#he's got like 200 years before he can get out of that mountain- let him have his fun

[nikos-oneshots]

Can you write a oneshot (headcanons are cool to) where the reader is the older Sibling of The Collector?(like same mental age as a highschooler) like during the end of season 2 where he is freed and they are reunited and its some fluffy Sibling time? also like angst bc it's the end of the world lol [I don't know if I have to clarify but this is meant to be platonic]

The Collector & A Sibling! Reader

Warnings: Angst, Owl House Spoilers Word Count: 1.4k Pronouns: Second Person Pov, Any Notes: This was supposed to be posted last night, but my computer did a fucky wucky and now I finally have a Fic being posted at a decent time! This was completed and edited before For The Future came out, so there may be some canon divergence, sorry about that! I hope you like it!

You sit uptop your mountain, the only place you have known for many years. You had made a life for yourself there, no matter how sad it may be. You feel lonely living day by day, year by year up on that lonely mountain top, but it's something you must do. You had been cursed, but not by an enemy, but by yourself. You have to stay alive for him, your little brother. You two were created from the stars above together, you two only had each other for as long as you could remember, but now, you have nobody and nothing. You had no idea where he went, but all you know is that he was gone. You had tried to search for him every day for the first 100 years he had been missing, but you had no luck, so reluctantly, you gave up. 

You felt like life was no longer worth living without the only person you felt gave your life meaning. You couldn't go back to the stars and you couldn't go to where the witches were, so you chose the next best thing, being to live alone in solidarity. The main reason why you chose that, is so that you could wait. You had a feeling that your little sibling would come back. You don't know from where, but deep down, you thought you knew he would come back. Maybe it was denial wishful thinking, but that didn't stop you from waiting for him. You knew that nobody would be able to stop, let alone destroy that little agent of chaos.

You passed the time as delightfully as it could be, as you picked up a hobby as watching the citizens of Bonesborough. Yea, it might be a little bit creepy, but what else was there to do. You got to know many of them quite nicely over the years, but the person that interested you the most was the Emperor of the land. He had a nice grip on the people of the city, but the part that made you interested in observing him is the fact that he hasn’t died yet. The general lifespan for a supposed witch is around 80-100 years, but from what you recall, you had been observing him for around 200. You wished to mess with him, since he seemed like not the best guy, but you swore off using your powers after those 100 years of searching for your brother. But soon, something would come that would cause your waiting to end.

You sat on your mountain as you normally would, your knees pressed to your chest. There was a big event that the Emperor was holding. You didn’t know the details, but the entire city was joining which was unusual. You watched as many different kinds of airships and robed individuals flooded into the area where it was headed. You had a bad feeling about this, you had considered leaving for elsewhere, but curiosity got the better of you, so you stuck around to see what was happening. Soon enough, the Emperor you got to know so well was projected to a larger scale across the arena and began to talk to the residents of the boiling isles. You sat up in your seat, glaring at his hologram with intent and interest. He gestures over to the almost-complete eclipse as his hologram fades away. 

You look over to your camp, where you would walk around every once in a while, the place you set up to be home. You considered leaving it to get a better seat, but you had been here for so many years. You figured that you would be back after it had ended, so you teleported over to the arena. You perched behind one of the large pillars around it, occasionally peaking around it to see what the Emperor was doing. You see multiple people enter a platform as they begin standing around in a circle as they soon begin to fight. You didn’t know what they were fighting over, but you were glad that you were able to watch something, since the Emperor hadn’t made his way up onto the platform yet.

You stared at the moon and the sun, they hadn’t crossed paths, but they were just about to. You decide to take a break from the fight and pay attention to the eclipse. You watch as it slowly rises to where the sun rests inch by inch intensely, you just wanted it to happen already so that this ceremony would get interesting, but when it did, all hell broke loose. A bright yellow light shines through every person to be seen as their screams echo the arena. What was happening? Would they be okay? You noticed that you weren’t affected which was weird, but maybe you could try and stop it? You didn’t want to give away your existence, but you also didn’t want to just stand there and do nothing. You look up to the eclipse and all the energy draining from the people all the way up to it, “That must be where the power is going…” You shush to yourself. 

You look to your hands, your weak hands that handled weak magic. You couldn’t move the moon, that was too much for you. You were made with more physical strength than magical, it would be nearly impossible to match the magical ability of any one of the stars above. The only person you knew that could potentially stop this would be your brother. His magical ability would be unmatched for anybody on the isles, even more powerful than their creator, but he was gone. The Isles were doomed to be taken over by the eclipse and the spell that made it act this way. You knew the moon and the sun when you were still residing in the stars above, and you know that they wouldn’t do anything to hurt the people of any of their planets, atleast, that's what you remember. The people were dying, and you couldn’t do anything to stop it and without the people here, you would be lonely again, much like you were 400 years ago.

Everything stops as fast as the snap of a finger as the moon is forcefully moved away from the sun. You looked up to the sky to see it turned from red, back to the calm orangish-blue you have come to love. You look around dumbfoundedly for the cause of such a miracle, but none was to be seen. Was that part of the plan? You assumed not, something or someone had to have done this and you certainly didn’t think it was The Emperor, finished playing a fun little prank on the isles, he wasn’t that powerful. There was only one person who you think could have done it. Your thinking was interrupted as your attention was drawn to a loud rumbling noise from behind you. You turn back to see the Emperor's castle being taken apart piece by piece as it begins floating in the air in a spiral pattern. You see something in the middle. You see someONE in the middle. 

You stumble as you walk towards the edge of the tower as you look up at them. It's him. You start to shed tears as you recognize the person. You jump off the tower as you teleport towards one of the floating rocks above the person. You watch as they spin and turn with joy as they continue destroying the land around them,. “COLLECTOR!” You shout at them. 

They seemed to recognize your voice, as they turned around to you quickly with a giant smile coating their face. “Y/N!” They should back as they forcefully gravitate you towards them, ending in a giant embrace. 

The Collector spun you around as they laughed and you couldn’t help but laugh too. Your brother hadn’t changed a bit, and you were so happy. This was it. This is what you had been waiting years, no, centuries for. You had spent that time looking for him, and you had finally found him. You were no longer lonely anymore, you had your family back. The world may be ending for the mortals down below, but you finally had the only person you had ever known back. Even though you had been looking over the people of the boiling isles for years, and even though you could see their fear and hear their screams, you suddenly didn’t care. You didn’t care if they were suffering, you didn’t care if they're home and families were dying, as long as you had your family back, it all didn’t matter.

Finally! A fic I didn't have to import to AO3! Tysm for the request! I had a lot of fun writing it!

Lots of Love -Niko🥞

[loyaltykask]

Chapter 32

@journeythroughjourneytothewest

So by chapter 32 imma say that they are like three years together at this point, or at least 2 and a half since it is spring again and Sanzang met Wukong in like Fall/Winter.

So love that it is a thing that Wukong know the heart suntra more than Sanzang and he can take it to heart even more

It is impressive that here Wukong is actaully talking about custody and arrests rather than straight-up murder. Either he changed his tune and is willing to go the extra mile to arrest demons but I think that kinda neat that he knows the legislation of which jurisdiction is overseeing what kind of demons

Guy: They want to eat you Wukong: okay but like.... how?

WUKONG WANTS TO KNOW

Wukong DEADASS YOU ARE A BLESSING

HE knows how he wanna dies

Wukong: I love my sanity sometime last year when we got the pig so like..... just point me in the right direction bub

Wukong: These idiot, don't they know I'm me

Wukong just can't relate

Wukong: Let's see I'll have Bajie go up and fight. He if wins, he wins! If he loses I can save him and rub it in his face! Win-win!

HE REALLY SAID FUCK BAJIE RIGHTS

NOOOOO

HE FAKE CRYING THIS BITCH

SELL THE HORSE AND BUY SANZANG A COFFIN BAJIE DAMN

WUKONG COMES CRYING AND HE PANICS

Tells everyone GO HOME WE LOST BEFORE WE EVEN BEGUN

HE SO WORRIED HE SO CONCERNED

I just just SEE Wukong fucking smirking that he now get to boss around Bajie and Wujing. Wujing deadass standing there like "oh no the power has gone to his head" AND IT HAS SANZANG fell for the crying hook, line, and sinker

Sanzang: Listen to you big brother Wukong: Yeah porky listen to me

He gives Bajietwo choices 1. stay with the master and WHEN you fail you will be beaten or 2. go 'patrol' the mountain ie. go lure the monsters out

Sanzang: stop laughing at your brother Wukong: hehehehohoho Funny Piggy going to get

Wukong: I'm going to go spy on him Sanzang: just please.... don't mess with him Wukong: No promises

These are bully Bajie hours now

OOOO HE CALLED HIS A DODDERING, THE BIMAWEN, AND A SISSY

THIS LITTLE SHIT BE TALKING SHIT

Wukong tuns into a woodpecker to bite him

I think this like the ONLY time I've seen Wukong attack in a transformed form

Damn Bajie have some self respect

HE IS HAVING SO MUCH FUCKING FUN

GOOD FOR HIM

I can't tell.... if Sanzang is saying that Bajie is too stupid to lie and that he just can't see it.... or if he really thinks Wukong likes messing with Bajie enough to get him in trouble on purpose

He just happy he gets to scold the other for once, revenge never tasted more

GBSUKGNSIOEGNSOIENGS "You can beat him later, we in the middle of something right now"

WUKONG DOES NOT CARE PLEASE

NOW BAJIE SCARED THAT EVERYTHING IS WRONG ON HIS PATH HE SO WORRIED

It's funny how these demons find out about Sanzang. Like the heavenly beasts or people just KNOW Sanzang is the Golden Cicada because that was just that some hot gossip. And normal demons just hear either from the grape vines or other demons but deadass these fallen celestials are like 90% of the reason I think everyone knows about Sanzang

LIKE THESE GUYS EVEN HAVE WANTED POSTERS OF THESE GUYS

WHO MADES THESE?!

A common trait of Bajie is that he tries to hide his snout a lot during the journey, he tries to hide it in his chest/shirt like 4 times already. Kinda sad actaully how he wants to hide

Instead of yo mama jokes, they have 'im you daddy now' jokes in 200 AD China

Love that it is acknowledged that Bajie COULD have taken on Silver Horn one-on-one but he got overwhelmed with numbers. Poor guy...

[alwaysrememberjesus]

Joy & Assurance

Luke 2:22-35, Psalm 97

In today’s reading, we meet Simeon - a righteous man who was close to the Father and was looking forward to Israel’s consolation. He knew thanks to the Holy Spirit that he would get to meet the Messiah before passing away and was holding fast to that promise. Experts believe that he could have been about 200 years old when the day finally came! Can you imagine how he must have felt some days during that span of time? When you’re in a season of waiting, it’s not really something that you want to brag about. There’s often conflicting feelings between the excitement towards the goodness that is to come and the discontentment towards the season that you’re currently in. It can lead to us feeling stuck, confused, isolated, and impatient. But when that day of blessing and closure comes, how incredible is it?

The day that Simeon had been expectantly waiting for finally arrived, and it’s like he finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. God remembered the promise He made, He fulfilled it, and Simeon got to see His faithfulness in the most pure and holy form played out in front of him. This line in his prophetic praise sums it up: “My eyes have seen your salvation”. What an absolute privilege that must have been! He knew that this young, innocent baby was going to be so much more than just that; Jesus was going to be the mighty warrior to shatter the schemes of the enemy.

Just as Simeon walked in joy and assurance of God being reliably Himself, we can as well. In Psalm 97, the Psalmist describes just how sovereign our God is. He says that “righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne”, that “the mountains melt like wax before the LORD”, and that “the heavens proclaim his righteousness”. At a glance, this may instill a fear of the Lord, which is a completely appropriate response. But it shouldn’t go unnoticed that this Psalm opens with the line, “The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad”. This establishes a standard of celebration of who God is! We can walk daily with the assurance that Simeon walked in because of Christ’s Lordship. We can rest in His promises and know that they will be fulfilled. We can worship, leading us to joy and eternal rest.

[lunar-wandering]

hello this is the reposession agency /j so! about those lego ocs I am really sorry the original response was meant to be something along the lines of 'yes, give them to me in alphabetical order', hence the [hj] BUT I thought it was kinda stupid so I edited it and FORGOR TO DELETE THE TONE TAG AND WELL- how a-a-a-awkward can I be-

anyway- If you ever feel like writing about them in detail, or just the general basics, know that you'll have at least one person interested in reading all that (me)

i love legos, i love ocs It's a win-win for me

thatisallhaveanicedayslashevening

was holding off on answering this cause i wanted to gather like. art of all of them. and then i got tired of that so we're just answering this without art additions but just know they DO exist for some of them.

note, some of these OC's have AU's where they're not LMK OC's but yknow. i like em as LMK OC's.

anways lets goooo (i'm most likely forgetting some. don't worry about it).

Qiu Shi; he/him, pink monkey demon, sound based powers/sonic scream, decided that Wukong was his younger brother immediately upon seeing him (when Wukong jumped through a waterfall). using Wukong's circlet (placed around his neck) to prevent his sonic scream from activating on accident, was trapped under a tree for 200 - 300 years

Lei Mu; he/him, purple monkey demon, plant based powers, has a blue rose instead of a heart, was promised his heart back if he defeated Qiu Shi (he's the one who trapped him under a tree), can't remember anything from before he met his toxic ex girlfriend, TRAUMA.

Li Miao; he/they, purple monkey demon 2, light based powers, is Lei Mu's twin brother, a really good cook, is cursed to only be able to tell the truth (he has a potion that cancels out the effects, so nobody knows about it, but if he sleeps the potion wears off and he has to take it again), and worked as a thief for a period of time

Ju Wu; she/her, another monkey demon (i have a lot y'all should buckle up at this point), electricity based powers, was trapped in a video game for an extended period of time and now occasionally will glitch out.

Kaixue; he/him, blue and gold monkey demon, the Macaque Spirit King, wears golden ribbons that are semi-sentient and move based on his emotions/commands and their own free will. has some ice/wind based powers. gave away three of his emotions in order to save his kingdom.

Kiao; he/him, monkey demon, smoke based powers, he's Kaixue's doppelganger and he's really upset about it. he was chained up in a cave for an extended period of time, for Some Reason??

Monsoon; they/them, monkey demon, Qiu Shi's biological younger brother, mute, is an assassin.

Buttercup; he/him, honestly why am i even clarifying monkey demon at this point, has healing powers- but it works in that he takes the injuries onto himself. he's very mean btw

okay lets head over into the ocxcanon territory (honestly Buttercup might get moved here at some point) (also this is separated from the rest cause i know some people might wanna skip it);

Sel; she/he/they, selkie, hit their head on a boat, got lost, and ended up on Flower Fruit Mountain. can taste magic. shipped with both Wukong and Macaque.

Kechi; he/him, mer-monkey, full out does not know what a monkey is for a bit which is hysterical considering he is one, is just a silly guy tbh, lies a lot, shipped with Macaque

Shuiyue (and Qianlan); he/him, Shuiyue APPEARS human, he's not though, he was like. born from the moons reflection on the water. he frequently manipulates water to make it look like he has horns so people think he's a dragon though. he makes a deal with a water spirit named Qianlan, and they share a body. shipped with Wukong. (they have this whole villainous plan thing and the spell they need requires doing a couples dance with someone very powerful. so. he decides to woo Wukong. but then the both of them end up falling in love with him for Reals).

sitting here staring at the ceiling trying to remember if there's anyone else... there probably is but its like 1:17am lmao im sleepy

[annaphoenix1994]

Ch.128 - Dipshits.

Previous Chapter - Masterlist 1; Masterlist 2 - Next Chapter

Kiera discusses her next strategy with Rob; Simon catches Baler falling in with the wrong crowd by playing Cowboy Poker.

“It’s about time you showed up for lunch!” Robert chuckled while he joined her in her office, sitting down at the small table that was close to the window, looking out towards the vague frame of the Tetons in the far distance, only knowing the mountain range due to its shape alone. “I got you a chicken wrap from the café. Hope you weren’t craving anything else.”

“That’s fine, Rob. Thank you.” Kiera shook her head, kindly accepting the fresh chicken Caesar wrap he had brought her as a kind gesture.

As well as a reward for helping him make a fuck ton of money within the last few months.

“So, are you excited to finally be taking full control of this office?”

“Terrified, but it’s how I learn.” She shrugged.

“Well, what’s your first move?”

“For one, I’m going to take down Jenkins. Any fucking way I can,” She scoffed, eagerly curling her index finger under the tab of her can of Dr. Pepper. “You get these land developers like him who find pristine recreational property, build whatever they desire and sell the dream – no major problems arise unless you have cocksuckers like Jenkins who desire to take it further: building hotels and casinos. They all end up leaving because they can’t generate enough cash flow after trying to turn it into New York City.”

“That’s right. You can’t make a big business out of raw land with real estate.” Rob nodded.

“Exactly.”

“What’re you going to do?”

“We set up a fund – a fund that buys land and puts it into a conservation easement which cuts the property tax by 2/3’s by the end of the year. Then we go to the Department of Agriculture and enroll the land in a CRP.”

“What’s a CRP?”

“It’s the federal government paying us not to farm it.”

Rob scoffed, “Now why would the federal government willingly pay its citizens not to do something that brings in revenue? That just doesn’t make sense to me.”

“To control the supply. They won’t have to worry about local farmers – or people like Jenkins – diluting the market. It’s shit, but it’s a benefit for us.”

“What’s the turnaround look like?”

Kiera shrugged, “A government pay per acre, per year depending on land. The last I checked in Wyoming, it’s between $200-$300 an acre. That also goes for Montana, Utah, and Colorado – except Colorado is more stingy with where its money goes.”

“So the government will pay the land off for us in seven years?”

“We’ll pretty much become landlords who are paid not to rent.”

“Hm. Sounds like a pyramid scheme.”

“With the government at the bottom for once, then yeah. Let’s start with a $100,000,000 investment in land, then we funnel the CRP funds into more land purchases and buy probably up to 30,000 acres per year without spending a dime. We make a profit by year two with a net revenue of $45,000,000 per year.”

“The more we buy, the more the number increases?”

“Sound like a good retirement plan for you?”

“Of course it does, but why hasn’t anyone does this before?”

“They can’t afford it, but we can.”

“What’s in it for you, Kiera?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Something is buried within you.”

“I’m just doing my job,” She assured him. “And I’m doing the best I can to protect my father’s ranch and legacy for as long as I can.”

“I understand,” Rob nodded. “We’ll put the land into the hedge fund and use the brokers to buy up the land. Don’t haggle on price, Kiera. You know what to do.”

“Otherwise, you wouldn’t have given me the reins.”

*

Kiera’s fingers ached with as much as she had been typing on her computer, silently thankful that she had forced herself to upgrade from the slow HP desktop to an iMac, which hit the spot on her aesthetic, finding herself to be slightly more organized than she thought. Impressive, she mused.

Breaking her gaze from her computer, her head throbbed once she broke her focus to look for the source of the vibrations from her phone. Shit, already 5:00? “Hey.”

“What’re you up to, love?” Simon asked softly on the other end of the phone.

“Getting ready to have a meeting with a realtor who’s selling land around the ranch. Going to make an offer on it.”

“Rolling in the bread, yeah?”

She scoffed, “If only it was our money…”

“I’m sure I’d see signs,” He chuckled. “Coming home after?”

“Most definitely. My eyes have been so strained and my head has been hurting since I came in this morning. I ran into our buddy this morning.”

“Who?”

“Jenkins. I stopped at the diner for breakfast because I was craving strawberry banana pancakes and knew Ruby was there. That fucker was there, too. Me and him had a little word.”

“I bet that went well.”

“About like you could imagine. Couldn’t keep my big mouth shut.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” He poked. “So… Cravings, huh?”

She swore she had heard him smile at the thought.

“It’s been a few weeks now… I need to check and see if we have another one on the way,” She giggled. “Guess I have a stop to make on my way home, huh?”

“I’d love to see that. Your daughter has been babbling dada all day and I’ve been on a Cloud 9. If only I can get Jacob to finally talk without saying gibberish.”

“That’s because they’re babies, Simon,” She scoffed playfully. “The realtor’s coming in. This shouldn’t take long. Want me to call you back?”

“You can call me back or I can mute myself, love. I’m just sitting on the couch watching Evie and Jacob sleep.”

“Where’s Baler?”

“Bunkhouse. He and Johnny have been bullying each other about playing poker and Teeter kept instigating it, so that’s what he’s been doing since he’s been home from school.”

“Christ, that boy,” Kiera shook her head, glancing up at the realtor who had walked in, setting his briefcase down next to him in the chair while he sat in front of Kiera’s desk.

“Did I come in at a wrong time?” He asked, his tone nearly irritated at not only the fact that he had to deal with a woman, but being a man of strict order when it came to appointments. When you say to be here at 5:00, I expect you to be ready, not talking on the phone. Fucking women.

Oh, but he had no idea what he was up against…

And she noticed this, making it a point to piss him off even more for her own benefit. “Just mute yourself, Simon.” She advised, also sending him a quick text to inform him that he wanted to hear the rest of the conversation.

“What’ve you got for me, David?” She asked, watching him huff before stacking a file on her desk with the plot of land that he was able to provide for her that was for sale.

“Hope this best suits your needs.” He commented.

She arched her brow as she looked over the file as well as the photos that he had taken for the marketing on his iPad. “How many acres?”

“418. Asking price is $6,000.000. Has a water source, two houses, a separate garage, horse barn, indoor arena that’s air-conditioned and heated. The whole nine yards.”

“How motivated are the sellers?”

David scoffed, “Well, they thought spending the winter here was better than being in South Carolina. You tell me.”

You cocky motherfucker, she scoffed to herself. I’m going to ruin your ego in a few minutes. “Offer $4,000,000. No escrow – cash. One week close.”

“Wouldn’t you want to see it first?”

“Seeing it now.”

“Okay… You didn’t strike me as the type that would just buy something without seeing it.”

“You’d be surprised, buddy,” She retorted. “No negotiations. Offer the four and a week close. Surely they’d be eager to move back east for a mild winter.”

“Care to see one more that might better suit your interest?”

“Why not.”

David nodded, removing another file from his briefcase before setting it on her desk, taking the iPad and opening the other folder for his next proposal. “800 acres that ties into the national forest on the west, view of the Grand Tetons from the back patio, nothing but hunting land. It’s not available, but I know the people—”

“Then why are you showing it to me?”

“You… Wanted to see every large plot in the northwest part of Wyoming?”

“For sale.”

A brief moment of silence fell between the two, making dominant eye contact as if they were challenging each other. “It’s called Wren Acres.”

“Why’s it named after a wren?” She questioned curiously, truly wondering why a plot of land would be called something opposite to what species resided there.

“Who the fuck knows,” David scoffed. “Maybe it’s because they’re from South Carolina?”

“What’s with the wit, David?” Kiera asked softly, her adrenaline pumping as she was eager to make another man mad that she would be questioning his dominance. “Quick math for your commission making you feel eager? Damn, you’re showing us properties that aren’t even for sale. Man, you’re on a roll. Might go home and lay some pipe to the ole’ lady.”

He scoffed in astonishment as well as surprise. It’s kinda hot when a woman thinks she can be more assertive than me… “Wha-?”

“Get out of my office.”

“Kiera, I don’t—”

“Get the fuck out of my office. When you make a proposal, fax it to me so I don’t have to look at you again.”

“Maybe I won’t.”

“You won’t or I will,” She shrugged. “You can lose your commission and I’ll go and lay pipe to your ole lady. Your choice.”

He scoffed, gathering his files and iPad before stuffing them back into his briefcase. “I’d like to see that.”

“I bet you would. Go write up the offer so I don’t have to. When you get your commission I want you to shove it so far up your waxed ass,” She scoffed, glaring at him while she watched him storm out of her office before mumbling, “Fuck, I hate real estate agents.” To Simon once she directed her conversation back at him, hearing him chuckling at her conversation while patiently waiting for it to end, although a part of him hoped it wouldn’t end, he quite thoroughly enjoyed watching Kiera be assertive to people, including him. It’s so bloody sexy when she tells me like it is, he mused to himself. “You remind me every day why I’m glad to be on your good side, love.”

“Did I forget to mute you?”

“Sure did, but I don’t mind. At least I was assured that you didn’t have another man in your office for another type of meeting…” He poked.

“That’s tomorrow,” She scoffed back, her tone nearly assertive, even though sarcasm was a thick underlier. “I’m finishing up and heading home. What do you want for dinner?”

“Remember, it’s Friday. Your mum was going to cook dinner and we go over there.”

“That’s right. I forgot to call her earlier—”

“Don’t stress about it. She called me and I took the kids over there around noon. She asked me to help her hang a few frames around the house that the poor lass couldn’t reach.”

“Awe, look at you being a house-husband.”

“Gotta do something while I’m on time off from work. Feels nice to do nothing with something on occasion.”

“I’m sure, babe. I’m heading to the truck now. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Be safe. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

*

“Got a whole hand of ‘em, boys!” Frankie taunted the others, his free hand full of cards while the other clutched a bottle of beer.

“Easy to say when you’re not in it.” Dirk teased from across the table.

“What’s eatin’ you, Baler? I know that’s not your poker face!” Lawson snickered, nudging the teen with his elbow.

“Yeah, you look like you’re about to take a shite!” Johnny laughed, tossing into the blind that sat piled in the middle of the table.

“Maybe I am…” Baler sighed, the corner of his mouth raising into a smirk before tossing the winning draw onto the table, watching the rest of the playing wranglers sigh in defeat.

“You son of a bitch!” Frankie sighed, folding his hand before twining his fingers behind his head while Lawson tossed his ballcap to the floor.

“Is this all we’re gonna do?” Teeter groaned impatiently.

“It’s what we always do?...” Frankie answered, his brows furrowed.

“Is it just one set of nuts y’all share?” She taunted, making Dirk laugh.

“Aside from the ones I’m wearing, I think your lady has the only ones in this room.”

“You’re probably right, mate.” Johnny huffed, his face flushed.

“When I was your age, we were out in the arena playing real poker… Cowboy Poker.”

“Now that sounds fun!” Teeter chimed.

“Wh-What is that?” Johnny asked.

“Oh, it’s real fun, baby. Involves a lot of whiskey and gettin’ a lil dirty!” She mused, leaning down from behind him to kiss his cheek.

“What exactly is it?” Baler asked, his expression just as confused as Johnny’s.

“We’re not playing it, so it doesn’t matter.” Frankie answered abruptly, shaking his head and beginning to shuffle a deck of cards.

“Bock… Bock, bock…” Dirk trailed off, chewing on the end of his cigar.

“That old fart is taunting me!” Baler scoffed. “Let’s do it.”

“Boy, your balls haven’t even dropped yet and you’re wanting to risk not ever growing them!” Lawson sighed.

“And your dad will kill us.” Johnny reminded, arching his brow. “Especially me for letting you do it.”

“Afraid you all will lose? It’s a damn shame mine haven’t even dropped and I have more balls than all of you combined.” Baler shrugged.

“Goddammit,” Frankie sighed. “Let’s go.”

All members of the table stood to their feet, anxious and ready for whatever this so-called game was. Knowing that it was taking place in an arena, it was about to get messier than what Teeter had explained.

*

“Don’t worry, baby! Ye be alright! I’m gonna stay behind the fence here!” Teeter snickered, clasping her hands over Johnny’s shoulders as she stood behind him once he sat down in the plastic chair, setting an open bottle of whiskey in his lap before her lips rested on his temple. “Drink up. Ye gonna need some liquid courage!”

Johnny nodded, never hesitating before taking a large sip of the liquor before passing it to Frankie, watching him repeat the motion before he passed it to Lawson, watching him take a small swig before passing it to Baler, shocked to see him take a drink just like Simon would as well as never making a sour face after he swallowed.

“Goddamn, kid, you stealin’ whiskey when your dad ain’t home?” Dirk commented, surprised.

“Nah, I just had a rough life before this place, old man,” He retorted. “More liquid courage, Frankie? You look like a puss right now.”

“Fuck you. You sound just like my sister.” He retorted, referring to Kiera as she was his sibling.

“Taught me well, didn’t she?”

“Now, what’s the rules?”

“Last one at the table keeps the pot,” Lawson answered, his form visibly trembling from adrenaline and fear. “Pass me some more of that.”

“Drink up, dipshits,” Dirk laughed. “You’re going to need it.”

“You two are getting horse traded by this old bastard and he isn’t even drinking anything.” Baler taunted.

“This is fucking nuts!” Lawson shouted, desperate to pump himself up to hide his fear.

“Quit crying!” Baler scoffed. “We’re ready!”

“Yeah, there’s not a lot smart about this…” Frankie sighed.

“Here we go, ladies,” Baler continued, taking a final long swig of the burning whiskey before shouting, “Ready!”

Johnny took a deep breath when he heard the gate open, a set of thunderous hooves colliding with the sand while Teeter shouted at the bovine, the radio that was perched on the ground to provide as background music blared Mud by Whiskey Myers as the bull charged into the arena, looking around frantically before setting its sights on the table in the middle of the arena, each player sitting as still as they possibly could as the bull charged closer, bowing its head for its desired impact, Baler sitting on the other end of the table and physically watched the bull charge as if it were charging at just him.

With a sharp thud and the air kicked from his lungs, Baler steadily stood on his feet to flee to the nearest fence, watching as he was the last one in the arena, unaware that the other players had fled with adrenaline after being rammed by the bull, Johnny and Teeter both encouraging Baler to run with adrenaline still coursing through their veins, Dirk’s aching limbs helping the teenager over the top of the fence rail with a laugh while he did his best to dust him off. “That’s some cowboy shit, boy!” He shouted with excitement.

“That’s… That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done!” He laughed. “But that was fucking awesome!”

“Ye okay baby, no missin’ teeth?! Your pecker still on right? I ain’t need no limp’n!” Teeter questioned Johnny, looking him over while he gasped for air and clutched his ribs.

“I’m fine, bonnie. Bastard hit me right in the ribs.” He groaned.

“Balls of steel!” Frankie laughed, patting Baler on the shoulder as he limped towards the barn, regrouping with the rest of the wranglers as they all gasped for air.

“Are you alright?”

“Fuckin’ peachy.” Baler groaned, wiping the blood from his nose.

“You might need this.” Lawson said, reaching the bottle of leftover whiskey to the teen as he took it eagerly, finishing it off without a second thought, even if Simon had just walked towards the arena to investigate the commotion, the wranglers unaware that the blaring music had caught his attention as it was very rare of the wranglers to throw a “party.”

“He lost his hat, so he owes us a six pack and a new radio.” Frankie teased, the players still unaware of Simon’s deathly gaze as he was storming towards them.

“The fuck I do!” Baler scoffed. “Give me my money!”

“Fine!” He scoffed, slapping the fifty-dollar bill into the teen’s palm, watching with a scowl as he had eagerly fisted it into his back pocket.

“What the fuck are you bastards doing?” Simon shouted.

The wranglers were wide-eyed, looking like a bunch of deer in oncoming headlights, nearly scared out of their wits and suddenly wishing they were caught slacking on the job instead of what they had just done, the worst of it willingly letting a teenager drink whiskey like an old man.

“Uhm… It’s Friday.” Baler answered for them, hoping that the day of the week would at least help him and the wranglers out of this situation.

“I know what bloody day it is, lad!” He shouted. “Why were you in the arena with that bull and why are you bloody?!”

“We were tryin’ to milk him!” Teeter snickered, knowing that Simon wouldn’t be as inclined to scold her in front of Johnny.

Boy, what she wrong.

“Not the fucking time,” He glared, more irritated that his son was battered and bloody – something that always drove under his skin as he always felt he needed to be the one to protect him, even in his wrong decisions. But Simon wouldn’t admit that he was impressed with the kid. You just took a beating by a two-thousand pound bull and still got up. You have some serious guts, kid. “Lad, go to the house and tell your mum what you just did.”

“N-No, I—”

“I’m not going to tell you again.”

Then, the teen did something that truly caught Simon off guard. He scoffed at him.

Simon arched his brow – a warning. “Get the furball out, then go to the house and tell your mum what you just did.”

Baler scoffed again.

“If you *scoffing sound* one more time, I’ll choke you for real.”

The rest of the wranglers laughed as Baler limped away in defeat.

“Balls of steel when it comes to a bull, but going home like a kitten when he’s in trouble.” Lawson teased.

“I’d be more afraid of going home if I were him,” Dirk shrugged. “That bull is the least of my worries if it comes down to dealing with Kiera as mad as a wet hen.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I forgot she beat the shit out of Frankie a couple of years ago.” Lawson snickered, nudging Frankie with his elbow before Simon quickly took control of the situation and grasped their coats, knocking them off balance before shoving them back towards the bunkhouse.

“You all get out of here and get yourselves cleaned up. Four a.m. comes early!”

“We never get up at four on Saturday—” Dirk pleaded.

“You all will tomorrow,” He glared. “Maybe you all will learn once you decide to not mess with a bloody rabid bull.”

“Yes, sir.” Dirk nodded, respecting Simon’s leadership as well as understanding his reason for being upset, joining the rest of the wranglers to the bunkhouse, Teeter helping the old man walk as Johnny stayed behind in an attempt to stay on Simon’s good side.

Like a dog who had just been punished.

“You, especially.” He scoffed, arching his brow at Johnny.

“I’m sorry, Simon. It was all just fun—”

“Yeah? How’d that work out for you?”

“Pretty fuckin’ rough,” He breathed a laugh, stuffing his freezing hands into his jacket pockets. “What’re you wanting us to do in the morning?”

“In case you forgot, you said you were coming hunting with me and the boy tomorrow.”

“I’d rather work,” Johnny sighed. “Hunting with you is like a recon mission. After being with Teeter for so long, I don’t know how to keep my mouth shut for longer than an hour.”

“You’ve never been able to keep your mouth shut,” Simon retorted. “Who won?”

“Your kid. Little bastard never moved.” Johnny huffed, relieved once he saw a prideful smile spread across Simon’s face at his answer.

“Is that right?”

“The kid is a walking stick of dynamite. He’s a perfect mix of you and Kiera and he isn’t even blood-related to you. Makes me wonder how your actual kids will turn out.” He poked.

“I can assure you, if my daughter grows up with Kiera’s attitude and my stubbornness and I catch her out here playing this stupid game like you all were playing tonight, every one of you would be dead and she’d be locked up in the house until she was an adult.”

“Don’t lie, you wouldn’t even let her out of the house when she was an adult!”

“You’re probably right.”

[eirasummers]

He compartido 6851 publicaciones este 2022

¡Son 159 más que en 2021!

76 publicaciones originales (1 %)

6775 reblogueos (99 %)

Estos son los blogs que más he reblogueado:

@missbonekitty

@kokone12

@tisafinedayforsimping

@cloudofdarkness

@simps-reblogs

He etiquetado 3787 publicaciones en 2022

Solo el 45 % de mis publicaciones no incluye ninguna etiqueta

#twst: 1653 publicaciones

#lmao: 476 publicaciones

#<3: 379 publicaciones

#om: 217 publicaciones

#mxtx: 200 publicaciones

#enstars: 150 publicaciones

#my art: 143 publicaciones

#cute!: 125 publicaciones

#gi: 96 publicaciones

#aww: 76 publicaciones

La etiqueta más larga tiene 137 caracteres

#but soon i realized i could just take the jeans off and just sleep in underwear so i started doing that when it happened after that hahah

Mis publicaciones más populares este 2022:

5

He made me go to pity but I GOT HIM! 🎉🎉��

I'm working on a drawing of him lately, I'll try to finish it soon as celebration~ Or at least finish it before the event ends xD

8 notas. Fecha de publicación: 14 de noviembre de 2022

4

I was about to sleep but got hit with depressing sad thoughts....

Hopefully I can push them down and fall asleep 😢

8 notas. Fecha de publicación: 10 de abril de 2022

3

I usually don't post much of my random happenings here buuuuut

MY SON CAME HOME!!!

It only took 40 pulls, I was blessed 🙏🙏🙏 I'm now working on a drawing to thank him for coming ♡

12 notas. Fecha de publicación: 31 de enero de 2022

2

Twst questions

I was tagged by @deeva-arud here, but the post was getting long so I decided to answer them in a new one. I hope that's ok! Here we go:

Would you be a mer, a beastman, a fae, or a human? (or other!)

Mmm… maybe a lioness beastwoman?? If we're being actually realistic it would be a simple human but we're having fun here hahah

Would you be at rsa or nrc?

I don't really fit completely in either, but since RSA would be to stuck up, probably NRC.

What dorm would you belong to?

Ignihyde, but I refuse. I wish it were Savanaclaw, but I won't be xD

What character(s) would you be best friends with?

I would probably get along best with Rook? And Epel too. I'd probably get along with Cater and Kalim too, even if they'd be too extroverted for my poor introverted soul hahaha Also… Trey too. He seems nice to hang out with.

What character(s) would you hate?

Well, I already can barely stand Idia and Azul without knowing them in person… so probably them lol

What character(s) would you date?

Well, the dream would be Vil, but he wouldn't like me back xDDD So maybe Leona or Ruggie?? None of them would like me back tho hahaha

What would Floyd’s nickname be for you?

I am so bad at thinking this stuff, but my friend Sha always associates me with sharks, so we'll go with that one even if Floyd would not give me that one in a million years XDD

And Rook’s?

Again, really bad at these. Maybe something like "Dame verte"??

What twst character(s) are you most like? (personality-wise)

Jamil, definitely.

Which subject(s) do you think you would excel at?

All the Sciency ones, Biology, Potions, Alchemy…

What club would you join?

Mountain Lover's Club. Maybe also drop in the Light Music Club sometimes~

How do you think you would survive in twisted wonderland/what would your life be like in general?

I'd just have a normal quiet life. Just minding my own business at school, not really trying too hard not lazying too much (let's go with that xD). Just a normal person from a normal background hahaha

[Optional!] What would your unique magic be?

Nothing really specific comes to mind, but some kind of healing magic, for sure~ Tagging: @kokone12 @missbonekitty @kirayamidemon @chervtheherb @anevilbunnyinthehat @fumikomiyasaki @atwstedstory @evilcokito @rozengrotto and anyone else who wants to do it! (Also, you can ignore the tag too xD)

15 notas. Fecha de publicación: 30 de septiembre de 2022

Mi publicación más popular de 2022

I've been using Riddle and Azul's double duo a lot for the training camp battles and they're so op 🙏

Azul's card is my friend Milka's card~ I couldn't pass these battles without her 😌

32 notas. Fecha de publicación: 5 de marzo de 2022

Descubre tu resumen del 2022 en Tumblr →

[beatrice-otter]

💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

Aha. Ahaha. Ahahahahaha.

This is a tough one because I have trouble narrowing down to my top favorite ANYTHING, and you want me to choose between my BABIES? I've been writing fanfic for a decade and a half, I've got over 200 fic on AO3, how am I supposed to narrow this down.

However. Let's see what we can do.

open your heart knowing. Geordi had no idea what his soulmark meant, until he saw Data's manual. I had fun writing this one, and it's both the first Geordi/Data I've ever written AND the first podfic I ever recorded.

Keshta'shivau. Star Trek AOS. "All Vulcans are constrained. By our biology, by our clans, by our whole society. But women more so than men, and offworlder women married to Vulcan men most of all." Nyota loves Spock. But she can't have him without taking Vulcan culture, too. I love me some Vulcans, and I love Vulcan worldbuilding, but holy cow, I would not want to be a Vulcan. Or marry one.

That Tender Light. Spock and Nyota are colleagues and friends, nothing more. But now that Spock's bond with T'Pring has been broken, he can't help noticing Nyota in new ways. Good, solid TOS Spock/Uhura.

The Mountain Rose Before Me. The fal-tor-pan is an ancient and dangerous rite, unused for centuries. It is not done lightly. High Priestess T'Lar considers. More Vulcan culture and worldbuilding, this time with religion!

Solivagant. The chain of events that had led a Vulcan woman to Earth, alone, crashed on an alien world light-years out of her way, was quite improbable. But statistics said that even improbable things must happen sometime. Or, the one where Hollywood star Cyd Charisse was a Vulcan. This one is not just crack, it is niche crack. But one time I was watching a Cyd Charisse musical (The Bandwagon, from 1953, if you're curious) and she sings the line "the art that appeals to the heart" and while everyone else is putting their hands over their hearts, she puts hers at her side where a Vulcan's heart would be. This fic comes entirely from me noticing that and snickering, and then not being able to forget it until years later I finally sat down and wrote the dang thing.

To The Stars. Lina Lamont: Mad Scientist. Singin' in the Rain fic about Lina, something I could never have imagined writing until I saw the prompt and had to write it. I really do love the way it turned out.

Past Lives. (WIP but not abandoned.) This is the craziest thing that's ever happened to Finn, and that's saying something. All he wants to do is get back home, but that may not be possible. Failing that, he'd like to change things … but the First Order's history classes for stormtroopers leave a lot to be desired. I love the premise (the ST did Finn dirty!) and I have every intention of finishing it someday, but this is exactly why I should never post WIPs. I get close to the end and then ... nope, nothing.

Home Is Not A Place. They all have different wants and needs. Somehow, they're going to figure this out. Star Wars Legends, Luke/Lando/Mara. This is my OTP, folks, the one that has lived in my brain since reading the old Legends EU as a teenager. I love Luke/Mara, I love Lando/Mara, and when I wrote this fic I discovered that I love Lando/Luke and Luke/Lando/Mara just as much.

Family Matters (The Things Inside Remix). Dee is on Pegasus, finding her place. A Six is on New Caprica, learning what she doesn't know. Lee Adama is a Cylon prisoner, but this is not his story. A New Caprica AU. Battlestar Galactica had so many awesome characters and plot ideas ... and also a lot of hooks and places to write fanfiction. This one grabbed me by the throat and I wrote all 32k words of it in just a couple of weeks, it's probably my highest-ever wordcount-per-week. And I came out of it with a fic I still love!

Will the Cycle Be Unbroken. All this has happened before. Hera wakes up on a Cylon ship, before the Twelve Colonies are attacked. I had a lot of fun with this one, too, especially figuring out the Hybrid's dialogue.

From Castle to Palace. Beauty and the Beast (1991)/French History RPF. The curse is broken. Belle and her Beast would be happy to just live quietly together in the curse-free castle. Unfortunately, the rest of France has other ideas … This was another one of those that took me by the throat and DEMANDED to be written and carried me along for 17k words before I managed to end it. If I had had more time, or if I'd known more of French history of the late 18th and early 19th Century, it would have gone so much longer. And hey, if anyone who knows French history wants to write the story where the Beast becomes King Louis XVI of France with Belle at his side (instead of his younger brother, the Louis who was married to Marie Antoinette),and what that does to the French Revolution, I would love you forever.

And I could keep going, folks, it was painful to narrow this down to this few fics, but these are (at least at this particular moment) the ones I love the most.

[probablygayattorneys]

Blog update

For the past year or so, this blog has posted twice a day. Once at a random time between 6:30-7:30 AM MST and once at a random time between 11:30 AM-12:30 PM MST.

Starting tomorrow, this blog will post once a day at noon MST exactly.

I am going to explain why below but before I do, I'm going to TW for really, really serious mental health issues so... just stop reading if you're not up for that.

I am not well.

It is probably obvious from how absolutely off the wall some of my posts have been that my brain doesn't work like most people but I don't think anyone understands the full extent of just how broken my brain is.

Even my doctors don't agree. Give me a mental disorder, I've probably been diagnosed with it at least once. Autism. Depression. Bipolar. ADHD. BPD. CRSD. GAD. I've got the whole fucking can of alphabet soup in my bowl, but nobody really knows.

What we do know is that during June, at the same time my dad got diagnosed with cancer (don't worry, I didn't even know stage 0 cancer was a thing but apparently they caught it so early they just did a tiny little surgery and now they think he's completely cancer free) my depression hit hard. Legitimately, so bad that I was officially declared disabled by it to keep me on my parents' insurance since I turned 26 in August.

The only song that I can even think of that comes close to trying to describe how I feel is the song Autoclave, by The Mountain Goats. Embedded below if you'd like to listen.

We've done everything. I have a therapist I see weekly. I did a sleep study. I have a psychopharmacologist who has prescribed me enough medications that I could probably not just tranquilize an elephant but also cure the tiger's depression, stabilize the lion's mood, and hook up the ringmaster with some real good shit. We spent 5000 dollars to try an experimental ketamine treatment that insurance didn't cover at all. I've done ECT. I got desperate enough that I tried to turn to religion, I went to a Catholic church just because it was the only denomination open at 3 PM on a Tuesday and I sat in that pew and I prayed for an hour that God would send me someone, just that someone would sit down and say "you seem troubled, child" and nobody fucking came. Then one night I prayed so hard I literally cried, begging God to send me something, some kind of sign, literally anything, to keep going, and the next day my cat knocked over one of my decks of tarot cards and every single card fell face down except the death one. So. There's that. That's only one thing left that I haven't tried, and that's where they're going to take my blood and then sequence my DNA and try and figure out what medication my body would react best to, and I hope that it works because I've been struggling with suicidal ideation since I was 6 and... even if I am a phoenix, I'm getting real fucking tired of rising from the ashes. Everything we've tried is just a fucking cul-de-sac of misery. I have fallen into this rut and I can't get unstuck and this is the worst I've ever felt in my entire life, I'm upset and angry at everything from my grandpa, for dying before I was before so I never got any memories of him, to my cat for not letting me eat in peace, but none moreso than at myself for feeling this way when it is absolutely no one's fault that any of this is happening. The only peace I know is when I'm in a heavily medicated sleep and I can dream all night of freedom but then I wake up but I never wake up free. If you cannot relate to this, then I sure hope you pick a deity and thank them for your luck.

So, what does any of that have to do with the format of this blog changing?

Well, it's simple. I'm not funny anymore. There were times I had 200+ posts in my queue. Right now I have less than 80.

Sometimes, I still have some spark of inspiration (though most of the time it's really more my brother just made another stupid video edit) but the fact of the matter is that I'm just... I'm not producing anything worth a damn thing at the rate things have been posting. This is the only thing I can try to do to make it last a little bit longer while I hope for a miracle because every second of every day I am in pain, it hurts just being awake, like, I am in an agony that most of you probably can't even fathom.

And, well, if it gets to eighty days from now, and there's no more posts, and no more updates... Well, you'll know what happened. I hope you also know that I'm sorry that I couldn't step out of the shadow of my great catastrophe, but I also hope you know that I really, really did try my goddamn hardest.

[larrysland]

This month’s post has two parts   First is this wood burning and staining of an eagle.  As I was creating the mountains I had images of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming that I have seen.  This is not an exact copy of them, just an image inspired by a memory.   

Besides being the national symbol of the U.S. eagles have inspired many thoughts.  Here are two that I like.

You need eagles wings to get over things that make no sense in this world.    Tom Petty

Don’t be a parrot in life, be an eagle.  A parrot talks way to much and can’t fly high.  but an eagle is silent and has the willpower to touch the sky.  Unknown 

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

The second part of this month’s post is based on the fact that tomorrow is Groundhog’s Day!  Attached below is a short story I wrote about it that might explain how it really came to be Groundhog’s Day instead of some other animal.  Hope you enjoy. 

GROUNDHOG DAY

A bear, a bat, and a groundhog walked into a bar on the December Solstice one week before Christmas, 1937 near the Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney.

After an hour of drinking at a corner table Joe Bear brought up the real reason they came here and that they had been avoiding talking about.  “Okay guys.  No putting it off we gotta decide which one of us is going to interrupt our hibernation on Candlemas Day, a little over 7 weeks away, so that the humans can determine how much longer winter will last.”    

“It obviously ain’t gonna be me,” said Slinky the Bat. “When I did that back a hundred years or so ago the humans freaked out and started stories about me being a vampire and drinking blood.  Me and all my relatives nearly got kilt a hundred times over.”

“Yeah, that was bad - ”

“BAD Phil?  Bad - that’s all you can say!?  They nearly murdered me!  Scared the wife and kids horribly!  I’m out of this rotation.  One of you guys will have to do it.  I’ll support you though and every year when we get together like this I’ll buy your drinks for the night.  I’ll buy enough booze for you to sleep real solid for 7 weeks till you got to get up.”

“Okay, okay Slinky, calm down.  Phil didn’t mean nothing bad,” said Joe.  

“Yeah buddy.  Ease down,” said Phil.  Now, Phil was keeping pace with Joe with the number of drinks he was having.  And since a groundhog is smaller than a bear the whiskey was really getting him buzzed.  

“Tell you what guys,” said Phil, “this deciding every year is getting old.  I read The Hobbit a week back.  You remember the riddle game that Bilbo had with Gollum?  Joe, why don’t you and I play riddles and the loser has to do the Candlemas wake-up for the next 200 years and then we will play it again.”

“Dude - you’re on, Let’s do it!  We’ll ask each other questions.  We each get the same number of questions so if we each get one wrong in the same round we have to keep going.  Slinky will be the judge if our answers are different than the one we were thinking of but are still good.  Deal?”

“Deal,” said Phil and they shook paws.

“Here’s your first riddle” said Joe:   A man was driving a black truck. His lights were not on. The moon was not out. A lady was crossing the street. How did the man see her?”

“Easy,” cackled Phil, “It was a bright sunny day - just like it’s gonna be when you have to wake up for Candlemas Day on February 2nd.”

“Shut up mouth.  Give me my riddle,” said Joe.

“Okay Joe, what asks but never answers?” said Phil.

“Hmm…oh, an owl! Yeah, an owl! Cuz it only says ‘who.”

“Okay, now I’m going to answer first in this round” said Joe, “Ask me your riddle Phil.” 

“Here is your riddle:  Take off my skin - I won’t cry, but you will.  What am I?” 

Thinking for over a minute about what made him cry in life Joe finally said, “An onion!  It made me cry when I was making dinner last week.”

“Rats, yeah, that’s it. Now you ask me” said Phil. 

As Joe was drinking and thinking the bar door opened and Dave Squirrel came in, sauntered up to the bar and started talking with the bartender and flirting with the waitress.  Joe saw him and muttered under his breath - “That guy - such a jerk.  I was hoping he wasn’t showing up tonight but I guess he is just late.  I hate how he shows off and tries to impress the girls.  I know how he can do it but it still makes me ask, how can a squirrel jump and move so far, so fast, so high, and at such angles?”

Not completely paying attention due to the booze and all, Phil only heard the last part, only the question.  “Wait - what!  That’s not a fair riddle!” snarled Phil. “No fair, no fair, ask me something else.”

Realizing that he had accidentally stumped Phil ,Joe said, “Yes it is a fair question.  Slinky do you think it is a fair question? Yes or no?”

Slinky felt really bad and uncomfortable at what was happening.  But thinking about it he decided that it was a fair question.  Phil had to answer it.  He also said that Phil could have three guesses instead of one since it was an unusual, but legal, question.  After five minutes of horrible wrenching and wrong guesses Joe was declared the winner but only if he gave them the correct answer as judged by Slinky.

“Squirrels are double jointed in the back legs and that gives them their mobility and strength,” said Joe.  “I win!  C’mon Phil.  It’s not all that bad.  You’re a light sleeper any way and now you’ll get free drinks from Slinky here when we do our Winter Solstice get-together.  I’ll even bring you vegetables and berries sprinkled with vanilla extract cuz I know you like that.

“Besides you do this regularly for a few years and you’ll be famous.  People will call you Punxsutawney Phil which sounds a lot better than Punxsutawney Joe.”

“Yeah, well, okay,” admitted Phil beginning to lighten up when he thought of the free drinks, the free food, and the fame.  Maybe he could even impress that waitress over there.  

But still not wanting to completely give in he glanced over his shoulder again at Dave, shook his head, turned back and muttered to his friends, “I was doing so good, and then there was this squirrel.” 

[antidotefortheawkward-art]

I never uploaded this cuz I didn’t like how the rendering turned out, but back in December, I thought about casting Sun Wukong as the Hecate stand-in for my Nanbei Dynasty Macbeth AU

[nmikaelsonimagines]

Castle on the Hill: A Klaus Mikaelson Imagine

Request from Anon: Can you do an imagine with the song castle on the hill?

Hope this is okay for you lovely, and enjoy x 

Want to hear the song? Find a link to it just below:

Castle on the Hill

Remember to submit your quote and your favourite imagine for Imagine 200 here x

When I was six years old I broke my leg I was running from my brother and his friends

Klaus liked to think about the life he could have had. Maybe instead of running from his father when he was child, he could have run from his brothers, laughing as he did so. Maybe he could have run so fast, he would have fallen, broken his leg, got his mother to heal it with her magic.

Maybe he would have had that, instead of the life he had lived.

But then again, if his life had been different, there was the possibility that he never would have met you. And Klaus would’ve rather endured all the pain, all the torment again and again, than not have you in his life.

He heard your footsteps as you made your way up the stairs, your heartbeat thumping steadily, a rhythm to which he knew every beat, a dance to which he knew every step. It made him feel light, forgetting all that darkness that resided in him every time he heard it.

You were a living, breathing thing – one of few that he didn’t want to destroy, that he wanted to protect from the evils of the world. Evils that included him.

Maybe it was selfish to keep you so close, but when it came to you, Klaus couldn’t help himself.

And tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain grass I rolled down I was younger then, take me back to when I

Your first date seemed like a million years ago, but Klaus remembered it perfectly. He remembered you kicking off your shoes, walking through the Bayou with bare feet. Once you had made it out of the woods and into a clearing, Klaus had picked a daisy, tucking your hair behind your ear and placing the flower in it.

You had laughed, biting your lip before looking up at him. You had leaned up and kissed him then – your first kiss – and Klaus was conscious of how you smelled of the Bayou, of the cut grass, of everything beautiful in the world. He had tangled his hands in your hair, and you had wrapped your arms around his neck, letting him pull you down into the grass.

It was what Klaus had imagined falling in love would be like when he was a teenager. He hadn’t experienced it then, and for a while, part of him wished he had. But then again, if he had, he wouldn’t have fallen in love with you like this and it wouldn’t have been as miraculous as it was.

Found my heart and broke it here Made friends and lost them through the years

Klaus smiled as he remembered that day, as he reminded himself that every kiss felt as perfect as that first one, your footsteps getting louder as you walked towards his studio, your heartbeat echoing in his ears.

Klaus had never felt so lucky. He knew you had issues when it came to trusting people, had had your heart broken, made friends and lost them. It was a perfect reminder that you were human, and another that you had chosen to trust your fragility in his hands.

He would never understand it, but he would selfishly never question it.

Klaus put down his paintbrush, letting himself relax as you wrapped your arms around him from behind, resting your head on his shoulder. “Hey.”

“Hello.” Klaus closed his eyes briefly as your lips brushed his cheek, never quite growing used to your touch. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this?” Klaus knew he was teasing, knew that affection was built into your DNA.

“Mm, shut up.” You nuzzled into his neck, and Klaus knew that something was bothering you.

And I've not seen the roaring fields in so long, I know I've grown But I can't wait to go home

“What’s happened?”

“Nothing.” You kissed his neck, and it took everything Klaus had not to turn around and kiss you until neither of you could breathe.

“Y/N,” he said your name, a warning that you couldn’t escape his questions, that he would keep asking you until he found out the truth, until he found out what it was so he could make it better, so he could make you as happy as you were on that day you were kissing in the field, your legs tangled with his own.

“Niklaus.” It was a tactic Klaus knew well. Using his full name, letting it slide off your tongue in an effort to distract him. It almost worked. Almost.

Klaus turned, pushing you away from him ever so slightly, before placing his hands on your shoulders. “Tell me what’s happened, Y/N.”

He looked at you, and he saw his home, his home that he didn’t realise he had wanted until he met you. And he would do anything to make sure his home was as comfortable as he was. He raised a brow when he saw your eyes soften, when the words left your lips. “Why do you stay with me?”

I'm on my way Driving at 90 down those country lanes Singing to "Tiny Dancer"

Klaus’s heart almost shattered at your crisis of faith, your fear that you weren’t good enough for him. It wasn’t the first time you had expressed doubt, wasn’t the first time you had compared yourself to his former lovers.

And you were right, you weren’t like any of them.

You were better than any of them.

You made Klaus want to drive down the highway, windows down, singing along to your favourite song. You made him want to shout from the rooftops, made him to want to be a better man, made him feel like the man he was was good enough.

So when you asked him that question, he told you the same thing he told you every single time you asked it. “Because I love you.”

His hand moved to your cheek, his thumb on your chin, forcing you to look at him. “I love you, Y/N. I’ll never stop.”

You smiled sheepishly, and Klaus listened to your heartbeat, that steady thump that he knew so well, trying to make sure his own heart didn’t burst out of his chest. “I love you too.”

And it was in that moment, despite all his musings, that Klaus decided he would never think about being normal again. Because if he was normal, he wouldn’t have you.

And I miss the way you make me feel, and it's real We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill

That was the thing that Klaus missed most about you, the way you made him feel. It had almost been a year without you, a year since you had left New Orleans.

Klaus still remembered the fight, the points you had made. You had asked him how he expected to have a life with you if you grew old and died, and he didn’t. He had refused to turn you, not wanting to lose the steady rhythm of your heartbeat, the dance he knew all the steps to.

And then you had left, claiming that there was no point to any of it if you weren’t going to be able to spend your lives together.

He should have gone after you. That was his biggest regret. Instead, he had turned back to his canvas, and when the painting was finished, he had burned it, let the fire consume it like a sunset over the compound.

Almost a year without you, and Klaus had stayed true to his word. He had never stopped loving you, never would. He only hoped that where you were now, you were happy.

Instead of thinking about his childhood, about the life he could have had if he was normal, Klaus thought about you, about the life he could have had if he hadn’t been so afraid of ruining you.

Maybe he would have still had you.

Masterlist

[prettytoxicrevolver]

Dance Party | Dream SMP

Requested? No but I did 

Warnings? None? It’s long as hell 

Summary: You have a dance party with your best friends in the dream smp, with a little bit of revealed feelings at the end 

Word Count: 2,773 (It’s so long but so worth it i promise) 

Spring break was finally here and you and the boys had something big planned. It was your first meet-up with most of them and you were beyond excited. You, Quackity, Karl, Tubbo, Tommy, Wilbur, Dream, George, Bad, Ranboo, and Sapnap were all renting a place out for the week in California.

You had been planning it for months, rounding up the money, getting the details set, and now finally traveling to Cali. You guys didn’t have any specific plans for the week, just wanting to spend quality time together but you were excited nonetheless. 

Your dad offers to drive you to the airport, still weary that you were spending your spring break, hundreds of miles from home with boys you had never really met before. You promised him it’d be fine though, you had already met up with Ranboo, Dream, Sap, and Karl which gave your dad enough to let you go. 

The plane ride thankfully wasn’t super long, and it was a straight flight to California. You also had a plan to meet up with some of the boys at the airport so you could head over to the Airbnb together. Your nerves were beyond anything you had felt before, a mix between excitement, anxiety, and content. You just wanted to finally be with your friends. 

“Dream!!” you yell over facetime when you land. “Please tell me you’re in LAX right now.” 

You had just landed, turning your phone off airplane mode to see that Karl, Ranboo, Sap, and Dream had landed in LA. You grabbed all of your stuff, instantly pulling up Dream’s number and facetiming him as you made your way off the plane. 

“We all are!” Dream exclaims panning the camera around to show the rest of the boys. “Hurry up you’re late!” 

You giggle loudly as you make your way to baggage claim and where the rest of the boys are. When you get there and see the boys, there’s so much excitement coursing through you, you can’t even contain it anymore. 

“(y/n)!!” Karl yells seeing your first. 

He books it in your direction, and you start to run towards him as well. You both collide halfway to each other, falling to the ground in a mess of limbs and loud laughs. You’re definite the rest of the airport goers are staring at you like you’re crazy but you couldn’t care less. You finally stand up, Karl pulling you into a bone-crushing hug and you’re smiling so wide your face is going to break. 

“I want one!” Dream whines and you turn in Karl’s arms. 

You squeal loudly, moving from Karl to rush into Dream’s arms. The tall boy wraps you up in his arms, lifting you off the ground ever so slightly. 

You then turn to Sap, your heart racing erratically. You had only met him once or twice but over a million facetime calls, late-night text conversations, and those two meetings, your heart had settled on him. 

His smile is wide and bright when you face him and you rush into his arms, wondering in the back of your mind if he can feel your heart beating out of your chest. You tuck your head under his chin as he squeezes you tight and your smile is radiating. 

You then greet Ranboo in a similar fashion, the tall giant giving you the best hugs you’ve had in years, practically lifting you off the ground and spinning you around. You couldn’t help but feel the best you had in years though. You were so grateful to be around your found family again. 

After exchanging long-awaited greetings, you grab your luggage and the five of you head out to the Airbnb. The entire time you five catch up on life, upcoming projects, what you wanted to do while you were in LA everything. 

“When is the British Dream Team and everyone else getting here?” you ask as you pull up to the Airbnb. 

“I think Bad and Quackity are already here?” Karl says. 

“The rest of the boys should be here tonight,” Dream chimes in. 

Your heart is racing once more as you all climb out of the car and make your way inside of your home for the next week. As promised, Bad and Alex are inside, and you can hear them the minutes you step through the door. 

“Language!” Bad yells out and Alex’s signature laugh can be heard throughout the place. 

“We’re here!” Ranboo calls and the two emerge from the living room. 

“Guys!!” Alex greets. 

You make your way to him first, squeezing him tight and stepping back, in shock that you had never met him before. You head for Bad next, the older boy offering a quick hug and a shy smile. It was the first time you had ever met the two but you felt right at home anyway. 

As everyone gets settled, rooms are arranged, and dinner gets decided you suddenly get a phone call from Tommy. 

“Mister Tommyinnit!!” you greet and Tommy rolls his eyes but smiles. 

“Hey bitch! We’re headed to the hotel!!” Before you can respond, the phone is pulled out of Tommy’s hands and you’re faced with a smiling Tubbo. 

“Hi (y/n)!! I can’t wait to see you!!” you giggle at the younger boy, Tubbo always acting as a younger brother to you. 

“Get here soon! Dinner will be ready!!” 

As the seven of you wait for your British companions, you relax in the living room, getting to know Alex and Bad more and getting reacquainted in person with the rest of your best friends. Just as food arrives, you’re all swarming the kitchen, grabbing plates, silverware, food, the works when you hear the doorbell ring. 

“Got it!” you call dropping your stuff to head to the door. 

When you swing it open you can’t help the excited scream that leaves your lips. There in front of you was the British dream team, the boys you were beyond excited to meet for the very first time. Wilbur stands at the front, an excited smile wide across his lips and you tackle him in a hug. He catches you with ease, lifting you up into the air as you squeal loudly. 

You break away from Wilbur just as the rest of the boys have come to see what all the commotion was about. Wilbur walks through the door first, considering you were now pulling George into a tight hug, pushing your face into the taller boy’s chest. 

Everyone finally makes it inside, and before you know it you’re being tackled by Tommy, a loud laugh bursting from the two of you. You hug the younger boy tightly, love filling your heart for the kid who was like a younger brother to you. You look up during the hug to see Tubbo pouting, making you pull him in too, now hugging both boys who were hilariously taller than you. 

Sap stands at the kitchen doorway, a soft smile gracing his lips as he watches you finally meet Tommy and Tubbo. You had been talking about meeting the younger boys for ages, the two kids stealing their way into your heart and you had talked endlessly about how you had always wanted little brothers and how you’d do anything for the pair. 

Sap’s heart does a backflip as you look up at him, beaming wide as you’re finally able to meet all of your best friends. He knows how much this means to you, making his heartbeat fast at the mere thought of your happiness. 

As you pull away, your heart is soaring being around your best friends. Your little found family meant everything to you and to have them all in one place with you meant the world. For a moment you think about how in a week it would all end but you pushed the thought away quickly, knowing you had plenty of time to enjoy. 

The just-arrived boys throw their stuff in their assigned rooms, and finally, you all start to grab dinner. You had practically ordered enough to feed an army but once the boys grabbed their portions you realized it was the smart move. 

As you sit and eat, surrounded by your best friends the vibe was beyond immaculate. You had great food, your best friends, and this was going to last a week? Nothing could get better. 

It had been 2 days of adventures, memories, and storytelling between you and the boys. You guys had been going nonstop since you had gotten to California and while you loved every second you needed a slight break. 

On day 3, most of the boys were still out, some were relaxing in their shared rooms, and some went back and forth. You had decided to sleep in before relaxing in the living room for a bit. Your music played on shuffle through speakers set up in the room. 

You had skipped through a million songs, unable to settle on anything specific when it hits you. You head straight for your throwback playlist, hitting shuffle on the almost 200 songs. 

The first song pops up and you gasp in excitement. About You Now by Miranda Cosgrove starts blasting through the speakers and you can’t help but get up and start to dance. 

“There’s a mountain between us! But there's one thing I'm sure of!” you scream sing dancing around the room. 

“That I know how I feel about you!” 

You whip around to see Karl standing in the doorway of the living room, big smiles and wild eyes directed towards you. You giggle as he runs into the room and the two of you start to dance and sing along to the iconic Miranda Cosgrove song. 

“What the-, “ Wilbur asks emerging from his room. 

He spots you and Karl dancing around the room and you beckon him to come join you. The second the song hits his ears, Wilbur’s grinning and joining you and Karl in your obnoxious activity. 

As the song ends, Karl is immediate to want to continue your fun. 

“Dance party!” he declares. 

Quackity, Bad, Sap, and Dream book it out of their rooms excited to join the chaos, and you instantly grab Sap, a strange confidence coming over you, pulling him towards you so you can dance together. 

The next song comes on and all of you start to get hyped all over again, the throwback playlist working its magic once again.

Your head becomes dizzy as the proximity of you and Sap hits you like a train. His hands trail your waist, his eyes making their way over you before landing on your eyes. You slip your hands around his neck, trying to find that first boost of confidence again as he starts to sing the words. 

“You spin my head right round, right round!” Sap yells pulling you close and swaying with you. 

Sap didn’t know how either of you got into this situation but he’d keep you in his arms for the rest of the night if he could. He pulls you even closer, as you sing the next lyrics, your eyes trained on each other’s.

“When you go down, when you go down down!” you echo the next lyric back to him and Sap smirks at you as you dance with him. 

“Language!!” Bad yells as the lyrics dawn on him and you’re all left laughing. 

You turn back to Sap, your breath stolen the minute your eyes land on his beautiful green ones and you wish you could close the distance between you two. 

“(y/n)!” Dream calls as the song launches into its second verse. You turn towards him and he holds his hand out to you. 

You giggle, extending a hand and Dream pulls you towards him as you two start to dance together. You two make your way around the room, your dancing massively exaggerated but out of the corner of your eye you see Sap glaring at the older boy. 

The song keeps going, the seven of you officially popping off together. Just as the song is reaching its end, Tubbo, Tommy, Ranboo, and George finally emerge. 

“Were we all poppin off?” George asks and Dream nods. 

Your music keeps playing, another excellent throwback starts up and this time you and Ranboo are the ones screaming in excitement. 

“Guys, you are about to watch me embarrass myself.” 

The boys tilt their heads to the side in clear confusion but you don’t give them time as Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore is blaring through the speakers and the rap begins to play. 

“Get 'em, what it is, what it does, what it is, what it isn't, Looking for a better way to get up out of bed, Instead of getting on the Internet, And checking a new hit me, get up,” You rap the words flawlessly, a result of too much time in 2012. 

The boys hype you up as you continue to sing, Ranboo coming over to dance next to you. When the chorus hits you all jump around, screaming out the words. 

“Okay, my turn,” Ranboo says as the second verse starts. 

“Now, can I kick it? Thank you, Yeah, I'm so damn grateful, I grew up really wanting gold fronts,” He starts to rap with ease and your jaw drops looking at the younger boy. 

“Pop off!!!” Dream and George yell in unison and you laugh loudly before joining Ranboo. 

The two of you scream the verse together, pointing and dancing together as you do so. As you hit the peak of the bridge, you and Ranboo are practically screaming the lyrics, dancing around like idiots in the living room but you had never felt better in your life. 

The music and dancing continue, Wilbur requesting Love Story by Taylor Swift kicking off another round of giggles and loud singing especially from him, Karl, and Alex. 

Just as Hey There Delilah starts to play and the boys have another round of energy you can’t handle, you slip into the kitchen for half a second to grab something to drink. However, what you don’t notice is someone following behind. 

“They’re crazy,” Sap says from behind you, startling you slightly. 

“They’re the best though,” you tell him an unbelievably wide grin set on your lips. “I don’t know what I’d do without them.” 

“Without you,” you continue carefully and Sap’s eyes snap to yours. 

You look up at him, peering through your eyelashes and Sap keeps your stare. Something quiet passes between you two, and before either of you can say anything, Tommy comes bursting into the room. 

“(y/n)!! Come on I wanna sing with you!!” 

Tommy runs into the kitchen, grabbing your hand and pulling you out with him. You cast a quick glance back at Sap, an apologetic look on your face before turning and joining the rest of the boys once more. 

Sap’s head drops the minute you leave the room, wishing he had just admitted his feelings and gotten it over with. As he sits in the kitchen, kicking himself for not making a move, his mind races with an idea and suddenly he’s propelled out of the kitchen. 

“Can I see your phone?” Sap asks when the song ends and you break away from Tommy. 

You hand over your phone, watching as he scrolls through your playlist before deciding on a song. His smile widens when he hits play before handing your phone back to you. 

“Oh, her eyes, her eyes, Make the stars look like they're not shinin',” Sap begins and he takes your hand making you look at him. 

You smile watching one of your best friends singing, dancing around the room with him. But, as he continues your heart stops realizing what he’s saying. 

“And when you smile, The whole world stops and stares for a while, 'Cause girl, you're amazing, Just the way you are.” 

Sap pulls you close, wrapping an arm around your waist and you stare up at him in shock. He smiles wide at you and your heart has definitely stopped beating at this point. 

The song ends, and you’re breathless looking up at Sap. He smiles wides at you and you’re certain you’re reflecting it. 

His other arm wraps around your waist, dipping you back and before you know it his lips are on yours in a show-stopping kiss. You wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him even closer and when you break away, the boys cheer, making you laugh and push your face into his chest. 

“Finally,” Sap whispers and you giggle, unbelievable happiness radiating through you. 

[omgsquee2001]

In Due Time; The Hobbit: Various x Modern! Reader

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Key:

[Y/N] = Your Name

[E/C] = Eye Color

[Y/A] = Your Age

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The chance meeting Thorin and I had with Gandalf in Bree happened nearly 6 years ago. We took Gandalf’s words to heart and gathered thirteen dwarfs we trusted the most to come along with us. Among those thirteen, were Thorin’s nephews, my best friends. To my surprise, and glee, while I am in Middle-Earth, I do not like a regular human does. I age at the pace of a Dwarf. Dwarfs normally lived to be about 200 years old. I was currently [Y/A]. 

At the current moment, I 

was ridding through the Shire on my pony, Jessabelle. Jessabelle was a white Shetland Pony. To my left, rode one of my best friends, Fíli

to my right, rode my second best friend, Kíli.

I sighed, lost in thought. A poke to the side brought me out of my thoughts. I squealed lightly. My sides were very ticklish. I glared at the culprit. Fíli smirked. 

“What’s on your mind, *Kurkarukê?” He asked. While in the company of the Dwarfs, I had learned that the word, Kurkarukê, meant Tiny Raven in Khuzdul, the ancient language of the Dwarfs. I glared playfully at the older brother. 

“I’m just thinking about how vague Gandalf is with his directions,” I said. I cupped my hand below my chin, acting as if I were holding a pipe. “‘Go to the Hobbit Hole with a green door in the Shire at the top of the hill’.” I mimicked Gandalf’s deep voice. We let out a hoot of laughter. Kíli sighed after his bout of laughter. 

“That wizard does have a way with directions.” He said. I nodded. We came to a Hobbit Hole with a green door. A mark that looked similar to an F was put onto the door. It glowed blue in the moon light. We saw two other ponies tied to the fence. We respectively tied our ponies to the fence as well before walking up to the door. Fíli rang the doorbell and linked arms with his comrades, I was standing in the middle. The door was opened to reveal a short fellow, a hair shorter than us three, with curly brown hair on his head. He wore night clothes and a robe tied tightly around his waist.

He gave out a sort of whimper at seeing the the new company. 

“Fíli.” Fíli introduced. 

“Kíli.” Kíli introduced. I gave a smile. 

“And [Y/N].” We then bowed. 

“At your service.” We said in unison. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Bilbo stared only at the woman in front of him, seeming captivated by her beauty. 

“You must be Mr. Boggins.” Kíli said cheerfully, unlinking arms with the woman by his side. Bilbo shook himself from his trance. 

"Nope, you can't come in you've come to the wrong house." Bilbo said. As he tried to close the door, [Y/N] stopped it with her foot. She looked confused, scared and angry.

“T-there’s no way he cancelled it,” she said. Fíli looked to his friend then back at the Hobbit. 

“No one told us.” Fíli said, just as confused as his best friend and his brother. Bilbo narrowed his eyes in exasperation. 

“Can..? No nothing’s been cancelled.” He said. [Y/N] placed a hand to her heart in relief. A smile broke out on Kíli’s face. He along with Fíli had wanted nothing more than to go on this journey along with their uncle and best friend. They would have been devastated to learn that it had actually been cancelled. The Dwarfs, plus [Y/N], pushed their way in. 

“Careful with these, I just had ‘em sharpened.” Fíli said as he began unloading his stuff, mainly all of his weapons he carried with him, onto Bilbo. [Y/N] looked around in amazement. The Hobbit Hole was nothing like she had imagined. At first, she had imagined a dirty, wet hole, full of worms and oozy smells. But instead, she found a beautifully carved out house with walls, a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom. As well as what smelt like good food and the heat of a warm hearth. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s nice, this place,” I said, looking around. I looked to where Fíli was still unloading his mountain of weapons into the arms of the Hobbit. “Did you do it yourself?” I asked. Kíli started to scrape the mud off of his boots on the edge of a chest sitting nearby. 

“Ah, no it’s been in the family for years. That’s my mother’s glory box, can you please not do that?!” Bilbo called angrily at Kíli. A large, but warm hand was placed upon my shoulder. I turned my head and was met with the smiling face of Dwalin. 

Said Dwarf, I reached his chest in height, leaned down and gently placed his forehead against mine. This was what Dwarfs normally did to show love and affection towards each other. We closed our eyes in content. 

“Hello, *nathith.” Father said. I smiled.

“Hello, *Adad.” I said as we opened our eyes and pulled away. Since I didn’t really have a family of my own in Middle-Earth when I first came, Dwalin took pity on me and adopted me as his daughter. Father gently cupped my cheek. I leaned into his touch. 

“I trust you have been well since last I saw you.” He said. I nodded smiling at my Father. 

“Yup! Right as rain!” I said. Dwalin laughed. He saw the two Princes. He walked over to them, placing his hand on Kíli’s shoulder. 

“Fíli, Kíli, come on, give us a hand.” He said. Kíli smiled at the taller Dwarf. 

“Mister Dwalin.” Kíli said, laughing. Fíli walked through and clapped Balin, 

my adoptive Uncle, on the arm in greeting. 

“Let’s shove this in the hallway, otherwise we’ll never get everyone in.” Balin said.

“Ev-everyone? How many more are there?” Bilbo asked. His question went unanswered as Balin walked out of the dinning room and made his way to his niece. Balin smiled as he took my hands in his own. 

“Hello, [Y/N].” He said, pulling into a hug. I hugged back, smiling. 

“Hello, *Irak’Adad.” I said. The doorbell rung again, causing Bilbo to rush to the door. 

“And how is my favorite niece?” Balin asked. I giggled. 

“Uncle, I’m your only niece, so I have to be your favorite.” She said. Balin chuckled and nodded. 

“Right you are, lassie,” he said. He then frowned. “[Y/N], are you sure you want to go through with this? The journey is bound to be dangerous. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.” He said. I nodded. 

“I am sure, Uncle. Erebor was as much my home as it was yours, even if I was not born and raised there. Plus, I’ve been trained by Father, the most fiercest warrior among us, besides yourself.” I said. Balin smiled. 

“Very well.” He said. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

A little while later, [Y/N], along with the other Dwarfs who had fallen into Bilbo’s home, had started raiding Bilbo’s pantry. By this time, Bilbo had changed out of his night shirt, pants and robe. He changed into a shirt, some trousers, and some suspenders. 

“Those are my plates! Excuse me! Not my wine. Put that back. Put that back! Not the jam, please! ...Excuse me.” Bilbo’s cries went ignored as the Dwarfs continued to take his plates, wine and ale, and food. “Excuse me. Tad excessive, isn’t it?” Bilbo asked as a Dwarf named Bombur, 

walked out of the pantry with three wheels of cheese. “Have you got a cheese knife?” Bilbo asked. 

“Cheese knife? He eats it by the block.” A Dwarf named Bofur 

said.

Bofur laid eyes on [Y/N], and he smiled. He walked up to her. 

“Why Miss [Y/N], how lovely it is to see you here this fine evenin’.” Bofur said. [Y/N] smiled back at the Dwarf. 

“Hello, Mister Bofur. It is wonderful to see you.” She said. Bofur always knew how to make [Y/N] smile, even on the most cloudy of days. 

Gandalf walked out of the dinning room, trying to avoid scurrying Dwarfs when he could. He hit his head on the chandelier. Once he steadied it, Gandalf began counting the Dwarfs on his fingers, making sure everyone was accounted for. 

“Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori and [Y/N].” He finished counting.  Bifurcation walked up to Gandalf. He said something is Khuzdul and then tapped his arm.

Gandalf nodded.

"You are quite right, Bifur. We appear to be one Dwarf short."

"He is late is all," a voice said. Gandalf looked down and saw [Y/N]. "He traveled North to a meeting of his Kin. He will come." She said. She walked off to help with other preparations.

"Mr. Gandalf?" Dori said. Gandalf turned to the Dwarf, who was holding two small glasses of red wine. "A glass of red wine as requested. It's got a fruity bouquet." Dori said. Gandalf took the glass and nodded in thanks to the Dwarf.

"Ah, cheers." He downed the red wine. He then looked sadly at the cup, wanting a little more.

A little while later, they were all sitting at Bilbo's dinning room table having a grand feast.

"Bombur catch!" Bofur called out to his brother as he threw a piece of food at him. Bombur opened his mouth and caught the food in his mouth. The Dwarfs all cheered. [Y/N] was sitting near the end of the table, Dori sitting on her right and Dwalin on her left.

As everyone began throwing food around, Bilbo walked away in disgust. He turned his gaze to the woman with [H/C] hair. Her laughter sounded like bells to music to his ears. As he looked at her smiling, Bilbo couldn't help but smile lightly as well. He turned away, only to look at his pantry in shock; it had been entirely cleared of food. 

~~~~~~~~~

Fíli walked on top of the table, carrying several cups of ale and knocking aside the food in his way.

"Who wants an ale? There you go." Fíli said, handing Father another Ale. I playfully smacked my best friend's leg as he passed.

"Let him have another drink," Dwalin said, referring to Óin.

"Here ya go." Father poured the ale down Óin's hearing trumpet. Father turned the tankard over and slammed his hands down on the table in laughter. Óin sputtered in anger and put his trumpet to his lips. He blew the ale out, making the trumpet squeal. I held my stomach as I laughed. 

~~~~~~~~~

Kíli looked at [Y/N] and smiled softly. Kíli loved the way her [E/C] orbs shone when she smiled or laughed. [Y/N] caught Kíli's gaze and she smiled. Kíli smiled back. He looked up and caught Dwalin's glare. In a quick moment, Kili raised his mug.

"On the count of three!" Kíli shouted, catching the other Dwarfs attention at starting a drinking contest. The Dwarfs lifted their tankards. "One!...Two!" Then all the Dwarfs went quiet and began drinking their ale together. They were incredibly messy, as ale fell all over their faces and ran down their beards. [Y/N] watched on in amusement. She chose not to drink, for Ale tasted horrible to her. When finished drinking, the Dwarfs begin burping; the youngest, Ori, let out the biggest burp. The Dwarfs and [Y/N] laughed. Bilbo looked away in disgust.

~~~~~~~~

Once dinner was over, I was standing in the hallway, leaning against a wall. Fíli walked over and leaned against the wall opposite of me. I smiled at my best friend.

"Are you enjoying the party?" Fíli asked. I nodded, smiling.

"That I am. Are you, Master Dwarf?" I asked. Fíli nodded, stating into her eyes.

Kíli watched from afar, glaring slightly at his brother. Balin walked over and placed his hand on Kíli's shoulder.

"Love makes us do strange things." Balin said, also watching the conversation going on between his niece and the oldest Prince. Kíli smiled and shook his head.

"I-I'm not in love." He said. Balin looked at the youngest Prince.

"So you weren't just glaring at your older brother for speaking to my niece." He stated. Kíli blushed and looked away. Balin chuckled. "Just know, that if she does turn out to be your One, treat her with kindness and love." Balin said as he walked away. Little Ori's voice caught mine and Fíli's attention.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt, but what should I do with my plate?” Ori asked, looking down at his plate then up at Bilbo. Fíli looked at you and winked. He then walked over to Ori.

“Here you go Ori, give it to me.” Fili looked over at me and winked, making me blush lightly. Fili took the plate from Ori and threw it to Kili, who in return, threw it behind his back to Bifur, who was standing at the sink in the kitchen. Bifur caught it behind his back, without even looking at it. I watched on in amusement as Kili, Fili, and other dwarves began throwing the plates, bowls, and utensils to each other, eventually throwing them to the sink to be washed. As dishware flew through the air, Gandalf ducked to avoid getting hit. Poor Bilbo was stressing out over the whole ordeal. 

“Excuse me, that’s my mother’s West Farthing crockery, it’s over a hundred years old!” Bilbo shouted. I laughed and made my way over to the Hobbit. 

“Relax, Mister Bilbo! There’s no use in telling them to stop. Dwarfs listen to no one.” I said. The dwarves at the table began rhythmically drumming on the table with utensils and their fists. 

~~~~~~~

Ignoring [Y/N]’s words, Bilbo made his way over to the table and stood in the door way. 

“And can-can you not do that? You’ll blunt them!” Bilbo shouted. Bofur made eye contact with the only female in the company and winked, making her face go red again. A mischievous smile crossed his lips. 

“Ooh, d’hear that, lads? He says we’ll blunt the knives.” Bofur said. [Y/N] knew a song was coming on. 

~~~~~~~~

“Blunt the knives, bend the forks,” I smiled as Kili started to sing, still tossing the utensils. “Smash the bottles and burn the corks.” Fili joined in, bouncing a bowl from one elbow to the other. 

“Chip the glasses and crack the plates,” by now, the others had joined in the singing. I stood off to the side, smiling, watching and listening. “That’s what Bilbo Baggins hates! Cut the cloth and tread on the fat, leave the bones on the bedroom mat. Pour the milk on the pantry floor, splash the wine on every door! Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl, pound them up with a thumping pole. When you’ve finished, if any are whole, send them down the hall to roll!” I laughed as they added music, Father playing the fiddle and Bofur playing his flute. I was slightly shocked when a hand was held out to me. I looked at the owner and saw Kili. I smiled and took his hand. He placed one hand on my waist and held my hand with the other. I placed my other hand on his shoulder. We bounced and twirled around the room, laughing and staring into each other’s eyes. “That’s what Bilbo Baggins hates!” With those last words, music stopped. Kili and I stopped dancing and stood still, breathing hard. I smiled, looking into Kili’s brown eyes. Three, loud, thumping knocks resounded in the house, dragging our attention to it. All commotion and conversation stopped, being replaced with silence. Gandalf looked around the room, lowering his pipe. He broke the silence. 

“He is here.” I smiled. I knew exactly who was behind that door. And I was more than excited to see him. 

~~~~~~~~~

//I am so sorry! This took me longer than I thought to finish and post. I had lost inspiration to continue writing the story, but now I feel like I have the inspiration to continue writing it. I hope you all can forgive me for not updating sooner. If the transition between first and third person writing, symbolized by this, ~~~~~, is too confusing, then please let me know so I can fix it. I want you all to enjoy this. Anywho, I hope you like it and stay tuned for chapter 2.//

[kim-miri]

HALF(have a little fun) pt. vii

→ one | two | three | four | five | six

→ Sayomi Zoldyck is the eldest child and twin sister to Illumi, of the renowned Zoldyck family of assassins. At the age of ten she’s taken away to Meteor City by her mother, Kikyo Zoldyck, unbeknownst to the rest of the family, as well as newborn Killua, and left to fend for herself. This is the story of the long-lost Zoldyck and those she becomes acquainted with, all while she just wants to have a little fun.

» part seven / ?

» pairing: eventually - chrollo x oc x feat. hisoka

» warnings: swearing, blood/violence

» a/n: helloo~ this is my first write ever, and it’ll probably be a pretty long series. I’m also balancing school and a part-time job so forgive me for slow updates! If you’re reading this, thank you so much for showing interest and please leave comments below with your inputs!

» word count: 4,732

☾vii. part vii: start of something new

Waking up in a warm, quiet room 199 floors from the ground at Heaven’s Arena, Sayomi sat up in her bed, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

She had slept more soundly than she had in a while, between Meteor City and the watching eyes of the Mafia. 

But maybe it was the faint, earthy scent that Kite had left behind, or perhaps it was the fact that Sayomi was now free to live on her own in one of the most populated cities in the world. She decided it was the latter this time around.

A good night’s sleep had proved to resolve the conflicting thoughts in her head, as Sayomi settled that Kite was a good friend, and would never be anything more.

In this way, she was able to accept the reality that there had never been anything more than friendly interactions between them, and it would stay that way.

In all honesty, she needed a teacher if she was going to make a life out of fighting at Heaven’s Arena. And judging by the immense aura Kite had surrounding him even while he was resting, she knew he outclassed her in nen abilities.

As of now her nen acted as her last line of defense, still being rather inconsistent and hard to control. Though she had improved a great deal with her independent training in Meteor City, she still had a lot to learn about the potentials of her abilities. 

Stretching out her limbs and rising from bed, Sayomi got ready for the day ahead of her.

☾vii.

Kite and his student were waiting for Sayomi on the 60th floor, as Stick Dinner had his 60s match later today.

The three would train in the gym on this floor as they waited for Stick’s match to come around. It was rather empty because the 60th floor was merely a transitioning floor where contestants would come and go.

Kite started his two students off with a basic nen introduction, explaining the four major principles: Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu. 

Sayomi had already learned all about nen and its history back when she was around 4 years old alongside Illumi. Kite was aware of this as well but needed to explain the basics to Stick.

A long lecture and one Water Divination Test later, and Stick was now educated of his nen abilities and excited to learn more.

They had now moved onto attempting to recognize Stick’s hatsu, which would become his own personal nen ability. 

Sayomi’s own hatsu was already established, being her hypnotic spell and corpse control. And because she had only truly used it while fighting for her life in Meteor City, she still had significant difficulties with using her power.

Kite was also aware of Sayomi’s hatsu from the days he’d used to visit Kukuroo Mountain. He remembered Sayomi demonstrating her power on weak intruders and aggressive animals, their deceased corpses moving like puppets at her command.

Though he’d never say it out loud, it was quite terrifying.

For this exact reason, Kite had apologetically said Sayomi should wait until she was free to use nen in the 200s battles to train her hatsu. It was just too dangerous to practice for the purpose of training.

Therefore, instead of practicing her hatsu like Stick, Sayomi was put to work training her ren. She would have to maintain it for an hour today, and Kite mentioned she would eventually progress to longer durations of time.

Sayomi’s ren was intense, she had to stay 10 feet away from anyone else to make sure she didn’t affect them. Her body was surrounded in a malicious, deep purple shroud of energy, contrasting with Kite’s pure white aura.

☾vii.

Half an hour had passed with Kite’s training, said man working with Stick to strengthen his hatsu while Sayomi stood concentrated on maintaining her ren.

As of now, she was still fine, just rather bored with the method of training.

She opted to watch the on-going fights on the monitor above her instead of staring at the wall in front of her. However, this proved to be even worse, as the contestants she watched were all terribly amateur. 

Sighing when she saw a contestant trip over his own feet on the monitor, she had caught Kite’s attention. “Not tired yet?”

Sayomi looked to Kite with a guilt-ridden expression. “Ah, not yet, but that’s not why I… nevermind. Sorry!”

Kite let out a rather short laugh at her frantic apology, walking just outside her ren aura to stand in front of her.

“No need to apologize. This exercise is meant to be a drag, it trains not only strengthening your nen, but also patience and putting mind over body. Looks like…  you have about 20 minutes left, keep it up!”

Sayomi smiled weakly at Kite’s attempt at encouragement. He was a blunt person by nature so to anyone else his words probably came across as sarcastic, but Sayomi recognized his sincerity. 

She thanked him with a short smile.

Around the 50 minute mark, Sayomi was finally breaking out a sweat, her arms and legs had actually been burning for a while now, but she’d been holding in any signs of weakness.

She was getting a little dizzy now, putting more force into her legs in order to stay upright and not swaying along with the room in front of her.

“Annnd time. Sayomi your hour’s up.”

Sayomi’s ren faded as she fell back to lean against the wall for support. 

Damn, I must be out of shape or something. 

Kite stepped over to where Sayomi stood trying to catch her breath. “Not as easy as you thought?”

She looked up with a sneer. “I’m just getting started, gimme a week and I’ll pass you up.”

Kite’s eyes were now filled with amusement. Having sent Stick off to standby for his match, he took a seat in front of Sayomi, motioning for her to do the same.

Sayomi sat cross-legged with her head resting against the wall, her eyes closed as she attempted to regenerate her aura.

“What’s your record anyway?”

Kite looked across at the exhausted girl. “About a day.”

“A DAY?!” Sayomi’s eyes flew open at Kite’s response, clearly having underestimated her instructor.

He only nodded in return, wishing to change the subject off of himself. “If I may ask... what exactly is the eldest daughter of the Zoldyck family doing at a place like Heaven’s Arena?”

There was the question. She was surprised he hadn’t asked her earlier.

To lie or not to lie… 

“My parents sent me here as a test of strength. I’m not allowed back until I reach the very top.” Sayomi lied through her teeth, not wanting to tell Kite about her banishment.

That should convince him.

“The very top? Ah, so they wish for you to become a floor master. I see... well with the right training, you can surely get to that point perhaps within a few years?” Kite looked at Sayomi expectantly.

A few years? What the hell even is a ‘floor master’? 

With a measly lie, Sayomi had screwed herself over. She had originally intended in making a few million jenny by cruising through the 100s and getting her own room. But with this whole floor master thing, she could already sense that her future at Heaven’s Arena would become much more complex.

The title does sound pretty cool though… maybe I’ll just go along with the flow for now.

“Right! Haha… they want me to become a floor master. So you think you’ll be able to help me get there?”

Kite looked deep in thought. Did I say something wrong? 

Meeting Sayomi’s eyes once again, he spoke. “On second thought Sayomi… I’ve made a promise to train Stick Dinner, and with the danger of your nen abilities, I don’t think I can do you any good as an instructor.”

She was about to take back her words and say becoming a floor master was unnecessary, but he cut her off.

“However, I just realized something that I should’ve thought of before. I’m not sure how you’d get along, but there is someone with more experience than me at Heaven’s Arena.”

Sayomi looked up, interested in his proposal.

Noticing her apparent interest, Kite continued, “I happen to owe him a favor as well, because I’ve been staying in his room on the 200th floor with Stick. He’s… a rather interesting person, and he finds enjoyment in fighting powerful individuals. But nevermind his personality, I think you would benefit greatly from his experience both with nen and Heaven’s Arena, more than I could ever do for you.”

Kite examined Sayomi’s expression, it seemed to be a mixture of uncertainty and curiosity.

“I’m not proposing you make a decision right away, as he’ll actually be absent for some time… but I recommend you consider it as a possibility.”

In her mind, Sayomi was unsure of what to think about this mysterious acquaintance of Kite, but in her heart and soul, there was an undeniable hunger for more power and more recognition. If she were to become a floor master, her name would surely spread throughout Yorknew City and perhaps even reach her parents. 

“When will he return?”

Kite smiled at her sign of interest in his offer. He knew she would be able to handle his colleague’s eccentric personality, and from there she would only have room to grow even stronger.

“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. He’s a very spontaneous man, and the last time I saw him he mentioned traveling around the world to find his next rival.”

Sayomi thought about her current options. 

“I understand… training my nen would most likely require the death of victims, which you would never allow, but without improving my nen I would seemingly get destroyed in the 200s matches. Right?”

Kite took a moment to consider her words. “Yes, more or less.”

Sayomi nodded in return. “So then supposedly… this acquaintance of yours would be willing to train my nen even if it would mean others will die?”

“Precisely.” Kite grimaced at her blunt deduction of his words.

Sayomi threw her arms back, resting her hands behind her head. “Well alright then! Until this friend of yours gets back I guess I’ll just see how far I can get without using my nen.”

“Acquaintance. But yes, I suppose fighting without your nen until he gets back would be a good use of time.” 

☾vii.

Sayomi and Kite headed to the stands of the arena after wrapping up their conversation. Kite’s student was up for the next match, leaving the two childhood friends to watch amongst the crowd.

Stick’s match went smoothly, he had outsmarted his opponent by anticipating each of his attacks, and in the end all he had left was to tire him out enough to land the finishing blow.

He was now qualified to continue on to the 70s, while Sayomi’s fight would be the next day.

☾vii.

Kite stood leaning against the back wall of the 60th floor arena, his eyes focused on the light-footed girl currently playing around with her opponent in the ring. 

He felt almost a sense of pride, watching the little Zoldyck girl who had used to be too shy as to even raise her voice, now dancing around in the illuminated arena full of confidence.

She was taking her time with the unworthy opponent who stood across from her. Under normal circumstances, Kite would have been infuriated with Sayomi’s disrespectful actions, but this time it was much different.

Her opponent had spent the final minutes before their match catcalling and spilling other obscene words towards Sayomi. Kite had moved to step in between the two contestants, ready to punch the man’s teeth in, but Sayomi had given him a look so full of malice he knew to hold back.

She was waiting to absolutely ruin her opponent in the ring.

So when he saw Sayomi taking her sweet time and making a fool out of the man who’d previously disrespected her, Kite only smirked in satisfaction from a distance.

Sayomi you’ve been through a lot, haven’t you… all this anger and hatred coursing through your aura. 

In the arena, Sayomi brought a swift heel down on her opponent's hand. An attack that was worth no points but only for the purpose of causing pain.

Pain… who hurt you Sayomi? What ever happened to the girl who’d cried when she accidentally swatted a butterfly?

Kite experienced a flurry of conflicting emotions as he watched Sayomi torture and eventually knock down her opponent. 

He was worried about her emotional health, knowing for sure now that she had experienced something so tragic and crucial it’d turned her pure aura a 180 degree turn into bloodlust and malice.

However, he was glad to know one thing was for sure. 

She would definitely survive and benefit from his unstable colleague’s training, for now he realized they were so similar it was almost as if they were the same person. 

Or perhaps two halves of a whole.

☾vii.

1 year later

It was the weekend and Sayomi was currently on an off day in between fights.

In the year that had passed with her progressing through Heaven’s Arena, Sayomi was now a single fight away from the 200s.

Admiring the view from Kite’s old room on the 199th floor, she smiled to herself. 200s at last.

The truth was that Sayomi had a room of her own now, being well into the 100s. However she’d already been so accustomed to using Kite’s room that she’d convinced him into switching rooms with her.

Now that all three of them had rooms of their own, the borrowed room on the 200th floor was empty once again, waiting for the return of its owner.

Sayomi had just finished combat training with Kite and Stick, still unable to use her nen because of the possible consequences. 

As she gazed longer out the window in front of her, she started to see her reflection cast in the clear glass, and soon it was all she saw.

Who am I?

Staring back at her, the reflection she saw in the window was much different than she’d expected. Her violet eyes were dull, emotionless, and the passion that had once lit up her soul was now gone, replaced with a worn out ghost of who she used to be.

This was all it took to make Sayomi forget about all she had done to make it to where she was now. This, being her reminiscent thoughts about the family that had ditched her.

She may have declared to herself millions of times that she was indeed her own person now, but the lingering desire to be loved once again forced her start over every single time.

She needed someone to rely on, though she’d never admit it. It was her constant overthinking that she would only become a burden to those who cared about her that stopped her from seeking support in others. Her family had left her insecure and broken, desperate for someone else’s attention.

Let’s see… If Illumi and I are turning 19 this year, that means… Killua will be 9. 

9 years old, huh… 

I wonder if he still looks like me? God, if I were with him I think I’d spend every last jenny just to see that smile one more time.

...I hope you’re hanging in there Killua. 

Just wait a little bit longer, and I promise I’ll come save you.

Forgive me I just need more time to be able to face everyone again.

☾vii.

Watching the sunset over Yorknew City from his new room on the 199th floor, Kite was currently typing back a response to a rather unclear message he’d received from his traveling colleague.

No matter how many times he’d read it, he just couldn’t decipher the exact reason or message behind the text he had received. 

Staring at it with a skeptical expression, he read it once more:

Isn’t it quite amusing how fate plays out sometimes? 

I’ve arrived in the city and can’t wait to meet this student of yours, as it seems I’ve already partially met her without even realizing it. 

I can’t wait to start training with her. ♥️

Kite let out an exasperated sigh.

What does he mean by ‘I’ve already partially met her’? I swear he’s always so ambiguous with his words. 

Damn, what an exhausting guy.

☾vii.

Today was the day of Sayomi’s fight that would determine whether she’d advance into the 200s. That meant it was also the last day Sayomi would fight without her nen and weapons.

However, her day was about to get much more eventful than a promotion into the 200s. 

Kite’s acquaintance had arrived in the city the other day, and after a short visit to a friend, he would make it back to Heaven’s Arena later today to meet his new student.

Kite had no knowledge about this part, as all he was told was that he had arrived in the city.

Back in the 199th floor arena, Sayomi had arrived early, taking her time to stretch and enjoy the time left before her final fistfight.

Kite stood alongside Sayomi in the mostly empty waiting room, it would be his last day with his childhood friend, at least without an excuse to spend time with her.

Once she was in the 200s, Kite wouldn’t be able to do much for her, as he had his own student to manage.

He stared sympathetically at the little Zoldyck girl from his childhood. She had grown into a relentless fighter, leaving no time to enjoy living her life during her prime years.

All he could now was hope that his assumptions about his colleague were right, in that he would not only provide Sayomi with the right training, but also fun and other things kids of her age should be doing.

Sayomi finished her preparations well before the scheduled time of the fight, leaving the two with time to talk and reminisce about the old days.  

They’d also talked briefly about Sayomi’s new instructor. Kite explained how he’d finally arrived in the city the other day, coming back from seeking out the most powerful assassins and hunters to challenge in fights to the death.

Sayomi was delighted at this, getting a feeling that this mysterious instructor would put up a solid fight against her while they trained. “You said he was on the 200th floor, right? Has he not been able to defeat a floormaster yet?”

Kite raised his eyebrows at her question. “Ah… no, not yet. But I believe that’s because he’s constantly sidetracked with trying to find his ‘perfect rival’.” 

Sayomi bit the inside of her cheek, confused. “Hmm but if he’s back now… does that mean he found someone worthy on his trip?”

Kite nodded at this. “Yes, I believe so. It’s either he’s satisfied with the amount of people he’s massacred, or he’s found a formidable opponent he knows he can come back and fight at a later time.”

“I see… he sounds… rather interesting.” Sayomi was actually a bit excited, it’d been a while since she was to face someone of such a high reputation.

Beside her, Kite had taken notice of the slight change in Sayomi’s aura. It seems I predicted correctly, she’ll get along just fine.

☾vii.

“Our next fight decides who moves on to the 200th floor. We have Ichihiro versus Sayomi! At this time, choose your side and place your bets!”

Under the spotlights, Sayomi stood with her hands resting behind her head. Her eyes remained closed, she seemed to be taking the last minutes to relax.

“The bets are in! Looks like today’s match is in favor of Sayomi Zoldyck!”

Ichihiro let out a scoff, mocking his opponent who, in his eyes, seemed overconfident to the point where she didn’t even need to look at him. “Are you nice and relaxed over there, girl? I’ll tell you now you’re gonna regret facing me.”

Sayomi disregarded her opponent's words. In reality, she was worried, and anyone who could see her aura could notice this as well. 

Kite turned his head at Sayomi’s restlessness. What is she so tense for?

Sayomi tightened her grip around her other hand. Inside her head, she tried to calm the exhilaration that stemmed as a result of her final match without weapons. She couldn’t wait to finally stand on the 200th floor.

In other words, Sayomi wasn’t afraid, or intimidated by her opponent. She was worried for him.

God damn… if I don’t calm down I might accidentally kill the guy. 

The adrenaline rushing through her was threatening to spike over, which would cause her to lose control and flip her assassin switch on.

Relax, Sayomi.

“Fighters ready? Following the 100s rules there will be no time limit and fighters will fight until a TKO by 10 points or a KO.”

Sayomi opened her eyes, moving to stand upright as she stared at her opponent.

“The winner will move onto the 200th floor. Fight!”

Ichihiro held back from making the first move. He had reviewed Sayomi’s last fight and seen her strategy of using her opponent’s force against them. 

Sayomi raised an eyebrow at his lack of movement.

Not gonna move, huh? So you think you’re smart.

She took off with steps faster than the average eye could see.

I guess I’ll just have to come to you then.

With a flexible left leg, Sayomi lifted her heel above her opponent's head, slamming it straight into the side of the unexpecting man’s face with a roundhouse kick.

Ichihiro stumbled to the side gasping, spitting out blood from his now split gums.

He raised his head ready to curse out the teen, but all he saw was white.

Sayomi had met the man’s face with a solid left foot, sending him backwards onto the ground with a cry of pain.

Ichihiro was clutching his bloody face now, unable to recover in time for yet another left swing kick, this time to the side.

From far back against the wall, Kite watched with a surprised expression on his face.

She’s holding back quite a bit. Only using her left leg…

A few more solid kicks to the ribs and Sayomi halted her movements as if on command. Turning to the baffled referee, she asked, “TKO by 10 points right?”

“Ah, r-right.” 

Shaking out of his apparent shock at the one-sidedness of the match, the referee raised a flag. “Winner by TKO. Sayomi Zoldyck!”

The crowd cheered as they could now collect their money from the bets they’d made.

With a small wave to Kite at the back of the stands, Sayomi exited the arena with light steps.

She was proud of herself for restraining her bloodlust.

☾vii.

That night Sayomi treated Stick and Kite to dinner on Heaven’s Arena’s 200th floor diner. 

It was a congratulatory dinner, as Sayomi would now be moving on to training her nen, but it was also one of sentimental feelings. The group of three had become close friends within the year they’d spent together training at Heaven’s Arena.

So although no one addressed the fact that the group of three was to become a group of two after today, everyone shared a bit of the sorrow in their hearts as the evening soon came to an end.

The three parted ways around 9, Kite wishing the best to Sayomi on the 200th floor. It wasn’t like they’d never see each other again, they were only a floor apart after all.

However, without the excuse of training or a coincidental passing by, the childhood friends knew that they most likely wouldn’t be seeing each other for a while. 

☾vii.

Sayomi let out a heavy sigh as she walked alone down the hallway of doors to her room.

Releasing her hair from its taught ponytail, Sayomi ran a lazy hand down her face. 

Can a day get any longer? All I wanna do now is take a nice, warm shower… and then sleep in till noon.

Arriving in front of her door at last, Sayomi reached into her pockets for her room key. Sliding the key into the lock, she frowned when she found the door to be unlocked.

Strange… I don’t think I’ve ever forgotten to lock the door before. Maybe because I was too excited?

Sayomi shrugged, speculating she’d probably forgotten to lock the door out of the rush to get ready in the morning.

Swinging the door open without another thought, Sayomi moved to take a step further into her room when a cold chill ran down her spine.

What… is… this devilish aura?

She was on full alert now, awakening her own aura to try and ward off her intruder.

In the darkness of her room, she could make out a faint silhouette surrounded by the deep purple, murderous aura she’d felt earlier.

“Who… are you? What are you doing in my room?” Though she’d sworn her voice was steady, there was a hint of uncertainty as the intruder’s aura became more intense.

The intruder turned to face Sayomi in the darkness. “Hm? Ah, you’ve finally returned… I’ve been most awaiting your presence, Sayomi Zoldyck.”

The man took exaggeratingly slow steps towards her, and Sayomi noticed he walked almost completely on his toes. Almost like he was walking across a tightrope.

She squinted through the darkness, perplexed at the stranger knowing her name. Her mind screamed at her to fight, run, do something, but her feet remained frozen in place as the man’s figure slowly illuminated with the dim lights of the hallway.

The man was considerably tall, though he was also wearing heels, an interesting feat. His brilliant red hair was styled as if he’d been caught in a windstorm, framing an all too pale face with distinct face paint decorating either cheek: a star on the left and a teardrop on the right.

In a way, he was handsome.

This crossed Sayomi’s mind as well, however she’d mentally slapped herself as she was brought back into the reality of the situation. 

“How do you know my name?” Sayomi was on guard, ready to either attack or run on a moment’s notice.

The man only laughed, his pale lips turning upwards in a wide smile as he looked Sayomi over from head to toe.

“Oh darling, you mean you haven’t caught on to the situation yet?”

A step closer and the man’s full frame was now in front of Sayomi to see in all his glory. Broad shoulders, chiseled, toned biceps, a tiny waist, and proportions to die for.

Get a grip, he just broke into your room.

In her flustered state, both from confusion and the rather attractive man towering over her, Sayomi suddenly felt as though she’d forgotten how to speak.

Her mouth opened and closed without sound, concentrated entirely on the man in front of her.

Sayomi’s frazzled state seemed to add on to man’s already overflowing confidence as he let out another brief laugh before crossing his arms. 

“It seems as though Kite has yet to tell you anything about my arrival.” He frowned before continuing, “Well, I suppose you’ll find out all about me in no time, I’m your new trainer after all.”

Sayomi eyes widened at his words. Of course, Kite said he was arriving soon, I totally forgot!

“Ah… well in that case… nice to meet you?”

Her new trainer smirked at her hesitation. “I have to say, I didn’t expect you to be so visually appealing, darling. It seems Kite decided to keep your beauty from me for as long as he could, that sly bastard.”

Sayomi felt her face heat up in a mad blush. No one had ever called her such things, as she was accustomed to words like vicious or murderous. 

Sayomi failed to get the words out of her mouth once again, effectively fazed by the man’s comments.

Said man ran a slender hand through his hair, laughing once again at his undeniable effect on the young assassin.

Reaching out ever so slowly, he grazed his knuckles over the left side of Sayomi’s face, who in turn became even further flustered at the sudden skinship. 

“You, my dear, are going to be quite the pleasure to work with.”

☾vii.

a/n: guess who? 

taglist open:))

[innocentbi-stander]

in celebration of getting 200 followers, I decided to add onto my long list of bamf!jaskier headcanons

consider the power of jaskier as an expert marksman

jaskier has always had extraordinary aim, intentional or not

he grew up using this to wreak absolute havoc on those around him, whether it be pranks, or getting revenge on those who insulted or wronged him

this was always just a weird quirk to him, until he befriended one of the old guards on his family estate, who saw jaskier’s innate ability and immediately thought ‘I must train this child’

so he taught jaskier how to use throwing knives, stars, slingshots, crossbows, and archery

jaskier had always been interested in music and the lighter things in life so he was surprised at how much he loved learning these

whenever he could slip away from his duties he snuck down to the guard’s hut to train, where he got better and better

years later when he runs away to attend oxenfurt the old guard slips him a set of new throwing knives inlaid with sapphires with nothing but a mischievous wink and a hushed “for the road ahead”

jaskier loves those knives more than anything else he owns, and months after posada geralt will remark across a campfire at the peculiarity of a bard owning such nice daggers

jaskier puts on a show because he knows geralt thinks that because he is a bard he mustn’t know how to fight, and jaskier has always been a firm believer in not showing your best hand so he laughs merrily and tells some long winding tale of how he came to find them in a market place and thought they were very pretty

bards love things that shine and jaskier is not exempt from this, what the witcher doesn’t know is that the shiny things that jaskier loves can also slit a man’s throat with the tidiest of cuts

the years go on and geralt goes on believing that he needs to fight his bard’s fights and protect him, while jaskier cuts down the people willing to throw rocks at witchers behind taverns when geralt is away on hunts

as sophisticated as jaskier believes he is, he’s also a man with a hair trigger temper who gets into many a fist fight with men who don’t seem to hear the pretty barmaid say no

when geralt asks where the bruises come from (there are a few on him but many more on the people who dare to cross him) jaskier babbles on about his clumsiness, or another lovely night gone wrong

some days he doesn’t know whether to be proud of his lying abilities or upset that geralt believes him so easily

years go by and jaskier keeps his secret, and geralt fights the monsters while jaskier takes down monsters of the human kind

the mountain happens, an apology (that jaskier smugly recalls much groveling), a reconciliation with yennefer, an adorable child surprise, an awkward period of time of learning to all live with each other, and an even more awkward explanation from jaskier informing geralt that he’s maybe not as human as he’s led him to believe. jaskier’s mother had wandering eyes and years ago those eyes fell upon a handsome elf who happened to have contributed to the conception of jaskier

theres a horrifying moment where jaskier thinks geralt will yell at him again like the mountain but the next thing he knows the witcher is kissing him and he’s more than okay with that

everything is good (except for being pursued relentlessly by nilfgaard) and there’s one more secret jaskier thinks he just might take to his grave

of course things never work out like that

it all comes to a head as it always does, nilfgaard has gotten the drop on their little group, they are fighting for all that their worth but jaskier can tell it won’t be enough, both geralt and yen are tiring and he has no choice

the world narrows down to him and the enemy as jaskier pulls out his knives

its ecstasy, freedom in its purest form and jaskier has never been able to fully let go of his most feral energy before, and he unleashes it all against the nilfgaardian soldiers

the bard fights like he never has fought before, he feels like a hurricane, blowing through the ranks, his feet dance a dance he’s never learned before, he ducks and turns in graceful arcs, and his weapons are but a silver extension of his very being

he fights and fights and fights because if they fall they’ll lose everything, and at the edge of consciousness he knows geralt and yen are fighting alongside him just as hard

in a moment it is over, and jaskier blinks to life once more in a small circle of open ground

around him are the scattered bodies of their attackers and there is red everywhere, on the ground, his boots, his clothes, his hands, and if he had a mirror he’s sure his face and hair are coated in it as well

for all his normal complaints about dirt, jaskier can’t bring it in himself to care much about the blood

even though its pointless, jaskier busies himself with trying to wipe off his hands on his already drenched doublet, carefully keeping his eyes away from where he knows geralt yen, and ciri are staring at him

he keeps his gaze pointed downward until rough hands force him to look up into his favorite golden glare

“Jaskier. what. the hell. was that.”

there will be time later to explain, but right now all he can focus on is that they’re all alive and okay, and in the moment all jaskier can manage is a slightly hysterical laugh as he says,

“well geralt, I’ve had those pretty knives for so long, I figured I might as well put them to use at some point”

and geralt knows there’s more but he too understands that its a story for later so he plays along, running a large but overwhelmingly gentle hand through jaskiers hair and snorts,

“you picked a hell of a time to use them”

 I love feedback!

(Special thanks to @morte-mistrata for the prompt!)

[thefinalcinderella]

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru Chapter 8 - Winter Comes Again (Part 1)

Full list of translations here

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A team with only ten runners had passed the qualifiers and was now in the Hakone Ekiden.

This spectacular achievement accomplished by the residents of Chikusei-sou was widely talked about, not just by the university athletics world.

Since the Hakone Ekiden began being televised in 1987, there was hardly anyone who didn’t know the name of this event for student runners in the Kanto region. Whether it was due to the grueling nature of the race or the glamour and glitz that aired on New Year’s Day, the Hakone Ekiden never failed to attract attention.

Only ten people were taking on that famous competition. Why would they think of doing such a reckless thing? What would happen if someone got injured or sick on the day of the event? What kind of daily training regimen did they follow, and how did they live?

Curious locals and students who wished to join the team began to visit Chikusei-sou incessantly. Most of the students had no experience in track and field, but when they found out that the team had passed the qualifiers, many of them asked to join the team in a temporary rush of excitement.

Kiyose carefully wrote on a piece of paper that he would turn down all visits and stuck it on the door of Chikusei-sou. He appreciated them wanting to join, but the Kansei University boom would soon die down, they couldn’t enter without an official record, and Chikusei-sou was already full. After much deliberation, Kiyose decided that it would be better for the ten of them to concentrate on training and unite to compete in Hakone rather than take in any new members.

With regards to the locals, the shopkeepers of the shopping district told them to not get in the way of training and most of the locals were now content to just peek at Chikusei-sou from over the hedges. The exceptions were the old people who quietly supplied produce from their fields.

As Kakeru was leaving for his morning jog, he noticed napa cabbages and pears placed outside the door. Is this some kind of repayment? He thought. Nira, who had watched the old people’s actions without barking, only wagged his tail at him. In the end, without knowing who did it, the residents of Chikusei-sou filled their stomachs with the produce that was often left at their door.

Of course, requests for interviews flooded in from the media. Not just track and field magazines, but also weekly magazines, newspapers, and TV; every kind of media outlet they could think of had been trying to contact them. Kiyose and Shindou investigated them all carefully and refused almost all requests with “We want to concentrate on our training.”

However, they agreed to an interview with Monthly Track and Field’s Sanuki and Yomiuri Shimbun’s Nunoda, who had been supporting them since the summer training camp. The two understood the psychology of runners well, so they watched them train without interfering and briefly asked them the most pertinent questions. Favorable articles about the people of Chikusei-sou were then published in the respective mediums.

The twins and King were over the moon and insisted on accepting more interviews.

“We’re actually going to Hakone, you know? It’s better to be noticed,” Jouta said.

“It might even help with getting a job,” King said.

“Instead of thinking about that, you need to get more serious about training. Otherwise, your pathetic running will be televised all over the country, and you’ll get attention whether you like it or not.”

Even when Kiyose flatly rejected them, the twins and King didn’t give up.

“No? We wanna be on TV. TV, TV!” they yelled. Kakeru was astonished as he watched the offense and defense unfolding at the dinner table.

Just the thought of competing in the Hakone Ekiden was enough to make Kakeru nervous and elated. But on top of that, the twins wanted the “extraordinary” experience of being interviewed on TV. Were they too simple-minded, were they greedy, or were they just fearless?

Until that spring, the twins had lived without having any connection to long-distance running, so they might not have had a clear idea of the significance of the Hakone Ekiden.

The Hakone Ekiden, which began in 1920, took place every year with the exception of a few years during the war. Even amidst the food shortage after the war, the runners put on their sashes and aimed for the mountains of Hakone—that's how important it was as an event for runners, with more than eighty years of tradition.

The Hakone Ekiden was what student runners yearned and dreamed of; the twins might not have fully understood the meaning and value of participating in such an event. But even though they didn’t understand, they trained and had the ability to claim their place to take part in it, so they were no ordinary people. Kakeru was impressed and amused by this.

Between them, the twins continued their appeal with Kiyose, who was silently moving his chopsticks.

“Hey, hey, let’s go on TV at least once.”

“We can have that perk, at least. After all, Haiji-san, you’re…”

“What about me?” Kiyose's chopsticks stopped moving. Jouta and Jouji suddenly closed their mouths and squirmed like they wanted to say something, but finally shook their heads.

“Nothing.”

In the end, Kiyose gave in and they ended up accepting a TV interview: on the evening news, in a five-minute topic segment, the lives of the residents of Chikusei-sou were going to be introduced.

TV cameras came and filmed Prince’s room full of manga and Nico-chan’s room full of small quit-smoking dolls that were scattered around his futon that he never put away. They also filmed their training in the field and interviewed the members.

The twins and King took the lead in the interview. We don’t know if things just followed their course or if it was because we were threatened by Haiji-san, but we found ourselves aiming for Hakone. We eat lemons soaked in honey every day to avoid catching colds. We don’t do any special training. We believe we have the same kind of regimen as the track clubs in other universities.

Kakeru, as usual, stood meekly in the corner, just far enough away that he was partially cut off by the cameras.

“Why are you hiding, Kakeru?” Yuki asked.

But Kakeru only smiled vaguely and dodged the question with, “No, I'm not really.” Nico-chan, who was watching over the interview, looked back at him.

“You’re not gonna tell us that you’re a wanted fugitive, are you?”

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

That’d be cool, though, Nico-chan said and gave him a suspicious look.

“Putting that aside, there’s been a strange mood lately, don’t you think?” Yuki said. Nico-chan nodded, I guess so.

Kakeru had also noticed it; it had become somewhat strained within Chikusei-sou. The first-floor residents were the same as before, and most of the people living on the second floor were practicing with the same attitude as usual. The twins, however, seemed to be clearly depressed. To be frank, it was regarding Kiyose.

They didn’t argue with him or act defiant towards him. However, they tried to keep a subtle distance. Although Kiyose treated Jouta and Jouji as he always had, they couldn’t seem to be open with him for some reason. For some reason, their trust in Kiyose seemed to have faded.

This awkwardness spread through Chikusei-sou, and a somewhat uncomfortable atmosphere had persisted ever since the qualifiers ended.

“I wonder what’s going on,” Nico-chan said. “Kakeru, you’re in the same year as them—ask them casually.”

“What do I ask?”

“About what’s in their heart, of course.”

“Aah…yes.”

Although he answered with that, Kakeru honestly felt that it was a heavy burden.

Training was becoming more and more voluminous and dense. They slowly ran the first 5000 meters of the 12,000 meter run in 17 minutes, then increased the pace and ran the last 1000 meters at a pace of 3 minutes and 0.5 seconds. After that, they did five 1000 meter runs of 2 minutes and 55 seconds with a 200-meter interval in between.

Kakeru did his best to think about his own running. Was the swinging of his arms, the angle of his feet when he landed on the ground, the relaxing and tensing of his muscles okay like this? His consciousness stretched around every inch of his cells and he checked his running with every step.

Of course, he had to attend his university classes in between training sessions, but it was hard to have to pay attention to other people as well.

One time, he happened to be in the Tsuru no yu public baths with the twins. When the twins went to the washing area, Kakeru and Kiyose soaked in the bathtub with their backs to the painting of Mount Fuji, and conversed with the plasterer who happened to be there.

“How’s it going, Haiji? How are the Chikusei-sou guys?” the plasterer asked. He was sitting in the hot water with his back to the washing area, so he didn’t notice the twins. The twins, who would usually call out to them, saw Kiyose by the bathtub’s faucet and only slightly bowed without a word.

“They’re doing good,” Kiyose answered the plasterer.

“The first-years did pretty good.” The plasterer pulled his hands out of the water and rubbed his face. “Kakeru did great too, but look at those identical twins—they’re pretty fast too, aren’t they?”

Kakeru fretted over how Kiyose would answer. Behind the plasterer, Jouta and Jouji were straining their ears to listen. Perhaps because he was distracted by the conversation, Jouji lost control of his hands and spilled a large amount of shampoo on his head.

“They really are,” Kiyose smiled. “I can’t say it in front of the people themselves, but they run well.”

“Really?” Jouta stood up from his chair in the washing area, and the plasterer looked behind him with a start.

“What’s the point in lying?” Kiyose rose from the bathtub. “Sir, we’re raising promising runners, so please continue to support us from the shopping district. I will be taking my leave now.”

He walked past the twins’ backs, opened the sliding door of the baths and disappeared into the changing room.

“He only praised us ‘cause we were here,” Jouji muttered to no one in particular. But he couldn’t hide the fact that he was happy. He shampooed his head so vigorously that it was covered in dense bubbles in the blink of an eye.

“What’s with you guys? You didn’t even say hello.”

After the plasterer compared Kiyose’s and the twins’ words and actions, he turned to Kakeru, who was still in the bath. “Are they fighting by any chance?”

He was asked that in a whisper. “Well,” Kakeru sank up to his shoulders in the water. “I don’t think that’s the case.”

The twins might have been dissatisfied with Kiyose in some way, however they couldn’t hide it within themselves forever. If anything, he would say that it was because they had openhearted and naïve personalities; he was sure that they would let their emotions erupt at the earliest opportunity and directly vent them to Kiyose. It wasn’t too late to try and solve the problem.

Kakeru decided to leave the twins alone. He shouldn’t intentionally nudge a dormant volcano; when an eruption occurred, they would naturally discover where the crater is. After carefully assessing the location and wind direction, they could take shelter and wait for the overflowing lava to cool. That was what he thought.

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