#everyone pray i can find something decent ASAP

[moth--knight]

finally going 2 quit my shitty job @ the semi infamous company that keeps getting (rightfully) dragged on social media.......everyone cheer

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Zyphus, the Grim Harvestman

Neutral Evil God of Accidental Deaths, Graveyards, and Tragedies

Domains: Death, Destruction, Evil, Plant, War Subdomains: Blood, Catastrophe, Daemon, Decay, Murder, Thorns, Undead

Inner Sea Faiths, pg. 88~93

Obedience: Spend an hour sitting on the grave of someone who suffered an accidental death. You must reflect on how chance has wronged you and vocally reject the influence of any gods associated with these wrongs. If no suitable grave exists, spend an hour telling strangers how their religious beliefs and hopes for a just afterlife are folly and of no consequence. Alternatively, you can write this screed and post it in a public place within a settlement. If you’re away from civilization, you can instead spend an hour sabotaging a path, bridge, tool, or other device so that it’s dangerous for the next person who uses it. Benefit: You gain a +4 profane bonus on Craft (traps) or Disable Device checks, chosen when you complete the obedience. 

i’m glad the grim harvestman covers his basis but also jesus

Anyway, Zyphus is one of the most petty and spiteful of the gods, and this is no better shown than in this Obedience. A typical adventurer wandering the countryside must actively make the world a worse place for everyone else involved, and the clause “next person who uses it” means that you have to either toss aside your party’s good will, or take up the dreaded spot at the back of the marching order. Should you find yourself in a public area, you become just as much of an obnoxious git as a follower of Groetus, except this time you’re personally spitting on their beliefs... However, if you wish to be significantly more tolerated by society, you should do as Zyphus encourages his followers to do and disguise yourself as a Pharasmin or the faithful of another god of order and afterlives and very carefully disguise your blasphemy as “misguided” teachings. At worst, you can feign ignorance and/or explain that you’re new to the faith and had no idea that what you’re saying is wrong. You can even blame other Zyphans for muddying your understanding of the truth, an act I’m sure the Harvestman finds extra ironic!

Telling someone that their practices don’t matter because Pharasma has already decided your fate is the easiest way to go, and the best part is it’s not even inaccurate! NPCs don’t have the spiritual freedom PCs do, so their path is already nearly impossible to change! Get pranked, idiots! Masquerading as one of Pharasma’s flock comes in especially handy when performing the first and ‘easiest’ ritual, as well, because tending to graves is something the Lady of Graves wants people to do in the first place. Make sure to be careful with how you word your vocal casting away of the god’s will, however, or you may arouse more suspicion than you soothe.

The benefit is subpar. Crafting traps is alright, but you’ve likely got better things to use your gold on--wait, there’s no restriction on the CR of traps you can craft, so long as you can beat the DC and have the gold? Well. Go crazy, go stupid, I guess! Here’s a list of everything you can make! The most cost-efficient and useful, however, is the CR 1 bear trap, which--make no mistake--will absolutely shred lower level encounters, but will lose a lot of its spark later on. At least it costs basically nothing to make! Traps are usually the domain of the DMs, but if you need to hold an area? They can come in very, very handy. Otherwise, you’re just leaving them behind you on lonely roads in the hopes some fool will step on them.

Disable Device is normally the way you want to go, shutting off traps that could be a potentially lethal danger for most of the party at most levels. And, of course, rearming them so some fool behind you can stumble into them later. Even if your adventure doesn’t contain many traps, you should never underestimate the strength there is in doing something as simple as popping a lock.

Boons are acquired slowly: the first once you reach 12 hit dice, the second at 16, and the third at 20. However, the Evangelist, Exalted, and Sentinel Prestige Classes can be entered as early as level 5; doing so grants you the Boons at levels 8, 11, and 14 instead. As Zyphus is a true deity and does not require Fiendish Obedience, you earn the right to enter the classes earlier than those who serve fiends!

-------- EVANGELIST --------

Boon 1: Champion of Cruel Chance. Gain Deathwatch 3/day, False Life 2/day, or Healing Thief 1/day.

Decent all around! And by “decent” I mean “they have niche uses, but shine in those uses.” Healing Thief is the most interesting one, establishing a link between you and a creature you touch that causes the victim to heal only half as much from magical or supernatural means, with you gaining the other half. Creatures who gain Fast Healing or Regeneration through supernatural circumstances can become a boon to you, while enemies relying on Channeled positive energy or in-combat healing will find themselves struggling. The best part is that it doesn’t even offer a saving throw!

Of course, it’s still a touch attack, and you have to remain within an extremely tight radius around the enemy (25ft + 5ft/level) to maintain the siphon. This is a little riskier than I’d like, not to mention it’s completely useless if your foe doesn’t use any in-combat healing. Also, at only 1/day, I’d probably settle for the significantly more boring False Life for a nice 1d10+8 (up to +10) temp HP that lasts for a million years. It’s not much, but you can use it twice and it might stop some scratch damage, and every point between you and 0 HP is nice.

Deathwatch lets you instantly know if you’re looking at an Undead or disguised Construct, which is its primary function in my book. With a duration of 10 min/level, it’s likely to last for entire dungeon floors and makes you an expert at calling out foes who’re on their last legs but otherwise looking healthy. It’s a decent spell if you’re unsure of what you’re going up against or want to be the pointman for your team, but otherwise False Life is the typical go-to.

Boon 2: Resiliency. 1/day, you can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your Hit Dice, lasting for 1 minute. Activating this ability is an immediate action that can be performed only when you would be brought below 0 hit points, and can be used to prevent you from dying. If you have the Resiliency ability from another source, you can activate these abilities separately or as part of the same immediate action.

As far as I can tell, there is exactly one source for the Resiliency ability as it’s written here, and that’s a single Rogue Talent. It’s... eeeeeegh, not so good. It lets you stall death’s timer for a single minute, usually long enough to end the battle (or be ended) and get some real healing. It will likely save your life at least once in a campaign, but the goal here is to avoid being brought to 0 in the first place! Especially since this will, if obtained ASAP, only shield you for 11 HP, which is one--maybe two--attacks from a creature with a similar CR and basically nothing against spells being flung around at that level. This Boon is actually worse in many ways than just giving +1 HP per HD you have, especially since you technically already have access to the same amount of temp HP in False Life.

I suppose the most amusing use of this power is to fake being down and out until your foe turns away, but that carries risks of its own. If you’re brought to -20 or something and the temp HP only takes you to -5, you’re still knocked out but at least have some mercy time before you start dying for real. I’d advocate for combining this with Diehard if you want to get the most out of it, because otherwise this is an extremely subpar “Life Insurance” Boon that will really only impress the group maybe once or twice in a campaign and be boring or underwhelming in all other moments.

I’d want it to be at least 2 or even 3/day.

Boon 3: Tragic Minion. By spending 1 minute praying over the corpse of a Humanoid opponent or a Humanoid who has died a tragic death, you can summon an Allip to serve you. Unlike a normal Allip, this Allip is of an alignment that matches yours, and has a number of hit points equal to half your total. It receives a +4 bonus on Will saves to halve the damage from channeled positive energy, and it can’t be turned or commanded. This Allip serves as a companion to you and can communicate intelligibly with you despite its madness. You can dismiss it as a standard action. If the Allip is destroyed or dismissed, you can’t summon another for 7 days. This ability allows you to have only one Allip companion at a time.

Oh, that’s cute! You get a little insane friend! Unfortunately, as you can see here, it’s about 10 levels too late to actually be useful. At the level you can finally summon one, your Allips are extremely fragile, as even with their boosted HP they’re still only protected by an AC of 14 and no outstanding resistances aside from their incorporeality. Enemies with magic weapons are almost a certainty by level 14, and even enemies without magic weapons will rarely ever fail their save against the Allip’s Touch of Madness, whose save DC doesn’t scale past 15. You’d be relying wholly on it scoring critical hits, which make the Wisdom damage and drain irresistible, but that’s obviously not viable.

Really, all parts of Tragic Minion are ironically accurate. The Allip can’t even really serve as a scout, because they constantly Babble to themselves in a way that hypnotizes everyone within 60ft of them. Even with their +8 Stealth, a bunch of mooks suddenly stopping and standing still will alert enemies who can succeed the DC 15 Will save that something strange is going on. Adding in that Allips have no ability to hide or disguise themselves, just walking around with one is enough to turn heads. And don’t even think about just dismissing it and summoning another one, or using it in combat with any level-appropriate foe, or this is a blank Boon for an entire week!

Seriously, the 7 day ban on summoning another one is a serious kick in the teeth when the “only one at a time” limit was restrictive enough. You’d think Zyphus would be happy to grant his most powerful Evangelists more than one CR 3 minion at a time, but no! If you lose this extremely fragile minion, no more for 7 days! That’ll teach you to take good care of your toys! And that’s more or less the Allip is; a toy. An accessory.

-------- EXALTED --------

Boon 1: Catalyst of Destruction. Gain Break 3/day, Find Traps 2/day, or Spiked Pit 1/day.

Well I certainly hope there’s traps, given who you’re working for! But it’s good to have insurance that they’re not aimed at you. Find Traps lasts a decent time (1 min/level) and grants a monstrous Perception bonus to spotting them, automatically triggering a Perception check if you draw too close to a trap as well which--depending on how you interpret the spell--alerts you to the fact one is nearby even if you don’t see it. Then you can use Zyphus’ granted +4 to Disable Device to knock it out!

Break can have its uses, shattering enemy equipment even as they wield it. Just remember that targeting an attended object allows the wielder to make a saving throw in its place, while an unattended object gets no saving throw (provided it’s nonmagical). And since Break targets Fortitude, it’s not likely to affect the targets you’d really need it to (Fighters in heavy armor and Barbarians with big weapons), but if your teammates can knock their weapons from their hands, they’re free game. However, the use of Break in combat doesn’t nearly compare to what it can do out of combat; weakening doorways, crumbling containers, sabotaging enemy equipment they’d otherwise grab later, and cracking open items made of skymetal. Note that a second casting of Break outright destroys an item that’s already broken, and you have three each day! Personally, I’d save it for the times you need to sabotage something or bypass a small obstacle, rather than risk a high-Fort-save enemy succeeding in combat and wasting your turn.

And I’ve spoken about Spiked Pit before, here and here, but to reiterate:  it’s a pseudo Save-or-Suck that seriously waste the time of anything without a decent Strength score or some Climb skill as they crawl back out of the pit, while you and your allies either deal with other foes, or rain destruction down on them from above. Even if the victim makes their initial save, the pit doesn’t go anywhere, letting you push your targets in one at a time if need be. Since it’s literally just a huge hole in the ground, you can even hurl multiple enemies inside! AND it’s filled with damaging spikes! The spikes don’t do much, but every little bit helps.

Boon 2: Ever Vigilant. You are protected by a constant Death Ward, The immunity to energy drain ends after the effect has prevented a number of negative levels equal to your Hit Dice*, which resets when you next perform your Obedience. In addition, you gain a +2 profane bonus on saving throws against effects that occur before your first turn in combat.

*it says “Exalted level” but that would mean that this could have zero effect if you don’t class into it, so it’s been changed to prevent it from being a dead Boon.

Huh, this is pretty g--wait. Hold on, let me read this a little closer

“The subject gains a +4 morale bonus on saves against all death spells and magical death effects. The subject is granted a save to negate such effects even if one is not normally allowed. The subject is immune to energy drain and any negative energy effects, including channeled negative energy.“

and what did Ever Vigilant say? “The immunity to energy drain ends--”? But that implies that the rest of Death Ward stays up, right? ... right :)

A lot of Boons grant you an everlasting spell effect for your trouble, but none of them are quite as potent as this one. Death Ward UTTERLY stops negative energy effects, crushing the entire school of Necromancy underfoot, crippling the offensive power of most forms of Undead, and ironically making the devotees of the God of Tragic Death some of the hardest sons of guns to actually tragically kill. Even if an incoming death effect offered no save (such as Power Word Kill), Death Ward forces one, and because you’re Ever Vigilant you don’t even have to know you’re going to face one to begin with!

Also, a universal +2 bonus to saves when out of combat, and for the first round in combat! A nice and cute addition, making it slightly harder for enemy casters or monsters relying on their powers to get the jump on you. Ever Vigilant makes you one of the best Undead hunters out there... Which is why it’s--ironically--tragic that Zyphus, an Evil god, gives it out. In an Evil vs Good campaign, you’re not likely to actually be combating enemies who use negative energy, death effects, or anything else Death Ward protects against. The real sauce in this ability comes from an Evil vs Evil campaign, or a campaign in which you’re pretending to be Good, or at least Neutral! Just... make sure it ends before level 14, because...

Boon 3: Visitor From Abaddon. 1/day as a standard action, you can summon a pair of Greater Ceustodaemons as if with Summon Monster II, and gain telepathy with them to a range of 100 feet. The Ceustodaemons follow your commands perfectly for 1 round per Hit Die you possess before vanishing back to their home on Abaddon. The Ceustodaemons don’t follow commands that would cause them to perform overly good acts or save mortal lives other than your own, and they immediately vanish if your orders contradict these restrictions.

...it’s going to be very difficult why a Pharasmin can summon two daemonic gorilla-men who breathe electricity. Ceustodaemons are bred to be the dumb muscle of Abaddon, but they’re still capable warriors in their own right with decently damaging claws (2d6+6) and a bite (1d6+6) and the ability to exhale 6d6 points worth of Electricity damage in a 30ft cone. There’s also their spell-likes, an at-will Dimension Door letting them infiltrate and scout for you, a 3/day Fly to make your party a nightmare to fight, and a 3/day Dispel Magic to crack enemy magic open.

However, they’re only CR 7, unlikely to stand up on their own against level-appropriate threats. So, the key here? Don’t use them against level-appropriate threats, as is normal with summons dramatically weaker than you are. They’re terrors that shine brightest against enemies hovering around the CR 10 or so range, their resilience and immunity against--and I’m not exaggerating--nearly every status effect in the game except petrification and their DR 10/Good or Silver letting them slug it out with mid-level foes and rip apart nearly anything else lower than that.

There’s also the fact that they can be summoned as a standard action with a range of Close, letting you teleport your gorilla fiends right at the enemy’s vulnerable backline or in front of their melee bruisers to tie them up while the rest of your team flanks. The standard action summoning is the biggest treat here, because being able to have two more beefy bodies available immediately shifts any battle in your favor... But know that if your campaign keeps going past level 14, your gorilla men are going to have a harder and harder time standing up to level-appropriate enemies, and it’ll eventually cause them to be summoned to fight against minibosses only or--eugh--being sent on scouting missions. They’re good at them, mind, but you know how it is.

At their absolute worst, though, they’re still six castings of both Fly and Dispel Magic. There’s worse things out there.

-------- SENTINEL --------

Boon 1: Walking Disaster. Gain Bungle 3/day, Spontaneous Immolation2/day, or Deadly Juggernaut 1/day.

Bungle is a fun spell, slapping a target with an insurmountable -20 penalty to their next attack roll or check requiring a d20 roll, but since the spell is only level 1 and takes your concentration to maintain, it’s not likely going to stick. Granted, it lingers for 2 rounds after you stop concentrating so you can focus elsewhere, so there’s certainly worse spells to use... but it only affects one attack roll or check at a level where most enemies have two or even three attacks, making it significantly less useful than it looks. It’s best if you use it out of combat to scramble a skill check a foe is trying to use, but it’s negated by a Will save entirely so it loses a lot of potential oomph. And I just read the spell even closer and it says it only works on Humanoid targets, so it’s even worse than I previously thought!

Spontaneous Immolation is infinitely funnier to use, anyway. Why make someone flub a speech or fail an Escape Artist check when you could have them suddenly burst into flames from within? With no component requirements, Spontaneous Immolation is TRULY spontaneous, the victim exploding into fire without having an idea of the source. You could potentially make people believe it’s the wrath of your god, the power of some curse you possess, or even the wrath of their god if you can spin it well enough. The damage is middling--3d6--and is halved on a successful save, but it’s got a range of Medium and sets its victim alight if they fail their save so you can create a single spark in a crowd that becomes a roaring inferno as the panicking victim grabs onto whatever they can to try and put themselves out.

As God of Sudden Death, it’s a perfect spell for both in and out of combat, slaying random citizens in bursts of horror and pain they’d have no chance to realize is coming, I’m sure Zyphus approves of using it to malice citizens just as much as he enjoys watching his faith’s foes burst into flames. This leaves Deadly Juggernaut, a spell that a martial character such as yourself would normally LOVE getting... if it weren’t for the final clause stating that the effect doesn’t trigger unless you slay a foe within 4 HD of yourself. While that prevents the effect from being exploited with a Sack Of Rats, it also makes it far less likely to activate if you’re fighting swarms of lower-level enemies. It DOES mean that battling creatures of roughly equal strength to your party has some pretty high snowball potential, but since you, personally, have to reduce the target to 0 HP, unless you’re the party’s DPS you may just end up missing out on most of the spell.

I’d personally just tuck Makes You Explode under your belt each day. If nothing else, it’s a funny prank to pull on the locals.

Boon 2: Tragic Accident. 1/day as part of a successful attack, you can target your opponent with either Inflict Critical Wounds or Poison as a free action. The DC for this ability is (10 + 1/2 your Hit Dice + your Cha mod). You don’t have to declare the use of this ability until you know the attack is successful.

More than almost any other god I think I’ve encountered, Zyphus encourages lying, subterfuge, and you looking as harmless as possible. Even the ostensible God of Secrets and Murder, Norbergorberburgerhurger, inspires less subtlety in me than Zyphus, because his domain is specifically accidental deaths. You gotta make your kills look like mistakes no one could have seen coming, which makes Tragic Accident yet another tool in inspiring fear and terror than actually being useful in a fight.

Give someone a playful slug on the shoulder and scream as they fall over, dead. Deck some guy who’s hitting on you in a bar in the chest and feign horror as he suffers an apparently fatal heart attack as Poison rips through his body. Hit someone with a blowdart or even just hurl a pebble at someone and strike them down with nearly no trace, since this ability can work with ranged attacks as well. Coming up with subtle ways to use this power out of combat is significantly more fun than thinking of ways to use it in battle, because as a 1/day negated (or halved, in Critical Wounds’ case) by a save is just asking to be disappointed.

Especially in the case of Poison, because if you want someone dead in combat, hitting them usually works better than slowly, slowly, slowly hoping and praying that their Con hits 0. Inflict Critical Wounds is a little more useful if you’re using it to speed up an opponent’s death in combat, dealing 4d8+11 (+1 per level) damage... or healing an Undead ally. Yes, you have to hit with an attack, but as I’ve already stated above, the attack doesn’t have to deal much--or ANY--real damage to trigger a Tragic Accident. I do appreciate that Zyphus assures your attack connects before you trigger this ability, a lot of other Boons are not so gracious. Like...

Boon 3: Unfairness of the World. 1/day, you may fill an attack with negative energy. You must declare your use of this ability before you roll the attack roll; on a hit, the target gains a number of negative levels equal to 3 + 1/2 your Hit Dice unless it succeeds at a Fortitude saving throw (the DC for this ability is the same as Tragic Accident’s DC). If you openly wear an unholy symbol of Zyphus, the saving throw DC to resist this effect increases by 2.

... This one!

Hah. Well. Whatever you hit with this is dead. Like, straight up dead. The name of this Boon is as accurate as can be. There is NO recovering from being slapped with ten negative levels (+1 for every 2 levels you have!), because even if your victim survives the initial onslaught of energy, that’s a -10 to every single roll they make and the loss of some or even all of their high-level spells and most potent abilities. This isn’t so much a Save-or-Suck as it is the mother of all signals for your entire party to unload every SoS they have on their person upon your victim.

IF it lands.

Because not only do you have to succeed an attack roll to use this ability or have it dissolve into the aether, but they also have to fail a Fortitude save. That’s two possible points of failure for this ability which seriously reins in its potential, but with just a LITTLE bit of setup you can cut your unfortunate victim in half. It’s definitely both a possible end to a fight AND something you can smite a random citizen with by using the same “things that count as an attack roll” exploits I listed Tragic Accident. By the time you get this power, you can also shamelessly reveal your faith in the Harvestman to make the DC 2 higher, but you may want to keep that to yourself if you’re still masquerading as something else, breaking it out only for boss fights.

Most gods in Inner Sea Faiths leave a lot to be desired, so it’s nice to see a god give so generously! It’s just too bad it has to be the God of Pettiness and Inconvenience.

You can read more about him here.

[the-omni-princess]

Frozen Heart [Chapter 6]

Author: @the-omni-princess

Summary:  After the war against Hydra, King Bucky comes home to take what has been promised to him since he was young, you. But he is not the same person as the young boy that you grew up with. Can she break through his tough shell and bring back the young man she once fell in love with? Or will she be forced to marry the monster everyone thinks he’s become?

Word Count: 3.7K

Pairing: King!Bucky x Fem!Reader (Royalty Au!)

Warnings:  language, reader is a badass, bit of blood, violence, bit of fluff

A/N:

Small cliffhanger, but I’m leaving on vacation on Wednesday with no wifi, so I’m determined to write this chapter today and post it asap!! Was gonna add it to this chapter but it was getting wordy so… it was also like 2 am when I’m rereading/posting this so be nice, please.

[Series Masterlist]  [Masterlist]

----

The ride to the Northern Kingdom was faster than you remembered from your childhood, though you attributed that to the fact it was snowing the last time you were there. Though it was still summer, the Northern climate differed greatly from where you grew up. You knew as the months pressed on you would find yourself buried in blankets, sitting beside the fire, drinking hot cocoa, perhaps snuggled up alongside Bucky. The thought made you smile, your head currently pressed against Bucky’s shoulder, looking out the window towards the passing scenery.

“Penny for your thoughts, my Love? You’ve been quiet most of the way out of the South, and we are nearing more villages of the North.” Bucky whispered softly, his free hand was rubbing circles against your thigh, as you clung to his other arm.

You shrugged lazily, not wanting to move too far away from his body heat, “Thinking of the future, mostly how cold I’m going to be once the winter’s storms hit.”

He chuckled, the vibrations sending warmth throughout your body. “Don’t worry, doll, I’ll keep you nice and toasty, bundled up in the thickest furs and wools I can find.” He kissed the top of your head tenderly. “You should have seen the first winter during the war, Stevie would not shut up, he was convinced he would get hypothermia despite all of the Howlies giving him their furs.” You looked up towards him, leaning towards him to hear more. He was smiling fondly, his eyes looking off in the distance as he reminisced of the few and fleeting joyful moments during the war. His attention, however, was caught by the flags waving in the distance as the limo closed into the town.

As you drove through the community, you couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at your lips. It was certainly different from the villages in your kingdom, most of these houses were reinforced for snow and ice, and they had the added feature of chimneys. Flags of the country seal adorned taverns and shop windows as the limo leisurely moved along the street. Wolves were a common theme around the kingdom, as were the kingdom colors, greys, blues, and silvers were the usual colors you saw in most signs.

“Bucky? I want you to teach me everything about your kingdom, I want to know your people, please,” you murmured softly, enchanted by the circle of dancers, merrily dancing with the people. It was late in the morning, closing in on high noon, one of the times you were aware was a powerful time for healers, who believed in the connections between the heavens and the humans below.

Bucky was grinning like an idiot beside you, and although you didn’t know it, he was only looking at your awed expression, determined to memorize your features. “Well, let’s start now,” he pointed towards the dancers, “it’s almost high noon, so those healers are dancing to the sun god to pray for healing. The summer solstice is almost upon us, so they are going through a physical and spiritual test as a sacrifice to the gods. The bigger circles are most likely family members and friends, dancing in support and for fun, while the smaller circle are the actual healers.” He pushed a stray hair behind your ear delicately as he spoke. Your breath caught in your throat meekly, you looked over your shoulder towards him, unconsciously looking up at him through your eyelashes as you gave him a bright smile. He felt his heart stutter, blushing as he continued. “We should switch to the horses soon, My Love. It’ll give you the chance to be up close and personal with the people if you want.” Your responding smile made his entire chest feel fuzzy with a feeling he couldn’t quite place, one that had been happening more frequently around you.

“I’d love that, Bucky, when can we make the switch? Poor Dermot is probably bored sick being pent-up.” You sat up straighter, excited to go riding again, grateful you decided on denim pants and an elegant blouse for the ride to the North.

“Dermot?” Bucky’s eyebrows furrowed, sending you into a fit of giggles.

“Dermot! My horse! His name comes from a hero in my kingdom’s mythology, it means Freedom. Riding was one of the few times I was allowed outside the castle walls, so that horse quickly became my freedom, plus it helps that he has a wild personality. The horse keeper says I’m the only rider he won’t kick-off.” His heart sunk at your words, despite your giddy smile. While an apt name indeed, its implications were that you were reduced to be some princess in the castle waiting for the war to end despite the advancements for equality in your kingdom.

He quickly recovered, determination to show you a newfound freedom building in his heart. “Well, doll, in the North, we can ride whenever your heart desires,” he promised, kissing your temple, not noticing the look of pure wonder you gave him at his words.

“Can we switch to the horse now? Please? I know we aren’t too far from the palace grounds, and you can show me all your favorite riding spots once we get there, if the sun allows it!” Your excitement was bubbling over, making Bucky laugh in amusement.

“Of course, my Queen. Whatever your heart desires, it shall be my pleasure to give you.” He vowed, the two of you wearing matching grins. He tapped on the tinted window separating the drivers from the two of you. As the window slipped down, you saw Scott and Sam were in the front, no doubt joking around, evident by the smirk on Sam’s face. “Scott, pull over at the next clearing, the Princess and I will be switching to the horses.”

“Certainly, Your Majesty,” Scott replied, shooting you a smile through the rearview mirror, Sam already sending someone texts on his security issued phone as the window rolled back up.

A few minutes later the village clear way to a thick forest, which lead to a meadow clearing. The limo stopped, and Bucky was quick to step out, already offering you his hand before you could speak. You smiled warmly, taking his assistance to your feet. He noticed the way you lit up as Dermot was taken out of the travel stable, running towards your horse, who was already saddled and getting antsy. Sam mildly nudged Bucky’s shoulder, the two having become friendly since Bucky had the tendency to gravitate towards you while staying in the South, and Sam was your personal guard. “You should hurry up, she’s gonna leave you in the dust,” Sam goaded, sending you a wave which you happily returned before you jumped up into the saddle like a pro.

Bucky rolled his eyes, not dignifying the man with a response and heading towards his own horse, Nova, who was also saddled. With a small huff, he was in the saddle, smiling shyly towards you. “Shall I lead the way, my Love?”

You quickly nodded, mocking a bow while taking hold of Dermot’s reigns, “Why of course, my King,” You teased.

-

The two of you rode through a few more villages as high noon came and went, taking a few short breaks for the horses’ sake. On one such break, you and Bucky were leaning against a tavern wall, the royal guards doing a decent job of turning unaware citizen to leave you two alone while the horses had water and snacks behind the tavern in a nearby stable. The two of you weren’t talking about much, Bucky was currently telling you of his plans to show you the entire castle grounds.

“Of course, as Queen, you’ll be allowed anywhere in the palace, as it’ll be your home with a little bit of time,” he expressed, sending small smiles towards you. You were about to respond when something out of the corner of your eyeline caught your attention. Always one to trust your instincts, you looked towards the flash. A young woman was cornered, two young men, no doubt only slightly older than her, were tugging at her purse as she cried out. They were pretty well hidden in the small alleyway, but it was broad daylight, and yet they were still robbing her.

Bucky had noticed your silence, quickly following your eyesight to the scene, anger filling his body. The crime rate of the kingdom had gone down significantly since he began his rule, but it was your first day and you were already witnessing the dark parts of the country. No one was making a move to help the poor girl, another thought that sent more rage through Bucky. Yet, as he was about to take a step towards the three, determined to end the scene, he was stunned to see you already stomping your way across the street to defend the woman. His eyes followed you, momentarily too dumbfounded to follow you.

As you approached, you could hear the insults the men were using, degrading the woman as she struggled against them for her purse, it only fueled your fury. “Hey!” you seethed, venom dripping from the single word. The men glanced towards you, both a bit shocked to see a woman fuming at them. The woman looked towards her savior, jumping slightly as the men laughed, clearly not taking you seriously.

“Aw! What are you going to do, little one? You should scram before your father sees you, or worse!” One of the men sneered, their attentions diverting from the woman, who had fallen to the ground.

“Yeah! We wouldn’t want your daddy to find you curled up on the street like a bitch,” the other man snickered. That is what cleared Bucky’s momentary paralysis, now heading towards you, though he was a moment too slow.

You growled lowly at the back of your throat and lunged for one of the men, pulling him off the woman before snapping your fist back, straight into his nose. Pain radiated up your knuckles, but it was dulled as the adrenaline started to kick in, making your moves slower. You spun on your heel, your elbow hitting the other man square in the jaw. One swift quick to the crotch and both men were falling to the ground, clutching either their face or their groins. A satisfied smirk on your face, you quickly turned to the woman who looked awestruck up at you. You offered her your unbloodied hand, “Are you hurt?” you quickly asked as you helped her to her feet. She quickly shook her head, still too shocked to speak. “Deep breaths then, it’ll calm the shock down.”

Someone whistled at the corner of the alleyway behind you, you quickly spun, already placing yourself between the sound and the woman before relaxing. Bucky, Sam, and Scott were standing there, watching you with matching smirks. Sam, who knew of your skill, was incredibly proud, “Damn y/n, we were gone for a few minutes,” you shrugged, a small grin on your face.

Bucky grinned up towards you, sparing a second glance at the two men still laying on the ground, both had bloody faces. “I’m both incredibly impressed and terribly aroused,” he muttered, locked onto your eyes as you blushed.

“It was nothing, Nat’s been teaching me. You didn’t think those assassins were taken down by Sam, did you? Nat and I took ‘em down,” you grinned proudly, excitedly showing off, Bucky gave you a childish grin in response, though Sam sent you a playful glare.

The woman behind you squeaked as she saw Bucky, recognizing him as he stepped closer to you. “Y-your Majesty!” She tried to curtsy but almost tumbled, and you caught her with a small smile. Bucky motioned for Sam and Scott to grab the two men, who gladly grabbed them.

“Don’t worry about it, are you alright?” He asked, true concern for the unknown woman.

She quickly nodded, “Thanks to her, Your Majesty!” she averted her eyes from him, trying to show respect as she clung to you for support

“That would be y/n, my fiancé, and your future Queen,” you shot him a glare, he was teasing the poor woman, who was still recovering from shock. She yelped, trying to pull from your arms to try to curtsy again, mortified she was treating her future queen with such disrespect.

You gripped onto the woman, determined not to let her fall on her face, “Now, now, no need for all of that. Are you truly alright? What was your name?” You still shot Bucky a disapproving glare at his antics, he just grinned, responding with a playful smirk.

“Y-yes, Your Highness. My name’s So-Sophia,” She rushed out, still terrified.

You gently soothed her, brushing the dirt off her dress, “It’s alright Sophia, I’m a princess but I’m still human, no need to go senseless on me. Now, where you going when you were attacked.”

“The market, Your Highness,” Sophia didn’t drop the title, but she was in shock, so you let it go.

“Perfect, I’ll send one of the guards to accompany you there then back home, until you’re safe, alright Sophia?” You gently fixed her cloak, still smiling supportively towards her.

She shook her head, “It’s alright, milady, I’ll be fine. Thank you so much for your generosity, and for saving me.” She looked a bit more stable, the shock most likely dying down.

“Of course, my job isn’t just to lead the people, it’s to protect them. I am only doing what is right. If that’s all, and you’re sure you would be fine alone again, then I wish you safe travels and a wonderful rest of your day.” You let your hands drop from her sides, done fixing her up.

Sophia grinned and nodded quickly, “Of course, Your Highness, you as well, gods bless you,” she walked past Bucky, quickly curtsying with a “Your Majesty,” before disappearing into the crowds.

Bucky whistled again in awe, a cheeky grin on his face, “You’re a natural, and that right hook! Gods you’re perfect,” he said in wonder. You hissed softly, pain radiating from your knuckles now that the adrenaline was wearing off. He quickly came closer, picking up your hand delicately. Your knuckles were bloody, a small cut on them but most of the blood was from the men, and the beginning of a bruise was discoloring the skin. He pressed a soft kiss to your palm, “Let’s get you cleaned up and go home,” he led you back out the alley, holding your hand to his chest protectively.

“Bucky, my hand is fine, should be more worried about that guy’s face, I hit him with the royal ring without realizing it.” He looked again towards your hand, sure enough, your golden ring was splattered with a bit of blood.

He chuckled, “Gods you’re absolutely amazing,” he mumbled, kissing your wrist. He glanced towards your left hand, which only had a simple golden ring on your thumb, a gift from Steve when you were younger. Your ring finger was noticeably empty, but he didn’t say a word about it, already tugging you back towards the horses.

-

A few short hours later, you arrived at the castle grounds. The sun was setting, lighting up the surrounding mountain tops with beautiful shades of pink and purple. You dismounted Dermot, fixing your blouse after handing the reigns to one of the stable keepers, as it was clear you couldn’t ride with the night falling. Bucky did the same, before offering his hand to you. “We’re home, My Queen,” he kissed your temple as you took his hand, happily following him inside.

The guards and maids were lined up, quick to bow to you both, though you noticed they were mostly bowing towards you. You blushed, not used to all the attention, as you were usually just someone who might be on the throne, yet here you were someone who was going to be on the throne. “Please see to it that all of Princess Y/n’s personal belongings are in the Queen’s chambers,” Bucky said to one of the maids, who curtsied with a responded “Your Majesty” before rushing off. He then turned to you, “Would you like to do anything tonight, My Love?” You were too busy taking in the castle, it had been years since you had been here, and it was lovelier than you remembered, but it felt so cold. Not in the literal temperature sense, as it was still summer, but the entire castle walls felt void of something. It took you a few minutes before you realized it, Love.

Turning towards Bucky, you gave him a small smile, “I thought we could get settled in, just relax,” you laced your hands together over your stomach, a habit formed from wearing tight corsets.

Bucky nodded, “Of course.” He offered you his arm, smiling as you took it, following him, arm in arm. “Would you mind sleeping in my bed tonight, doll? I’m dreadfully sorry, but your chambers aren’t ready yet,” he was blushing, bashful.

You giggled, tightening your grip on his arm, “I’d love that.” As Bucky led you through the castle towards his chambers, you noticed how the feeling of dread from the foyer seemed to be a running trend. These walls were simply shelter, not a home. You wanted to change that. Caught up in taking in the empty halls, you didn’t notice you were already at the doors to the king’s chamber. It looked similar to your chambers back home, only these chambers style was darker and much bigger. The size of the room made you felt small, and the fact that there seemed to be minimal decorating made it feel more like a guest room than a permanent residence. The bed was lined with slightly thicker furs than the bed back home. No.you corrected yourself. The bed back in the South. This bed was a navy blue, intricate designs embedded in silver.

You sat on the edge of the bed, Bucky stepping away from you for a moment as you took in the room. Everything in the room screamed of pure ice, sending a small chill down your spine. Determination started to set in your head, you were most definitely changing the pure feeling of dread these palace walls held. The balcony is what caught your attention next, the view outside the windows was of the valley in between the mountains, a lake in the middle, the setting sun reflecting oranges and pinks into the water.

“Y/n/n?” Bucky called out, you turned your head, caught up in the view. He was kneeling on one knee in front of you, gently taking your hand and cleaning the blood off your knuckle from earlier. “The view is beautiful isn’t it?”

“Definitely different than I’m used to, but in a good way. I like it, I’m more of a sunset then sunrise person myself,” you nodded, sending him a small smile.

He grinned, “I’d thought you would like it. Just wait until you see the stars in a few hours.” He finished cleaning off your hand, tossing the towel towards the wastebasket.

“I noticed you didn’t change the castle much since we were younger,” you spoke just above a whisper, wanting to address the distantness the entire place felt like, knowing kings tended to renovate and redecorate the castle once they took the throne.

He lost his smile, sighing softly. “Yeah, it didn’t feel right. I was… a little emotionally distant when I got back.”

“A little?” you teased, making him smile faintly.

“Okay, a lot. Bad headspace, and bad coping mechanisms.” He shrugged, not meeting your eyes as he bit his lip. “I think I should tell you what happened now. All of it.”

You gently took his hands in yours, “Like I said earlier, you don’t have to, and if you do, I’ll be right here for you, My Love.” You spoke firmly, making sure he could hear your conviction.

“Get ready for bed, doll, then I will tell you as much as I can,” he stood, kissing your head lightly before going towards a drawer to change himself. He froze, sighing softly, his hands rubbing his face as he thought aloud, “Your clothes aren’t here yet, are they?”

You laughed, jumping up to stand beside him. “I can borrow some sleepwear, Bucky, relax.” You grabbed one of his shirts, and his pajama pants, already heading towards the bathroom to change. You quickly changed, and after a second of hesitation, decided to take your bra and undergarments off as well. Now, only in panties and Bucky’s oversized shirt, you tried pulling on his pajama pants. You groaned, no matter how tight you pulled the strings, it wouldn’t fit and kept falling. You gave up, folding them and placing them on top of the rest of your clothes.  “Hope you're decent!” you called out before walking out of the bathroom, tugging the oversized shirt down. It hit your midthigh, but you felt exposed, especially as Bucky, now in pajamas as well, looked you up and down, his eyes going dark as he chuckled.

“Pants didn’t fit, huh?” You shook your head with a small shrug. You placed the clothes on the desk in the large room before joining Bucky on the bed. He wrapped a blanket around your shoulders, smiling softly as you nuzzled into the furs. “Before I start to tell you, I just want to warn you. It’s not pretty, and I respect you and don’t want to lie to you or sugar coat it. I’m not sure how much either of us can take before I’ll need to stop, but if it becomes too much, please, let me know?” He gave you a sad smile, holding onto your hands tenderly.

“Bucky, I’m not a child, I can handle it. I promise but promise yourself the same thing, don’t push yourself too far.” You squeezed his hands lightly, giving him your full support and attention.

He nodded, sighing softly as his gaze dropped to your interwoven hands, already putting himself into the headspace needed to tell you the truth. “Then let’s begin, all the way at the beginning.”

----

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[a-gert-lush-holiday]

Travel day, and day 1

Our travel day started off well, but slowly started to descend into minor chaos. Lucy woke up around 11pm from an apt nightmare about missing our flight, and so the pair of us decided not to go back to sleep. This was partially so we would definitely be up in the morning, and partially so both of us might be tired enough to sleep on the flight. We tried the TV in our room, however this unfortunately didn’t work at all! We ended up chatting and playing random app games until 4:30, when we both got ready to head out for the day.

A taxi hailed by the front desk got us to Terminal 4, WHSmiths got me a lock for my suitcase - I had been unable to find mine before leaving home, and we finally got our cases checked in around 6:15.

Time for security, which I think is everyone’s least favourite part, but was definitely Lucy’s nemesis today! As well as being selected for the dreaded body scanner, her backpack was also selected for screening 😣 In contrast, I sailed right through for a change! (I seem to get all the random checks when travelling alone on planes - this is even more terrifying when you get pulled to the side whilst an officer speaks to you in German and all the German you know flies out your brain like whoosh). Security over, we had a browse of the shops and popped into Costa for a drink and a sit down until our gate was announced.

Bing! What’s that phone? Oh, delayed 45 minutes? I mean, that’s rough, but not the end of the world, our connection is still doable.

Just as if to prove me wrong, pretty much as soon as I said this another text arrived, putting the time back to 10am. This was...not so doable. At this point, Lucy is beginning to freak out that her nightmare is coming true, and quite honestly despite the brave face I was trying to put on to keep calm, so was I! Luckily no more texts were received, and we boarded the plane at 9:40 - which was definitely pushing it but hey if the plane took off at 10 we still had time before boarding opens!

*sigh*. I really should stop jinxing myself, because sod’s law took over and made us take off at 10:20. This meant that as we landed at 12:25 in Paris, we had 5 minutes before boarding opened, and it was looking increasingly unlikely that we were going to make it. We managed to jump off the plane at 12:40, and the pair of us literally sprinted as fast as our legs would carry us!

Charles de Gaulle unfortunately has another set of security when changing flights, and this is where all hope started to seem lost as Lucy got selected for bag screening again! We explained this to the officer and he very kindly did the fastest yet thorough bag check he could, and we continued our sprinting to the gate, allllllll the way down the end of the terminal! (Because of course it would be!)

Fortunately, the Japan gods seemed to be on our side, as check in had not yet closed! As we made our way onto the plane I received a notification that check in was closing ASAP, so we made it literally by the skin of our teeth.

Crisis averted and butts in seats, we finally were on our flight bound for Tokyo! Lucy settled in on the IFE with either Ant Man or Crazy Rich Asians - I initially debated whether to start watching Ralph Breaks The Internet, but figured I would start watching films after the dinner service. Instead, I settled in with the inflight map, whilst listening to Muse (Simulation Theory, in case anyone was wondering!)

Shortly afterwards, the hostesses came round with a wet towel, round of drinks, and some rosemary crackers. I initially wasn’t sure if I would like them, but they tasted a bit like focaccia bread in cracker form! They also went well with the apple juice I ordered, however after this light snack I was still hungry and dragged a Twix from my bag. After a play through of the album, I finally decided to start an episode of Family Guy when we were somewhere over Copenhagen, thinking food would be coming soon. This turned out to be a smart move, as the second the episode finished it was our turn to be served food!

Our choices today consisted of chicken in sauce, or Japanese style beef curry. I love Japanese curry, so decided to go for the beef, which did not disappoint! Yes, it’s airplane food. Yes, it will never be as good as the real thing served up in an actual restaurant. But for airplane food? The beef was tender and well seasoned, the sauce was delicious and easy on the tastebuds, and the rice wasn’t too soggy or too hard. Chase that down with Camembert and proper french butter on a roll, and a delicious lemon and poppy seed cake, and I was content.

However, I did leave the salad - I’m honestly not a great fan of vegetable salads, especially when smothered in mayo. Lucy has the same meal as me and tried the salad - she ended up leaving it as it was no bueno for her.

I kept an eye on the skymap whilst we ate; we were now flying over Helsinki! The flight seemed to be going really fast at this point, however there was still another 9 hours to go. I settled in and watched a documentary about airbus beluga planes, Lucy listened to some music, and then we both tried to have a nap. Emphasis on the ‘try’. After a lot of tossing and turning, a 30 minute food documentary break, and a change of album from Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s Greatest Hits to a Nirvana compilation, I managed to catch a disjointed 2/3 hours of sleep. Lucy was unable to sleep, and therefore watched another film before poking me awake around 2 hours before decent, taunting me that I missed the ice cream rounds xD

It was not long after I woke up that I began to notice a peculiar smell coming from the galley behind us - I figured this was breakfast, but it had a very strong smell of something that was making me feel ill. However, when food was brought round an hour before landing, breakfast tasted a lot better than it smelt!

This was a scrambled egg, vegetable and...some sort of starch medley - unfortunately I couldn’t read all of the French on the front. The smell I realised after tasting it was most likely soy; whilst I love soy sauce in many things, if I whiff the bottle directly? Nope. This went down with a roll, butter and strawberry jam, plus a nice creamier tasting french version of what I assume was actimel, and a madeline. There was also what I thought was a very fruity yoghurt as the front said ‘apple vanilla’ in French, but as it looked and tasted like baby food one tiny bite of this was enough for me.

Shortly after this, we began the decent, landing cards were completed, and we landed safely at Narita airport. At this point I began to have an ‘oh my god, is this actually real?’ moment, and felt quite emotional. I have wanted to visit Japan since I was 14, and never truly thought I would ever get to make it happen. It still doesn’t quite feel real at the minute! My mind was constantly narrating as we exited the plane such gems as ‘oh my god, I’m standing on a Japanese escalator!’ (Which, in hindsight, I am so glad I did not say out loud!).

On to immigration! Here I have another tip: you’re going to need a black or blue pen, and pick up an immigration card from the desk by the queue. Sit in one of the seats and fill it out. Do not pass go, do not collect £200.

Yes, the card you filled out on the plane...was not the whole story. You need to fill out an immigration card also alongside the customs landing card, which you are not told about on the plane, nor is it particularly well signposted until you get to the end of the queue and the official at the line directing you to a attended booth for fingerprints and photographs takes a look at your documents and tells you you need one to proceed.

Which is fine, but then please don’t be like me and fill the form out in red pen, because you will get kicked out the queue yet again to fill it out on a dark colour. No where is it stated that red pen is the work of the devil, but these things happen so off I went to do as the man said. Ah, Japanese bureaucracy at it’s finest!

It was around this point I turned my phone on and connected to the free WiFi, and my heart immediately sank. You see, I had one more fear that I did not tell Lucy about, knowing that it was most likely going to happen due to the short connection and not wanting her to worry, and I had just had it confirmed.

‘Your baggage items will not be delivered upon arrival. They are still in transport. Please visit the baggage desk for further information’. At this point, given the baggage situation, the third time round I jumped in the line I felt so dejected, like ‘please, dear lord, let this be it!’.

This time round the gentleman waved me through, I passed through immigration, met up with Lucy (who was fortunate enough to have filled the form out in blue pen the first time round after our queue kicking), and together waited in a queue with a lot of people from the same flight.

This was also where I experienced Japanese bureaucracy and efficiency at it’s finest - the desk staff were working so hard to explain the situation, advising how to fill in yet another form to confirm the loss of the baggage and open claims for everyone, and were then escorting people to Customs so they could be processed (as obviously we were no longer accompanied by baggage, the lost baggage forms had to be processed so Customs can check the baggage after its arrival). We were also advised that we would get the equivalent of $100 a person that would be refunded for the purchase of essentials upon providing receipts - assuming the delay is only as long as the day they stated, this is actually a better deal than our travel insurance!

Finally, finally we were free on Japanese soil - and all we wanted to do was get to the hotel and de stress. Not to be, as check in was not until much later in the day, and we now needed to purchase a change of clothes.

At this point, I decided to get out a bit of extra cash at a 7-11 atm, praying the whole time my card would not get blocked, and internally cheering when I was presented with a wad of cash. My second stop was to grab my newly purchased Passmo (a bit like an Oyster card, but it can be used across Japan, and not just London), and complete a childhood dream - paying for a drink at a vending machine with your train pass.

Okay, yes, that sounds really lame nowadays when we have contactless payments and you can use your phone to buy pretty much anything. However, back in college before this technology really even existed as more than a concept in the west, I saw a video on YouTube of a guy paying for his drink using his IC card, and this basically cemented the idea that ‘Japan is this cool place that thinks outside the box why do we not have this man I wanna go there’. And now I have. So I did xD

Peach coca cola in hand (10/10 would buy again, the Diet Coke version at home is far inferior), we jumped on the Sky Access train (half the price of the Skyliner, with only a couple more stops, plus you don’t need a reserved ticket) to the Skytree and its shopping mall to pick up some clothes, and other bits like a hairbrush or face wipes. I ended up going in Uniqlo, and in there I saw the cutest Moomin shirt :D So of course I brought it! I also grabbed a pair of shorts, a shirt, and some clean underwear to change into, and then after browsing a bit more we hit up a Combini for lunch as the food hall in the Solamachi was packed.

I chose a onigiri with chilli oil filling (it had a sort of umami taste, with sesame I think?) and Lucy had a cheeseburger. But that’s okay, because she got to enjoy that they will put it in the microwave for you! We also both picked out a pastry each, for which I went for a choco-coronet and Lucy went for a croissant which ended up having a delicious sugar crust on top!

At this point we still had time to kill, so it was time for a browse around outside in the fresh air. Cherry blossoms were still in bloom, albeit barely, so we took a moment to admire these before moving swiftly onwards, and finding a gacha shop.

For the uninitiated, a gacha shop is full of gachapon machines (gachapon being tiny capsules filled with toys, like what’s in a kinder egg but not encased in chocolate), all selling different collectible sets. From this with the meagre change I currently had, I ended up with a Hogwarts hufflepuff badge, a tiny Iron Man, and a Sylveon keychain. All fairly decent pulls.

Another wander, a jump on the subway one more stop, and we were checking into our hotel. More on the hotel hopefully later, but I can confirm it is very very nice :)

For today, that is where I will have to stop, as Lucy has been sleeping pretty much since (a full 24+ hours without sleep will wreak havoc on you, yikes), and I have been pottering around trying out things like the indoor slippers, and heated toilet seats (11/10, need one for home so I don’t freeze my arse off when attending the ladies room).