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the-hopeless-haze · 4 years ago

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Rebel Rebel (Part 1?)

Pairing: Janis Sarkisian/reader

A/N: okay this has been sitting in my drafts for months and I have no idea if I’m gonna continue this but fuck it???? Sorry for all the people who followed me for Barba lmao (I am continuing that don’t worry) but idk I just figured I may as well post this??? I have more of this written and I know how I wanted it to end but the middle is just not working and that’s why I never posted. But I just listened to Dead Girl Walking and I was reminded how gay I am for Barrett sooooo �� here you go? You’re welcome?? I haven’t edited this or looked at it since March so this may be a mess but... yeah

It was eighth grade, nearing the end of the year and you were anxious, unsure of why. Would your friends still be your friends next year? High school was going to be a lot different, you could just tell.

You saw your two best friends, Regina and Janis talking to each other down the hallway, where their lockers were, so you headed down there. Regina was probably inviting Janis to the end of year pool party she’d been planning. It was going to be so great to at least be with all your friends one last time, even if high school might take them away.

As you got within earshot, though, you realized Regina was being anything but nice.

“But are you a lesbian, Janis? I can’t have a lesbian at my pool party,” you hear Regina’s high pitched voice chirp. “You understand that, right?”

“Regina... I—“

“What? So are you?”

“Why are you asking me this? Did I do something?”

“I need to know. Don’t you get it? You not wanting to answer is pretty suspicious.”

“I am a space alien and I have four butts!” Janis yelled and ran down the hallway, leaving Regina to laugh. She makes eye contact with you. “Wow, I dodged a bullet with that, huh?”

“Why did you do that?”

“Don’t you get she doesn’t fit in? I mean, she likes girls, first of all. Second of all... she doesn’t get this stuff. Don’t you want to be popular in high school? I can get you there. We’re on top here. Everyone knows us. But this is child’s play.”

“But that was mean, Regina!” you said, your tone accusatory.

She shrugs her shoulders. “Sometimes you have to be mean to get what you want. And we’re not going to get it with her.”

“But she’s our friend!”

“Was...our friend. Don’t you care that she’s a dyke?”

You sighed, defeated. You wanted to tell her, no, you didn’t care... but you knew she’d stop being friends with you too. And her talk of being popular and being on top of the world... it sounded good.

You had many regrets about this day, and if everyone has a couple turning points in their lives, this was your first.

——

Regina was right, though. She got you everything you had thought you’d always wanted, but you never felt good enough and a lot of the time, you’re miserable. You’re constantly worried about your weight, whether you got enough instagram likes on your 1000th picture with the plastics, as you’d been dubbed, and whether or not you were dating one of the hottest guys at school.

Who would’ve thought the hottest guys were so dumb? You didn’t like any of them, really, and the second they asked to get in your pants, you dropped them like flies. So you’d gotten a rep for being somewhat of a prude, which Regina would sometimes scold you for.

Regina just got meaner as time went on, and sometimes you regretted not turning on her the first day she showed her true colors, when she’d sharpied all over Janis’s locker “SPACE DYKE” and even included it in the burn book she made over the summer once yearbooks came out. Regina would flirt with boys that she thought you or Gretchen liked, just to show you she could have them. Jokes on her, you didn’t like any of them, but you had to pretend or there wouldn’t be any gossip or any of the infighting that Regina seemed to love. It was the beginning of sophomore year now, and it was beyond exhausting.

And oh, the parties that started now! You hated them, just an excuse for everyone to get shitfaced and girls to make dumb decisions that made boys so happy even though everyone was too drunk to really remember them the next day. Regina is hosting one tonight, and here you are, in your skimpy, skin tight blue dress that you had to buy with babysitting money— since there’s no way in hell your mother would buy that for you. A sophomore hosting a party was unheard of, but Regina has a huge house and her parents went on vacation for their anniversary. She’d use whatever she could to her advantage.

All she wanted was to climb that ladder, and she didn’t care who got hurt in the way.

But here you were, dancing with the hockey player you were dating now... or was it football? You didn’t even care. You vaguely remembered his name was Mike and you told him you needed to go to the bathroom. You headed to Regina’s room and locked the door, thankful you got there early enough that there was no one trying to hookup.

You got lost in your phone for a while, and you found Janis’s Instagram profile. It was private, but there was her profile picture. She was so pretty now, not the awkward girl who tried to dye her hair blonde and wear pink just to fit in. She wore dark makeup in the picture and she wasn’t looking at the camera, and it fit her so much better. Even her hair, which she had let just grow out from the blonde she’d dyed it, looked great. You nearly send a follow request and then think better of it.

You remembered having hobbies, painting at Janis’s house until your hands were covered in paint, and you remember laughing so hard you couldn’t breathe.

Sometimes Regina was a good friend. Sometimes she was a great friend. She was there for you when your grandmother died over that first summer without Janis, and she held you while you cried... and you cried a lot. But sometimes she was mean to even you and it was exhausting. You know she cares about you, but you know she’d turn on you, too, if you gave her what she deemed enough reason to.

You can’t remember laughing like you used to in a long time. You can’t remember being passionate about anything for a while, either. The only time was in your classes, really, you loved chemistry but you had to keep it under wraps because if it got out you were too nerdy... well, that’s social suicide.

The thing about being a plastic was that you couldn’t be anything or do anything too extreme. You had to just be a shell of human being, a shell of a hot girl, just to appease everyone. The money you spent, or had your parents spend, on your bleach blonde hair and your makeup and your hot clothes and your nails and your purses and your shoes... and the hours you spent at the salon and the mall with Regina and Gretchen and Karen, it was completely exhausting. And then you weren’t allowed to have a personality outside of all of this, it was just, clothes! Makeup! Shoes! Boys! Parties! Popularity!

All things girls were supposed to care about, but really, there was no girl left in you to care anymore. You slip off your heels and lie down on the bed, remembering Regina holding you. That felt nice, her slender arms around you, her chin against your shoulder, and she smelled so good, like a hair salon and vanilla and cinnamon and... you just wanted to cry. Why couldn’t she be like that all the time?

The pillows smell like her shampoo and you inch up to place your head on them, ready to fall asleep, the bass from the speakers downstairs lulling you.

You awake twenty minutes later with your phone blowing up from Regina. “Where’d you go? Party’s not fun without you 😘” her most recent text said. Your eyes burn from the makeup you fell asleep in and you blink a few times before replying, telling her you were in her room and not feeling well.

“Bummer! I’ll be up in a few xo” she texts back.

You answer the door when she knocks, and you smile when she hugs you immediately. “(Y/n)! I’m sorry you’re sick! Did you drink something Kevin made? Because don’t.”

“No... I just... I don’t know. I’m sick of the parties,” you grumble as you pull away from the hug and sit back on the bed. She follows you, her pink dress clinging to her every curve, riding up a little as she sits down.

“Why?” She laughs. “This is what high school is about! You’ve gotta have fun. You’re only hot once.”

“But this... it’s not fun to me. It’s not fun to get wasted and have guys try and get in my pants and watch girls throw up.”

“But we can get everything we want. It’s what I always told you,” she says, rubbing your back, but her voice is hollow.

“I don’t have everything I want! I don’t even know what I want anymore, but I’m not happy. Are you? What are you getting out of this because I don’t understand.”

“Respect. Love. Fear. It’s all I ever wanted, really,” Regina says. “People either love me or hate me but they think about me. They think about you, too. Everyone who’s a sophomore knows us, and most of the upperclassmen do too. Doesn’t it feel good?”

You sigh. “I guess, sometimes, it does. But most of the time it doesn’t! I don’t like it, feeling like I have to do everything perfectly because everyone’s watching. And it’s only going to get worse because next year we’re juniors...”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not entirely happy either. I don’t like Jack.”

“Then why are you dating him?”

“Because. Free popularity and all I gotta do is be seen with him.”

“But... doesn’t he ask for more?”

She laughs. “Sure he does! But you have to be strategic with that.”

“Right..." you say, slightly sarcastically. You didn't really know what she meant.

Regina places a hand on your knee. “I know it’s been hard for you. But it’s going to be okay.”

“Do you wanna... just lie for a minute? I know you have to go back to the party—“

“No, I can stay for you,” she says, smiling softly. There was the Regina you wanted to be friends with all the time.

You both lean back on the bed, and her arms wrap around you tightly, her chin nestling on your shoulder. Here, you were happy.

“It’s all worth it, all the fighting to just get to the top to sit like this with you,” she says quietly. “We could never be made fun of for this because we can’t be touched.”

“What?”

“Don’t you get it? I... I don’t know how to say it. Just... trust me, okay?” You nod, not sure what she meant, but then she’s leaning over and turning your cheek toward her and she’s kissing you.

Regina George is kissing you.

It’s a quick peck, probably because she’s not sure how you’d react but it’s still the best kiss you’d ever had in your life. You don’t make any rational thoughts in the next few moments and you’re not sure if she kisses you again or you pull her back in, but all of a sudden she’s on top of you and kissing you harder, and slowly, the confusion sets in.

It almost feels too good to stop, but eventually your brain starts working again. “Regina... I... are you okay?” you ask as you pull away. “Are you drunk?”

“What? No. I wouldn’t get drunk at my own party, what kind of slut does that? No, (y/n)... I want you. Didn’t that feel good?”

“Yes... but... you kicked Janis out of the friend group for being a lesbian. Why would you do that if you were gay? You always said she had a crush on you. Why would that have been such a bad thing?”

Regina sighs and flops over to the other side of the bed. “I’m not gay. I mean. I don’t know. I definitely didn’t know back then but I knew Janis just didn’t fit in even if we took away all of the gay stuff. But if we talk about the gay stuff... then yeah. I was confused. Super confused. I didn’t know if I liked you or her and I knew I wasn’t supposed to like either of you. And then I saw the two of you together and you just... you had something I didn’t have, just genuine friendship, and maybe she had a crush on you. Either way I was jealous. And I had to get the two of you apart.”

“Regina... that’s awful,” you say.

“But then I tried to be nice to you! I just wanted to be friends. I mean, I didn’t think I wanted to sleep with you or anything. I just wanted to be friends. Karen and Gretchen are just stupid and I just don’t feel comfortable enough around them to be like this. To let go of the persona.”

“You haven’t been entirely nice to me, Regina. Plus you started this off by ruining my friendship with Janis.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have done that, but I was so... angry whenever she was around. I just... we could pass for straight. No one would know.”

“Regina... I can’t,” you say, biting your lip and trying not to cry.

“Do you... do you not like girls? Is that it? I’m so stupid,” she says bitterly.

“No, Regina, it’s not that, I mean... I don’t know if I do. But it’s just... I’m tired of living like this and I don’t want to have this secret to worry about. All we need is for Gretchen to find out...”

“But she wouldn’t. And even if she did, do you think she’d cross me? Cross us?” She grips your wrists. “Please.”

You start crying and you know you’re not going to be able to stop. If the circumstances were different, you’d love to date her. You think. “Regina. I don’t want to be popular anymore, and for that to happen, we can’t be friends and we... can’t do this.”

“But—“

“If you want to drop it... then... if you want to give up being popular, being fake... then... then yes. Come out. Apologize to Janis. But I’m leaving, and I’m not leaving with baggage.”

She nods. “I... I understand. It’s okay. But I need this! They’d tear me apart if I came out and I can’t be... I can’t be outcasted. I’m exhausted, too, you know? But it’s... it’s better than the alternative. I hope you don’t come to realize that.”

“Regina...”

“No, it’s fine. I really get it,” she says, smiling. “But I’m going to have to spread a rumor, something so they don’t question why you left the group.”

“I know. Just say I’m gay. It’s your trick.”

She starts crying then, sobbing, really, and your heart lurches. You lean over to hug her.

“You don’t have to be so mean.”

“Yeah. I do. Because if I’m not it’ll turn around on me. My mom... she’d never understand! I just... okay. I understand we can’t... be seen together if this is really what you want. But can you at least text me once in a while? So I know how you’re doing?”

“Of course,” you say. You hug her one last time, and she kisses your cheek. You leave the house with your head held high but your heart sinks as you realize this is the last time you’ll step foot in there.

——

Regina is meaner without you. She is hostile to Gretchen and Karen, and you can tell if they adored her at all before, that’s completely gone and they follow her out of fear that she’d make their lives a living hell.

Maybe it’s because she did go on and start the rumor you were a lesbian. Fair enough. You weren’t entirely sure about that label yet but it gave you enough freedom to maneuver this without having lame guys hit on you anymore. That may have stopped anyway since you weren’t competing with Regina for hottest in the sophomore class... but at least it stopped.

“So... looks like she did the same thing to you after all, bitch,” a female voice says as you slam your locker shut. You jump and look to your left to see Janis there... and your breath catches. She was all the more beautiful in person.

“Yeah,” you frown. “But hey... are you mad at me?”

Janis scoffs. “Kinda. But I know you weren’t to blame now. I mean, she did the same thing to you! And I hate Regina more than I could ever hate anybody. Also Damien made me talk to you.”

“Damien?” you ask. “Wait... that guy in musical theater?”

“Yes...” Janis says slowly. “How do you know?”

“He’s really good! I’ve gone and seen every play. Like, and sat in the back. But I’ve gone.”

“Wow. That surprises me. But you did used to love that sort of thing in middle school.”

“I think I made you listen to the Mamma Mia soundtrack at least 80 times.”

“Oh yes. Wait... did you know that they’re putting it on this year? It's the spring musical."

“What?”

“Yeah. Maybe you could audition now that the plastics aren’t holding you back. You have like one day to make up your mind though. I do scenery. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“Where do you sit at lunch?”

——

It was an awkward reintroduction and the words are never spoken. Is Janis gay? More importantly, are you gay, or bi, or something? Does wondering if another girl is gay make you gay?

But aside from the utter confusion of possibly having a crush on your ex best friend, you’re enjoying life as an ex-plastic. You’re auditioning for the role of Donna, but even if you don’t get it you’re going to get a part since so few people actually signed up to audition. You’re drawing again, too, even if you were never as good as Janis.

Regina hasn’t texted you yet, but you’re thankful. If she did too soon you’d get pulled back from the progress you’ve made. But you’re also worried about her, and your heart lurches whenever you make eye contact with her at lunch and she looks away quickly.

But this was how life was going to be from now on, so it was time to get used to it.

#janis sarkisian #janis x reader #janis sarkisian x reader #janis ian #janis ian x reader #mean girls #mean girls broadway #mean girls bway #Yeah I made Regina gay #what about it???#that's my headcanon #no one in this musical is straight ok #idk i feel weird posting this but fuck ittttt

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cockroachgirl1997 · 4 years ago

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very glad its just friendly-crazy-guy sending me this message and not mean-crazy-guy. also really dodged a bullet here because image if it had been coming from a guy whos not lady loving. although not sure whether he wouldnt actually prefer fucking the not quite cold yet corpse of prince philip? xo .

#personal #prince philip

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storybookprincess · 4 years ago

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This is the anon who is also applying to grad school! I'm wondering if you have to take an exam for your apps & if you have any tips on staying motivated! I'm applying for law school & studying for this exam is just. *I sit down*. *I stare at preptest.* *I scream*. I'm also working full time and just have no desire to study after work. I know your program is totally different and even if you're not taking an exam I mostly just wanted to commiserate with someone 😭. Hope your apps are going well!

hello grad school pal!!!! goodness, law school is super super impressive that’s so cool!!!! i’m really luck & didn’t have to take any exams for my program, because the majority of the schools in my state made tests optional in light of the pandemic. honestly i dodged a huge bullet because standardized tests are hell.

but i totally know what you mean about not having the motivation to study after work. working full time takes so much of your energy & mental stamina that trying to have even more self discipline & focus at the end of the workday is extremely challenging.

that being said, i do have at least a little advice for keeping up motivation that i apply to a lot of different things in my life & might be relevant to you. piece of advice one is that it’s better to set a small goal that you can meet consistently than to set a really lofty goal that you fail to meet. if you only have 5-10 minutes of studying in you during the weekdays, set your goal at 5-10 minutes. from a psychological perspective, you’ll learn the material better by doing a little every day than trying to study for an hour in the evenings & only meeting that goal once or twice a week. whatever is realistically manageable for you on a daily basis--five practice question, one practice question--is what you should aim for.

piece of advice two is to make the studying part of your routine. if something is part of my daily routine & i just do it by force of habit, it takes far less mental energy than trying to work up the motivation out of nowhere. maybe you do your ten minutes of practice right after dinner every night, or right when you get out of the shower, or right before you turn out the lights to go to bed. doing something automatically as part of a routine is much easier than hoping the motivation will just come to you.

i apply these tips to a lot of silly things in my life--scooping my cat’s litter box, practicing a foreign language, maintaining a skincare routine, etc. set an extremely extremely manageable goal & make it part of your daily routine & it’s a lot easier to find the motivation to actually do it. best of luck, my friend!!!! please let me know how all of this turns out--i’m super excited for you!!!! xo

#big sister advice #asked and answered #Anonymous

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thecomicsnexus · 5 years ago

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THE WILD STORM #13-18 JULY - DECEMBER 2018 BY WARREN ELLIS, JON DAVIS-HUNT AND STEVE BUCCELLATO

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE AND COMIC VINE)

It is raining in New York when Jacklyn King arrives in the alley, summoned by Director Miles Craven and Deputy Director Ivana Baiul. She is surprised to find a crimescene - and horrified to find the victim is Mitch Saunders, her subordinate. Baiul rattles off the timeline - forensics puts the time of death almost immediately after when they know he let IO headquarters yesterday. Baiul is condescending to Jacklyn, but offers to contact Henry Bendix, head of Skywatch, whose computers they just hacked, and who had both motive and means to order such an assassination.

Craven demurs on a diplomatic solution, ordering the mobilization of three CATs (covert action teams) and the beginning of a plan to kill everyone Skywatch Ground Division in New York. War between the agencies may have already begun.

On the Skywatch satellite headquarters, Henry Bendix and his XO Lauren Pennington are wondering if Craven will back off after what they did. Bendix admits that if it doesn't, they could target the families of agents - and also start disabling research facilities. Pennington interjects that wasn't productive when they did it last time, so Bendix gives her an order: he wants two sets of plans, one where they stealthily disable a research site, and one where they leave a public pile of corpses.

In Levin's Diner, in the desert, John Lynch is being watched. Looking up from his greasy breakfast, he locks eyes with a distracted man at the counter, who states that "they all know" what he did, and that he doesn't know what grew from his actions. Musing, Lynch leaves the diner immediately.

That night, he arrives at a farmstead in the middle of nowhere. Musing that the man he seeks used to like being around people, he almost doesn't notice the field of stakes behind the barn, each one topped by a crude arrow, all pointing at the same area of the night sky. Entering the residence via the back door, he sees his target is watching an adventure show on the television, but is also aware of his entrance. Lynch introduces himself, and identifies the man as Colonel Marc Slayton.

In shadows, Slayton tells him there is beer in the fridge. Lynch takes two cans, and throws one to Slayton. He wonders what drew Slayton here. Grinning, Marc explains he looked up his surname. It comes from the Norse word sletta, meaning "level field", and the Old English word tun, meaning a farm. So, he went to be a farmer on a level field, hunting and planting.

Lynch cuts to the point - IO is looking into Project Thunderbook. He tried to destroy all the files, but he left an index that he could watch, so that he could tell if someone ever came looking - and he might not have gotten all the files. So, he has come to warn Marc Slayton.

Slayton accuses him of not knowing what was done to the Thunderbook subjects. Lynch rattles off a potted history of the project - how IO found corpses in ancient burial sites which contained active genetic material they identified as alien. How their gen/active samples were found to plug easily into human DNA. How he went to his best and brightest, and offered them a place in a project to use the gen/active samples to become human enhanciles. And how, despite the unknown factors, despite the dangers, Marc Slayton had been the first to volunteer, stating his desire to push the possible forward and improve the world.

Slayton lashes back verbally, saying his position has changed. As his wrist starts to glow, he explains that the sample he was bonded to turned out to be a genetic engine that grew an organic computer inside of him. It grew other things, too, he says, as a glowing barbed tendril emerges from his wrist. And he has been feeding it. Feeding it enough that he has started to hear it talk to him, hear it pull him towards... something, possibly the other Thunderbook subjects, possibly beings far stranger. It wants to eat people. It can tell there is something unusual about Lynch. And it occurs to him that whatever IO knows, the only person who definitely knows his location... is Lynch.

Slayton strikes out with his barbed tendril, but Lynch dodges right. Firing wildly, Lynch punctures Slayton's beercan, which distracts Slayton, Slayton lashes out again, but Lynch tricks him into burying his tendril in the fridge, then knocks over the fridge and shoots rapidly into it as he runs. The resulting explosion wrecks the kitchen, giving Lynch the space to escape to his car, at which point, he considers Slayton warned, and drives away at high speed.

In the doorway of a closed-down music shop, the homeless man known as "the mayor" is trying to sleep when he is shaken awake by two women, who introduce themselves as Shen Li-Men and Jenny Mei Sparks. Opening a portal, Li-Men tries to recruit him by letting him sleep on Jenny's couch.

At his farm, Marc Slayton is bandaging small cuts in his face. He has decided that he does not like John Lynch, who always escapes the fallout of whatever the situation is, only to return and judge others. Slayton turns to self-pity, remarking he has "hunted" so many humans and "planted" them so that their souls could be launched to the world his alien implant came from. In the mirror, an alien creature with six glowing eyes seeks to calm him, saying he has done so much for it, and that to save himself, he should of course flee John Lynch or IO or whatever authorities they can summon and hit the open road. Crying tears of gratitude, Slayton identifies this being as "the Carer".

In her home, the popstar known as Voodoo sleeps drugged and deeply. A being emerges from the shadows, and placing one massive hand on her head, it orders her to "dream of the world as it truly is".

On the Skywatch satellite, a mission to Mars is undocking. With its drive running and its stealth systems operating, it will be at Mars in a week. On the control deck, Bendix and Pennington are making small talk, when Pennington says that Bendix and Craven have exactly one thing in common. They are afraid of a public scrap. A public scrap would reveal the power games both agencies have been playing. So, while she has compiled a list of people it would be useful to assassinate, and a list of facilities that could be destroyed or disabled, she has also written up a plan to break IO's control on Earth, radically destabilizing life and making it impossible for another polity to take their place.

It is night in New York, and John Colt is recording a video on his smartphone. Though he does not know his birthday by the reckoning of his home, he picked tomorrow as his birthday, long ago, and he makes a point of alerting Jacob Marlowe of its arrival every year, so that he starts the day angry. And he does this because when arrived here, on their spaceship from the homeworld, Khera, Jacob made them assume human shapes, to an unknown end. And then, for a reason he never explained to John, Jacob trashed the expedition by blowing up the spaceship, stranding the survivors here.

As he holds the camera, John marks his birthday as he always does - by temporarily shedding his human disguise to appear in his true form. Holding the phone in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, John holds the camera to expertly frame his monstrous six-eyed face, and raises a toast to his own continued good health.

In New York, Lucy Blaze - Skywatch Ground Division, codename "Zealot" - is arriving five minutes late to work. However, before her co-workers can reassure her that this is fine, their office is attacked by a pair of I.O. covert action teams (C.A.T.s), who spray bullets across the office. Thinking fast, Lucy directs the last other survivor to the elevator banks to escape, then throws a desk at the attackers using superhuman strength. Using this as an opening, she proceeds to kill all six attackers using a silenced pistol. In the ensuing silence, she radios security for advice.

In a garage in the desert, John Lynch pulls in and addresses the lone employee by name: Alexandra Fairchild. Alexandra is suspicious, so John comes clean - someone in I.O. has started looking into Project Thunderbook, and he is warning all the project subjects so they can properly prepare. Accepting this, Alexandra brews him a pot of coffee and explains that she originally moved here because it is down the road from a town full of nice people who keep to themselves.

John asks if there is anyone around to eavesdrop, which gets Alexandra talking - about how she's been merrily surviving since she got out of the service, armed with nothing but some fake IDs, the "severance pay" that John gave everyone, and her skills as a mechanic who fixes things. How she tried to live with humans - mostly men, some women - and tried to fix them, before giving up in resignation. The tipping point was when she told her then-boyfriend that she was pregnant with their child, and he tried to kick the fetus to death, so she broke his neck with her bare hands.

The alien genetic implant that she got as part of Project Thunderbook wants her to fight. When she fights, it feeds on her anger, making her stronger and tougher every time. And realising the damage she could do to that child, she gave the baby up for adoption and vanished.

At this point, a plume of dust is visible on the road, and Alexandra mentions the other detail - the town down the road contains a family of ne'er-do-wells who like to mess with people. Recently, they stepped over the line, and Alexandra had asked them to stop. When they responded by targeting her, she killed the family matriarch. They are coming for her now. Today she will either die by violence, or vanish in the chaos - and she's not sure she can die. As Alexandra prepares to heft a pickup truck as a melee weapon, John Lynch asks what her daughter's name is.

Alexandra says her daughter should be in the system under the name "Caitlin Fairchild". She thanks him for warning her, and says that John ought to leave before the fighting starts.

As John Lynch drives away, he sees the garage explode behind him, and regrets that his life has led him here.

In New York, Miles Craven is having a video-call with Henry Bendix. Bendix is furious that I.O. would send C.A.T.s against his territory, and vows that Craven will atone. Craven responds that he took no pleasure from the attack, which was a punitive measure in response to the attack on I.O.'s Hightower facility and the subsequent hack on I.O.'s server - actions for which Craven will hold Skywatch responsible. Then Craven hangs up on him.

In Jenny Mei Sparks' London flat, Jenny and Shen Li-Men are explaining the world to the vagrant known as "the mayor", using Jenny's full-wall mind-map. The mayor is visibly agitated, and accuses them of talking about him as though he were not present. Li-Men thinks she has a solution to his predicament, and hands him a pill, saying it is medicine. The mayor responds with paranoia, but Jenny zaps him with electricity from her fingers - he is eating the damn pill.

Once he has swallowed the pill, Li-Men asks him his name. In amazement, the mayor says his name is Jack Hawksmoor.

On a country road with nearby foliage, Marc Slayton is experiencing car trouble. He flags down a passing motorist, who seems helpful, but Slayton undercuts him by asking which secret agency he works for. The man in the car demonstrates glowing eyes and says he works for Skywatch, prompting Slayton to tear the car apart with his whip appendage. Taking his attacker's spines, she starts singing.

In Skywatch Headquarters, Henry Bendix is fuming at the outcome of his last conversation with with Miles Craven. Skywatch has been blamed for an attack on an I.O. installation. Faced with the news from Pennington that their organization is not responsible, Bendix orders the deployment of the Little Stick - an experimental weapon developed in the Eighties, a foot-long diamond rod, which, when dropped from orbit, achieves sufficient velocity to strike the target with the force of a tactical nuclear device.

In London, Li-Men Shen is having a vision - a man, pinioned, his mouth in a gaping, silent scream, while science is perpetrated on his body: skin removed and reattached, treads on his feet, wires in his brain, bugs in his guts. Snapping out of this vision, she names the perpetrators as Skywatch, the secret space agency. The victim, the homeless man known as "the mayor", introduces himself as Jack Hawksmoor. He is still recovering from the drug Shen gave him, but he has a theory - Skywatch kidnapped and experimented on him, to make him into something that could survive and labor in a toxic city. And that he doesn't think he was the only one.

In orbit, a diamond rod - the Little Stick - breaks atmosphere, landing on the Hightower facility with a colossal boom.

In a gas station bathroom, Marc Slayton is having doubts. He regards his work for the being he calls the Carer as holy, but still he feels ill at the necessary killing. The being appears in a nearby mirror, and announce itself as "the Khera", and explains that it is what is necessary. Crying in gratitude and repentance, Slayton exits the bathroom, returning to the scene of three gruesome murders, and pausing only to craft an arrow to launch their souls as the Carer told him, he moves on.

In a small bar, John Lynch enters. Talking briefly to the barman, he sits down with a shy-looking man of Chinese descent in a corner table, and identifies him as Andrew Kwok. The shy man demurs, introducing himself as Philip Chang. John pulls out a scanner, insisting that this device identifies the shy man as Kwok - and that he came to warn Kwok that I.O. is looking into Project Thunderbook. At this, the shy man stops smiling. He explains that while Lynch gave him a new fake identity, he didn't trust Lynch to crack under torture, so he used his money to get plastic surgery and a new fake ID, and moved on with his life. He has a wife now, and two children - Hector & Percival, both named for their mother's love of Arthurian myth.

At this point, John Lynch starts to bleed from his good eye, as Chang explains that he will kill Lynch in the most painless way he can find, and then hide the body. Lynch responds by shooting him in the face, but Chang is able to slow the bullet in midair. Chang boasts that a single bullet will not be enough - so Lynch fires six more. As Chang sweats from holding all of them, Lynch explains that while Chang's ability to hyperfocus made him a great assassin, it left him unable to multitask, which is why he's about to die. Pausing to shoot the barman, who has pulled out his shotgun in response to the noise, Lynch questions why, despite the respect he has tried to show them by giving a fair warning, all the Thunderbook enhanciles have done is boast of their offspring, or try to kill him. As he struggles against the bullets, Chang stutters that this may be because the alien enhancements they have mean that the agents are no longer strictly human, but are driven by goals of conquest or colonization. Lynch muses, says he will see that Chang's kids are cared for, and then shoots Chang in the head. Pausing only to throw a grenade which starts a fire and covers his tracks, he flees the scene.

In New York, Miles Craven is having a videophone conversation with Henry Bendix. Bendix shows footage of the remains of Hightower, and insists that he does not care enough about I.O. to cover his tracks when he attacks them. That he truly believes that the Earth would be best used as a resource supply center for the space-based civilization Skywatch is building. And that if I.O. touches his people again, he will use one of the Little Sticks on I.O.'s New York headquarters, and leave Craven to bury the dead and explain the damage.

Craven responds by saying he will relinquish control of the Skywatch Ground Division offices, but that the surviving agent, Lucy Blaze, is officially barred from New York, on pain of death. With a gesture of contempt, he ends the transmission.

Walking back to his office, Miles Craven meets his head of Analysis, Jackie King, who explains that forensics on Mitch Saunders' phone showed the presence of spyware - spyware that Skywatch specifically tried to erase. Skywatch knows what they did, but not how they did it. But Skywatch's reliance on hardware leaves them vulnerable to basic electronic weaknesses - by deploying countermeasures against the recent bot attack, Skywatch showed where their space station was. Should I.O. require, they can just nuke them.

Miles asks Jackie if she wants a war, and Jackie responds in the negative - she wants an execution, and if Miles will not give the order, she will pursue her goal by other means.

Going to her office, Jackie throws a computer monitor through a glass divider in frustration.

In a Skywatch safehouse, Lauren Pennington is congratulating Lucy Blaze on her recent actions, and his informing her of a new, roving brief, where she covers cases all over America. Lucy wonders if this is a punishment for her actions during the I.O. attack on the New York offices, but Pennington insists - this is all good news.

Besides, says Pennington as she raises a glass of wine, given the current détente between Skywatch and I.O., New York might not be around long enough for Lucy to properly miss.

In Jacob Marlowe's safehouse, Angie Spica has "found" a copy of the machine telepathy data the wild CAT brought back from the Hightower blacksite, and has used it to change how she interacts with her implanted technology. Unprepared, she wonders if she can use it to access the internet... and her technology responds by logging her onto the internet, visualised as a set off central hubs with individual nodes splitting off them in neat patterns.

Angie is amazed at this scene, but is even more surprised when she is greeted by Jenny Mei Sparks, who immediately imposes herself on Angie's electronic view and introduces herself, saying that she is the person who lives here.

The two introduce themselves - Angie as a woman who built a robot suit into herself and is on the run from IO, and who has been taken in by the tech mogul Jacob Marlowe, but is also stealing from him; and Jenny as a woman who is over a century old, not entirely human, distrusts IO and Skywatch, can live inside communications systems, and carries a lot of electricity.

Jenny decides that she likes Angie, and that if Angie ever needs to escape from Jacob Marlowe, she only needs to call, and Jenny will come and help - her and every friend she can bring. With a lazy wave, Jenny Mei Sparks vanishes - leaving Angie's world a little stranger and a little nicer.

Somewhere west of there, John Lynch parks his car in a driveway. He walks a path through rocky grounds in a red twilight, towards a minimalist two-story house with a hexagonal tower sticking out of it. Seeing the front door ajar, he remembers the danger he faced at his previous stops, so he pulls out his gun and moves carefully through the building.

He finds nothing on the ground floor, moving through a spacious and expertly-cleaned house, before checking in the hexagonal tower. And there, a floating woman with glowing red eyes advises him to put his gun away before she makes him have an accident. John recognises her at once: Gloria Spaulding, the woman he came here to see. He compliments her on her house and warns her that IO may be looking into Project Thunderbook, the program which gave her an alien genetic implant, and that she should be careful for a bit, but that considering the obvious costly nature of her house, the care she has taken to protect herself, and her untroubled status, he thinks she will be fine.

Curious, he asks her if she has had a child since they last saw, like Kwok, like Fairchild. Gloria admits she felt a great compulsion to have a baby, but once she had given birth, her normal detached nature reasserted itself, and she abandoned the child with Gloria's mother.

Gloria's detachment always served her well in her IO role as a black bag operative specialising in retrieving items or data. It served her well in the private sector, where her skills have earned her money, and the trust of "all kinds of interesting and spooky friends". But her Thunderbook implant, in addition to granting her superhuman power, also worked to calm her anxieties, to the point where now she feels... nothing, neither positive emotions or negative.

Gloria says that Lynch needs to leave, as she has to pack up and go into hiding, but in thanks for the warning, she leaves him with one in turn: Marc Slayton's implant can remember where it came from.

As the floor tiles starts to float loose, Lynch runs for the door. He makes it to his car as the house disassembles, and as he drives away, in the rearview mirror, he sees a feminine silhouette against the red moon, dragging the substance of the house into the twilight sky behind it.

In Jacob Marlowe's fortress warehouse, Angie Spica is asking Cole Cash for help, as he knows more about guns than she does. Cole wonders aloud what she would do with such information - whereupon, Angie uses her implants to create an object the same size and shape as a handgun bullet cartridge. Without Cole's training, she can only create prop. With Cole's help, she can safely pull apart bullets and guns, scan them all - and she will never be unarmed again!

Stephen Rainmaker was the most dangerous man John Lynch knew even before he was inducted into the Thunderbook program. So much so that nobody could quite define how Thunderbook changed him. On his trip around America to warn his old team, Lynch left Rainmaker until last— for a reason. This is the visit that Lynch always knew could kill him. Meanwhile, Marc Slayton is discovering new things about America, IO and Skywatch.

Miles Craven needs a minute, but Jackie King, who has an appointment with him, insists that he do his job as the head of International Operations. Based on the data her team recovered from their illegal hack on the computers of Skywatch, Cole Cash—the former IO operative they presumed dead but who showed up as part of a wild CAT who interfered with an assassination—is not working for Skywatch, but they now have a positive ID on one other member of the wild CAT, who was an astronaut who died decades ago. She thinks they can investigate more.

Miles Craven lists off his problems: Jacob Marlowe, the tech billionaire whose death he ordered, is still alive. Angie Spica, the rogue IO engineer whose capture he ordered, is missing. Mitch Saunders, the IO office worker who was the victim of a Skywatch phone bug, is dead, and when he attacked the Skywatch office in New York in retaliation, the two heavily-armed teams he sent were singlehandedly shot to death by Skywatch agent Lucy Blaze. Michael Cray, the IO assassin who he ordered to be "retired", is alive and working for a San Francisco division of Skywatch. Hightower, the IO research station, was hacked by parties unknown, and then destroyed from orbit by Skywatch as a show of strength. Craven is left feeling like someone is pulling a con on him, and that they are winning at his expense.

Angry, Jackie responds that Craven only feels like this because he is weak. Craven is angered by this, but becomes defensive, saying he has to be proportionate in his actions. Jackie recites the speech he gave when he took control of IO, about how the agency was beholden to a mission to save the world from chaos and anarchy, and in the service of that mission, they would do great and terrible things. Now chaotic events are assailing the world... and Miles Craven is sleeping in his office and complaining to her. If he cannot be equal to the burden of the times, she says, he should give the job to someone else.

On Skywatch's satellite, Henry Bendix, the agency's head, is talking to Dr Ragnar Helspont, the head of the agency's posthuman experimental reseach office. Helspont has good news—Christine Trelane sent him the medical readouts about Michael Cray, who Skywatch secretly implanted with something years ago which activated recently due to a surge of electromagnetism he received while trying to assassinate Jacob Marlowe.

Helspont boasts that he has been watching all the people Skywatch perpetrated posthuman research on, and says that his mind-control implants will perfectly when the time comes. Helspont wonders why Bendix does not keep these slave posthumans on this space station, to be teleported to Earth on his whim, but Bendix shoots down the idea, saying that if one got free, they could easily rupture the hull and kill everyone.

Helspont mentions that he used to work as part of Project Thunderbook, but left with all his research when John Lynch shuttered the program. Defecting to Skywatch, he was able to create fascinating—and controllable—human variants. Skywatch's previous subjects were prone to neural damage, but Helspont is confident in his work. "Everything in Heaven is fine"

In Jenny Mei Sparks' London flat, Shen Li-Men has recovered from trying to treat Jack Hawksmoor, who is in the shower with a shaving kit and a bag of new clothes. She says he has neural damage which is causing his amnesia and his eccentric actions, and while she can treat the symptoms, she needs to find the cause. Jenny says she just needs to know if Jack is able for the vigilante actions she plans to start, or if he needs to be somewhere quiet, to recover. Jack, clean-shaven, emerges from the shower and defends himself—though he may never fully recover, he is absolutely ready to get revenge on the people who gave him amnesia.

On a country backroad, John Lynch is driving. When he comes across Marc Slayton with, he responds fast, firing a flashbang from a grenade launcher to stun Slayton, and then another to further incapacitate him. Exiting the car, he spells out his position—the whole time Slayton has been trying to track him, Lynch had a tracking device on Slayton's car. Before, Slayton was able to surprise him, but that advantage is gone now.

Lych pulls out his handgun, and explains how fearsome his bullets are. Slayton pulls out his coils, and prepares to lash back, but Lynch fires first—and shoots a hole in Slayton's car's, from the engine to the license plate. As Slayton pauses in confusion, Lynch spells out his position—he does not want to kill Slayton. He does not care about Slayton. But if IO is coming for Project Thunderbook, then they will strike at him from their New York headquarters, and the only way for Slayton to defend himself is with an offense against IO and its head, Miles Craven. Confused, Slayton looks to "the Carer", the hallucinatory embodiment of his alien implant, and it agrees with Lynch. Wishing Slayton good fortune, Lynch gets back in his car and drives away.

In the wild CAT's safehouse, Angie is writing a goodbye letter, explaining her respect for Adri, how she is leaving all her data on Kenesha's computer, and how she hopes to meet them again but will not come looking for more favors. That done, she puts out a message just as Jenny Sparks told her... and Shen appears appears and invite to walk through a doorway in space. Perplexed, Jenny complies and finds herself in Jenny's London apartment. Shen introduces Jack, who Angie immediately recognizes as the New York homeless man known as "the mayor". Angie explains that what finally convinced her to join Jenny's gang was a phantasmagorial visitation from a being whose likeness she produces—who Shen recognizes from her magical knowledge—and who referred to Jenny as having "the authority". Jenny accepts this news without blinking.

On a train somewhere in America, Michael Cray is explaining to a fellow passenger that his former employers were all jerks and he is travelling to New York by train to give one in particular a piece of his mind. She accepts this information at face value, but in the reflection of the window, the face that represents Michael's superhuman implant is smiling.

In the wild CAT's safehouse, Jacob Marlowe, the team's patron, is reading Angie's letter in mild frustration, but before the team can read it, Kenesha bursts in and informs them that an IO research station has just trapped a cosmic particle of immense power, and they need to raid the facility at once to stop any research.

At an open air cocktail bar in Los Angeles, a pair of aliens whose faces resemble the true face of John Colt—and the faces of Slayton & Cray's implants—are ordering drinks and complaining about how difficult it is to manage Earth. They are both glad that nobody else can perceive as as strange—especially when Lucy Blaze walks into the bar and orders a water. The aliens recognize her as "Zannah of the Khera", a former underling of Emp, the rebel who sabotaged the Kheran mission to convert Earth into a slave state. Zannah in turn rebelled against Emp, and so today, the two aliens have to balance Emp & Zannah's agendas, and IO's, and Skywatch's, all in secret, just to give the humans a chance at evolving naturally. And for this thankless job, they have rewarded themselves by choosing to get drunk on this, their night off.

On the Skywatch satellite, Bendix and Pennington are looking out over a view of Earth and a backdrop of stars. Bendix is considering giving Helspont a higher budget. And doing something radical to make Earth more "useful". And killing Miles Craven. As he considers, he sings a children's song and grins maniacally.

REVIEW

By an annoying mistake, there are two issues #13. It will surely bug people forever.

As I said before, this story is too decompressed. Had it been bi-weekly, it would have been acceptable. But it took a bit more than two years to complete and it’s nothing but a big long prologue.

But I’ll tell you why that is great instead. Unlike DCU and MCU... and even the early Image Universe, the world of WorldStorm is cohesive. Everything was designed from the same world. It’s not a panache of properties, all banding together in the same universe. I feel like that is the strongest appeal of Wildstorm, well at least the properties around StormWatch. In these issues we are kind of seeing the groups forming (WildCATS, Authority, Gen13), but as I also said before, I do not know if these properties will take off anytime soon. But at least they are better now than at the beginning of the New 52 (Although StormWatch/Demon Knights was quite good).

Ellis and David-Hunt are also perfect for this title. It’s their work together that delivers amazing action sequences with some mind-bending graphics. Sure, it is pretty violent, but that was to be expected from WildStorm.

One of the moments that gave me the most pleasure, was seeing Apollo and Midnighter, even though, we do not actually see them, it is very obvious it’s them. They have history in the DCU as well, very recently, so I guess that may have... gone away.

Do you think Sam Elliott is too old to play Lynch?

I give these issues a score of 9.

#jon davis-hunt #the wild storm #wildstorm #dc comics #comics #review #2018 #post modern age #the authority #gen13 #stormwatch #wildcats

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toolatetofall · 5 years ago

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The Beginning: Two

An exploration of the relationship between Commander John Shepard and his XO, Commander Jane Sheppard, during the first game of the Mass Effect trilogy. Slow burn. From not-quite friends to not-quite lovers. Subsequent projects covering Mass Effect 2 and 3 are planned.

————————————————————————————————–

Two. Jane and John butt heads as John evaluates crew.

Ao3 | First | Previous | Next

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Before they tackle the mission in front of them, Shepard needs to see his people in action. He needs to learn how to fight with those who are new; find their rhythm and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. As much as he knows time is of the essence, trusting the people at his back is ultimately more important.

For this particular mission, he brings Officer Vakarian and Jane, and intends to bring Tali and Wrex on the next go-around. If the XO is surprised she’s been lumped into the “unfamiliar fighting style” category, she isn’t surprised.

They accompany Shepard on a mission to investigate a distress signal in the Hydra system. The three of them land on Metgo, and bump along in the Mako uneventfully. Shepard drives, naturally, while Garrus sits beside him, scanning their surroundings and monitoring the radar and Jane mans the Mako’s gun behind and above the two men. Not that there’s much to shoot at so far.

The planet is quiet, and the touchdown is smooth sailing, but the squad seems to grow more and more uneasy with the absence of enemies, especially as they near the signal’s source.

It’s when they approach the nav point, that Garrus points to the radar. “Geth.”

Immediately, Jane catches sight of them and starts shooting aiming quickly and carefully, as Shepard weaves through and around them, trying to dodge and minimize the Mako’s damage.

“We’re taking heavy fire.”

Garrus’s words are all the encouragement Jane needs. She swings down from the gun perch, and speeds out the doors, of the still-moving Mako, shotgun cocked. It takes a moment before Shepard and Garrus stop the Mako and scramble out after her.

One of the 13 or so remaining geth is floating,radiating blue biotic energy, and another is pushed to the ground, pulsing with blue light, then is quickly blasted through the chest by a shotgun. “Careful,” comes John’s warning over the com. “Air’s toxic.”

A shot rings out as the two men join the fray. One of the geth falls as Garrus hits it dead in the eye (or flashlight? unclear). John sprays at another with his assault rifle, earning a whoop from Jane as she pivots to the next one.

“Catch!” Jane yells, flinging one of the geth in the air, blue blurring after. Instinctively, John turns towards it and takes aim. Before he can take his shot, a bullet tears through the Geths head, and he can feel Garrus’s quiet pride. “Nice one!” The woman laughs, as John keeps moving, mildly annoyed.

One by one, they pick off the remaining geth, the air growing more and more thin by the second.

With one left, Shepard and Garrus start to track and aim at the remaining geth while Jane streaks past them, toward the Mako. Shepard’s suit is screaming, and Jane has been out longer. As the two men finish, and trek back to the Mako, they can hear Sheppard both gasping and laughing over the com.

When they climb back aboard, she’s sitting opposite the door, taking deep breaths and giggling, a slightly manic look in her eye.

“Well,” Garrus says, both clearly uncomfortable and uncertain. “That was interesting.”

Jane grins up at them. “It was fucking brilliant.” Her eyes gleamed with a hint that unrecognizable something that John remembers from the Torfan broadcast. Blood lust, he realizes, and manic, joyful rage. Before he can comment, she disappears up to the gun hatch, still chuckling beneath her breath.

Vakarian and the Commander exchange a glance, then climb back into the front of the Mako. They do one more quick scan of the planet but there’s nothing.

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After a quick rest, Shepard is planet side again, this time with Wrex and Tali in tow. Well, so to speak. They’re actually aboard the MSV Worthington, investigating the derelict ship’s SOS. As they creep through, the silence is eerie.

By the time the final survivor attacks them, it’s almost a relief, like the shoe finally drops. They quickly dispatch her and once they have finished investigating, they’re all set to return to the Normandy.

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When John returns to the ship and makes for his quarters, Jane is sitting at a table in the mess hall. An MRE sits in front of her, but has gone cool while she review’s John’s suit cam footage on her omnitool. Her expression is serious, and she doesn’t seem to notice his approach.

He glances at the screen over her shoulder, watching as on screen, they move into the medbay.

“I was hoping to see them in action,” she murmurs without looking at him. “They seem to have good instincts tho.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, shifting awkwardly. A silence falls. On the screen, he can see the biotic woman from the ship approach the group, yelling angrily.

Jane pauses it, then turns to look at him. “I watched the footage from Eden Prime too.” Her expression is flat, such a contrast to her face out on the Mako. “Alenko and Williams seem skilled.”

There’s not much Shepard can do but nod, while he waits for her to make her point. She cocks a brow.

“So. While you were doing your evaluations and shake downs, what did you decide?” Her tone makes it clear she’s asking about herself, but the dryness says she doesn’t much care about his opinion.

After a moment’s hesitation, he drops into the chair across from her. Sheppard eyes him, then picks at the cold meal in front of her.

A beat. “I think your biotics have gotten stronger.” Jane doesn’t reply, just stares at him, waiting. He clears his throat and shifts, uncomfortable. “It was good to fight with you again.”

“Yeah.” The silence that continues to fall between them is deafening.

A sigh. “What do you want, Jane?”

She rolls her eyes. “I want you to trust me and to stop treating me with kid gloves.”

“I don’t-“

“You do. Stop.”

Silence.

“I don’t know if I can trust my people to you,” John admits. Kaidan, usually working nearby, has the good sense to vacate.

Her eyes flash, and a mix of frustration, sadness, and anger flickers across her face. “Oh?”

He takes a deep breath. “I mean, you’re a good soldier- a great soldier-, but… I don’t know if I can trust you to keep my people safe.”

Butcher of Torfan.

The unspoken implication hangs between them, and she scowls at him.

“You do know ‘your people’ are soldiers, right? They don’t need you to babysit them.” She stands, glowering at him. “Besides, we have a job to do. You know as well as I do that we can wait around worrying about it, or we can get it done.”

He doesn’t back down, even as Jane glares down at him. “Is that how you justify Torfan?”

His voice is quiet. On the table, her knuckles are white. “You don’t,” Jane says slowly, quietly, deliberately, “know anything about Torfan.”

More silence as she averts her glare to the table between them. He thinks he’s imagining the way her lip is quivering.

“...What happened?”

Jane doesn’t immediately respond. Instead, she glances around the room, ensuring it’s empty, that no one is in ear shot. Even when it’s clear that they’re alone, neither immediately speaks. Finally, “I didn’t trust them enough.” The woman glares at him once more. “I was like you. I tried to babysit my people while trying to get the job done, and people died for it. My people.” A sigh. “They’re soldiers. We need to trust them to handle themselves.”

She spares him a final glance, and leaves the room, leaving Shepard in his thoughts.

#Commander Shepard #female shepard #Male Shepard #shepshep #mass effect #fanfiction #torfan

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ggclarissa · 6 years ago

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i’m sorry | miles morales

requested by: @marvel-girl-xo

fandom: spiderman: into the spiderverse

pairing: miles morales x fem!reader

warnings: angst, mentions of blood, character death, etc.

summary: you’re sent to assassinate spiderman, unaware of the familiar face behind the mask.

You weren’t proud of your job. You felt horrible for lying to Miles about your so called after school internship at Alchemax Corporations. You weren’t an intern; you were an assassin. The only reason you were involved in such a heinous crime was because your boss, Kingpin, promised you he could get your mother back with the collider. With a promise like that, you were more than willing to cooperate.

You didn’t work alone, though. You had a partner in crime, mostly because Kingpin didn’t trust you enough to work alone. You were just a kid, after all. Your partner called himself Prowler. You didn’t know his real name, nor did you care. All you cared about was your latest mission; kill all the spiderlings, specifically Spiderman.

This time, though, it wasn’t just you and Prowler. Kingpin was sending in Liv and Scorpion, his henchmen. It was to create a diversion. While they were fighting off the other spiderlings, you and Prowler were to take care of Spiderman once and for all.

The assignment didn’t sound too hard. It may only be you and your partner doing most of the work, but you were very strong. You and Prowler were a force to be reckoned with. Not only that, but you had enhanced weapons from Alchemax on your side. There was no way you could possibly fail the mission, and you would make sure of it. Whether you would get your mother back or not was riding on you killing Spiderman.

You were able to locate where all the spiderlings were hiding. You and your team members tracked down Spiderman and followed him to a small house in a quiet neighborhood. Turns out, the house belonged to May Parker, the aunt of New York’s deceased hero, Peter Parker. It made sense as to why she was hiding them, and it frustrated you that you didn’t suspect it earlier. It would’ve saved you a lot of time and effort.

You and Prowler broke in, busting the window. You set your sights on Spiderman as Prowler and the others fought off the masked heroes. You hurled punch after punch at Spiderman, but he dodged your attacks, only fueling your anger. He had the key to stop the collider, and you had to retrieve it. You couldn’t let him stop the collider, not when you were already so close to having your family back together again.

You had him cornered in the kitchen. He was trapped against the wall and table as you reached over and tried to snatch the usb from his grasp. “Hand it over, now!” You demanded angrily. Your voice was deepened as to hide your real voice.

Miles threw the table at you, throwing you against the wall. You pushed the table off of you, and followed him into the living room. He ran up the staircase, but you grabbed his ankle, dragging him back down. He fought back, kicking repeatedly until you let go. He managed to get away, making it to the roof, but you weren’t letting him go that easily.

You followed him to the roof, inwardly smirking to yourself as Prowler joined you. He grabbed Miles by his neck and held him up in the air.

“I’m gonna tell you one last time,” You growled as you extended the claws from your suit. Fear filled Miles’s eyes as you glared down at him. “Hand. It. Over.”

Before you could do any sort of damage to him, Miles quickly pulled off his mask. Your eyes widened, and Prowler’s grip on his neck loosened.

“Miles?” Your partner muttered in confusion. He, too, pulled off his mask as he stared down at his nephew in shock. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no.”

Miles stared at you in astonishment as you discarded your mask. You glanced back at him, tears threatening to spill. You felt so ashamed and disgusted with yourself. You’d been lying to Miles, and not only that, you tried to kill him.

“Please, Uncle Aaaron,” Miles whispered desperately. He glanced at you, tears in his eyes. “Please don’t do this, (Y/N).”

You glanced at your partner, and he stared back at you as he debated what to do. It was either kill Spiderman and get your mother back, or let Miles live and never have a complete family.

“Prowler, (Y/N), what are you guys waiting for?” Kingpin spoke through the small electronic device in your ear. “Finish him.”

You glanced at the white van that stood outside of May Parker’s house. You knew that Kingpin was in there, watching you both and waiting for your next move. You looked back at Miles and pulled his mask down, stepping away from him. You smiled sadly at him, knowing what would happen next.

You closed your eyes and accepted your fate as you heard the trigger go off. Not even a second later, you felt the impact of the bullet hit your body. You collapsed on the side of the roof as Aaron reached for you, but it was too late. He, too, had been shot.

Miles rushed to your aid, and grabbed you and Aaron with a surprising amount of strength. He threw you both over his shoulder and slung away. He landed safely in an secluded alleyway and laid you both on the ground.

You groaned in pain, clutching your side. You glanced over at Aaron, holding back a sob when you saw that he wasn’t moving. He had died on impact. You looked back over at Miles as tears streamed down his face.

“(Y/N), I’m so sorry,” He cried. “This is all my fault!”

“No.” You shook your head and reached over to hold Miles’s hand. He took your bloody one in his and kissed your knuckles lightly. “I’m sorry, Miles. I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

“It’s okay,” Miles whispered. “I forgive you.” He pulled your head onto his lap and ran his fingers through your hair. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop your inevitable death. All he could really do now was be by your side and comfort you as you slowly met your demise.

“Miles,” You groaned out. You could feel yourself slipping away, and you knew you only had minutes left. “Just k-know that I-I,” You tried to speak, but Miles shushed you.

“Save your strength,” Miles said through his tears, but you refused. If you were going to die, then you had to tell him.

“No, let me s-say this!” You insisted. You took a breath, slightly gasping for air. “M-Miles, I love you...”

Sobbing, Miles reached down and enveloped you in a kiss. It was a bittersweet moment as you were both saying your goodbyes. Miles pulled away as your hands become limp and slowly slipped down his face.

At the realization that you were dead, he sobbed, trying to hold himself together as he fell apart. He had lost two of the people he loved the most in the same hour. He knew he’d never be able to recover from that, but he had to try. Miles wiped away his tears and pulled on his mask as he stood up. He had to go on.

For you and his uncle.

Miles Morales Tag List: @marvel-girl-xo

#miles morales x reader #miles morales imagines #miles morales #prowler #peter parker #gwen stacy #spiderman #spiderman noir #peni parker #spiderham #spiderman into the spider verse

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tyler-shaw · 6 years ago

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Letting Go.

youtube

Hey everyone, it’s the mod, Napalm Knight.

It’s been a long time since anyone’s hit up this blog, but this will be the very last time for the sake of closure. The short version of what I’d like to say is that running Tyler’s blog really was a joyful part of my life that I learned a lot from. I met a lot of amazing people and had a hell of an experience. Whether you directly interacted with Tyler’s life or just liked to watch as it unfolded, your support carried me so far through much unexpected hardship. Thank you so much for everything you’ve given me. If you still love Tyler and you are interested in his future projects, he will be featured in Blank Slate. Otherwise, the more lengthy version of this is under cut.

For those of you who didn’t already know, I would like to openly state that Tyler’s stories have always been a method of catharsis for me. His stories are often measured parallels of struggles from my own life which is where I draw inspiration. I wanted to push for Tyler being the sort of character who lets you know it is always okay to be gentle, vulnerable, and to cry when you are hurting. It doesn’t make you weak, and can in fact make you stronger. I wanted his story to convey that while not all good things last, it doesn’t have to make you any less of a good person. His story is about always trying everything you can to make things work, but knowing when its time to stop and put yourself first. Sometimes people who you think you know well, who you love with your whole heart and would give anything for, will not always reciprocate and may even turn on you. Family, friends, lovers. Tyler experienced them all. However many times Tyler experienced his life being uprooted and changed, he always found something new to smile about and chased after it with his heart on his sleeve. Through the limitations I had at the time, I hope that I was still able to communicate these things with him, and I hope he helped at least some of you in one way or another.

This video project is a release for the pain that comes with learning to forgive yourself for mistakes, and for being unable to protect yourself from others who took advantage of your kindnesses. Its forgiving yourself for when you couldn’t protect yourself, and learning to truly let go and move forward in life. Its about how no matter how many times you might have to start over, the best is yet to come. I have seen a lot of best of life since the last time I posted to this blog, and for those of you struggling, don’t give up. It really does get better.

All other posts from Tyler’s blog will disappear, but not be deleted. I’m setting them to private, in order to help myself move on from this chapter of storytelling.

As for future projects, Blank Slate is an upcoming project I have started to develop in recent months for Tyler and his cast of friends. They have a twitter and tumblr, though the twitter is likely to be more active. I hope those of you who have loved Tyler will be interested in checking these things out as you glance back and find this post. You can also find me at my own twitter and tumblr.

Thank you so much, everyone, for all you have given me and Tyler. The joy I have felt thanks to the friendships and memories I’ve made here have lasted strong to today; they have fueled my creative dreams and healed my heart immensely. There is no bitterness that could overshadow the love I have felt.

Keep dodging bullets and living with a strong heart.

- Knight xo

#askblogs #thornville #tyler shaw #OCs #blank slate #vid #video

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frightenedhazelnoot · 6 years ago

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my mate, my lad my fave frightened hazelnoot, thank you muchly for the advice! ive deleted all our pics, convos and unfollowed her everywhere so i dont wallow and i feel very refreshed :) (also she dumped me because she’s really changed and become more bitchy and now she’s dating a boy even though she said she was a lesbian oh) much love xo

My friend, my dearest fellow lesbian, shit that sucks! But maybe if she’s become such a bitch, you dodged a bullet here? I hope you feel better soon & find a way to get through all this. Better things are waiting for you, I promise!

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aph-lithuania · 7 years ago

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Thank God there is another one who doesn't like Danish S///laughterhouse. As a fan who had some "friends'' being all hyped and calling themselves the queen or king of that fanfiction, it made me stay the hell away from it. And they were personally offended when I said it's overrated.

i’m surprised at how many people were unironically so into it????? glad u dodged that bullet tho! xo

#Anonymous

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xxbyimm · 7 years ago

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Enya’s Unexpected Journey - Chapter 18

For all other chapters, click the number: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16a, 16b, 17

There you go guys! Here’s chapter 18. Let me know what you think of it! What should happen next?

Chapter 18

Summary: Enya is home. Something is very off. Why can't she stop dreaming about a pair of blue eyes? And who is she, really?

Light.

There was so much light.

Enya turned around, trying to get away from the sun that burned on her face. She stretched her legs and felt soft silk sheets caressing her bare skin. She felt well rested, like she just had the first good sleep in ages. She yawned and snuggled into the bed again. ‘Where the fuck are we?’ her mind requested.

Right, she always forgot her mind liked to ruin happy moments like this one. No wait, not only happy ones. Just every moment in her life when she didn’t need her pesky inner self commenting on her every move. ‘I mean, I don’t know where we are…’ her mind went on. ‘So I hope you do, En. Because for all we know, we’re in an unknown bed, possibly with a weird guy and we might already have done SOME THINGS WE WILL REGRET FOR ALL ETERNITY!’ What? Enya flinched. Well, so much for her relaxed and happy mood. She’d probably find out where the heck she was, because her brain wouldn’t stop chattering before she did.

‘En, how are you doing?’ Someone pulled her from her reflections and touched her hair. He went on with stroking her forehead in a gentle manner. Enya froze, unsure what to do. ‘Honey, you’ve been sleeping for the past few days. You need to eat.’ Jason whispered in her ear. ‘WHAT?’ She got up faster than a speeding bullet. Jason was sitting on her bed. A cup of tea and a plate filled with biscuits in his hands. Enya rubbed in her eyes. How did she end up in her own bed? She just went out for a run this morning, right? What was going on? Why was her cheating boyfriend in her bedroom? ‘Relax babe.’ He smiled. ‘You’ve got some kind of flu. And a nasty one, too. You were lucky I happened to stop by a few days ago. You were acting crazy!’ ‘But I was…’ Enya stammered. ‘I’ve got to go…’ Jason put down the plate on her nightstand and pressed the mug in her hands. ‘You’ve been raving about the strangest stuff the last few days, Ennie. I had no idea what you were talking about!’ he told her. ‘It appeared to me like your mind was living in some kind of a fantasy world…’

Tears clouded her eyesight. Enya felt confused, her brain suddenly awfully quiet. Although the last thing she DID remember was leaving the house for her usual running routine, a small part told her she hadn’t been home for the last few months. Enya tried to recall WHERE exactly she had been then, but her memory was failing her. A numb pain was spreading through her body and drove out the positive aftermath of her sleep. Enya exhaled slowly. Right. She apparently caught some kind of weird flu after finishing her workout, which knocked her out for days. Assuming this was right, it still didn’t explain why she had the feeling she’d been living on the road for months. Why she had a feeling she should be somewhere else, instead of her own bed. Oh, and why she particularly remembered a pair of breathtaking blue eyes… What exactly did happen? Before she could ask Jason why she didn’t remember being sick, and more importantly, why his cheating ass was in her house, he started talking again. ‘I’m glad you’re awake again, love.’ He said. Enya nodded shortly. ‘Why are you here, Jason?’ ‘God, En! What a question!’ he groaned. ‘I took care of you all this time and this is your way of showing your gratitude?’ ‘Well…’ Enya studied her nails and noticed that they were unusually short. She liked to keep them longer. What did she do? Did she unconsciously start to bite her nails again? She frowned. ‘The last thing I remember, we broke up. You cheated on me with Abbie again, Jay.’ ‘I would never.’ Jason eyed her angrily. ‘And I don’t know why you would accuse me of such a terrible thing.’

Although Enya was confused about the whole situation, she did know one thing: Jason normally didn’t communicate like this. And he had never taken care of her like this before. Jason wasn’t sweet and caring. No exceptions. It almost felt like… She couldn’t put her finger on in yet, but something was very off. Enya took a sip from her tea and her left hand reached for her hair, unintentionally in search of the comforting cold metal-

It was gone.

Enya cried out and in a reflex she jumped from her bed. The tea mug escaped from her hands and shattered into pieces on the floor. ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’ Jason yelled as he tried to avoid the hot fluid that flew into his direction. ‘WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY BEAD?’ Enya shouted. ‘Bead?’ Jason shook his head. ‘I didn’t hear you talking about that, En. There are no beads here, I swear. Please stop screaming.’ ‘There was a BRAID in my hair!’ Enya yelled. ‘WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT??!’ ‘Babe, I have no idea what you’re talking about!’ Jason told her. ‘I want my bead…’ her voice cracked from all the emotions that ran through her. ‘En, I need you to calm down.’ Jason urged. ‘I don’t want you to have another episode.’ ‘Episode?’ she spluttered. ‘First you tell me I’m ill. And now I’m also having episodes?’ ‘Yeah, ones in which you black-out completely and won’t stop crying.’ Jason declared. ‘It’s terrifying to watch, actually.’ She didn’t want to cry, but it was impossible. Although her reason told her it was completely irrational to sob over the loss of a simple bead (and since when did she braid her hair anyway?) the tears already ran all over her face. She couldn’t even remember what the bead looked like and why the hell she was so attached to it, but the thought she lost it broke her heart. ‘Babe, relax.’ Jason cooed as he pulled her shaking body into his embrace. ‘You’ll be fine. I’m here. I’ll take care of you, okay?’ Enya sobbed. ‘You’ll be fine. I promise.’ Jason coaxed. ‘Why are you crying over a bead in your hair? I’ve never seen you wearing one.’ ‘I don’t know.’ Enya confessed softly. She tried to wipe the tears from her face, but it was no use. They kept on falling. One after the other. ‘Jay, I’ve got a feeling I forgot something very important…’ she whispered. ‘And I cannot tell what it is…’ ‘Your mind is still confused from being in the dream world so long.’ Jason told her in a confident manner. ‘You’ll feel better in no time boo, I promise you.’

He held her in his arms and stroked her back until the sobbing stopped and Enya’s breathing became normal again. ‘Why are you suddenly so caring?’ Enya breathed in his ear. ‘Because I lost you, Ennie.’ He replied. ‘And I’m not prepared losing you again. We belong together. You and me. The lumberjack and his little cutie-pie…’ Enya smiled vaguely. His words were sweet and she was tempted to believe him, but something inside of her held her back.

Little cutie-pie… Heck no. She was too fierce to be called cute.

‘Let’s get you cleaned up.’ Jason encouraged. He put her on her feet again and smacked her ass. ‘I bet a hot shower with even hotter company will make you feel all better again, eh love?’ Enya wanted to make a remark on him smacking her ass, but she got distracted by one word he used.

Company…

Again, Enya knew it was important to her, but she couldn’t tell why. The word told her something crucial, something she needed herself to remember, but her mind was still blurred. It was like grasping fog… she reached it, but then it was gone.

‘Thanks Jay.’ She said while creating some distance between them. ‘But can I postpone the hot company until after my shower?’ ‘Of course.’ He answered. ‘Let me get you a towel and some underwear.’ ‘No, I’ll be fine.’ Enya reassured him. ‘You don’t have to do everything for me, Jay. You’ve done enough.’ ‘Oh come on, please let me pick your underwear.’ Jason pressed. ‘After all that fussing over you, I want some fun.’

Enya eyed him for a moment, wondering what she should do. She didn’t want him to pick her underwear. Of course she didn’t. If he thought that some sweet words or caring actions would make her take him back, he was mistaking. ‘I think you can manage a little while longer without fun.’ She finally responded. Jason leaned forward, ready to kiss her. ‘Alright miss independent, you choose. But it has to be sexy. I see you downstairs.’ ‘Yeah’ Enya said and she tried to dodge his kiss, but he was quicker than she was.

Luckily, it was just a shallow one.

Jason smiled and then turned to make his way to the stairs. Enya listened as the sound of his heavy footsteps faded. With the back of her hand she wiped the taste of his lips off hers. Ugh! It didn’t feel right to kiss him.

That feeling surprised her a little bit, because normally she would’ve been over the moon with Jason’s presence. Even after everything he had done to her. That “old” Enya (before this assumed flu) had been heartbroken by his betrayal again, but also would’ve been desperate enough to take Jason back. She knew she would. She’d probably would have felt proud about that too, thinking that in the end he chose her. Enya slowly shook her head. She couldn’t tell why she felt different today. Why the fact that Jason cheated on her with Abbie wasn’t bothering her as much as it should any more. Actually, she wanted him to direct his attention to other girls. She wanted him to be gone, and never have to deal with him again. His kiss wasn’t right. He lacked passion. He didn’t possess those blue eyes she couldn’t stop thinking about…

What did this so-called sickness do to her?

Enya turned around and opened her closet. Right. Back to business. Towel. Underwear. Enya shrugged when her hands automatically picked out one of her favorite corsets. She wanted to wear it, but she knew Jason had nothing to do with that urge… Oh well. Maybe she just wanted to get pretty for herself. Enya smiled and she grabbed her favorite clothing before she made her way into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and just wanted to undress when she saw her own reflection in the mirror. ‘Who is that?’ she whispered. The mirror image looked back, the expression on the girls’ face intrigued. ‘Is that me?’ Enya gasped. ‘Really?’

She carefully touched her face. The reflection did the same. Damn, she looked really… hot! Due to that sickness she lost a fair amount of weight, making her cheekbones more pronounced and her stomach… flat. Her complexion was smooth and spotless and felt like she just came home from the spa after a detox treatment. Enya purred as she slowly turned around before the mirror. God! Her bum was rounder and cute and… Had she been squatting in her bed during those episodes? No, she couldn’t possibly do such a thing without remembering it. Enya bit her lip when she noticed that only her bum, but her whole body looked more fit than usual. Seriously, what was going on? What was Jason not telling her? Losing some weight during an illness was normal, but how on earth did her body get that healthy? Enya shrugged and turned on the shower. Her clothes landed on the floor. She smiled. She shouldn’t complain about the fact she suddenly had a flat stomach, because it made her belly button piercing even more pretty…

‘I like this piece of jewelry…’ A low baritone voice told her. Enya looked around, trying to find the person that spoke to her. But there was no one there. ‘What?’ she said. No answer. Enya shrugged. Maybe this was the last phase of her flu. Hearing voices other than her own… But yet the voice had sounded so familiar, so loving. She wanted to hear it again… She stood still for a while, waiting for the voice to return. But when it didn’t and all she could hear was the sound of the running shower, she stepped inside. Her body relaxed when she felt drops of warm water rolling over her skin. Enya closed her eyes and tried to enjoy her shower rather than panicking over the fact that she had no idea what just happened. She slowly started to wash her hair, massaging her scalp by making rhythmic circular movements. She really needed to calm down and set her priorities straight. ‘Tell me your pleasure is mine.’ The voice whispered to her. Enya suppressed a quiver. Her body suddenly felt needy, like it remembered something her mind didn’t. ‘Why would I do such a thing?’ Enya demanded, ignoring her yearning thighs.

She growled in frustration when the voice didn’t reply to her. What was she supposed to do? What was he trying to tell her? She closed her eyes and lowered her head to let the stream of water wash out the soap that she put in her hair. What was going on? Why did he sound so familiar? ‘I… I believe I love you, miss Blueheart’ the voice whispered against her skin. ‘And when this is all over… Will you marry me and be my queen?’ ‘There is nothing in this world that I would want more.’ Enya blurted out. She didn’t know why she said that, but she did know it felt astonishingly right to do so. ‘Will you allow me to make you mine?’ he asked softly as his hot breath caressed her naked skin. ‘Please do.’ Enya breathed. She could practically feel his hands all over her and his hot kisses in her neck. Suddenly her bathroom was gone. She was stuck between the damp prison wall and the hot body that belonged to the voice. His hands trailed down, finding the sensitive spot between her thighs and slowly massaging it, making her tremble with delight in his arms. Oh gods yes, she wanted this. She wanted him more than anything in the world. ‘Oh Thorin, yes.’ She whimpered.

THORIN?

Enya’s eyes flung open and she put her hands on her mouth before she could cry out his name again. Her body was shivering, clearly frustrated from the sudden interruption of her sexual fantasy. But this wasn’t exactly a fantasy, was it? She had been there, he had touched her exactly like that.

Thorin.

Oh god. The memories started to flood back into her mind. How they met, when she accused him of being part of a big larping event. The way he tied her up in her corset the first time. How they quarreled when she found out he didn’t want her to join the company. His remark “I’ve never seen you speechless before” when he caught her from that stoned trolls’ grasp. Enya smiled. How could she ever forget his anger management issues, particularly that day when Fíli and Kíli stole her clothes and she went after them? He didn’t object her reverted striptease in Rivendell though… She giggled as she remembered them arguing about her bitchfight with Dolvira… Thorin pushing her against a tree and kissing her with an unsaturable hunger. She blushed when she recalled the rest of the evening, when he decided to, in his words “tried to calm her down” by getting down on her. Good gods, in that department that dwarf really knew what he was doing. Enya bit her lip when her thighs twitched in anticipation. There were so many memories! She giggled again when she remembered how they flirted in Beorn’s house, how he defended her against Thranduil. His cute confession, when he finally had the guts to tell her in words how he felt about her. Oh, and how frustrated he had been afterwards when Bilbo disturbed their little rendezvous in their shared cell. How he laid a possessive arm around her waist, to show Jason she was off limits. Enya’s smile disappeared. How Jason forced her to come back with him to earth.

Gods. She sat down as the water trickled over her body. How could she not have seen this earlier? She had all the pieces of the puzzle, but yet she was too blind to put them together. How could she not have seen that Thorin was as much in love with her as she was with him? Seriously. How could she have doubted his feelings for her? Enya frowned. This wasn’t just lust, like Dolvira tried to let her believe. This was love. A fierce one, like he admitted to her in the elven kingdom in Mirkwood. Enya winced when she realized the obvious truth.

He was her one. And he was in another dimension. Another world. Separated from her. And to make matters worse, she had search someone who had the rare skill of making portals, so she could find her way back to him.

Well, fuck.

‘And did I tell you how much you screwed up his respect for you when you managed to ask him to get together with Dolvira again?’ her mind remarked. ‘So you’re finally back, eh?’ Enya whispered angrily, not wanting her mind to put salt into her open wounds. But her mind was right. She completely messed up. What was she thinking? How could she ask him to love Dolvira again? Honestly, when she looked back, how much of that story was true? She couldn’t believe Thorin would just promise the redhead something and started to court another woman after that. This wasn’t like him. It absolutely didn’t suit his character. He was too honorable for that. But did that mean that the warrior woman made the whole story up? Just to scare her away? Enya wiped away a tear that welled up from her eyes. It felt so right to leave these two behind, but now… she wasn’t so sure any more about that decision. What had she done? How could she ever face Thorin again? ‘Don’t wind yourself up in self-pity, Blueheart.’ Her mind scoffed. ‘Go make it right.’ Enya closed her eyes. Yes, she screwed up. She had to talk to Thorin. But right now, her priority was to find her bead and make her way back to him.

‘How was your shower, hun?’ Jason asked as Enya walked down the stairs. He was watching sports on her television and didn’t bother to turn around to watch how she really was doing. Normally she would’ve been offended, but today she was grateful for his big amount of disinterest. She had to find her bead first and she didn’t need him walking around the house, asking what she was doing.

‘Splendid, thank you.’ She replied. ‘Good.’ Jason commented, his attention already directed to the sports program again. ‘I’m going to put the trash out.’ Enya told him. ‘Yeah.’ He said.

Enya disappeared through the back door and walked around her house. Jason wasn’t the brightest soul on the planet… So where would he hide stuff he needed to get rid of? She didn’t believe he actually was stupid enough to put the evidence of her being in middle earth in the trash bin, so he must have found another way to hide her bead. And clothes. And traveling bag! Enya pressed her lips together. Right. She just had to think like Jason. What would he do? He surely wouldn’t try to…

Oh no.

She ran as fast as she could into the direction of the firepit. If he melted down her bead, that son of a bitch would have to pay for it. With her hands, Enya went through the ashes. It didn’t take long for her fingers to become as pitch-black as the charcoal the firepit contained. But she didn’t find her bead. ‘No! No, no, no, NO!’ she shouted.

Okay. Breathe, she told herself. Keep on breathing. She lowered herself on her knees and stared into the pit. She went through it again, thoroughly this time. It had to be there. She gasped when her fingers detected a heavy, small, rounded object. She carefully lifted it from the pit and inspected it.

Her bead.

A spark ignited inside of her. She knew it. Jason tried to deceive her. And oh, he was going to pay for what he had done.

‘What the fuck is this, Jason?’ Enya said as she plunged down on the pouf between him and his beloved television. She pointed at her bead, which she cleaned and hung on a silver necklace. It was safe. He had to kill her first to get his filthy hands on it again. ‘En, you’re in the way.’ Jason complained. ‘Seriously, I’d like to see this game.’ Enya gritted her teeth. ‘I’m talking to you, you useless PRICK!’ ‘What?’ Jason said. ‘You took my bead and tried to burn it, along with everything that could remind me of middle earth!’ Enya accused him. ‘Yeah.’ Jason replied. ‘I did.’ ‘Why?’ Enya asked. ‘Because I want you for myself, En.’ Jason told her in a matter-of-factly tone. ‘I recognized that stupid Thorin Oakenshield in an instant. And the way you looked at him. He was the one you couldn’t stop giggling about when reading that tedious book of yours, wasn’t he? You tell me I’m cheating on you, but you were cheating on me all this time… with him. In your head, whilst reading.’ ‘I think fantasies are a bit different than the real deal.’ Enya hissed. Jason smirked. ‘It doesn’t matter anymore En. We’re even. And you’re mine. You know that. You’ve always been mine.’ he stretched his back before he continued. ‘So I just had to make sure you wouldn’t be reminded about the living version of him again.’ ‘By burning my STUFF?’ Enya blazed. Jason shrugged. ‘I still think it was a pretty good idea.’ ‘That proves again how STUPID you are.’ Enya bickered. ‘I’m not YOURS. I thought I was clear when I caught you and Abbie in bed. And I was VERY clear when you harassed me in middle earth!’ Jason laughed. ‘Oh, Ennie.’ He said and he stroked her leg. ‘You and I both know that you’ll change your mind after I give you the fuck you yearn for.’ ‘Don’t you touch me.’ She growled. ‘Are you gonna put up a fight?’ Jason said as he licked his lips. ‘I like a challenge, Ennie. How long has it been?’ Her hands started to shake, but she didn’t feel her fire yet. ‘The ONLY person that I’ll allow to give me the so-called “fuck I yearn for”, would be Thorin.’ She proclaimed. ‘And NO ONE else is touching me without suffering the consequences.’ ‘Oh come on, En.’ Jason purred. ‘Does he know how to please you? The midget basically lives in the middle ages! I bet he doesn’t even know how to find-’ Enya lashed out twice, smacking Jason hard on his cheek. ‘Don’t you dare to talk about my king like that!’ she roared. ‘Your skills are no match to him. I can confirm it myself: he bests you. Easily.’ ‘That’s impossible.’ Jason hissed. Enya sighed. ‘Tell me then, master of lovemaking. What is a G-spot?’ ‘That’s a thing. In your body, En..’ Jason said, uneasy with the direction in which this conversation was going. ‘Listen I don’t have to PROVE myself to you. I don’t like the fact that you think it’s okay to start lecturing me like I’m some kind of high school kid.’ ‘Good! It is indeed a thing in a woman’s body.’ Enya praised. ‘That thing you cannot seem to find, Jay!’ She patted his head. ‘Now. I’m done with you. We’re over. I’m going to do some grocery shopping, and when I get back home, you’ll be gone. You’ll leave your key on the kitchen counter. Understood?’ ‘Bitch.’ Jason growled. ‘You asked for this!’ She avoided his grasping fists and slowly walked backwards to the door. ‘Get out.’ She declared. ‘Get out, you son of a bitch! Don’t make me hurt you.’ ‘Where’s your magic now, En?’ Jason mocked. ‘Where’s your beloved midget? He cannot protect you like I can.’ He stood up. ‘But right now, I don’t feel like protecting you anymore. I’m going to punish you for what you just said.’

Enya’s hands twitched and stung as she tried to let her hand palms fill with her fire, but there was nothing more than a spark. It didn’t work. She eyed Jason nervously. Why wasn’t it working? Why did her flames leave her?

‘Do you really want to face my fire?’ she said in an attempt to install fear.

Damn, her voice cracked. Alright, breathe! Enya inhaled sharply and tried to remember the moves Dwalin taught her. ‘If you’re stupid enough to lose your weapon one day and you have to face the enemy with your bare hands…’ he had explained. ‘Try to hit for the sensitive spots.’ ‘Like what?’ Enya had asked, which earned her a deadly look from the tough dwarf. ‘You know.’ He had growled. ‘The vulnerable parts… if you’re encountering a male, go for the balls.’

So that’s what she did. When Jason lunged forward to take her down, Enya lifted her foot and kicked him as hard as she could. ‘YOU BITCH!’ Jason howled as he landed on the floor, his hands around his crotch. Enya didn’t wait for him to get up again, grabbed her backpack that hung on the coat rack and ran outside. By the time Jason followed her outside, all he could do was scream at her car that disappeared from his view. In the car, Enya took a deep breath. She had to get out of here. There was no way she’d ever enter her house again.

‘Mom!’ Enya yelled as she entered her mothers’ house. She threw her heavy backpack on the couch. After she made a pitstop at Starbucks and her favorite hot chocolate with whipped cream and caramel calmed her down, she realized she needed to get some ladies stuff before returning to middle earth. So she picked up a few things… The lady at the cash register had eyed her suspiciously when Enya threw thirty boxes of tampons on the counter, and Enya had felt the need to explain herself (‘I’m going to live in the wild for quite some time, you see’). Which was completely unnecessary, because she probably would never see the lady again for the rest of her life.

‘Hello En.’ Her mother shouted back. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen you! But the real question now is: what do I owe the pleasure of enjoying your presence again?’ Enya sighed. So, the tone of the conversation was set, and it wasn’t going to be a friendly one. Couldn’t her mother just be normal? Just once? She really needed a shoulder to cry on right now. Jason just tried to attack her and she was separated from the love of her life… ‘Are my cute brothers and sisters home?’ she asked casually. ‘Nope.’ Her mother replied as she walked around the corner. ‘It’s just you and me, En.’ ‘Wow.’ Enya blurted out when she saw her mother again. ‘You’re such a dwarrowdam, mom! Unbelievable! How could I not have seen it?’

Her mother narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t seem surprised. She was short, just like Enya. Unusually short for a human. She had wavy golden locks and mesmerizing green eyes that would make a man do anything for her. She certainly was a female dwarf. No doubt. ‘What did you say, En?’ ‘Your real name isn’t Catherine, is it?’ Enya challenged her. She tilted her head. ‘No, Enya. You’re right.’ ‘Why didn’t you tell me about my ancestry?’ Enya demanded. ‘Why, mother? What did I do to you? Why did you choose to withhold such a huge part of my life from me? Who am I?’ ‘Oh, my dear Enya... I hoped the dragon had given you enough to make you forget about that…’ her mother muttered. ‘The dragon?’ Enya said. ‘Mom, what is going on? Why did you lie to me?’ Enya’s mother started pacing around the room. ‘Do you have any idea how hard it is?’ she began. ‘Do you have ANY idea how difficult it is to be a dwarf, in a human world?’ ‘You could’ve told me.’ Enya objected. ‘I cannot believe-’ ‘No, I couldn’t!’ her mother interrupted. ‘I couldn’t possibly tell you who you were!’ ‘Why not? It’s my right to know!’ ‘I suppose it is, you’re right.’ Enya’s mother admitted. ‘You’ve been to our homeland, haven’t you? Have you met your kin?’ ‘I have met a couple of longbeards. And someone I love.’ Enya whispered. ‘And he loves you back, no doubt.’ Her mother touched the bead in her neck. ‘It’s a beautiful courting bead. But why is it on a necklace? Why isn’t it in your hair?’ Enya flinched. ‘Jason came to get me and he forced me to come back here. I must have been unconscious when he took my bead and tried to burn it. He did a serious attempt to make me lose my memory of going to middle earth…’ ‘He isn’t your one.’ Her mother stated. ‘No.’ Enya sighed. ‘The truth is… I found him with Abbie a few months ago. I broke up with him before I ended up in middle earth.’ ‘He cheated on you?! Again?!’ her mother exclaimed. She sat down on the couch and pulled Enya next to her. ‘’Honey, why didn’t you tell me this earlier?’

Wow. Another tone. Maybe they weren’t going to fight after all today.

‘Let’s be honest.’ Enya told her. ‘We don’t get along very well, mom. I was afraid that you would judge me for it.’ ‘For telling him to get out when you discovered he was dishonoring you like that?’ Her mother’s face was filled with horror. ‘En… We might argue all the time, but you’re still my daughter.’ ‘Then please tell me the truth about me.’ Enya pleaded. ‘Alright.’ Enya’s mother rubbed her eyes. ‘Let me fill the gaps then.’ She took a deep breath. ‘The story begins with your grandparents. My parents.’ ‘Emrak and Gigira.’ Enya said. ‘The elven king of Mirkwood told me about them. How grandma escaped the city of Nogrod and how grandpa was unable to follow her.’ ‘Yes. Gigi gave you his locket.’ Her mother responded. ‘When I was a child, I wanted it so badly. He was my father and I missed him so much…’ ‘At least you KNEW who your father was.’ ‘But Gigi couldn’t part from it. And when she did, she gave it to you.’ Her mother mumbled, ignoring Enya’s remark. ‘You immediately were as attached to it as I was. I secretly was glad that the youngest of the Blueheart family got our most precious family heirloom, even when she didn’t know what it meant to us.’ ‘Mom. The story.’ Enya pressed. ‘What?’ her mother smiled. ‘Oh yes. The story.’ ‘When Gigira came to this world, with only a few nobles on her side, she was pregnant with me. They managed to survive and a few of them settled in Finland, where she got me. She called me Ailva.’ ‘Ailva? You lived in Finland?’ ‘Yes, darling. I speak Finnish fluently.’ Ailva told her. ‘I grew up there. Those early years in the woods were the happiest of my life. But to avoid suspicion, we had to move every twenty to thirty years.’ ‘Why?’ Enya asked. ‘We don’t age as fast as humans do. Remember we can live up to 250 years, En. People would’ve eventually found out and killed us.’ ‘How old are you?’ Enya asked. Her mother smiled. ‘I’m 173 years old.’ ‘And how old was Gigi?’ ‘She was 265 when she died.’ ‘Two hundred and sixty-five…’ Enya repeated. ‘That’s insane.’ Ailva chuckled. ‘Better believe it, hun. Tea?’ ‘Yes please.’ Enya followed her mother to the kitchen, and she sat on the counter while her mother boiled some water. ‘Mom, Finnish… I cannot believe it. You actually speak Finnish?’ Ailva laughed. ‘Why is that so hard to believe?’ ‘Because I always thought we were Americans…’ Enya responded. ‘When did you leave Finland?’ ‘When I was around thirty, I think. Thirty-three, or thirty-four…’ ‘THIRTY?’ Ailva touched Enya’s cheek. ‘The thirty’s of a dwarf are like the teenager years for humans. You start to grow up, argue with your parents, start to fancy members of the other sex...’ ‘That’s when I fell in love there you know, for the first time.’ She continued. ‘I met this boy in town and I told Gigi he was my amrâlimê. I knew I could never love anyone as fierce as I loved Matias.’ ‘But Gigi ruined it?’ Enya guessed.

She didn’t want to talk negatively about the dead, but her grandmother could be quite difficult. Although most of the time she had been such a sweetheart, but when you decided to do something Gigi didn’t approve of… well you had gotten yourself into trouble. Gigi would stop at nothing to make things “right” again. Enya smiled. Grandma was a true fire beard princess… stubborn as hell and highly opinioned. As were her daughter and granddaughter. No wonder the relationships between the three of them were so strained …

‘Yeah, your grandmother decided we should move.’ Ailva replied. ‘She told me I couldn’t possibly fall in love with a human. She wanted to keep the bloodline pure, to make sure another fire witch would be born. Her husbands’ legacy had to live on. No matter the costs.’ ‘And you stood up to her.’ ‘I did. Gigi and I quarreled, much like we do these days.’ Ailva smiled. ‘But in the end, Gigi acted quicker than I did and before I knew it, we were on our way to Europe. She told me not to worry, that I would love again.’ ‘Where did you go?’ Enya asked. ‘France. And after thirty years we moved to England. You were born in London.’ ‘LONDON?’ Enya squealed. ‘Mom, If you were only between sixty and seventy when you got me, HOW OLD AM I? WHY DON’T I REMEMBER?’ ‘Calm down.’ Ailva commanded and Enya recognized her grandmothers’ authoritarian tone. ‘I was 84 when I got you.’ ‘But…’ Enya blinked a few times. ‘You just turned 89. You were born in the summer of 1928 in London.’ ‘But why did I believe, until recently, that I’m 24? MOM?’ ‘Let me first explain who your father is.’ Ailva growled. ‘After that we’ll come to the part why you don’t remember much of your life.’ Enya took a sip from her tea and frowned. Sure, she wanted to know her whole life who her father was, but she didn’t expect her mother to come up with such a crazy story.

But hey, from the day she fell in middle earth, every day had been equally weird.

‘We were living in London and Gigi was pushing me to choose one of the noblemen as my life partner.’ Ailva mused. ‘How many respectable noblemen did come with her to this world?’ Enya wondered. ‘Not many. I still hadn’t forgot the cruel way she separated me from Matias and I told her there never would be another amrâlimê for me. So we made a deal.’ Ailva sighed. ‘I would let one of the noblemen court me and I would give her the heir she so desperately wanted. After that, I could do whatever I wanted.’ Her mother stated. ‘I think she hoped I would find happiness in one of the noblemen’s arms.’ ‘But you didn’t.’ ‘No.’ Ailva admitted. ‘Your father was the son of a mighty dwarf lord. His name was Rudor. Although we liked each other, he knew I wasn’t his one and I knew he never could be mine. Nevertheless, we married in the fall of 1927. After the wedding night I felt so guilty for giving myself to another instead of Matias… I ran away.’ ‘How romantic.’ Enya declared. ‘I always hoped I was born out of love…’ ‘We were practically strangers to each other.’ Ailva confessed. ‘You see, shortly after we came on earth, your grandmother decided that the group couldn’t stick together. It was too dangerous. Rudor and his sisters traveled to Italy and lived there before meeting us in London again.’ ‘But you’ve could have tried, mom!’ Enya told her.

She knew it wasn’t fair for her to say something like that. Because what would she do, if someone told her she could never see Thorin again and she had to marry Jason instead. Enya swallowed hard. She actually would rather die than having to deal with that.

‘I’m sorry.’ She apologized when she saw Ailva’s hurt expression. ‘Did you try to find your amrâlimê?’ Her mother nodded. ‘I didn’t care that it took me a few weeks to travel to my hometown again. But when I got there, Matias and I weren’t the same anymore. We changed. I had you growing inside of me and Matias was well in his forties. He clearly hadn’t wait for me to come back and started a family for whom he had to provide. He instantly recognized my little baby bump and told me he couldn’t take care of me. I was heartbroken, and on my own again.’ ‘What did you do?’ ‘I decided to go back to London. I had no choice. You were on the way and I needed someone to provide for me.’ Her mother sighed. ‘And when I came back… Gigi was mad with grief. She told me about the great flood that had scourged through London. Rudor had been out all day, trying to save the lives of the poor. Ironically, he died just a week after that from a cold he caught by being in the water so long. He saved so many lives that day, but a feisty flu took his…’

Enya didn’t know what to say. She had fantasized so much about who her father was. Although her mother had told her he died long ago, she always had kept hope. She wanted to meet him someday. How much she resembled him, because she didn’t look like her mother.

‘I know it is a lot to take in.’ her mother told her. ‘Really?’ Enya said sarcastically. ‘And where is the part where you finally tell me WHY I cannot remember most of my life?’ ‘I did that for you.’ Her mother objected. ‘Every twenty years, we had to start all over. We had to say goodbye to our friends, our home… It had broken my heart a few times and I did want to spare you that. So Gigi and I took you to the dragon a few times, to erase and adjust your memory before we boarded the plane again. He ensured us you would be perfectly happy. You could lead a normal life, making friends, having a boyfriend. Get a job. I didn’t want the fact that we’re dwarves would EVER hold you back from doing the things you love.’ ‘But somehow I always have known I didn’t belong.’ Enya whispered. ‘You have no idea how much I have hated myself for being different! For not fitting in, but never knowing why!’ ‘I’m sorry sweetheart.’ Ailva apologized. ‘I only did what I thought was right.’ ‘Is that why you hate me?’ Enya asked slowly, trying to hide her trembling voice. ‘Is the fact that I’m a dwarf the reason why you prefer my half-brother and sisters over me?’ ‘Don’t be daft.’ Ailva muttered. ‘I don’t prefer them over you. You’re just more difficult than them, because you’re dwarvish. They only have half the stubbornness you and I possess. You just couldn’t stop searching for your father, and I wasn’t going to tell you. I’d rather wanted you to hate me for it, because then at least you would be safe.’ ‘Safe?’ Enya objected. ‘You’ve lied to me for years! How did you pull it off? Really? Do they know? Did Phil know?’ ‘It’s complicated.’ Her mother responded. ‘But they all, Phil and your brother and sisters Alicia, Brad and Kaitlynn… they don’t know. Gigi and I were forced to take you all to the dragon once in a while.’ ‘Please tell me: who is this dragon you won’t stop talking about?’ ‘A powerful sorcerer in our world.’ Ailva explained. ‘He’s an expert in deceiving the mind.’ ‘I don’t like that fact.’ Enya hissed. ‘You allowed him to meddle with our brains? Really? You could’ve skipped the lies and told us the truth instead.’ ‘Enya, how? How did you think that would work out?’ her mother pleaded. ‘I couldn’t just go back on my decision! All those memories… It would be too painful for you to regain them again! And not just only for you… Think about your brother and sisters… Your stepfather…’ Enya scoffed. ‘I’m sure these painful memories you talk of are better than living a lie…’

Ailva kept silent.

‘You forced me to live with these false in my head.’ Enya muttered, trying to hold in the anger that was resurfacing. ‘I mean: I have recollections about playing with my siblings, but how could that ever be true? I’m 89… and they’re in their twenties…’ ‘Enya…’ Her mother stroked her cheek. ‘All your childhood memories are true… they’re just sometimes… a bit modernized and adjusted. In reality you watched your brother and sisters growing up, but your mind thinks it was you that grew up along with them. And they do too.’

Enya didn’t know what to say anymore and stared at her feet. Ailva pressed her lips together. ‘Enya, I’m terribly sorry about this. Like I said: I did what any parent would do. I gave you your best shot.’ ‘You still want that?’ Enya whispered. ‘Of course I do, honey.’ Her mother smiled. ‘I love you, you know. I’ve loved you for 89 years.’ ‘I suggest you take me to the dragon then.’ Enya said. ‘Because I need to get to middle earth again.’

The dragon was a tiny, but impressive man. His eyes were, just like his hair, black as a ravens’ feathers. He was wearing bright red Chinese robes with dragons embroidered on it. He watched Enya curiously as they came in. To her, he and his shop seemed all too familiar. The fragrance of spices and incense hung heavily in the air. The peculiar objects exhibited on the shelves along the wall… Although she couldn’t consciously remember it, she knew she had been here many times before. ‘The usual, Ail?’ the dragon firstly inquired, but then hold up his hand before both women could speak. ‘No, you don’t want the usual. You daughter needs me. She wants me to open a portal to middle earth, isn’t it? Strange.’ He paced around the room. ‘Two portals in two days… that doesn’t happen often.’ ‘Yes. My ex-boyfriend thought it would be a good idea to go on a “rescue a damsel who’s having a good time” mission.’ Enya told him. ‘He dragged me into this world again, and I need to go back.’ Behind her, she heard her mother backing out the conversation. Ailva started walking around the room, feigning a large amount of interest in the dusty bookcase just next to the door. She was glad Ailva gave her some privacy. ‘Why, my dear? Earth is safer than the world you just came from.’ ‘Because I belong in Middle Earth.’ Enya said. ‘I’m a fire witch from the fire beard clan and my kin needs me. I need to slay a dragon.’ The dragon smirked. ‘Not me, I hope.’ Enya giggled. ‘No. Unless you refuse me my portal.’ ‘I wouldn’t dare to refuse the future queen of Erebor her right to be in her homeland.’ He said as he bowed before her. ‘But why did you allow Jason to bring me back?’ Enya sighed. ‘I read his mind and his intention seemed clear. He told me he loved you dearly.’ The dragon said and he started pacing before her. ‘But it seems he deceived me. When I sent him through, I discovered that he took one of my strongest memory potions. It must have slipped in his pockets when he waited for his portal.’ ‘So you just let him do that?’ Enya blazed. ‘You knew he would try to erase my memory! You decided to wait and do nothing?’ ‘I didn’t know this was about you.’ The dragon defended himself. ‘But you can read minds.’ Enya shot back. ‘How could you NOT know this was about me?’ ‘You’re smart, miss Enya.’ He admitted. ‘But even I do miss certain things sometimes. Besides, your powers are now stronger than any memory potion I possess. It cannot hold your true self back anymore.’

The dragon walked up to her and looked her in the eye. ‘He hurt you.’ He exclaimed. Enya nodded. ‘He harassed me today, yes.’ ‘And I unconsciously let him.’ The dragon admitted. ‘I apologize for that.’ ‘It’s fine.’ Enya responded. ‘Although I would be relieved if you could do something for me.’ ‘Anything.’ ‘Can you please let Jason forget about me? I cannot risk him threatening the lives of my kin, again.’ The dragon said nothing but just nodded.

Suddenly she felt so tired. The loss and gain of her memory, the fight with Jason, the conversation with her mother… it was all too much. Her head was buzzing with questions… Was there any way to get her memory back? Did she want that anyway? Why did that portal open up to her all those months ago? Did she lose her powers on her way to earth?

‘That portal was meant to be.’ The dragon answered, in a manner like she just asked him that question aloud. ‘I don’t know how you conjured it, but you did. Not one portal looks the same and they don’t appear on their own.’ ‘I was singing when it happened…’ Enya muttered. ‘Well, screaming actually.’ ‘What did you say?’ the dragon inquired. ‘It’s so hard for me, seeing light at the end of the tunnel…’ Enya answered him. ‘There you go. Your heart knew where you should go. The magic in you did the rest..’ ‘You lost me there.’ Enya confessed. ‘My powers are derived from nature, like I’m some kind of modern avatar. But how can I summon a portal?’ He chuckled. ‘Modern avatar. Good one, I should remind that one.’ Enya rolled her eyes. ‘Who says nature doesn’t have the power to open portals?’ the dragon mused. ‘You’re even worse than Gandalf.’ Enya groaned. ‘Why speak in riddles when you can be clear about the things you mean?’ ‘Because the truth is never clear.’ He smiled. Enya sighed. ‘Never mind.’ The dragon laughed. ‘You’re still young, my dear. You don’t have to understand everything. Just experience your life. Live it to the full. Use your powers, but with care. In time, you’ll understand what I told you.’ ‘But my powers…’ Enya fretted. ‘They don’t work anymore.’ ‘Magic works differently in this world.’ He replied. ‘Your powers are still there. You’re just in the dark how you should use them.’ Enya frowned.

‘I’ll make you a portal.’ The dragon promised as he patted her shoulder. ‘Now go say goodbye to your mother. I’ll be ready in a few minutes.’

Her mother grabbed her into a tight hug. ‘I love you.’ She whispered. ‘I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me, Enya.’ ‘Mom.’ Enya breathed. ‘You’re just like your father.’ Ailva cried. ‘You have his eyes, his hair. He was a kind and loving dwarf. I’m so sorry I couldn’t love him like you wanted me to, but I do love you more than I can describe.’ Ailva touched the courting bead on Enya’s necklace. ‘Now go to Thorin, son of Thráin, son of Thror. Be his queen. Go claim your birthright.’ ‘How do you…’ Enya began. ‘Gigi mentioned Thorin once. Your grandfather had told her about the quest for the lonely mountain. She said my unborn daughter, princess of the fire beards, would become its queen one day.’ her mother replied. ‘And on that day the longbeards and the fire beards will be united again…’ ‘But…’ Enya whispered. ‘Oh, there is so much I want to tell you, but there’s no time…’ her mother interrupted. ‘Enya, your locket… Your locket can do powerful things. When it’s in the right place, it can protect you, and your kin.’ ‘But that doesn’t make sense!’ Enya protested. ‘What is the right place?’ ‘No time.’ Ailva told her. ‘You need to go. A portal cannot stay open for too long.’

She pushed her daughter away. ‘Step inside.’ The dragon ordered. ‘You have to leave.’ Enya took a deep breath, but then turned around. ‘Mom, I love you too.’ she said. ‘I’m sorry if I hurt you. I didn’t mean to.’ ‘I know.’ Ailva responded as she watched her daughter disappear into the golden whirlwind in front of her. ‘I know, my daughter.’ She repeated.

The whirlwind was just starting to fade when the door of the shop burst open and a large muscular male walked inside. ‘YOU LET HER GO?’ Jason yelled behind Ailva. ‘AFTER I DID ALL THIS TROUBLE????’ Ailva turned and she clenched her jaw. ‘If that isn’t Jason.’ She growled. ‘You hurt my daughter.’ ‘Is that what she told you?’ he smirked. ‘She was the one that was rude to me today and I intend to teach her a lesson.’ ‘Make me a portal, dragon guy.’ He ordered. The dragon folded his arms. ‘I don’t think so, young man. The lady explicitly said she didn’t want you to follow her.’ ‘I don’t care what she thinks.’ Jason told them. ‘I want her. So she’s gonna be with me. Whether she likes it or not.’

Ailva’s fist was fast. It landed on Jason’s jaw and he howled in horror. With a quick whip from her legs he was on the ground. Ailva pinned him down. ‘You will NEVER hurt her again.’ She whispered. ‘’ ‘Let’s give him what he deserves…’ the dragon said as he handed Ailva a small flask with darkish brown potion in it. ‘I’m not drinking that.’ Jason whined. ‘Please don’t do that to me.’ ‘You should’ve thought about that when you hurt Enya over and over again.’ Ailva told him. ‘But back then, you didn’t care about her OR her feelings, huh?’ ‘Please let me go.’ Jason tried.

‘No. This will give her the best shot she’s got…’ she hissed. ‘You will be the last one to disturb her happiness… NOW DRINK UP!’

#thorin oakenshield #thorin x reader #thorin x oc #thorin imagine #thorin #the hobbit #adventure #fluff and smut #eventual smut #romance #magic

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