#had half a mind to not post an extended version of this unless i had like

[paper-mario-wiki]

here's a slightly longer version of my Olimar/Dandadan rap

[chimielie]

wordplay

summary: Sakusa x F!Reader. my best friend's cousin is the one for me!

wc: 1.5k

cw: very slight alcohol consumption

a/n: this, at one point, featured a sexy boggle scene. it was, in fact, inspired by a sexy boggle scene. unfortunately i removed this scene bc boggle simply cannot be sexified. please enjoy the significantly improved version (which is entirely sfw).

There is a stranger in Kiyoomi’s front room.

He stares at you suspiciously, eyes narrowed as you take off your shoes and place them on the rack, then pull out a small tube of hand sanitizer and rub it over your hands, between your fingers. He scrutinizes your outfit, your hair, the way you laugh when Motoya slings an arm over Kiyoomi’s shoulder and the darker-haired man freezes up, glaring out from under his cousin like an offended cat.

“Hello, Kiyoomi,” you say, and he nearly keels over from the over-familiarity of it. It’s almost as bad as Atsumu, who started calling him Omi-Omi the day they met and never stopped. Almost as bad because you’re… well…

“Motoya,” Sakusa looks at his cousin. “I didn’t know you were dating someone.”

“I’m not,” he looks at him strangely. “I told you I was bringing a guest over, though.”

“I thought you meant Suna. It’s lovely to meet you.” The words are perfunctory. Kiyoomi fights not to grimace as you incline your head and smile at him and wince all at the same time. “Do you not remember Y/N?” Motoya gestures to you while you make a valiant effort to pretend that Kiyoomi’s wall art is more engrossing than his social faux pas.

“We must be thinking of different Y/Ns.” Kiyoomi screws up his face. Yes, he can see Motoya’s old “best friend” clearly in his mind. A pesky creature that tracked mud in, who always had her nose buried in a book, who never wanted to play volleyball but make-believe fairytales instead. That Y/N had always clammed up around him unless she was weaving magic around them for her pretend games, nothing like the easy smile you’d greeted him with and the friendliness you so gracefully extended.

“I can assure you it’s the same one,” Motoya looks amused as Kiyoomi’s brain works. He looks back at you, now staring straight at him with a wicked half-smile on your face, posture straight but relaxed, almost intimidatingly calm.

“No, that can’t be right. She’s too pretty to be—” he clamps his mouth shut. His voice cracks when he opens it again. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Kiyo,” Motoya isn’t even trying to hide his laughter, the dick. “I think I would know.”

“I concur,” you chime in, holding out a hand and introducing yourself with your full name to prove your identity. “You haven’t grown up so badly yourself, by the way.”

Kiyoomi reaches out and shakes your hand firmly, ears burning bright red, unable to riposte while he tries to process the double negative. By the time he does, you’re all in the kitchen, you and Motoya deep in conversation already, and it’s all he can do not to drop the plates.

Dinner is Thai take-out, but fancy and warmed up in Kiyoomi’s expensive kitchen appliances, just as you would expect from a visit to a Sakusa residence. He’s surprised at how easily everything falls into place once the shock wears off, enjoying the way you react to his deadpan humor and trying not to let it go to his head when you mention that you’ve kept a close eye on his career since high school. You hadn’t gone to Itachiyama with him and Motoya, but you’d clearly found a way to keep in touch with his cousin.

“I don’t really use any social media often,” he says when you mention it. “Sometimes I look at Twitter. Then I see fans talking about Miya’s thighs, and I have to stop and smash my phone. It’s an excellent deterrent.”

“He’s gone through four this year,” Motoya says seriously.

“You have an Instagram, though, I follow it. You just posted, like, yesterday.” You show him your phone, expression triumphant.

“I have a, uh, social media manager,” Kiyoomi says, his tone reticent. The phrase never really gets any less embarrassing. “The higher-ups said it was good for PR.”

“That makes sense,” you nod. “Gosh, what hotshot volleyball players. Remember when you used to pick your nose and chase Kiyoomi around? If I close my eyes, I can still hear the screaming.”

“That never happened,” both men say.

“Sure, sure,” you smirk, taking a sip of wine. “Anyway, I really think you should give Miya’s thighs a chance. If you look at him long enough, I’m sure you’ll understand our perspective.”

The betrayal — you! A Miya fan! — is too much for Kiyoomi to bear. He lays his cheek on the cool, flat table, and vows to wrap Atsumu in volleyball netting and leave him for the spiders in the gym overnight.

Just for something to do as conversation dies down, you suggest one of the three board games Kiyoomi has hidden in his apartment, which quickly starts things back up again. Chess is ruled out because it’s two-player, Go is refused because the cousins are still feuding over the ending of a game when they were eleven, and Boggle is the last one left. You recall it being your least favorite when you were young, Motoya having brought it over because he’d thought it would help the three of you practice your English, which was, of course, the worst reason to play a game. Still you make it through a few rounds with the cousins now, enjoying the banter and debate that come after results are read out.

“Oh, shit,” Motoya says suddenly, sliding his phone into his pocket. “Suna’s car just broke down, like, twenty minutes away. I hate to cut dinner short—”

“No, no, go,” you urge. “I can come with you, or—”

“We can stay and wait, too,” interrupts Kiyoomi. “It’s your choice.”

“You should probably stay,” Motoya says. “Worst case scenario, Kiyo can take you home.”

“Great,” you grin at Kiyoomi. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, of course,” he says absently. “Do you want dessert? I’m sure I have something that’s not approved by my dietician somewhere around here.”

As soon as Motoya bids the both of you goodbye, Kiyoomi’s phone buzzes in his pocket.

A text:

She’s liked you since we were kids btw

She would kill me if she knew I told you tho so delete these msgs pls

Get it bro!

Kiyoomi dutifully deletes the messages as soon as their meaning processes, his brain and his heart rate speeding into a whir, and types back.

So Suna’s car?

He doesn’t have one :)

Sometimes Kiyoomi appreciates his stupid cousin.

As it turns out, he doesn’t have anything suitable for dessert, but you don’t mind. Instead you drink and exchange stories, playing catch-up until you’re as comfortable as little kids again.

“Do you remember when we played knights and princesses?”

“Which time?” He asks, voice dry. “I was strong-armed into your games so many times, I can’t begin to remember what you’re talking about.”

“When you were supposed to be the monster and Motoya was the knight, but you got so freaked out when I played dead—”

“I do remember,” he cuts in. “It was embarrassing.”

“I thought it was cute.”

“Well, if you think so.”

“I do.” You toss your head and smirk at him.

“Do you remember when you were Sleeping Beauty? And Motoya chickened out of kissing you, so I had to do it instead?”

“That was embarrassing,” you duck your chin, looking flustered. He likes that, presses closer, until you’re both crowded onto the same side of the couch.

“Was I a bad kisser?”

“No! I — you — no!” His knees are touching yours, his biceps bulging as he leans on one arm against the couch’s back. You cross one of your ankles behind his, a small action. “We were kids, I don’t think that counts. And I was trying to block out that memory, thank you.”

“Why?” His voice is soft, but it fills your ears and drowns out your thoughts all the same.

“It’s embarrassing when no one wants to kiss you, so your best friend’s cousin who doesn’t even really like you has to do it.” You wrinkle your nose. “I’m surprised you wanted to remember it. Or, you know,” you wave your hand in the air, searching for words. “Bring it up at all.”

“I liked you,” Kiyoomi says firmly. “A lot. Not as much as I do now, but —” For all his bravado, there’s a blush burning up over his cheeks. “A lot.”

That seems to drag your confidence back. The seesaw between the two of you doesn’t ever really seem to let him down, only buoying him higher and higher. He feels a little dizzy.

“Prove it.” You’re baiting him, obviously, and he usually prides himself on being un-baitable. There’s something in him that knows that your face will light up in triumphant glee when he accedes, though, and it yearns to see that expression.

“You’ve found a weak spot,” he murmurs, brushing his lips against the corner of your mouth. A whisper of a kiss, not really one at all. “I hope you don’t exploit it.”

[onceupon]

London Boy

summary: Y/n finds herself all the way across the pond, trying to escape OBX. But much to her surprise, a certain someone might get in the way.

pairing: Rafe x reader (just an intro in this part, we’ll get there dw)

warnings: swearing, drinking, some mentions of anxiety?

word count: 3.2k

a/n: if you’re a sucker for a slow burn like me, buckle up and enjoy the ride. I plan on this being multiple parts and this is also my first time posting so please be gentle with me lol :’-) (not canon Rafe)

You huffed as you dragged your extra large and definitely overweight luggage down to the pickup area at Heathrow airport. You had just landed in London where you’d be going to school until the holidays.  You had decided to apply for, and actually got accepted into, your high school’s British exchange program. Every year Kildare Academy gave the option for 15 seniors to study for half the school year at Westheath Academy in London, a private boarding school, while 15 kids from their school came to yours. Normally, you wouldn’t have dreamed of leaving your friends and family for that long, not to mention missing out on half of senior year at home. But ever since the drama that erupted during the summer after your junior year that ended with you being shunned by your “friend group” (where they really ever your friends to begin with?), you practically jumped at the opportunity to get as far away from the Outer Banks as possible, albeit for a little while.

You didn’t know at all what to expect at Westheath, you had skipped the predeparture orientation at Kildare a few weeks ago, but you didn’t care - didn’t care who was going or what Westheath was like, all that mattered was that for the next few months you could finally breath. It was the clean slate you desperately needed, a chance to finally be around people and places you hadn’t known since birth. Sure there were going to be 14 other kids from Kildare there as well, but you had zero intentions of sticking with your OBX peers over the next few months. You weren’t going to let your small town suffocate you for a second longer if you could help it.

You double checked the license plate on your phone screen as the Uber you ordered pulled up.

“Y/N?” the driver called out from the front-right window (god that was going to take some getting used to.)

“Yep!” you smiled, huffing as you tried to pick up your luggage and step off the curb. Thankfully the uber driver was quick to your rescue, effortlessly lifting your suitcase into the trunk of the car. Leave it to you to overpack without even thinking to leave room for all of the clothes and souvenirs you were certain to accumulate - oh well, an excuse for a new suitcase you supposed.

Not in the mood for small talk, you were relieved that the Uber driver silently read your mind, playing a pop station as you both respectfully ignored each other’s presence. You anxiously tapped your thumb on your phone, eyes flicking between the screen where you watched your route progress and the view out your window of townhomes, pubs, and countless strangers passing by.

You hadn’t felt anxious about leaving for London the entire first half of junior year, so why was your stomach and head simultaneously churning now? You were so excited to experience a version of life that was the opposite of everything you were trying to get away from - a version of life that involved British accents, buzzing city life, and endless possibilities. But it was all of a sudden dawning on you how unfamiliar it all was. As much as you hated to admit it to yourself, no matter how far you ran, you would never be able to fully separate yourself from OBX. That damned small beach-town would always be a part of you, an inextricable thread in the fabric of your life.

The Uber pulled up to a halt in front of your destination. You hesitantly glanced out your window as you double checked the silver number on the building. Yep, 25 Brampton Rd - you were here. The Uber driver graciously lifted your suitcase out of the trunk for you and as he pulled away you let out a long breath - your fresh start was waiting behind the doors in front of you.

You rang the doorbell to the lobby, the security here no joke. You were soon buzzed into the building and you shakily pulled your suitcase in behind you, desperately trying to calm your nerves to no avail.

“Hi,” you croaked out as you approached the man seated at the front desk. “I’m- uhh here to check in to my apartment- uh I mean flat… I think… I’m with the Kildare Academy exchange,” you rambled, cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Despite your best efforts, your anxiety was taking over.

The man gave you a sympathetic smile. “Name please?”

“Y/n L/n,” you replied, pulling your lips into a sheepish straight-lined smile as you mindlessly tapped your fingers on the handle of your suit case.

“L/n, L/n, L/n,” the man quietly muttered under his breath as his pen traced over a list of names. “Ahh here you are. Alright Miss L/n, here is a fob, this lets you into the building, now this key lets you into your flat, you’ll be on the second floor - apartment 2C, and this key is for your individual room,” he began to fire off at you as he rounded the desk and came to grab your suitcase, beginning to walk as you hastily followed suit. “This packet will tell you everything you need to know about our building here - wifi, laundry, trash days,” he shoved some papers in your hand as you both entered the elevator, him pressing the button for the second floor.

You emerged on to your floor and a few steps later you two were at the door of your new home, which the man quickly unlocked gesturing for you to step inside. “And this, Miss L/n, is your flat for the next few months with us here at Westheath. Your room is the second right down the hall there and I believe you’re the first here. Two of your flatmates who are yet to check in are from Kildare, such as yourself, and the other two are students of our own here at Westheath. You know I’m surprised how early you are, classes don’t start until next week! But nevertheless I’ll let you get settled,” you stood staring blankly at your new surroundings, more or less registering the words this man was firing off at you.

“I’m Richard by the way, if you ever need anything you know where to find me,” the man extended his hand toward you.

“Thank you,” you smiled, accepting his handshake.

“Welcome to Westheath,” he smiled back and just as quickly was turning on his heel and back out the door before you could get in another word, leaving you in your new flat by yourself.

You slowly walked through the empty place, meandering through the kitchen and living area, down the hall, peaking into the bathroom, and then finding your way to your room. It certainly wasn’t the type of living arrangement you were used to back home - your family lived on Figure 8 in the Outer Banks meaning you had grown up surrounded by mansions and luxuries. This place was small, simple, and yet it was cozy and well… perfect. It was the exact opposite of your Figure 8 life and that alone was enough to make you love it. You smiled, content, as you sank on to your empty bed, taking in your new room. You had a nice sized desk, a decent shelf, and a wardrobe. Simple and sufficient. You could get used to this. The room was starkly barren, but since school wasn’t set to start for another week and no one was here yet you made a mental note to go on a little mission to find some plants and decorations to bring the white box that was your room a bit more to life.

——-

Three days had passed and still your other flat mates had yet to show. You were starting to wonder if they ever would or if you’d end up living in this flat all by yourself. Your room was now decorated, you had found some cute posters in a shop you had wandered into, some plants in another, and string lights in a third. You had acquainted yourself with the grocery store around the corner and the drug store down the street and you’d even gone on the tube all by yourself.

Being on your own these last few days had been decidedly therapeutic, leaving you unable to contain a cheesy grin every time it hit you that you were actually here, in London, far far away from OBX. But you couldn’t help feeling a little lonely, with a passing hello to Richard every time you left and returned to the building being your main source of human interaction these last few days.

You laid on your bed as you debated the decision you were about to make - you would’ve never dared to use Tinder back home. You knew virtually everyone on the island and would’ve been absolutely mortified to match with anybody there. But hey - you were in London baby! This was a fresh start and nothing was off limits. You sighed and gave in, downloading the app and quickly making a profile. You must’ve rearranged the order of your pictures at least a dozen times before you finally decided it was good enough. You started to swipe, an endless supply of British boys at your finger tips. You couldn’t suppress a chuckle at how funny the whole concept was, your inbox already flooding with cheesy pick up lines from your matches. You spent the next hour going back and forth with these boys, silly, meaningless, flirty conversations - god it was so much easier being a flirt through a screen, you would be positively flushed in the face in person, unless you were drunk of course (your drunk self was a dangerously confident flirt for sure).

Liam: are you free tonight? Down to grab a drink and chat?

Oh wow. Straight to the point wasn’t he. You knew the point of the app was to eventually get off it and meet up with someone, but now that you were met with the opportunity, your stomach was flipping upside down. Fuck it, what do you have to lose?

Y/n: yeah that sounds great, I’m in Hammersmith if you wanted to go somewhere there?

Liam: perfect so am I (: 8pm at The Ladle. See you there xx

Pure adrenaline coursed through your body as you started doing your hair and makeup, throwing clothes all around your small room to find the perfect outfit that was cute but simultaneously made it seem like you weren’t trying too hard. You threw your wallet and keys in your purse, chugged the glass of wine you had been casually sipping on by yourself, and quickly headed out the door before you could overthink it and change your mind.

——

You nervously approached the bar that Google Maps had directed to you, not sure what you were getting yourself into, but you had already walked all the way here so you’d be damned if you didn’t see it through.

“Y/n?” a voice called out to you. God, hearing your name in that accent sent shivers down your spine.

“Yeah that’s me, Liam?” you questioned back, staring up at the fluffy browned-hair boy approaching you.

“That’s me,” he winked, extending his arm out to you which you nervously grabbed, as he led you into The Ladle, spotting an empty table for the two of you.

“So Y/n, what are you doing here in London. Something tells me you’re not from here?”the boy across from you smiled as you two got settled in your seats.

“Hmmm I wonder what could’ve ever given it away,” you replied with a sarcastic smile, American accent in full force. “But I’m here for school, on an exchange at Westheath Academy.”

“Oh shit, that means we’ll see each other around. I’m finishing up my last year actually. And somehow you’re the first American I’ve had the pleasure of being on a date with,” he smiled with a devilish grin that felt like it was burning into you, you hoping the flush on your cheeks wasn’t too obvious with the dim lighting.

“Lucky me,” you smiled back, faking a sly confidence as best you could despite the fact that you were all nerves on the inside. Dating was not something you were familiar with, having maybe gone on two back home, if those even counted.

“First round on me, what are you drinking tonight Y/n?”

“Umm a vodka cran is fine,” you replied to which you were immediately met with a scoff.

“No way babe, you’re in a pub in England now. Should’ve figured as much coming from an American like you,” he chuckled with a shake of his head, his fluffy hair bouncing with it. “I’m getting you a pint,” he asserted, walking over to the bar and giving you a moment to breath and collect yourself. You hated beer but weren’t about to put up a fight, at this point you would down just about any alcohol in order to get some more liquid courage in your system.

He quickly returned, placing the tall glass of golden-colored liquid in front of you.

“Cheers, to new school mates,” he winked extending his glass up to yours.

“To new school mates,” you smiled back, bringing your glass to clink with his, taking a long swig and trying not to grimace at the taste of the liquid going down your throat.

——

The night passed by quickly, you and Liam going through three rounds of drinks as you both laughed and bantered with one another, your nerves all but dissipated by the alcohol now coursing through your bloodstream. Heck, the beer was even starting to taste… good? God you barely recognized yourself anymore, but in the best possible way. One by one you were letting the closely guarded walls you had built up over the years in OBX fall, and you were feeling better than ever before - you felt free.

You and Liam stumbled back arms linked to the building you found out you were both living in, Liam on the fourth floor. You rummaged for the fob in your purse and you both got on the elevator, Liam instinctively pressing both your floor numbers. The elevator dinged opening to your floor, Liam turning to you with a cheeky smile.

“See you around, Y/n,” he winked. Why did you find that so attractive, or maybe it’s just because you were slightly drunk.

“Goodnight Liam,” you smirked back, blowing him a kiss as you walked out the elevator, the doors closing behind you.

You couldn’t help but smile like an idiot as you unlocked your flat and stumbled into your room, immediately collapsing on your bed. London. It was definitely going to be an adventure.

——

You were woken up the next day by the sun peaking through your window. You yawned and let out a big stretch, still giddy from last night’s date. It’s not like you thought you had just met your soulmate or something, you both kept the evening light, mainly joking and flirting as you downed drinks. But god you couldn’t remember the last time you had that much fun or ended a night feeling so confident and carefree. You were embracing every ounce of the euphoria you were getting from your new life.

You slipped out of bed and made your way to the kitchen, still rubbing the morning crust out of your eyes. Just as you got a pot of coffee going, you heard the distinct sound of a key turning, startling you as you realized it was coming from outside of your flat’s door. You cursed at the fact that you were about to meet a new flatmate while in your flannel pajamas and messy bun hanging halfway off your head, but mainly you were excited to finally have some company.

“Dude it’s no Figure 8 living but fuck it I’ll live anywhere to not have my parents breathing down my neck these next few months,” you heard a voice say, now in the hallway of your flat.

You immediately freeze. That was a male voice, definitely a male. Of course it makes sense now that you think of it, everyone in the flat gets their own room so what does it matter if the flat is co-ed. The thought just hadn’t crossed your mind, you automatically assumed you’d be living with all girls.

“Yeah man, anywhere that’s 1,000 miles away from Ward sounds like the perfect place to me,” another male voice laughed in return. Ward? Ward Cameron? That couldn’t possibly be who the voice was referring to because that would mean you were living with- and before you could even finish your thought you were standing jaw slightly parted staring at Rafe Cameron and Topper Thornton  in front of you. Two of the most popular guys at school.

You weren’t really friends but your families knew each other so you inevitably saw one another at kook events every now and then. You couldn’t help but feel intimidated by them. You always told yourself you didn’t care about boys like Rafe and Topper or about fitting in with their crowd, yet you always became nervous in their presence.  They were cool. They partied a lot, were athletes, and had girls tripping over them, which you couldn’t fault considering anyone with eyes could tell they were attractive, but you’d never have the confidence to be so bold with guys like that. Unless you were drunk of course. And unless you were the new confident and carefree version of yourself that you had been on your date last night with Liam.

“Yo Y/n, no fucking way, I didn’t know we’d get to live with girl,” Topper smiled at you with a teasing grin.

You were suddenly acutely aware of how disheveled you look and how you weren’t wearing a bra under your thin pajama top.

“Uh hey w-what are you guys doing here,” you managed to choke out. That confident girl from last night had disappeared as quickly as she had arrived, leaving you now feeling winded in front of the two boys from your hometown. Why were you getting so flustered?

“Just on a little exchange program from Kildare, maybe you’ve heard of it,” teased Rafe sarcastically, a smile tugging at his lips, holding back a laugh at how caught off guard you looked.

“Yeah no yeah of course,” you stuttered, “I guess I just wasn’t expecting you two to want to sign up for it.”

That’s when you realized the obvious. Every year there was always a number of spots reserved on the exchange for athletes, and Rafe and Topper were two of Kildare’s star soccer players.

“What and get to miss an opportunity to play at Westheath and go to Premier League games all semester? No shot,” laughed Topper.

“Maybe you should’ve gone to orientation after all, roomie,” joked Rafe as he picked up his bag following Topper down the hall to their rooms. Rafe Cameron noticed I didn’t go to orientation?

You let your face fall in your hands with a groan only audible to you. You quickly picked up your head and shook yourself off, pouring yourself a cup of coffee as you tried to ground yourself from your frazzled state. Looks like escaping OBX was going to be harder than you thought.

---

Part 2

[kintatsujo]

LOZ AU- The Courage of Running Away PART ONE

warnings: Parental abuse, fantasy religion, fantasy religious abuse

So the original grain of this concept was actually a dream I had once but we'll get to that.

A major aspect of this idea that makes it an "AU" as opposed to "just" a "game pitch as fanfic" concept is that it has a worldmap that looks something like this: 

[Image Description: A map of a continent.  In the center is Gerudo Desert, ringed by mountains that extend from the bottom to top of the continent.  On the west side of Gerudo Desert, from north to south, are countries labeled "Termina," "Holodrum," and "Labrynna," while on the east side are countries labeled "Hytopia," "Hyrule" and "Lorule."  Hytopia is indicated to be a sky island above a territory labeled "Drablands."  Hyrule and Termina are more directly east and west of one another, as the Drablands are the northernmost country of the continent and Labrynna is the southernmost country.  There is an indication of another continent to the east, and off the eastern shore is a sky island labeled "Sky Temple."  To the south of Labrynna is a proper island labeled "Windfish Isle."  There is a legend in the upper left corner that reads "Really generalized AU map.  Proportions not to be taken too seriously and most of the sky islands besides Hytopia just aren't there because it would get too busy."  End Description.]

Lorule as a physical country to the south of Hyrule rather than a mirror version of Hyrule is because I am weak for dumb puns.  Also in general you can describe this as "this is my AU and I do what I want."  

Also the map of Hyrule itself in this AU should be considered to be heavily similar to the Breath of the Wild map because that's what I want shh.  Does this mean the other countries are similar in scope despite being based on countries from earlier and smaller games?  Well, yeah.  

I actually tried out making this worldmap in RPGMaker btw but to get something I was happy with I'd at LEAST need a nicer worldmap tileset for MZ.  Do I have the skills to make that?  Yep.  Have I got the time to make that?  Nope.

Anyway so as noted there's actually a NUMBER of floating sky islands in this version of the setting, and its version of Link was raised here, in the sky temple monastery/commune/abbey don't look at me:

[Image description: A floating island with a round temple, some sort of pillars arranged in a circle, and a few other buildings, one of which might be a dormitory.  The temple has a statue of the Triforce nested in Hylia's wings on the roof.  End description.]

A couple notes here since it's the only good place: In this Hyrule there are Loftwings because I said so.  There is also a Rito run mail service and there are also balloon-based airships.  Again, because I said so.  The Rito are the main people who run supplies to the Sky Temple, but there's also a number of hylians with bonded Loftwings living there.  The Loftwings are a little less mysterious in that they clearly roost nearby riders they've bonded with; note the large archways kind of indicated on the side of the dorm building.  Link, at this point in the story, does not have a Loftwing, which is important for reasons that will become clear by the end of this post.  Also, I'm not sure how obvious it is but I do intend that there's a cucoo/chicken coop set up near the dorm; this is for the eggs but the monk or whatever in charge of them is definitely a crazy bird person and probably also keeps messenger pigeons.  There would also be a garden somewhere and as one can possibly tell there's a graveyard.  Basically this Sky Temple is what I thought Skyloft was going to be a little more like until I found out it was literally a Boarding School Town.  Anyway.

The thing is that this Link was discovered to be the Hero of the age sometime in his infancy.

And this is the person who discovered him:

[Image description: On one half of the page is an establishing shot of a hylian man in blue and white (light gray) robes and a hat, with long hair in a braid and graying at the temples.  He's approximately middle aged by the lines in his face, tall and slender and moderately attractive.  He is wearing heavy gold diamond shaped earrings to match the symbols of Hylia and the Triforce on his clothing.  He is frowning, and he is labeled "Astramorus."  On the other half of the page are a series of comic panels: In the first, a young Link is hiding from a Rito behind Astramorus's cloak.  Astramorus asks, apparently fondly, "Come now boy, where's your courage?" while the Rito sheepishly assures him "Th-that's quite all right, Lordship."  In the second panel, a very small Link dressed in the Hero of Hylia's traditional green outfit is wiping his eyes while holding a sword too large for him.  There is blood on Link's clothes.  Astramorus, standing so that only the hem of his robes are in shot, asks "Come now boy, where's your courage?"  And in the last panel, lit as though by fire, Astramorus now has a much older Link by the back of the neck in a controlling manner, once again asking, "Come now boy, where's your COURAGE?"  End description.]

By the way the manner in which Astramorus is holding the back of Link's neck in the final panel is a sneaky thing my dad used to pull sometimes; basically if you squeeze just hard enough to hurt nobody but the person you're doing it to can actually tell so you can even do it in public without people necessarily noticing.  It took me ages to go "wait that was actually really fucked up that he used to do that."  Shoulder touch is good, neck touch bad.

A note on Astramorus's costume: It's basically an evil version of the costume worn by the priestly guy from the Sanctuary in alttp.  Astramorus himself, well, I had the idea for him well before Age of Calamity came out but yes he is basically named after Aster, so you can guess that he's more than just a terrible father.

Astramorus has been training Link since he could lift his sword, including trials he should have been too small for and acquiring things for him to fight-- and kill.    Link isn't allowed to speak to anyone unless asked questions or told to by Astramorus, not even the other members of the monastery (although perhaps many of the people there have taken their own vows of silence.)  

And he's not allowed to have opinions, and he's not allowed to back down in a fight or say that he's too tired to keep training, and this has been going on since Link was six.  Astramorus tells him this is the ideal.  That never backing down and never stopping is what courage means and what being the hero means.  That starting from a young age is only proof of the hero's purity of heart.

And when Link is nearing seventeen, Astramorus tells him that he's going to present him to the royal family of Hyrule, and that at last the HARD part will truly begin.  (Keeping in mind that he was putting a six year old through trials MEANT for a seventeen year old.)  And Link breaks: 

[Image Description: A comic.  Link is putting together a paraglider not dissimilar to the one from BotW.

He narrates: Tomorrow we're supposed to set out so that I can meet the king of Hyrule.  Which means that this is my last chance to run away.

Link grinds his classic hat into the ground with one boot, and leaves his sword stabbed into the earth behind him.  He leaps off the sky island and toward the sun on the horizon.

Link narrates: I don't care if this is cowardly anymore.

End description.]

And THAT one page is what the dream that started the concept was about; some people might remember me talking about it as long as three years ago and it's just been stuck in my head ever since!  (Also: I love the idea of there being a Link who starts out wearing the classic outfit and THEN switches to other costumes.)

This is obviously not the end of this AU, lol, stay tuned for where Link finally crash lands (spoiler: He makes it pretty far and you might be able to guess from the map >:3c)

#AU August

#LoZ AU: The Courage of Running Away

Bonus: 

[Image description: A headshot flat color sketch of this Link, who has short fluffy light blonde hair and green eyes.  He is yelling, with tears in his eyes: "I am NEVER wearing that STUPID hat again!"  End description!]

[suckmykawaiidesu]

Compilation of Nessian Moments:  ‘A Court of Wings and Ruin ’ Edition

Hello loves! ♥️

I recently asked for a compilation list of Nessian moments and there doesn’t seems to be one so I decided to hurriedly put one together before the release of “A Court of Silver Flames”. I have probably missed some scenes but these are the ones that I came across during my re-read. I will be making a post for each book and will link them once available:

A Court of Mist and Fury

ACOMAF Target Exclusive Story uploaded by bookofademigod

A Court of Frost and Starlight

Sneak Peak at the end of A Court of Frost and Starlight

A Court of Wings and Ruin

Chapter 15

Nesta had been beautiful as a human woman. As High Fae, she was devastating. From the utter stillness with which Cassian stood beside me, I wondered if he thought the same thing. She was in a pewter-colored gown, its make simple, yet the material fine. Her hair was braided over the crown of her head, accentuating her long, pale neck—a neck Cassian’s eyes darted to, then quickly away from, as she sized us up and said to me, “You’re back.” With her hair styled like that, it hid the pointed ears. But there was nothing to hide the ethereal grace as she took one step. As her focus again returned to Cassian and she added,

“What do you want?”

But Cassian sauntered over to Nesta, a half smile spreading across his face. She stood stiffly while he picked up the book, read the title, and chuckled. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a romance reader.” She gave him a withering glare. “And, again, why are you here?” She snatched her book from Cassian, who allowed her to do so, but remained standing beside her. Watching every breath, every blink. “Elain’s mate is here,” I said. And it was the wrong thing to utter in Nesta’s presence. She went white with rage. “He is no such thing to her,” she snarled, advancing on me enough that Rhys slid a shield into place between us. As if he, too, had glimpsed that mighty power in her eyes that day in Hybern. And did not know how it would manifest.

“If you bring that male anywhere near her, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” Cassian crooned, trailing her at a casual pace as she stopped perhaps five feet from me. He lifted a brow as she whirled on him. “You won’t join me for practice, so you sure as hell aren’t going to hold your own in a fight. You won’t talk about your powers, so you certainly aren’t going to be able to wield them. And you—” “Shut your mouth,” she snapped, every inch the conquering empress. “I told you to stay the hell away from me, and if you—” “You come between a male and his mate, Nesta Archeron, and you’re going to learn about the consequences the hard way.” Nesta’s nostrils flared. Cassian only gave her a crooked grin.

Nesta only shook her head, turning toward the chair and her book. “I don’t care. Do what you want.” A stinging dismissal, if not admission that she still trusted me enough to consider Elain’s needs first. Rhys jerked his chin at Cassian in a silent order to leave, and as I followed them, I said softly, “I’m sorry, Nesta.” She didn’t answer as she sat stiffly in her chair, picked up her book, and dutifully ignored us. A blow to the face would have been better. When I looked ahead, I found Cassian staring back at Nesta as well. I wondered why no one had yet mentioned what now shone in Cassian’s eyes as he gazed at my sister. The sorrow. And the longing

Chapter 16 I cringed. “I guarantee Nesta is now guarding Elain. I think she might honestly kill him if he so much as tries to touch her.” “Not without training she won’t,” Cassian grumbled, tucking in his wings as he claimed the seat beside Mor that Azriel had vacated. The shadowsinger didn’t so much as look at it. No, Azriel just walked to the wall beside Cassian and leaned against the wood paneling. But Rhys and the others remained quiet enough that I knew to proceed carefully as I asked Cassian, “Nesta spoke as if you’ve been up at the House … often. You’ve offered to train her?” Cassian’s hazel eyes shuttered as he crossed a booted ankle over another, stretching his muscled legs before him. “I go up there every other day. It’s good exercise for my wings.” Those wings shifted in emphasis. Not a scratch marred them. “And?” “And what you saw in the library is a pleasanter version of the conversation we always have.” Mor’s lips pressed into a thin line, as if she was trying her best not to say anything. Azriel was trying his best to shoot a warning stare at Mor to remind her to indeed keep her mouth shut. As if they’d already discussed this. Many times. “I don’t blame her,” Cassian said, shrugging despite his words. “She was—violated. Her body stopped belonging wholly to her.” His jaw clenched. Even Amren didn’t dare say anything. “And I am going to peel the King of Hybern’s skin off his bones the next time I see him.”

Chapter 17 Not that there was much finery to bother with. I’d opted for my Illyrian leather pants and a loose, white shirt—and a pair of embroidered slippers that Cassian kept snorting at as we flew. When he did so for the third time in two minutes, I pinched his arm and said, “It’s hot. Those boots are stuffy.” His brows rose, the portrait of innocence. “I didn’t say anything.” “You grunted. Again.” “I’ve been living with Mor for five hundred years. I’ve learned the hard way not to question shoe choices.” He smirked. “However stupid they may be.” “It’s dinner. Unless there’s some battle planned afterward?” “Your sister will be there—I’d say that’s battle aplenty.” I casually studied his face, noting how hard he worked to keep his features neutral, to keep his gaze fixed anywhere but on my own. Rhys flew nearby, far enough to remain out of earshot as I said, “Would you use her to see if she can somehow fix the wall?” Hazel eyes shot to me, fierce and clear. “Yes. Not only for our sakes, but … she needs to get out of the House. She needs to …” Cassian’s wings kept up a steady booming beat, the new sections only detectable by their lack of scarring. “She’ll destroy herself if she stays cooped up in there.” My chest tightened. “Do …” I thought through my words. “The day she was changed, she … I felt something different with her.” I fought against the tensing in my muscles as I recalled those moments. The screaming and the blood and the nausea as I watched my sisters taken against their will, as I could do nothing, as we— I swallowed down the fear, the guilt. “It was like … everything she was, that steel and fire … It became magnified. Cataclysmic. Like … looking at a house cat and suddenly finding a panther standing there instead.” I shook my head, as if it would clear away the memory of the predator, the rage simmering in those blue-gray eyes. “I will never forget those moments,” Cassian said quietly, scenting or sensing the memories wreaking havoc on me. “As long as I live.” “Have you seen any glimpse of it since?” “Nothing.” The House loomed, golden lights at the walls of windows and doorways beckoning us closer. “But I can feel it—sometimes.” He added a bit ruefully, “Usually when she’s pissed at me. Which is … most of the time.” “Why?” They’d always been at each other’s throats, but this … yes, the dynamic between them had been different earlier. Sharper. Cassian shook his dark hair out of his eyes, slightly longer than the last time I’d seen it. “I don’t think Nesta will ever forgive me for what happened in Hybern. To her—but mostly to Elain.” “Your wings were shredded. You were barely alive.” For that was guilt—ravaging and poisonous—in each of Cassian’s words. What the others had been fighting against in the loft. “You were in no position to save anyone.” “I made her a promise.” The wind ruffled Cassian’s hair as he squinted at the sky. “And when it mattered, I didn’t keep it.” I still dreamed of him trying to crawl toward her, reaching for her even in the semiunconscious state the pain and blood loss had thrown him into. As Rhysand had once done for me during those last moments with Amarantha. Perhaps only a few wing beats separated us from the broad landing veranda, but I asked, “Why do you bother, Cassian?” His hazel eyes shuttered as we smoothly landed. And I thought he wouldn’t answer, especially not as we heard the others already in the dining room beyond the veranda, especially not when Rhys gracefully landed beside us and strode in ahead with a wink. But Cassian said quietly as we headed for the dining room, ���Because I can’t stay away.”

Chapter 17 His focus shifted behind me before he replied—and Lucien shut his mouth. His metal eye whirred softly. I followed his glance, and tried not to tense as Nesta stepped into the room. Yes, devastating was a good word for how lovely she’d become as High Fae. And in a long-sleeved, dark blue gown that clung to her curves before falling gracefully to the ground in a spill of fabric … Cassian looked like someone had punched him in the gut.

Chapter 19 Something drew Cassian’s attention behind me. And even as his body remained casual, a predatory gleam flickered in his eyes. I didn’t need to turn to know who was standing there. “Care to join?” Cassian purred. Nesta said, “It doesn’t look like you’re exercising anything other than your mouths.” I looked over my shoulder. My sister was in a dress of pale blue that turned her skin golden, her hair swept up, her back a stiff column. I scrambled to say something, to apologize, but … not in front of him. She wouldn’t want this conversation in front of Cassian. Cassian extended a wrapped hand, his fingers curling in a come-hither motion. “Scared?” I wisely kept my mouth shut as Nesta stepped from the open doorway into the blinding light of the courtyard. “Why should I be scared of an oversized bat who likes to throw temper tantrums?” I choked, and Cassian shot me a warning glare, daring me to laugh. But I felt for that bond in my mind, lowering my mental shields enough to say to Rhysand, wherever he was in the city, Please come spare me from Cassian and Nesta’s bickering. A heartbeat later, Rhys crooned, Regretting becoming High Lady? I savored that voice—that humor. But I shoved that simmering panic down again as I countered, Is this part of my duties? A sensual, dark laugh. Why do you think I was so desperate for a partner? I’ve had almost five centuries to deal with this alone. It’s only fair you have to endure it now. Cassian was saying to Nesta, “Seems like you’re a little on edge, Nesta. And you left so abruptly last night … Any way I can help ease that tension?”

Chapter 22 The Carver purred to Cassian, “If I tell you a secret, warrior-heart, what will you give me?” Neither of us spoke. Carefully—we’d have to phrase and do this so carefully. The Carver stroked the shard of bone in his palm, attention fixed upon a stone-faced Cassian. “What if I tell you what the rock and darkness and sea beyond whispered to me, Lord of Bloodshed? How they shuddered in fear, on that island across the sea. How they trembled when she emerged. She took something—something precious. She ripped it out with her teeth.” Cassian’s golden-brown face had drained of color, his wings tucking in tight. “What did you wake that day in Hybern, Prince of Bastards?” My blood went cold. “What came out was not what went in.” A rasping laugh as the Carver laid the shard of bone on the ground beside him. “How lovely she is—new as a fawn and yet ancient as the sea. How she calls to you. A queen, as my sister once was. Terrible and proud; beautiful as a winter sunrise.” Rhys had warned me of the inmates’ capacity to lie, to sell anything, to get free. “Nesta,” the Bone Carver murmured. “Nes-ta.” I squeezed Cassian’s hand. Enough. It was enough of this teasing and taunting. But he didn’t look at me. “How the wind moans her name. Can you hear it, too? Nesta. Nesta. Nesta.” I wasn’t sure Cassian was breathing. “What did she do, drowning in the ageless dark? What did she take?” It was the bite in the last word that snapped my tether of restraint. “If you wish to find out, perhaps you should stop talking long enough for us to explain.” My voice seemed to shake Cassian free of whatever trance he’d been in. His breathing surged, tight and fast, and he scanned my face—apology in his eyes.

Chapter 23 “Would you be frightened of her, if Nesta was—Death? Or if her power came from it?” Cassian was quiet for a long moment. He said at last, “I’m a warrior. I’ve walked beside Death my entire life. I would be more afraid for her, to have that power. But not afraid of her.” He considered, and added after a heartbeat, “Nothing about Nesta could frighten me.”

Chaper 24 Mercifully, or perhaps not, Nesta’s retching filled the silence. Cassian gaped at Rhys. “What did you do?” “I asked him the same thing,” I said, crossing my arms. “He said he ‘went fast.’ ” Nesta vomited again—then silence. Cassian sighed at the ceiling. “She’ll never fly again.” The doorknob twisted, and we tried—or at least Cassian and I did—not to seem like we’d been listening to her. Nesta’s face was still greenish-pale, but … Her eyes burned. There was no way of describing that burning—and even painting it might have failed. Her eyes remained the same blue-gray as my own. And yet … Molten ore was all I could think of. Quicksilver set aflame. She advanced a step toward us. All her attention fixed on Rhys. Cassian casually stepped in her path, wings folded in tight. Feet braced apart on the carpet. A fighting stance—casual, but … his Siphons glimmered. “Do you know,” Cassian drawled to her, “that the last time I got into a brawl in this house, I was kicked out for a month?” Nesta’s burning gaze slid to him, still outraged—but hinted with incredulity. He just went on, “It was Amren’s fault, of course, but no one believed me. And no one dared banish her.” She blinked slowly. But the burning, molten gaze became mortal. Or as mortal as one of us could be. Until Lucien breathed, “What are you?” Cassian didn’t seem to dare take his focus off Nesta. 

Chapter 27 Cassian had stationed himself by the doorway, I realized, to be closer to Nesta. To grab her if Amren decided she didn’t particularly care for where this conversation was headed. Or for any of the furniture in this room. Precisely why Rhys now placed himself on Amren’s other side—to draw her attention away from me, and Mor behind us, every muscle in her lithe body on alert. Cassian was staring at Nesta—hard enough that my sister at last twisted toward him. Met his gaze. His head tilted—slightly. A silent order.

Cassian casually slid Nesta behind him, his fingers snagging in the skirts of her black gown. As if to reassure himself that she wasn’t in Amren’s direct path. Nesta only rose onto her toes to peer over his shoulder.

Chapter 30 Both males went a bit still. But Azriel sketched a bow—while Cassian stalked for the dining table, reached right over Nesta’s shoulder, and grabbed a muffin from its little basket. “Morning, Nesta,” he said around a mouth of blueberry-lemon. “Elain.”

Cassian finished the muffin, licking his fingers. I could have sworn Nesta watched the entire thing with a sidelong glance. He grinned at her as if he knew it, too. “Ready for some flying, Nes?” “Don’t call me that.” The wrong thing to say, from the way Cassian’s eyes lit up. I chose that moment to winnow to the skies above the House, chuckling as wind carried me through the world. Some sisterly payback, I supposed. For Nesta’s general attitude. Mercifully, no one saw my slightly better crash landing on the veranda, and by the time Cassian’s dark figure appeared in the sky, Nesta’s hair bright as bronze in the morning sun, I’d brushed off the dirt and dust from my leathers. My sister’s face was wind-flushed as Cassian gently set her down. Then she strode for the glass doors without a single look back. “You’re welcome,” Cassian called after her, more than a bite to his voice. His hands clenched and slackened at his sides—as if he were trying to loosen the feel of her from his palms.

Chapter 31 In the terrible silence, Cassian hauled me out—toward the dim center of the pit. Nesta was standing there, arms around herself, eyes wide. Cassian only stretched out an arm for her. As if in a trance, she walked right to his side. His arms tightened around both of us, Siphons flaring, gilding the darkness with bloodred light.

Chapter 32 I wondered what had happened in those initial moments, when he’d found my sister. As if he’d read my thoughts, Rhys sent the image to me, no doubt courtesy of Cassian. Panic—and rage. That was all he knew as he shot down into the heart of the pit, spearing for that ancient darkness that had once shaken him to his very marrow. Nesta was there—and Feyre. It was the former he saw first, stumbling out of the dark, wide-eyed, her fear a tang that whetted his rage into something so sharp he could barely think, barely breathe— She let out a small, animal sound—like some wounded stag—as she saw him. As he landed so hard his knees popped. He said nothing as Nesta launched herself toward him, her dress filthy and disheveled, her arms stretching for him. He opened his own for her, unable to stop his approach, his reaching— She gripped his leathers instead. “ Feyre,” she rasped, pointing behind her with a free hand, shaking him solidly with the other. Strength—such untapped strength in that slim, beautiful body. “Hybern.” That was all he needed to hear. He drew his sword—then Rhys was arrowing for them, his power like a gods-damned volcanic eruption. Cassian charged ahead into the gloom, following the screaming—

Chapter 39 But Nesta was glancing between us all, her back still stiff, mouth a thin line. “Where is he?” “Who?” Rhys crooned. “Cassian.” I didn’t think I’d ever heard his name from her lips. Cassian had always been him or that one. And Nesta had been … pacing in the foyer. As if she was worried. I opened my mouth, but Mor beat me to it. “He’s busy.” I’d never heard her voice so … sharp. Icy. Nesta held Mor’s stare. Her jaw tightened, then relaxed, then tightened—as if fighting some battle to keep questions in. Mor didn’t drop her gaze. Mor had never seemed ruffled by mention of Cassian’s past lovers. Perhaps because they’d never meant much—not in the ways that counted. But if the Illyrian warrior no longer stood as a physical and emotional buffer between her and Azriel … And worse, if the person who caused that vacancy was Nesta … Mor said flatly, “When he gets back, keep your forked tongue behind your teeth.” My heart leaped into a furious beat, my arms slack at my sides at the insult, the threat. But Rhys said, “Mor.” She slowly—so slowly—looked at him. There was nothing but uncompromising will in Rhys’s face. “We now leave for the meeting in three days. Send out dispatches to the other High Lords to inform them. And I’m done debating where to meet. Pick a place and be done with it.” She stared him down for a heartbeat, then dragged her gaze back to my sister. Nesta’s face had not altered, the coldness limning it unbending. She was so still she seemed to barely be breathing. But she did not balk. She did not avert her eyes from the Morrigan. Mor vanished with hardly a blink. Nesta only turned and headed for the sitting room, where I noticed books had been laid on the low-lying table before the hearth.

Behind us, Amren murmured to Nesta, “Cassian has gone to war many times, girl. He isn’t general of Rhys’s forces for nothing. This battle was a skirmish compared to what lies ahead. He’s likely visiting the families of the fallen as we speak. He’ll be back before the meeting.” Nesta said, “I don’t care.”

Chapter 42 Nesta only lifted her chin. “I …” I’d never seen her stumble for words. “I do not want to be remembered as a coward.” “No one would say that,” I offered quietly. “I would.” Nesta surveyed us all, her gaze jumping past Cassian. Not to slight him, but… avoid answering the look he was giving her. Approval—more. “It was some distant thing,” she said. “War. Battle. It … it’s not anymore. I will help, if I can. If it means …telling them what happened.”

Mor sagged a bit, jewelry glinting with the movement, and went to take Cassian’s arm. But he’d at last approached Nesta. And as the world began to turn to shadows and wind, I saw Cassian tower over my sister, saw her chin lift defiantly, and heard him growl, “Hello, Nesta.” Rhys seemed to halt his winnowing as my sister said, “So you’re alive.” Cassian bared his teeth in a feral grin, wings flaring slightly. “Were you hoping otherwise?” Mor was watching—watching so closely, every muscle tense. She again reached for his arm, but Cassian angled out of reach, not tearing his eyes from Nesta’s blazing gaze. Nesta blurted, “You didn’t come to—” She stopped herself. The world seemed to go utterly still at that interrupted sentence, nothing and no one more so than Cassian. He scanned her face as if furiously reading some battle report. Mor just watched as Cassian took Nesta’s slim hand in his own, interlacing their fingers. As he folded in his wings and blindly reached his other hand back toward Mor in a silent order to transport them. Cassian’s eyes did not leave Nesta’s; nor did hers leave his. There was no warmth, no tenderness on either of their faces. Only that raging intensity, that blend of contempt and understanding and fire. Rhys began to winnow us again, and just as the dark wind swept in, I heard Cassian say to Nesta, his voice low and rough, “The next time, Emissary, I’ll come say hello.”

Chapter 44 “You’re insane,” I breathed to Tamlin as Varian bared his teeth. “Do you hear what you’re saying?” I pointed toward Nesta. “Hybern turned my sisters into Fae—after your bitch of a priestess sold them out!” “Perhaps Ianthe’s mind was already in Rhysand’s thrall. And what a tragedy to remain young and beautiful. You’re a good actress—I’m sure the trait runs in the family.” Nesta let out a low laugh. “If you want someone to blame for all of this,” she said to Tamlin, “perhaps you should first look in the mirror.” Tamlin snarled at her. Cassian snarled right back, “Watch it.” Tamlin looked between my sister and Cassian—his gaze lingering on Cassian’s wings, tucked in behind him. Snorted. “Seems like other preferences run in the Archeron family, too.”

Chapter 45 Rhys lifted a brow. “Your staggering generosity aside, will you be joining our forces?” “I have not yet decided.” Eris went so far as to give his father a look bordering on reproach. From genuine alarm or for what that refusal might mean for our own covert alliance, I couldn’t tell. “Armies take time to raise,” Cassian said. “You don’t have the luxury of sitting on your ass. You need to rally your soldiers now.” Beron only sneered. “I don’t take orders from the bastards of lesser fae whores.” My heartbeat was so wild I could hear it in every corner of my body, feel it pounding in my arms, my gut. But it was nothing compared to the wrath on Cassian’s face—or the icy rage on Azriel’s and Rhys’s. And the disgust on Mor’s. “That bastard,” Nesta said with utter coolness, though her eyes began to burn, “may wind up being the only person standing in the way of Hybern’s forces and your people.” She didn’t so much as look at Cassian as she said it. But he stared at her—as if he’d never seen her before.

Chapter 47 Helion paused his debating the wall to survey her carefully, as he had done earlier. Spell-Cleaver. That was his title. She surveyed him with her usual disdain. But Helion gave her the same bow he’d offered me—though his smile was edged with enough sensuality that even my heart raced a bit. No wonder the Lady of Autumn hadn’t stood a chance. “I don’t think we were introduced properly earlier,” he crooned to Nesta. “I’m—” “I don’t care,” Nesta said with a snap of her wrist, striding right past him and up to my side. “I’d like a word,” she said. “Now.” Cassian was biting his knuckle to keep from laughing—at the utter surprise and shock on Helion’s face. It wasn’t every day, I supposed, that anyone of either sex dismissed him so thoroughly. I threw the High Lord a semi-apologetic glance and led my sister out of the room. “What is it?” I asked when Nesta and I had entered her bedroom, the space bedecked in pink silk and gold, accents of ivory scattered throughout. The lavishness of it indeed put our various homes to shame. “We need to leave,” Nesta said. “Right now.” Every sense went on alert. “Why?” “It feels wrong. Something feels wrong.” I studied her, the clear sky beyond the towering, drape-framed windows. “Rhys and the others would sense it. You’re likely just picking up on all the power gathered here.” “Something is wrong,” Nesta insisted. “I’m not doubting you feel that way but … If none of the others are picking it up—” “I am not like the others.” Her throat bobbed. “We need to leave.” “I can send you back to Velaris, but we have things to discuss here—” “I don’t care about me, I—” The door opened, and Cassian stalked in, face grave. The sight of the wings, the Illyrian armor in this opulent, pink-filled room planted itself in my mind, the painting already taking form, as he said, “What’s wrong.” He studied every inch of her. As if there were nothing and no one else here, anywhere. But I said, “She senses something is off—says we need to leave right away.” I waited for the dismissal, but Cassian angled his head. “What, precisely, feels wrong?” Nesta stiffened, mouth pursing as she weighed his tone. “It feels like there’s this …dread. This sense that … that I forgot something but can’t remember what.” Cassian stared at her for a moment longer. “I’ll tell Rhys.” And he did.

Chapter 48 Nesta let out a breathy, sharp noise and surged from her chair. I lunged for her, nearly tripping over the skirts of my dress as she staggered back, a hand clutching at her chest. Another step would have taken her stumbling into the reflection pool, but Mor sprang forward, gripping her. “What’s wrong?” Mor demanded, holding my sister upright as her face contorted in what looked to be—pain. Confusion and pain. Sweat beaded on Nesta’s brow, though her face went deathly pale. “Something …” The word was cut off by a low groan. She sagged, and Mor caught her fully, scanning Nesta’s face. Cassian was instantly there, his hand at her back, teeth bared at the invisible threat.

Chapter 49 Nesta smoothed a hand down her dark dress. “What do I do now?” A purpose, I realized. Assigning her the task of finding a way to repair the holes in the wall … it had given my sister what perhaps our human lives had never granted her: a bearing. “You come with us—to Graysen’s estate, and then travel with the army. If you’re connected with the Cauldron, then we’ll need you close. Need you to tell us if it’s being wielded again.” Not quite a mission, but Nesta nodded all the same. Right as Cassian clapped Rhys on the shoulder and prowled toward us. He paused a foot away, and frowned. “Dresses aren’t good for flying, ladies.” Nesta didn’t reply. He lifted a brow. “No barking and biting today?” But Nesta didn’t rise to meet him, her face still drained and sallow. “I’ve never worn pants,” was all she said. I could have sworn concern flashed across Cassian’s features. But he brushed it aside and drawled, “I have no doubt you’d start a riot if you did.” No reaction. Had the Cauldron— Cassian stepped in Nesta’s path when she tried to walk past him. Put a tan, callused hand on her forehead. She shook off the touch, but he gripped her wrist, forcing her to meet his stare. “Any one of those human pricks makes a move to hurt you,” he breathed, “and you kill them.” He wouldn’t be coming—no, he’d be mustering the full might of the Illyrian legions. Azriel would be joining us, though. Cassian pressed one of his knives into Nesta’s hand. “Ash can kill you now,” he said with lethal quiet as she stared down at the blade. “A scratch can make you queasy enough to be vulnerable. Remember where the exits are in every room, every fence and courtyard— mark them when you go in, and mark how many men are around you. Mark where Rhys and the others are. Don’t forget that you’re stronger and faster. Aim for the soft parts,” he added, folding her fingers around the hilt. “And if someone gets you into a hold …” My sister said nothing as Cassian showed her the sensitive areas on a man. Not just the groin, but the inside of the foot, pinching the thigh, using her elbow like a weapon. When he finished, he stepped back, his hazel eyes churning with some emotion I couldn’t place. Nesta surveyed the fine dagger in her hand. Then lifted her head to look at him. “I told you to come to training,” Cassian said with a cocky grin, and strode off. I studied Nesta, the dagger, her quiet, still face. “Don’t even start,” she warned me, and headed for the stairs.

Chapter 51 On and on they went, until Devlon looked over Rhys’s shoulder—to where we stood. A scowl at Mor. A frown at me—wisely subdued. Then he noticed Nesta. “What is that,” Devlon asked. Nesta merely stared at him, one hand clamping the edges of her gray cloak together at her chest. One of the other camp-lords made some sign against evil. “That,” Cassian said too quietly, “is none of your concern.” “Is she a witch.” I opened my mouth, but Nesta said flatly, “Yes.” And I watched as nine full-grown, weathered Illyrian warlords flinched. “She may act like one sometimes,” Cassian clarified, “but no—she is High Fae.” “She is no more High Fae than we are,” Devlon countered.

Chapter 56 But Nesta had jolted to her feet, staring at Cassian, at the helmet he had tucked into the crook of his arm, the weapons still poking above his shoulder, in need of cleaning. His dark hair hung limp with sweat, his face was mud-splattered where even the helmet had not kept it out. But she surveyed his seven Siphons, the dim red stones. And then she said, “You’re hurt.” Rhys snapped to attention at that. Cassian’s face was grim—his eyes glassy. “It’s fine.” Even the words were laced with exhaustion. But she reached for his arm—his shield arm. Cassian seemed to hesitate, but offered it to her, tapping the Siphon atop his palm. The armor slid back a fraction over his forearm, revealing— “You know better than to walk around with an injury,” Rhys said a bit tensely. “I was busy,” Cassian said, not taking his focus off Nesta as she studied the swollen wrist. How she’d detected it through the armor … She must have read it in his eyes, his stance. I hadn’t realized she’d been observing the Illyrian general enough to notice his tells. “And it’ll be fixed by morning,” Cassian added, daring Rhys to say otherwise. But Nesta’s pale fingers gently probed his golden-brown skin, and he hissed through his teeth. “How do I fix it?” she asked. Her hair had been tied in a loose knot atop her head earlier in the day, and in the hours that we’d worked to ready and distribute supplies to the healers, through the heat and humidity, stray tendrils had come free to curl about her temple, her nape. Faint color had stained her cheeks from the sun, and her forearms, bare beneath the sleeves she’d rolled up, were flecked with mud. Cassian slowly sat on the log where she’d been perched a moment before, groaning softly—as if even that movement taxed him. “Icing it usually helps, but wrapping it will just lock it in place long enough for the sprain to repair itself—” She reached for the basket of bandages she’d been preparing, then for the pitcher at her feet. I was too tired to do anything other than watch as she washed his wrist, his hand, her own fingers gentle. Too tired to ask if she possessed the magic to heal it herself. Cassian seemed too weary to speak as well while she wrapped bandages around his wrist, only grunting to confirm if it was too tight or too loose, if it helped at all. But he watched her— didn’t take his eyes off her face, the brows bunched and lips pursed in concentration. And when she’d tied it neatly, his wrist wrapped in white, when Nesta made to pull back, Cassian gripped her fingers in his good hand. She lifted her gaze to his. “Thank you,” he said hoarsely. Nesta did not yank her hand away. Did not open her mouth for some barbed retort. She only stared and stared at him, at the breadth of his shoulders, even more powerful in that beautiful black armor, at the strong column of his tan neck above it, his wings. And then at his hazel eyes, still riveted to her face. Cassian brushed a thumb down the back of her hand. Nesta opened her mouth at last, and I braced myself— “You’re hurt?” At the sound of Mor’s voice, Cassian snatched his hand back and pivoted toward Mor with a lazy smile. “Nothing for you to cry over, don’t worry.” Nesta dragged her stare from his face—down to her now-empty hand, her fingers still curled as if his palm lay there. Cassian didn’t look at Nesta as she rose, snatching up the pitcher, and muttered something about getting more water from inside the tent. Cassian and Mor fell into their banter, laughing and taunting each other about the battle and the ones ahead. Nesta didn’t come back out again for some time.

Chapter 56

Nesta did not flinch at the clash and din of battle. She only stared toward one blackarmored figure, leading the lines, his occasional order to push or to hold that flank barking across the battle.

Chapter 57 Nesta laid a hand against her bare, rain-slick throat. Cassian began another assault on a Hybern captain—slower this time than he’d been. Now. I had to go now—quickly. I took a step away from the outlook. My sister narrowed her brows at me. “You’re leaving?” “I’ll be back soon,” was all I said. I didn’t dare wonder how much of our army would be left when I did. By the time I strode away, Nesta had already faced the battle once more, rain plastering her hair to her head. Resuming her unending vigil of the general battling on the valley floor below.

Chapter 61 I squinted at the watery light—the very last before true dark. When my vision adjusted… Nesta stood by the nearest tent, an empty water bucket between her feet. Her hair a damp mess atop her mud-flecked head. Watching us emerge, grim-faced— “He’s fine. Healed and awake,” I said quickly. Nesta’s shoulders sagged a bit. She’d saved me the trouble of hunting her down to ask her about tracking the Cauldron. Better to do it now, with some privacy. Especially before Amren arrived. But Mor said coldly, “Shouldn’t you be refilling that bucket?” Nesta went stiff. Sized up Mor. But Mor didn’t flinch from that look. After a moment, Nesta picked up her bucket, mud caked up to her shins, and continued on, steps squelching.

Chapter 62 Nesta still didn’t move. She could not use the bathtub, she’d told me. Because the memories it dragged up— Cassian said to her, “Nothing can harm you here.” He sucked in a breath, groaning softly, and rose to his feet. Azriel tried to stop him, but Cassian brushed him off and strode for my sister’s side. He braced a hand on the desk when he at last stopped. “Nothing can harm you,” he repeated. Nesta was still looking at him when she finally shut her eyes. I shifted, and the angle allowed me to see what I hadn’t detected before. Nesta stood before the map, a fist of bones and stones clenched over it. Cassian remained at her side—his other hand on her lower back. And I marveled at the touch she allowed—marveled at it as much as I did the mudsplattered hand she held out. The concentration that settled over her face. Her eyes shifted beneath their lids, as if scanning the world. “I don’t see anything.” “Go deeper,” Amren urged. “Find that tether between you.” She stiffened, but Cassian stepped closer, and she settled again. A minute went by. Then another. A muscle twitched on Nesta’s brow. Her hand bobbed. Her breath then came fast and hard, her lips curling back as she panted through her teeth. “Nesta,” Cassian warned.

Chapter 63 Cassian chuckled hoarsely, and looked to Nesta, who remained pale and quiet. What she’d seen, what I’d seen in her mind… The size of that army… “Eat or bed?” Cassian had asked Nesta, and I honestly couldn’t tell if he’d meant it as some invitation. I debated telling him he was in no shape. Nesta only said, “Bed.” And there was certainly no invitation in the exhausted reply.

Chapter 64 “We’ll get her back,” Cassian rasped from where he perched on the rolled arm of the chaise longue across the small sitting area, watching her carefully. Rhys, Amren, and Mor were meeting with the other High Lords, informing them what had been done. Seeing if they knew anything. Had any way of helping. Nesta lowered her hands, lifting her head. Her eyes were red-rimmed, lips thin. “No, you will not.” She pointed to the map on the table. “I saw that army. Its size, who is in it. I saw it, and there is no chance of any of you getting into its heart. Even you,” she added when Cassian opened his mouth again. “Especially not when you’re injured.”

Chapter 66 “Good,” Cassian said, glancing at Nesta. “If I end my life defending those who need it most, then I will consider it a death well spent.” Lord Devlon, for once, nodded his approval. I wondered if Cassian noticed it—if he cared. His face revealed nothing, not as his focus remained wholly on my sister.

Chapter 69 During the brief midday break in a large meadow, Nesta and I climbed inside one of the supply caravan’s covered wagons to change into Illyrian fighting leathers. When we emerged, Nesta even buckled a knife at her side. Cassian had insisted, yet he’d admitted that since she was untrained, she was just as likely to hurt herself as she was to hurt someone else.

Chapter 70 Nesta pushed herself onto her elbows, hair shaking free of her braid, lips bloodless. She heaved into the grass. Rhys’s magic shot out of him, arcing around our entire army, his breathing a wet rasp— Nesta’s hands grappled into the grass as she lifted her head, scanning the horizon. Like she could see right to where the Cauldron was now about to be unleashed. Rhys’s power flowed and flowed out of him, bracing for impact. Azriel’s Siphons flashed, a sprawling shield of cobalt locking over Rhysand’s, his breathing just as heavy as my mate’s— And then Nesta began screaming. Not in pain. But a name. Over and over. “CASSIAN.” Amren reached for her, but Nesta roared, “CASSIAN!” She scrambled to her feet, as if she’d leap into the skies. Her body lurched, and she went down, heaving again. A figure shot from the Illyrian ranks, spearing for us, flapping hard, red Siphons blazing— Nesta moaned, writhing on the ground. The earth seemed to shudder in response. No—not in response to her. In terror of the thing that erupted from Hybern’s army. I understood why the king had claimed those rocky foothills. Not to make us charge uphill if we should push them so far. But to position the Cauldron. For it was from the rocky outcropping that a battering ram of death-white light hurled for our army. Just about level with the Illyrian legion in the sky—as the Attor’s legion dropped to the earth, and ducked for cover. Leaving the Illyrians exposed. Cassian was halfway to us when the Cauldron’s blast hit the Illyrian forces. I saw him scream—but heard nothing. The force of that power… It shredded Azriel’s shield. Then Rhysand’s. And then shredded any Siphon-made ones. It hollowed out my ears and seared my face. And where a thousand soldiers had been a heartbeat before… Ashes rained down upon our foot soldiers. Nesta had known. She gaped up at me, terror and agony on her face, then scanned the sky for Cassian, who flapped in place, as if torn between coming for us and charging back to the scattering Illyrian and Peregryn ranks. She’d known where that blast was about to hit. Cassian had been right in the center of it. Or would have been, if she hadn’t called him away. Rhys was looking at her like he knew, too. Like he didn’t know whether to scold her for the guilt Cassian would no doubt feel, or thank her for saving him. Nesta’s body went stiff again, a low moan breaking from her. I felt Rhys cast out his power—a silent warning signal. The other High Lords raised shields this time, backing the one he rallied. But the Cauldron did not hit the same spot twice. And Hybern was willing to incinerate part of his own army if it meant wiping out a strength of ours. Cassian was again hurtling for us, for Nesta sprawled on the ground, as the light and unholy heat of the Cauldron were unleashed again.

Nesta had her brow in the grass as Cassian landed so hard the ground shuddered. He was reaching for her as he panted, “What is it, what—” “It’s gone quiet again,” Nesta breathed, letting Cassian haul her into a sitting position as he scanned her face. Devastation and rage lay in his own. Did he know? That she had screamed for him, knowing he’d come… That she’d done it to save him? Rhys only ordered him, “Get back in line. The soldiers need you there.” Cassian bared his teeth. “What the hell can we do against that?”

Chapter 72 Rhys made to shoot me back down to the ground, where Amren and Elain were still waiting. Nesta said, “Wait.” Rhys obeyed. Nesta stared toward that armada, toward our father fighting in it. “Use me. As bait.” I blinked at the same moment Cassian said, “No.” Nesta ignored him. “The king is probably waiting beside that Cauldron. Even if you get there, you’ll have him to contend with. Draw him out. Draw him far away. To me.” “How,” Rhys said softly. “It goes both ways,” Nesta murmured, as if my mate’s words moments before had triggered the idea. “He doesn’t know how much I took. And if … if I make it seem like I’m about to use his power … He’ll come running. Just to kill me.” “He will kill you,” Cassian snarled. Her hand clenched on his arm. “That’s—that’s where you come in.” To guard her. Protect her. To lay a trap for the king. “No,” Rhys said. Nesta snorted. “You’re not my High Lord. I may do as I wish. And since he’ll sense that you’re with me… You need to go far away, too.” Rhys said to Cassian, “I’m not letting you throw your life away for this.” I was inclined to agree. Cassian surveyed the depleted Illyrian lines, now holding strong as Azriel rallied them. “Az has control of the lines.” “I said no,” Rhys snapped. I’d never heard him use that tone with Cassian, with any of them. Cassian said steadily, “It’s the only shot we have of a diversion. Luring him away from that Cauldron.” His hands tightened on Nesta. “You gave everything, Rhys. You went through that hell for us, for fifty years.” He’d never addressed it—not fully. “You think I don’t know what happened? I know, Rhys. We all do. And we know you did it to save us, spare us.” He shook his head, sunlight glinting off that dark, winged helmet. “Let us return the favor. Let us repay the debt.” “There is no debt to repay.” Rhys’s voice broke. The sound of it cracked my heart. Cassian’s own voice broke as he said, “I never got to repay your mother—for her kindness. Let me do it this way. Let me buy you time.” “I can’t.” I wasn’t sure if in the entire history of Illyria, there had ever been such a discussion. “You can,” Cassian said gently. “You can, Rhys.” He gave a lazy grin. “Save some of the glory for the rest of us.” “Cassian—” But Cassian asked Nesta, “Do you have what you need?” Nesta nodded. “Amren showed me enough. What to do to rally the power to me.” And if Amren and I could control the Cauldron between us… That distraction they’d offer … Nesta looked down to Elain—our sister monitoring the bloodbath ahead. Then to me. She said quietly, “Tell Father—thank you.” She wrapped her arms tightly around Cassian, those gray-blue eyes bright, then they were gone.

Chapter 74 Nesta surged to her feet, staggering across the clearing, blood at her mouth from where he’d hit her, and threw herself to her knees before Cassian. “Get up,” she sobbed, hauling at his shoulder. “Get up.” He tried—and failed. “You’re too heavy,” she pleaded, but still tried to raise him, fingers scrabbling in his black, bloodied armor. “I can’t—he’s coming—” “Go,” Cassian groaned. Her power had stopped hurling the king across the forest. He now stalked toward them, brushing off splinters and leaves from his jacket—taking his time. Knowing she would not leave. Savoring the awaiting slaughter. Nesta gritted her teeth, trying to haul Cassian up once more. A broken sound of pain ripped from him. “Go! ” he barked at her. “I can’t,” she breathed, voice breaking. “I can’t.” The same words Rhys had given him. Cassian grunted in pain, but lifted his bloodied hands—to cup her face. “I have no regrets in my life, but this.” His voice shook with every word. “That we did not have time. That I did not have time with you, Nesta.” She didn’t stop him as he leaned up and kissed her—lightly. As much as he could manage. Cassian said softly, brushing away the tear that streaked down her face, “I will find you again in the next world—the next life. And we will have that time. I promise.” The King of Hybern stepped into that clearing, dark power wafting from his fingertips. And even the Cauldron seemed to pause in surprise—surprise or some … feeling as Nesta looked at the king with death twining around his hands, then down at Cassian. And covered Cassian’s body with her own. Cassian went still— then his hand slid over her back. Together. They’d go together. I will offer you a bargain, I said to the Cauldron. I will offer you my soul. Save them. “Romantic,” the king said, “but ill-advised.” Nesta did not move from where she shielded Cassian’s body.

Chapter 80 My sister had barely spoken, barely eaten these past few days. Had not visited Cassian in his healing bed. Still had not talked to me about what had happened.

- END - 

[changeling-rin]

Hey there, I have a friend I've been getting into DL but I don't really know how to explain the links so I was woundering what would be the best way to explain each of the links (and sequels if possible please) - Friday (Please and Thank you!)

(cracks knuckles)

ALRIGHT PEOPLE HERE WE GO, LONG POST AHEAD

THE CHAIN LINKS

Gen: The Link from Skyward Sword. Short for Genesis, which he will never ever let anyone call him by ever because he doesn't actually like it. He's generally level-headed and appreciates common sense, and gets a bit miffed when things decide to divert from said common sense. He's the group medic, not necessarily by any skill on his part, but more because the group needed a medic and he couldn't believe there wasn't one yet, so the only logical decision was to do it himself. He gets very particular about the group taking the proper amount of healing items as a result. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio and is the effective 'super-ego', if you will

Speck: The Link from Minish Cap. He's quiet, by far the most quiet, and will really only speak up if he's a) confident in what he has to say, and b) confident that it will add something worthwhile to the discussion. He has the ability to shrink via his magic hat (Ezlo) and a magical conduit shaped like a Jar that he carries around with him. Due to the bit where he's usually in the background, the fact that he has a surprisingly violent streak catches just about all his enemies off guard - for example, his favorite method of attack is shrinking down and using his size to stab his sword directly into his opponent's eardrum. Ironically, outside of a fight, he's one of the Links most likely to apologize to a flower for stepping on it

The Four: The Link(s) from Four Swords. They're the split-in-four version of the Link who drew the Sword, but due to a hive mind effect, everything they do is in unison. They're pretty quiet most of the time, due to most people finding said unison relatively unsettling, but since the Chain couldn't care less about that they're more willing to speak up every now and then. They specialize in group attacks and such, but they're terrible at being individual. The nature of their hive mind means that it's both incredibly uncomfortable and incredibly difficult to break their unison, and so most of the time they won't even bother trying. They have a little snarky side that comes out when they're stressed, and they hang out with Speck most often due to having similar introverted dispositions

Ocarina: The Link from Ocarina of Time, and one-half of the Hero(es) of Time with Mask due to time being broken and the continuum being shot. He's the younger half, even though he's in his sixteen-year-old body, and since he has the mind of a nine-year-old it makes a very odd combination. He has occasional confidence issues and a few self-worth/doubt beliefs as the result of hanging out with his older self and worrying about how he's going to successfully grow into someone so competent. He can usually be found next to his older self, or at the very least in the general vicinity of his older self, and he has a profound distaste for the necessity for secrets. Most specifically, his future, because it's literally standing right next to him and he'd really like to know if he beats Ganondorf, thanks

Mask: The Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, and one-half of the Hero(es) of Time with Ocarina. He's the older half despite being in the body of a twelve-year-old, and since he's technically got the mind of an eighteen-year-old at the very least it looks very strange from the outside. He's snarky, sarcastic, and takes great joy in messing with other people, most specifically his younger self by refusing to give away future hints and claiming ~Spoilers~ every time it comes up. He carries his transformation masks and uses then whenever the situation calls for it. He can usually be found next to his younger self because he's secretly worried about shattering his own personal timeline, and he puts a lot of effort into making sure Ocarina survives whatever mess they've gotten into this time. He also puts an equal amount of effort into making sure Ocarina doesn't notice this

Dusk: The Link from Twilight Princess. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio and is the quote-unquote 'ego' - or, in othher words, he's usually the mediating force. If it's pointed out to him though, he will steadfastly deny that he's in any suited for a leadership position - which is in blatant contradiction to the fact that he's probably the most effective member of the Leader Trio. He carries the Curse Stone from Zant around his neck in a pouch and usles it to transform whenever the situation calls for it. He's also the regular soul-host for Midna, Shadow, or both, depending on the day. He's by far the most level-headed Link, taking almost everything in stride, and it takes a lot to make him lose his cool. The one surefire way to do it is to threaten someone he cares about, at which point he will waste no time completely destroying whoever was stupid enough to make said threat

RGBV: Red, Green, Blue, and Vio are the Link(s) from Four Swords Adventures, and like the Four they're the result of one Link being split into four bodies. Unlike the Four, they've retained their individuality and have four very different personalities as a result. Green is the established leader of their quad-cell, and is the most level-headed one. He's not the most patient one, but he is the one who's not afraid to do what needs to be done. Red is the most emotional one, easily excitable and absolutely willing to give hugs to anyone who asks (and a few who don't). Blue is the most aggressive one, although he mostly directs it towards his enemies. He does have a on-again-off-again rivalry of sorts with Vio, but it's never gotten beyond particularly invested sibling bickering. Vio meanwhile is the book-smarts one, or at least the one with the most strategic intelligence. He's also the best ranged fighter they have

Lore: The Link from A Link to the Past, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, and Link's Awakening. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio, finishing off the dynamic as the 'id'. He's by far the most unique personality, being a hyperactive chaos entity who delights in confusing people and making them question reality. He's also a polyglot, knows at least ten languages, and is constantly hunting for new ones to learn. He's easily the most experienced Link and as a result has Seen Some Stuff, but instead of being traumatized by the weirdness he decided to go in the other direction and embrace it instead. He's an absolutely terrible shot in spite of his numerous adventures, but the sheer amount of stuff he has tends to make up for it. He hasn't met a situation yet that he doesn't have an item for and he's not about to start now - although this is mostly due to his conviction that bombs are the answer to every situation

Realm: The Link from the original Legend of Zelda. He is constantly, hopelessly, chronically lost, and has absolutely no concept of where he is in relation to where everything else is. He also has a somewhat tenuous relationship with the concept of physical space, which tends to result in him getting lost in places he really should not have been able to get lost in (for example, a volcano). Regrettably this also extends to his items, which he frequently loses. In spite of this, he's one of the most cheerful and optimistic Links in the group. It takes a lot to get him into a bad mood, and given what he already goes through while maintaining a good mood, the entire Chain has yet to see him in a bad one. A side effect of getting lost so much is that his stamina is absolutely ridiculous, which makes him very good at drawing out a fight - in fact, that's more or less his specialty

Sketch: The Link from A Link Between Worlds. He has the ability to turn his body into paint and move along the walls like a living hieroglyph. Unfortunately, due to being made of watercolors when he does this, he also has a severe phobia of water as a result of the fact that he might actually die a horrifically painful death if his paint runs too much. Outside of that, he's relatively level-headed and very crafty, in the literal sense that he likes to make things. He used to be a blacksmith's apprentice before this whole Hero business got started (his specialty is metalwork). He likes things to make sense and gets a bit snarky when the universe decides to spite him by making no sense at all. He's one of the best Links at stealth, because for some reason very few people will notice the artwork on the wall and as long as he has a surface to fuse with, he can get just about anywhere

Wind: The Link from Wind Waker. He carries said Wind Waker as part of his inventory, and it lets him control the weather. He's a certified Weather Master in everything but the official certification, because he hasn't had the chance to go back and take the test yet, but the ability to throw literal tornadoes at his enemies makes him arguably one of the most dangerous Links in the group. He does prefer to hang back in a fight and hit from a distance as opposed to getting up close and personal, but that's very typical for a mage. He has an overabundance of patience, stored up from sailing for days back on his home ocean, and he'll take just about anything in stride - unless you're threatening his family, then all bets are off. He's one of the quieter Links, being more content to wait and see the results of something rather than actively participating, but this in no way means that he's not paying attention. He knows what he's capable of, is fully willing and ready to do it if necessary, and makes no excuses to the contrary

Steam: The Link from Spirit Tracks. He has the ability to see hidden things, which extends beyond his own disembodied Princess Zelda and into things like mask spirits or just plain invisible opponents. He also has a summons in the form of the Spirit Train, which he takes great pleasure in slamming into whichever villain has annoyed him. He's got a dry sort of sarcasm and he's definitely not afraid to say what he thinks. As a result of spending most of his adventure on a Train, he's easily the least physically fit of the Links and therefore tends to hang back in a fight, relying more on his summons for heavy hits or his sight ability to provide support. His previous career choice was a locomotive engineer, and as a result he and Sketch get along very well. They have regularly scheduled brainstorm sessions about what sort of gadget they should try and make this time, usually with Steam providing the math and schematics and Sketch providing the real-world experience to make it real

Shadow: The Link from a variety of games, since whenever a Shadow or Dark Link appears, that was him. He's bitingly sarcastic, could not possibly care less about the opinions of other people, and takes great joy in finding the best way to insult someone as possible. Being formed from the darker emotions of other Links, he's understandably in a poor-to-terrible mood almost all the time, although he can usually be convinced to take it out on other people. A side effect of being made of dark magic is that he can't be out in the sunlight too long - it'll start to burn him in the same way a match burns paper. As a perk though, he can manipulate his body into any shape he wants, mostly ignoring physics as he does. This makes him easily one of the most powerful Links in the group, since he doesn't take battle damage the way a physically-bodied person would and is all but immune to being stabbed. He makes for an excellent aggro target, partly because he can take anything the opponent could give, but also because he'll give it all back and then some

Oni: The Link from before Skyward Sword. Also known as the Fierce Deity. Saying that he's overpowered is a bit of an understatement, as he can take out the likes of Majora in three hits or less, but he's very unlikely to actually use his power like that. As a result of being put into a mask, he has no actual autonomy unless someone is wearing him, at which point he takes control of the body of the wearer to manifest in the real world. This lasts with no repercussions until his mask is removed, at which point Oni returns to his bindings. He has not deigned to explain how he ended up in a mask or who managed to put him there, but the loose implication points to the aftermath of the Demon War as the cause. Further information is pending. He's stoic and composed, and has yet to be truly riled up by anything that's happened. He also refuses, as a rule, to get involved with the rest of the Chain's adventures unless his presence is truly required. As the First Link Ever, and the one from whom the entire rest of the lineage has descended, Oni feels somewhat responsible for guiding the rest of the Links through their journeys - but guiding and coddling are two different things and as far as Oni is concerned, his legacies need to be able to fight their own battles

THE SEQUEL LINKS

Rune: The Link from Breath of the Wild. He has the Champion Abilities, as well as his own Quicktime specialty, and is of course concerningly amnesiac. He's quiet to the point of almost being forgettable, which is a side effect of a) spending nearly all his time in the wilderness alone with nobody to talk to, and b) having to constantly be on the alert for Guardians because nothing alerts a Guardian like a loud hylian. His inventory is nearly bottomless, and he therefore immediately becomes the group pack mule. He's also hands-down the best chef (something which makes Gen only slightly jealous)

Lux: The Link from Hyrule Warriors. He is the quietest Link, but not because of his personality - it's because he can't talk. The most vocalization he's ever going to manage is incoherent yells of effort, because anything beyond that is locked behind a psychosomatic speech block. He has not deigned to share why he has a psychosomatic speech block and at the moment it's highly doubtful he ever will. He's second only to Shadow in his sarcasm and general displeasure with the world, and the rest of the group is lucky that hylian sign only has loosely defined curse words, otherwise he'd be going off

RSE: Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are the Link(s) from Triforce Heroes. Emerald is the leader of the trio, more or less, while Ruby handles anything that might need a good smacking and Sapphire embodies the emotional core. They have a strange dynamic where they bicker with each other to hide the fact that they care, which is a direct result of them still settling into their own dynamics. They have their Totem formation, of course, and share an incredibly specific set of opinions about fashion. The fact that they also have their entire wardrobe on hand is complete coincidence, yep

Lyric: The Link from Cadence of Hyrule. He can hear the Universe Music better than any other Link (with the possible exception of Wind) and he will do whatever he can to follow its lead. He's constantly moving to the beat in almost everything he does, and it makes him unexpectedly deadly in a fight. It turns out that following the Universe Music gives very good buffs and Lyric is a master at following the music. Ironically enough for all his sense of rhythm, he cannot sing to save his life and is in fact instrumentally challenged, which annoys him to no end

THE OC LINKS

Codex: The Link from the Evil Overlord List, a story I write that somehow developed its own protagonist. He's snarky, sarcastic, runs on caffeine and spite, and will probably take over the world someday if he ever gets around to it. He's currently just a college student writing his thesis paper (The List), but once he graduates the world had better brace itself

Wraith: The Link that was made as a result of a random conversation one day, in which someone asked me what would happen if Demise won permanently. Five minutes with my angst-stunted brain later, I had a cheerful sunshine child who had the ability to see spirits and was getting mentored by all eighteen dead Heroes as the backup plan to deal with Demise. He's way too pure for the world and probably shouldn't be as big an optimist as he is for someone surrounded by dead people

[flamehairedwritings]

The Fiancé: Chapter Two

Characters: Steve Rogers x Female Plus-Size Reader

Rating: E, 18+ Only

Summary: Based on the prompt ‘Character A’s ex will be at the Christmas Party A is attending. Character B poses as A’s fiancé ,’ by @alloftheprompts on tumblr. Now edited and extended!

A/N: I couldn’t get this idea out of my head recently, so here we are a year and half later. Yay!

This story includes swearing and alcohol with more tags to be added!

Masterlist

The Fiancé:  Chapter One

Read on AO3

Please don’t copy or steal my work, and please don’t post it on any other sites; credit does not count.

Good Morning, Washington!

Any minute now.

Any minute.

Your face is starting to ache from having it scrunched up so you can stare through the peep-hole properly.

3... 2... 1...

He still doesn’t appear.

How is that possible? You take the briefest of pauses to glance at your watch before swiftly returning your eye to the peep-hole. It’s 7:31. He’s always out of his door every single day at 7:30 for an hour long jog, and you’ve known that for three years because the sound of his door opening and closing is basically your alarm clock. Except for today. Today, you’ve gotten up before the opening and closing of the door because you want to make damn sure you don’t encounter him on your way to work. 

He’s always on time, how is he not out yet? Oh, no... Is he dead? Don’t be silly, of course he isn’t... No, he can’t be. Oh, just go.

Standing back, you exhale a short breath, adjust your bag on your shoulder and open your door. Closing it as quietly as possible behind yourself, you lock it and turn, pushing your keys into your bag.

Then you hear his door opening.

Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

You can do nothing else but freeze and stare at Steve Rogers stepping out of his apartment. As he closes and locks his own door, his keys going into the pocket of his sweatpants, he then turns to you and gives you that warm, wide smile that has you instantly smiling in return.

“Well, good morning. I didn’t know you even knew this time of day existed.”

You tilt your head, arching an eyebrow even as you unsuccessfully try to stop your smile from widening. “A-haa, you’re so funny, they keep ignoring my emails to have that little fact put in the museums.”

A corner of his mouth lifts higher than the other as he chuckles, his hands in his pockets. “How rude of them, I’ll bring it up at the next gala commemorating me.”

You snort as you walk together, him slowing a little so you can enter the elevator first. “Please do, I can’t wait to watch the live-stream of that.”

The elevator doors close as he leans his shoulder against the wall, your hands holding the strap of your bag as you face the doors.

“That reminds me actually...” Your gaze shifts to him as he looks to you, raising his eyebrows slightly. “... Tony’s throwing a party this Saturday to celebrate Christmas, ‘super-secret boy-band style’, I believe the invitation says.” Amusement and exasperation drips from his tone. “As you can imagine, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my weekend, but I have to go, SHIELD and Stark orders, so, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me.”

Your mouth had already opened to make a quip at Stark’s expense, and now it just stays open.

Oh, God...

The nervousness that had vanished at the ease with which he can put you instantly returns.

“Uhm...” You can’t lie. You can’t say no, because A) That’s rude, and B) you’ll just have to give him a reason why, you won’t be able to stop yourself, and you really don’t want to give the truth. “... Yes. That sounds like fun.” You don’t know how you managed to say it without sounding completely like a robot.

He tilts his head, arching an eyebrow. “Easy, you know we both wouldn’t exactly call it ‘fun’, but I just thought you might want to see some of the guys, too, I know they’d love to see you.”

Oh, I do miss Sam and Nat, when was the last time we hung out... Right, so... Okay, that’s fine, then, that settles it, it’s just a friends thing.

Your smile is a little easier to maintain now as you nod. “Sure, yeah, that does sound like fun. Closer to our kind of fun, anyway.”

He looks slightly relieved, straightening as the elevator slows and the automated voice announces, ‘Ground Floor’.

“Great. Having you around will make it a little more bearable.” The doors open and he gestures for you to step out, his smile widening. “And I do reckon you owe me for Saturday.”

Oh, shit. 

You have to tell yourself to keep fucking moving and actually walk out of the elevator to the main doors of the building.

He means... Saturday. As in two days ago. As in when you were at your office Christmas party. As in when you bumped into your ex-boyfriend. As in when you told said ex-boyfriend that Steve Rogers is your fiancé. As in when Steve went along with being your fiancé. As in when he had his arm around you, called you ‘my girl’ and kissed the top of your head.

Swallowing, you quickly plaster on a smile as he catches up to you and gets the door, my God, just stop being so polite, letting you exit first.

“Oh... Yeah, well, you know...” You hope he knows because you don’t bloody know.

Letting the door swing shut and electronically lock behind him, he pushes his hands into his pockets again as you both pause on the pavement.

“Like I said, it wasn’t as awful as you painted it to be, and neither will this Stark party be, but I reckon fair is fair,” he smiles, tilting his head.

Oh. So we’re still not addressing the fiancé thing. Okay. Absolutely bloody fine.

You laugh quickly as you realise you’ve been quiet a second too long. “Oh, yeah, well, I think this party will be a lot more glamorous and the buffet a bit bigger.”

“That it will be. And a free bar, I’ve been told.”

“Oh, perfect!” You sound far too jovial about that. Hang on, that might actually help. Widening your smile, you gesture behind you. “I’d better get going, I have an early meeting.” Lies. “Thank you for the invite, though, I’d better dust off my glad-rags, see what wonders they can do for me.”

He chuckles and he’s still smiling and, oh, that smile. “Wear whatever you like, you look lovely in everything.”

You just laugh, slightly forcing it as you feel heat rise on your cheeks but, thank God, he’s already turned away, jogging off down the street. You meet a passing woman’s brief gaze and quickly drop your slightly maniacal smile, clearing your throat. It must have been really maniacal, actually, as her eyes quickly dart back to you and she frowns.

All righty.

Turning on your heel, you start to stride down the street, your mind buzzing. 

Oh, God...

You have a crush on Steve Rogers. Of course you have a crush on Steve Rogers, who doesn’t? But the absolute last thing in the world you want to do is ruin your friendship. You’d moved to D.C three years ago, on pretty much a whim, well, and a job offer, and a friend insisting it would be the best thing for you, not just your career... and it had been. You’d made such a good friend in Steve, and others, you loved your job, and... God, you really did not want to ruin any of it.

At the party, you’d nearly blown it, you still can’t believe you’d even said it. Steve had had every right to just laugh or frown at you or say his version of ‘what the fuck’, (’now hang on a second’), and you would have completely understood and forgiven him... Except he was the kindest man in the entire universe, so of course he’d just gone along with it, cracked one joke afterwards and not mentioned it again. Granted, it had only been an evening and a full day ago, but you were always messaging each other and it still hadn’t come up. Even on the ride back from the party, he’d driven, you’d just talked about the changing weather, sung along to a few songs on the radio and chatted about how you were each going to spend your Sunday.

Well, maybe, actually, it had been you talking about the weather, you singing along to the radio, and you talking about your Sunday. You had asked him how he was going to spend the next day, though... and asked question after question. Oh, he was going to watch a game at Sam’s? And Bucky was going to be there? How nice, how were they, by the way? Oh, how nice, that’s good, oh, look, back at the apartment!

Even when you’d messaged him yesterday it had just been to talk about the game, how the boys were and to send pictures of Sam’s new TV. Steve was either being very gracious and just letting it pass, or it just didn’t bother him at all, or even occur to him to talk about it.

Either way, you certainly weren’t going to bring it up.

With two weeks to go until Christmas, the weather was certainly colder, and, boy, did you feel it. Wishing you’d remembered your gloves in all the rushing around, you quickened your pace, shoving your anxieties away and dreaming of the hot drinks machine in the office kitchen.

Oh, hooo, I’m coming for you.

—

Stepping out of the elevator, you breathe a sigh of relief as the warmth of the office instantly washes over you. It’s a quiet space in a large building that houses everything from a law firm to a high-end fashion magazine, so you love this little floor of peace.

Book-publishing wasn’t something five-year-old you had dreamed of going in to, but you loved it. You loved discovering and meeting new, exciting authors, making their dreams come true, spreading their voice and imagination to the masses, and, hey, getting to read the proof-copies before the rest of the world is definitely a perk.

People in your office are lovely and calm, too, and despite the running joke that they’d have first dibs on Captain America’s only authorised biography should it ever come to fruition, no one really brings your friendship up unless you do. Smiling at the receptionist, Dolly, she returns it with a wide beam, which isn’t so unusual, she’s the happiest and most positive person you’ve ever met, until you realise she’s shoved her chair back and is darting around the desk to catch up with you.

She probably got up to something exciting at the weekend and can’t wait to tell me. She’s always doing exciting things, I wish I had the energy to do exciting things.

Walking along with you as you pass desks, only a couple of people here as it’s only 8:27 a glance at your watch tells you, Dolly is still beaming.

“So...”

“So...?” you prompt after a few moments as she just looks at you, exhaling a laugh.

You can always have a laugh with Dolly, she’s always ready to.

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

Oh, shit, it’s not her birthday, is it? No, it’s in May, we went to the Mexican restaurant across the road and got free tequila shots.

Raising your eyebrows as you smile in bemusement, you laugh again. “Uh, not really. Oh, I’m happy to see you, as always?”

She laughs, shaking her head. “You’re so coy!”

Pushing your office door open, you frown even as you continue smiling because what the hell is going on. “About what?”

She raises her arms as she stares at you, watching you place your bag on your desk and shrug your thick coat off. “’About what’?! Are you kidding me?”

Am I dreaming right now.

Sitting down in your chair, you raise your hands slightly, palms up. “I don’t actually understand what’s going on right now.”

Her hands go to her hips as she looks at you, amazed. “You’ve always been so damn good at keeping secrets, SHIELD should recruit you, I’ve always said it.”

“Well, that’s very kind of you to say, but I really don’t know what’s going on, Dolly.” Turning your computer on, you raise your eyebrows.

A wide smile breaks out across her features as she raises her arms again. “Your engagement, you secretive little secret-keeper!”

Your mouth drops open as you stare at her, one hand hovering over the keyboard, the other on your mouse.

“... I’m sorry?”

“Gwen heard you telling Joe at the party!” She’s grinning. She’s beaming. She’s delighted. “I get why you’d want to keep it a secret, but I’m so pleased you’re deciding to tell people!”

“Oh, my God... Dolly—”

“Oh, is it still a secret?” Her arms drop as she glances at the rest of the office but luckily no one’s close by. “Okay, all right, I’ll make sure no one gossips, I’ll put a stop to it if I hear any.” She grins again. “Until you tell people that is.” As you open your mouth to speak, she gives a little squeal and presses a hand over her heart. “I’m just so, so happy for you, babe, I can’t wait to hear all about it!”

I’m not dreaming. This is actually a nightmare. Or hell. Hell would be more deserving.

“Dolly, I, uhm, I actually—”

“Oh, shoot, sorry,” she interrupts, pulling a face as you hear the phone at her desk ringing. “Guess the day’s started.” Beaming, she blows you a kiss as she heads out of the door, pulling it closed behind her... but not before mouthing, “I love you, I’m so happy for you.”

You just watch her through the large window. Watch her march down the aisle in her heels. She always has great heels. Unique and stylish ones. Ah, yeah, she has a friend at the fashion magazine on the 21st floor. And you’re down here. On the 11th floor. Staring out of a window at your friend. Having an out of body experience.

You blink a few times as you sit back, frowning at yourself before you exhale a laugh.

Oh, come on, now, get a grip. Just call her once she’s finished with whoever she’s talking to, and then it’ll be fine, you’ll laugh about it, laugh about it some more when you have lunch, and then maybe laugh about it a bit more later. It’ll be hilarious.

Clearing your throat, you sign-in to your computer and open the internet browser. You usually check your phone first thing in the morning, but having been too preoccupied frantically running around trying to get ready to evade a certain someone, you haven’t had the chance yet. As Head of Marketing, you like to know what’s going on pretty much every second of the day on social media, see what trends there are and see what people are saying about the company’s books.

The browser opens onto a round-up of the news stories of the day, as it always does so you can get a quick overview of what’s going on, and you start to glance over them.

And then you freeze.

Oh, fucking hell.

Fucking Jesus Christ.

Headlines are jumping out at you, screaming.

Cap’s New Flame!

Who’s On The Guest List For The Wedding of The Century?!

Downtown NY Wedding Boutique Says It’s Already Making A Dress!

I Pledge Allegiance To... Who?!

You click on a random article and instantly start to read, your mouth open.

Good morning, Washington! What news we have for you! Previously linked to former SHIELD Director Peggy Carter in the 40s, then her niece, Sharon Carter, a few years ago, Cap’s love-life has since been as still as the ice he was found in... until now! Who is the mysterious lady who’s rumoured to be Steve’s fiancée? There’s no word yet on her name or even what she looks like, but we’ll keep you up-to-date with minute-by-minute re-caps (pun not intended!) and updates! Click the alarm for notifications, or subscribe... 

That’s why the woman on the street had stared. Quite a few people had stared actually. Some had even whispered. You’d just chalked it up to your usual anxieties but... Oh, God.

There’s a knock on your door.

Your gaze drifts up to find Dolly opening it, biting at her lower lip as she leans in. She’s not smiling anymore.

“Uh... It’s the, uhm, editor of the Washington Post on line 1, she, uhm... She’d like to schedule an interview.”

You stare at her, frozen, feeling hot and cold all at once.

Oh my fucking God.

—

Comments, reblogs and likes make my day in a way I can’t describe.

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged or untagged in this series!

Tagged: @herb-welch​, @jobean12-blog​, @gifsbysimplysonia​, @multireality​, @saltyspiceduh​, @sergeantangel​, @sarcasm-is-my-native-tounge​

Some accounts have been removed as they weren’t working! Apologies!

[crmediagal]

Unquestionable Love: The Prequel ✨ EXCLUSIVE, REVISED EDITION at crmediagal.com! ✨

* * * available to read at www.crmediagal.com * * *

Story: Unquestionable Love: The Prequel by CRMediaGal  

URL: http://crmediagalhome.wordpress.com/ul-prequel

Pairing: Severus Snape/Hermione Granger | Genres: Romance/Angst/Drama/Hurt & Comfort

Synopsis: The beginnings of an unconventional relationship between a  professor and  his student are tested by war, secrets, prejudice, and  perseverance.  Epic novel with angst, drama, and blossoming romance.  Prequel to Unquestionable Love. HBP to Post-Hogwarts era.

Chapter 1: Uncertain Changes

Chapter 2: A Demonstration and Awakening

Chapter 3: Out of Order

Chapter 4: Luck or Not

Chapter 5: The Snake versus the Lion

Chapter 6: Vows of Selflessness

Chapter 7: Brewing Ideas [ NEW! ]  

Excerpt from Chapter 7:

Severus folded his hands together and placed them on top of a student’s test results, the fluorescent hues from a burning candle positioned at the edge of his work area painting a healthier glow to the man’s otherwise too ashen complexion. He hadn’t expected the girl—Young woman! he corrected himself yet again—to come so close so soon. Maybe, he puzzled, it wasn’t Albus who would be eating this scheme and grovelling at the witch’s feet in due time but, rather, Severus himself.

Hopefully I shan’t live that long, his conscience snarked, sending up a small prayer to Merlin that he might be spared such humility in the future.

“The Elixir of Life,” she persisted, stuck on an evolving idea, “obviously prolongs the lifespan of the drinker, but it’s not an absolute. We know Voldemort has gone to extended lengths to stay alive as long as he has, but how, aside from the unicorn blood, remains a mystery. Unless…” Her voice trailed off a moment, her warm eyes scanning Professor Snape worriedly, dubiously, an intruding look that unnerved him taking shape therein. “Unless you know something about this that you aren’t telling anyone…Professor?”

Severus pressed his lips tighter together. Hermione Granger’s questions were telling, no doubt.  He allowed himself to believe for the span of a few moments that there might be reason to hope.

“My guesses are as good as anyone’s, Granger,” he replied shortly thereafter, his register deep and controlled.  There was only so much he would willingly disclose at the off.  “It’s an answer that’s been sought after since before you were born. A pursuit, as I’ve come to understand it, that’s being undertaken by Potter at the present time on the headmaster’s orders.”

“Slughorn?” Hermione apparently couldn’t stifle the laughter building inside of her. “You think the answer to Voldemort’s strides towards immortality lies with him as well?”

Severus’s eyes shaped into razor-edged lines.  Now the witch was getting too big for her britches.

“Is that so hard to believe, Miss Granger?” he challenged lowly. “The Dark Lord was once his pupil. He was the Head of Slytherin House for many years before I ever took the post. He lived through the Wizarding War—”

“So did you, sir, so…”

It took Hermione’s rapid-firing brain a second too long to register the gravity of what she had spoken. Trepidation set in at the instant offence she perceived manifesting onto his warped expression. His upper lip twitched and the crease between his eyebrows lengthened.

“Indeed I did,” he murmured rather than exclaimed, sounding suddenly dangerous and slightly unbalanced. Hermione shuddered on the spot. “How observant you are.”

“I – I’m sorry,” she failed to apologise fast enough. “I didn’t mean it like that, only—”

“How exactly did you mean it, then, I wonder?” he dared, with a swift whip of his wrist. “Never mind. You owe me another half hour before you’re free to go.”

Hermione’s mouth fell open. “But, sir, I—”

“This conversation is at an end.”

Severus returned to his grading pile, his befuddled student immediately ignored and left to scrabble her brain back into working order. She appeared hot and bothered but marginally mortified by her comment.  Thankfully, she minded him and, with a deeper-set frown, resumed reading.

Albus is grossly mistaken, he concluded, gnawing his teeth together as he pierced the parchment in front of him with permanent red ink. She’s not ready for this. She will never be ready, the insufferable young gi…woman!

The revised version of this fanfic is exclusively available to read at www.crmediagal.com

[radramblog]

Album Discussion- The Fall of Troy

Last week I discussed an album that, more or less, was defined by looseness and empty spaces. This might as well be the polar opposite of that.

(man no-one seems to have uploaded this album art in high res)

Released in 2003, The Fall of Troy is a self-titled mathcore/post-hardcore/screamo debut album made by 3 17 year olds- and in some ways that shows, but it’s not like they were fresh, they’d had two EPs under a different name by that point. The Fall of Troy is probably best known by their song F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X., having been featured as a bonus track in Guitar Hero III, which is notably, not on this album. Rather, their second album, Doppelganger, had a few tracks that were basically retakes of songs from this first album. But we’re not talking about Doppelganger (and I still can’t find a bloody CD of it), we’re talking about The Fall of Troy, by The Fall of Troy, so let’s bloody well dive in.

The first song on here, Rockstar Nailbomb!, is as much a statement of intent as anything I’ve ever seen. It’s starts with hoarsely screamed, incomprehensible vocals over a frenetic set of guitar riffs, that cuts back into a more traditional song structure, you know, after a bit. Like any good opener, it’s introducing what you’re going to be getting from the album- songs that, while extremely energetic, tend to cut between sung vocals and screamed ones at a moment’s notice, complex and overlapping guitar riffs, and a very deliberately unpolished sound. The technical skill on display is incredible considering the age of the band, as well. For such a short song, Rockstar Nailbomb! goes in some real places, closing with a line that would be appropriate to finish off the album as a whole- but of course, we’re just getting started.

The next song is called Spartacus, and it shows off the talent of the drummer in a way that the previous didn’t. Unfortunately, I almost feel like this song was kind of a half-formed idea, considering it’s a minute and a quarter long, and the…squeal…? Near the end is kind of offputting. A mid one.

Oh boy it wouldn’t be a nerd band without ridiculous track names- next up is The Circus That Has Brought Us Back to These Nights (Yo Chocola), and no I don’t fucking know what that means. This one ironically feels the most like a song than the others before it, a slightly more traditional structure, the screaming and singing vocals forming something of a call-and-response that would probably make more sense if I could understand the lyrics half the time. Despite this, it’s no less speedy, frantic, and intricate, mixes between melody and dissonance that are basically the band’s signature.

The fourth track is named Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles, and it’s one of my favourite tracks on the album. I can’t really describe why, though, so I’m going to take a minute to talk about something else. See, this is one of the tracks that was redone for Doppelganger, and on Spotify, for whatever reason, has the title misspelled “Misssiles”. I let them know about this years ago and they never fixed it, so I guess this is my callout post. For what it’s worth, I think the Doppelganger version is a bit looser, adding in some elements in the empty space (there’s a reverb after the initial riff I really love), but both have their own merits.

Okay, mild rant over, back to regular old rambling. The next track is The Last March of the Ents, Lord of the Rings reference very much intended. This is one of those tracks I always forgets exists to be honest, like the intro started and I was like…what was this one again? And then the bit at like 50 seconds came in and I remembered everything. That section is honestly really strong, though unfortunately the rest of the track kinda feels just like Mouths like Sidewinder Missiles, but like, slightly worse? Which is especially awkward considering it immediately proceeds that song. I will say the part of the song where it slows alllll the way down is really enjoyable, it’s very gradual and smooth, gives the bass a bit of time to shine, before blowing back up again because these guys just can’t bear to play slow for half a minute.

The next track is F.C.P.S.I.T.S.G.E.P.G.E.P.G.E.P. This is the song that their most popular track, F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. is a version of, and they’ve never actually stated what the acronym is for. A common (and I believe discredited) suggestion is, and I quote, “Fuck condoms, premarital sex is the shit, get ‘er pregnant get ‘er pregnant get ‘er pregnant”, which is A Take. It also has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song itself. This track is actually by far the loosest and slowest on the album completely, appropriate considering it’s first words are “slow down”. There’s really not a lot of screaming on it, left only to the chorus, and they’re actually understandable which is nice (or maybe it’s just because I know it’s “come running home”). This is undoubtedly an emo track, based on the lyrics, but it’s also just kind of excellent, similarly complex lyrics slowed down to a comprehensible tempo and a bridge that builds in a supremely satisfying manner. The comparison to R.E.M.I.X. is of course, inevitable, and I will say the tightening up did help in some places- the very slow section at the latter part of the song probably doesn’t need to go that long, and that’s easily the part that gets sped up most in the redo. Still, the song stands out very naturally, feeling more thoughtful and controlled than its peers.

The next song is titled “Whacko Jacko Steals The Elephant Man’s Bones”, apparently a reference to…a music video where Michael Jackson danced next to a recreation of the skeleton of a famously deformed man. Yeah, ok, sure. I don’t actually have much to say about this one, it’s very scream-led, but doesn’t really stand out to me apart from the naming. It’s play rating supports this, being the second least listened track here, but it’s by no means bad. It’s just kinda long and as generic as something like this can be, I suppose. Honestly I kinda forgot all the directions this goes, some of these sections are really quite excellent, but the song is probably like 2 minutes longer than it needed to be. I’m just saying. Like I kept waiting for this song to try and change my mind and it kinda just didn’t.

Reassurance Rests in the Sea is up next, and god that little riff it’s building around, that just noodles around but at triple speed, is just so sick. It’s a song that spends a lot more time cutting itself down- like F.C.P.etc. it’s looser and slower, but substantially more disjointed than that one is. This song, uh, completely breaks off like two minutes in and just stops. And becomes a different song. Like, I don’t think this is a bonus track or anything, it’s just a part of the same song. And that second half is a really sort of chill (for this album) instrumental, lead by a bassline that slowly gets more riffs over the top of it. And then that bit stops itself, and the main song returns again for like the final half a minute or so. And honestly I was just like, wait, no, go back…….

The actual least listened to track on the album is number 9, The Adventures of Allan Gordon (it’s apparently about a book). Honestly, I’d kinda love to hear this live, because the first minute or so of it is the kind of thing you’d play as an interstitial to keep the audience going while you get your shit ready for the next song. Eventually (and I mean eventually, song’s a third through at this point) the lyrics and such come in, and yeah ok I see why this one isn’t as popular. It’s like, fine? Like, that cut back section is pretty overall mediocre, but when we get back to the screaming and the riffs and the noise its as solid as ever. It’s a little frustrating, because they can do the more lyrical stuff, F.C.P. is right there, but this one doesn’t quite make the mark for me. A shame.

Track 10 is I Just Got This Symphony Goin’, which does not have an actual symphony, but it does present and absolutely killer opening riff, so it’s not all bad. This is one of the songs I most associate with the album, even if it’s one of the ones also on Doppelganger. Its speeding up and slowing down and screaming and singing and lots of interweaving and yeah. I like it. Iunno.

The final song, What Sound Does a Mastodon Make? (I dunno, ask a paleontolgist?), is a full seven minutes, 2 minutes longer than the next longest track. It’s kind of interesting, since the second half of the album going by tracks is much much longer than the first half. It does this really fun bit where the lead guitar and rhythm guitar do their own little call and response thing, immediately followed by one of the weirdest vocal noises I’ve ever heard, and I don’t have a word to describe it, so you’re gonna have to either trust me or listen to it yourself. This song is just really, really long, man, and it goes in a lot of places but none of them are exceptional enough to really justify slogging through a total 7 minutes of it. I’m going to be honest, I’m probably not going to listen to it unless I’m going through the whole album. The extended build near the end is pretty sick, I guess? And the way the last minute just decides to, like, drop everything, and just end with a very quiet, indie-esque instrumental. Like the very “we did it, now we can relax” sort of moment. Lets both you and the band know its over, and you can move on past your energy high to something a bit more chill.

I think the best phrase I can use to describe The Fall of Troy is “ADHD music”. Both in that it feels almost a little distractable sometimes, multidirectional and often not fully resolving its lines, and also in that said lines are great if you’re someone like myself who’s brain needs something to be chewing over while the more conscious parts are trying to do something else. To be clear, I consider this a compliment. Like most music I discuss, this certainly isn’t for everyone, as you’re going to need a tolerance for adrenaline and screaming to enjoy this album, but I do think it’s worth the attempt. Now, I haven’t listened to Doppelganger (or any of the other albums for that manner) in full, so I can’t comment on how the style of The Fall of Troy would evolve over time. But at the very least, this is a very solid starting point for what would become a surprisingly long-lasting act.

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Fluffy Kittens ~ Jumin Han x Katrina, Elizabeth the 3rd x Delilah

(( This is a birthday gift for my bestie who got me into JoJo and Obey Me, and even fangirled with me over Mystic Messenger, and since Jumin was her fave, more or less because of how cute Elizabeth the 3rd was, while I was all over Saeyoung and Zen...This goes without saying...

Buuuuut, since I wanted to make this extra cute and fluffy, and also make it more intriguing, while also adding Delilah playing and cuddling with Elly...This is gonna be pretty personal for the both of us.

Happy Birthday, Deli, even though you hate it, I’m wishing you all the best, and I’m super happy that we’ve been friends for...5 years? Or so? And even though we don’t talk regularly, I’m always happy to spend time with you IRL and sing silly things, watch Osomatsu-san, do JoJo poses and voice act again <3

As well as that, I’m sure you’ll ace the Graduation exams, because you’re a smart bby, even though you undervalue yourself so much, and you’ll DEFINITELY get yourself into Vet Uni and we will see each other more often <3

Also, thank goodness, you literally look like the MC from MysMes, this makes it so much easier since I didn’t get the time to draw the You x Levi thingy I’ve had in mind for half a year ^^” ))

---

Katrina and Delilah, two Veterinary Medicine students, were walking towards the park, as they found it very relaxing to study together, outside, on a nice bench, while also looking at the dogs playing around.

However, today was much different, for they found a phone on the ground, and the chestnut haired girl picked it up, examining it, then turned to the older girl with a confused expression.

“What should we do about it?” she asked, handing her the phone. “This looks rather new, almost brand new. Let’s see what contacts it has, maybe we can call someone and tell them about the missed phone. If not...Let’s just leave it here or something, it’s not really my problem.” she shrugged, rushing to sit on the nearest bench, as she unlocked the phone. “It has no password?!” Delilah sat down next to her, hugging her arm and leaning on her side as she peered into the phone’s screen. “Well, I don’t have either, but I’m not a careless airhead...This looks brand new, it has no contacts...” the red haired girl muttered in confusions, frowning slightly. “Look, there’s this app installed, RFA. Maybe it’s like a Messenger or something?” she proposed, as her friend nodded. “Okay, let’s see...Ah, look, there are some people here. Jumin Han, Zen, Jaehee Kang, Yoosung and 707. I guess it’s worth a shot.” Katrina said, opening the chatroom option, only for the the screen to start looking glitchy, and a man called Unknown to message them instead.  “What’s going on...?” Deli asked with uncertainty, getting creeped out. “I say we throw this away, this is getting sketchy as hell.” Katrina frowned, leaning back on the bench, as the third party was giving them an address to give the phone to. “We shouldn’t. Who knows what could happen.” the red head shook her head. “But the person’s phone...This address is a pretty nice residential area, lots of young people live here. I even have University colleagues living there. What could go wrong?” Delilah convinced her friend, as she could only sigh, nod, and start walking in that direction. “If we live through this mess, I’m getting drunk.” Katrina chuckled, as she input the code and got inside the apartment.

The place was a little dusty, but it seemed pretty cozy, despite being a bit small. Even so, as soon as they stepped in, the glitchy background disappeared, and a long chat conversation that revealed all the chat members mentioned above...Until they realised we were there too.

Everyone was suspicious of us, and rightfully so, I’d say, but we were just as confused as they were.

Katrina: Look, so, uh...We don’t know who this ‘Rika’ person is, and frankly, we don’t care either. We found this phone on the ground and this RFA app was the only one installed. We wanted to call someone so we could return the device to the rightful owner, and my friend didn’t want to go to the police unless necessary. Well, I would’ve left it on the ground...But she’s an angel, anyway. To put it lightly, we’re as confused, if not, more confused than you are. Anyhow, we got messages to return this phone to this address, so there is that.

Somehow, Yoosung and Zen started talking besides the point, while Jumin tried to get them back on track and 707 was trying to hack and find out our identity.

Katrina: If it helps, we can send a selfie to show you that we are real people or something. On the other hand, if I guessed correctly, the pictures next to your names are your actual selfies.

Katrina: Ah, my friend wants to speak as well. I will write in Italics, while she’ll write in bold, to make things easier to differentiate.

Zen: Are you a woman?!

Yoosung: OMG! I guess only the picture will tell!

707: Zen. Be more serious, plz?

707: And wait a sec on the woman thing.

707: Looking it up.

Katrina: Wait no more. Lo’ and behold, the beauty and grace of a Devil and an Angel.

Urging Delilah to get closer, Katrina extended her arm out to take a selfie. She smirked mischievously, as her friend smiled softly, offering a peace sign.

Katrina: Satisfied your curiosities?

Then, they started introducing each other one by one, more or less forced by the other, and it was clear that this party was rather...Unique.

When Yoosung introduced himself, Delilah gasped and took the phone from her friend’s hand.

Katrina: Omg, Yoosung, I know you! You are in the same University as me! You are 2 years younger than me, but I saw you around! My name is Delilah, but I understand if you haven’t seen me, I’m not the most flashy around. Katrina also finished Vet Uni just last year, and she has been working at this super high tech clinic for a few years now!

Katrina: Woaw, Deli, fate sure fools around in mysterious ways. Oh well, Yoosung is still young, but you must be very hard-working and diligent if you got yourself in such a difficult University. I wish you luck for the years to come. 

Yoosung: O M G ! ! ! That’s SO cool! Maybe we can hang around some time! Or eat together at the cafeteria, if our schedules have some common breaks!

Zen: LOLOL Yoosung, you lucky guy.

707: I can confirm, they’re real cuties!

Katrina: Haha, thanks.

Seeing that this conversation eased the others a bit, Seven posted a picture of Jumin with his cat, and...

Katrina: OHMYGOD THAT CAT IS GORGEOUS OMG!!!!!

Jumin Han: Finally, someone who can appreciate beauty around this place.

Katrina: You should see Delilah, she’s gushing and squealing over how adorable Elizabeth is.

Katrina: Well, I have to agree anyway, she is very pretty.

Katrina: CAN I PLEASE PLAY WITH HER ONE DAY?!

Jumin Han: I wouldn’t let a stranger get anywhere close to my precious Elizabeth the 3rd.

Katrina: :C Okay...

Jumin Han: If you prove yourself to be a person of trust, and respect Elizabeth, unlike these guys here, then I may consider it.

Katrina: !!! Thanks, Jumin, you’re the best!

Katrina: Graciously spoken.

Katrina: Anyway, I’d appreciate it if you’d tell us what to do from now on, since we sincerely have no idea what to do. We would like to go back to the park and continue studying, but, uh...You don’t sound like bad people, so we wouldn’t want to inconvenience you either. We can’t remain to this place for too long, obviously.

As soon as Katrina wrote that, they started talking about this ‘V’ person, or the person in control of this RFA organisation, and while at it, Seven hacked into their social medias and said they were cute, while the others seemed shocked they were girls.

Then, V convinced the girls to help them host this charity party, and thinking it wouldn’t be too bad, at least for their CV, they agreed. What was rather sketchy for them was the address reveal...So they decided to stray away from that part, and not talk about it again.

Jumin Han: So, Katrina, Delilah, I will follow V’s decision. Will you join RFA?

Katrina: Sure. We don’t have anything to lose. We just have to respond and convince some guests to attend, and one the day of the party, be free the whole time and attend. You can count on us.

Katrina: It sounds like it would be fun!

It was all nice and dandy, unless they started talking about relationships, which made the red haired girl groan, roll her eyes and throw the phone on the desk, while slumping in the chair and leaning way back.

Katrina: I don’t get why you’re so upset over relationships. It’s no big deal, after all. It’s much better to cuddle cats anyway ^^

Katrina: I second that. Relationships are a drag, and humans are even worse. And selfish. I’m married to my work. Dating life ain’t for me, it seems. *shrug*

Zen: That...Sounds so sad ;;;

Jumin Han: I believe that’s rather sensible.

Zen: Shut up, you’re always fawned over by women!

Jumin Han: Women who only want me for my money.

Katrina: LOLOL, you’re sugar daddy material or what?

Zen: Lolololol Katrina you’re funny.

Yoosung: Jumin is the CEO of one of the wealthiest companies in Korea.

Katrina: Oh, great. Good for you.

707: Lololol this is funny. It’s like we’re talking to a female version of Jumin lololol.

Zen: Oh, God, no.

Katrina: I...Don’t know how I should react. Should I take it as a compliment?

Jumin Han: Yes.

Katrina: Very well then.

Katrina: Oh my God, imagine how happy Elizabeth is! Jumin has so much money to pamper and spoil her! What a happy baby!

707: Lololol yes, Elly is defo a happy cat!

Karina: I wish I could pamper Tsuki like you pamper Elizabeth too, Jumin ;;

Katrina: ...Same with I and Fifi, to be fair.

707: OMG YOU HAVE CATS TOO?!

Katrina: Yes, I do! Her name is Tsuki, she’s a British Shorthair, and she’s soooo cuteeee!!

Katrina:

Katrina: I agree. She’s adorable. And her meows are so high pitched and cute...

Katrina: Omg, Katrina made such a cute cat smile just now-

Katrina: DELILAH!!! >:C

Katrina: Hahaha so cute ^^

Katrina: Ahem. Well, as for my Fifi, she’s a dog. Bichon Havanese. Spoiled little baby. But, uh...I don’t think it matters much, seeing that you seem more interested in cats, which I can understand. Elizabeth and Tsuki are gorgeous.

Zen: I want to see something other than cats, please.

Katrina: Consider it done.

Katrina:

Katrina: She’s more photogenic than I’ll ever be lolol.

Katrina: Mood.

707: Omg I wanna play with both of them, at the same time!!

Jumin Han: Great, new animals for the abuser.

Zen: Fifi is so cute! Just like her owner~. *wink sticker*

Katrina: Haha, thanks, Zen. Likewise.

Yoosung: Zen is allergic to cats, and Jumin keeps talking about Elizabeth, so...It’s a mess.

Katrina: Lolol poor Zen. Better not get close to the clinic I work at, then.

Katrina: Awww, that’s so sad, Zen! Look!

Katrina:

Katrina: LOLOL DELILAH THAT’S EVIL HAHA-

Katrina : Hihi ^^ Everyone loves kitty toe beans!

Zen: I can already feel a sneeze-spree happening again.

Katrina: C’est la vie. Not everyone can enjoy the beauty of the world, unfortunately.

Jumin Han: 

Katrina: LOLOLOL Jumin, you’re so savage!

Jumin Han: Glad I could amuse you, Katrina.

Zen: Why are you all so evil...

Katrina: Yo, I’ve a question. 

Katrina: I know we don’t really know each other, but y’all seem like really nice people, so uhh...

Katrina: Even though you don’t trust us, I would like to go out to a pub with all of you.

Katrina: Maybe after the party, so you won’t be suspicious of us, or something.

Katrina: With so many unique personalities, it’s bound to be quite a successful hangout.

Katrina: That, and we don’t really have too many friends to hang out with lolol.

Katrina: ...That too. *shrug*

Yoosung: That’d be so cool! I’m in!

Zen: Omg, Katrina, so cute! I agree, it should be fun.

707: An opportunity to leave the house! Yes!

Jumin Han: Assistant Kang, make sure you keep that in our schedule.

Jaehee Kang: Very well...I agree it would be interesting, but...

Jaehee Kang: Can we really trust them so easily?

Jumin Han: Only time will tell.

Katrina: Well, it was nice talking/getting to know you all, but we have to go now. I’ve work tomorrow and Delilah has upcoming exams. Tschüss.

Katrina: Talk to you later! 

---

A few days after the whole chaos with the new phone, during one chill evening when the girls were watching a movie together, they saw Seven, Yoosung and Jumin chatting, so they decided to see what the talk was all about.

Jumin Han: Elizabeth the 3rd hasn’t been eating anything since she came back from Assistan Kang’s place.

Jumin Han: I have to call her.

Yoosung: Why don’t you call her rather than going online?

707: Since he can take care of things without hearing her voice?

Katrina: Jumin, if I may, perhaps Jaehee fed her too much. If you want, however, I have a few years of experience working in the clinic, I could check on her briefly, if you film her for me, or something.

Katrina: Although I would understand your skepticism if you don’t agree. It may be akin to home privacy invasion, since bits of the home may get captured in the video.

Jumin Han: You are very thorough in thinking of different possibilities.

707: Omg I’m jealous, I want a private video chat session with Elly too!

Jumin Han: Her name is Elizabeth the 3rd.

Jumin Han: Very well, Katrina, I will trust V’s judgement that you are safe. 

Katrina: Thank you for trusting me enough to allow such a thing.

Katrina: And omg, your chat bubble is a cat, that’s so cute! Can Seven do that for us too?!

707: I’ll see what I can do!

Katrina: Sweet, thanks. Jumin, call me when you’re free.

Jumin Han: Very well.

It wasn’t long after the chat that Katrina received a call from Jumin, and they both activated the video option, and from one end, a huge, beautiful, modern bedroom, and on huge bed, Jumin was holding Elizabeth in his lap.

On the other end of the video, a cozy little bedroom was shown, as Delilah was holding the phone, while Katrina was nowhere to be seen, which confused the man.

“Where is Katrina?” he asked, his eyebrow raised. “She went to get the laptop and cable, so we would see the video better. I hope you don’t mind that I’m here, but Katrina thought it would be educational to see her ask about the anamnesis and checking up parts, as I’m going to start volunteering at the clinic at the end of this University year too.” Delilah explained, a smile on her face as she saw the fluffy cat. “It’s fine, I don’t mind. Educating yourself is never bad.” Jumin nodded, as Katrina came in the picture and propped the phone on the laptop, so Jumin would see them, while they were looking at the laptop screen.

“Can you see us well, Jumin? We can see you perfectly.” Katrina asked, almost too professionally, as she fumbled with the laptop video settings. “Yes, it’s well enough.” he nodded simply. “Okay, all good. I will begin the anamnesis, which is asking the pet owner what they saw unusual, if they saw anything. That includes eating habits, dejections, unusual fur shedding, odd behaviours, unusual bad breath, odd eye movements, whining, crying, tail movements, if they seem exhausted or depressed, if their abdomen is flexed and so on.” Katrina explained, leaning closer to the screen to look at the cat. “Nothing unusual, except she hasn’t eaten since she came home from Assistant Kang. I even counted the hairs she shed, and it’s not unusual” Jumin explained, which made the red haired girl widen her eyes. “Damn, you’re the most diligent and attentive pet owner I’ve ever met in my life, including myself. You’re a wonder to work with. Well, the fur seems luscious, the claws look fine, so the keratin levels are good, her eyes are wide and nice, she seems to be following the toy perfectly, she has great reflexes, seems pretty playful, her nose is wet, her ears are up, her abdomen isn’t flexed...That only means one thing. Deli, can you guess?” Katrina looked at her friend with a warm smile. “She...Ate too much? That’s the only thing that I can think of.” she asked shyly, which earned a bright grin from her friend. “That’s exactly it! Jumin, as far as I understood from you, you’re treating Elizabeth with extremely strict measures, which means strict food portions, and only food that specialists deem is the best for her. Jaehee doesn’t have all that, so she gives her, for example, 2 cans of food, instead of 1 and a half, which means her stomach is fuller than usual, so her satiety levels are above the usual levels. Basically, she’s so full she can’t eat until everything is properly digested and she’s had her sport done.” Katrina explained everything thoroughly, as if it was one of Hercule Poirot’s detective novels. “Ohhh, that makes sense! That was pretty exciting!” Delilah clapped her hands excitedly. “I see, so it is as I suspected. Thank you for confirming my theory. Sorry for taking your time with this.” Jumin said, making the girl raise her eyebrows in surprise. “I always have time for friends.” Katrina blurted without realising. “Friends...Huh? I thought people called their peers ‘Friends’ when they realised they can fully trust them.” Jumin asked, almost as if he was interrogating. “...I, uh...I see everyone from the RFA as friends. That’s just that, don’t think too much about it.” Katrina dismissed it quickly. “Very well, I won’t. The party is in 4 days, are you ready for it?” he asked, making both of them widen their eyes in shock. “...I think we are. Just...We need to look for an outfit.” Delilah scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. “We’ve been so busy with work and exams, and the party was announced so suddenly...Well, we were kinda put on the spot. We’ll go look around tomorrow. Hope we find something nice and cheap enough to afford.” Katrina shrugged, looking away from the phone, as if there was something much more interesting she was seeing. “It’s good to be prepared in advance, but I can see why you’d have difficulty with things like this, considering your positions.” he nodded, understandingly. “We appreciate that. Well...Even if we haven’t been around for long, we truly hope we can help make this party great. We are aware that it won’t be as successful or grandiose as the ones with Rika were, but...We will try our best to get close to that.” Katrina spoke again. “Were you trained in diplomatic speech? Because I can sense that. Not many people can do that.” Jumin asked again, as Elizabeth jumped off from his lap, to roll around on the bed. “Awwww, she’s so cute!” Delilah gushed over the adorable creature. “I can’t say I was trained, I just picked it up. Add that to the fact that I have to be polite with everyone, and there you have it. Is this what you call a professional defect?” Kat snorted in mock amusement. “Perhaps it is. Some tend to call me snobby for always being formal.” Jumin said as a matter of fact. “What a coincidence...People hate me for being cold and formal too. Que drôle.”  she smirked, speaking in a softer, almost self-deprecating tone. “That’s how people can be. They must always hate on something. I suppose that’s why Zen hates me.” Jumin spoke in a low voice. “Sorry, Jumin, but not everyone can be a patrician like you. Most of us are plebeians working our way up.” Katrina laughed softly at her stupid joke. “Every vassal can become a Lord.” Jumin pointed out, making the red head snap her head to him, with a challenging smirk. “Said the monarch.” she shot back with ease. “I wouldn’t say I’m a Monarch, that would be the president. I would, however, be a Lord, I believe.” Jumin retorted just as well. “And I would be nothing more than an unfree slave, working her way to buy her freedom.” she spoke with a smug expression. “And what would that imply?” he asked, almost with piqued curiosity. “Building our own clinic. It’s been our dream for a long time. To be in the same University, to work together, to own a clinic together and just...Live our life and be happy. If we achieve that, we will be free.” she explained, a much softer expression on her face. “I see. It’s always refreshing hearing other people speak about their ambitions and dreams of the future. Much better than the usual lies business people throw at you. Thank you for today Katrina, Delilah, I must go for now. Have a nice evening.” Jumin thanked them with a small smile, as he hung up. “...Thanks for today too, Jumin. Take care.” Katrina murmured, despite the call already having ended. “He likes you. At least, more than some others. And you’re kinda alike in some ways, I mean...I think he and you are constantly facepalming whenever you’re talking to idiots, and now both of you finally managed to run into a person with the same kind of maturity and intelligence as the other.” Delilah explained, making her friend become slightly flustered and confused. “You think so? Well, I wouldn’t mind. Jumin seems smart and level-headed enough...But I don’t know. I don’t think...Uh...We’ll see at the party, I guess. It should be fun. If anything happens, you get custody of Elly the 3rd.” Kat chuckled nervously at her friend’s teasing, before winking at her. “Oh, yes!” she cheered in glee.

---

Two days later, however, the girls couldn’t go dress-shopping, as an emergency that nobody could ever even think to expect happened, which made the red haired girl’s whole life collapse on her, crushing her.

As she was ready to go to work for the morning shift, Fifi, her dog, was in a corner, barely moving, looking terrible and there were bits of blood on the ground around her.

Panicking, Katrina ordered the first Uber and rushed to the clinic, as they have amazing equipment, so she could examine her dog, only to find that she has a lymphoma and a tumour on her spleen, which made the girl curse herself for not realising sooner.

She ran to the clinic’s owner, begging her to let her operate on her dog and have someone assist and help her...

Only for her to refuse, unless she gets a tremendous amount of money to compensate, the same amount of money that any customer is forced to pay...

Why couldn’t they just let her do it?!

She was pissed off.

She was desperate.

She went back to the operation room, hugging her dog, and taking out her phone, she took a deep breath and called the only person who could be able to help her.

“Hello? Katrina, what is it, did you need anything?” Jumin asked in the same passive voice as usual. “Jumin, I...I...I need your help. I know, it’s going to sound horrible, and I don’t want you to think that I want to use you or anything, but...But I need some money to perform surgery on Fifi. I begged the clinic’s head to let me do it, that I would pay for it over time...I-I even told her that she could give me no salary for as long as I pay my debt, but she wouldn’t agree. I...I don’t know what to do, Jumin. I have some money that I managed to save, but this...This is more than I could dream of sparing. And if I somehow manage to scrape the money from God knows where, I won’t be able to pay the rent or help Delilah with University pays and...And I...I don’t know what to do...” Katrina slid down one of the cabinets in the surgery room, looking at her dog on the surgery table, that looked back at her, crying. “...I understand this is a difficult situation to be in, but you have to understand that, even though V trusts you, I can’t just throw around so much money to a total stranger that I have never met, especially if it’s the company’s money and it will have to be justified.” Jumin sighed, speaking in a low, almost business-like voice. “JUMIN, I’M BEGGING YOU, I WILL DO ANYTHING FOR THIS! If you want to see me in person, I will give you the clinic’s address, if you want me to pay you back, I’ll resign from the clinic and work for you 24/7 until I pay my debt, I-I-I...I don’t know, I will do anything you want, ANYTHING, just PLEASE, help me out, fast, because she has cancer and a spleen tumour and if I don’t operate today, and start chemotherapy. I don’t know how long she’ll have.” Katrina started crying on the phone, and her dog started whining softly in front of her. “Don’t cry on the phone, it’s hard to understand what you’re saying. Text me the address and I’ll come examine the situation, and only then I will debate whether to give you the money or not, is that fair?” he asked, making the girl grin and clutch her blouse. “Yes, Gods, yes, it’s perfect! More than perfect! Thank you so much, Jumin, I owe you my life forever. I just texted you the address, I will be waiting for you. Please, please, PLEASE come as soon as you can.” she begged him once again. “Don’t thank me yet, I haven’t given you the money yet.” Jumin spoke, a bit unsure of his words. “Doesn’t matter. You’re willing to go out of your way to help, and that’s more than enough. I truly appreciate it, Jumin. I’ll go try to beg the chief again. See you.” she hung up, standing up and kissing Fifi on her head softly. “I’ll save you today, baby. I promise.”

The girl jolted on her feet, going to the head of the clinic to try to beg her again, hoping to persuade her, at least until Jumin arrives, but she wasn’t able to stop the river of tears going down her face.

“Why can’t you just let me do it?! I’m not going to disappear without paying you, but it’s an enormous sum of money, I can’t just come up with it by snapping my fingers, and she’ll die if I don’t start acting soon! Do you really care so little for an animal’s life?!” she tried her best not scream her frustrations away, but the chief had none of it. “This is a business, not a charity party, Katrina! We need money to continue this place, every little coin matters!” the boss tried to defend herself. “But I’ve been your employee for years and I said I’ll give you back all the money! Hell, I told you to stop paying me until I’ve repaid the debt! What more can I do to let me save my dog?!” she cried out, feeling her heart drop, not hearing the door opening. “That’s exactly why! You’re just a mere employee, not THE boss! I AM the boss, I AM the rule here, and I’m telling you that if you still wish to have a place to work at, then shut your mouth and use the little money you have to put down your dog. Just a piece of advice.” the woman in front of her talked so harshly, that it made the girl’s jaw hit the floor in disbelief. “I don’t believe that’s how a proper employer should speak to her employees.” a low, judging voice came from the door of the clinic, revealing the brunet man walking inside, like a guardian angel. “J-Jumin...!” Katrina could only stare at him, wide-eyed from shock and emotions, as her emerald green eyes were swimming in a pool of mixed feelings and frustration. “By how the situation unfolded in front of me, I can see that your emotions were genuine on the phone, Katrina. I’m glad I put money on this card, it’s obvious that your employer is subpar to you in every way possible, and it’s a pity that you have to downgrade your skills to somehow like this...” Jumin shook his head, taking out a blue card, making the girl’s bottom lip quiver and throwing herself at him, hugging him with all the strength she had in her little body. “Thank you so much, Jumin. I owe you everything. I owe you my life. You’re a literal angel, Thank you so much for saving Fifi’s life.” her fingers were clutching the back of his blazer, which made the man get stunned for a few seconds from the unexpected action. “If you’re going to perform surgery right away, I’d like to watch. I want to see what happens with my money.” he cleared his throat, trying to make the girl stop being overly emotional. “If he gets in the operation room with you, I’m not giving you another assistant.” the boss snatched the credit card, snapping her head to the side. “Oh, screw you, you heartless bitch!” Katrina growled, shoving aside the woman in front of her and dragging Jumin tot he operation room. “It’s fine...I can do it. I can do it on my own. It’s not that hard. I can do it.” she muttered to herself, taking a few deep breaths before prepping for the surgery. “You’ve never done it before, have you?” Jumin took off his blazer, rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt and leaning on the wall to get a good look at the whining dog. “...I’ve only ever assisted a few times, but at least I know what has to be done.” she ruffled her hair a bit, before putting it in a high ponytail and putting the dog hooked to anaesthesis. “She’s going to fire you when you’re done here.” Jumin said as a matter of fact as the girl started the surgery. “...I’d have resigned anyway, as soon as I found another place that would hire me. There’s one thing to compromise and stomp on your pride to maintain a job or gain a benefit...But there’s another to go completely against your principles and convictions and let someone humiliate you like that. I’m a human, not a martyr and I have no reason to accept being treated that way. No amount of money or benefits can buy me.” she ranted a bit irritated from the previous encounter, as she focused on removing the tumour. “That’s admirable, if true. Not many people can say that. Trust me, if you work in the same field as me, you’d be more aware of that.” Jumin replied after a few minutes. “If you came here, I think you know I’m speaking the truth, and you just needed confirmation. Rational people are like that. They need proof to back up their reasoning.” she shot back, carefully putting the tumour on a plate and beginning to sew the incision, only for the anaesthesia levels to go down, and the breathing and pulse rates were going down, which freaked out the girl, who dropped the utensils to start fumbling with the tech and getting some medicine to keep up the rates to a normal level. “Should I call for-...” Jumin got up, trying to help, but the girl was much faster. “Yes, you can help. Get here and make sure the numbers here are between parameters. I will finish this up so no more damage will take place.” she dragged the man, instructing him quickly, but well explained, as she worked around the incision, getting rid of the additional bleeding and finally successfully sewing up the wound. “Are you sure you don’t wanna be a doctor or something? You have great reactions and don’t panic under pressure. You were amazing, Jumin.” she took off her mask, throwing away the gloves and slid down the cabinet, looking exhausted after the long procedure. “You explained well what I should do. A great leader makes the followers perform well. You will be great when you open your clinic, and I’m sure Delilah is going to learn a lot from you.” he said, sitting down next to her. “Thank you, Jumin. Your words mean the world for me. Thank you for saving Fifi...I owe you the world...Because she is my world.” Kat rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. “If you want to owe me, how about you become Elizabeth’s private doctor. I’m sure Delilah would be happy to have an excuse to stay around her more often.” Jumin chuckled, as the girl raised her head, cocking an eyebrow up in shock. “I’ve already wasted enough of your money, I couldn’t possibly impose so much on you and have you pay me or something. Besides, I...Uh...I don’t want to end up for you the same as Jaehee. I enjoy your company and our interactions...I wouldn’t want that to change in a more professional way or something, so bad that you can’t listen to my voice or try to avoid or run away from me.” the girl sighed, hanging her head. “You said you don’t want to be an unfree slave anymore and that you’re going to work your way up. If you want to get rid of the title of Vassal, then you could become a Lord’s Lady and-” Jumin started talking, but he was quickly cut off again. “No. If you want me to be your girlfriend, I won’t refuse, but that means that I will never take money from you. It’s either romantic or professional, you choose. But if you’re that confident in my skills as a doctor, then you should know that both I and Delilah are going to treat her anyway, so you won’t really need a private doctor or anything.” she spoke a bit colder than usual, not even realising. “I see. You said you won’t be bought, and you stay true to your words...Maybe a bit too much. It’s rather unusual for me to meet a woman like you, who’s not, as Luciel would call, a...Gold digger. But I’m glad I met you. You are a strong and sensible woman with a gentle heart and a fire passion to do what’s right and save as many lives as humanely possible, and I admire that about you.” he turned his head to her, who could only look in surprise at him. “...Nobody I’ve dated...Or met...Ever said such nice things about me. Katrina, you’re so cold, Katrina, you’re so heartless, Katrina, why do you act like a hedgehog around me, Katrina, why do you never have time for me, Katrina, why do you love those animals more than me. Katrina, Katrina, Katrina, you’re such a goddamn failure as a girlfriend. You say this is unusual for you, but this is equally unusual for me as well.” she scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, looking away. “Then I suppose we can figure this out together, if you want. I believe we have quite a few misconceptions to clear out for each other.” he smiled softly, putting his arm around her, bringing her closer to his side. “Wanna go for a quick coffee or something? There’s this pretty nice cafe close to my home. Nothing extravagant or expensive...Just a small, little vintage cafe with a nice and calming atmosphere.” leaning in, she cuddled to him, having a tranquil smile as well. “Doesn’t sound too bad.” Jumin nodded softly. “Oh, and...I’m paying. No arguing here.” she said firmly, making the man chuckle, agreeing nonethless.

---

A year passed, they had other RFA charity parties, they hung out a lot of times, all of them, together, Delilah became Elizabeth’s private doctor, which obviously meant that her and Tsuki would hang around Jumin’s place for play dates with Elly under ‘professional’ pretextes, much to Katrina’s annoyance, Jumin made sure to gather fund for her dream clinic so both girls could pursue their dreams, and made sure to include animal charities and animal-saving related guests to all the RFA parties, and things overall seemed so much simpler and balanced than ever before.

One beautiful Saturday, Jumin and Kat were cuddled together in bed, both of them doing some light reading, as the door was opened and Delilah’s gentle smile greeted them.

“Hello, Doctor Delilah.” Jumin greeted the girl playfully, as she blushed lightly from happiness. “Hello, Jumin!...Awww, Elly, you’re cuddled with your toy, you’re so cute!!” the girl cooed at the adorable white feline. “I’m really happy that her love for cats got her to pursue her dreams and get to this point where she’s surrounded by cats everywhere she looks.” Kat looked over to her friend with a side smile. 

  “I and Katrina are going to leave next week on a business trip. I think it will be no problem if Elizabeth was to stay over at yours, am I right?” he asked, and seeing as the girl’s eyes started sparkling with glee. “Any time! She’s a wonder to have over, and Tsuki is always happy to play with her!” she replied, hugging the cat, as Elly put her paw on her nose softly, melting the girl’s heart. “Great to hear. And you, Doctor Kat? What are meow going to do with Fifi?” Jumin nudged her with his usual subtle playfulness. “I’d do anything to hear you meow more often, it’s adorable. Maybe purr a bit too...I’ll leave Fifi to Jaehee. She doesn’t shed hair like Elizabeth does, and Jaehee needs some leisure walks too.” the red haired girl teased as she started softly scratched him under the chin. “Meow.” Jumin did a cute cat and small cat smile, burying his face in the crook of her neck, purring softly. “I was right...Meow are adorable.” the girl giggled in amusement, cuddling closer to him, “As are you.”

[luvshuas]

the art of flirting

pairing - son of aphrodite!jun x child of harmonia!reader

tags - demigod!au + one-sided (?) enemies to lovers + fluff

synopsis - flirting was almost like a second language for jun. he believed he could have anyone swooning over his words in a matter of seconds. so much so that when he’s dared to make the child of harmonia fall in love with him he accepts without hesitation. however, he didn’t consider his reputation to build a pre-existing wall between him and the other demigod

word count - 5k

through the mist masterlist

©

It was hard not to know about Jun’s reputation. Whispers about who his next ‘victim’ would be would drift around camp from time to time, but all they would do is boost Jun’s confidence. Not that he needed a confidence boost in the first place. One could say he was overly confident in his ability to flirt, but that just made it all the more fun for his friends.

“Who’s next? Jun? Truth or dare?” Soonyoung asked, though he knew exactly what Jun would choose. Jun’s grin said his answer before it even left his lips.

“You already know I want a dare, Soon.” He said, leaning against his bed post. Soonyoung’s grin widened as Jun said those words. He wasn’t planning on giving him an impossible dare; no, it was merely meant to see if Jun could live up to his brags.

“I dare you to make that Harmonia kid fall in love with you.” Soonyoung’s grin turned into a smirk, but Jun remained unbothered. It wasn’t like him to make someone fall in love with him. Sure, he flirted enough to cause feelings, but never enough for it to go that far. Jun stood up from his position against the bedpost and made his way towards the door of the Aphrodite cabin. “Where are you going?” Soonyoung stared after him.

Jun grinned,”To make the child of Harmonia fall in love with me.” He stepped into the cool night air, and made his way towards the campfire. In all honesty, he had no clue whether you’d be at the fire or sound asleep in the cabin where the children of minor gods and goddesses stayed. The closer Jun got to the fire the less hope he had, until he caught a glimpse of you standing up behind another demigod.

Apologizing, Jun pushed past some of his fellow campers to try to catch up to you. “Hey! Wait up!” He called after you, hoping you’d slow your brisk pace. Without realizing it, your pace had slowed from a quick, angry mum walk to a saunter slow enough for Jun to finally catch up to you.

“Damned charm speak.” You murmured quietly. You kept your gaze fixed on the dirt path below you as you walked alongside him in silence. You knew what he wanted, but so would anyone if he walked up to them. During all the years you had spent at camp you had come to learn that Jun didn’t go up to people in the hopes of starting a new friendship, it just wasn’t like him. “What do you want Junhui?” You asked, keeping your gaze on the dark path.

“Oh we’re using full names?”

You rolled your eyes, “I’m not calling you by a nickname. We’re not friends.” You squinted into the darkness, hoping to make out the outline of your cabin. You knew you were close to it, but it felt as if the building moved farther back with every step you took. “You can go back to your cabin, Junhui.” You suggested, noticing he was still walking in step with you.

“You’re probably right. It’s getting late, but you also shouldn’t be walking alone in the dark. Who knows what’s out there? What if a cyclops got you?” His voice quieted as he said ‘cyclops’, though the look you gave him was far more dangerous than whatever monster he has come across.

“The camp is protected, dumbass. Nothing's gonna jump out and eat me.” You gestured to the space around you, indicating that nothing would be lurking in the shadows. You let out a thankful sigh as your cabin -- or your safe space away from Jun -- finally came into view.

“I guess. Alright, I’ll come get you tomorrow!” Jun said, quickly taking off afterwards. A smile spread across his face as he heard your protests. He knew this would be a challenge, but what’s the fun in giving up when presented with a little bump in the road? Jun slowed down his pace as he neared the dying fire. Most of the campers had returned to their cabins out of fear that they’d stay out too late and be forced into kitchen duty by one of the Furies.

Jun quietly slipped back into the now quiet Aphrodite cabin. He figured his friends would’ve been kicked out once Jun left to find you, but he didn’t particularly care. Jun wandered through the dark cabin until he felt his knees hit the edge of an empty bed -- his bed. He felt a tinge of excitement for tomorrow as he climbed into his bed, sleep beginning to tug at his consciousness.

_____

You weren’t the least bit surprised when one of your cabin mates shook you awake to tell you Jun was waiting at the door for you. You half expected him to give up with his obvious pursuit of you with how uninterested you acted last night, but if he really came all the way to your cabin then maybe you had underestimated his determination. You pulled a jacket onto your arms and made your way to the front of the cabin.

“Wen Junhui, do I need to directly tell you to get lost for you to leave me alone?” You asked, opening the front door to step out onto the wooden deck that wrapped around the cabin. Jun stood up from where he was sitting on the steps the moment he heard your voice. A smile spread across his face as he took in your messy hair and still-tired eyes. He could only describe the way you looked as homey.

“Good morning, love. I’m here to take you to get breakfast.” Jun extended his hand for you to take. He watched you consider his offer before you turned around to retreat back into your cabin. “Hey! Are you seriously just going back to bed?” He asked, bewildered that you’d turn down breakfast with him.

“Chill. I’m just gonna change.” You rolled your eyes, entering your cabin once again. You thought it was strange how determined he was, but then again he was like that ever since you met him on your first day at camp. Jun had arrived a year before you, and in no time he was claimed by Aphrodite. His flirtatious habits and charming personality had been a dead giveaway for his parentage.

You tried to be quick with changing and making your bed. You always thought of your need for harmony, especially in domestic settings, as a curse from your mother. After checking yourself in the mirror one last time you returned to the deck where Jun was still waiting. “You didn’t have to get all dressed up for me. We’re not going on a date, unless you want to?” Jun smirked, his last sentence subtly suggesting that you and him should go on a date.

You walked past him, “You’re here to take me to breakfast, not to flirt with me.”

“Who says I can’t do both?” Jun quickly moved to catch up with you. He walked proudly beside you, as if  you were a gem he’d finally gotten his hands on. The walk to the mess hall was short, and, much to your surprise, quiet. Jun hadn’t said a word as he opened the door for you and followed you through the buffet.

“Go to the Aphrodite table, Junhui.” You said, taking a seat at your cabin’s designated table. You nudged Jun’s elbow away from your plate, but he didn’t budge. He sat there as still as a rock as you continued to eat your breakfast. “If you’re gonna stay here then stop staring at me while I eat. It’s weird.”

“Why won’t you call me Jun?” He asked, lifting his head from his arms. After years of being called by a nickname he wasn’t used to hearing his full name. Jun didn’t necessarily mind you using his full name, but he just found it strange that you opted for the long version over what everyone else called him.

“Nicknames are for friends. You’re just an annoyance.” You stated matter-of-factly. You bit into the last piece of toast you had on your plate to suppress a small smile as he groaned. You could admit that you were slightly impressed by his determination to get you to like him, but at the end of the day you still knew nothing good would come from falling for Jun.

“If I’m so annoying then why’d you agree to go to breakfast with me?”

“You made someone wake me up, and I would’ve gone eventually. You just happened to ask so I agreed.”

“I think you like me.” Jun smiled as you stood from your seat, walking over to the table of dirty plates. He stayed seated while watching you head towards the door. He knew he got you. 1-0, he thought.

_____

After your breakfast ‘date’ with Jun you hadn’t seen him for the entire day leading up to a game of capture the flag. The spontaneous announcement that the entire camp would be participating in the game didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Demigods gathered in groups around the entrance to the forest where the game would take place. In order to separate cabins names were pulled out of a hat. The red team was made up of Athena, Apollo, Zeus, Demeter, Hecate, Hades, and your cabin. The blue team had Ares, Poseidon, Hermes, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Nemesis, and finally Aphrodite.

“Let’s make a bet.” Jun said, quickly finding you in the sea of identical orange t-shirts. “If blue team wins then you and I are going on a date, and if your team wins then you can decide on whatever you want.”

“Deal.” You stuck out your hand for him to shake and finalize the bet. You didn’t have any intention to lose to Jun, and with the cabins on your team you didn’t expect to lose. A grin spread across Jun’s face as he shook your hand. To anyone who managed to get close to him his smirk would’ve given away hints that he had something up his sleeve, and with the Hermes cabin on his team there was no telling what that could be.

Once both teams had placed their flags on opposite sides of the forest a conch shell was blown, signaling the start of the game. Demigods on both sides took off running through the woods, using whatever powers their parents gave them to their advantage. You stayed behind to watch the flag with a few other demigods while the majority of your team raced to find the other flag.

Everything was dead silent around the flag for around ten minutes. Then the sound of metal piercing wood invaded the quiet space. Your eyes widened as you took in the grappling hook buried in the tree adjacent of you. You stayed crouched in the bushes as the sound of metal against the cord rang out. Neither you nor the other demigods watching over the flag made any mood to stop the two boys from the opposing team from taking your flag. You didn’t need to.

“Ah, so that’s why you didn’t seem bothered by two people planning on stealing your flag.” Jun said, suddenly crouching next to you. You tore your gaze from the two opposing teammates as they dangled from the rope traps your team had set up to Jun. You hadn’t heard him sneak up behind you so to say his sudden appearance startled you was an understatement. You fell on your butt as you tried to grab the knife from the sheath handing on your hip. “Woah, no need to stab me. I’m just here to get your flag.” Jun raised his hands in surrender.

“Wen Junhui you almost gave me a heart attack!” You whispered harshly. You could’ve sworn he was able to hear the louding thumping of your heart with the smirk he gave you.

“Well it’s a good thing I didn’t otherwise I’d have to go on a date with a corpse.”

You rolled your eyes at his pout, “You haven’t ev-” The horn signaling the end of the game cut off your sentence. You shot Jun a confused look, but only received a shrug from him. The same infuriating smirk from earlier was once again plastered on his lips.

You stood up from the ground and followed Jun back to the front of the forest, leaving your teammates to cut down the two demigods who were still caught in the rope trap. Your nerves quickly began to overtake you the closer you got to the entrance of the forest. You scoured your mind for any memory of whether or not your team’s flag had been taken. You surely would’ve noticed it was gone when you were leaving with Jun. You tried to convince yourself that your team had won as you and Jun joined the crowd of demigods.

“It was a very close call!” The camp director’s voice silenced the whispers among the sea of orange campers. “But the winner is...blue!” Cheers erupted from the winning team. Congratulations, cheers, and even grumbles echoed throughout the camp.

“I’ll be at your cabin by eight.” Jun smirked, patting your back. You turned to complain, but he was already walking in the opposite direction. The gods were seemingly against you when it came to not falling into Jun’s hands.

You still had four hours your dreadful date with Jun. A date, you thought. More like an elaborate plan to ruin me. But that was the problem. No matter how hard you thought about it you could never figure out why he was going so far to just leave you high and dry in the end. Of course the possibility of this all being a dare had crossed your mind, especially with the way he approached you the other night, but in all your years at camp with him you’d never seen him so determined.

Your mind clouded with explanations as to why he could be doing this as you wandered back towards your cabin. “Someone doesn’t look very harmonious today.” Soonyoung said as you entered your cabin. Him being the son of Eos, the goddess of dawn, also landed him in the cabin full of children of minor Greek deities.

“You wouldn’t be happy either if you had to go on a date with someone known for playing with other’s feelings.”

“A date? With who?”

“Wen Junhui.”

Soonyoung stared at you in shock, “You agreed to go on a date with him? Wait but you’re supposed to be hard to get! This isn’t going to be any fun if he gets you so easily.” Soonyoung groaned, throwing his head back in annoyance. You didn’t have the slightest clue what he was rambling about.

“What do you mean by ‘fun’?” You asked. You would’ve never guessed that Soonyoung, one of your own cabin mates, would have a hand in Jun trying to get you to fall for him. Soonyoung fiddled with his thumbs, clearly growing nervous under your stare. “Are you the reason he’s been trying so hard to get me to like him?”

“When you put it that way then yes, but it’s his fault! If he wouldn’t be so cocky about his ability to flirt then I would’ve never dared him to make you fall in love with him!” Soonyoung chuckled nervously.

“You dared him to what?”

“Make you fall in love with him?”

You sighed, trying to calm down the growing anger building up inside of you. “Ok, well, two can play at that game.” You gave Soonyoung a thin-lipped smile as you left to your room within the cabin. “If he thinks he can make me fall in love with him then I’ll just give him a taste of his own medicine.”

_____

The hour of the date came by slowly. You wanted to look your best to impress Jun, and when he showed up at your cabin door he was definitely impressed. “You know, I really think you like me.” Jun said upon seeing you. You shrugged as the two of you began to walk in step. You had no clue where Jun was taking you, but that gave you a tinge of excitement. You followed Jun down the dirt paths until you could see the lake coming into view. How cliche, you thought.

“I know this is where most dates happen, but there’s really no where else to go in camp. I tried making it kind of pretty thought.” Jun said, leading you across the sand and towards a blanket. The setting sun cast hues of red and orange across the water. If you didn’t absolutely despise Jun you thought you might really enjoy the date. Jun brushed some sand that had been blown onto the blanket back off before offering you a place next to him.

“You really outdid yourself, Junhui.” You smiled as you sat down next to him. You leaned back on your arms, taking in the sunset. Jun couldn’t help but watch you. It wasn’t like him to take anyone on a date, even if said date was won through a bet, but he felt himself wanting to do it again. He found satisfaction in planning something that would impress you.

“Still not at the nicknames stage in our relationship yet, huh?” Jun said, keeping his eyes fixed on your profile. He would be lying to himself if he didn’t find himself attracted to you. You kept him on the edge of his seat, dying of curiosity everytime your mouth opened.

“You wish we were in a relationship.” You laughed, pushing his arm. Jun couldn’t help but smile. A part of him felt regret that he only pursued you because of a dare.

“I think it’s the other way around.” He said. Jun turned his gaze to the lake in front of the two of you. The sun was starting to hide behind the horizon as the evening grew dark. “We should go back once it gets dark.”

This time it’s your turn to watch his profile. Before then you’d never really looked at him closely. From afar he was undeniably handsome, but the closer you looked at him the more his sharp features looked elegant, especially in the orange light. You felt yourself wanting to trace the highpoints of his face, if only to get to know him better. In the four years you had been at camp -- Jun having arrived a year before you -- you never thought to let yourself get close to someone like Jun. He broke hearts, you’d remind yourself. Don’t get your heart broken by a demigod.

“Thank you for taking me to watch the sunset. It was really nice, even though all you did was lay out a blanket.” Your heart momentarily stopped when Jun turned from the water to meet your gaze. You despised how attractive he was, but you more so despised that you wouldn’t let yourself fall for him, opting to play his little game of love instead of just giving into him.

“I’d like to see you think of a better spontaneous date.” Jun scoffed. Silence washed over the two of you as your attention locked onto the sunset. You used to imagine going on dates like this and watching the sunset with someone who you were head over heels for, but instead you had Jun. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

“Challenge accepted. I’ll come find you sometime this week and we’ll go on a date.” You were speaking before you could comprehend what you were saying. Don’t be nervous, you told yourself. It’s all to play him the same way he’s playing you. Jun’s attention returned back to you, a foreign feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. He assumed this is what butterflies felt like. The fluttering feeling spread throughout his body like a blissful poison the more he thought about the prospect of you taking him on a date instead of the other way around. Maybe this was beginning to become less of a dare for him and more of a personal want.

Your sudden movement to get up from the blanket startled Jun, pulling him from his thoughts. “Hey! What’re you doing?” He asked quickly. His brain was racing a hundred miles per hour as he tried to think of anything that would get you to stay with him a little longer.

“It’s getting dark, Junhui. We have to go, unless you want to get caught and put on kitchen duty for the next week?” You reached a hand out to him to pull him up from the blanket. Jun, who clearly didn’t want to leave, grabbed your hand and let you pull him up. “Don’t be such a baby. You’ll probably end up bothering me tomorrow since you can’t seem to stay away from me.” You said teasingly. In truth you had begun to enjoy Jun’s constant presence the past few days.

“It’s not considered bothersome if you like it.” He said, winking at you. You felt your heart jump as he held onto your hand, leading you back towards the cabins.

“Aren’t you forgetting the blanket?”

“I took it from Soonyoung so it’s his responsibility.”

_____

The days following your date with Jun you tried your hardest to avoid him to keep true to your promise of a spontaneous date. Well it’d be spontaneous for him, but not so much for you. Staying clear of Jun was easier said than done, especially once he figured out you were avoiding him. It was both terrifying and amazing how he never failed to end up in the same area as you.

“Wait! Why are you avoiding me? I thought our date went well.” His usual smile was contorted into a frown as he spoke to you. It was strange not seeing his smile plastered to his face. You hated it. The way the corners of his mouth edged down or how his eyebrows furrowed together. You didn’t want to admit it, but you felt evil being the reason his face wasn’t beaming with joy as he looked at you.

“I was planning a date, and I didn’t want you to figure out what it was.” You mumbled, looking anywhere but at him. The frown that was previously on his face quickly turned back into its normal smile. Jun knew he was in too deep the moment his heart began to pound against his chest at the idea of another date with you. He couldn’t figure out why he liked you so much. It felt normal to him.

“Oh, in that case keep ignoring me.” Jun’s smile beamed at you despite your confused look. “Hold on, I meant like keep planning the date ignoring.” You couldn’t help smiling at his flustered attempt to back-track.

“I know what you meant. I’m just teasing you.”

Jun’s attention was pulled from you as he heard his name being called. In a matter of seconds Soonyoung had run up to Jun, slinging his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Everything ok in love-ville?” He asked, a shit-eating grin already starting to take shape.

You rolled your eyes, “We’re not in a relationship.” Your eyes met Jun’s has you spoke. You could’ve sworn you thought you saw something flash in them. What is he thinking, you wondered. Jun turned to look at Soonyoung once again. His face mimicked his friend’s.

“You know I can’t be tied down, Soon. It’d make the Jun fanclub sad.” Jun dragged a finger from his eye down his cheek as if he was crying, earning a barking laugh from Soonyoung. You felt a pang in your chest. He was still the Jun you knew. The same boy who flirted mercilessly with anyone who looked at him. The same boy known for breaking hearts. How would you be any different?

“I gotta go. See you later, Soonyoung.” You began walking off, not bothering to acknowledge Jun’s confused questioning. He’s Wen Junhui, you reminded yourself. He’d break your heart before you could even chip at his own.

As you walked back to your cabin you made a promise to yourself. You’d cut him off, and the past few days that you spent with him glued to your side would become a buried memory. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and you can’t teach Jun to tie himself down.

Jun groaned and pushed Soonyoung’s arm off of him. He knew he said something stupid in order to protect his pride. “What do you want Soonyoung?”

“Just wanted to check in on how your dare is going, and it didn’t look to be going too smoothly.” Soonyoung shrugged. His uncaring demeanor bothered Jun, though he couldn’t pick out why.

“Whatever.” Jun said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Seems like you’re bothered about them leaving,” Soonyoung gasped dramatically. “Has Wen Junhui developed feelings for someone?” Jun shot him a glare.

“No, I don’t get crushes. I have to go to the archery range. See you later, Soon.” Jun walked off without waiting for Soonyoung to respond. He knew his friend would’ve seen straight through his lie if he kept the conversation going.

_____

As the days passed by Jun began to miss you. He tried time after time to speak to you, but everytime you would spot him you’d immediately turn in the other direction. He was sure you wanted nothing to do with him, but could he blame you? He said he wouldn’t settle into a relationship right in front of you after you had told him you’d take him on a date. This was entirely his fault.

“I need your help.” Jun fiddled with his fingers, keeping his gaze on his feet. He knew he’d never hear the end of this, but he was becoming desperate to just talk to you.

“With what?” His voice sounded amused. “What could Wen Junhui need help with?”

“I need you to ask someone down to the beach tonight.”

“That’s it? Alright, who?”

“The child of Harmonia. They won’t say no to you. Hell, no one would; you’re a son of Zeus, Mingyu.” Jun knew Mingyu didn’t like using his parentage to get what he wanted, but it was such a rare thing for Jun to ask for someone’s help that Mingyu couldn’t turn him down.

“You’ll owe me after this.” Mingyu smiled, patting Jun’s back. He would be lying if he wasn’t the least bit curious as to who you were, especially if Jun liked you enough to ask for someone’s help. Jun felt relief surge through him as Mingyu agreed to help.

“Thank you so much! Ask them to meet you at around 7 o’clock.” A giddy smile spread across Jun’s face. He was finally talking to you tonight. He was finally going to fix everything. He just had to make it a few more hours.

Jun thanked Mingyu a few more times before stepping out of his cabin. Briefly he caught a glimpse of you heading towards the archery range, but he didn’t feel the need to try to rush after you. “Everything will be fixed.” He mumbled to himself, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

_____

You waited down at the beach for Mingyu. The cool air nipped at your skin as the sun began to set below the horizon. The longer he took the more you considered just leaving instead of possibly getting stood up by Mingyu. Yet you stayed and continued waiting for the boy to come find you down at the beach. “Did he electrocute himself or am I being stood up?” You asked aloud. You were sure there was no one at the beach besides you, but his voice was unmistakable.

“No, cause I’m here.” Jun stood up from where he was sitting. Any reasonable person would’ve felt terrified seeing someone suddenly appear from who knows where, but you didn’t blink twice.

“What do you want, Junhui?” You felt your heart drop as he stepped closer to you.

“I need to talk to you. Please just stay and listen.”

“I’m here to meet Mingyu so it’ll have to wait till another time.” You crossed your arms. You studied him for a moment, taking in the pleading look he had in his eyes.

“About that…” Jun’s sentence trailed off. You got stood up. Great, you thought. “In his defense, I asked him to ask you to come here!”

“I’m never trusting anyone here ever again,” you sighed. “But what do you want to say?”

Jun smiled, relieved that you were letting him explain himself. “The other week, when I said I couldn’t be tied down, it was a lie. I wasn’t thinking, and I knew that Soonyoung would make my life a living hell if I didn’t say something cocky like that. The truth is that I do like you. A lot.”

“How am I supposed to believe that? You’re not exactly known for being a picture perfect boyfriend.” Your words sounded harsher than what you intended. Jun’s smile faltered. You were right.

“Have you noticed I’ve been trying to chase after you every time I saw you? And why would I ask Kim Mingyu to help me get you down here to talk to me if I didn’t mean what I was saying?” You paused. He had a point, but you still had a hard time believing him.

“I don’t blame you for being hesitant, but I swear to you I’m being truthful.” Jun reached out to grab your hand, and you let him take it. You searched his face for any hints of deception.

“Okay Jun,” you said quietly. “I’ll believe you.”

If your past self could see you, holding onto Jun’s hands and looking into his eyes, you would’ve called yourself stupid. And maybe you were stupid for beginning to fall for him, but he was falling just as hard for you.

[cyberkevvideo]

My Changes to “Way of the Wicked“, Extras 3: Extraplanar Hunters

I kind of had the first one in the back of my mind for a while, but always forgot to put it down on paper, but thanks to vlogger Dungeon Dad converting a bunch of old 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e monsters to 5e, I was reminded that these creatures were very different in 3.5 compared to Pathfinder, and why I had originally considering at least the inevitable for this adventure path.

As always, for space reasons, I’ll be cropping the encounter build.

I do not have a Patreon or a Kickstarter, but I do have a Ko-Fi page (linked) for those who would like to support my work. There is no pressure or obligation to do so, however, but a like and a share would definitely be appreciated. Of this and my older work.

Just before get to it, I hope everyone’s staying safe right now.

There are three sets of stats this time around, and two of them are actually one NPC; a hound archon and his dragon mount. More on that later, including a description regarding how the concept exists. This is what I was talking in the last entry regarding this being something that was skipped over in the Pathfinder bestiary from its 3.5 version.

I’ll say for starters, I didn’t give the NPCs any traits. Those are for PCs, more often than not, but admittedly that was a staple of Gary’s builds to try make the NPCs able to stand up to the villains more. It also felt like an in-joke that the NPCs were the heroic PCs all along. If you want to give them one trait, that’s fine, but for these ones, I didn’t feel it was overly necessary to do so. The only one I even considered was the hound archon, and only to give him armor expert to negate the final armor check penalty to skills.

For starters, inevitables are the very definition of law. Each one has a specific mandate for how things should or shouldn’t be, and how everything interacts with the multiverse.

For starters, we have a zelekhuts are defined as “ bounty hunters and executioners all rolled into one.” The PCs were supposed to die or at least be judged and sent to the salt mines. They escaped. That needs to be rectified. By all means, you can use the standard CR 9 version and have it appear during Book 2, but mine is slightly different. More so because in Book 2, unless you’re doing this incredibly early, the villains may have already amassed a literal army, if only undead. A CR 9 inevitable isn’t going to cut it. My version would appear much later, and it’s also a little different from your regular zelekhut.

I’ll say now, that the reason Judiceye is a variant is because most zelekhuts would just arrive and rain down lawful smiting on their chosen to die. But this one is more crafty. Mitra has seen what the villains can do, and how devious they are, not to mention how large their ever growing army has become. This particular zelekhut’s duty is to show up at the end of Book 3, during the winter months, free any and all prisoners as best as it can, and cause in-fighting among the bugbears and other riffraff that have joined the 9th Knot. If it can take out some unwanted undead, all the better. The PCs are supposed to lose a portion of their troops at the end of winter anyhow due to them running away and leaving their minions high and dry, so this just furthers that plot line all the while putting the PCs on edge. There’s either a traitor among them or maybe the villains just can’t control their people, showing just how unfit they are. And if they start executing their own men for not listening when it’s really just the zelekhut? All the better to use as kindling to create riots and arguments, and really give the villains a run for their money. It’d make for a long winter indeed. And right before the king shows up, or whenever the time is right in the GM’s mind, and the Knot is near their breaking point (possibly when there’s the most confusion), the zelekhut can start a major brawl and try its luck in taking out the PCs. Even better, with its greater hat of disguise, it can change itself to look like whomever it needs to. Just needs Intel first. It can be a PC, a bugbear, a vampire, the medusa half-fiend, or whoever. Doesn’t matter. Because it start a fight, then leave, and turn into someone else. Whatever needs to be done to take down the PCs.

I will not that the DD for the elemental combat style is from  the Pathfinder Disciple's Doctrine. Normally I would go OGL and Core, but this time I need some extra damage, and this was about the only way to pull it off. Also, the reason the hat’s trapped is because these things aren’t supposed to normally have treasure. This will destroy the treasure and maybe do some damage to the PCs at the same time.

JUDICEYE (CR 16; XP 76,800) Variant advanced zelekhut ranger (guildbreakerUI) 7 LN Large outsider (extraplanar, inevitable, lawful) Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, true seeing; Perception +25 DEFENSE AC 31, touch 17, flat-footed 23 (+1 armor, +7 Dex, +1 dodge, +13 natural, –1 size) hp 236 (21d10+121); regeneration 5 (chaotic) Fort +18, Ref +16, Will +15 Defensive Abilities constructed; DR 10/chaotic, DR 3/— (small ranged piercing weapons); SR 27 OFFENSE Speed 50 ft., fly 60 ft. (average) Melee 2 chains +31 (3d6+10/19–20 plus 1d6 electricity and trip) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks favored enemy (goblinoids +2), favored organization (Knots of Asmodeus +4) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th; concentration +18)   Constant—true seeing   At will—clairaudience/clairvoyance, dimensional anchor, dispel magic, fear (W-DC 18), hold person (W-DC 17), locate creature   3/day—hold monster (W-DC 19), mark of justice   1/week—lesser geas (W-DC 17) Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 4th; concentration +8)   2nd—chameleon stride   1st—lead blades, resist energy STATISTICS Str 30, Dex 24, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 18 Base Atk +21; CMB +32; CMD 50 (54 vs. trip) Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, EnduranceB, Improved Critical (chains), Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (chains), Improved Vital Strike, Inner FlameARG, Mobility, Power Attack, Scorching WeaponsARG, Step Up, Weapon Focus (chain), Vital Strike Skills Acrobatics +25 (+33 jump), Bluff +15, Disguise +15, Diplomacy +17, Fly +19, Knowledge (local) +10, Knowledge (planes) +13, Perception +25, Sense Motive +21, Spellcraft +11, Stealth +21, Survival +17; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +4 Sense Motive Languages truespeech SQ chains, combat style (elementalDD), crowd stride, deep cover, favored terrain (urban +2), read the cityUI, track +3 Gear quilted clothUE, greater hat of disguise (trapped: maximized fireball; 60 fire damage, R-DC 19) SPECIAL ABILITIES Chains (Ex) A zelekhut’s arms end in long lengths of barbed metal. These chains deal slashing damage and 1d6 points of electricity damage with each hit. Constructed (Ex) Although inevitables are living outsiders, their bodies are constructed of physical components, and in many ways they function as constructs. For the purposes of effects targeting creatures by type (such as a ranger’s favored enemy and bane weapons), inevitables count as both outsiders and constructs. They are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). Inevitables are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. They are not at risk of death from massive damage. They have bonus hit points as constructs of their size.

Catching up on a few posts from GMs and players who are going through “Way of the Wicked”, most groups are having no issue whatsoever with the AP because they have a necromancer and a cleric who are creating epic armies of undead. That said, there have been one or two groups that have found themselves struggling, if only because they never rescued Grumblejack, or he died on them back during Branderscar because they all bailed and abandoned the ogre. As such, they’re finding that as the game is progressing, they’re having issues. I’ve got something to help potentially counteract that, if only for one part of the book.

It’s a Book 5 add-on that I thought of. Marut inevitables go after those who artificially extend their life. Namely, lichdom. Now, depending on the PCs, this could be yet another encounter for them too. If they’re using the feat tree that turns them into a vampire or lich, or they all became vampires in the alternate version of the story where Thorn’s a vampire, this thing’s coming after them. There’s just no way around that. However, my initial thought for this, so as to help parties that are having troubles, is the marut came to take down the now ex-Cardinal Thorn, but was dominated and sent after the party. This encounter would take place on the main floor, probably as soon as the PCs entered the cathedral. If the PCs have the means, they could break the control and have it join them in the final battle against Thorn. But you’re asking, “how can Thorn use that spell? It’s not a cleric spell and it’s 9th level.” It’s also a 6th level summoner spell, so miracle would work to cast it. This would reduce Thorn’s 9th level spells by 1, and hopefully that’s enough for the PCs who are struggling. After that though, the marut would leave, its mission completed.

Finally, my last inevitable add-on, and this would be for whenever someone in the party broke a contract (or someone attached to the party, etc). It can even be someone the party is dealing with, who broke a contract, and they summon one to go after that person/creature. The kolyarut is all about negotiating bargains, and they don’t like it when contracts and negotiations break down. They punish all oath-breakers. As stated: “They care little for the terms of the agreements in question, only that promises are fulfilled, debts are paid, and balance is maintained.“ They are definitely someone that the PCs want on their side. Pit fiends and contract devils are great, but they don’t necessarily like to get their hands dirty. They just want souls and payment. Kolyaruts, on the other hand, will always make the time.

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

And now, the ultimate combo that’s just bonkers. I even did a small feat sink on this one despite it actually being something in the original edition that happens for free, and just adds to the CR.

As for where you would encounter this one, there’s any number of ways. 1) Could be a fight not long after they finish Book 3. Mitra might send the archon as an avenger for what happened. 2) Could right after Spring arrives and the villains are fleeing from the king and his army. This could either be an air battle or the very second they land, but before Tiadora arrives. 3) They could arrive with any other encounter, boosting the over all combat and aiding whomever else decides to attack the villains. You could even hold out until Book 6 with this one, if you really wanted to.

The monster info on this variant hound archon reads as thus:

Hound Archon Hero Mounts

In the course of their adventures, many hound archon heroes befriend bronze dragons, which may come to serve as their mounts. The relationship between these mounts and their celestial riders goes beyond even the special bond between paladin and mount. The dragon and the archon are naturally allies and friends, as can be expected of two powerful servants of cosmic justice. The juvenile bronze dragon mount gains 2 additional HD, 4 points of Strength, an additional 4 points of natural armor, improved evasion, and +10 feet to speed in all its movement forms. The dragon cannot, however, command other creatures of its type as other kinds of paladin mounts can.

Note: Under normal circumstances the Draconic Companion from the Dragon Companion Handbook would give you a dragon and have it go up as an animal companion, with the Dragon Companion Mastery feat giving you their full power. Hound Archon Heroes already get an equivalent ability for free so I’m revising the feat to instead give: frightful presence 1/day, +2 Dex instead of +2 Str (which is a swap option you can choose), SR 5 + paladin level, share spells, empathic link, and two of the four bonus dragon feats. However, I’m ignoring the other two bonus feats the dragon would normally gain, additional bonuses to Str/Con/natural armor, and standard ability score increases every 4 Hit Die. The trade off being that a standard bronze dragon has higher mental stats and spells, so it easily balances out.

Overall, this not all that different from the 3.5 Monster Manual version, and should be considered a difficult CR 16 encounter. Also, their wealth is for a CR 16 NPC. Bartel shares it with his dragon mount.

BARTEL, THE HOUND ARCHON HERO (CR 16; XP 76,800) Male Advanced variant hound archon paladin 11 LG Medium outsider (archon, extraplanar, good, lawful) Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect evil, low-light vision, scent; Perception +18 Aura courage (10 ft.), justice (10 ft.), menace (20 ft.; W-DC 21), magic circle against evil, resolve (10 ft.) DEFENSE AC 33, touch 12, flat-footed 31 (+9 armor, +2 Dex, +12 natural); +2 deflection vs. evil hp 229 (19 HD; 19d10+125) Fort +24, Ref +16, Will +21; +4 vs. poison, +2 resistance vs. evil DR 10/evil; Immune charm, disease, electricity, fear, petrification; SR 27 OFFENSE Speed 40 ft. Melee +2 cold iron greatsword +29/+24/+19/+14 (2d6+12/17–20), bite +22 (1d8+4) or   bite +27 (1d8+8), slam +27 (1d4+4) Special Attacks channel energy (W-DC 20, 6d6), smite evil 4/day (+5 atk & AC, +11 dmg) Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th; concentration +11)   Constant—detect evil, magic circle against evil   At will—aid, continual flame, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), message Paladin Spell-Like Abilities (CL 11th; concentration +16)   At will—detect evil Paladin Spells Prepared (CL 8th; concentration +13)   3rd—heal mount   2nd—bull’s strength, eagle’s splendor, resist energy   1st—divine favor, hero’s defianceAPG, protection from evil, shield of fortificationACG STATISTICS Str 24, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 12, Wis 20, Cha 20 Base Atk +19; CMB +26; CMD 38; +2 vs. evil Feats Blind-Fight, Draconic CompanionDCH, Improved Critical (greatsword), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-by Attack, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Word of HealingUM Skills Acrobatics +14, Diplomacy +19, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Intimidate +15, Perception +18, Ride +18, Sense Motive +19, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +14, Survival +18; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth, +4 Survival; ACP –1 Languages Celestial, Draconic, Infernal; truespeech SQ aura (overwhelming good), code of conduct, change shape (beast shape II), divine bond (dragon mount; Arlakaida), lay on hands (5d6, 7/day), mercies (cursed, dazed, fatigued) Combat Gear wand of cure light wounds (15 charges), holy water (2); Other Gear +3 mithral breastplate, +2 cold iron greatsword, amulet of mighty fists +1, belt of mighty constitution +2 SPECIAL ABILITIES Aura of Menace (Su) A righteous aura surrounds archons that fight or get angry. Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius of an archon must succeed on a Will save to resist its effects. The save DC varies with the type of archon, is Charisma-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus. Those who fail take a –2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the archon that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the same archon’s aura for 24 hours. Change Shape (Su) A hound archon can assume any canine form of Small to Large size, as if using beast shape II. While in canine form, the hound archon loses its bite, slam, and greatsword attacks, but gains the bite attack of the form it chooses. For the purposes of this ability, canines include any dog-like or wolf-like creature of the animal type.

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

ARLAKAIDA THE BRONZE (CR —; XP —) Female juvenile bronze dragon LG Large dragon (water) Init +6; Senses dragon senses; Perception +25 Aura frightful presence 1/day (90 ft.; targets are shaken for 14 rounds; W-DC 21) DEFENSE AC 36, touch 13, flat-footed 33 (+5 armor, +2 Dex, +2 deflection, +18 natural, –1 size) hp 161 (14d12+70) Fort +16, Ref +13, Will +15 Defensive Abilities improved evasion; Immune electricity, paralysis, sleep; SR 16 OFFENSE Speed 50 ft., fly 130 ft. (poor), swim 60 ft. Melee bite +25 (2d6+15), 2 claws +24 (1d8+11), tail slap +22 (1d8+15), 2 wings +22 (1d6+6) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with bite) Special Attacks breath weapon (80-ft. line, R-DC 24, 12d6 electricity), repulsion breath Spell-Like Abilities (CL 14th; concentration +18)   At will—create food and water, speak with animals Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 4th; concentration +8)   2nd (4/day)—mirror image   1st (7/day)—alarm, obscuring mist, true strike   0 (at will)—detect magic, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, resistance STATISTICS Str 29, Dex 14, Con 21, Int 18, Wis 19, Cha 18 Base Atk +14; CMB +26; CMD 40 (44 vs. trip) Feats Ability Focus (breath weapon), Alertness, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Powerful BreathB, Quick Breath WeaponB, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (bite) Skills Diplomacy +19, Fly +12, Handle Animal +16, Heal +16, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (arcana) +19, Perception +25, Sense Motive +25, Spellcraft +20, Stealth +14, Swim +29; Racial Modifiers +8 Swim Languages Aquan, Common, Draconic, Elven, Gnome SQ empathic link, change shape (animal or humanoid, polymorph), share spells, water breathing, wave mastery (40 mins) Gear +2 studded leather barding, amulet of mighty fists +2, belt of physical perfection +2, cloak of resistance +2, ring of protection +2 SPECIAL ABILITIES Dragon Senses (Ex) Dragons have darkvision 120 ft. and blindsense 60 ft. They see four times as well as a human in dim light and twice as well in normal light. Frightful Presence (Ex) This special quality makes a dragon’s very presence unsettling to foes. Activating this ability is a free action that is usually part of an attack or charge. This ability affects only opponents with fewer Hit Dice than the dragon’s. An opponent that succeeds on its saving throw is immune to the dragon’s frightful presence for 24 hours. Multiple uses of a dragon’s presence don’t stack. This ability is a mind-affecting aura. Paladin Mount (Ex) Arlakaida cannot command other creatures of its type (bronze dragons) as other kinds of paladin mounts can. Quick Breath Weapon (Ex) Arlakaida is able to unleash her breath weapon and deliver an attack before her opponent is the wiser. On her turn, Arlakaida can choose to use her breath weapon in place of her bite or one of her claw attacks. Repulsion Breath (Su) Instead of a line of electricity, a bronze dragon can breathe a cone of repulsion gas. Targets must make a Will save or be compelled to do nothing but move away from the dragon for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per age category. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. Water Breathing (Ex) A bronze dragon breathes water and can use its breath weapon, spells, and abilities underwater. Wave Mastery (Su) For up to 10 minutes per age category per day, a juvenile bronze dragon, along with creatures or vessels within 50 feet, can move at twice its normal speed in water. ------------------------------------------------------------

And that’s everything. I don’t know that I’ll ever have more to add to this particular adventure path, but maybe I will. Just depends on how inspired I get.

In the meantime, I hope everyone who is running or playing “Way of the Wicked” is having a fantastic time.

[fanfiction-inc]

“But Of Course.”

Title: “But Of Course.”

Verse: Dracula (2020)

Characters/Pairings: Dracula/ Reader

Warnings/Tags: Mentions of sex, mentions of alcohol, alcohol, mentions of blood, blood, body disposal, flirting. Not really that worrisome.

Word Count: 1607

Summary: A request for a friend about the reader meeting Dracula in the bar. Oh, the bonding.

Rating: Mature (for mature themes)

Note: I was requested from a good friend to write a thirst story for her without truly going into smut. So here we are. Thank you to the always lovely @yancy-trash​ on Tumblr for proofing this fic and giving me feedback before I post it.

Link to Ao3 Version: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22781278

Saturday night, prime time for the clubbers and mingling masses. Lovely chaos of the clubs that spill out into the streets and spread among drunkards and horny bastards. Too much noise, too much glee and happiness. Sickening stench of club-rigged drugs and bathroom sex. Boring, always so boring, and yet those that were unfortunate enough to be dragged along must endure. A tap to the mahogany surface of the clubs bar top, the bartender sending a light nod to the woman sitting alone near the end of the bar away from company of the gathering university masses, spilling drinks here and there and getting into petty squabbles over who fucked who and whom and who called dibs on the next hot piece of ass. Distasteful, this generation had always been so distasteful.

Whisky on the rocks, straightforward with no questions asked, that was what this world needed. No guesswork, just something to numb the pain and drown out the noise that has been so festering at the ear drums. A single sip was taken before the weight of a college lad slammed against the back of the woman sitting alone, drink spilling all over the bar top and coating the mahogany and spilling over the edges onto the bottles below holding various other liquors. She groaned, gaze looking back at the lad who gave a cheeky smile and threw that look that only said selfish prick. “Hiya baby d-” “Don’t even fucking try, mate. If you’re this much of a light weight, stumbling around, I’m rather sure you wouldn’t last two seconds in bed. Scram.” The lad was about to argue before catching sight of a new skinnier and more viable, even drunker than him, option of a woman. Long legs, legs for fucking days. The woman sighed, surprised when a new glass was set before her on the semi-cleaned bar top, napkin beneath holding neat lettering. “Who?” Was all the woman had to ask, a finger pointed to the man at the other end of the bar top, glass raised in greetings with that look that simply said ‘enjoy’. Another glance to the napkin below, note neatly written yet beginning to smear from the remnants of the whiskey that had been spilled before.

“It’s quiet over here. Care to join me?”

It was an invitation from a man far older yet far different from the crowd lingering within the confines of the club. It seemed he held a far more confident air, and he didn’t seem like the drunkard party boy type much like the others standing about trying to catch a new lad or lass for their five second sexcapades in the handicap stall of the club's bathroom. Slowly the half-drenched napkin and glass of newly poured whiskey was moved along to the end where the man sat, the shadow in the back of neon lights and drug induced dancing. He looked near pleased when the woman sits with him, looking on to the was she stretched to straddle the seat before crossing her legs in a far more lady-like manner. “Either this was given to the wrong woman or you have me gravely mistaken.”

A moment where the man smirked against the rim of his glass, stealing a slow, savored sip of the thickened red of a wine that didn’t smell too sweet, nor really smelled much like a wine. But who was to say what it really smelled beyond the scent that clashed within the mass of bodies. “Oh, it was meant for you, I do promise you that. No one as lovely as you should be alone, and for that same token, hit on by boys thinking they’re men.”

“And do you consider yourself the lucky man who will score tonight?” The man shrugged, sending a small chuckle to the woman at his side. “No one is quite able to determine the outcome of the night, not nearly so early into the evening when things are just starting. So, no, I do not consider myself lucky in such regards unless you are to change my mind on such.” A wink that could have been missed with a blink of an eye caught the woman off guard, a soft smile tracing her lips.

“You seemed quite lonesome, my dear. All alone with no party to keep your interest?” He inquired with a raised brow, wondering why someone with such a steady heart and lovely gaze would be alone in the epicenter of drunken and lust induced chaos. “Oh, m’party left a while ago. No fun, those posh bastards. All they want is to dance, drink, and fuck. The same rinse and repeat every weekend. It gets bloody boring, especially when I’m not much for dancing or bein’ pressured to find some sod to bring home.”

“Ah, I believe I understand. I’m rather, how should I say, picky with my preferences in people. Like a fine connoisseur of wines, you have to pick through the crowd to find the right flavor.”

“You’ve got that right.” A glance over the mans features, he grinned at her lingering gaze. “Sometimes the right vintage is in order, though I’m far more a whiskey connoisseur than wine. It’s never done much for my taste.”

“Or is it a matter that it simply doesn’t give you the right numbing buzz?”

She paused at his words, wondering just how the man could figure such. Was she that visible, that see-through? “Of course I mean no offense by such, my dear. You just simply seem tired of the same grind, the same motions like a creek that always floods. You appear prone to it.” A stifle of a saddened chuckle. The woman knew he hit the nail right on the head. “You know, if you’re gonna hit that close to home, you might as well get my name first.” He blinked before placing a hand on his head with a chuckle, his dramatics almost charming in a way. “May I ask the name of such a ravishing creature?” She actually blushed at his words, startled to be called ravishing by such an extraordinary man who could read her like an open book. “(First name). Her hand was extended to shake his own and yet the shadow of a man surprised her when he grasped her hand and brought it to his lips, a delicate kiss given to her knuckles. “I’m Dracula. Count Dracula if you must.” The air around them seemed to shift to a far more comfortable setting, even as the club began to grow tighter and tighter, far more suffocating then one would prefer. The drinks kept coming, the world numbing to a dull buzz and the gentle drone of her mystery man's voice as he spoke of many things. Art, music, the culture of the modern world. It was to the point that a glass of water was taken and sipped before a final invitation arose.

“(First name), would you care to join me before I retire for the night? Perhaps a stroll in the park?” It was truly an innocent offer on his behalf, the crimson liquid that had dwindled to mere drops left behind on the bar top and arm offered for the other. “I don’t know, Drac. I think I should call a cab and make my way back to m’flat. Perhaps a rain check?” He smiled at her words. His dinner plans had been thrown out the window the moment he realized the water was beginning to work its way through her system and she didn’t seem to nearly sway as bad. Oh well, ‘fast food’ was in order for tonight, and she may serve as a sweetened dinner on another night. “Ah, yes, of course.” He offered a hand once more to the woman, a soft peck yet again dropped to her knuckles before a card was tucked against her palm. She turned it over to see the Counts number, a faint smirk meeting her lips. “I’ll make sure to m-” A glance up and the man was gone, leaving the other to wonder just where he could have squeezed his lengthy frame off to in the middle of such a chaotic crowd.

A cab was called as the night grew later, back hitting the worn leather of the interior seat and sigh falling from painted lips.

[You never told me you were a magician, Mr. Count. - (Y/n)]

[I never said I wasn’t, my dear. ;) - D]

The Count smirked as he glanced down to his phone, the odd little device bringing that same excitement as the thrill of the chase when he captures his next meal. Indeed, this one truly had been fast food. He lightly wipes at the crimson that had beaded and rolled from the corner of his mouth down his chin, the cloth tucked away within his suit pocket as the corpse before his feet was nudged off into the water of the Thames. Oh, how lovely London was for its disposal services. Such a body of water provided the loveliest of cover ups.

[Care to meet me for drinks next week? Maybe we could find something a bit more to your selective flavors. - (Y/N)]

[Oh, how that sounds delectable. Consider my schedule free for that night, my dear. -D]

[Always a charmer, aren’t you? - (Y/N)]

A snicker fluttered among the air when he looked at the brightened screen, a lick to his lips following as he followed the familiar streets leading to his own flat, quiet steps that would normally echo silent as he thinks of a reply. Oh, this one way playful when not in person.

[But of course. -D]

[gruntydiecast]

That Time Forgot: IAD Alien (and related concepts)

I gotta admit. For the longest time, I thought that this car, with its supremely space-age design, was not real. But after a bit of a search and some other things... I found it was. I believe some people might share this sentiment. Today, I’m going to talk about the history behind the IAD Alien, along with, as a bonus, all of the other things IAD made over the years.

IAD, or International Automotive Design, was a British design company founded in 1976 by husband and wife Yvonne and John Shute. The company originally designed bodies for trains (my other interest), but eventually branched out to designing bodies for automobiles. Increasing demand eventually caused IAD to branch out to encompassing various different facets of the industry, from design and sculpting models to small-scale production. In the 1980s, IAD was one of the biggest automotive design firms in the world, competing against such giants like Bertone, Italdesign and of course, Pininfarina, and also had multiple facilities around the world.

Touted as “Britain’s Largest Styling Company”, IAD meant business. To prove that they were a force in the industry, they designed a number of concept cars throughout the 1980s to early 1990s, and we’ll be talking about them here. I will not be counting cars that were designed by IAD, but manufactured by another company.

The first of the concept cars they designed was known as the TRX.

The TRX was a radical restyling of the Triumph TR7, designed by Martin Longmore. The TRX attempted to make the car have a completely different appearance, but keeping the fundamental structure of the car as close as possible to the TR7. General Electric Plastics helped to fund the project. It was displayed at the 1980 Birmingham Motor Show.

Their next project was the Arrival, displayed at the 1985 Frankfurt Motor Show. The car attempted to demonstrate IAD’s expertise with computer-aided design, showing a proposal for a five-door sedan designed entirely with a computer.

The next car IAD would design would turn out to be arguably their most famous design yet, helped by the fact that a Hot Wheels model was produced replicating the car: the Alien.

The IAD Alien was designed by Longmore and Marcus Hotblack, and was their proposal for a futuristic mid-engined supercar. Featuring a canopy door which tilted forward for unhindered entrance and egress, the Alien showcased a number of interesting solutions for the general public. The car was first introduced at the 1986 Turin Motor Show.

The car itself featured a highly sophisticated interior with a starship-like steering wheel and heads-up display for the dashboard. The interior was also well-protected, with an integrated roll cage in the car. Quite possibly the most interesting part of the car was its modularity; owners of the car could switch out engines on the fly for easy upgrading, maintenance or to change to something else the driver suited. A bit over the top, yes, but that’s what the ‘80s were like.

Unfortunately, the car was non-functional, and Longmore and Hotblack would move on to their next project.

The Impact was their next project, also designed by Longmore and Hotblack. Built on a Ford Sierra chassis and powered by a 2.8L Cologne V6, the Impact aimed to be one of the most barrier-free SUVs possible, with folding steps when any of the doors opened. A split tailgate and underfloor storage allowed the Impact to store more than a usual SUV could. It was branded as a Sports/Utility Car by a brochure, and featured an in-car navigation system. The car was showcased at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show.

To add to their SUV portfolio, IAD did up the Interstate. Designed by Tony Pettman, the usual Ford Cologne V6 was fitted underneath a soundproof cover, allowing for some of the quietest rides. It too, like the Impact, was introduced at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Following up the Impact was the Hunter, a rugged off-road vehicle equipped with navigational systems and a telephone. Appearing very similarly to the Impact, the Hunter was also fitted with the same Ford Cologne V6 and featured weatherproof seats made out of foam. It was showcased at the 1988 Turin Motor Show, and was designed by Longmore, Hotblack and Dave Ancona.

After the Hunter came the Royale, designed by Bill Barranco and Jose Diaz de la Vega. The Royale was built around a highly modified Subaru XT-6, with the wheelbase stretched. Meant for business executives, the Royale had a rotary keypad and controls for the CD player and satnav systems available to both rear passengers. The headlights and taillights were engineered by Phillips (yes, that Phillips), and featured a massive LED screen in the rear of the car integrated with the taillamps engineered to give various pieces of road safety information. It, like the Hunter, was also shown off at the 1988 Turin Auto Show.

Their next car was the rather interesting-looking (and potentially rather unsightly) Venus. Introduced at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show, the Venus was designed by Michael Ani and touted as a futuristic supercar with both performance and a distinctive appearance. The design aimed to form a blend between the technical and aesthetic aspects of the car. A functioning model of the car was eventually built on a Lotus Elise chassis.

Their next project was simply titled the Mini MPV. Powered by a Ford Escort’s CVH 1.9L engine, the Mini MPV could seat six people in three rows. It debuted at the 1990 Turin Motor Show and may have been trialed at Los Angeles International Airport at the time.

Okay, I’m breaking the “outsourced production” rule, but technically this thing was designed by IAD but never produced, so it sort of qualifies. This is the IAD Magia (or Lancia Magia), designed by Ani and Brian Osborn. Featuring the 2.0L FIAT Twin-Cam inline-4 from a Lancia Delta Integrale, the Magia featured a “svelte body” on top of a Lancia Dedra platform, and was touted as “a car to capture the imagination of all the devotees of sporting coupes”. The car was shown off at the 1992 Turin Auto Show, where it was extremely well received, although serial production never materialized.

Reeling from the effects of the European Union’s automobile industry’s worst recession, IAD went into receivership and was acquired by Mayflower Group in 1993. John Shute would die two years later on 13 January 1995, aged 54. Despite his death, IAD would go on to design one more concept on their own.

That design was the EuroTaxi. This was a taxi designed to be the cheapest and most efficient taxi to operate by miles. The EuroTaxi attempted to extend service intervals through the use of both an internal combustion engine and an onboard battery pack, and as a result, decrease downtime. The car was showcased at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show, but of course, no orders were placed. The EuroTaxi would turn out to be IAD’s last design.

With the money running dry due to said recession, Britain’s Leading Styling Company were forced to release their chokehold on the car design industry and vanished. The company’s design facilities were bought over by Daewoo Motors, and IAD faded into obscurity, never to be heard from again, while Pinifarina, Bertone and Italdesign are still around today, designing cars.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten the history of IAD out of the way, let’s talk about what you came for: the Hot Wheels version of the IAD Alien.

The Alien was designed by Larry Wood and first introduced in the 1989 Speed Fleet series in the above color, somewhat replicating that of the real Alien; however, this color is quite rare and was quickly replaced by the far more common red version. The casting never received any mention of IAD on it; for all its releases it was simply titled “Alien”.

The Alien features a plastic wraparound body rivited to the base, with metal fender flares and a plastic canopy. This canopy can theoretically be removed, but I’m not going to attempt to do so; instead, I’ll show a picture of one with the canopy removed.

The casting has a metal base, which makes this casting quite heavy. It actually has some decent details on the undercarriage.

The base features few markings apart from the logo and copyright information. I can honestly see people not being able to identify this car, but this was at a time where little other information other than copyright and the Hot Wheels logo was placed on the base; this lasted from about the mid-’80s to the mid-to-late-’90s, at which point it was presumably mandated to put the name of the casting on the base unless it couldn’t fit.

The Alien enjoyed the privilege of being released quite often when it was in the lineup, but ultimately this casting was doomed in 1999 for one reason, and one reason only: the Final Run Series.

The Final Run Series started in 1999 and acted as what I would consider a very glorified funeral for a casting; Hot Wheels would give these cars special tires and paint, in exchange for vowing to never produce them again by cutting their toolings in half. The Alien was unfortunately one of the castings to fall victim to the Final Run Series, and although it might not have been one of the more popular castings to retire that year, it was still retired regardless. As the first batch of cars to be Final Run, having been introduced in the 1999 series, the Alien will never be seen again in the Hot Wheels lineup unless a new tool and die is created for it, which I believe is highly unlikely. The Final Run Series itself has been on hiatus since 2006. In total, the Alien had fifteen releases.

Always on the receiving end of very loud decals due to its plastic sides and large fenders, the Alien will be dearly missed (by me, at least) in the Hot Wheels lineup, and I wouldn’t mind seeing a modern recreation of the Alien return to the Hot Wheels lineup as a premium piece.

I hope this post has given you a better idea on the history of this futuristic British supercar concept, and the history of its small Hot Wheels counterpart. As usual, I’d write something like this any day.

- Grunty

[inkdomain]

Step By Step Guide To Set Up Your Facebook Shop

The phrase Facebook Shop is not a favorite of most e-commerce websites. And, like Murphy’s Law, they seem to happen at the worst possible moment…when you least expect it.

I’m sure you are aware of the BIG announcement made by Facebook’s owner, Mark Zuckerberg. You may not be aware of how you can use this new feature to improve your business and compete with the big guns.

Facebook launched its own virtual shop, a new feature which will allow businesses to be able to sell to customers through Shops, potentially posing a challenge to e-commerce rivals such as Etsy and Amazon.

This is good news if you solely wish to have a physical storefront in front of foot traffic. Besides, the golden rule of every business is to meet your customers where they are.

If the idea of creating an online store on Facebook has been going around your head for a while, in this guide, all your possible questions will be answered:

What is Facebook Shop?

Facebook Shops is a simple version of your online store that lives inside the Facebook and Instagram mobile apps. These virtual shops make it easy for billions of users to find, browse, and buy your products in the apps they use daily to discover new experiences.

Facebook Shops will make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram.

Shops will be primarily aimed at businesses, allowing them to sell to customers on the app.

Why Should I Sell On Facebook?

Selling on Facebook is such a good idea!

Keeping up with the competition in a world filled with multi-platform companies is hard unless you don’t want to expand your business to where your customers hang out the most.

And it just so happens that Facebook is one of the places online where people spend the majority of their time.

With more than 2 billion active users on Facebook, imagine the impact of such a powerful tool and traffic would do on your business.

Actually, an average of 40+ minutes is spent by a Facebook user per day on the popular social network – and a large share of that goes towards shopping on Facebook.

That’s quite a bit of time considering this happens on a daily basis!

Without counting the time, many of us spend clicking on links and liking posts on Facebook throughout the workday.

Hence, this is a great time to take advantage of the new Facebook as a selling platform!

Pros and Cons of Having a Facebook Shop

It sounds good to have an online Facebook shop. But the question in everyone’s mind is, how profitable is it to sell more products among viral videos about cats, songs, and photos of family members?

Let’s start weighing it all out.

Pros

Every potential client, or almost all of them, are on Facebook—and we want to be where clients are, don’t we?

It is free; this is always a plus.

It is easy to set up with a few clicks.

You can easily share your product links as if they were a normal post once you have created your products and offers.

A marketplace where you can showcase your new products to attract customers to your shop.

Product tagging features that enable you to publish a picture where one of your products appears, you will be able to tag them so users can click on them.

The shopping feature will also eventually appear on WhatsApp and the company’s other messaging apps and integrate with live streams.

Once a buyer decides they want to spend money, they will usually be directed to the company’s website to complete the transaction.

And if problems arise or a buyer wants to ask questions, they can do so through Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram Direct messages, some of which are already used by companies for that purpose.

Cons

It takes time: although it is easy to set up, if you use a native tool, you will need to spend some time on updating prices and images.

Low visibility: unless you share and change your products a lot, at least for the moment, only a few people know about Facebook Shop.

The payment is made on your website. So if you’re in the USA, using Stripe or PayPal can already complete the purchase without leaving Facebook, but it is still not possible in Europe.

What’s Great About A Facebook Shop Page?

With the Facebook page, you don’t even need to have any preexisting store – and if you want, all your operations can be done via Facebook.

But the benefits don’t end there. With a Facebook Shop page, you can:

Easily add an unlimited number of products,

Organize your products into collections and categories,

Communicate with your customers through the page directly,

See stats on your sales, visits, and more,

Get your products appearing in Facebook Marketplace, giving you access to a much larger base of potential customers.

Just the last thing from this list is a good enough reason to look into this whole Facebook Shop page on its own!

How Much is Facebook Shop Fees?

Creating a Facebook Shop is free and straightforward.

You can easily choose the products you want to feature from your catalog and then customize your shop’s look and feel with a cover image and accent colors that showcase your brand.

This simply means no matter your size or budget; you can bring your business online and connect with customers wherever and whenever it’s convenient for them.

In doesn’t stop there, you can bring your products or services to Facebook market with a shopping experience that feels native to each platform, on any device.

Showcase your distinct brand and products by customizing the colors and layout of your Facebook Shop and organizing product collections into featured tiles to match your store’s look and feel.

Nearly a million businesses in the UK and around the world can now set up a single online store to sell products, with no fee, on Facebook and Instagram.

The initial stage of the Facebook Shops rollout has been brought forward and extended because of Covid-19.

The stores will appear on business pages, Instagram profiles, and targeted ads.

The company has already used a no-fees approach in its Facebook Marketplace for personal classifieds.

“IT’S BIGGER THAN USUAL JUST BECAUSE WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE’RE MOVING QUICKLY TO GET THESE TOOLS IN THE HANDS OF AS MANY BUSINESSES WHEREVER THEY ARE, BIG OR SMALL, TO HELP THEM SURVIVE DURING THIS TIME,” FACEBOOK’S LAYLA AMJADI SAID.

And product manager George Lee said it had been in the pipeline for at least half a year.

“Obviously, given the current situation, we have accelerated a lot of our efforts,” he said.

“We’re in a unique position to be able to contribute to the survival of a bunch of these businesses.”

The rollout is part of a wider range of changes planned for shopping across Facebook’s products, including:

A loyalty scheme that will link things such as points from local coffee shops to Facebook

A Shop button, where products and brands will be showcased, on Instagram’s main navigation bar.

Anthony Ha, a senior writer at technology news site TechCrunch, said “the pandemic lockdown might have worked in Facebook’s favor.”

“After all, if your favorite store has changed their hours, or switched to online delivery or doorstep pickup, they’ve almost certainly posted about it on Facebook or Instagram,” he said.

So it makes sense for Facebook to make the purchase process as easy as possible from those profiles.

From a business perspective, the obvious goal is to drive more advertising.

“BUT IT’S ALSO WORTH REMEMBERING THAT THE PANDEMIC’S ECONOMIC FALLOUT WILL LIKELY KILL OFF MANY SMALL BUSINESSES, INCLUDING THOSE THAT POST AND ADVERTISE ON FACEBOOK. SO THE COMPANY HAS A STAKE IN HELPING THOSE BUSINESSES SURVIVE IN ANY WAY IT CAN.” RELA

How do I set up a Facebook Store?

Selling your products via Facebook store is fast and easy, and there are two ways to do it:

One of the basic ways is a Facebook Store with product listings and directly connect your payment option to the cart on the platform. This simply means there won’t be a need for your customers to leave the platform to buy your product, and you won’t need external platforms.

Alternatively, you can make use of e-commerce websites, like Shopify, BigCommerce, Woo, Channel Advisor, and create a web store on Facebook. Thus, enabling you to link your products on the e-commerce websites to your Facebook Store page.

The second option is most preferred because it extends your online presence to different platforms, which is better for your business.

Note that selling products using your personal account is against Facebook terms.

 An example of a Facebook shop

How to Create a Facebook Shop

Creating a Facebook shop isn’t the most daunting task in the world. On the other hand, it’s pretty easy.

When creating your shop, the number of steps you take will depend on the template of your business page, which you can change at any time.

Step 1. How To Change Your Template

Facebook automatically select a Standard Template for you when creating a business page.

What you need to do is to change the template to Shopping. This step is only necessary if you don’t see the Shop tab below your Facebook page cover photo. Just click Settings at the top of the Page > Templates and Tabs in the left column > Edit next to your template > View Details > Apply Template > OK.

Here’s how it looks in practice:

An Example of a Facebook Shop Page Templates

After you’ve changed the template, you’re welcome to take the following steps.

Step 2. Click on ‘Shop’ in the Left Menu

Following the Add Shop Section link, you’ll find the information that this section allows you to do. Click to continue upon reading.

Making a Facebook shop

Step 3. Agree to Facebook’s Merchant Terms and Policies

After you click the Add Shop Section button, Facebook’s Merchant Terms and Policies will appear. Don’t forget to read them carefully before agreeing. They might include useful information about what you’re allowed to sell on Facebook and how you should solve any problems that appear with return and refund policies, for example.

Facebook shop policy

Step 4. How to Select Checkout Method

After you’ve agreed to the terms and policies, you can proceed to select the type of checkout you prefer. Simply put, when opening your Facebook Shop, choose your payment method. Typically, there’re two methods of checkout on Facebook – Check Out on Another Website and Message to Buy.

Check Out to Another Website simply allows you to send your customers to other e-commerce websites where they will complete their purchases.

Checkout Method

Choosing this checkout method means that you will have the URL of the e-commerce website when listing your products and filling in the underlying form.

Step 5. Choose the Currency for Your Shop and Hit Save

Now, you have decided on your payment method. It’s time to choose your choice of currency that will appear on the product description after you add it completely.

Facebook shop currency

Note: Should you choose the wrong currency or wish to change your checkout method, you will need to delete your shop and create another one. This means all the products listed in the shop will be deleted.

Delete your shop, click on the Shop Tab, find the gear icon in the right-up corner, and choose Delete.

how to delete a Facebook store

Step 6. Describe What You’re Going to Sell

Congratulations!

Now you can fill in some general information about the products you’re selling and add them to the shop. A little box will appear, where you can describe what you’re going to sell in 200 characters.

describe what your Facebook shop sells

Step 7. How to Add Products to Facebook Shop

After you’ve added a little description of what you’re going to sell, you can add your first product.

This is doable from your computer, and you can only sell physical products, according to Facebook guidelines.

The box you’ll see will look like this (in case you’ve chosen Message to Buy as your checkout method). You’ll see completely intuitive and user-oriented on-screen instructions. The form requires adding a photo, name, price, description, and visibility of your product. Also, there are some other toggles you can play with.

how to add products to your Facebook shop

But here are some rules and best practices to complete your Facebook online store. You won’t be able to publish a product without adding at least one photo. Please note that customers will be happy to see more than one. The best dimension for a photo would be a square image of 1024 x 1024 pixels, according to Facebook’s recommended photo guidelines.

product pictures for Facebook shops

It’s also possible to add a video of your product.

Let’s see what you can do next.

Clearly, put down the name of your product.

Fill in the price. You can mention only one price, but if you decide to choose “This product is on sale,” you can change it. This way, your clients will see how much they save.

Describe your product or tell about its advantages in short sentences, preferably with bullet points.

Avoid company-specific information.

Don’t use URLs or emojis; both will be broken in the description. According to Facebook, the descriptions cannot contain phone numbers, email addresses, long titles, excessive punctuation, capitalized letters, or in lowercase, book or movie spoilers, or external links.

In Edit Options, you can add options describing the size and color of your product.

There, you can also choose your shipping information and policy.

After you click the Save button, Facebook begins to Process your product. It may take up to 24 hours to review if it complies with Facebook policies.

Share the product on your page. When you have created a product, you can publish an announcement telling people what’s new in your shop. If you add many products, it’s better not to share them on the page all at once. You will be able to do this later.

Step 8. Add Collections

Facebook allows you to create collections if you want to sell many products of different types. Categorized collections make navigation easier for buyers and improve the shopping experience.

This feature becomes visible when you’ve already added some products. The next thing you’ll have to is to create a name for your collection, add products, and choose “Feature this Collection” to make it stand out in your shop.

Nordgreen, a Danish brand of watches, for example, has collections of women’s and men’s watches separated on their Facebook online store. Check it out:

Facebook shop collection

  Step 9. Change the CTA Button

Facebook does a lot of things automatically, and setting your CTA is no exception. It creates your call to action button on the right corner under your background image that leads to the shop on your page.

Famous brands like Tiffany & Co. use a simple message in their CTAs: Shop Now. However, when you’ve set up a store on Facebook, you can easily change the CTA button and even link your website to it. It’s up to you!

Shop Now button on Facebook

Frequently Asked Questions on Creating Facebook Shop

What are the Products I Can’t Sell on a Facebook Shop?

Facebook has a list of prohibited items. Some of the unapproved products include prescription drugs, weapons, animals, alcohol, and anything that promotes discrimination.

You check Facebook Community Guidelines to understand their policies.

Which payment types does Facebook accept?

This depends on where you are. For US stores, where customers can checkout directly on your Facebook page, your money will come through either Stripe or PayPal.

If you’re outside the US, you will need to arrange a different payment method. This could be a bank transfer, cash, or telephone payment. This is easiest if you allow customers to contact your page through Messenger.

Can I sell digital goods on my Facebook Store?

Sadly, the answer is no!

This is another important reason for not relying on Facebook for your online business. You can only sell physical products through your Facebook Store.

But with websites like Shopify, BigCommerce, Woocommerce, you can easily sell both physical and digital products!

How do you increase your conversions from a Facebook Store?

To increase your conversions from your Facebook Store, you need to grow your Facebook audience. This can be done through paid ads, promoting Facebook posts – if you have the budget – or simply through increasing your Facebook activity.

You could also try searching for Facebook groups related to your store and post about your store in those, which may help increase your traffic and boost your conversions.

What are the image requirements for product photos on a Facebook Shop page?

Your best bet is to check out Facebook’s guidelines for listing products – since the requirements change on occasion.

There are also several things to worry about, such as dimensions, image formatting, and backdrops. For instance, at the time of this article, Facebook recommends having image resolutions at 1024 x 1024 or higher, along with white backgrounds and square images.

Why my customers can’t purchase multiple products in one shopping cart?

This all depends on your own website and payment processor. Facebook doesn’t offer its native shopping cart in some regions, so transactions are redirected to your own shopping cart and payment processor. That said, Facebook is rolling out these features to new countries as we speak.

Your store is not available in countries other than your own.

The privacy settings of your whole page might be set incorrectly. An easy mistake to make. Go to the Settings of your page and make sure that the Page Visibility parameter is set to Page published.

Do I have to add my products manually?

That depends on a couple of factors. Here’s the gist of it:

If you’ve set up your Shop page via an external e-commerce tool like Shopify or BigCommerce, everything should be synchronized automatically.

This means that Facebook has information on how to link your shop and sync all of the products with the Facebook Shop page.

If you’ve set up your Shop page manually, then yes, you do have to continue adding your products manually. The same goes for updating any details about them (price, availability, descriptions, etc.).

What are the Requirements to have a shop on Facebook?

Your Facebook shop must:

Sell physical items

Agree with our Merchant Terms

What are the Benefits of having a Facebook Shop Page?

Facebook Shops have different features depending on your location. They can be valuable to you because you can:

Add as many products as you want: You don’t need to upload a product catalog anywhere else first, and there’s no limit on how many products you can add.

Customize your product inventory: You can organize your products into different collections so your customers can browse your shop by category.

Communicate with customers: Your customers can message the shop on your Page with questions.

Get insights: You can see views, clicks, and purchases for each of your products.

Is Facebook Shop a good platform to sell products?

F-commerce is a powerful source of income and traffic. It isn’t really the most profitable way to sell your products if you depend 100% on Facebook. Of course, it’s free and straightforward to set up, but it’s still a social network and not an actual online platform to sell products.

Then, there’s also the algorithm where Facebook makes constant changes to it, so you’ll always have to adjust your strategy.

Overall, if you really want to build a strong brand reputation for your business, it is important to have to own your personal online store.

In the end, having a Facebook store is really worth it as it is one of the most useful tools to promote your products, but if you wish to have some extra options to personalize your online brand, make sure to do thorough research and find the best platform that will suit your needs.

Congratulations!

You now know everything you need to know about setting up a Facebook Shop. Indeed, if universities handed out PhDs in the field of Facebook, you’d have one by now!

Yes, just knowing all the tips and strategies is quite an accomplishment. But the truth is, packing away all this information in your noggin won’t do you any good if you don’t use it. And that’s why I suggest you take action – starting right now – by creating your Facebook Shop. Because the sooner you get started, the sooner you can turn this “Ph.D. in Facebook” into real results!

If you have any questions about setting up a Facebook Shop page, leave a comment in the section below. If you’ve successfully established your Facebook store, feel free to leave a link for others to visit and check out the techniques you’ve used to make your page unique.

[echoeternally]

What do you do to get motivation? I have a fic that's been going on for years now. I have the whole thing drafted, I mostly know what I want to happen, though I sometimes get stuck on side details.

Motivation works differently for everyone. I wish I had one universal answer to simplify it, but it really depends on who you are and what drives you.

To help, I can give you some tools that I use to help inspire me, and maybe from that, you can find your answer as well.

Short version for that would be the following:

Books, Media, and Other Stories

Music and Art

Unexplored Territories

Rewinds: Re-read and Remind

Audience

Friends

Research

Creating Goals

Slightly longer blurbs will go under the cut to explain things.

Ok, let me explain some inspiration sources a little more. (And because each section is longer, this now is a very long post.)

Books, Media, and Other Stories: This is usually a good place to start, since you can help engage yourself to your work by getting into other things. Books get a particular special mention because writing and reading go hand-in-hand. This can be extended to comics and manga though. Media is the umbrella term for tv shows, movies, video games, and other forms that entertainment take to portray stories of different kinds. Other stories themselves are meant for the less conventional venues to explore, like articles or history, or even other fanfics as well. Each source has their own story to tell you, and by looking into things, you can find how storytelling flows from each of them.

It doesn’t have to all be good stuff either. Maybe you hated the latest episode of your favorite cartoon or tv series. There was a book you finished last week, and it just completely fumbled the ending into a mess. Perhaps history was duller than dirt. Think you can come up with something better to tell? Great! Then fire up and get into writing how you’d do it better.

Music and Art: Another good spot to rouse creativity. Music and art tend to help bring about some life into you that stoke your creative fires well. Both are broad to describe, but they each have a lot of forms to them, so you should go with what you like to delve into. For example, art doesn’t strictly have to be fan art for fanfics; maybe there was a cool painting you remember from a museum that you wanted to recapture or explore. That can be useful. Same goes for music, as maybe there’s a song’s lyrics that you want to elaborate on, or take into a story of your own.

Personally, I prefer music that doesn’t involve lyrics. Classical music and media soundtracks (movies, video games) are usually super helpful, because they can have dramatic flares to them, and don’t always have people singing with lyrics that you end up associating with the song, which becomes a story of its own. If you can get the right tune that you can relax to, it can then help you want to create a story that goes with the atmosphere. There are all kinds of feelings that songs can stir in you, so experiment and see what you like.

Unexplored Territories: Stories are mostly not quite groundbreaking in what they tell, but rather how they tell it. Nevertheless, there are numerous less explored resources that can be immensely helpful to get into. Most people go for realistic stuff, like cultures that aren’t as primed for media representation. It’s good when you’re doing grounded things that deal with people mostly. For those more engaged in fantasy, though, you’d want to get into stuff that’s not tied for cultures, or extract it from them. Maybe you look up a list of mythological creatures and want to write about something that isn’t the woefully tiring trend of wizards/witches, vampires, werewolves, or clowns. Even changing it up in simple ways, like establishing a difference between sorcerers and witches, or having werewovles, werecats, and werebears all in one story that operate differently.

But don’t be afraid to turn to real life stuff too, especially for less explored spots. I tend to use LGBTQ+ stuff (mostly gays) to both give representation to groups that I identify with, as well as use character dynamics that mainstream media is too afraid to touch. Those two main male characters that are best friends? Make them boyfriends. That lady who seems like she’s super sexy? She’s actually asexual. I’m not telling you to specifically use this stuff, mind you, but this is an example of less explored territories that you can have a little more flexibility with. Heck, it can even simplify the story you tell with minimal changes: Beauty and the Beast’s titular characters are both female. The rest of the story plays out as follows, but it now gains brand new angles to be explored by a small change. That’s part of why I also like shipping and going for “rare pairs” for romance stories: they’re not as explored, and therefore, prime for new content that can be exciting just by existing! 

Rewinds (Re-read and Remind): A simple concept, but sometimes you can help stir some motivation by looking back over your old work. Checking back on things can help remind you of what’s going on, or can help create the desire to continue what was going to happen next. It’s basic, but sometimes just the smallest trick to help start some sparks you lost.

It doesn’t have to be a lot, either. Maybe you just wanted to write up this one scene, but you haven’t gotten there yet. Write it anyway, and then work on how you need to get there. While you’re reading over something you wrote, don’t focus on editing, but on the content. Maybe there’s this one line of dialogue that you really loved, and it’s this excellent one-liner that defines your character really well. And then that can make you want to give more to them. When you rewind and recall things you had ideas for, sometimes reviewing them can help you expand on them.

Audience: Has anyone read your stuff yet? If not, ask a few people to do so! An audience can help you immensely, because their reactions help gauge what works and what doesn’t. By giving them content to look over, and interacting with your readers as well, you can end up helping drive yourself to want to deliver more to them. It keeps things flowing nicely! (And this is why writers cry a lot about wanting feedback: it super seriously helps out in a great big way!)

Make sure to look for readers too, not just other writers. Sure, other writers can give you tips and tricks, but they’re looking at it from a similar perspective to yours: the creator’s. For readers, they’re specifically interested in consuming the content, and therefore, have different interpretations and interests for the story. They can give you opinions that other writers can’t quite so easily offer, because they can be more to the point of entertainment engagement. (Writers do typically double as readers, though, so it works out either way.)

Friends: I wanted to add a special distinction for friends as opposed to audience. Friends are nice, but are infinitely less likely to read your work. Online pals, irl friends, whichever you’re comfortable with talking to, they’re still not always the people you’ll go running to so you can grab a new reader. But that’s ok, because you have other ways they can help!

Sometimes, just telling a vague summary of things that are going on in your fic can help you get interested in telling more about it, and to others that might understand it more. Telling your friends puts you in a spot that helps you come up with ways to break down your story to its bare bones, and then what you want to do to help build it up. Another way to go about it would be to listen to stories that they have to tell you. Maybe they’re not writing, but sometimes just interacting with others can help you with developing dynamics that people can share in stories. Or events that are so out there, and you can come up with a way to create a related scenario. (No, I’m not telling you to write your friends…unless they make good characters, lol.) Even just being with friends to take your mind off of things and relax? That helps out too, more than you realize in the moment or immediately after.

Research: It kind of goes with some stuff above, because by viewing media, other stories, unexplored territories, music, and art, you’re doing a type of research. Each one presents a different medium that lets you get to know about them, and the more you look into it, the more you learn.

But the cool thing about research is that it takes you places. Websites like TVTropes and Wikipedia can take you to all kinds of weird places, but that’s what makes them great! You end up learning new topics and angles to explore, and they can help inspire new ideas by doing so, or help you restructure ideas you might think are too cliché or simply don’t work. Delving in deep can be time consuming, but also can lead to major payoffs.

Creating Goals: This one I’m not quite as sure about, because it depends on what you’re looking for out of stories. Still, it can be a helpful boost in its own way, so I’ll include it. Goal creating isn’t just something like, “Today I want to write a sentence.” That’s good to do in general, but I’m talking a little more along the competitive lines.

You’ve got a fic written up, but you’re looking to keep it rolling. Maybe you’re exploring two neglected characters from a movie and giving them a new life. But, guess what? Someone else tried something similar about two years ago. Heck. Are you going to let that stop you though? Heck no! What you do with that is see what that story nets for ratings, and plug away at trying to match them. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to outdo them entirely, especially the top ranking stuff. You don’t have to be the best. But you want to compare as well, so see how your content measures up. If they have bookmarked readers that stack to several hundreds, and you can net half after writing about the same characters? That’s pretty great stuff on your part! Even if you don’t have something specific to go up against? Tackle the archives or stories in general! See how highly rated you can get your stuff to be, and duke it out to be visible among everyone else’s content.

This one is really dependent on your personality type, so if you’re not competitive, don’t put stock into it. But if you get fired up about a challenge? Bring it on!

…

…

There’s a bunch of different avenues that you can look into, and different ways to help bring some motivation and inspiration into your creative mind. These are some suggestions based on angles that I’ve personally attempted, so they may or may not work for you. But that’s ok, because you might be able to come up with more ideas as well.

It just depends on what you like, what you want to do, and what stories you want to tell. From there, just let loose and explore.

But, please do keep in mind to keep yourself (yes, you) in check and feeling good. Tired? Get some rest! Hungry? Go eat! Overwhelmed? Decompress and relax. Know your five senses? Engage them all! Your mood definitely matters as well, and it’s little things that can sometimes hold you back in major ways. Take breaks, and when you come back, things might flow a little easier.

No matter what though, make sure you’re having fun! That’s what really counts in the end, above all else. Do stuff that’ll make you happy, and you’ll flourish in ways you might not even realize. These may be typical lines you’ve heard in countless places before, but they’re pretty helpful.

Again, go for it, and have some fun with the writing!