#happy retirement!! time to go fight the horrors in the ocean

[cogitxtio]

(( harold's voice actor was nice to me on twitter so i'm putting him on my main squad and never taking him out. sorry buddy i'm dragging you all over terra and you can't stop me ))

[orionsangel86]

The first Valentines Day they spent together wasn’t great. Taking out a horseman of the apocalypse and consuming an obscene amount of red meat wasn’t exactly a great start for a whirlwind romance. But Dean still remembers the butterflies he got in his stomach when Cas stood too close, or held his gaze for slightly too long.

The Valentines Day’s that came after that were mostly painful, or just another day that Dean wanted to forget:

- Handing Lisa a crumpled gas station valentines day card and a bunch of flowers that had already seen better days.

- Drowning in grief at the loss of Cas and Bobby.

- Hiding in the dark of Purgatory, trading rough hand jobs with Benny, and sending Cas tearful prayers, wishing he’d come back.

- Comforting a scared girl being chased by Hellhounds, wishing his angel would answer his prayers yet again.

- He doesn’t recall specific days whilst he had the mark of Cain.

He remembers the valentines day whilst under the pull of Amara, pining for something both frightening and unnatural, knowing deep down he was longing for something else, something that he thought he could never have.

The valentines day the year after reuniting Amara and Chuck, he had only been out of solitary confinement a few weeks, Cas was there, in the Bunker with him. But he was stubborn and angry at Cas for putting himself in danger. Dean had been giving him the silent treatment the whole time, but God, does he remember wishing Cas would come to him. Cas never did.

So much had happened in the year that followed that one. Cas had died, and returned to him, they had found Jack, and lost him to an alternate world. Even with all that had happened, Valentine Day that year was one of his favourites in recent memory. Dean had shyly invitied Cas for a movie marathon in his room. They had put on a Scooby Doo episode whilst making popcorn, and Cas had teased him for his “ascot phase” that had lasted only a few weeks. Dean still thinks he looked awesome though. They had curled up on Dean’s bed, eating popcorn and watching old horror movies. Dean had fallen asleep on Cas’s shoulder, and woke up on the morning of February 15th with his arms wrapped around Cas’s waist, and his face buried in his side. They were both smiling that morning, but neither had mentioned it again. Dean wishes they had.

The following year things had gone wrong again. Dean was too preoccupied trying to keep Michael at bay in his mind to even think about Valentines Day.

Last year on Valentines Day he was full of rage. Still hurting over all the crap that had happened. Chuck controlling their lives, being mad at Cas, Cas leaving and only returning to help the fight. He was terrified that Cas was just another part of Chuck’s story, another way to manipulate him. But Cas turned out to be one of the only things in the universe that Chuck wasn’t able to control. The one thing Dean had wanted most was the only thing that was truly real in his entire life. The thought still took his breath away. He wished he had known that at the time.

This Valentines Day, Dean was feeling high on happiness and love. Another year where too much had happened, but Dean and Cas decided that they had wasted enough time. Too many years had passed where they couldn’t be together, now they were finally free, finally able to make their own story, and they had chosen each other.

Just over three months ago Cas had confessed his love, and been ripped away from Dean once again before he had even had a chance to process what had happened. Defeating Chuck, and finally freeing themselves from his story had come at a terrible price, but luckily Dean’s adopted son was God now, and this time the deus ex machina was just what he needed.

Dean had wasted no time in finally letting his heart speak. Sobbing confessions of everlasting love into Cas’s lips, his neck, his cheeks, his chest. It had all happened pretty quickly after that. Jack had fixed everything, and Dean and Sam could finally retire.

The wedding wasn’t even their idea. Sam had blurted it out one day that they should hold some sort of ceremony as a final fuck you to all the forces of Heaven and Hell and beyond that had tried to separate them over the years. From the most powerful Gods, right down to the nasty little men in expensive suits who didn’t appreciate their love for one another. Eventually Dean had whispered the words to Cas one night, whilst they were still naked, sweaty, and wrapped around each other, gasping for breath. Marry Me just slipped off his tongue, and had got him a tearful yes and another four orgasms before the night was over.

So the valentines day “fuck you” ceremony became “Dean and Cas’s wedding day” and here they were. Exchanging vowels in front of their whole family. Even Crowley miraculously showed up which put Dean on edge for all of 10 minutes before the former King of Hell smiled and raised a fruity cocktail in his direction.

Their first dance was to “All My Love” by Led Zeppelin. Because of course it was. In the dim lights of the dance floor, pressed close to Castiel’s solid form, cheek brushing cheek, breathing in the scent of him, Dean was in the only Heaven that mattered. Right here on Earth. Real Heaven could wait until he was ready to go, which wouldn’t happen until he was old and wrinkly and his hair was grey (but still fabulous and not at all looking like a party city wig).

Once the stragglers had finally left the reception, or past out in the corner, Dean and Cas slipped away to the wedding suite, and drunkenly made love until long after midnight. It was by far, the best day of Dean’s life, let along the best Valentines Day of the past 12 years.

It’s the morning of the 15th February. Dean is lying in bed, on his back, with his new husband wrapped around him like an octopus. He thinks of all the valentines days of the past 12 years, and then forgets them, and thinks of the ones to come.

Next year he will spend the entire day in bed with his husband. Maybe he’ll get up long enough to make pancakes to bring Cas breakfast in bed. Maybe he’ll slip on some anniversary/valentines day panties. He thinks Cas may be into that.

In five years time he’ll spend their anniversary/Valentines day in their home by a beach - the one he plans to build himself. They’ll sit under the stars and listen to the ocean crash into the shore, wrapped in a huge blanket and whisper sweet nothings into each others ears.

In twenty years time, they’ll celebrate with their family. Perhaps he’ll throw Cas a party. He can picture Jack and Claire grown up with their own families, and Sam and Eileen with their own children, also grown by that point, and ready to move on to college and beyond. He sees a future full of love, and happiness, and peace. A future he has chosen for himself. A future where he is truly free to live the life he wants.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if they make anniversary/valentines day plans in the future or not, so long as they are together, so long as he gets this. So long as Cas remains in his arms. So long as he gets to kiss his husbands handsome face and see the love and happiness in his eyes. So long as from now on, nothing, not Darkness, Hell, Heaven, or even Death can separate them. After all, past experience has proven that they never succeeded before. Dean and Cas will always find their way back to each other.

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Ok, but is Kara still Supergirl and Andrea in the protection au? Honestly it would work either way, but there is definitely comedic value in Kara still being supergirl. Or maybe not supergirl. But she still has powers but doesn't really use them for heroing, which could also explain why Alex is FBI and not DEO. Like Lena is just a split second too slow, nothing that would have killed Kara, but something that should have hurt her, and Lena is confused as to how she is ok. Kara tries to bumble through something, but lena figures it out. Then they go on a funny out the bad guys scheme and Andrea regrets ever introducing them cause they are a pain in her ass.

I was kinda feeling a no power au, but if you wanna go with a Kara who's secretly super but never became Supergirl, I could dig it.

As for your scenario where Kara finally reveals herself to Lena, I could see it happening after they find themselves in an all out war with whoever is after Kara. It's not just an individual, its an organization, and they have endless resources and intends to throw assassins and gangs towards their Kara Danvers-sized problem until it goes away.

Anyway, they end up in a shoot out, and one by one Lena's entire team gets taken out until its only Lena and Kara left fighting for their lives in the middle of the warehouse district. Lena's running out of ammo when she turns and sees the barrel pointed at Kara. She shoves her ward out of the way and fires in the same moment the bullet clips her in the ribs.

"Lena!!" Kara cries, in horror and budding panic.

"Keep moving!" Lena barks, shoving back to her feet, clamping one hand against her side. She pushes Kara towards an empty building and follows her inside. There, they a moment to breathe, and Kara immediately tries to tend to Lena's wound.

"Oh my god, oh my god," she mutters, hands fluttering as they hesitate in her panic. "Lena, I--"

"I'm good," Lena says. As though to prove it, she takes her hand away from her side long enough to check the chamber of her pistol. "Damn it."

"Lena, I am so so sorry. I should never have insisted we come here--"

Lena shakes her head, leaning against a crate in exhaustion. "No, Kara. I'm the one who has to apologize."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I agreed to let you come here because no one knew you'd be coming."

Kara's eyes widen. "But that would mean..."

"Someone's been compromised." Lena smacks her head back agaist the crate. "Damn it."

Quickly running through the interactions she's had with Lena's people over the past few months, no one strikes Kara as a likely culprit. She'd found that Lena inspired a particular brand of loyalty, and an enthusiasm for the work they did no matter how dangerous it was.  Well, except for....

"Thompson."

Lena meets her eye briefly. "Probably. Bastard can talk shit about anything and anybody but the moment a woman raises his voice at him he goes completely ape--"

"Now, now, sis, you know he has an ego."

Both women start at the sound of the new voice. Lena instantly places herself between Kara and the intruder, empty gun lifting in reflex-- only to lower again when she recognizes her older brother Lex.

"Lex? What are you--?"

"And you can't blame him-- he was only following orders."

Lena's features harden the moment the pieces click together. The gun comes back up.

"How much did they pay you?"

Lex waves the question away. "It wasn't about the money. Well, not entirely anyway. They simply provided a simple solution for my problem, and in return I was happy to provide one for theirs."

"What kind of problem was it? Drugs? Gambling?"

"You."

Kara watches the exchange with bated breath. Without having met Lex before, she knows next to nothing about him, but the fact that Lena's treating him as a threat tells her that he isn't to be taken lightly. And if he was in here, serving as the pinnacle of this blood-soaked dash, then who knew how many more goons were waiting outside, just waiting for the signal to storm the building?

Shaking, Kara reaches for Lena. She places her hand gently between the woman's shoulder blades, giving her enough room to move, but staying close enough that Lena would know where she was.

All the while, blood drips from the wound in Lena's side, plicking against the concrete floor.

"I've heard the same rumors you have, ace. Our father is sick, and looking to retire. He needs someone to hand the reins to, and lately, he's been looking at you."

"You rather kill innocent people than work under me?"

"It's my company, ace," Lex reminds her. His voice takes on a dangerous edge. "Always has been."

Lena doesn't blink. She glares at her brother, turning to keep the gun trained on him as he slowly circles them.

"So what now?"

"Now," Lex explains, "either you die in the course of protecting your charge, or you fail to protect a high profile client. Either way, you're out of the running, and dear old dad looks to the rightful heir."

He lifts his gun and points it at Kara. He shrugs.

"You choose."

The gun fires, loud enough to set Kara's ears to ringing. Time seems to slow. Lena's back presses against Kara's hand, as Lena throws her arms wide, making herself as big as possible. Then she crumples, collapsing in a heap when the bullet sinks into her chest in a bloom of red mist.

The next time Lex lifts his gun at Kara, she's no longer there. In the moment it takes him to register the open air she used to occupy, Kara surges across the room and cocks him cold. He goes down hard, a fall made all the harder when Kara kicks him into the far wall of the warehouse.

She hasn't used her strength in years. Kara has been so careful with it, she's almost forgotten that she has it. But the sight of Lena bleeding on the ground brings it surging back. She's back to Lena's side in a flash.

"Lena..."

"Kara." Lena coughs, and blood coats her chin. "Go," she gurgles. "I'll only... slow you down. You have to run."

Kara cradles her in her arms, shaking her head no as tears pour down her cheeks. "No. Not without you."

"Go..."

Lena's whisper falls in the din of the doors being breached. Kara takes a moment to register the sight of armed humans pouring into the warehouse before she's making up her mind.

Gathering Lena in her arms, Kara holds her close. She can hear her heartbeat quickening, the pulses growing weaker in their flutter. She doesn't have long.

Kara will only have one chance.

As the goons swarm towards them, Kara gets her legs beneath. In a single deep breath, she calls on all the parts of herself she's purposely let go. She summons her strength, and the memory of nights spent with Alex, coasting low over the ocean.

On the exhale, she surges upwards, lifting off the pavement and crashing through corrugated metal roof. She wobbles slightly, pitching perilously under the unfamiliar dynamics of flight, but then she steadies, calms.

Then, with her heart in her throat, she aims towards the nearest hospital, and flies.

[dontmindmyshadowhunting]

The new Shadowhunter Academy (Fan Fic) - Chapter 1

In the mood for a bit of Shadowhunter Academy drama so there goes chap 1 of my new fic (it's part of my "To never being parted series" though it can be read as a standalone story).

Ao3 link here.

*****

This is how I die, Ash thought. He was surprised by how indifferent he was to the news. He had always imagined he would have more fighting in him.

If he were honest, it was not such a bad place to die. Green grass had started to grow again in the lands of Faerie, where there had only been wasteland and death before. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe Ash was exactly what he had been named after. Ash, the symbol of rebirth, his blood fertilizing the land and giving way to lush vegetation and the chirping of birds. Through his blurred vision, he could see Jace lying a few feet away, unconscious. He held on to the steady rise of his chest that told him he was still alive. But barely.

Ash coughed up blood in the already drenched soil. He tried to lift himself up, but the muscles in his arms were failing him and the slightest move equalled to excruciating pain. He felt as if all the bones in his body had been crushed into small pieces that were piercing through his organs.

He thought about the girl he had met in the weapons room, the girl in the drawing. Drusilla Blackthorn. There had been loneliness in her blue-green eyes, yet there had also been a fierce will to live despite everything. A hope beyond despair. You and I are the same, he told her in his mind. We witness the worst horrors, suffer the most intense grief, but keep our chins up and stand ready to fight to live another day. We do not give up.

Ash craned his neck sluggishly to get a better look at his opponent.

The new King of both Seelie and Unseelie Courts, a Herondale no less, who looked more like a Californian surfer boy with his tousled blond hair and unforgiving bright blue eyes, was standing before him, hands curled into fists against his hips, his white wings tipped with gold rustling behind him. He was glorious, an angel of death, and Ash idly wondered how someone so beautiful could be so cruel.

“Stand. Now. There is no fun in striking someone lying on the ground,” the King said, his blue eyes rolling in a very unkingly manner. Even his voice was not that of a monster. It was a nice, clear voice, that sounded like it belonged to a sweet boy. Ash knew, though, that he was anything but. He needed to distract him, to play for time.

“All these faeries that you have massacred,” Ash managed to utter through the blood in his throat. He flinched at the pain that the mere act of talking caused him. “And you call yourself their ruler… I don’t understand. Why this… bloodbath? What did they do to you?”

“What did they do to me? What did they do to me?” If the King’s face bore any expression at all, it would be pure hatred and contempt. “How about what did they do to my mother? And her parents, and their parents before that? Did they really think I would never find out, stay in the dark forever? Remain a blind and helpless mundane my whole life? I see them every single night in my dreams, you know… I am haunted by the cries and howls of my ancestors. Always running, always hiding, never allowed to rest, never allowed to live. No more. I crushed the faeries who stood in my way as if they were cockroaches under my shoe. If there was still such a thing as Shadowhunters, I would have them suffer the same fate, if not worse, for they have betrayed my bloodline just as much.”

As the Herondale King talked, Ash slowly moved his hand to clutch the folded paper inside the left pocket of his jacket. The psychopathic witch that had grown so fond of him – Annabel, the mere thought of her still sent shivers down his spine – had at least taught him one useful thing. How to get out of this hell hole.

He held on tight to the drawing in his bloody fingers. If he focused enough on creating an interdimensional Portal to her… Surely, he would go back to where he came from himself. The drawing had probably been made with material found in Thule, but the artist… the artist was from the other world. Maybe it could work. It was a long shot, but it was the only chance he and Jace had.

My blood, willingly given. He had lost enough blood as it was, but it had certainly not been willingly given. Trying to grab his sword, which was lying a few feet away, would draw too much attention. A deep paper cut could work. That’s how potent his blood was. He brought the paper to the palm of his hand and sliced through the skin, murmuring the incantation.

As the Portal started shimmering before him, Ash heaved a sigh of relief, causing a sting in his lungs. That was the first step. Now, how the hell would he find the strength to haul himself and Jace through it, without being stopped by the Faerie King?

“Wow, you will have to teach me how to do that,” the Herondale King said, showing for the first time a flicker of emotion. “I mean, I probably have enough power for that – Aren’t you like a cheap knockoff of me?”

Ash was spared to give an answer as the King whipped around at the sound of swords being drawn out behind him. The Riders of Mannan. There were only five of them left.

“You again?” The King rolled his eyes. “Ever thought of a retirement plan? Aren’t you like, thousands of years old?”

One of the Riders shrieked. “You killed two of our brothers. It has become personal. We will never acknowledge you as our new King. So that leaves us with only one option.”

“Yep, got it. You pick option B. Getting your decrepit asses kicked by me, myself and I.”

The Faerie King advanced with a casual stride on the five Riders, drawing two longswords that he immediately started twirling as if they were cheerleaders’ batons.

This was Ash’s chance.

He crawled to Jace, grabbing their two swords - Heosphorus and Phaesphorus - on his way. Pulling on a strength he didn’t know he still had, he finally managed to stand, ignoring the ache in his limbs – he had known torture and pain had become a familiar companion – and hauled Jace’s body up and they both stepped through the Portal, with only two swords and a folded bloodstained paper as their interdimensional trip’s luggage. He let himself be transported in between worlds, drained and already fainting from the strained effort.

When he came to, he was lying on a sand beach, the sun barely peeking out from the horizon, casting a reddish glow on the sea. He inhaled deeply the clean and salty air, like a treat to his lungs, so pure compared to the one in Thule. He turned his head to find Jace’s limp body a few feet away. If only he had been taught how to draw the Angel’s Runes his uncle had told him about. The ones that could heal the wounds and ease the pain.

He heard voices and started to drag Jace’s battered body behind a nearby rock, breathing heavily as he did. The fresh air and the sound of the soft push-pull of the ocean made him feel better already.

He peered around to see three figures approaching.

He instantly recognized the girl. Drusilla. She looked a little bit older than he remembered but she had the same thick and luscious dark brown hair and freckled milky skin. She was wearing her pyjamas, black fabric with a pattern of white skulls. She was laughing carelessly, throwing her head back, and it made Ash smile, his zygomatic muscles almost aching as they awakened from their deep slumber. They hadn’t been put to such use in a while. She was holding the hand of a younger boy with rumpled hair of the exact same colour. Their eyes shared the same singular summer-blue shade. Probably her little brother. He seemed to be around ten years old, but Ash wasn’t very good at guessing age.

The third person was a very tall boy, with hair as black as a crow’s feathers, walking along the water’s edge. Ash couldn’t see his face because he was looking away, toward the sea. There was something fragile, almost poetic, in the graceful curve of his neck and the delicate line of his jaw. Something hypnotising about the careful yet purposeful way he moved his long limbs. Ash almost felt disappointed he could not see the face of the person they belonged to.

“Tavvy!” Drusilla cried out as the younger boy released her hand to run to the edge of a tide pool.

He picked something in the water and held it up in triumph.

“Starfish,” he yelled, hopping up and down excitedly. “I have found a starfish!”

Tavvy ran, though not in the direction of his sister, but of the older dark-haired boy.

The tall boy held out his hand and the younger one put the starfish gingerly into the other’s palm.

“Pisaster ochraceus, also known as the purple or ochre sea star,” the mysterious boy said, after a single, swift glance at the starfish. He had a deep, raspy voice.

“It’s beautiful! Please! Please! Can I dry it and keep it in my bedroom at the Institute? I could have it framed, and maybe even painted by Jules!”

“It’s a keystone species that controls mussel populations. It was nearly wiped out by the sea star wasting syndrome. In other words… Waste of a perfectly good starfish,” the voice of the graceful boy caught at his last words and he trailed off, his head still turned toward the sea, almost as if he was no longer talking to Tavvy. He lifted his free hand absently to grasp a shiny object - a silver pendant? - resting on his chest.

The three Shadowhunters snapped their heads in the opposite direction from where Ash was hiding, when a fourth person called. A blond-haired girl – probably a Shadowhunter as well, though she had pointy ears - was coming down the beach wearing slippers, an apron tied around her slender body.

“Breakfast is ready! I have managed not to burn the whole stack of pancakes this time.”

Ash heard his stomach growl. How long had it been since he had last eaten? Probably days. But much sharper than the pain caused by hunger or even by the battle wounds, he felt longing… Longing for a normal life, in a normal happy family. What would he not give for carefree strolls on the beach in the dawn, surrounded by loved ones, followed by something as simple as a breakfast of – even burnt he didn’t mind – pancakes?

The landscape swirled and changed into the dark, dirty and moisty walls of a cell. He was so thirsty, so hungry, and so cold. Two Unseelie guards were staring at him through the bars, with a smirk on their narrow faces.

“We are here to bring you to your bedroom. Yes, you will get a bedroom. How fancy is that? The King just wanted to make sure you knew it was in your best interest to fully cooperate. From now on, and for as long as you behave, you will benefit from the most luxurious accommodation befitting to your royal lineage.” Ash – the younger, clueless version of him – found he did not care for a fancy room. He had known the most decadent living conditions and the worst. Knowing the full spectrum, he had realized nothing really mattered but a place to call home. Mom, where are you when I need you the most?

The door rattled and one of the guards came in.

“You have a pretty face, skinny boy,” he said, as he opened Ash’s bloody shackles. “When we will have cleaned you up, maybe you and I could have a little fun.”

Ash spat on the rude intruder.

The faerie was about to slap him when the other guard grabbed his wrist.

“Careful… He is the Seelie Queen’s son. You can’t take liberties with him as you can with other regular prisoners.”

“He may be of royal blood, but his father Sebastian Morgenstern died leaving us alone to bear the consequences of his mad plans, to suffer the Cold Peace. The traitor is the reason why the Fair Folk are treated as if they are less than nothing.”

A wave of pure hatred – that he had not felt at the time, having never met his father – woke Ash up from his dreams, his whole body drenched in sweat. He almost sighed in relief as he realized he was in his wide bedroom, in the house in the hollow hill.

There was a pain in his stomach, different from the one caused by hunger. He immediately ran to his bathroom and retched above the sink. There had been no time to run to the toilet. He opened the tap and splashed water over his face. As he stared at himself in the mirror, he noticed there were dark circles under his eyes and that his features, although smooth and ageless as all faeries’ were, bore the permanent mark of having seen too much horror, suffered too much pain, loneliness, and sorrow before he had even reached adulthood. He swiftly schooled them into the mask he wore in public. He had become good at that.

****

“Riders of Mannan, tremble!” Mina cried out as she burst into the kitchen and started running around the table on her little legs, brandishing her Cortana baby-sized wooden replica. Her dark hair was now long enough that she could wear them in two tiny braids. It was Kit’s job, and Mina loved to barge into his room at ungodly hours with a hairbrush to jump up and down on his bed until he had performed his daily task. So much for privacy.

“Oh no, here comes Emma Carstairs!” Kit raised an empty pan from the stove to use it as a shield. “Quick, run! Or she will end us all!”

“Nooooo, Kit-Kat” Mina paused to strike a dramatic pose and rolled her eyes. “You are not a Rider.”

“No? What am I today?” He asked, putting down the pan.

“My fiancéééé!”

“Ooooh.” Kit drew himself to his full height, putting on a very serious don’t-mess-with-mine-and-I-won’t-mess-with-you face and brushed his hand through his hair in a mock nervous gesture. “Beware Riders, I will strike you with my wits, if not my crossbow.”

“No. Not Julian. I have changed my mind. I want to marry Tiberius Blackthorn!” She said and shook both her hands in front of her the way she always did when she was very excited about something.

“Oh. Oh. Well don’t tell Julian that, I am not sure he will appreciate the swap.”

“Do Tiberius! Do Tiberius!” Mina exclaimed, hopping up and down. Kit knelt in front of her and rested his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. “Do him, please!” Mina whined.

“Sure, Min. I will imitate Tiberius but please stop shouting that,” Kit said, feeling heat rush up his entire face.

“Yeaaay! Do him!”

“SHHHHhhh,” Kit said, putting a finger on her pouty lips. “Understood, Min-Min. I will play Ty’s part.”

Their parents were in the room next door and though both knew that he and Ty were a thing now, Kit had obviously not gone into detail as to the physical part of their relationship. He expected that they would simply guess and leave it at that.

He had a vivid memory of the time he had been cornered to sit through the “sex talk.” Tessa and Jem had made some Earl Grey tea and scones for the occasion and had taken the opportunity during one of Mina’s naps, to go through the whole process of explaining to Kit that it was the most natural thing in the world and that he shouldn’t feel uncomfortable raising any questions he had on the subject. Kit had dutifully listened, his head bent and his ears red, slouched in the middle of the couch, fingers knotting and unknotting where they rested on his lap. As the awkward conversation had gone on and on, he had disappeared little by little into the plump cushions, wishing he could vanish entirely inside the furniture.

Jem had been the old-fashioned gentleman, talking about “mutual respect” and “the shared responsibility of contraception and adequate protection”, but had been clearly as red faced as Kit, while Tessa had been the modern mom, freely and animatedly speaking about “exploring one’s sexuality” and “ignoring peer pressure and imaginary standards”.

When Jem had started listing all the STDs he had encountered in his life as a Silent Brother, Kit had secretly hoped there was poison in the tea. Dropping dead in the middle of the living room would have made for an adequate diversion. Fortunately, Tessa had silenced Jem with a glare.

In the back of his mind, Kit had wondered if Ty had gone through the same ordeal. He had imagined scary-overprotective Julian discussing sexual intercourse and condoms and had suddenly been profoundly relieved that – where Kit was concerned – the task had befallen to Tessa and Jem.

Kit had to admit, they employed the same thoroughness and dedication in everything they taught him. With Jem, Kit had learnt how to fight, how to heal wounds, how to waltz and – though that part still required a lot of training to get over his bad habits – how to behave like a gentleman. Tessa had taught Kit how to drive, how to cook and how to uncover and harness his First Heir powers. Both his parents had given him history lessons and they were the reason why he now knew how to speak five languages. He had read more books since he had joined their home than throughout the rest of his previous life. While Johnny Rook had taught Kit how to pick locks and steal pockets, Tessa and Jem had taught him trust and boundless generosity.

Truth be told, they were the best parents he could ever have dreamt of. He had the best family he could ever dream of, he thought, watching Mina’s big dark eyes widening as her gaze caught the plate of homemade chocolate cookies.

“Oooh you baked cookies! Can I have one Kit-Kat? Pleeeeeease?” Thank God for her short attention span.

“You already had a croissant this morning, Mina. You can have a cookie tomorrow. Remember, us Shadowhunters must eat healthily.”

Mina raised her eyebrow at him, in a way that reminded him of his boyfriend. Kit slipped a cookie in her tiny fingers.

“One. And remember how generous I was when I am sent away to sugar-addicts rehab and I beg you for one last shot of candy for the road.”

Mina nodded. He loved the way she always acted as if she understood his ramblings.

“Kit?” Tessa called as she entered the kitchen, waving her phone. “It’s Jace. He tells me you’ve been dodging his calls.”

“I am not here,” Kit mouthed.

“He told me you would say that. So, he wants you to know he still has this picture of you from last Christmas and he will not hesitate to send it to a certain dark-haired Centurion if you don’t take the call.”

Kit shot out his hand, palm up, and Tessa handed over her phone.

“This is blackmail.” Kit tucked the phone between his ear and shoulder as he swept the plate of cookies away from sight.

“Never said I was above blackmail. Just make sure it’ll work if you are ever to use it.”

“Is it another one of your cardinal rules and guidelines to being a proper Herondale? I am pretty sure half of them are made up.”

“They’re not.”

“They are,” Tessa mouthed, grimacing, as she whisked Mina away from the kitchen.

“So, here’s the thing. I usually act as a guest lecturer at the Academy, you know, for basic stuff. Learning how to jump and fall properly, balance in swordfight, choice of weapon… I was scheduled for next week, but Clary decided to plan her art gallery opening at the same time. So, I was looking for the best person to fill my shoes and of course immediately thought… who else than Kit?”

“Liar. I know you asked Emma first. What’s her excuse?”

“She sprained her ankle during training two days ago.”

“She posted a video of herself dancing in a nightclub with Cristina and Mark. That was yesterday.”

“This girl sure knows how to put on a brave face.”

“She was doing backflips in front of a cheering crowd.”

“Like I said, brave face. So, you’re in?”

“Do I really have a choice?”

“Not really, but I thought it would be nicer if I asked.”

“Whatever.” Kit grumbled.

“Great. You won’t regret it. I will even buy you dinner in Manhattan while you’re in New York. Fancy restaurant with amazing desserts.”

“Are you trying to seduce me, Jace Herondale?”

“Just lie down and let me do the rest.”

“WHAT?”

“Sorry, not talking to you. I’m in the middle of a training session. We’re stretching. Have you trained this morning?”

“It’s 2 PM here, Jace. I’m on my break. I already trained for six hours, starting at the crack of dawn.”

“You put us all to shame.”

“So, I guess I’ll leave you to it.”

“I was not finished.”

“Raziel, what else is there?”

“The Scholomance is sending a Centurion to represent them and provide a two-days training course for the Academy’s senior students who wish to apply to join them after they graduate.”

“Oh,” Kit said, with a familiar flutter around his stomach. “Do you…” He swallowed. “Do they already know who they will send?”

“Probably that Joshi guy. But it’s not set in stone. Jia Penhallow told me they have been trying to convince their best Centurion to go for months now, but he keeps saying no.”

“Oh, so he gets to say no.”

“I told her Herondales can’t resist a challenge...”

“You didn’t.”

“… and that I had a secret weapon to convince him to go this time.”

“You mean me.”

“Use your body!”

“WHAT?”

“Not talking to you, sorry. Beatriz, use your whole body’s strength, not just the muscles in your arms!”

“Thank the Angel.”

“What was I saying?”

“You were using me to try to convince Tiberius Blackthorn – who absolutely loathes talking in public, by the way – to give a two-days training course at the Academy for Scholomance applicants. Jace, I don’t know how I feel about this. I don’t want him to feel obligated in any way, just because…”

“… just because you let him play with your sword?” Jace offered.

“God, Jace. I am going to pretend you never said that.”

“Make us proud.”

“I hate you.”

“Love you, too. Gotta go. Catch up later.”

“Jace,” Kit groaned in frustration, but Jace had already hung up.

Tagging @gabtapia <3

[alolowrites]

After All These Years

Summary: After being apart for six years, you wonder if you are ready to see Toshinori again. 

Tag: @centerhabit (Tagging you as promised! Sorry for the long wait!)

Author’s Note: It is finally here! After four months (I think?), I finally finished writing the sequel for The Point of No Return. For anyone who is new, I highly recommend you read that story first! Apologies for taking a long time getting this story out; I was playing around with a new formatting style. 

Once again, I appreciate the incredible response The Point of No Return received from everyone! I’m still touched by all the comments, likes, reblogs, etc it got!! Thank you once again!!

Without further ado, please enjoy the story!

Word Count: 2.3K+

Six years.

It’s been six long years since you’ve returned home.

Stepping off the plane, you bow at the flight attendant and follow the crowd through the gray tunnel. You find your luggage with ease and quietly walk away. Various shops appear, each selling items travelers needed last minute; one man rushes inside to buy a neck pillow while a woman debates between two beverages.

There’s one store that catches your eye with its colorful display. Hero merchandise spews out the door as pop music plays to lure interested customers into the shop. A familiar color scheme stands out from the rest, tugging your heartstrings a bit too harshly; the imaginary marionettist enjoys seeing you suffer.

“I AM HERE!”

You jump from your spot. The famous phrase repeats and you look below to see a little girl squeezing the All Might plushie toy with glee. She skips away, the toy dangling in her hand and All Might’s comical smile mocking you until it disappears into the crowd. Not even thirty minutes in Japan and already you are regretting your decision.

No, no. You can do this.

You had more than enough time to heal from the pain. At least that’s what you tell yourself to soothe the nerves squirming around. You push them aside. As much as you enjoyed your stay in America, you missed Japan; it is your real home. No matter how far you travel from the island, a part of you stays behind.

And it’s that part of you which holds you back from ultimately moving on. A shuffling noise grabs your attention. An employee proudly adjusts a life-size cardboard cutout of All Might outside the store, and a few tourists stop to admire him. Despite not being real, you feel his eyes stare deep into your soul; your fingers twitch and your skin suddenly becomes itchy. Sighing, you drag your feet down the hall to find the exit.

You need a drink.

—

Glass cups clink over the loud noise bursting inside the restaurant. Laughter erupts at the table after you shared a hilarious story during your time in the States. The mood is lively and relaxing as you savor the rich sake flavor exploding in your mouth like fireworks. Oh, how you missed these fun outings with your friends. Seconds later, a waiter passes by with actual fireworks fizzling on a delicious looking plate. It must be someone’s birthday today.

Your eyes follow the plate and blink. Peeking out from a distance are strands of blonde hair. They are like a batch of wild yellow wheatgrass flowing in the meadow. Someone’s large frame is blocking the view. Another waiter brings more appetizers to your table, but you ignore the food begging for your attention. Nothing matters except for the hair currently teasing you from afar. It can’t be him…right?

You stop breathing when the boulder moves, and you're disappointed. It's just a random stranger laughing into a guy's shoulder. You slump back against the booth. The sake is clouding your mind and making you see things. Maybe you need some fresh air; it is getting kind of stuffy in this dimly lit sauna.

Just as you stand, the whole restaurant rattles. You grip the table as the lights sway and flicker uncontrollably. Confused murmurs buzz in the air until the building shakes again with greater force. Dust puffs out from the ceiling, and tiny cracks spread through the walls. Everyone rushes outside, the streets filled with headless chickens panicking like no tomorrow. You grab onto your friend’s hand for dear life to avoid getting separated.

The vibrant district spirals into chaos as the screams deafen your loud heartbeat. You have no idea where the crowd is going nor what is happening. You are a fish who got caught in a net trap with no way to escape. Suddenly the madness stops, and a live shot appears on the large TV above you. Glowing on the screen is a bloody All Might fighting against the incarnation of evil itself. As the battle rages on, you stumble forward when you see him.

Toshinori Yagi. The man behind the All Might mask.

You watch in horror as Toshinori—in his real, but weak form—persisted on with the fight. Grown men wail in pure agony that their throats turn red. A woman desperately bites her fingers that she almost chews them off. The tension in the air is so palpable that it suffocates you. Clutching your shirt, you hopelessly witness the bloodshed battle getting progressively worse until a miracle happens.  

Toshinori rises from the ashes to deliver the final blow. It rocks the entire ground and makes everyone lose their footing; even the TV screen flickers, but doesn’t lose the picture. When the black smoke clears, you see Toshinori is alive with a victorious fist in the air.

He won.

That’s the last thing you remember before passing out in your friend’s arms.

—

A rainstorm hurls through the city.

The water droplets lightly tap on your black umbrella, the noise surprisingly soothing to your ears that you almost fall into a small trance. A bright light illuminates half of your face, exposing the conflict swirling through your eyes. One car rushes down the street, and you go back to avoid the tsunami wave coming from the sidewalk.

Once the coast is clear, you walk forward but stop when you reach the sidewalk’s edge. You can’t go beyond this point. You’re afraid you’ll drown, not from mini sea emerging on the road, but from your guilt that is deeper than an oceanic trench.  

The hospital’s bright lights glare back at you. Toshinori is in one of those rooms recovering from the severe wounds he received days ago. As much as you want to visit him, see him in person, hold him in your arms…you just can’t. Not when you feel so guilty for leaving him six years ago in roughly the same state—a damaged hero.

You grip the umbrella’s handle. Someone calls your name.

Whipping around, you relax at the sight of a tan overcoat standing a few feet behind. The man walks over and dips his chin to greet you. “Welcome back. It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s nice to see you too, Detective Tsukauchi.” Your lips curve into a faint smile. “How’s work treating you? Still hectic as ever?”

“Crime never sleeps,” he jokes, and you two chuckle. The rain furiously falls all around you, drowning out the brief happiness you felt. Tsukauchi gazes at the hospital. “You should visit him. I’m sure he’ll appreciate seeing you again.”

“I can’t. Not after what I did to Toshinori six years ago.” Your chest tightens as you fight back the tears. “There’s no way he’ll forgive me after I broke his heart.”

A hand squeezes your shoulder. Watery eyes stare up to meet Tsukauchi’s reassuring smile, the warmth shielding you from the cold rain pouring down. He murmurs, “Something tells me he will.”

You stare back at the hospital; a light turns off, and you wonder if that is Toshinori's room. Tsukauchi’s words echo through your head like a soft chant. You shuffle forward and stick one boot out on the street; it hovers above the fast stream running toward the drain. With a deep sigh, you pull the foot back and hang your head low.

You couldn’t do it.

—

Toshinori adjusts his arm sling until he’s comfortable.

Despite being sickly frail, he feels the bed mattress sink under the weight of his heavy thoughts. He hasn’t been the same since the Kamino incident. The power of One for All no longer flows through his veins, making him feel like an empty vessel. Toshinori was the Symbol of Peace—the strongest hero in the world. Now he is a retired hero after defeating All for One, for good this time. Yet Toshinori wonders if this is all just a dream. The sharp pain shooting down his arm convinces him otherwise.

It will take time for Toshinori to get used to his new life.

A soft knock interrupts his thoughts. Toshinori glances at the door with furrowed eyes; he’s not expecting any visitors today. The doctor medically cleared him this morning.  

“Come in,” Toshinori answers, fixing his arm sling. The person enters, and he glances up only to do a double-take; his blue eyes land on you, mouth agape in astonishment. Sitting straight on the bed, he chokes out your name and asks, “Is it really you?”

“Hi, Toshi,” you weakly smile, putting aside the wet umbrella as you calmly approach him. “It is me. Do you mind if I sit here?”

He numbly shakes his head as you take a seat on the chair. The dam bursts, and all his memories of you swarm at him like a massive tidal wave. Toshinori endures the brutal force even if he nearly drowns on the spot. He blinks and notices something off about you. You’re smiling, but your eyes tell a different story. They are empty and full of despair as if you are in mourning; it worries Toshinori very much.  

An awkward silence falls between you two. Your finger anxiously scratches the chair’s armrest while Toshinori’s feet shuffle on the floor. Every ounce of your self-confidence goes down the drain the longer you stay quiet. Guess that pep-talk you did outside moments ago had a time limit. You bite the bullet by breaking the silence.

“How are you feeling?”

“To be honest with you, broken.” There’s a brief pause before he profoundly sighs, “And also a bit lost.”  

“I know what you mean.” Toshinori’s ear twitches at your whisper and snaps his head up. You squirm under his intense gaze. Your eyes roam to the gauzes tightly wrapped around his injuries he received from the fight; it gives you a deja vu moment. You clench the armrest, the guilt eating you alive. “I’m sorry…”

The hero frowns. “Why are you apologizing? You didn’t do anything—”

“Yes, I did! I left you, Toshi!” He hears the pure anguish tainting your voice as watery eyes come into view. With quivering lips, you croak, “When you proposed to me, I accepted it knowing fully well the sacrifices you must make for the greater good. Yet, I got scared after you decided to go down the path that might result in your death and just…abandoned you. You trusted me, loved me, and I left you.”

A tear rolls down your cheek, which breaks Toshinori’s heart.

“I thought I made the right choice by staying far away,” you whimper, hands curling into fists on your lap. “But the longer I did, the more it hurts me knowing your inevitable fate was getting closer.”

Toshinori unconsciously scoots closer to you, ignoring the pain shooting from his sensitive wounds; they don’t matter to him right now. He opens his mouth to speak, but stops. Out of nowhere, you shoot up from the chair and stand in front of the retired hero.  

“I was in Kamino the night you fought All for One, probably nearby too. When I saw you, the real you, on TV and at death's doorstep, I-I just thought about the day at the hospital six years ago. During that moment, I realized one important thing…”

Your body trembles as you unleash everything with a swift but powerful confession that leaves him speechless.

“I still love you, Toshinori. I always have, and I always will. If you had died on that night before I had the chance to say this—”

You choke as your throat goes dry…

…and then break down, crying into your hands.

The intense feelings you kept buried deep inside your heart finally manifest into the light. No one knew you carried this agony for so long. Toshinori grunts as he stands up from the bed and carefully comforts you with his good arm. He holds you close, not caring if your tears bleed through his white shirt and wet his bandages.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs into your ear. “I’m sorry for making you feel this way. It was never your fault; if anything, it was mine. I’ve made many mistakes throughout my life. However, my biggest mistake was losing you.”

He steps back to graze your damped cheek gently. His fingertips twitch as they remember the softness of your skin. You close your eyes and enjoy his feathery touches.  

“I should have fought harder for you, for us, all those years ago.” Toshinori bores his majestic blue eyes into yours. They are alive and filled with deep admiration for you. “Despite what happened, just know that I love you, and I never stopped loving you. Not once.”

Your heart skips a beat while his throbs like a steady bass drum. He reaches inside his pocket, and you gasp when you see the engagement ring shining against the light. It’s the same one you left behind all those years ago.

“Although my time on Earth may be dwindling, I hope to cherish every last second I have with you. It’s still your choice, but…” Toshinori clears his throat and grasps your left hand. Determination swirls inside his eyes while asking, “Will you accept this ring and marry me?”

“Yes.”

You squeeze his hand as elation surges throughout your body. Toshinori slips the ring on your finger, the cold metal snugging around your skin. Oh, how you missed the feeling of it after six long years. Without hesitation, he captures your lips for a sweet but passionate kiss; the pain washes away and you are giddy.

Pulling away to rub your eyes, you pout, “I probably look like a mess.”

“Nonsense, you look beautiful.”

“Always the charmer,” you playfully tease, sniffling a little. A ray of sunlight shines through the windows, basking the whole room in a warm, golden glow. With soft eyes, you caress his cheek and smile. “Now how about we get out of here and take a nice stroll through the park, for old times’ sake?”

“I would love that.”

It’s as if nothing has changed between you two after all these years.

As always, thank you for reading!

[padfootagain]

A Crimson Christmas (II)

Chapter 2: Erika

 Here we go for the next part of my Steve Rogers series! Will be focusing quite a lot on some character building for the reader, and some cute things with Steve. As several of you seemed to appreciate how I started the first chapter, I tried to make something similar for this chapter too. I hope you all like it!

Gif not mine

Word Count: 2417

18 000

11

400

150 000 to 300 000

It is a strange thing to sum up an event in numbers. It makes one's head spin, and yet it never quite stirs the true horror of a tragedy or joy of a miracle. Yet, most of the times, when trying to describe an event, using numbers as a first weapon is almost a reflex, an automatic response of our brain as it tries to grasp something it can't hold.

If one wanted to sum up the sinking of the oil tanker Erika in December 1999, off the shores of Brittany, they would use the 4 numbers written above.

The first is the number of litres of gasoline that were released in the ocean from the cracked hull of the ship.

The second is the number of days it took for the fuel to cross the distance from the wreckage to the shore.

The third is the number of kilometres of French coast that were polluted by the floating gasoline.

The fourth, and last, is the estimated number of birds that died in the catastrophe.

Numbers though are but abstract quantities, and if one wants to truly describe the event, there is no other way but to attempt to draw a fair picture of the shores at the time.

The scenery is easy. December 1999, a lot of grey and blue as a storm rages out. The violent waves end to pierce the already weakened steel skin of the oil tanker and cause its carcass to sink to the bottom of the ocean. Its sailors are saved, but the shipment, 30 884 tons of petrol, is partially released in the Atlantic Ocean. The attempts to stop the black wave to reach the coast are cut short by the storm that shakes the sea at this time of year.

11 days later, the first pools of gasoline touch the islands that stain the French coast.

4 more days and 400 km of coast are completely covered by toxic oil.

At first, it is but a few dots staining the sand, some grey caught in the foam left by the waves. A few hours later, there are large blocks of black sticky substance all over the seashells. The next day, the rocks, and the paint of the boats, and the sand are barely visible at all. The army is sent to clean the shores, but the scale is too great. Volunteers join in, with shovels and sponges and knives and brushes in an attempt to clean up every rock, every grain of sand.

Walking through a beach at this time is walking midst soldiers and volunteers. Every step is a fight against the sticky product, with boots sometimes buried ankles deep into the dark petrol. It is the fresh salty smell of seaweeds replaced by the sour one of gasoline. It is cliffs falling in black sand instead of the blue sea. It is bodies of birds stranded all over the place.

What did it change? For the people living on the coast, it is still today an open wound. If one tries to talk about the incident with the local population, they will be met by a pair of sad eyes and the tale of Christmas holidays spent ankle-deep in gasoline.

For the world? Nothing. Just one more incident to add to the long list of chasms carved in the environment.

For you? Everything.

You remembered the long ride from Saint-Malo to the western coast. First holidays since you entered University. For this first semester, you were majoring in all subjects, but you already had a vivid passion for bio-ecosystems, and in particular, marine biology.

Then the Erika sank. It was natural to go and help. You remembered Christmas day spent breathing the toxic petrol until it was all you could smell. Your boots buried in the sticky, black slime. Shovels and shovels digging the polluted sand. Soldiers all around you, but despite all this help, it wasn’t enough. You knew everything the gasoline would touch would surely die. It would take years for nature to heal. It had taken a few hours and a few minds craving for money to destroy it all.

You were picking up your fifth dead gull of the day. The gasoline, stuck to its feathers, made it impossible for it to float, and impossible for it to fly. Most of them had drowned, and all you could do was pick up the corpses.

You had ventured further than the rest of your friends, closer to the rocks now barely visible in all this black, when you heard a loud cry. A cormorant, without a doubt. You needed only a few seconds to spot the bird, covered in oil already, struggling to escape, struggling to avoid drowning, struggling to survive…

Somehow, it was just too much. After all you had seen that day, it was the last thing you could endure. You didn’t think at all as you ran across the slippery rocks and jumped in the salty water, trying to keep your head above the petrol.

You grabbed that poor agonizing thing in your arm, trying to keep it afloat, and you didn’t let go as it tried to escape.

The sea was far from calm though, and the thick layer of gasoline made it impossible to swim. At the first big wave, you were submerged, swallowing a bitter gulp of mixed salty water and fuel. You heard then the distant voices of your friends calling after you, they sounded scared, and you realized that you were too. Another forceful wave had you pushed against the rocks and you hit your head hard, and all went as dark as that bloody gasoline…

The rest was a blur. You remembered waking up in a hospital bed a week later, a real miracle. You should have died, that was what everybody said. But you didn’t, instead, somehow, you lived with new abilities.

You didn’t know where they came from, and were too scared of what any doctor could do to you if you ever showed any sign of abnormality, you had seen too many movies and read too many books to ignore the threat of becoming a lab rat. Years later, the Avengers formed, and you were spotted by Nick Fury. What had happened in your mind when you accepted to join them, you didn’t know. You reckoned that in the end, it was worth it all. This moment now, especially, made it all worthwhile.

After all, seeing Captain America wearing mascara and red lipstick was a sight to see.

"Mets tes lèvres comme ça!" the ten-year-old girl instructed Steve as she pursed her lips to show him what she wanted him to do, and he imitated her.

"Parfait!" she clapped her little hands in excitement as she added even more red to Steve’s lips.

"Gwen, laisse-le tranquille," your brother admonished, trying to rescue Steve from the excited child. But Steve merely smiled.

"It’s okay, we’re just playing," he reassured the worried father.

"Lèvres! Comme ça!"t Gwenn called Steve back into position and he pursed his lips again.

You picked up your phone and sneaked a picture, that you immediately sent to the entire Avengers WhatsApp group. With the different timezones, you reckoned you would have no answer before a few hours, but it was worth the wait.

It was true that joining the Avengers had meant a lot of changes, a lot of risks, a lot of pain. But it meant that you had met your best friends as well, and you couldn’t refrain a tender smile as you watched Steve play with your niece now.

"Y/N… the coffee is growing cold!"

You reached absentmindedly for your cup and warmed the beverage again. Your sister gave you a look.

"Cheating again."

"Controlling water has to have a few advantages. My drinks are always at the perfect temperature!"

She rolled her eyes.

"So, for how long are the two of you staying in Saint-Malo?"

You merely shrugged as an answer.

"We don't really know. I mean, we're supposed to just stay for the holidays, but I guess we don't know what to do next."

"Ha… retiring superheroes… poor you. You will definitely not have the complete retiring allowance now! Does that even count as a job, superhero?"

"I don't think it does. Shit… I've lost all these years…"

The two of you giggled, but your father did not.

"You should think about what to do next. And you could stay here. It's home."

"Papa, it's not that easy."

"Why not? Because monsieur muscle over there won't move here for you? So, you could be with your family."

You and Steve exchanged a glance.

"Well, we… haven't really talked about that," Steve tried to elusively respond, but it failed.

"You've spent years living a dangerous life. It's time to settle down. And you have to think about financial security now."

"Papa…"

"You need to get a job. A real one."

"Saving the Earth was not a job important enough for you?" you fired back, feeling more and more annoyed.

"You wasted years over this superhero adventure. I'm not saying it was useless, of course not. And I am proud of you. But you sacrificed your life during all this time. You didn't settle down, you didn't think about having a family, you didn't think about your old days… And I think it's time for you to have a normal life for a change."

You considered his words, and realized there was wisdom in them. You didn't quite like the way he put it, but you couldn't deny that you had spent years putting your life on the line. And maybe he was right, maybe now it was time to think about your own happiness before everyone else's.

"And you?" your father turned to Steve, his tone accusatory. "Don't you want her to be happy?"

Steve was playing your fake boyfriend, yet, he didn't need to lie to answer that question. And you could see it, deep down, in the depth of his blue eyes, that he meant the words he spoke. That was what friends were made for, right?

"There's nothing I want more than for Y/N to be happy, sir."

It was hard to look away from his baby blue eyes for some reason. Despite his funny look, covered in make-up, you didn't want to laugh at all. You just… wanted to keep on looking at him.

You guessed that you were letting your thoughts drift too far, and forced your brain to focus on your family again.

"We'll see, papa," you gave your father a smile. "It's not that easy to decide what to do next. It was our life for so long."

"I haven't forgotten how much you had to sacrifice," he mumbled in a dark tone, and you knew that he was referencing to the years you spent on the run with Steve.

You heaved a tired sigh.

"We've talked about it… countless times. It was my choice to make, and I agreed with Steve. You would have preferred for me to become a pawn that could be used by governments whenever they wanted?"

"Of course not. Governments couldn't be trusted…"

"Then why are you still bringing that up?"

"Because I didn't see my daughter for two years, that's why!"

You heaved yet another sigh, and Steve finally stood up from his spot on the carpet where he had been playing with Gwen. He took some cotton and started to clean up his face.

"I think we've both had a life that was out of the ordinary for too long," Steve spoke with a slow, quiet tone, his voice deep and calm showing he had been giving the situation a lot of thought. "It's hard to imagine what to do with the life we have left. I think… we just need a little time to let it all sink in, the truth that it can be over, that we don't have to be the ones in charge anymore. I think… we had both come to be at peace with the idea that we didn't have the choice of a life of our own. Now that we do, it feels strange. We don't really know what to do with it. Personally, I've never been anything else. We just need a little bit of time, to get used to it all. Then, I'm sure the decisions will come to us quite naturally. In the meantime, we just want to enjoy Christmas."

He reached for your hand, and you guessed that it was just for the act. Just because he played your fake boyfriend. It would be logical, if you were a couple, to be holding hands then, you reckoned. He was right. Besides, it felt safe to hold his hand.

"You know, I think I'm very tired after our long journey and everything. We should go to bed," you proposed.

Your grandmother finally joined the conversation.

"I've forgotten the blankets."

"I know where they are, mamie, don't bother."

But she was already walking towards the bedroom, and after you bid goodnight to your family, while they were getting ready to go as well, you and Steve joined Martine in the bedroom she had prepared for Steve and you.

You were not surprised to find that she had already put the blanket upon the bed.

"Oh, I forgot," she explained, but you were not fooled.

There was a short silence, before she heaved a sigh.

"Your father is worried. He always is. He's just not good at showing it. He does it all wrong."

"I know."

"It doesn't matter what you choose to do next. We're all here for you. Et puis, je l'aime bien, ton petit Steve," she added with a tender smile towards your 'boyfriend'.

He gave her a warm smile.

"I'm glad you like me, I've spent a lovely afternoon with you, Martine," he answered.

"Tomorrow you can show him the town," your grandmother instructed you.

"Yes, I will."

"Goodnight, les amoureux!"

You could only bury your face in your palm. She had to call you lovebirds, of course… if only she knew the truth.

"Bonne nuit, mamie."

The second she closed the door behind her, Steve and you exchanged a tired glance. It was more than time to go to bed. Tomorrow would be a brand new day. And there was much to do, and many questions to find answers to.

********************************************************

Taglist : @ponycake27​ @horsesreign​ @xinyourdreamsx​ @jbluevelvet​ @notkeppeki @daynigt-dreamer-stuff @fudgeflyss​ @stuckupstucky​ @snek-shit​ @suchatinyinfinity​ @i-padfootblack-things​  @buckybsarmy @heyohheyitsgabi​@jigsawlover10​ @emyyjemyy​ @addictedtofictionalcharacters​ @staringmoony​

@marvelcapsicle @madamrogers @rishlo @theshortegg​ @blacklilyqueen​

[mithrasisgay]

Prologue: Mutiny Part II

@tyrias-library

Thank you all a million times for all the support You’ve sent my way! I’m all misty eyed when I read your comments! I’m so glad you enjoy my stuff, and fear not, there is SO MUCH MORE to come. This is the end of the Prologue for now. But after that, the fun really begins!

ON AO3

The first thing Asha feels is the unmerciful cold of the waters. She hits the surface like concrete and immediately after her head goes under, the panic sets in. 

There had been a strange calm in her until now, a resignation to her fate, but now that the fight for her life has begun, the protective layer of indifference is gone.

The water seeps into her clothes and drags her down; she struggles against her bonds, trashing about, eyes held tightly closed.

Sharpness hits her skin, pain as it's broken by... something. Sharks, Asha thinks. Krait. Unknwon horrors of the depths. Her lungs burn, her body screams for air and Asha cannot hold her breath any longer. Salty seawater fills her lungs and the world goes dark, a mercy after the raw fear of drowning.

When Asha comes to, she feels the sun on her skin, the taste of salt still lingers on her tongue, proof that she did not dream this terror. Not daring to let hope take her again, Asha slowly opens her eyes.

She sees a beach. Waves coming and going on the damp sands, sunlight glittering on the water's surface. Her bonds are undone, but the more conscious she becomes, the more pain Asha feels. Her wrists and ankles are open, raw from struggling against her bonds with no regard to her skin's integrity, adrenaline having clouded her sense of pain for that moment. Furtherly, there are gashes on her arms and legs, burning from the saltwater. Asha sits up, head spinning, nausea in her stomach.

She scans the immediate area for something, anything, an explanation to how she got her, and why she isn't one of the many unfortunate corpses at the bottom of the ocean.

The coast is rocky, aside from the few patches of sand. Large boulders adorn the beach, grey and bleak. Asha feels like she is dreaming, her surroundings feel unreal and too quiet for her standards. She's not used to this kind of peace, not after the harrowing ordeal of serving on the Rascal.

Then, from the corner of her eye, movement. Asha whips around, limps toward one of the big boulders in her vicinity. “Who's there?” she calls out, her voice raw and raspy from swallowing saltwater. In response, the stranger she'd spotted peeks their head over the rock, halfway, just to see wet, pale pink hair and featureless eyes. No pupil, no iris, just a white shadow where they should be, looking at Asha with a mixture of fear and curiosity. “Wait – Don't leave.” Asha pleads as she makes her way toward the stranger. “Please.”

A pair horrible, clawed hands appears left and right of the face, and the creature pulls itself upward, into view from behind its hiding spot. At first glance, it looks like a nude woman, pale as the moon, but then Asha sees the gills on her sides and her neck, the webbed hands and the scales on her waistline. She lifts herself up onto the boulder with impressive strength, revealing the mighty, scaled fishtail in place of her legs, the same salmon color as her hair, which clings to her back. Asha stares at her, frozen in place. She's heard stories of the melodious voices calling sailors to their doom, the beautiful women that feed on the blood and bones of those who hear them sing on the open sea.

“Siren.” she gasps and loses her footing collapsing back onto the ground. The siren bats her eyes and nods, then brushes her hand ober her tail. A change occurs with her, her tailfin shrinks, her scales fade into skin, and the entire tail splits, reforming into human legs right before Asha's eyes. A few minutes later, only a few scale pattern remain of the tail and the siren stands on wobbly knees before her. Once the transformation is complete, she kneels down at Asha's side and gives her a sheepish smile, as if asking if she is more comfortable with her now.

“Did... did you save me?” Asha dares to ask, as she has no other explanation for how she survived her execution and the siren nods. “I, um... thank you? But why? Aren't you supposed to eat sailors or something?”

The siren hurriedly shakes her head and takes Asha's left hand, her cold fingers tap the rash from the rope. She holds her own wrist next to hers, and a faint shimmer on her skin, an irregularity in her smoothness has Asha's eyes go wide. “You were cast overboard too? Is that how you became like this?” she asks and the siren nods once more, letting go of Asha's hand.

“Thank you.” Asha repeats, clueless about how to proceed from here. She's wounded, alone with a mermaid on some shore or island without any way to find her way home, let alone back to the Rascal.

Her gaze meets her saviour's again.

“I'm Asha.” she introduces herself. “Do you have a name?” The Siren opens her mouth, revealing a set of sharp, sharklike teeth, then closes it again, draws breath and produces as rasping, hissing sound from her throat, before managing to form a word.

“Raya.”

–

Vaixx stares into the spot Asha Gaets had submerged at, looking at the air bubbles rising as the girl drowns. His fists are clenched tightly, and he turns away.

“Set a course to Laughing Gull.” he orders, immediately assuming his duties as the new Captain, now that Rowan is no more.

“Hey.” He feels someone grip him by the shoulder as he makes his way into the Captain's Quarters, to clean up the body. “This isn't your fault.” He hums in response, brushes the hand off. “Vaixx.” His friend, Raxxi, moves into his way. “She killed the Cap'n. If you hadn't done this, the crew woulda torn her apart.” “I killed a kid.” he counters and pushes her out of his way.

Knowing not to push the topic, Raxxi follows him, clasping her hands behind her back. “What now? Taidha will not be happy about losing one of her best Captains.” she asks instead. “Taidha can suck my dick for all I care.” Vaixx responds sharply and closes the door behind them, cutting off the sounds of the crew celebrating the death of a little girl. He feels sick, and looks upon the corpse of Rowan Gaets.

His daughter's attack came out of nowhere. Rowan's eyes are wide open, his lips parted, as if in silent protest. Nobody would have expected the girl to snap, least of all her father.

“I followed Rowan's orders, not hers.” Vaixx adds and tears off his headband, to run his fingers through his hair.

“Sorry to burst yer bubble, mate, but those were her orders, passed through to the next instance.” Raxxi counters. “Look, I know you don't like her, but she's got an entire fuckin' fleet. We only have this sorry little boat.”

Vaixx pauses. “What if that wasn't the case?” “Wha?” “What if we had a fleet, Raxxi? We wouldn't have to follow her anymore, would we? We could just leave!”

Raxxi snorts humorlessly. “Yeah, what if we had five million gold? We could retire! Newsflash pal, we have neither that, nor a fleet. Taidha will appoint one of her goons as the new Cap'n as soon as she learns of this mess.” she says and Vaixx shushes her hurriedly.

“Yes, but she doesn't know yet, does she?” he urges. “I hate this situation as much as everybody else, but this might be a chance to leave Covington fleet for good! Your brother.” “My brother?”

“He's got the means to help us build a fleet, doesn't he? He's got the money to buy the ships we need, and the connections to populate them. We have to do this. We will not get another opportunity.”

“Vaixx, my boy. There is one weakness in your masterplan.” “What?” “You just set course to Laughing Gull.”

“Fuck!” The door bursts open again and Vaixx stomps out from the Captain's Quarters, followed by Raxxi as he makes his way up to the wheel. “Change of plans! Avoid Laughing Gull, Sanctum Harbor, on the double!” he calls to the Sylvari up there, who looks onto him with hollow eyes. There's a sting in his gut when he remembers her. She was close to the girl.

Regardless, she follows his order, spinning the wheel. Vaixx estimates, she will leave the crew as soon as they reach Lion's Arch but for now, he cannot worry about that.

He has work to do.

[midnight-raven]

Avengers Role-Swap Au

Original Post

Iron Man

During World War 2, Tony Stark was a genius inventor who assisted in the creation of the Arc Reactor, which could change the face of war forever. However, a group known as the Ten Rings wanted that reactor to help win their own war. Tony was brutally injured in the assault, the only thing that saved his life was having the Arc Reactor be implanted into his chest. When the Ten RIngs proved to be a bigger threat without the reactor, Tony created a strong suit of armor that was powered by his Arc Reactor. To save the world from a dangerous missile, Iron Man made the ultimate sacrifice of going into an ice-covered ocean. For years the Arc Reactor kept his heart alive while he was on the ice. Leaving his father, his best friend, and the love of his life behind in the past. When he was found and awoken from his cryo-sleep, nearly 70 years had passed.

Captain America

Steve Rogers was a well-respected War Veteran, he dedicated his life towards saving his country. But when he returned home, the horrors of the war haunted him. Steve became a shut-in, isolating himself from the public that adored him. One day, his house was invaded and Steve was kidnapped by a group of terrorists called Hydra. While in captivity, Steve was the Test Subject to a special serum that turned him into the perfect soldier. Unfortunately, the serum was too perfect, and Steve managed to escape from them. Upon his return, Steve decided that his war was not over, Hydra was still out there and he was the only one who could stop them. With the Super Soldier Serum running through his veins, Steve crafted a special shield and took on his war hero name, Captain America.

The Hulk

Bruce Banner was raised in a lab, never knowing what life was like outside of it. For years, he was treated as a Lab Rat, forced to endure horrific experiments to the point where it almost killed him. One of the experiments almost did. Bruce had been exposed to a dangerously high amount of Gamma Radiation but instead of killing him, it turned him into… someone else. The rest of his life was dedicated to learning how to control the beast. Until one day, the Hulk escaped. While on the run, the Hulk became a threat to the public after attacking multiple small towns and villages. Which of course put him in Shield's radar. Eventually, Bruce was found by Shield and taken in, for protection. Banner's enhanced intelligence helped him quickly became one of their most trusted scientists and agent. However, he was only Experiment #1, he didn't about Experiment #2.

Black Widow

Natasha Romanoff was orphaned at a young age and left to face the world alone. Natasha had to protect herself from the world, so she learned how to defend herself against anything that may come her way. For years, she was on her own, no place to call her own, and no place in the world. One day, Natasha was found by Shield, and they took her in. Natasha then began properly training how to defend herself, she was given a place in Shield. As the years went by, Natasha gradually became Shield's best and most trusted agent. Giving herself the name, Black Widow. One day, Natasha was trusted with an important mission, there was a beast known as “The Hulk” that was becoming a risk to Public Saftey. However, Black Widow found out that the “Beast” was really just a man who couldn’t control his rage, and had no place in the world. It had been because of Natasha that Bruce Banner’s life changed.

Hawkeye

Clint Barton was born on a distant planet far from Earth. The planet was best known for its warriors, they were considered superior against all other lifeforms. Clint was trained in the ways of his people, knowing nothing but to be prepared for an inevitable war. As the years went by, Clint was known as Hawkeye, the Best Marksman in the Galaxy. However, Clint also began to understand that he was fighting on the wrong side of an unfair war, and how the influence of his planet was having on his brother. Deciding not to be part of the genocide, Hawkeye gathered his arrow and retreated in Self-Exile. After years of searching, Hawkeye finally settled on a planet known as Earth. Eventually, Clint found his place in the strange, new world, retiring his arrows for a simple domestic life. Life as a father rather than a warrior.

Agent Odinson

At a young age, Thor and his younger brother, Loki, had lost their parents. Thor had been taken up the responsibility of raising Loki. That is until they were found and taken away. The people who had taken them away belonged to an Academy that raised children into Lethal Weapons. For years, the two brothers were trained into Spies and Assassins, learning how to kill without mercy and eliminate any given targets without question or remorse. One day, Thor was given the assignment to take out Dr. Jane Foster. Thor was to follow her for a week before eliminating her. There shouldn’t have been any problem, except there was. The more time Thor spent stalking observing Jane, the more fascinated he became with her, everything she did made him feel happy, a feeling he has not felt since he was a child. When the time to eliminate her came, Thor couldn’t do it… which is why he was expelled from the Academy.

[eviipaiadin]

Dungeons & Shitposting Episode 47: Time to Meet the Happy Couple

After a billion years on hiatus (read: since April 17th), we finally came back... Well, by ‘we’, I mean half the party. A shame since a big plot reveal occurred but that’s life.

The cast:

Sir J. P. Fluffsworth aka Sir Fluffy, a shifter fighter/paladin who loves friendship and is just a sentient version of Greater Dog. (as played by @friendlyneighbourhood-spider-dan) Recently acquired a magical talking sword called Hollowblade. Original party member. [ATTENDED THE SESSION; MISSED THE REVEAL]

Orion Nebulorn, a half-orc barbarian who loves fighting and seafaring. (as played by @servantproto) Wielder of the Monster Execution Combative Heavy Axe Build 0.8.2 and recently hurt by the betrayal of a clanmate. Original party member. [ARRIVED AT THE END OF THE SESSION FOR THE REVEAL]

Cyrus Cormack, a human tempest cleric of Waukeen. (as played by @blangyouredead) Recently bitten by a werewolf  and was earlier framed by Orion’s clanmate, Lyra. [ABSENT]

Drachedandion Bipen aka Bipen, a ‘dragon’ (tiefling) sorcerer who loves to fly and lives with his Mom and his Maam. (as played by @brokou) Inheritor of the magical helm, Trothar. [ABSENT]

Navitas Stormfey, a tiefling sorcerer/bard who parties hard and trusts few. (as played by @dovahheim) Wields the Horn of Blasting and is still unable to get in Rickert’s pants. [ATTENDED THE SESSION]

Naqine Stormfey, a tiefling demon hunter (homebrew) who lives to rib her older sibling and fight demons. (as played by @spectrefox) Currently freaking out about the fact that multiple demon lords have shown up in the Material Plane. [ATTENDED THE SESSION]

The events:

The session began with the rolling of initiative to kill Diam’Rem, a kuo-toa who hunts followers of Demogorgon. Party disliked the whole ‘harness demonic energy to power up weapons to kill demo and use their soul to ascend to godhood’ angle, despite Diam’s refusal to fight back.

This didn’t matter as Diam’Rem got first initiative, disengaged, and fucked off into the ocean. Most of the party is relieved because Navitas was the only one with a major murderboner over this.

The party takes a moment to harness some spoils from the dead dragon from the previous session and finally get a long rest. (They fought two deadly encounters with only a short rest in-between.)

Party wakes up and spot a flying creature approach. Navitas and Sir Fluffy recognize it as an eala, a sort of big swan thing that fae types like to take as pets/status symbols.

Some tiefling rides it down to the boat, jumps off, and runs up to hug Naqine, calling her ‘twin!’. Everyone is confused, especially Naqine, not knowing any twins, especially ones that have a completely different skin tone.

Party tries to calmly explain she is mistaken and the tiefling has a bit of a breakdown before summoning her ‘children’ out of her magic wand: an owlbear (later to be called Professor Hoots), a basilisk, a girallon, and a catoblepas (aka Cat-Platypus).

Tiefling reveals her name to be Credence and her twin’s name to be Creed, @dovahheim‘s characters in a previous one-shot. She has a strange marking that another one-shot character had: a diamond eye with a jagged line that glows red when stressed.

Due to a well placed Fear spell at the start of combat from Navitas, Credence flees early on her eala, with the girallon following.

Sir Fluffy spends almost all of his combat ability wailing on the catoblepas (due to it being able to shoot death lazers) and trying to make it fear him. He only succeeds in pissing it off (and doing like 85% of its health in damage) and it blasts him with the death lazer doing a whopping 65 necrotic.

The party makes quick work of the catoblepas, making sure it doesn’t get another attempt to pull that shit. Meanwhile, Professor Hoots mauls the fuck outta Naqine but she stands firm. They dismantle both the owlbear and the basilisk without too much extra trouble. Oh also, the mast caught on fire and burned up the sail.

As the party licks their wounds, Sir Fluffy decides to open up the dead animals, hoping for... something??? Honestly, it was weird. They find a pair of unbroken eggs: a white egg with sharp claws protruding the top (later revealed to be a hook horror egg) and a dull grey one with red flecks (later revealed to be a cockatrice egg).

Navitas cases the rest of the boat as Captain Creig Cornswaggle, the Courageous Commander of The Cruel Craven and Co-Owner of The Crow’s Call mourns his losses. She finds the wand Credence used to summon her pets and a locket. Inside the locket is a painting of three people: a halfling male in heavy armour, a human woman with a rapier and fine dress, and Credence (a tiefling barbarian). On the back of the locket, an engraving: “The Four Mulefolk of the Inconveniencing: Zizitoppah, Soleil, Creed, and Credence. Painted by Credence. Love you assholes.” (This is the party from the one-shot: Creed and Credence are twins because Creed got eaten by a purple worm before they even entered the mine they were casing.)

Another boat appears as they approach the continent of Faerun. An aarakocra approaches them, wearing the garb of the Lord’s Alliance, specifically the Border Security unit. Sir Fluffy recognizes him as a friend from his old military unit: The Green Sabres. Jackolas “Flappy Jack” Zakeem eagerly greets his old friend and grants the party (and The Cruel Craven) passage into Neverwinter.

The party gets caught up on some goings-on in Faerun (the up-coming wedding they were invited to, the recent battles they had with the giants before a peace treaty was signed). Fluffy begins explaining the party’s adventure but Flappy Jack points out that there’s a bit too much to unpack and that this would have to wait to have this discussion over some nice glasses of milk.

The party begins to splinter off: Orion is pulled aside by Captain Creig Cornswaggle, the Courageous Commander of The Cruel Craven and Co-Owner of The Crow’s Call to invite her to join as a full-time crewmember and assist in transforming the ship into a travelling tavern (Orion’s player’s new job’s hours make them staying an unfortunate impossibility); Cyrus leaves to speak with the local fishermen to find good spots to fish; Navitas attempts to go drinking only to be given false directions by Flappy Jack and end up at an AA meeting; Naqine follows her sibling, expecting disappointment but getting the world’s most satisfying surprise.

Eventually they all retire to The Sleeping Dragon and get a good night’s rest.

Except Navitas, who decides to go on a late night stroll and finds Egg-cellent Eggs!; a stand run by a young-ish human man by the name of Tomathan. They learn of the nature of the eggs that their companions possess and purchases one of their own: that of a remorhaz.

The next morning, the party notices Navitas has not returned from her night stroll. They are, in fact, sitting on the roof. As the party leaves, she assails Naqin with pebbles on the roof and a bizarre team-up from Sir Fluffy, Bipen, and Naqine attempt to fly up and lasso her. Tomfoolery ensues and eventually they all descend.

Flappy Jack takes them to Ye Olde Teleporte Housee and bids them farewell as they must return to their work on the Border Security unit.

Inside Ye Olde Teleporte Housee, they meet Tedrick, a very tired sounding elf who is in charge of conducting inter-continental teleportation circle travel. He asks some brief important security questions (such as the meaning of their visit to Gauntlgrym as well as if they were an animal what animal would they be) before taking them there.

Arriving at the Gauntlgrym teleportation circle, they meet Rickted, a shockingly similar elf in every regard, before leaving Ye Olde Teleporte Housee and into Gauntlgrym.

Rickted catches up to them and hands them official documentation to get them into Castle Feldrun so they can meet with the people who invited them.

As they arrive, their dwarven escorts attempt to inquire about the location of the soon-to-be-married royal couple before a regal looking elf male, that none of the party recognize, enters the room.

As the servants and the dwarven guards bow, he takes in the party before looking specifically at Orion and Sir Fluffy. He smiles and says “It has been a moment, has it not?” before the doors behind him burst open.

Barreling down the stairs, in a brilliant green tunic, shimmering silver scarf, with her long shock red braids flying behind her, a young dwarven woman tackles Orion and Sir Fluffy with a hug.

They recognize her as one of the jailmates they escaped from the drow with. They recognize her as someone they watched die and bury themselves. They recognize her as Eldeth.

The exuberant Eldeth turns to her fiancee: “Isn’t it nice to have them back with us, Derendil, dear?” (Prince Derendil was also a fellow jailmate; a quaggoth who claimed elven nobility and was secretly ‘dealt with’ by two former party members: Talinid and Kana, both alive but away from the party).

And that’s the end of the session!

[piratethornton]

Pirates of the Clawribbean

Chapter 1: Bunnyburrow

Fandom: Zootopia

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Note: Also on fanfiction.net and AO3 if that’s easier for anyone.

The territory of Bunnyburrow was a fertile region almost completely covered with farmland with a small town and port to the east. It was known as a content and humble place, which was reflected in the attitude of its population and leaders. For many generations Bunnyburrow was looked after by the Hopps family, who were well respected and managed to maintain their land's prosperity. The current Governor of Bunnyburrow, Stuart Hopps, was a busy rabbit, with his duties to his land, the Royal Court and his 276 children. One of these kits was named Judith Laverne, though the only mammal who called her that was her mother, and only if she had done something worthy of scalding.

While her siblings were happy to accept what was expected of them, Judy was always looking for something extra. She climbed every tree she could find, read every book in the library, and whenever she learned about a new activity she insisted on trying it out (even if she didn't quite excel at it). But the thing that had her attention above all else was the sea.

Her bedroom window offered her a perfect view of the ocean. Each morning she would watch the sun rise over the horizon, causing the gentle waves to glisten. Ships would glide majestically over the waters in and out of port. On days where the weather took a turn for the worse, she gazed in awe as the sea churned and lurched, lit up by the lightning streaked across the sky. She dreamt of the moment she could finally be in the middle of it.

Her obsession with the sea was largely thanks to a retired Navy captain who resided in the town. Jack Savage lived by himself in handsome townhouse near the port. Though great with age, he walked with his head held high and his back straight, offering to help mammals he came across who were struggling with shopping and regularly giving advice to ship hands when a vessel came to dock. He was polite and friendly, but was private when it came to his past. Except, of course, with the kits.

Every Friday evening Judy would make her way to the local tavern, The Carrot and Anchor, and seek out the old hare, then sit at his feet among the other children who had come to listen to his retellings of his life at sea. He spoke of the time where he had snuck aboard the Navy vessel HMS Ironhorn and worked his way up through the ranks from stowaway to captain. He made battle with pirates more times than he could count, weathered storms that even he had trembled at, and once made a daring escape from the ship of Old Davy Bones himself. It was difficult to work out which stories were true and which were embellished, as he told each and every one with both dramatic flair and complete seriousness. No matter how much truth there was in these tales, Judy was always enraptured.

It was thanks to these stories that Judy knew exactly what she wanted to be from a very young age: a naval officer. Unfortunately, there was one small problem.

"There's never been a rabbit officer," her father told her gently when she made her parents aware of her dream.

"What about Captain Savage?" Judy asked.

"Well, he's a hare," answered her mother, "and a male."

"And even then he had to force his way into the Navy," her father added, "if you believe him."

"Oh. Then I guess I just have to be the first doe rabbit officer," said Judy, brightly.

Her parents shared a look.

"It's...just not the way things are done."

As Judy grew older, she began to understand her father's words. Some jobs were meant for large mammals, others for smaller. Some things were done by males, and some by females. Occasionally there were overlaps and allowances, but only under special circumstances. The navy was dominated by large males, with the occasional female elephant or tiger who were only allowed to join if they outperformed their fellow applicants. Small mammals eager to pursue a sea-faring life would instead enlist for ships used to transport goods and animals, and this is what Judy soon tailored her ambitions towards.

Judy sought out Captain Savage after one of his Friday sessions to get as much advice as she could to achieve her dream. He was surprised but pleased to hear of her wishes, and agreed to mentor. She had regular lessons at Captain Savage's house, and learned the difference between a sloop and a cutter, how to recognise the early warnings of an incoming storm, and the trading routes favoured by merchants. These sessions always had a silent sadness, as they both knew that it would be a miracle for her to be considered to join any ship - navy, merchant or otherwise. She was still a doe rabbit, after all.

Despite this, Jack also offered her sword fighting lessons, saying she may one day get lucky and have to fend herself from a vicious pirate attack. Judy was a quick learner, and mastered the weapon in a few years. In addition, he also taught her about Navy protocol and battle tactics, subjects she devoured eagerly, and he once lamented about the injustice of her position.

"It is sad that society overlooks females and the leporidae. I hoped I had gave them cause to give a second thought, at least about the latter. Alas I am still an anomaly, one that the government would like to forget about."

As well as her sessions with Captain Savage, Judy spent time with her friend Fru Fru. The two met when Judy saved the shrew from some bullies and were close ever since. She was the daughter of the notorious Mr Big, a wealthy merchant who was suspected of underhanded dealings with pirates and smugglers. No one dared confront him of this, as he had a habit of making mammals he didn't like disappear, and his polar bear entourage was enough for several to give him a wide berth. Because of her friendship with his daughter, Judy had nothing to fear from him and he considered her practically family.

Whenever she didn't have lessons or chores, Fru Fru invited her to go shopping in the town, even if they never bought anything. It was one of the few occasions where Judy felt like a proper lady, strolling lightly through the streets, laughing merrily at some thought only the fairer sex understood. Of course, her conversations with Fru Fru would quickly turn to adventures on the high seas. While Judy spoke of her ambitions, the shrew was far more interested in the romance. She had read several books of dashing captains, pirate queens, wide-eyed youths who would search the ocean for their lost love. Judy kept saying she was above that, but couldn't help but feel a little thrill when she thought of two lovers giving in to their passions surrounded by the sea. It was certainly more exciting than her own love life.

When she was old enough to marry she caught the attention of James Buckington, a dark grey rabbit only a year older than her. His father was an important member of the Royal Court, and James was to take his place when he was ready. Every summer he would journey from his home in Zootopia to holiday in Bunnyburrow, and would constantly seek out Judy. It was obvious he was smitten with her, however he could never manage to rack up the courage to make any romantic advances. Her parents kept saying that she would have to make the first move if anything was to come of their relationship, however she could not bring herself to do it. He was a very nice rabbit, however that seemed to be all he was. After filling her head with stories of the ocean and training her hands to master a sword, the thought of marrying him was rather...stale.

"I know he seems like a...safe option," Fru Fru said as she and Judy discussed the matter on one of their walks through town, "but he does have a good position. Not to mention how handsome he is."

"He'd be perfect husband," replied Judy, exasperated. "He's so sweet, and honourable, and he's probably the only male who lets me talk about how I love the sea. But if we marry, I would have to be a noblemammal's wife, expected to sit at home, be waited on hand and foot, and help with his career. You know me. I'd die of boredom."

"Yes, I do know you," sighed Fru Fru in agreement. "At least you would see Zootopia."

"It would be amazing to live there. James has told so many wonderful things about it, but I don't know if it would be worth marriage. Besides, I don't feel anything for him. Not romantically, anyway."

"What happens if you don't get married?"

"If fate has decreed that I shall never set foot aboard a vessel, then I'll probably stay at home," answered Judy, shrugging good naturedly. "Any Hopps children that don't get married continue to help around the manor or the family farm. Maybe I'll be a governess to my younger relatives and pass on what I've learned. Hopefully they'll have more luck achieving their dreams, whatever they may be."

"Unfortunately I'm Daddy's only child, so I have to get married to continue the family line," Fru Fru huffed. "Of course, it would be easier if he didn't keep scaring away suitors. I don't think he does it on purpose, but - "

A loud crash stopped them in their tracks. They looked up and saw a very portly cheetah staring down in horror at the fruit stand he had stepped on, the squirrels who had owned it shaking their tiny fists in fury.

"I am so sorry!" He stepped back and raised his hands in a defensive position, one of them holding a large piece of parchment. "I didn't see you there! I was looking at my map! I'm sorry! I'll pay you back!"

"Are you sure of that, tubby?" shouted one of the squirrels. "You just destroyed our livelihood!"

"Everyone calm down," said Judy, who had rushed over. "I'm sure it was just an accident, and something we can fix."

"This idiot wasn't looking where he was going, and now both our stand and produce for the day are completed ruined! He should be arrested!"

"That's enough!" Judy replied, sternly. "This is a peaceful town, and all visitors have a right to a warm welcome. It is a shame what happened to your stand, but I will make sure you are compensated."

"I have money!" The cheetah grabbed his coin purse, desperate to rectify his mistake. His face fell when he examined its contents. "Err...some money."

"Just pay what you can and I'll make up the rest," piped up Fru Fru, reaching for her own purse.

"Oh, Fru. You don't have to - " began Judy.

"I want to. Every visitor has a right to a warm welcome after all," explained Fru Fru, smiling at Judy. "Besides, I would have only spent it on more dresses."

Money was given out and the two squirrels walked away, still grumbling. Once they were gone, the cheetah could not stop thanking the rabbit and shrew that had saved him.

"We were happy to help," Judy assured him. "I'm Judy and this is Fru Fru. Where are you trying to get to?"

"The Naval base," the cheetah explained. "I've been transferred here from Zootopia. The name's Benjamin Clawhauser." He smiled proudly.

"You're part of the Navy?" asked Judy, excitedly.

"Kinda. I'm don't do much sailing. I just look after the base and the paperwork. Do you happen to know where - ?"

"The base is? Of course! Follow me!" Judy bounced away towards the port.

On the way Judy bombarded Clawhauser with questions about the Navy, his role, his experiences aboard a vessel, and the cheetah answered them all, though he didn't consider any of his knowledge particularly interesting. In turn the two ladies introduced him to Bunnyburrow, pointing out the best places to shop and dine. Once they arrived at the base, a small but grand building near the docks, they helped him get settled and Judy promised that she would visit soon.

She kept her word. The next day she turned up at the base, eager to learn anything she didn't already know about the Navy. This became a daily occurrence, and Clawhauser humoured her the best he could, but eventually there was nothing new he could tell her, so instead she offered to help him in his duties. He tried to refuse, but she was insistent. He quickly learned that as soon as the rabbit had her heart set on something, there was very little that could stop her. They became very good friends, and Clawhauser promised that he would do what he could to get her on a vessel.

Judy was now a very busy rabbit, between her chores, working with Clawhauser and her continuing tutorials with Captain Savage. She relished in it, knowing that even if what she did was of no great importance, her mind and body kept growing stronger, and one day all her hard work may pay off. Then in the following summer, something else came to occupy her.

James Buckington returned, and with him came a representative of King Lionheart himself, Lady Bellweather. The ewe was the king's personal secretary, and was in charge of writing his decrees, giving out orders on his behalf and performing errands that could not be trusted with mere servants. She had written to Governor Hopps beforehand to inform him of her visit and that there was a matter of great importance to discuss. She was welcomed graciously into the manor and was introduced to several of the Hopps children before being led into the main study by Stuart Hopps, his wife and a few of their sons.

Judy sat in the drawing room, which was situated a few doors away from the study, and poured tea for James Buckington. Despite attempting to make polite conversation, she couldn't help but feel concerned; James looked decidedly guilty about something, and she recalled that Bellweather had seemed worried when she entered the Hopps home. Her mind racing about what could be going on, she kept missing what James was saying to her.

"Judy?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at James.

"I said 'how are you keeping?'" he repeated, patiently.

"Oh! I'm doing very well," she replied. "Actually, I've started helping out at the Naval base. There's a cheetah, Mister Clawhauser, who lets me assist with his duties. It's only paperwork, of course, but now I have an even better chance of getting on a ship!"

He chuckled. "Wow. Working at the base, lessons with Savage... It's a wonder you have time to eat."

"I wouldn't do it if I knew I couldn't handle it."

He raised an eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes. "Mother makes sure I'm fed."

"WHAT?!"

The two rabbits jumped at the shout. It had come from the study.

"That sounded like father." Judy got up and started to walk out the room.

"Judy, wait!" James stood up also. He had a pained expression on his face. "It may be better until after they've finished."

"What's going on, James?"

He was looking guilty again. "I shouldn't be the one to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Judy's ears swivelled as more shouting was heard from the study.

He made out to take her hand but stopped himself. "Just trust me, Judy. Please."

Though it caused her a great deal of frustration, she duly waited until the meeting was over. Lady Bellweather was very sombre as she left with James Buckington (she was staying at his summer home) and soon the reason for her visit was spread throughout the entire household.

The land that made up the Hopps personal farm apparently no longer belonged to the Hopps family. For generations it had been tended to by the Hopps and its produce sold to pay for the upkeep of the manor, however it had recently come to light that the documents pertaining to it were out of date. In the eyes of the Royal Court, the land had no owner and so was property of the King, along with the profit that had been made from all the previous harvests. In the space of one meeting, the Hopps family had almost no land and were severely in debt. Though Stuart and Bonnie Hopps had argued ferociously with Lady Bellweather about this injustice, law was law and there was no way about it. The Court offered only one solution: if they could pay £100,000 by the end of the year, their debt would be forgotten and their land given back. If not, they would face financial ruin.

"£100,000!" screamed Lucy, one of the Hopps daughters. "Do they think we have that kind of money lying around?"

"It's pocket cash to those rich toffs of the Court," replied Daniel, her brother. "You'd think they'd have enough already."

"Once you're rich it's never enough," said John, one of the eldest. "In all honesty we should be glad they're not asking for more."

"And how are we supposed to raise anything if we're not allowed to use the farm?" asked Thomas, angrily.

The chatter lasted well into the night, and most lost sleep over worrying. There didn't seem to be any answer to their problem, and for every rabbit in the manor, it was a terrifying thought.

Come morning no one could speak of nothing else. The house was fuller than usual since the family members who tended the farm stayed in and not many felt like socialising in town. Stuart and Bonnie confined themselves to the study, talking just quietly enough so the inevitable eavesdroppers could not hear. Then, about an hour after lunch, they called Judy in.

They were seated in two chairs near the unlit fireplace, looking incredibly nervous. After Judy sat down in the empty chair facing them, they both took deep breaths.

"So, um," her father started awkwardly, "how's everything going?"

"Uh, good," answered Judy, slightly confused. "I've been thinking about maybe asking Mister Clawhauser to start paying me for my work. It won't be much, but maybe it'll help with...er...you know."

"Oh, that's very thoughtful of you, Judy." Her mother smiled warmly.

"Actually, it's about the...you know...that we wanted to talk about." Stuart managed a weak smile of his own.

"Is there something I can do?"

Her parents looked at each other, nervous again.

Bonnie decided to take the plunge. "Well, you know that nice James Buckington?"

Judy raised an eyebrow. "Yes, he's a good friend of mine. Why?"

"He's very taken with you."

"Can't seem to leave your side when he's in town," Stuart added.

"And such a gentlemammal."

"With a good position."

"Very eligible."

"Financially secure."

"Wait," said Judy, stopping them. She realised where this was going. "Are you suggesting that I -"

"We don't want to force you into this," interrupted Stuart quickly. "It's just..."

"As his wife you would have access to his fortune," Bonnie continued, "and he has more than enough to help with our...predicament."

"And if we don't do something...we'll lose everything."

"This way the family will be safe, and you'll have a wonderful husband. And we'll still see each other in the summer."

"You always said how much you wanted t-to see Zootopia." Tears were forming in Stuart's eyes.

Judy looked from one parent to the other, gaping at them. "But - I -"

"You do like him, right?" asked Bonnie.

"Y-yes," stammered Judy, "but not - not like that."

"You want to marry for love," stated Bonnie, smiling. She put a hand on her husband's arm. "We understand. We truly do. It's just..."

"Sometimes things don't go our way," Stuart finished.

Judy stared at her hands. There was no way out. If she refused, the family was doomed. She couldn't let that happen.

"OK."

Her mother and father let out sighs of relief, though they didn't seem any happier.

"I'll talk to James Buckington. See if I can get a proposal out of him. Though with him, easier said than done." Stuart gave a half-hearted chuckle.

"May I be excused?" Judy asked in a small voice.

"Of course, sweetie." Bonnie got up and enveloped her daughter in a loving hug. It was a few seconds before she released her, and Judy silently left the room.

She felt numb. Ignoring her siblings who immediately started pelting her with questions, she made her way to her room and collapsed on the bed. Fortunately the sisters she shared with decided she needed some space. It was a while before she managed to start crying, but when she did, it all came out. The frustration, the anger, the hopelessness. She kept asking herself what could be done, but there was nothing. Eventually she calmed down, thinking herself silly. There were plenty of mammals who were forced into arranged marriages, often between those who had never met before. At least she knew James  and was friends with him. Not many had that luxury. Besides, being married to him didn't mean she couldn't make something of herself. She would make the best of her situation, as she had always done.

She sat up and looked out the window. The sky was darkening, and she could hear her family making their way to dinner. She left the room quietly, not wanting to draw attention to herself. She thought about going to the dining room, but despite telling herself she felt better, her spirits were low. Her feet carried her to the hall, out the front door and towards town. She didn't pay attention to where she was going or to the other mammals enjoying an evening stroll; she kept her gaze on the sea, which was reflecting the last rays of the sun. Just as the first stars came out, Judy found herself at The Carrot and Anchor. She entered as she had done so many times before, and soon spotted the old hare with his usual entourage.

"I had never felt colder. It was as if my very life was draining out of me, threatening to leave me as an empty husk. It only got worse as Davy Bones stepped towards me. The pirate looked me up and down, still smoking from his pipe, and said 'I thought it was customary to throw the little ones back into the sea.' His crew laughed, but I simply stared up at him. I breathed deeply, and said back 'I am the hare who braved the Bearmuda Triangle and lived. I am the one who severed Blackmane's head from his body. I do not know yet whether you are the most fearsome adversary I will meet, but don't doubt for a moment that I am not the weakest soul you'll ever come across.' He was silent for a moment, and then he laughed. Of course he laughed, but still I felt part of my inner strength returning." Jack Savage paused and leaned back in his chair, surveying his captive audience, then glanced up and saw Judy. He frowned when he saw her face. "I think that is a good place as any to stop. I'll tell you the rest next week. Off you go." The children groaned impatiently, but obediently trudged out of the Tavern back to their homes.

Jack made his way to Judy. Age had caught up with such that he now had to use a cane. "Miss Hopps, whatever is the matter?"

They sat down at a small table in the corner and Judy told him everything. The land dispute, the debt, the marriage. During this she started crying again. Jack only listened, his frown firmly in place.

When she had finished, he stared down thoughtfully at the table, his fingers laced together under his chin. After a minute he stood up. "Follow me."

He led her out of the tavern and to his house. He took a small wooden box out of a drawer in his study and then went out into the garden where they had their sword training lessons. He placed the box on the garden table and opened it, revealing a lapin sized pistol and some bullets, neatly arranged, all lined with faded red velvet. The initials 'J.S.' were etched into the pistol's handle. Judy gazed at it in wonder.

"This served me well on many occasions," said Jack, taking the pistol and stroking it fondly. "I prefer the sword, but sometimes you need a little firepower. It's also useful if your enemy is some distance away." He loaded some bullets and faced the far wall. It was made of solid stone, and there were several cracks and dents covering it. Jack aimed the weapon at the wall, breathed deeply and fired.

There was a loud BANG! and Judy covered her ears and closed her eyes instinctively. When she opened them again she saw that a new dent had appeared in the wall, formed by the bullet wedged firmly in it. Satisfied with his work, Jack pressed the gun into Judy's hands.

He then proceeded to teach her how to hold the pistol, aim it, when to shoot, how to breathe, how to reload and anything else he deemed necessary. Once she knew the basics, he took some chalk and drew targets on the stone wall for her to shoot at. Judy had been so enthralled at learning a new skill that it wasn't until a full hour later that she asked Jack why he had decided now to show her how to use a gun.

"Whenever I feel upset about something, I find practising my shooting calms me down," he explained. "It requires focus, and let's out some aggression. Of course, different things work for different mammals, but I wanted to give you some form of power. Something you had control over."

Judy gave a small smile. "I do feel better."

"I'm sorry for what's happened to you and your family," Jack said, sitting down. "If there was anything I could do, I would, but I have neither the money or influence nowadays."

"You've done so much for me already." Judy sat in the chair next to him. "I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for you. You've always made me feel so powerful."

Jack smiled at her proudly. "It has been an honour being your tutor, Judy. Whatever you decide to do in life, I know you're going to be amazing, and I couldn't be prouder."

The next day Judy made her way to the Naval base, though without the usual skip in her step. Her time with Captain Savage had kept her from getting too depressed, but she knew it would be a long time before she felt cheerful again. She was trying to figure out the best way to tell Clawhauser the news when she heard someone calling her name. She turned and saw James Buckington running down the road towards her.

"James?" she asked, concerned.

"Judy." He stopped when he reached her and suddenly looked nervous. "I - er - I spoke to your father this morning and - um - we - er  - well, I'm sorry about the business with your farm."

"You knew along," Judy stated, failing to keep a small amount of venom from her voice.

"My father and I were completely against it!" he said quickly. "We tried to convince the Court to let your family keep the land, but we were outvoted."

Judy sighed sadly. "I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't have wanted this to happen."

He nodded in response. "Um - Judy, you're father and I were talking and - er - you must know by now how I feel, and - um -" He wrung his hands together and then straightened up. He looked around at the busy mammals carrying out their daily tasks at the port. "This isn't the ideal location for this, but I must do it know before I lose courage."

Judy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She knew what was coming.

James cleared his throat. "Lady Judy Hopps, I would be honoured if you consented to be my wife. I would tend to your every need, and of course help out with your family's financial problems. I would make sure you want for nothing, and if ever I am required to board a vessel, I shall insist you accompany me." He smiled shyly at her.

She readied herself. "James - "

"You don't have to give your answer now," he interrupted. "All I ask for you now is to think about it. I will be travelling to Deerbrooke tomorrow, and will return in a few weeks. Maybe you'll have an answer then." He bowed, kissed her paw and left as fast as he could, his ears flaming red.

She stared at the road he had disappeared down, and couldn't help but feel slightly amused at the fact that that was the only time he had talked more than her. She sighed again. He would be good to her. She didn't love him, but she was fond of him. And he did say that he would get her on board a ship. She continued walking to the Naval base.

When she arrived Clawhauser was sitting at his desk, gazing intently at an old piece of parchment held up to his muzzle. He looked up when he saw Judy enter, and quickly rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into a back rectangular box.

"Lady Judy!" he greeted, locking the box and putting the key in his pocket. Noticing Judy's puzzled expression, he chuckled nervously. "Top secret. I'm afraid I can't tell you." Despite what he said, the way he smiled and bounced in his seat suggested he would like nothing better than to share what he knew.

Though she was curious, and could easily get the information out of him if she wanted, she pushed it out of her mind. She had other things to talk about.

"Hey, what's wrong," Clawhauser asked, seeing her sudden frown.

Judy proceeded to tell him everything. Fortunately she didn't cry this time; instead it was Clawhauser that got teary eyed. "That is so unfair. Is there anything I can do?"

"I doubt it," replied Judy. "I'm OK, really. Things are going to be very different now, but it's for the best."

The cheetah looked down at his desk sadly, then his ears pricked up as an idea struck him. "Thing is...I need to go to Zootopia in a few days to deliver this." He patted the black box. "I'll be travelling by ship, and maybe I could ask them to let you go with me. Say you're my assistant or something. We should be back before James."

Judy stared at him, her mouth agape. "You'd get me on a ship...to Zootopia?"

"I can try," he replied. "Of course, when you're...married...you'll be living there and travelling by ship anyway, but I thought that maybe you could have some fun before you're...while you're single."

Judy ran around the desk and hugged Clawhauser as far as her arms could reach around his girth. He instantly returned the embrace.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Anytime." He pulled back and grabbed some from papers from the desk. "Right, back to work."

By the end of the next day, it was organised. Judy would accompany Mister Clawhauser on his trip to Zootopia aboard the HMS Cloverleaf, a merchant ship that occasionally ferried passengers if the price was right. Normally a Navy ship would escort mammals who worked for them, however it seemed that whatever Clawhauser had in his charge was so secret that he would be going undercover as a simple passenger who wanted to visit the capital.

Judy's parents were anxious about Judy travelling across the sea with only Clawhauser to watch over her. Unlike his daughter, Governor Hopps was not fond of the ocean and always took the longer by-land path when visiting other regions. He and Bonnie didn't offer much argument against the notion however, as they still felt horrible for pressuring Judy into marriage. Instead they gave her long lectures about being careful, doing exactly what Clawhauser and the crew told her, and not to feel ashamed if she wanted to cut the journey short and return home. Judy took this all in with a lot of eye rolling but she didn't complain. Her high spirits had returned as she joyfully packed what she thought she needed into two suitcases and reread her books about what to expect when sailing. She simply couldn't wait.

Soon enough the day arrived. The skies were clear, the wind was strong and Judy smiled brightly at the handsome three-mastered ship before her. It sat serenely in the water, just waiting to be launched. Running across the decks and riggings were several lemmings, which the entire crew was comprised of. A couple had already taken Judy's belongings onboard.

She turned back to the family members that had come to see her off. Fru Fru was also there, talking excitedly about Judy's upcoming journey and insisting that she bring back a souvenir. Once she had finished saying goodbye to the shrew, it was her family's turn.

"Remember what we told you, Judy," said her mother, fussing over Judy's dress. "Don't do anything reckless."

"The ocean is dangerous enough already without you making it worse for yourself," added her father. "It's not too late to change your mind, you know."

"I'm not changing my mind, father," replied Judy, firmly.

"And be careful in Zootopia, too," he continued. "It's easy to get lost, and there are a lot of larger animals. Wolves and bears and foxes...  Be sure to watch out for foxes."

"Father, Clawhauser is a large predator, as are most of Mr Big's servants. I'll be fine."

Governor Hopps did not look convinced. He was about to say something when Clawhauser's voice was heard from the ship.

"Lady Judy! We're almost ready!"

"OK! I'm coming!" Judy held her parents in a tight hug. "I love you. See you soon." She ran down the port towards the boarding plank, waving behind her.

Just as she reached the bottom of the plank she noticed another mammal hobbling as fast as he could towards her. The old hare's cane clacked loudly against the ground, slowing only to dodge a  small sand-coloured fox walking the other way, but the retired Captain's eyes never left Judy. He took a moment to catch his breath when he reached her, then stood up straight and smiled proudly.

"Forgive my lateness," he said. "I sometimes forget my age."

"I'm glad you came, Captain," replied Judy. "I wouldn't appreciate this moment as much if it weren't for you."

"You're going to love it, trust me." From beneath his jacket he took out a familiar wooden box. He held it out to Judy. "In case of pirates," he explained with a wink.

"Oh, I couldn't-"

"I don't want this to go to anyone else," he said firmly. "You're the closest thing I have to family, and I am passing it to you. Use it well. It's freshly loaded."

Hesitantly, she took the box in the paws, and smiled in thanks.

He bowed to her. "Lady Judy."

She saluted. "Captain Savage."

"We're about to cast off!"

Judy turned towards the voice from the ship and then back to Jack. He gestured for her to hurry up the plank and stepped back. She gave a final nod and rushed aboard the ship just before the crew took away the plank, and then found a good place to wave goodbye to the mammals she was leaving behind. The anchor was lifted, the sails unfurled and soon the HMS Cloverleaf slid smoothly out of port towards the open waters. The town gradually got smaller and smaller, disappearing over the horizon until it had gone completely.

Over the next few days Judy woke to the smell of salty air and the sound of waves lapping against the ship. She had a small but comfortable cabin all to herself, though she hardly spent any time in it. She was almost always on deck, looking out to the sea, watching the gulls fly overhead, and trying to remember the names of the cloud formations she could see. It had taken her a while to get her sea-legs, but once she found them she was eager to help out with the running of the ship. However it was soon made apparent that she wasn't wanted. The lemming crew had a specific way of handling their ship and they did not appreciate variations to their schedule. They worked like clockwork, highly organised and efficient, not bothering to call out orders to each other as they each knew their place at every second of the day. It unnerved Judy and Clawhauser to no end, and they began to memorise the lemmings' routine so they could avoid them.

Though she was over the moon about travelling across the sea, the crew's standoffishness and the fact she wasn't allowed to do anything was driving the young rabbit a little crazy. Clawhauser often found her leaning over the edge of the ship, her foot thumping furiously.

"Hi," he greeted at one of these times, standing next to her. "Lovely weather."

"Yes," agreed Judy, no enthusiasm in her voice.

He gave her a sympathetic look. "I know you're frustrated, but you don't have to work on a ship to enjoy it. And there's Zootopia to look forward to! I'll show you all the sights. The museums, the markets, the theatres... There won't be a dull moment."

Judy gave a small smile. "Thanks."

Clawhauser frowned. "Is there something else?"

"It's just...as soon as this is over...it's over."

"I wouldn't say that. Sure, you'll be getting married, but you'll still be you. You're not gonna suddenly turn into some housewife or 'genteel lady'. Anyone's who's met you knows you're more than that."

Judy's smile managed to grow to a normal size. She was about to say something when a squeaky yell was heard from the crow's nest.

"Pirates! Off the Starboard!"

[scarlet-storyteller-blog]

The City of Gold Part 1

Authors notes:  This takes place in a fictional world which combines Feudal Japan, Song Dynasty China, and Wild West America in terms of technology, clothing styles, some magic and martial arts thrown it. Now I do have my own self insert here who is seen at times buuuuut not as often as my main character Raven. (Who is quite a jerk) My daughter told me that more people read things on Tumblr which I honestly do believe as I rarely get comments on DA. (Oh well) So hopefully you’ll all enjoy and if not, well that’s fine too. Now, I confess this IS NOT self-ship but I just haven’t been able to get the “Muse” for that for a while but I DO still do that stuff. Also note that often my stories (While they are a series) Are inspired by various video games, So you will likely see SOME similarites however the story, characters, setting, and much more is my own. My stories are often action/adventure with a bit of horroresqe themes be it slasher villains or Eldritch horrors I must also confess that many characters are BASED ON real people yet in no way are meant to actually symbolize that person (With a few exceptions being those who symbolize myself, someone REALLY close to me and my daughter.)  Anyways: Page count: 6 (According to google docs using a size 14 font) Word count: 1559 Warnings: None Inspired by: Uncharted: Drakes Fortune Out in the ocean a large wooden ship was anchored as it’s Captain took a puff of his pipe, he stood behind the helmsman with a long sigh. Other’s went about swabbing the decks and keeping an eye on the port side of the ship. The sky was clear without a cloud to be seen. “Grrrr.” The Captain huffed. “Give him two more minutes otherwise we leave him.” “Aye.” the helmsmen said. Just as he did though one crewmen yelled: “Man overboard port side!!” “Well blow me down.” The Captain grunted as he walked to the port side. “Is it the boy?!” “Aye sir!” The crewman yelled. “Bring ‘em up!” The Captain rubbed the handle of the sword at his side. A young shirtless boy came aboard. He shivered a bit but shook it off. “So did ye get it?” The Captain looked over to the water. “Yup.” The boy said shaking his head again. “As promised you’ll get the rest of your pay when we get back.” The boy had to be about 18 years of age with black hair and red eyes. He wore only blue jeans and a belt at the moment. “So where is it?” The Captain asked. “Places.” The boy said. “Shall we go?” “Hold on boy!” The Captain gave him a look. “Ye didn’t say we be in owned waters.” “Duh!” The boy smirked “If I DID you wouldn’t have taken me. Besides I paid you in gold might I add half already, and am giving you half when we get back. Now we can argue, or we can get out of here now.” The Captain sighed. “Damn ye Raven.” He said to the boy. “RAISE ANCHOR WE SAIL FOR THE HARBOR NOW!!!” “I’ll be below if you need me.” Raven said planning on getting a change of clothing. “Oh I be needing ye…” The Captain shook his head. Below deck was dimly lit and Raven stayed among the many hammocks that the crew shared. Windows were few after all it was a ship. Raven had changed his underwear and pants and put on a white tee shirt. “So?” Raven said to the caption behind him. He began doing various stretches. The Caption was an older man, perhaps in his 60s or so but he could fight with the best of them. Many called him “Old Scotts” Scotts was one of the best when it came to the ocean, which is why Raven hired him. He also had one of the fastest ships, if not THE fastest in Rosefield. He had a short greybeard and stood at 6’5 grey hair and wore a red coat, a respectable brown leather hat and brown pants with black leather shoes. His ship was called the ‘Thousand Fire.’ Due to it’s red paint. All the sailors aboard wore red too. From a distance it looked like many flames dancing around. So “Thousand Fire” was fitting. “I believe ye owe me an explanation boy.” “About?” Raven asked not turning to face Scotts. Scotts was used to rude people like Raven. But he didn’t take kindly to it. “Ye know damn well what about!” He growled. “Perhaps.” Raven said turning around with a grin. “But...perhaps not.” With a long sigh Scotts looked at Raven with anger in his eyes. “We be out in owned waters here! The kind we don’t have permission to be in!!” “No, we WERE out in owned waters, now we’re not. Judging by the winds and speed of the ship I’d say we’re about two minutes into the neutral zone, give or take.” “Not the point! We COULD have been arrested.” “COULD, have, would have, didn’t. Everything’s going smoothly now Cap so why not sit back, relax and make plans for retirement.” Raven chuckled. “I mean, again, I’m paying you in gold, you checked it yourself it’s real.” Raven’s sarcastic smile became a dark look. “Suddenly not happy because we took a bit of a risk? I gave you the Coordinates, You checked them, yet suddenly NOW it’s an issue?” The Captain sighed a long sigh. Raven was right, he did check them but it didn’t dawn on him that the waters he had sailed into were owned, how did he forget this? “Must be getting sloppy in my old age.” The Captain said softly. “Maybe, but if I’m right...I might have something else I could use your help with, and it’ll pay much more than a dozen coins...if I’m right that is.” “Is that so?” Scotts asked stroking his beard. “Just be ready with the rest of me pay.” Raven rolled his eyes as he lay down. He had taken a big risk yes, but it was worth it. He chuckled softly to himself as he pulled out a small, slightly damp book for his wet jeans. “It might just be a legend but…” Raven opened the book. A diary from an explorer, Raven happened to overhear information about this man. Listening in on pub rumors was helpful so long as you knew how to later manipulate the rumor and find out the truth in doing so. It was one of many skills Raven had picked up in his travels. Skimming the diary he nodded to himself. “Looks good.” He chuckled. “Looks good.” Finally they reached port and the crew disembarked, Raven paid Caption Scotts. “Happy now?” He asked with grin. “For now.” The Caption nodded back. “So...about this other job?” “Oh, you’re interested?” Raven cocked an eyebrow feigning surprise. “Indeed.” The Caption stoked his beard. “When YOU have something it’s often worth pursuing.” Raven knew there was more to it than that. He’d hired and studied Caption Scotts before and even taken a look in his personal quarters serval documents and other files were enough to let Raven know that Scotts would accept this, even if it was just a rumor. “Well.” Raven held up the pocket journal. “See this? It has details on the fabled city of gold, it’s not the fullest of maps but...enough to go on. As I said before. It’s not a guarantee. Buuuut the way I see it if you were to come along we’d be splitting it down the middle half of whatever we find, goes to you.” “IF we be finding anything.” Raven nodded at the Captions words. “Hey, maybe I’m right, maybe I’m not.” Raven shrugged. “But that is up to you to decide. As for me I’m-” Raven turned around to see Riko on the beach near the port she waved to him. “Dammit...” He sighed through clenched teeth as she came towards him. Riko was his childhood ‘ally’ Yes, ally, not friend, Raven didn’t get into friendship, he didn’t trust people, They’d work towards a mutual goal and part ways later. Riko was...easier to believe in and unlike others he didn’t quite see himself as ‘Using’ her like he did with Scotts for example. As hypocritical as this was he couldn’t think of any other explanation. Riko had aged well, still well endowed with her D cups standing at about 5’8, she wore what one would call a “Shrine maiden” outfit, but instead of red and white it was green and white, any red was replaced by green. She had beautifully shining shoulder length chestnut hair. Raven rolled his eyes. While he didn’t hate Riko he found her to be...clingy, although her past gave her a good reason to be this way, Raven didn’t much care. “Where have you been?” Riko asked walking along the wooden boards of the port. “Places.” Raven replied rolling his eyes. “Out at sea?” Riko asked. “No, I went for a walk on the beach, jumped in to the middle of the ocean went to the bottom without a boat and swam back, that’s why I’m on a boat.” Raven nodded being sarcastic as he often was. Riko just giggled. She knew he was be rude but couldn’t help herself. Riko was by no means dumb, but something about Raven made her feel at ease. “So what are you up to now?” Riko tilted her head as she boarded. Raven was about to say ‘nothing’ and walk off but another idea came to him. “Well you see Riko…Captain Scotts here and I were about to head out, see we’re treasure hunting.” It wasn’t a total lie. Although Raven had no intention of giving Riko details. “So, tell you what, we’re finished stocking up on supplies save one very important thing, rum. I bet you could buy some from the Tavern back there, just get a couple kegs from the cellar and bring them back for me, Scotts is paying of course.” Riko didn’t wait for details on Scotts paying. She walked off. “Boy I’m not paying for-” “All the more reason to set sail right now, just the two of us.” Raven grinned. “Of course...unless you’d rather spend that gold on the finest rum.” “Damn you Raven.” Scotts growled as he rushed to the helm. Raven rushed below deck and raised the anchor. “We’re out of here.” “I am not about to let her risk her life on this shit. Sorry kiddo but this is a ‘me’ job.” Raven said as the two left. “She’s going to be pissed off as all hell though.” Raven said to himself below deck.

[spinayarnindia]

The Entangled Mermaid

Long ago, in Dutch Fairy Land, there lived a young mermaid who was very proud of her good looks. She was one of a family of mere or lake folks dwelling not far from the sea. Her home was a great pool of water that was half salt and half fresh, for it lay around an island near the mouth of a river. Part of the day, when the sea tides were out, she splashed and played, dived and swam in the soft water of the inland current. When the ocean heaved and the salt water rushed in, the mermaid floated and frolicked and paddled to her heart’s content. Her father was a gray-bearded merryman and very proud of his handsome daughter. He owned an island near the river mouth, where the young mermaids held their picnics and parties and received the visits of young merrymen.

Her mother and two aunts were merwomen. All of these were sober folks and attended to the business which occupies all well brought up mermaids and merrymen. This was to keep their pool clean and nice. No frogs, toads or eels were allowed near, but in the work of daily housecleaning, the storks and the mermaids were great friends.

All water-creatures that were not thought to be polite and well behaved were expected to keep away. Even some silly birds, such as loons and plovers and all screaming and fighting creatures with wings, were warned off the premises, because they were not wanted. This family of merry folks liked to have a nice, quiet time by themselves, without any rude folks on legs, or with wings or fins from the outside. Indeed they wished to make their pool a model, for all respectable mermaids and merrymen, for ten leagues around. It was very funny to see the old daddy merman, with a switch made of reeds, shooing off the saucy birds, such as the sandpipers and screeching gulls. For the bullfrogs, too big for the storks to swallow, and for impudent fishes, he had a whip made of seaweed.

Of course, all the mermaids in good society were welcome, but young mermen were allowed to call only once a month, during the week when the moon was full. Then the evenings were usually clear, so that when the party broke up, the mermen could see their way in the moonlight to swim home safely with their mermaid friends. For, there were sea monsters that loved to plague the merefolk, and even threatened to eat them up! The mermaids, dear creatures, had to be escorted home, but they felt safe, for their mermen brothers and daddies were so fierce that, except sharks, even the larger fish, such as porpoises and dolphins were afraid to come near them.

One day daddy and the mother left to visit some relatives near the island of Urk. They were to be gone several days. Meanwhile, their daughter was to have a party, her aunts being the chaperones.

The mermaids usually held their picnics on an island in the midst of the pool. Here they would sit and sun themselves. They talked about the fashions and the prettiest way to dress their hair. Each one had a pocket mirror, but where they kept these, while swimming, no mortal ever found out. They made wreaths of bright colored seaweed, orange and black, blue, gray and red and wore them on their brows like coronets. Or, they twined them, along with sea berries and bubble blossoms, among their tresses. Sometimes they made girdles of the strongest and knotted them around their waists.

Every once in a while they chose a queen of beauty for their ruler. Then each of the others pretended to be a princess. Their games and sports often lasted all day and they were very happy.

Swimming out in the salt water, the mermaids would go in quest of pearls, coral, ambergris and other pretty things. These they would bring to their queen, or with them richly adorn themselves. Thus the Mermaid Queen and her maidens made a court of beauty that was famed wherever mermaids and merrymen lived. They often talked about human maids.

“How funny it must be to wear clothes,” said one.

“Are they cold that they have to keep warm?” It was a little chit of a mermaid, whose flippers had hardly begun to grow into hands, that asked this question.

“How can they swim with petticoats on?” asked another.

“My brother heard that real men wear wooden shoes! These must bother them, when on the water, to have their feet floating,” said a third, whose name was Silver Scales. “What a pity they don’t have flukes like us,” and then she looked at her own glistening scaly coat in admiration.

“I can hardly believe it,” said a mermaid, that was very proud of her fine figure and slender waist. “Their girls can’t be half as pretty as we are.”

“Well, I should like to be a real woman for a while, just to try it, and see how it feels to walk on legs,” said another, rather demurely, as if afraid the other mermaids might not like her remark.

They didn’t. Out sounded a lusty chorus, “No! No! Horrible! What an idea! Who wouldn’t be a mermaid?”

“Why, I’ve heard,” cried one, “that real women have to work, wash their husband’s clothes, milk cows, dig potatoes, scrub floors and take care of calves. Who would be a woman? Not I”—and her snub nose—since it could not turn up—grew wide at the roots. She was sneering at the idea that a creature in petticoats could ever look lovelier than one in shining scales.

“Besides,” said she, “think of their big noses, and I’m told, too, that girls have even to wear hairpins.”

At this—the very thought that any one should have to bind up their tresses—there was a shock of disgust with some, while others clapped their hands, partly in envy and partly in glee.

But the funniest things the mermaids heard of were gloves, and they laughed heartily over such things as covers for the fingers. Just for fun, one of the little mermaids used to draw some bag-like seaweed over her hands, to see how such things looked.

One day, while sunning themselves in the grass on the island, one of their number found a bush on which foxgloves grew. Plucking these, she covered each one of her fingers with a red flower. Then, flopping over to the other girls, she held up her gloved hands. Half in fright and half in envy, they heard her story.

After listening, the party was about to break up, when suddenly a young merman splashed into view. The tide was running out and the stream low, so he had had hard work to get through the fresh water of the river and to the island. His eyes dropped salt water, as if he were crying. He looked tired, while puffing and blowing, and he could hardly get his breath. The queen of the mermaids asked him what he meant by coming among her maids at such an hour and in such condition.

At this the bashful merman began to blubber. Some of the mergirls put their hands over their mouths to hide their laughing, while they winked at each other and their eyes showed how they enjoyed the fun. To have a merman among them, at that hour, in broad daylight, and crying, was too much for dignity.

“Boo-hoo, boo-hoo,” and the merman still wept salt water tears, as he tried to catch his breath. At last, he talked sensibly. He warned the Queen that a party of horrid men, in wooden shoes, with pickaxes, spades and pumps, were coming to drain the swamp and pump out the pool. He had heard that they would make the river a canal and build a dyke that should keep out the ocean.

“Alas! alas!” cried one mermaid, wringing her hands. “Where shall we go when our pool is destroyed? We can’t live in the ocean all the time.” Then she wept copiously. The salt water tears fell from her great round eyes in big drops.

“Hush!” cried the Queen. “I don’t believe the merman’s story. He only tells it to frighten us. It’s just like him.”

In fact, the Queen suspected that the merman’s story was all a sham and that he had come among her maids with a set purpose to run off with Silver Scales. She was one of the prettiest mermaids in the company, but very young, vain and frivolous. It was no secret that she and the merman were in love and wanted to get married.

So the Queen, without even thanking him, dismissed the swimming messenger. After dinner, the company broke up and the Queen retired to her cave to take a long nap! She was quite tired after entertaining so much company. Besides, since daddy and mother were away, and there were no beaus to entertain, since it was a dark night and no moon shining on the water, why need she get up early in the morning?

So the Mermaid Queen slept much longer than ever before. Indeed, it was not till near sunset the next day that she awoke. Then, taking her comb and mirror in hand, she started to swim and splash in the pool, in order to smooth out her tresses and get ready for supper.

But oh, what a change from the day before! What was the matter? All around her things looked different. The water had fallen low and the pool was nearly empty. The river, instead of flowing, was as quiet as a pond. Horrors! when she swam forward, what should she see but a dyke and fences! An army of horrid men had come, when she was asleep, and built a dam. They had fenced round the swamp and were actually beginning to dig sluices to drain the land. Some were at work, building a windmill to help in pumping out the water.

The first thing she knew she had bumped her pretty nose against the dam. She thought at once of escaping over the logs and into the sea. When she tried to clamber over the top and get through the fence, her hair got so entangled between the bars that she had to throw away her comb and mirror and try to untangle her tresses. The more she tried, the worse became the tangle. Soon her long hair was all twisted up in the timber. In vain were her struggles to escape. She was ready to die with fright, when she saw four horrid men rush up to seize her. She attempted to waddle away, but her long hair held her to the post and rails. Her modesty was so dreadfully shocked that she fainted away.

When she came to herself, she found she was in a big long tub. A crowd of curious little girls and boys were looking at her, for she was on show as a great curiosity. They were bound to see her and get their money’s worth in looking, for they had paid a stiver (two cents) admission to the show. Again, before all these eyes, her modesty was so shocked that she gave one groan, flopped over and died in the tub.

Woe to the poor father and mother at Urk! They came back to find their old home gone. Unable to get into it, they swam out to sea, never stopping till they reached Spitzbergen.

What became of the body of the Mermaid Queen?

Learned men came from Leyden to examine what was now only a specimen, and to see how mermaids were made up. Then her skin was stuffed, and glass eyes put in, where her shining orbs had been. After this, her body was stuffed and mounted in the museum, that is, set up above a glass case and resting upon iron rods. Artists came to Leyden to make pictures of her and no fewer than nine noblemen copied her pretty form and features into their coats of arms. Instead of the Mermaid’s Pool is now a cheese farm of fifty cows, a fine house and barn, and a family of pink-cheeked, yellow-haired children who walk and play in wooden shoes.

So this particular mermaid, all because of her entanglement in the fence, was more famous when stuffed than when living, while all her young friends and older relatives were forgotten.

[swipestream]

New Release Roundup, 20 October 2018: Science Fiction

Stilted cities, space pirates, cyberpunk delivery mages, and a warrior son of the God-Emperor of Mankind feature in this week’s roundup of science fiction’s newest releases.

Accord of Honor (The Ragnarok Saga #1) – by Kevin McLaughlin

Space Pirates aren’t supposed to exist. But apparently, nobody told them that. When Thomas’s first command is ambushed in space, only quick thinking will keep his crew alive.

One random pirate ship would be bad enough, But the truth is far more deadly. Multiple ships of unknown origin are striking freighters and kidnapping their crews.

Then the pirates turn their eyes toward the planets.

One man has prepared for this; Thomas’s estranged father, Admiral Nicholas Stein. Hero and villain of the last great war, he has spent decades preparing for the conflict he always knew was coming. Now he and Thomas are all that stands between humanity and a ruthless enemy who will stop at nothing to control space – and from there, to enslave us all.

The Atlantropa Articles – Cody Franklin

In an alternate timeline, World War II never takes place. Instead, a plan is put into effect by Hitler and the Nazi party to drain the Mediterranean Sea. They promise fertile land, millions of jobs and endless energy. New land to be settled. Living space for a crowded continent. All of Europe came together and signed a treaty to realize this new world, it was called ‘The Atlantropa Articles’

Two millennia later, the Reich run the world. Aryans have become a race of their own, out numbering their neighbors and ruling with a messianic passion towards Hitler. Europe has been united under the banner of the swastika.

But the plan of a fertile lush land was never realized. The project took decades longer than anticipated. By the time it is completed, what they find is a salty barren world. Now the Mediterranean Sea is a desert basin known only as the Kiln. Southern Europe has been abandoned.

This is where Ansel’s story begins.

Battlespace (The Stars Aflame #1) – Richard Tongue

For decades, the Terrestrial Commonwealth has been at peace. The bulk of the Navy that once conquered the stars in mothballs, only a handful of obsolete cruisers patrolling the far frontiers of space. When a genocidal alien race decides that humanity is its next target for extermination, only a single ship can stand against them, a battered old cruiser named Leonidas, and her maverick commander, Mike Scott, brought out of enforced retirement to lead his ship and his crew one last time. As the worlds of mankind burn under the wrath of the enemy, Captain Scott must fight one desperate battle after another to buy time for the Commonwealth to must its battlefleet, or face the destruction of Earth, and all humanity with it…

Black Triumph (The Dark Victory #3) – Brendan DuBois

More than ten years ago, the alien Creepers arrived in Earth’s orbit and started a war that was a slaughter for humanity. Nuclear weapons detonated in the atmosphere destroyed all electronic devices, asteroids dropped into oceans and lakes swamped cities with artificial tsunamis, and the nearly invulnerable Creepers arrived on Earth, going forth from their dome bases to attack civilians and military units at will.

Sixteen-year-old Randy Knox, a newly minted lieutenant in the U.S. Army, has been fighting the Creepers since he was twelve. He has seen friends, family members and fellow soldiers killed by the Creepers, and he is tired of war. At one point, it seemed the war was over when the aliens’ orbital battle station had been destroyed.

But a second Creeper orbital battle station has arrived.

The war no longer seems to be over, and while returning to his home unit, Randy’s convoy is ambushed. Separated from his fellow soldiers and his K-9 companion Thor, Randy faces the ultimate horror of every American serviceman: to become a prisoner of war of the aliens.

Cassandra’s War (The SynCorp Saga #2) –  David Bruns and Chris Pourteau 

The Lazarus Protocol, the corporate plan to reengineer the Earth’s atmosphere, has failed. The mysterious Cassandra and her Neo zealots have weaponized the weather, Anthony Taulke is in jail, Ming Qinlao is on the run, and Colonel Graves is left to clean up the mess.

Meanwhile, we the people pay the price—in blood and treasure.

But the machinery of the corporation is not dead yet. As Anthony hatches a new scheme to undo the damage caused by the Lazarus Protocol, he makes new alliances and stabs old friends in the back. Flushed out of hiding, Ming Qinlao risks everything to reclaim her family name. And a war-weary William Graves is forced to choose between his duty and his conscience.

Deliver or Die (Delivery Mage #1) – Jaime Davis

A dangerous tech warlord. A devious damsel. Is this smuggler mage getting paid or played?

Baltimore, 2055. Ex-special ops agent Kurt Carter refuses to resort to killing any longer. Though this mage isn’t above skirting the law with a little magic to smuggle goods through the interstellar portals and back to Earth, he never expected to use the Newton’s gates on a ransom mission for the ex-wife he can’t seem to forget…

With the help of a trigger-happy sidekick, Kurt has no choice but to break into a government building and steal a mysterious sarcophagus. After his ex throws an unexpected wrinkle into his plan, the smuggler mage must improvise to keep an impatient warlord at bay. Can Kurt save the girl and protect his business all without getting more blood on his hands?

Justiciar (The Vigilante Chronicles #5) – Natalie Grey and Michael Anderle

After taking down the Yennai Corporation, Barnabas has earned a little break.

On the way back to High Tortuga, however, he stops to answer a distress call.

How long could it take, after all?

Barnabas is about to find out. In what should have been an open-and-shut murder case, questions begin to pile up fast: who, exactly, was this Jotun Naval captain? Why was there a black ops ship lurking nearby, ready to shoot down anyone who tried to approach?

Barnabas has made a promise to a friend that he’ll unravel the murder, but the closer he gets, the more he finds himself asking just who this captain was.

And just what in hell did he get himself involved with?

Liberty (Legacy Fleet #6) – Nick Webb

War.

It rages across United Earth space, claiming millions of lives. The Swarm have returned, larger, more fierce, and more technologically advanced than ever before.

The voice from Saturn’s moon Titan claiming to be Tim Granger is warning humanity that this time, the Swarm may be unstoppable.

Admiral Shelby Proctor, on the run for the suspected murder of the United Earth President, knows that humanity’s only hope may be a hero that’s been dead for thirty years, and travels to the center of Titan to find him in Earth’s darkest hour.

The fleets are assembled, all the races united against the overwhelming enemy from another universe. And now all they need a legendary hero to lead them to victory.

Machine City (Detective Barnes #2) – Scott J. Holliday 

To ex-detective John Barnes, the machine is a dangerous and abhorrent addiction. The criminal thoughts it embedded in his brain helped him stop a serial killer, but they left him dazed—with pounding, murderous impulses. Having turned in his badge to salvage what’s left of his psyche, Barnes must return to the darkness at the request of his former partner. A little girl has gone missing. So has Adrian Flaherty, the detective in the kidnapper’s shadow.

And only Barnes can hear the clues.

But the trail is more dizzying and more personal than he feared. The voices are revealing a secret only Flaherty could have known. They’re also telling Barnes that he doesn’t have long to live. To find the girl, he must listen closely. Because the clock is ticking…and Barnes’s mind is going fast.

Mechs and Violence (Infinite Lives Online #2) – Elven Steele 

My name is DeadPixel. I’m really living up to my username…

A quick note to any player who may be considering joining my party: the fact that I am currently on fire is not a cause for alarm. And the fact that my special skill involves getting repeatedly and horribly murdered isn’t going to cause a problem either, I swear. And do you want to know why that is? Because I have the one thing the rest of you noobs can only dream of… infinite lives.

So what if my Wizard’s gone on an unexpected journey to the off-licence. By the time I’ve left the battlefield, those mech enhanced pix-holes won’t know what hit them… because I’ll be running away so fast, they won’t have the chance.

Spartan Company – Toby Neighbors

One bad decision can change your life… forever.

Orion Porter is in trouble. He’s about to be shuffled into a judicial system that few ever escape. His options in life have suddenly been reduced to just two choices: take his chances with a public defender, fighting criminal charges he’s not likely to win — or join the Space Marines. Both choices are filled with danger, but only one will get him out of the system designed to keep him down.

Apex Venandi is a goldilocks world with vibrant indigenous life. The isolated planet is home to five intelligent species, whose culture revolves around tribal warfare. Restricted from human intervention, the world was little more than a footnote in the Galactic Space Fleet’s expansion across the galaxy until a rare and important resource is discovered there. For the first time, humanity will encounter another species whose proclivity for violence is greater than their own.

Follow Orion as he makes his way through Space Marine Basic Training and is thrown to the wolves in the vaunted Recon Challenge.

Storm World (Undying Mercenaries Series #10) – B. V. Larson

James McGill is sent to the Core Worlds!

In an unprecedented first, Earth sends a message to Mogwa Prime. Unfortunately, the messenger is not met with enthusiasm. Misunderstandings soon threaten all of Humanity. Forced to prove Earth can serve the Empire better than any rival, McGill does his best.

Eager to prove our worth to the Galactics, the frontier war between Rigel and Earth is expanded to Storm World. Circled by six moons, the planet is ravaged by wild storms and tides. Battles are fought in raging hurricanes, and death stalks the soldiers on both sides.

McGill grimly fights and dies in the mud until the job gets done, but will it be enough to satisfy the angry Mogwa?

Suns of the Aranol (Obsidiar Fleet #5) – Anthony James

With tenacity and fearless determination, the human Confederation has fought against the overwhelming forces of the Vraxar. Still the aliens keep on coming.

Following the events on New Earth, a chance sighting presents an opportunity too good to ignore. One of the Vraxar’s remaining capital ships – Ix-Gastiol – is located in close orbit around a star.

Fleet Admiral Duggan prepares to strike against the mightiest of the alien vessels. With a strong fleet of warships assembled and an Obsidiar bomb to back them up, he believes success is within reach. However, the Vraxar have existed for millennia and Ix-Gastiol has overseen the extinction of a hundred species. This will be no easy mission.

When everything goes badly, catastrophically wrong, it’s left to Captain Charlie Blake and Lieutenant Eric McKinney to put it right. Trapped within the endless depths of an alien spaceship, they must lead a small squad to achieve the impossible and somehow finish what an entire fleet failed to accomplish. Ix-Gastiol holds clues for the resourceful to find. What Blake and McKinney unearth could be the most important discovery of the war, but only if they can escape with the information.

Upon Stilted Cities: The Battle for Langeles (Chronicles of the Great Migration #3) – Michael Kilman

The Ruins of Langeles are up for grabs, and two walking cities stand on the brink of war.

Saud has arrived, Runner 17 is near death, the women of Nowhere are missing, and Roderick’s plot to destroy Manhatsten is underway. Never before has Manhatsten faced such danger. Enemies lurk both inside and outside the city, and there is an assassin in Daniels’s ranks.

It will take all the power of the sisters of the Order of the Eye to protect the city. But Alexa Turon has seen the future and she knows what’s coming. She knows if they don’t do something, the city will fall. Can she and her new allies change the future or is too late to stop the inevitable?

Vulkan: Lord of Drake (Horus Heresy: Primarchs #9)- David Annandale

As the Emperor marshals his armies to reclaim the galaxy for the glory of mankind, one by one his Space Marine Legions are reunited with their missing primarchs. The XVIII Legion are still waiting to find their true identity, unaware their own lord has been found. In the Taras Division, legionaries face annihilation as they take a last, desperate stand against a monstrous ork invasion. Meanwhile, on Nocturne, Vulkan has raised and trained a new force of warriors. Now it is the time for him to lead his sons into battle. Now it is the time for him to truly don the mantle of primarch, not only to save one half of his Legion, but forge a new, indivisible whole.

READ IT BECAUSE: It’s an untold tale from the earliest days of the Salamanders, as they are united with Vulkan for the first time. With their very existence in the balance, can they be forged into one indivisible whole?

When Eagles Dare (The Four Horsemen Tales #5) – Doug Dandrigde

The mission Jonah White Eagle and his Fierce Eagle Company had taken was nearly impossible. Land on the middle of a 7.5-mile-high plateau, walk six miles to the edge of the cliff, and scale down the 39,000-foot-high cliffs to the foothills of the canyon below. Nothing to it, right? But then there was the swamp they had to cross, full of large indigenous life forms that thought Humans made good snacks. And the rivers, full of other killers, they would have to negotiate.

And then there were the Xlatan, a race of six-legged killers guarding the target. A relatively new mercenary race, although one more established than the Humans, the Xlatan were supposed to be tough. Maybe not—quite—as tough as the Besquith, but close enough to give a number of other merc races the chills when they went up against them.

The Fierce Eagle Company only needed to traverse the planet, stay alive, and then surveil the operation the Xlatan were guarding to gather intelligence for the CASPer-equipped merc company that was enroute to destroy the operation.

The mission would have been nearly impossible, all on its own. There’s just one more thing, though, that they don’t know. They’ve been set up, and the heavy forces aren’t coming.

Still, anything is possible…When Eagles Dare.

New Release Roundup, 20 October 2018: Science Fiction published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames