn’t understand these other Wolves and the strange dynamic at play here. You certainly didn’t trust them to be alone with Yara.

“Someone needs to stay with her,” you said, holding Abby’s gaze.

She nodded, grabbing her backpack off the floor. “Alright. Lev.”

He looked to you, taking your hand in his. The group splitting up must’ve felt wrong to him, too.

Almost on instinct, you did what you had been trained to do. You offered a bit of comfort.

“May She guide you,” you said quietly, giving him a small, encouraging smile as you squeezed his one hand between both of yours.

The words were familiar to you both, a common Seraphite mantra. He reciprocated your tight grasp and finished the line, “May She protect you.”

When you released his hand, he placed it on Yara’s shoulder, as if to tell her goodbye as well. She was unresponsive.

You felt a hand fall on your own shoulder and looked up to find that it was Abby. She nodded her head to the opposite end of the room, impatiently taking your wrist in her hand and leading you over there when you didn’t immediately catch her meaning.

She didn’t let go.

Abby stood close, speaking quietly so that no one else could hear. “We’ll be back as soon as possible. Yara’s going to be fine, okay. And I’ll keep Lev safe.”

You couldn’t help the slight upward curve of your lips. “I know,” you said. “I trust you.”

She blinked, caught off guard, but continued. “I wouldn’t mention the whole you-being-the-Prophet thing to Owen and Mel if I were you.”

“I’m not a prophet,” you deadpanned.

She let out an exasperated breath. “Okay, sure. Well I wouldn’t tell them that the Scars think—”

“Seraphites,” you interjected.

“—Seraphites—Just… you get the point. Don’t mention it, okay?”

“What if they ask questions?”

“Dodge them. Be vague.”

“You don’t trust your friends?” you asked, more serious now.

“No,” Abby said. “Not with you.”

You couldn’t begin to guess what she meant by that.

“I trust them… for the most part.” She glanced at them over your shoulder before meeting your eyes again. “I just don’t know how they would react to that information. It’s not exactly a small thing. I don’t know what they would do with it.”

You looked at her for while longer, then nodded your head. “Okay. I won’t say anything.”

“Abby?” the man’s voice came from behind you.

She let go of your wrist immediately, as if she had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to.

You turned around to find the woman—Mel—and Owen both looking at you like they were witnessing something truly insane, instead of just two people having a conversation.

Lev stood on his own by the door, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, eager to get moving.

From behind you, you felt Abby’s hand wrap around your wrist again, squeezing lightly and then letting go.

“We’ll be back,” she said, this time at a normal volume. She joined Lev by the door, opening it and leading the way out.

“Abby!” Owen said again, moving to follow them out.

Mel groaned, frustrated. “God! Owen, just let them go.” When he ignored her, she went after him, the door slamming loudly behind her.

You stayed behind with Yara.

She was blinking slowly, barely awake, her shallow breaths too few and far between for your liking. You felt helpless, knowing there wasn’t much you could do other than sit and wait.

You pulled up a chair.

Just outside the door, the two Wolves were arguing. Although, you only caught bits and pieces of it.

Something about Abby and Scars and a cloak… Something about someone who looked like she just stepped out of The Lord of the Rings. You didn’t know what that meant, but it was clear they were talking about you.

Again, you unfastened the cloak and freed yourself of your top layer. Whether that was due to embarrassment or a sudden recognition of the uncomfortable warmth of the room, you couldn’t tell.

“Did you see how she was looking at her?” “Owen, why do you care? Why does it matter to you?” you heard through the door.

The dynamic here was becoming more and more confusing.

You’d assumed that Owen was the father of Mel’s child, just because they seemed to live here together. But that didn’t explain Mel’s rather apparent unfavorable opinion of Abby. And it definitely didn’t explain Owen’s preoccupation with Abby.

Their conversation continued for several minutes, volume rising and falling periodically. There wasn’t much you understood and even less of it seemed important or interesting to you.

Eventually, the door swung open again, making you jump in your seat. Mel reentered the room, offering you a strained smile as she checked on Yara. You quietly watched her work.

“There’s not much we can do for her until Abby and your friend get back,” she said to you, eyes still focused on Yara. “If you want, I can get you set up with a place to sleep while we wait.”

“No,” you said, too quickly to be polite. “…Thank you. I’ll stay with Yara.”

Mel pulled her lips into a tight line and nodded, leaving the room again. She came back a few minutes later with water and a shiny red apple, offering them up for you to take.

“Sorry. I know it’s not much. Owen isn’t well-stocked on food right now,” she said after you’d accepted the snack.

You smiled. “Thank you. You’re very kind to be helping us at all.”

Mel didn’t really answer, instead gesturing to the door as she walked toward it. “Well, we’ll… be around. If you need anything. And I’ll come in and check on her periodically.”

You nodded, quietly thanking her again. The discarded cloak that you’d left on a table by the door caught your eye. “Oh. Wait.”

She turned to face you again, eyebrows raised in question.

“What is The Lord of the Rings?” you asked.

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An excursion that was supposed to take two hours ended up taking nearly all day.

But hey, Abby had done the best she could.

She faced her deeply-rooted fear of heights on that sorry excuse for a bridge. She fought off Infected and Scars. She was, let’s say, detained by her fellow WLF soldiers at the hospital. And then she had to fight and kill what must’ve been the biggest, gnarliest, freakiest blob of cordyceps infection to ever exist.

She barely got out of there alive, but she managed to leave with the medical supplies in hand. Plus tons of new material for her future nightmares.

Mel had started operating as soon as they got back to the aquarium, with Owen assisting her.

You and Lev sat just outside the door the entire time.

The surgery had gone well. Yara was doing okay, all things considered.

After, Owen handed Abby a pile of sleeping bags and blankets and walked off without saying a word.

Abby handed them off to you and carefully lifted Yara again, this time to move her to a more comfortable spot to rest. She led the way to the next room, you and Lev trailing behind.

There was a long couch in the new room. You motioned for Lev to lay down on one end while Abby set Yara down on the other.

She stepped back and watched, amused, as you fussed over the two of them for a few minutes, using most of the blankets on your young friends.

When you were sure they were both as comfortable as possible, you left them to rest and walked back over to Abby. In your arms, you held the two sleeping bags that you hadn’t used on the kids.

You offered one of them to her.

She shook her head, motioning to the space on the floor in front of the couch where there was an old, worn-out rug.

“Lay mine out for me? I have to go do something before I go to sleep.”

“You’re leaving?” you asked, looking concerned.

“I just need to talk to Owen. I’ll be right back.”

You studied her face, like you were trying to figure out whether or not she was being truthful.

Abby doubled down, pointing again. “Go. Get some sleep. I’ll be back.”

You sighed but went where she had pointed and began laying out the two sleeping bags.

One for you. One for her. Right next to each other on the floor.

You had been doing a good job of hiding it, but Abby could tell you were exhausted. She couldn’t blame you. Hell, she was exhausted. And the sooner she touched base with Owen, the sooner she could come back.

She turned and went out to track him down.

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You didn’t know what was wrong with you.

You had been awake for almost forty-eight hours, but you couldn’t fall asleep. Your mind was racing. Filled with worry for Yara, concern about her condition, guilt for having been unable to prevent the injury from happening in the first place. Thoughts of your own people hunting your friends with the intent to kill them. Fear that, despite your desire to keep them safe, your lack of knowledge and experience in the world outside of Haven would make that impossible.

You thought about the woman you killed yesterday. How she’d so tenderly and earnestly called you her Prophet just moments before you snuck up behind her and ended her life.

You wondered if you too were now an apostate. If the Seraphites had found the bodies of Emily and her men and assumed you were dead, or if they somehow knew that you betrayed them all the very moment you were given the chance.

You wondered if your mother knew what you had done. If she would be punished for your sins.

You thought about Abby, hoping that your faith in her was not misplaced. Hoping that your attraction to her hadn’t clouded your judgment.

This was crazy. All of it. It was too much.

You had tossed everything and everyone you’ve ever known aside, thrown the first twenty years of your life to the wind like it meant nothing at all, and run off into the forest with a Wolf without a second thought. And now that you, Yara, and Lev were finally (seemingly) not in immediate danger, you had time to think things through. Contemplate what you’d done and try to figure out where it left you.

By your own hand, your life had been irreparably changed forever. It was done. There was no undoing it. No going back.

You would stay with Lev and Yara. You would stay with Abby if that’s what she wanted.

But where would you go? It wasn’t safe for any of you to stay here.

That wasn’t a question you could answer. You didn’t know of anywhere else. You wouldn’t know how to find a place that was safe.

All of these thoughts bombarded your mind at once, taking turns at the forefront. Contradicting emotions swirled, adding to the chaos.

There was a sadness, a sense of loss for the people you had always belonged to.

Guilt and shame. Two feelings that were not at all foreign to you, but you had never felt as strongly as you did now.

A lightness. A happiness. Almost a thrill. A hopeful nervousness for the freedom you had claimed for yourself, the agency you had uncovered, and the possibility of what was to come.

Sadness, again, for the mother you would miss, and the realization that you had already been missing her for a very long time.

Frustration—simmering anger—for your childhood that was stolen and the shame that did not originate within yourself. The unrelenting voices that lived in your head, weighing in on every thought and critiquing every action. But those voices were not your own. You would take your dagger and cut their presence from your mind, carefully carving them out of your head and disposing of them yourself if you could.

And, amongst everything else taking up space inside of you, demanding your attention, it felt stupid and frivolous and wasteful, but you couldn’t keep Abby from your thoughts. She kept appearing, in the middle of it all. This was something that you truly did not have time for and should not be putting energy toward.

But you had never felt intrinsically drawn to someone in the way you were drawn to her…

Behind you, you could hear slow, heavy breaths coming from either end of the couch. You were glad that Lev and Yara were getting some rest. You’d do your best to make sure they got their fill of it this time.

You got up quietly, trying not to disturb them but feeling like you needed to move. You shook out your arms, rolled your neck around, wiggled your fingers, stretched your legs.

Honestly, you wanted run. Or hit something. Or scream. Loudly and for a long time. Until you ran out of air and your voice was ragged.

But you didn’t do any of those things.

Instead, you went to look for Abby.

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“Seriously? You’re telling me Isaac’s top Scar killer just… turned over a new leaf? Decided to befriend and help three Scars?” Mel was staring into Abby’s soul, her words dripping in disbelief.

Abby had found her and Owen upstairs, in the same room that had once housed the boat man’s skeleton and the couple’s Christmas stockings (not at the same time, of course).

Owen was angry. Exactly what she had done to earn his anger, she couldn’t say. He held a jar of his homemade moonshine. A jar that was somewhere between three-quarters and one half full. Abby assumed it had been filled to the top just a few minutes ago.

He had apparently decided to be a silent, brooding drunk tonight, so Mel had been the one to interrogate her.

Abby tried to explain everything, albeit keeping things pretty vague. She didn’t want to give them too much information about you specifically, and she didn’t want them to get the wrong idea about you, so she made sure to omit the part where you nearly gutted her. And the part where you were the new Scar Prophet that Isaac was after.

Mel wasn’t buying the part where Abby simply had a change of heart.

She shot Owen a cautious look before she said, “Abby, do you—I thought you might—Is it possible that you’re…” Mel stopped, gathering her thoughts, trying to find the best way to word it. “It’s not… like… a problem that she’s a woman. It’s just… it is kind of a big deal that she’s a Scar—”

“Abby isn’t into a fucking Scar,” Owen interjected, his knuckles white around the mouth of the jar. “And she’s not fucking gay.”

Then he started chugging the jar’s contents, forcing down swallow after painful swallow.

The women were both silent for a second, surprised by the anger in his words.

Abby didn’t know what to say. She knew she was into you—and she’d be lying if she said that wasn’t at least part of the reason why she was helping you and your friends—but she had never considered if that made her gay.

She honestly didn’t really care to label herself as anything either way. It felt stupid—in the honest-to-god post-apocalyptic hellscape that they lived in, where they had been engaged in a never-ending war since they were kids—to care about that kind of thing.

Why should it matter—when her family was dead, her friends were constantly in danger, and there were enemies closing in from every angle—if she was romantically or sexually interested in men or women or both? Wasn’t that almost guaranteed to be the least important detail at any given moment? And why should she waste any of her time or energy trying to define herself in that way?

This was all really new to her. She hadn’t really let herself be interested in anyone since Owen, and she honestly wasn’t sure if she had ever been into him for the right reasons. Again, she remembered how uncomfortable it made her feel to kiss him, to be touched by him…

She couldn’t imagine that it would feel like that if you touched her. And just the fact that she hoped one day she’d find out was probably telling enough.

So maybe, in the Old World, people would’ve called Abby a lesbian. Maybe she would’ve identified with that title if things were different, if her life was lower stakes, and if she’d had more time to explore herself and her interests.

What-ifs didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was here now. You were with her—and she needed to figure out a plan of how to proceed from here—so she could make sure to keep it that way.  She could figure out the rest later.

Mel was the first to speak, annoyed, but addressing him calmly, like she was talking to a rabid animal. “Owen—”

He didn’t even let her get a word in.

“No. This is bullshit! Abby—” He looked past Mel to meet Abby’s gaze, insistent. “I’m going to Santa Barbara to find the Fireflies. If you’re smart, you’ll ditch the Scars and come with me.”

Mel slammed her hands on the table, causing both Abby and Owen to jump. “What the hell do you mean, you’re going to Santa Barbara?! We are going to Santa Barbara!” They weren’t used to seeing violent outbursts from Mel. She was the queen of passive aggression, but she rarely lost her cool. “What is wrong with you, Owen? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? This is all so seriously fucked up.” She turned away from them, clenching her fists at her sides, looking like she might cry. Or hit something. Or both.

But for the first time in years, Abby wasn’t on the receiving end of her disdain.

Guess all she had to do for her old friend to stop seeing her as a threat was get entangled with the Scar Prophet. No big deal.

Owen, in a moment of clarity, seemed to realize how huge of an asshole he was being to the mother of his child. He set down his jar, stood, and walked over to Mel, putting his hands on her hips and pulling her into him, her back pressed against his front. He was swaying on his feet, his cheeks flushed, hands clumsy. If he hadn’t been drunk before, he definitely was now. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. We are going to Santa Barbara. Of course it’s we. Hell, the Scars can come too for all I care. We’ll make it a party.”

Abby rolled her eyes at his quick switch-up and turned to go. Clearly this conversation wasn’t going anywhere productive tonight, with Owen drunk, Mel upset, and all of them exhausted beyond belief.

There was a creak by the door, and all three of them turned to look, Owen’s reaction far more delayed than Abby and Mel’s.

You stood there in your long white dress, hesitant to come in. Shy, having clearly interrupted a tense conversation.

Abby wondered how long you’d been standing there unnoticed. Her instinct was to meet you in the doorway and take you back to bed, away from Owen’s rude drunkenness and Mel’s inquisitive eyes.

“Hey! Scar! How the hell are ya? Come join us! We were just talking about sunny California. Ever been?” Owen pulled away from Mel and plopped back down on the couch, finding his jar again.

“Umm…” You looked to Abby for guidance, but she was just as unsettled as you. “No. I haven’t… Sorry, I was just looking for Abby.”

“Yeah, I bet you were,” he mumbled under his breath. Abby wasn’t sure if you caught that, but she wasn’t interested in having you hear any more of this.

“Let’s just go,” she said to you, moving toward where you still stood in the doorway.

“No! Come! Sit! Let’s talk,” Owen insisted, slapping the spot next to him on the couch.

You gave Abby another hesitant look before walking past her to join Owen. Mel sighed and lowered herself into a nearby chair. When it became clear to her that retreating with you wasn’t an option right now, Abby walked back over. She stood right across from the couch so she could see you, leaned against the wall behind her with her arms crossed over her chest.

You sat next to Owen, although not so close, putting as much distance between you as possible.

“Atta girl,” he chuckled. Abby wanted to punch him.

All of this was out of character for Owen, but she knew that he was always kind of unpredictable when he got drunk. With everything that had happened and emotions running so high, everyone really should just be going to sleep.

With that in mind, Abby would continue to stand nearby until you were ready to leave. She wouldn’t let things get out of hand.

“So… Scar—”

“Seraphite,” Abby corrected him. He scoffed and took another swig.

You smiled softly at her, looking grateful.

“Scar,” he said again. “Can I perhaps interest you in some hooch? Made it myself.” He offered up the jar for you to take, tilting it towards you with unsteady hands.

“No,” Abby immediately answered on your behalf. “She does not want any of your hooch.”

“Well give the girl a chance to answer,” he slurred. “What? Your little girlfriend can’t speak for herself? She can’t make her own decisions?”

You glanced back and forth between him and her, reaching for the open jar of clear liquid, properly baited by his taunting words.

Abby tried to remember that Owen was her friend—her best friend—and that he wasn’t usually like this.

“What is… hooch?” you asked, staring down into the glass jar suspiciously.

“It’s moonshine,” Abby said. When that didn’t clear things up for you, she added, “Alcohol.”

“Like wine?” you asked, tentatively sniffing it.

Owen laughed. Abby nodded, “Kind of, but it’s much stronger. Seriously, you won’t like it.”

There was a flash of something that looked like defiance in your eyes, offense taken at the idea that you wouldn’t be able to handle something that others could.

You put the jar to your lips and tilted it back enough to take in a generous mouthful.

Abby watched as your eyes went wide and you struggled to swallow it. Honestly, she was impressed that you didn’t immediately spit it out. You managed to choke it down before breaking out in a harsh coughing fit.

Owen laughed, accepting the jar as you shoved it back into his hands. Your eyes watered as you tapped on your sternum, taking a second to regain the ability to speak.

“You made that?” you wheezed in disbelief.

“Yep!”

“On purpose?”

Abby laughed at that, leaning back against the wall again once she was convinced that you weren’t dying.

“Hey, that’s prime hooch! You should be thanking me right now.” Owen took his own swig of it, lounging back against the couch with his arm resting along the back.

“Thank you?” You squinted your eyes but tried to be polite.

“I was kidding, princess. You don’t have to thank me.”

Abby, again, resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

“So,” Owen began, “tell me. How is it that you’re a Scar… but you’re not scarred?” He chuckled to himself, as if he had made a joke.

Your eyes shot to meet Abby’s, clearly unprepared to answer that question.

“Not every Seraphite has facial scars,” you said, keeping things vague.

“Every Scar I’ve ever seen does.”

“You’ve seen me, haven’t you?” you shot back.

Abby let out a surprised laugh. Owen clenched his jaw.

“Every Scar has face scars. It’s like your defining thing. It’s why we call you Scars.” He was adamant, unyielding. And the playful mask was starting to slip back into anger. Abby could tell this wasn’t going to end well.

“Well I guess you don’t know as much about Seraphites as you thought you did.” You were frustrated now, pressing yourself further into the far end of the couch to put more distance between the two of you.

Owen opened his mouth with a rebuttal, but Abby jumped in. “Lay off, Owen.”

He threw his hands up in surrender, leaning back against the brown cushions. “Fine, fine. Whatever. Forgive me for having questions. Fuck me, I guess. I’ve just never seen a hot Scar befo—”

Before he could finish the sentence, Mel was on her feet. “Alright. That’s it. You’re done.” She had been sitting silently up until then, ready to intervene if things got out of hand, just as Abby had been. Apparently, Owen calling you hot was where she drew the line.

Abby was glad Mel was saying something. Because if things had gone much further, she really might’ve hit him.

“Get up,” Mel instructed firmly, standing over him. “You’re going to bed.” He let her take the jar out of his hands and, with much effort, pushed himself up off the couch and started walking toward the door. Mel was right behind him, hands hovering on either of his sides in case he lost his balance. He was grumbling under his breath the whole way, like a toddler whose bedtime was being enforced.

Abby watched them go.

Once they were out of sight, she looked down at you, only to find that you were already looking at her.

“Sorry,” she spat out. “About him. He’s not usually like that.”

You nodded, but you didn’t seem sure that you believed her.

“So you guys are… friends?”

Abby cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah. We’ve known each other for years. Joined the WLF together. Me, Owen, Mel, and a few others.”

You considered this for a second before responding. “Where were you before?”

“Salt Lake City,” she said, looking down at her feet. “Utah.” Abby didn’t know if that would mean anything to you.

“Mel doesn’t seem to like you very much,” you said, observant, not trying to offend. Abby smiled, despite the meaning behind your words. You added, “And Owen doesn’t seem to like me.” You stated it like it was a fact, like it was neither good nor bad, just true.

“He’ll get over it. He’s just drunk.” Abby didn’t know if that was true, but she wanted to comfort you in that moment, not that you actually seemed to care all that much about Owen’s opinion of you.

“Can I ask you a question?” You were looking up at her, eyes wide and vulnerable.

Anything, Abby thought. Out loud, she said, “Sure.”

She pushed away from the wall and came to sit next to you on the couch, filling the spot where Owen had been.

“Why do you people keep calling me princess?” you asked. Abby laughed quietly under her breath, turning her body to face you.

“I don’t know. There’s something about you that’s very princess-like I guess.”

You made a face at her. She smiled wider.

“It’s not a bad thing. You just come across as soft. Delicate. I don’t know… Graceful.”

“I am not delicate,” you said, defensive.

“I know.”

“I’ve killed.”

“I saw.” Abby was being serious, although she did find the conversation amusing. “You’re very skilled with a knife.”

You nodded, satisfied with her response, and fully turned to face Abby. “And what does hot mean? Why did he call me hot?”

“Oh—” Abby stuttered, “Uh—He meant… He was saying that you’re very pretty.”

“Oh.” You considered this, eyes wandering away. “Earlier he said I look like The Lord of the Rings.”

Abby smiled again. There was something about you that felt like it might’ve been taken straight from the high fantasy genre.

“Do you know what that is?” she asked.

“Yes. Sort of. I asked Mel. She said it was a film about a magical land. With fairies and stuff.”

“They were books first.”

“Have you read them?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you read a lot of books?” you asked, genuinely curious.

“I try to read as much as I can. Whatever’s available.”

You nodded, thinking, letting the conversation die down.

After a moment, “Abby?”

“Hmm?” she hummed. She liked the way you said her name. Just the sound of it made her heart beat a little bit faster.

“Owen also called me your girlfriend.” You were studying her face, trying to read her reaction.

“Yeah. He did.” Abby said, looking into your inquisitive eyes.

“Does that just mean friend? Or is it something else?”

“He was just trying to piss me off.”

“So it does mean something else?” Your eyes were on her lips now, and you were ever so slightly leaned forward. Almost subconsciously.

“It doesn’t matter,” Abby said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

She was pushing you away, and she didn’t know why. She could’ve answered that question so differently. Maybe she should’ve.

Abby wanted you. And she was almost certain that you felt the same way. At the very least, there was a curiosity. A hesitant attraction.

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong. That anything with you would be something she wasn’t good enough for.

Something she didn’t deserve.

Something she would ruin if given the chance.

So tonight, she didn’t give herself that chance.

Was that noble or cowardly? She wasn’t sure.

You pulled away, turning to face forward as you let out a long breath, puffing out your cheeks.

“I’m tired,” you said, standing. “And I should check on Yara and Lev.”

“Yeah.” Abby nodded. “Okay.”

She remained in place, ready to mentally beat herself up some more and stew in her thoughts alone for a while.

You cleared your throat lightly, swaying on your feet. “Umm… I’m not sure that I can find my way back to the room. Can you… please—?”

“Oh.” Abby hopped to her feet. “Okay, yeah. I’ll… I guess I’ll go with you.”

She avoided eye contact, leading the way into the dark hallway.

[httpszou]

Sweet dreams

Since you got Furina in the gachapon she never left your team, you loved her with all your soul since she appeared in the Fontaine teaser, as well as Neuvillette. You had spent multiple days, nights and evenings getting them to level 90, leveling up the talents, and trying to get the weapon. Although you didn't get the latter because you weren't a whale and you only had money to survive, still, you were happy, your account wasn't battered, you had resins and the love you had for the characters was gigantic.

What you didn't understand was how you were supposed to have ended up in this situation, even though you swore you were in a lucid dream… the fact that the moment you saw her, jumping towards Furina to whine about how cute she looked, such a sweet dream.

“Furinaaaa! you look so cute, I can't believe it, it's like you stepped out of the screen. Waaaaa so pretty! Who is the best girl? is youuu!” Those were one of the multiple phrases you remembered crying as you played with her cheeks and gave little kisses on her forehead, nose and cheeks.

But, now you were in the same room where you appeared, without Furina, because she ended up running while she shrieked something that you did not catch, the bed felt very soft as the fabric seemed to be expensive, noticing through the window covered by curtains, it was night. No wonder it was cold.

Cold? lucid dreams, it doesn't feel like this is one.... Maybe, this was not a dream. Oh wow.

You weren't dreaming? Trying to prick your skin just didn't work because of how terrifying it was to feel the pain, and think that you really were in the game, or something very realistic about it, it was scary. Luckily for you, the panic was not so big either, your body seemed to be similar to the usual, even more comfortable. This must still be a dream, you supposed when you got bored of waiting for something to happen and fell asleep on the bed.

After all, you woke up in your bed and not the expensive one of your dream, dismissing it as one too rare dream, you got up to start your day.

.

“Miss Furina, are you sure about that? I can assure you that there is no one here.” The melusine commented after checking the room where Furina usually stayed.

“You have to believe me! there was someone! they even had the nerve to…” wanting to avoid the embarrassment that was admitting that she had been the victim of a lot of gentle kisses with compliments that had made her heart jump, becoming too much to make it possible for her to stay there, ending with her running away. “The nerve to bother me at such hour! As an archon of fontaine, I need you to investigate properly, please! You have to believe me!” Still, despite the shock, the thought of receiving the same treatment once again was warm.

[thetriumphantpanda]

The Way You Miss Me | Joel Miller (Chapter Five)

You put your plan into action - in order to get closer to Joel, you have to get close to Ellie. The home truths that come out as a result aren't at all what you wanted though.

Pairing | Joel Miller x Female Reader

Word Count | 3K

Warnings | Angst and pining, mentions of death and origin story of readers scar which involves a knife but nothing else.

Authors Note | This one flew out of my fingers like lightening so I hope you enjoy it! Would love to hear your thoughts so leave comments, like or reblog or pop on over to my ask box if you fancy it! Also not me deadass writing in one of my favourite bands, shoutout to any of my fellow elder emo's out there. The shame of the outbreak is that these guys never got to jam along to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge or Misery Business..... This fic is actually loosely based on an All Time Low song from their new album, if you wanted to listen you can find it here - listen and watch out for nods to the lyrics in the dialogue here!

It had been a week since the awkward encounter at the bar with Joel and you were frustrated that you hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with him. You’d been watching him from afar, he’d been in the stables one day getting himself assigned a horse so that he could start heading out on patrol. He’d spent an evening at The Tipsy Bison with Tommy, the only acknowledgement was a swift nod of his head towards the table you shared with your father but that was only because Tommy had hit him on the arm, mouthing for him not to be rude. You’d watched him walk down the street past your home a few times, watching from the window and wishing it had been your home he was coming to. The one constant in all of it? The little girl. Ellie was attached to him like a barnacle to a whale, he was never without her, and you’d bet your bottom dollar (If you had any) that the key to getting closer to Joel was that little girl. 

“Can I ask you a question?” You asked Tommy one day whilst you were helping him repair some fencing around the outer wall. 

“You just did, but sure thing Sunshine.” 

“Do you know much about Ellie?” Your tried to keep your tone as nonchalant as possible, but the grin on Tommy’s face suggested he knew exactly where you were going with this. 

“I’ve gotta be honest Joel’s kept her to himself mostly,” He shrugged, picking up his hammer to beat some nails into the wood you were holding still for him, “She’s a firecracker, swears like a sailor and is the only person I’ve ever seen make Joel laugh since the world went to shit.” 

You hummed in understanding, “You know about the things she likes to do?” 

“I think you’re treading a very thin line here.” He warned. 

“I’m not trying to do anything Tommy,” You spoke defensively, “She follows him around like a lost puppy, I’ve not seen her make any friends, I just wanted to try and do something nice for her to make her feel welcome.” 

Tommy sighed, “Space,” He replied simply, “Joel said she liked space, wanted to be an astronaut or something like that, and she's attached to that Walkman like it's her lifeline,” He was focusing on not hitting his fingers with the hammer, “Maria actually put aside a box of things she thought she might like, with the baby she hasn’t had time to take it over, but maybe if you drop back with me later you can drop it off for us?” 

“Sounds good,” You responded, “Will he be there?” 

Tommy smirked, “No, he’s on evening patrol on the fence tonight so nothing to worry about.” 

“I’m not worried Tommy.” 

“Sure, that’s why your nails are bitten down and you’ve been chewing at your lips since he arrived,” Your eyes widened, he was always the more astute of the brothers, “You used to do that before, when you were worried about things.” 

“Well like I said, I’m not worried about anything.” You mumbled. 

“Whatever you say, Sunshine,” He winked at you, “I finished hammering that about five minutes ago, you can let go now.” 

*** 

The box was heavy in your arms – you silently cursed Maria for filling it up so much, what was even in here? You could see a few books on the top and an empty notepad and there was some material at the bottom that could only be clothing. You thanked the Gods for not allowing the bottom to drop out of it, setting it down on the porch before knocking on the door of the house Tommy had pointed at when you were walking back to his. 

It took a while for someone to answer, but the door was eventually ripped open, and Ellie was stood in front of you, trying to catch her breath. 

“Oh hey,” She greeted, “Joel’s not here.” 

“Lucky me, because I’m actually here to see you,” You smiled, tapping the cardboard box on the floor with your foot, “Maria sent me over with a few things she thought you might like.” 

Ellie bent down to pick it up but you beat her to it, “It’s heavy, let me bring it inside for you.” 

She smiled and moved in the doorway to let you pass. The inside of their home was exactly as you’d imagine it to be, it wasn’t that much different to how yours had been when you moved in. Simple and bare save for the few pieces of furniture, a coffee mug was sat on the table near the kitchen – if Joel was half he man he had been before that would be his, half full of coffee that he’d drunk before leaving for patrol. 

“You can set it down on the table.” Ellie directed, which you did, taking hold of the coffee cup to find it was exactly how you’d imagined, half full of coffee which was still slightly warm, Joel had left recently. 

You watched as Ellie started going through the box, taking out the books to read the back of them before setting them down and investigating the clothes, seemingly happy with what Maria had chosen. 

“I hope you don’t mind but I brought you something too,” You spoke quietly, fishing around in your jacket pocket before pulling out a CD, “I don’t know if it’s your sort of music, but I’ve seen you with your Walkman around town and though you’d like something different to listen to.” 

She took the CD gratefully, “Foo Fighters, what kinda name is that?” 

You giggled, “You know they were actually pretty good, I listened to them all the time before all this, trust me.” 

“You sure you don’t wanna keep it?” Ellie asked, trying to pass it back to you. 

“I don’t have anything to listen to it on, so it’s all yours, I wanna know what you think of it though.” You gave her a smile and a wink. 

“Thanks,” She said, “This is actually super cool.” 

You knew you couldn’t linger too long here; you didn’t want to outstay your welcome and make Ellie feel uncomfortable. You wanted to do something nice for her so she would tell Joel. Then you’d be front and center in his mind. He might even thank you himself and surely that meant opening a conversation with him. Baby steps, you kept telling yourself. 

“You’re welcome,” You reached out and squeezed her shoulder, “And if you ever need anything else you can always ask me, I know how hard it can be to settle here after being… out there.” 

Ellie nodded at you, and you excused yourself, heading home and hoping you’d planted a big enough seed to grow. 

***

The next morning, as Joel was setting breakfast on the table for Ellie before she went to school, the seed started to bloom. 

“Your girlfriend came round last night.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“You know that woman you knew from before, the one we met at the bar?” 

“Ellie, she ain’t my girlfriend,” Ellie shrugged at Joel’s answer, shoveling eggs into her mouth, “What was she doin’ here?” 

“Bought some box of stuff Maria set aside for me,” She said with her mouth full, earning a glare from Joel at her table manners, “She bought me this awesome CD as well, did you ever hear of the Foo Fighters?” 

Joel nodded, trying not to remember that the only reason he did was because you had insisted on keeping that damn CD in his truck – it had been the background noise to most of your evening escapades when you couldn’t be in his bed. It wasn’t his particular cup of tea, but he had always liked watching you out of the corner of his eye as he drove you to your spot, tapping your fingers on the side of the car and singing along when the moment took you. 

“Well, I hope you said thank you.” Joel grumbled, drinking the last of his coffee, “Now come on, you’ll be late.” 

As Joel stood on the porch and watched Ellie walk down the street to school he cursed you. Cursed you for being the sweet little girl he always remembered and making Ellie happy, because now he’d have to seek you out and thank you himself. Running a hand over his face he resolved to do it today, better to get it over with instead of dwelling on things. 

***

You were bent over the bench in the tool shed taking inventory when a knock at the door pulled you from your counting. Tommy had asked you to take stock of what materials were left after you’d repaired the fence the previous day and although it was giving you a headache it was distracting work, having to concentrate on something that wasn’t Joel. 

“Come in!” You called, not looking up from the pile of nails you were counting, you scribbled the number you’d already counted to on a slip of paper, dropping the rest back in the tub to continue counting later. 

Turning around, Joel was leant on the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. In the daylight and up close he was just as devastating as he’d been all those years ago. You silently willed the giddy feeling in your bones to go away. 

“Not interrupting anything am I?” He asked, nodding his head towards the bench. 

“Not at all, it’s a welcome break actually, only so many nails you can count before you go insane,” You laughed, hoping he would do the same, but his face was as stoic as ever, “Do you need something?” 

He let out a sigh, “I just wanted to say thank you for what you did for Ellie yesterday, she’s been through a lot, and this is an adjustment to say the least, so thank you.” 

You smiled at him, “You’re welcome,” you replied simply, “I’ve seen her wandering around with that Walkman attached to her so figured she could use something new to listen to,” You started rambling now, “I can’t even believe I managed to find it, it was just hanging out in some old store we stumbled through a few years back and all I could think about what how we used to listen to it in your truck when you’d….” Your eyes went wide as you stopped yourself from finishing your sentence, this wasn’t how you wanted this to go, “Sorry.” You mumbled, looking down from his eyes to your fingers where you set to work worrying at a bit of loose skin. 

“It’s alright,” He spoke, “If I’m bein’ honest it’s exactly what I thought about when she showed me last night.” 

“Oh,” You exclaimed, snapping your eyes up to him, “Have you thought about me much?” 

“Darlin’,” He spoke softly, “It’s best not to talk about it, I don’t want to upset you.” 

You nodded, “That means no then right?” You replied, “Because if you had you would have said because that would have made me happy, saying you don’t want to upset me means you didn’t.” 

“It was easier that way,” He admitted softly, “Convincing myself you were gone.” 

“Wish I could say the same,” You shrugged, “Was there anyone else?” 

You didn’t know where all this was coming from and you were half expecting him to tell you to shut your mouth and mind your own business, but to your surprise he answered, “There was one woman, her name was Tess, it wasn’t…” He trailed off, trying to find the right words, “It just made sense, we ran in the same circle, and I guess we just helped distract each other sometimes.” 

“Understandable.” You replied simply, itching to get yourself out of the conversation now. 

“What about you, was there anyone else?” 

You laughed, “Travelling across country trying to keep my dad alive isn’t really conducive to that sort of thing, so no Joel, there was no-one else,” He nodded in understanding but didn’t move to speak again, “I should really get back to this.” You mused, pointing to the bench. 

“Of course, sorry for takin’ up your time, and thank you again, Ellie really did appreciate it.” 

Joel left without another word, closing the door quietly behind him and all the frustration you’d felt came tumbling out. Angry tears pricked at your eyes at your stupidity that he’d have thought about you at all. You were only ever the stupid little girl with her stupid little crush and the moment he had the opportunity to forget you he did. Of course he did. You wiped at your cheeks furiously, willing your emotions to get themselves in check so you could go back to work, but for the rest of the day you’d catch yourself in your melancholy, tears threatening to fall and your mind completely distracted. This was not how this was supposed to go at all. 

***

“You should have seen his face!” Your father roared at the table, “White as a ghost when I woke up.” 

You weren’t sure how you’d made it here but you were sat at a table in The Tipsy Bison with your father and Tommy, along with Joel and Ellie, whilst your father recounted stories of your survival, telling them with an enthusiasm that would rival a war veteran speaking about their time in the forces. He was currently going through the motions of explaining how you’d made it to Jackson and how he thought Tommy was going to pass out when he realized it was the both of you he’d rescued. 

You’d mostly kept quiet, only popping into the conversation to correct him when he got something wrong. Otherwise you kept your focus on the glass of whiskey in front of you that Tommy was keeping topped up with the bottle he’d bought from the bar for you all. 

“How’d you get that scar on your face?” You looked up at Ellie, everyone else looking at her in horror for being so blunt. 

“Ellie, don’t be so nosey.” Joel chastised her. 

“It’s alright,” You shrugged, “It’s pretty lame actually, we’d shut ourselves in a house a few years ago trying to hide from a pack of infected, not realizing someone else had the same idea. I was looking out the window to see if we had a clear route out when I heard someone shuffling behind me. I turned around and by the time I realized what was happening he’d slashed the knife on my face.” 

“Did you kill him?” 

“Ellie!” Both Tommy and Joel burst out at the same time. 

You chuckled, realizing you probably shouldn’t encourage her questions, but replied anyway, “In a way I guess I did, we had a bit of a struggle and he tripped and fell out of the window, it was a tall building so yeah, he died.” 

“That’s cool.” 

You shrugged, looking around the table to see that everyone was willing the conversation to move elsewhere, you were itching to know more about how Joel and Ellie had come to be together aside from the snippets Tommy had told you, but you didn’t think this would be the right place to ask. Instead, you fished a cigarette out of your jacket pocket, shoving it between your lips and excusing yourself. 

You were halfway through it, leaning against the railing outside the bar when you felt someone come up behind you and lean themselves down next to you, “Never thought I’d see the day when you turned to those.” 

“Well, I’m not surprised if you spent the last twenty years convincing yourself I was dead,” You shrugged at Joel, as always, alcohol emboldening your tone, “I’ve gotta die of something and I’d rather these than being torn apart limb from limb or sprouting mushrooms from my face.” You punctuated the end of your sentence with a long drag of your smoke, blowing it out into the cool night. 

“How do you always do that?” He asked. 

“Do what?” You raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Make anything seem funny,” He offered, “The world’s gone to shit, everyone we’ve ever really cared for is dead and yet here you are, joking like we’re back to the days before.” 

 “It’s the only way I don’t focus on all the shitty things I’ve done to get here.” 

It was silent between you for a moment. You could have sworn you saw Joel move his hand as if he was going to place it reassuringly on your arm like he always did but he didn’t, even if your head was screaming at him to do it, just to breech the barrier he had up between the two of you. 

“Can I say something?” You asked after a moment. 

He nodded, “I don’t want to step out of line, but I just wanted to say I’m really sorry about Sarah,” You could see him physically tense next to you, “You don’t have to tell me what happened, in fact, it’s probably best you don’t but… I liked her Joel; she was a good kid and she didn’t deserve what happened to her and I’m sorry you had to go through that.” 

“I hate the way you miss me.” He mumbled. 

You looked him dead in the eye for the first time, “I don’t hate the way I miss you,” You spoke honestly, “I think it’s the only thing that kept me alive sometimes, thinking about the chance to see you again, hold your hand or kiss you.” 

He sighed, “You can’t stand there and say that,” He spoke roughly, “With your big eyes beggin’ me to be the man you deserve, I couldn’t be that before all of this and I certainly can’t be that for you now,” and then finally, “We can’t keep doin’ this.” 

You nodded, stubbing out your cigarette and throwing it to the ground in front of the bar, “Understood,” You spoke, giving him a final glance, “Goodnight Joel.” 

PREV | NEXT

[justsimplash]

Here's my predictions for 4.2 based on the trailer. Note that in the last couple patches Hoyoverse has upped the misdirection in the trailers by a LOT, so it's possible half the things we see are something else entirely.

-"Everyone's dead" is either taken out of context or everyone in Fontaine in indeed dead. Either the primordial sea actually flooded everything, thus the clips of fontaine submerged, and Furina is trying to find a way to reverse it or that was some sort of dream or cutscene explaining the prohphecy.

-The whale could either be a creature of the primordial sea (maybe abyss since it was calling to Childe?) or it could be the added consciousness of the people of Fontaine after the flood, similar to the oceanid formed by the missing women case victims.

-"The part you [Neuvillette] have played over the last 500 years." I believe this implies that Furina did have a plan. In 4.0 and 4.1 a lot of focus and stress is put on Furina for the fact that she's not doing anything about the prophecy, but I believe she's had a plan the whole time and she's kept it secret. She's not as incompetent as she seems. As for the missing gnosis, it could be in the oratrice, but it could also be maybe used as bait to get the whale to go to a certain location.

-The presence of Skirk implies that the primordial sea and thus the whale are connected to the abyss. This is supported by the fact that Tartaglia kept being called towards the whale. Since he had good control of his vision in the abyss, his loss of control over it is still unexplained.

-The guilliotine. Now, I believe Furina is not dead. I believe this is misdirection at its finest, the same as in the 4.0 trailer with Lynette dissolving into the water (it was just a normal magic trick) so I believe the guilliotine was being used on someone else or if not, Furina was rescued before it came to that. The image of Furina's hat falling the the ground is probably from another sequence of events entirely, maybe her bowing an apology to her people at the end for keeping them in the dark and the hat slipping off?

-At 2:08 we see the clock in the roof of the Narzissenkreuz headquarters fall down. This signifies that the prophecy is either fulfilled or in progress, as said in the trailer also.

That's all for now. If anyone wants to discuss or add on to this, hit me with a message!

[missydischa]

So, how did Aaron and his human friend meet? Does he have any other close relationships? :)

She met him during a scuba dive. Mella was on vacation and happened to pass Aaron's grotto entrance underwater.

Aaron has been stuck in that lake for a little while at that point. He can't actually remember how he got to earth in the first place. Safest bet is he touched a mystic gem that teleported him. He was quite confused to find himself in waters much warmer and not as salty than what he's used to. Also given that Europa's ocean spans the entire moon and is therefore endless, finding himself in a space as 'confined' as a lake startled him. At least the food there was abundant even if the animals were much smaller than what he knew.

As for close relationships other than Mella. Not really. At least not yet on earth. He doesn't like loud noises much so he stays away from cities and towns also he's afraid he'll break things since he's so tall. Sometimes people other than Mella come by the lake, usually hikers, but he isn't very familiar with earth customs and a giant half anthropomorphic whale popping up behind you out of nowhere scares most people off. Mella thought she was gonna get eaten the first time they met.

He does have one other person that is very close to him . They were practically inseparable. They're not with him right now though. His partner is still on Europa. Unfortunately. :'( Apart from adventuring through the stars for fun Aaron and Mella are actually looking for possible ways to get him back to Europa so he can see them again. He misses them bad.

AU by @onyxonline

[alexanderlightweight]

hi!!! if you haven't done it yet and are interested, i would love to see undertow magnus having tell ragnor and cat how he accidentally acquired a mate and their reactions

here we go! i hope you enjoy

<3 lumine

—

It isn’t until Magnus is brushing a sleeping Alexander’s hair that he realizes the sudden problem he has.

Alexander fuses sleepily, snuffling the pillow and shifting closer to Magnus. There are creases from the sheets on his cheek and he looks both young and timeless.

Alexander thinks that Magnus has been wooing him towards exclusively, and while most courtships allow for casual sex during, Magnus doesn’t think Alexander is the sharing type.

Magnus isn’t either. Not with this.

So if this is going to work. Then no one that Magnus has slept with during the period of their courtship can continue to live.

Not if Magnus wants this new relationship safe.

And Magnus finds himself suddenly feeling very protective.

—

He calls Cat before his third stop, because the warlock he’s about to take care of is a mutual acquaintance. 

And a healer.

Which means that Cat might enjoy access to her library, since Selene has always been famously stingy with her books.

Cat gives him a look that Magnus hardly thinks is deserved when she portals in across from him.

“I thought we agreed to avoid Selene after Ragnor lost that book to her during the whale migration bet. Solidarity and all that.”

“Yes, well Ragnor also wants that book back and it is nearly his birthday.” 

Magnus doesn’t actually remember Ragnor’s birthday but he’s fairly certain neither does Ragnor so it’s fine. 

They tend to assign each other the closest season as a birthday and that’s worked well enough for all of them.

Cat raises an eyebrow and huffs at him and Magnus sighs.

“You’re better with bloodstains and this could be a bit—“ Magnus wrinkles his nose. “Messy.”

Cat blinks at him incredulously and then she sighs, shaking her head. 

“Ragnor’s book doesn’t warrant her demise, no matter how much Ragnor complains.” Cat adds the last part quickly, already knowing Magnus’ response.

Magnus opens his mouth for a moment to bullshit and then stops.

He’s hardly ashamed of his new lover and while Cat might judge his lack of awareness, she also works better knowing the full picture.

It’s with a slightly haughty expression that Magnus explains and he glowers at her when Catarina starts laughing.

It’s belly deep, her head thrown back as she laughs and it’s only because of how dear she is that Magnus ignores the rather obnoxious display of mirth.

— Magnus very specifically always forgets all the times he’s laughed at her in turn — 

“Oh Magnus,” Cat finally gets out, wiping at her eyes and nose. “Oh only you. Once you tell him, Ragnor is going to create a list of all the  possible clues you’ve missed and spend decades going over it with you.”

Magnus sighs but allows it with good humor. Joy can be a rare thing in their world and Magnus can't begrudge the humor and laughter of one of his dearest friends… even if it is at his own expense.

“Is he part of the queen's court? Or the unseelie king’s?” Cat asks and Magnus shakes his head lightly.

“No, he has no allegiance to any sovereign before me. Alexander—'' Magnus takes a moment, trying to figure out how to explain. “The lake I took him from had claimed him as a protector of sorts. There’s a very powerful, nearly sentient, kind of magic, all through the lake. Different from dominion magic, or from the magic in the seelie realms. It’s what keeps it from being found I think. It created a self contained pocket dimension. A kind of magical ecosystem that used Alexander as a boost and an anchor.” 

“Powerful enough to be an anchor but with no allegiance lines, that’s very odd Magnus. How did he manage to stay unknown to any of the courts?”

Magnus sighs and then finally looks at Cat directly.

“He’s half-nephilim, Cat. I’m pretty sure that he was dumped near the lake when his other heritage came out. The memories are blurry, he doesn’t think he was supposed to survive. He remembers them trying to take his runes and fighting back until he got to the lake.

“The magic there lured him and his pursuers in and then the magic and he boosted each other. A symbiotic relationship I suppose. However accidentally, he accepted the wild magics protection and consecrated his vow to it with angelic blood. 

“Since then he’s stayed in pretty strict isolation there; especially because he can’t portal. He knows the world, he just hasn’t experienced it.”

Cat looks worried now and she looks over Magnus with careful, protective consideration.

“Poor kid, but Magnus. If he needs someone to get him out of there and set him up, there are plenty of warlocks I know who could help.” That she’d force to help if necessary. “You don’t need to continue the relationship unless you want to.” 

Magnus grins at that, because he suddenly knows what Cat’s worried about.

“Ah, I forgot to mention how long Alexander thinks I’ve been courting him. And also the reason why I need to clean things up. Alexander and the magic have tangled so deeply that he’s able to leave the lake and still anchor the dimension. The reason he never leaves is because I was courting him.” Magnus can’t help the wistful sighs he lets out, “he’s waited for me for decades, Cat.”

Cat is watching him carefully, contemplating Magnus’ words as he waves his hands in emphasis. 

“I’m also positive that Alexander has very discerning tastes despite his isolation, because he’s killed every other person who found the lake before me.” Magnus can’t help the fact that he’s preening,  “And he killed everyone who found it after. Apparently, I am the only person who Alexander has ever registered as ‘suitor’ instead of ‘prey’. He also—“ and here Magnus chuckles, something dark and content in the noise and Cat’s eyes soften at the sound. 

“He considered everyone who came after me to be prey still, but he was worried about what I’d think. That I’d consider them suitors, that I’d think he allowed himself to be courted by others. So he killed every one of them even when he wasn’t hungry or interested. And then because he noticed I wear a lot of jewelry, he carved me pendants from their bones. So I could show off that he was faithful and he waited.”

Magnus can’t help the pleased hum he lets out at the memory. 

“He waited for four decades, Cat. For me.”

Cat is smiling at him, her eyes shiny with unshed tears and she wraps him in a hug. Her strong arms that have saved countless lives wrap around him, delicate in their tenderness. 

“I’m so very pleased for you.” Cat murmurs close to his ear and then she lets him go, presses a kiss to his brow and then she turns on the warded cottage with a raised brow.

“Were you waiting for an invitation? Because she did cheat during that bet and steal Ragnor’s favorite book.” Cat says, snapping her clothes into something more… forgiving to blood. “I only let her get away with it because Ragnor forgot to bring me scones from Lady Gray's.”

“Every book is Ragnor’s favorite.” Magnus laughs out, and he’s grinning wildly and laughing because Cat will always have his back. 

And so will Ragnor. After he stops complaining about the inevitable blood stains on his new books. 

Cat cuts into the wards with the precision of a scalpel and Magnus follows her, cauterizing the wards once they’re through. 

There will be no healing here tonight.

—

Cat accepts a cup of tea with a small smile as Magnus laughs and Ragnor’s scolding gets increasingly louder.

“They were a perfectly lovely invention!” Ragnor is saying. “They should never have gone out of fashion!”

He’s said the same thing three times. Increasingly louder, as if it will eventually shut Magnus up. 

Cat sips her —perfect as always— tea and summons a box of biscuits.

Normally Ragnor offers them himself, but Cat will allow the discrepancy. They did find him quite indisposed.

Magnus is still laughing, holding his belly as though it might burst as he slumps into one of Ragnor’s large armchairs.

Ragnor seems to have given up and is grumpily sipping his own tea as he gives Magnus a snotty look.

When Magnus has finally, finally stopped laughing, Cat gives a silent sigh of relief.

And then Ragnor opens his mouth, dooming them all.

“If you must know.” He says with an aggrieved sniff, “it helps keep my horns from rubbing against the headboard. It’s quite annoying to have to polish them so often. Valois mentioned they were looking a little worn at the last gathering.”

And Magnus loses it again.

Ragnor had been napping on an armchair when they’d portaled in. Small round glasses perched on his snoring nose, a long flowing nightgown and a nightcap that hasn’t been used in several hundred years. 

It was only several lifetimes spent practicing self control that ensured Cat didn’t burst into laughter herself. 

She makes a note to order and send several bonnets to Ragnor, they’re much nicer than the undoubtedly musty nightcap Ragnor probably dug out of a moth-infested dresser in some half-abandoned cottage he forgot about.

Ragnor huffs and gulps half of his cup before Cat has pity and offers him a digestive. 

“The cheek on this lad.” Ragnor grumbles, “and what kind of present is this! At least it was well taken care of in that witch Selene’s library. If not tragically undervalued, so why is there blood on my bloody book?”

Magnus is going to give himself a hernia at this rate and Cat is both off duty and not inclined to be nice so she sends him a little zap and gives Ragnor the most mischievous smile she can.

Ragnor immediately catches on and good humor replaces his glower.

“Oh? What’s this? Cat, love! Don’t hold out on me. What’s ducky done now?”

“Guess who has to do a little spring cleaning, because he accidentally courted an un-declared kelpie.” Cat says in a rush, fingers snapping her biscuit in her eagerness to share.

Magnus gives a mock groan, “yes yes, laugh at my hubris. But trust me, a little bit of cleanup is well worth my Alexander.”

Magnus has one of his arms flung over his eyes and doesn’t see the quick, tight look Ragnor shares with Cat. Nor the brief joy when Cat simply smiles and nods, giving her assurance that Ragnor won’t need to make too many contingencies.

“And what does this time of new life and purging entail?” Ragnor asks and this time it’s Cat who laughs as Magnus gives them both a sheepish smirk.

“Ah, Alexander may be under the impression that I have been courting him… exclusively.” Magnus winces, “For the last four decades.”

Ragnor fights desperately not to gawp, and to not ruin his tea with incredulous laughter. 

And then he realizes the problem and his laughter fades.

“But you didn’t know.”

Magnus shakes his head, something bitter and angry in his eyes that Ragnor will worry over later. 

With sherry and Cat as backup. 

“That’s quite a bit of cleanup.” Ragnor murmurs quietly. Because Magnus takes fidelity seriously when it’s offered, “better take it to the last five decades, just to be safe. Don’t forget that orgy you told me about, the one in Dubai that you talked about for weeks in the 70’s. Don’t just do memory wipes, make it clean.” 

Magnus nods and Cat sighs despairingly as he summons a notebook and jots it down. 

“My, dear overachieving boys. Magnus should just use a ritual. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it properly. So we need to be thorough. We’ll have to add some element of a geas to the secret, Magnus can use one of his loose ends to power it. We can’t just murder all of them outright, it’s too conspicuous. Are there any spells that the Council needs done that require past lovers?” Cat looks at both of them sternly, “see how much we can brush under the Council’s cauldron and go from there.” 

“There, there ducky.” Ragnor tuts and sends over a cup and saucer to a groaning Magnus. “There’s not as many as you think. It’s a much smaller mess than if this happened when you were younger and off sowing your oats.”

‘Sowing my oats?’ Magnus mouths incredulously across his cup at Cat and she bites her lip to hide a chuckle. 

“Ah and Camille will need to finally be dealt with.” Ragnor says, so very obvious in how hard he’s trying to be nonchalant. Ragnor is always looking for a reason Magnus can accept and Cat is always hoping it works.

And for once, Magnus doesn’t even notice. 

“You know what, you’re right.” And Ragnor’s gaze snaps to Magnus with a relieved but disbelieving look as Magnus continues.

“She would definitely use any opportunity to get between us.” Magnus looks angry now, instead of the bitter pain that Camille normally brings out. “Putting a geas on her and sealing her won’t be enough.” And then Magnus pauses and there’s a dangerous, confident gleam to his eyes that Cat has mourned the lack of.

“Alexander does look divine in jewelry, and after everything he’s made for me, I should return the gesture. So I’ll need to commission him some.” And Magnus gives a soft, pleased smile. Like some deep wound has finally been healed, “and I have always wondered what the color of Camille’s soul is.”

Ragnor gives a content, pleased smile and nods sharply. “If need be we’ll say you’re cleaning up your court. Camille is a perfect and public example of a traitor being dealt with. There’s always an enemy if you look hard enough.”

[katiesteedart]

Sorry this is so long.

For David, Reece, & Joseph. Thank you.

Ok, so I did something special on the 17th September 2024.

I took my daughter, Raegan, to see 'The Elephant Man' at the BFI.

She is 14 and has seen the film before *many* times. She is a sweetheart. Not a bad bone in her.

I happen to think it is vitally important that more children are encouraged to watch this soul destroyingly beautiful film.

I was shocked, well more than shocked, a bit angry actually, at how few people at the screening hadn't seen this 44 year old MASTERPIECE...

But I'm not one to judge. Just be vaguely passive aggressive. 😅

My daughter was a great source of comfort as I find the scenes where John longs for and talks about his mother so difficult. I miss my children at the best of times when they aren't with me (I am soppy) so having her there was lovely. My little Rags.

As Carr Gomm says:

Can you imagine the kind of life he must have had?

Dr. Frederick Treves: Yes, I think I can.

Carr Gomm: I don't think so. No one could possibly imagine it! I don't believe any of us can!

Just the thought of having to go through everything he went through without his mother just kills me dead. The poor man.

The film was presented by 👑 Reece Shearsmith. He spoke so graciously and was lovely. Just lovely.

I'm so so thankful to him. What an opportunity. Certainly not one I could have missed.

I used to watch 'The Elephant Man' as a double with James Whales' 'The Old Dark House' at my grandparents house as a little girl, and to be able to **finally** watch it on the big screen. Wow.

NO pictures were taken by me.

**Nor would they ever be**

I respect him a lot & I always will.

That's all I'm going to say about Mr. Shearsmith.

So *please* don't ask.

---------------------------------------------------------

I cried like a baby from the moment Hannah Gordon's, (she's one of my literal HEROES - read me bio) Anne comes on the screen. Also, "No, you're a Romeo" and the ending where I just was a big ol' mess.

So for anyone who came that night and heard me gasping through tears at those bits, sorry.

Ruined my husbands jumper with my mascara too.

I will cry AGAIN If I say any more about the screening.

I also can't tell you how much of a David Lynch fanatic I am other than to say my son's name is Cooper and Twin Peaks is my life because he is.

------------------------------------------------------

Anyway - the point of this post 😅

When I got home I decided to draw John Merrick. He's been a part of my life, well, in a roundabout way, since I first saw the film at 8.

This is just pencil and it's arguably simple.

(Joseph Merrick is his real name. John for the film.)

The piece has two titles:-

Side 1 -

What John Has

Please play Barbers Adagio now below

Side 2 -

What John wants.

.

--Please watch--

'The Elephant Man' Dir. David Lynch 1980

If you can.

It becomes **very** difficult to be unkind to anyone after this film.

Inspo pics below

[mushiemellows]

Okay. Okay. In light of the opla news, here is genuinely how I think opla s2 is going to break down (I know everyone has made post like this and I probably have at some point in the past too, but this is my predictions.)

I genuinely don’t think they’re going to do Alabasta. They could do a speed run of enter the grand line to get there, but I don’t think they’ll do that, if the pace of s1 was an indicator. There’s a few reasons but tbh I think the biggest is politics? If I was a Netflix exec and someone asked me to approve a script RIGHT NOW politically, and the script was about resource exploitation in the Middle East, I would uhhh probably reject it. I honestly think they’re going to do Loguetown through Drum Kingdom and leave it there for the moment.

So it would go:

Ep1: Loguetown that uses the character moments to catch us up to speed, get the audience reacquainted with the straw hats, plus smoker, plus put buggy and Alvida back on the board. Smart money is on a barto cameo. If they take their time, really cycle through everyone, episode will prob end with Luffy on the stand. (Smoker gets the logo treatment since buggy already got one lol)

Ep2: escape Loguetown -> reverse mountain -> early laboon. Again, hindsight will add a lot to this, at minimum we’re getting another binks no sake Easter egg, if not a full blown human brook cameo. Episode ends somewhere about 2/3 of the way through them in the whale. I could see them padding this quite a bit, just knowing all we know now. (Laboon gets the logo? Maybe??? I could see them giving it to Roger or Crocus too)

Ep3: Leave Laboon-> a lot of vivi plot -> enter whiskey peak. Party sequence. Start of the night attacks, high tension, zoro fighting the town drawn out into a huge sequence. Like a big ass choreo moment. Probably ends on the “luffy vs zoro” cliffhanger. (Vivi gets the logo)

Ep4: if if if they’re smart, they’re going to have robin in whiskey peak early, not necessarily introduced with Higaram’s assassination attempt. This episode would be quite a lot of her. Rest of the whiskey peak fights, the full baroque works breakdown, the miss all Sunday intro, leaving town, AND her giving the Alabasta vs little garden deal. I think if they’re writing this the way I think they might, she’ll either follow them to little garden OR she’ll be at Drum Kingdom, just to keep her around a bit longer. Like really drive it in that she’s spying on them. (Robin gets the logo)

Ep 5+6: little garden. I don’t think they can do it in 45 minutes, I think they need both parts. (Big brain move with the logo treatments to have one be Dorry and one be Broggy). This is pretty straightforward, idk. Excited to see zoro cut his legs off. Here’s also the start of the crocodile breadcrumbs, but I can see them using Robin as the face of baroque works a little more to utilize the actress.

Ep 7+8: drum island. This way, they only have to animate chopper for 2 episodes, 7 will probably get the basics of the backstory, and 8 will have the rest of how hiriluk dies. We could possibly see some Blackbeard info here. I’m still team “detective pikachu” style chopper. End the season on the Sakura tree happy note, set up early Alabasta. (Chopper gets one logo, Hiriluk or Kureha gets the other) Wapol as the big bad sucks though which is why I can see them injecting either more BW, Smoker, or Blackbeard into Drum.

I think the is season is going to feel a lot like season 1 did, like they’ll have the quick pace of going to a bunch of places the first portion, then 2 longer stories. But I don’t think they’re actually doing Alabasta properly. Also, I think we’ll pull back from Buggy and Garp, but they’ll still have their moments.

I’m pretty firm that I don’t think they’ll ever get past skypeia (a fact that makes me sob for the loss of opla franky but it would be a MIRACLE if we ever even got to w7. But I could see them doing it if they distilled seasons 3 and 4 in a certain manner. I just don’t think it’s likely, knowing how many years this’ll all take at the pace Netflix makes shows. Can talk more about this if someone asks lol). I’d love to be surprised tho.

If they’re still in casting, plus accounting for the writing hiccup of the writers strike in preproduction, we’re probably looking at a late summer 2026 release? It’s a Loooooot of cg though, between Luffy, chopper, little garden, and drum kingdom.

[andydrysdalerogers]

Yours Submissively ~ Understanding

Steve Rogers X OFC Isabella Davis

Summary: Five Years after the events of Civil War, Steve Rogers has moved on from avenging and has started his own business, Grant Inc. He has a secret that would turn his world upside down. And he's good at keep that secret. Until he meets the woman with violet eyes that could bring him to his knees. Now his mission is to make her, his. But she is the key that could bring the world into balance... or chaos.

And she has no idea.

Series Warnings: slow burn at the beginning, smut, angst, sexual themes of BDSM, dom/sub dynamics, kidnapping, loss of virginity, (and a bunch of others that will come up)

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Banners by me!

I do NOT give permission for my work to be translated or reposted on here or any other site, even if you give me credit. DO NOT REPOST MY FICS. Reblogs, comments, likes, and feedback ALWAYS appreciated

Previous: Consequences

Series Masterlist ~ Main Masterlist

“Ma’am?” 

“Ma’am?” 

“I’m not answering you, Ava.”  

“Belle?” 

“Yes?” She turned around to face her assistant with a cheeky grin.  

Ava smiled slightly then straighten her face. “You have an urgent call request from Mr. Stark.”  

“Tony? Did he say…” 

“No, just that he needed to reach you as soon as possible.”  

Belle reached for her phone and called Tony while inviting Ava to sit.  She waited for a moment before, “Hello?” 

“Hi Tony!” 

“Hey Belle.  How are you doing?” 

“Well, I’m a whale, so there is that.”  

“The most beautiful whale,” he replied with a laugh.  “So, you are aware that Delilah’s hearing is coming up correct?” 

“Steve informed me.”  Belle chewed on her lip before placing the call on speaker.  

“She has a request before trial.”  

“Has it been denied?” 

“No, not yet because I need to finish asking.”  

“Asking what?”  

“She wants to see you.  You and Barnes.  Barnes has already denied the request. To be fair, I also told Steve, but he said it was up to you.”  

Belle stood up to look out the window of her office. “How much time do I have?” 

“Couple of days. It might be good.  Give you closure.”  

She pinched the bridge of her nose.  “Thanks Tony.”  

“Any time kid. Take care of my niece and nephew.”  

“Always.”  She hung up and looked at Ava, who had a look of sympathy. “Ava, is Steve here or at the office?”  

“He’s here in his office on a conference call.  Devon already cleared his schedule for right after.”  

“Alright. What’s up after that?” 

“You have the charity meeting with Mrs. Potts-Stark for the Stark Foundation and then Miss Maximoff and Mrs. Romanoff – Wilson will be joining the both of you for lunch at the plaza before you come back to get ready for the gala.”  

“Alright.”  She looked at the picture of her and Steve at the wedding and played with her rings. “Ava, please make arrangements for us to go to the holding cells.  I’m going to talk with Steve, but I want to take care of this right away.”  

“Yes, ma’am.”  Ava stopped.  “Sorry.”  

“Its alright.” Belle smiled. “Is Bucky available?” 

Ava let her tablet slip a little at Bucky’s name.  “Oh, yes he’s in the gym.”  She flushed slightly.  

“Ok, I’m going to go see him.  Please let me know when Steve is available.” She got up slowly but made her way to the gym.  As she walked in, she could see Bucky hitting the heavy bag.  “Bucky?” 

He turned and saw she was looking at him with concern.  “Hey sweetheart. You ok?”  

“Are you ok?” 

“Just processing.”  

“Lila?” 

He bowed his head.  “Yeah. Stark?” 

“Yeah.  Told me what she wanted.  Gonna talk to Stevie. But I’m headed thereafter.  Would you like to go with me?” 

Bucky looked at her questionably. “Clint can’t take you?” 

“I’m sure he can.  Just thought I’d ask.” She turned to leave.  

“I hate her,” she heard.  She turned back.  “I hate that she used me to get to you.  That I couldn’t protect you.  She used me and I hate her.”  He sat on the bench.  “I was in love with her and I hadn’t told her but the feelings haven’t gone all the way yet.”  

“Bucky,” Belle said as she sat next to him and took his hand. “If you want her to know, tell her. If you just want her to know how hurt she left you, tell her. But it’s not a sign of weakness.  It’s a sign of growth.”  

“She hurt you, Belle.”  

“Yes, she did.  Which is what I’m going to tell her.  I need to do this for my children.  Having hate in my heart for her is just going to poison them.”  

“I’m glad,” Steve said, walking into the gym.  “She’s right Buck. It might allow you to move on.”  

Bucky sighed and shook his head and then froze when he saw Ava standing in the doorway. “H-Hi.”  

Ava blushed. “Belle I was just going to tell you that Mr. Rogers had finished but I see he found you.”  She turned to leave but stopped.  “Mr. Barnes, opening your heart to someone takes a lot of courage.  But it takes more courage to tell someone the truth, especially when they hurt you.  I hope that helps your confliction.”  

Bucky’s mouth opened slightly as the young woman walked out of the gym. “Hey Buck, you have a bit of drool there,” Steve teased, pointing to a corner of his mouth.  

“Shut up, punk.”  He grabbed his towel to wipe his face and hide the blush creeping up his neck. “We can leave in half hour.”  

“Perfect.  Ava and I will be ready.”  She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He retreated to his room to clean up and Steve wrapped his arms around his wife.  

‘I know what you’re doing, sweet pea.’  

“I’m not doing anything except letting nature run its course.”  She looked up.  “Will you come with me?” 

“Devon already cleared my schedule. I think its very brave love.”  

“I just want our children to be born in love and forgiveness even if we don’t forget.”  

Belle held Steve’s hand as she walked into the cells at the federal building with Bucky walking behind them.  Tony had arranged for Lila to meet them in a room, rather than the cells and had guards posted around.  “I’ll wait outside,” Bucky said.  

Belle frowned, “I thought you wanted to talk to her?” 

“I just want to see her.  Please just tell her I’ve moved on.”  Bucky took his post outside the door.  

Steve guided Belle in to see her former best friend, sitting in orange, chained to the table. “Hello Lila.”  

“Belle, wow. You look, well pregnant.” Lila gave her a once over.  

“Thanks.” Belle chewed her lip.  “How are you?” 

“Been better.  Made a deal with the US Attorney. Ten years with lifetime probation. Better than death.”  

“Oh.” 

“Yeah, my parents set me up with an account for when I get out but then I’m cut off. They won’t continue to support a traitor.  Their words.  Guess I deserve that.”  Lila looked at Belle right in the eyes.  “I’m so sorry Belle.  I was jealous that you got everything I wanted.  And Sharon, she told me it was the only way.”  

“You wanted Steve?” Steve’s grip tighten slightly on Belle. 

“No, no, I wanted to be with Bucky, but I was told, wrongly, that Bucky wanted you and that made me so mad. Was showing “evidence” that Bucky and Steve had an arrangement with you.  It didn’t make sense  but Sharon, she’s good. Doesn’t excuse what I did.” 

Belle looked at Lila with a completely shocked face. “Bucky and I are friends.  Best friends. I would have never done that to you.”  

Lila shrugged. “I knew about your dad but I didn’t think the innocent thing was real.  Not after Brock.” 

“Brock was gathering information on me.  He didn’t love or care about me. What changed in you? You used to be smart, sweet.” 

“I fell in love and I thought it was being taken from me. You have no idea what its like to live in my family’s shadow, in yours.  Oh that Belle, so strong, so smart. You got everything I ever wanted except for Bucky but I was lied to about that as well.  Sharon was convinced that you all were in some reverse harem or something. And I was weak.  I believed her.  When I watched Bucky sacrifice his safety to keep you safe I knew that it was different.  That the love you two shared was different from Steve.  By then it was too late and you were gone.” 

“I’m sorry you felt that way Li. You could have just talked to me, to Bucky, to any of us to get the truth.  Instead, you lost us all.” 

“I know,” Lila let a tear fall. She hesitated before asking, “How is he?” 

Belle contemplated what to say.  But she resolved.  “He’s hurting but he’s moving on.  He sends his regards but doesn’t want to see you.”  

“I understand.  Please just let him know that I did love him and that I’m sorry.”  

“I’ll pass the message.” Belle tried to stand up and Steve held onto her.  “I hope you find peace Lila.”  

“I’m so sorry again Belle.”  

Belle turned and walked away, not giving her forgiveness but forgiving her in her heart.  Bucky stood tall, red rimmed eyes from hearing an explanation. He smiled at Belle and walked in front to guide the couple out.  Steve knew it wasn’t the time to push. 

The gala was nothing special, just a way to raise money for charity.  The table was filled with the Avengers and guest.  Only Wanda and Vision were missing, having taken a trip to Edinburgh.  Steve kept his wife in his arms for most of the night, receiving congratulations on their impending changes. Belle got tired 30 minutes in, and he guided her to their table.  “I seem to remember the first time we went to a gala,” he whispered in her ear, kissing that sensitive spot on her neck.  “You intrigued me, sweet pea.”  

“I was terrified,” she replied with a soft look. “You intimidated me.  So powerful, so sexy.”  He growled in response. “It was electrifying when we danced.  Its why I ran.”  

“I’m glad I chased you, my love.”  

“I’m glad you chased me as well. I’ve never been happier.” 

He kissed her softly at first, deepening it a little more until a throat cleared from behind them. Steve looked at the interrupter to see Sam smirking at them.  “Sorry to interrupt but Steve, they are asking for you.”  

“Stupid speech,” he mumbled.  He kissed Belle’s forehead.  “I’ll be right back love.”  

“Wait,” she took a napkin and wiped the lipstick from his mouth. “I love you.”  

“Love you too.”  The rest of her table mates joined her as Steve made his way up front. Belle loves listening to her husband speak but her attention is drawn to Ava and Bucky.  She watched as Bucky stretched his arms and casually dropped his right arm on the back of her chair. Ava stiffened for a second at the action before relaxing again.  Belle snickered to herself as Bucky softly stroked Ava’s shoulder.   

Nat caught Belle’s eye with a smirk at Bucky’s actions. Applause from the crowd brought back their attention as Steve finished up his speech.  Belle took out her phone and sent him a text.  

B: Ask her to dance 

She watched as Bucky pulled out his phone and then shot her a look.  She smiled innocently at him, and he just shook his head.  He leaned over and said something to Ava, who blushed but nodded.  He stood up and offered his hand.  Ava looked back at Belle, and she nodded, encouraging the girl.  The pair headed to the dance floor as Nat came over and gave her a subtle high-five. “Nice work.”  

“I knew red was her color.”  Belle took a sip of her water. “Look.” She nodded to the dance floor to see both Ava and Bucky laughing at something before Ava leaned her head against him. “Aww.”  

Steve came to sit next to his wife and saw his best friend dancing. “Well, I’ll be.”  

“Happiness looks good on him,” Belle commented.  They watched as the song ended and Bucky led Ava out to the garden.  She focused on everyone else for a while, enjoying the music. 

“Whatcha thinking about, sweet pea?” 

“How happy I am.  Even after everything, I’m so happy.” She glanced over to the garden to see Bucky and Ava share a sweet kiss.  

Yes, everything was falling back into place.   

A happy, wonderful place.  

NEXT

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[softquietsteadylove]

could we possibly get a little angsty mermaid au action? missing that one! thank you for continuing to share your masterpieces with us!

I almost didn't recognise you, it's been so long.

Thena blinked, the only time needed for her friend to go from being a speck in the distance to right in front of her. She sighed, bubbles rising from her mouth. Sorry.

What's wrong? Makkari asked, despite her feelings about Thena spending more time on land than in the water, these days. She swam around her friend, resting on a sandbank like a beached whale. It must be bad for you to leave your precious human.

Thena snarled her lips, letting her fangs poke out. She turned over in the sand, her tail dusting it up around them. "Leave it alone."

Makkari swam around to her other side, though, real concern on her face now. Hey, it was a joke. Is there something I should know?

Thena's lip wobbled. If she were on land, her eyes would be pouring salt. They had done so a few times, like when she was sick, or when she watched a heartbreaking movie with Gil that felt very much like how they had come to fall in love.

But underwater, the vacuum of it swallowed her sorrows. Her gills expanded and contracted with her heavy heart. "We are quarrelling."

You and the land walker? Makkari tilted her head a few times, the gold charms she liked on the ends of her hair floating with the motion. What did he do?

Thena swiped at her eyes, another human habit she had picked up. She sighed again, adjusting herself on her sand bed. He didn't do anything. I...I learned something.

Makkari - against any mer's instincts and natural inclination - also settled herself on the sand. She rested her chin on her arms folded in front of her, the red sparkle of her scales reflecting on the beautiful tone of her skin. She raised her brows.

Thena smiled at her friend. There was nothing about the ocean she missed quite so much as Makkari. We were out walking in town. A woman approached Gil, and he knew who she was. They spoke for some time, and he introduced me. She seemed nice.

Makkari nodded along with her very factual recounting of the story. She was used to it with her, after all. She would ask her questions as they came.

I asked Gil who she was when we got back to the boat. Thena blinked, laying her head on the sand again like a pathetic guppy lost in a strange reef. She was his mate.

Makkari shot up again, her tail swishing and her hands poised as if she had the human man's throat there for the strangling. His what?!

Thena nodded, feeling the rush of foolishness and resentment and anger and envy all over again. Humans don't mate for life. Apparently, it is not uncommon for them to have numerous partners.

It wasn't that it was impossible for mers to have multiple mates. Sometimes things didn't work out, that wasn't so incomprehensible. But it wasn't something taken lightly, to become bound mates at all. Certainly it wasn't common to encounter someone's past mate and strike up pleasantries.

She nuzzled the sand, pressing her temple to it in a poor substitute for the soft but firm feeling of Gil's chest under her. He said it was a long time ago. That they had been young and parted amicably. That they were 'still friends'.

Makkari watched the way she punctuated his verbatim statement. She lifted her lips around her fangs. That sounds like a clown who wants more than one anemone.

She agreed. It was hard to communicate that to him, though, when all she had felt was rage. Anger with him for smiling at his past mate wit her right there, on his arm no less! How dare he greet this woman so normally as if they hadn't been entangled from the inside out?!

She knew it was normal for them. She knew Gil didn't mean to hurt her and she knew that she shouldn't have thrown herself right over the side of the boat to avoid him. But just the sight of him made her want to shatter coral right off his thick skull.

Humans actually had very thin skulls compared to theirs, Sersi said.

What else did he say?

Thena shook her head. The sun moved above them, or a cloud did, and she lost her comforting warm spot. She let herself drift off the sand and listlessly ride the currents around them.

Hey, Makkari nudged her arm as she began swimming next to her. I never thought I'd see the day you were limping around because of some bull.

Nor did she, in all honesty. But she had never felt quite like this, either. She let herself drift down and down until some shelves of coral made themselves known. Her tail flopped limply after her; the tail Gil said was so beautiful.

Makkari swam to face her again. Now I'm really worried.

"Sorry," Thena squeaked out. She couldn't help it. She wanted to be in a bed and to tug the covers up over her head. She wanted to run a hot bath and fold herself up in it, letting just her tail hang out in the open air.

Okay, Makkari also sighed, moving to lean against the edge of her coral refuge. I may not be the biggest admirer of your...human. But I know how much you care about him. Are you going to go back to him?

Of course--of course she would. She just came to get out her feelings. The question of going back or not was not even an option. But maybe that was part of the problem. Thena looked at her oldest and dearest friend in all the seas. Kari, I can't leave him. We're...

Makkari's eyes widened. Perhaps she'd had some inkling of things, but this was a damning admission nonetheless. She waved her fingers. You, and him, you're...you mated with him?!

Thena pursed her lips, tempted to roll over again as if she were in bed at home. "You don't have to make that face."

How is that...how? Makkari concluded, rather mildly all things considered.

How humans do it, Thena sufficed to say. She didn't have to go over the gruesome details.

To her credit, Makkari restrained herself from further reaction. She crossed her arms again. Do you feel different?

She did, but she also didn't. She had never taken a mate of her own kind, but she had never even desired to. With Gil...it had happened so naturally, come of natural events. Perhaps she had experienced new mate-hood, in which she had become so infatuated that she had nary desired to leave Gil's side.

But then she thought of the human woman again, of her hanging on Gil's arm, and kissing him and eating his food. And it made her stomach clench like when she had fallen ill with a human 'bug'.

Thena blinked as she felt the touch of a hand on her arm. Makkari gave her a sympathetic look. Mers were not the type to exchange physical gestures meaninglessly, and they in particular were not partial to it. But she smiled, "thanks."

Makkari patted her arm before fiddling with the gold on her fingers (also stolen little trinkets). Well, you'll go back, you said. When?

She was asking if Thena would stay in the water for some time. But she hadn't considered it. For all she had done to storm off and leave poor Gil all alone in the small motorboat, she hadn't considered staying past the height of the moon. For how miserable she was feeling, she still wanted to return to his arms to sleep.

How foolish mating with a partner made someone.

I don't know, Thena answered more properly. She at least lifted herself from the coral. I wanted time to think clearly.

Makkari shrugged. Bulls--what can be done about them?

Thena offered a somewhat sardonic but genuine smile. She was inclined to agree, but she still wished to return to her bull in question. I promise I will return soon, and in better spirits.

Makkari followed her as she began swimming upward again. As soon as she had tossed herself from the boat, she had swam straight down, desiring nothing more than getting Gil out of her sight. Does Ikaris know?

Thena rolled her eyes. No, and he never can. I had to worry about him drowning Gil before they had even met. This will not help.

Fine, but I can't say I'm completely against it, Makkari offered neither her complete support nor condemnation. But it was support either way, and Thena appreciated it.

Thena eyed the bait that was hanging in the water. They weren't deep enough for mers yet, but it was deep enough that most wouldn't be fishing with a regular manual rod in such an odd spot.

Makkari beat her to it, of course, swimming right up to it. There's something tied around it.

Thena floated next to it, undoing the strip of cloth tied around the line. The ink was already being eaten at by the salt, but the sloth was scrawled with a very sad SORRY on it in horrific lettering. "Oh, Gil."

Has he just been sitting here? Makkari asked, looking up at the bottom of the boat.

That was exactly what he had been doing. Because that was Gil; he wouldn't have gone home without her. Even if she had, she would have discovered he wasn't back and come to find him. So he had stayed put, cast the line with a message for her to come back to him, unable to come after her properly.

Okay, fine, he's not bad for a human, Makkari conceded with minimal eye rolling. She gave Thena's fin a friendly smack with her own on her way past. Come back another time you don't want to just cry about your boyfriend and his legs?

Thena waved to her friend's swiftly retreating image before Makkari truly put her power into her tail and shot off with blinding speed. She did owe her more visits, and it was nice to truly swim completely uninhibited for a time.

She poked her head up slowly, the water lapping around her. It was dusk, and soon would be completely dark. She rose until she could peek over the side of the boat.

Gil was tearing another strip of fabric off his emergency canvas, writing the word over and over and over to get the ink to penetrate the cloth properly.

Oh, her sweet, sweet human man. Thena sighed, once again feeling the air in her lungs, even with her gills in her neck. She brought her hands up to the boat's edge, "Gil?"

"Th-Thena!" he startled, but his head whipped up to her. He had been crying. "Angelfish!"

The boat tipped dangerously as he rushed over to her. As much as she could get them back home, she wasn't strong enough to tip over a boat by herself. "Gil!"

He stopped his rush to hug her, or lift her out of the water and back onboard with him. His shoulders sagged, "oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry. I should have explained more--a-about my ex. I didn't mean for you to find out that way."

She still didn't enjoy the concept of Gil and his ex-mate, doing mating things. But she pulled herself up and into the boat for herself, settling on the bench, still with her tail on. "I know you were put in a difficult position, Gil. I...I shouldn't have swam off."

He plunked himself back down to the other seat by the motor. "No, I don't blame you for being mad. I probably wouldn't want to find out about any ex of yours by running into him on a date."

Yes, exactly! She had her vindication, which did soothe the stubborn part of her. But she split her tail into legs again, leaning forward. "Gil."

He let her lift his chin, happy to accept her kiss. He slipped his fingers into her hair. "I'm sorry, Angelfish. I didn't want you to get hurt like that."

It had hurt, in an odd way. Humans had such interesting concepts of pain--so internal and self reflective. But Thena smiled, running her thumb over his cheek, "I know."

He accepted her acceptance. He wasn't forgiven, but he wasn't asking for that. He reached behind him, putting his jacket over her, "let's get home, okay?"

Thena nodded, pulling the jacket up and zipping it. It was cold in the air, even as the salt beaded off her skin. "I'm sorry, I don't know where the dress ended up."

"It's okay, Cuddlefish, we can get you another one," he smiled, eager to maintain their lifted spirits. He held his arm out, inviting her to sit next to him for the boat ride home.

She obliged him, settling herself in the crook of his arm. She pressed her temple to his chest, finally soothed after the sand failed where he was succeeding. "I want that seafood stew you make for dinner."

What he called 'Jjampong' was one of her favourites, not only for the seafood, but for the pleasant spiciness it possessed.

He kissed her hair, speeding ahead and back to their home, on the island, with Titania waiting for them at the dock. "Anything you want, Thena."

She wanted him to swear to be her one and only mate from now on. But dinner would suffice for now.

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 49 Thoughts

Chapter 49 for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group!

Hasn’t it already been well established that Sun Wukong is not good with water infront of his brothers? Even if it had not explicitly been stated they could have still inferred as much. Then again Sun Wukong had gotten the help of the dragon kings before, who reside underwater, so that might have caused some confusion.

Would Tang Sanzang be like a whale fall for them? With the image of all the little creatures feasting on him it feels very much like a whale fall.

I believe this could be read as the other pilgrims sometimes forgetting all the things Sun Wukong can do. Like they get so used to him being around and just chilling for the most part that when the situation arises it is a bit of an ‘Oh right, he can do that.’.

Nice to see Red Boy getting some character development! Even if it is only off-screen.

Guanyin in casual attire does sound very comfy and not wanting to get all dressed up on a bad day is so relatable.

That she basically has a pet goldfish and is very unhappy when it goes missing is yet again very relatable. Something I really appreciate about most of these deities depicted in the story is that they are very human in a sense in these little details.

Also yes, that is a goldfish. Apparently with a big fanlike tail as well? Though don’t quote me on that.

Fun fact the original legend where Fish Basket Guanyin originates from is about her taking the form of a beautiful young fisherwoman in order to convert a town of bad men into Buddhists. Which she did by making them learn scriptures in earnest!

So the basic gist of it is that Guanyin came into the town as a beautiful young woman, who the townsfolk of course immediately fell for. So then she arranged a little competition to determine who she will marry which comprised of learning different scriptures like the Lotus Sutra by heart until a close deadline. They were also to recite it before her in public to which many other people were gathered as well, so they would automatically hear it too. The guy who ‘won’ did get to marry her kind of, but she feigned her death right after the ceremony, so yeah. Either way the teachings stayed with the community from then on. A pretty smart plan!

Now this chapter ended the arc, precisely how I would expect an arc to be concluded fully at the end of a chapter. Though this makes me wonder even more why this isn’t the norm, but the exception if it is indeed a possibility.

A bit of a shame that this isn’t the end of the volume or it would have been a perfectly round end.