#however you get to shade and cole and they have the same voice but different vibes so they still sound different

[jinxed-ninjago]

Shade is voiced by Andrew Francis and honestly it's pretty clear after looking it up because how Andrew Francis voices Shade and how Andrew Francis voices Cole sound incredibly similar. Shade's voice is just more raspy and the tiniest bit deeper I guess? Regardless they sound very similar

[crystalgirl259]

The Flame and the Dragon Chapter 27

Chapter 27: The Awakening

Cole woke up groggily, unsure if he had even slept at all. The previous night had been rougher than he thought. He froze when he felt an abrupt shift from the body next to him. The brush of bare skin made him groan until he shifted his position to get a good look at the condition of his sleeping partner. Kai was still unconscious, but his eyes weren't shut as tightly. His breathing wasn't as raspy and heavy as it had been the previous night. A small smile graced his lips in between breathing, but the flush of fever still danced across his face.

Carefully, Cole leaned over and pressed his lips to Kai's forehead while the back of his claws ran down the boy's chest and stomach.

He frowned slightly at the warmth of his forehead but smiled when the frosty touch of the boy's skin had faded back to its core temperature. Cole expelled a breath of relief and fished around for a robe or something to quickly throw on. He refused to embarrass his staff when Neuro or someone else returned to check on Kai's health. He found a large, black robe with two slits in the back sitting on the dresser with a note from Harumi. He donned it, making a mental note to thank the seamstress later, and lied down on the bed pulling Kai's shivering form closer to him.

He didn't have long to wait before Neuro and a satyr named Bolobo arrived.

Without a word, Cole let his precious flame go and let them work.

"His core temperature is back up, but it's too early to relax just yet," Bolobo explained feeling Kai's forehead, his chest, and torso and moving outwards his arms and legs. "My prime concern is that fever." He added as her hard brown eyes fell on the heavy red staining Kai's face when he rolled the boy onto his back.

"Is there anything you can give him?" Cole asked the satyr, crossing his arms tightly, his wings twitched with nervous impatience. Neuro looked from Kai to his basket and bit his lip.

"It's too dangerous to give him something while he's unconscious, but I might be able to make something external to reduce the fever." He replied as he dug through his basket and pulled out a corked bottle of pale pinkish-yellow fluid. He carefully uncorked the bottle, filling the room with a thick, woody odor. He set the basket on the floor, poured a few drops on his palm and fingers. He pulled the blankets down with his free hand flinching when Kai started to shiver again and gently rubbed the oil over Kai's chest in smooth circles.

The teen started to inhale deeply then started to calm down.

Neuro repeated the process once more when Kai's skin absorbed the oil, then wiped his hand on a washcloth and recorked the bottle.

"Any more is too risky," He answered before Cole could ask. "Bolobo and Shade will brew up a tonic for when he wakes up, but for now I think it's best to keep him warm and keep getting his body temperature up, he still has the chill in him."

"How long?" Cole asked with grave eyes. Bolobo and Neuro exchanged soulful glances then sighed.

"I'd give him another day or two, but if the hypothermia isn't out of him by then, then there isn't much else we can do," Bolobo replied. Cole nodded and bowed his head back to his slumbering captive. The two left without another word, leaving the two men alone. Kai's breathing was still a bit heavy and his face still flushed but the chill of hypothermia made itself clear each time he shivered. Worry clouded his eyes. Kai had been fine before so why was he shivering now?

Obviousness smacked him in the head like a blunt object.

Kai had his warmth then, being away from it for so long had caused him to relapse. Cole growled and without a second thought began removing his robe. He slid back under the thick blankets and began piling them over Kai's bare arms and shoulders. His wings wrapped around the teen and he pulled Kai closer. He gently rubbed his back in hopes of soothing him. The paste Neuro had used left a sharp, pungent stench in Cole's nostrils, but the aroma seemed to calm Kai a little.

A deeper sigh left Cole when Kai's shivering started to lessen and finally stop.

He smiled graciously when he felt Kai snuggle deeper into his warmth and felt him smile against his skin. He placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. Still too warm, but at least his body wasn't as cold. Shifting closer to the body, he gently stroked Kai's cheek taking in the sweet smile and the faint rosy color in his cheeks. His claws tenderly brushed over the soft, warm lips and traced the sloping curves of Kai's cheekbone. He jumped suddenly when he felt Kai burrow deeper into his warmth.

He couldn't help but chuckle.

Kai was the last person he would expect to be a cuddly person, but Cole wasn't one to complain. He gently brushed the spikey brown hair with his claws, smiling as the silk strands wove around his claws. His tail carefully moved under the blankets and coiled over Kai's hip and side like a snake. Anything to draw life back into Kai's body. For the first time in his life, he was grateful for this dragon body. The cursed form he had always hated was now the prime thing keeping Kai alive.

Even now he could feel his body heating up to combat the cold it felt when Kai pressed against it, and he held him tighter to force the warmth back to its source.

Never before did Cole not feel like a monster. Despite his staff's encouragement and Kai all but forcing him to see the truth, a small sliver of doubt kept a leech-like grip on his heart. The reminder that no matter how much Kai cared for him, Cole could never have such a precious gem in his arms as his own. The fact that he was, physically, still a monster was more than enough to shatter the fragile hope he had been building. Never did he consider himself more than what he was.

A man imprisoned in the form of a dragon.

Neither one nor the other but something dismal in between. He never dared to see the beauty of his form. He never thought to experience the gift of flying blessed upon a winged creature. Or realize the effortlessness it took to save another's life or the possibility that his form could do more than hurt, let alone give life. Yet somehow, Kai did. He never looked at Cole with fear or disgust. It was strange, to say the least. Even stranger to daring to hope that the emotions stirring within him were more than simple care.

That maybe, just maybe, the walls be built around himself had faded without his knowledge and that he had begun to do the one thing he knew was impossible, fall in love.

How or why or even when it happened no longer mattered. Cole had found the one person in the world who could understand him. He was sure of that now. However, the danger still remained. Even now, in Cole's arms, Kai was far from safe. Even if his flame woke up, did he admit his feelings? What if these emotions were simply concern or gratification? Would they vanish once Kai regained his health? No, he couldn't take such a risk. Not unless he was positive of himself as well as his heart.

Kai deserved that, at least.

That way, even if Kai didn't feel the same, Cole could die knowing he had found the one thing he desired most. Again, he kissed Kai's forehead and settled back into the comforting embrace of his presence, memorizing as much of the peaceful moment as he could, and believing, for once, that it would last...

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

Kai hummed as he dreamed of his sanctuary. He found himself lying in a field of sparkling roses, glowing like jewels against the thick, lush, comfy grass. Above him, he could make out the castle. It shimmered against the clear sky as the stained glass windows sparkled like jewels. In the field, he could see Jay chasing Echo across the field with Nelson not too far behind, under the watchful eye of Zane. Ronin and Tox leaned against Bolobo under the shade of a tree.

Shade and Neuro sat on a picnic blanket making daisy chains.

On another blanket, Harumi laid with her head on her wife's lap while Ultra Violet twirled her bangs around her fingers, and Griffin laughed. Kai watched from the hillside, where he lied back against the roses. Except that he wasn't alone this time. Kai wove his fingers with his dream lover's claws, feeling a cool tingle running through them. For a moment they just lied there among the roses, their hands intertwined. Their heads turned and bright amber eyes met brilliant green.

Kai didn't need to see to know who his savior was.

His dream lover. His Dragon Lord. How could he have missed it before? It all made such perfect sense in retrospect. But none of that mattered. All that mattered was what was happening now.

"Come to me, my Flame..." He purred and Kai's eyes widened when his lover began to sing the words of his mother's lullaby in a deep soothing chime. Kai had almost forgotten about it. Even though he had sung the words himself for Lloyd and sometimes Nya when she got too stressed, they sounded so familiar, yet so different. Kai rolled onto his side met his lover's warm eyes with a smile and answered.

"I'm already here, exactly where I want to be." He smiled as he leaned closer so he and his Dragon Lord were only a few inches apart. He hummed when the Dragon Lord began stroking his hair. His eyes fluttered closed, soothed by the tender touch and the crystal chimes in the air. Words filled his mind as the music hummed in his ears.

"Come to me, my Flame..." The dragon repeated. Kai chuckled to himself and leaned a bit closer into his lover's embrace so his head was resting on his folded hands. He heard a low rush of wind then felt cool shade wrap over him.

"I told you, I'm already here." He sighed and his Dragon Lord chuckled, lightly.

"That wasn't what I meant." He spoke in a rich voice with a sultry rasp. Then he began to sing again. Kai could hear him move, and when he opened his eyes, he found his Dragon Lord leaning over him. Kai blinked in surprise and couldn't help but flush at the fact he was sprawled out beneath the Dragon Lord, but his savior just gave him a small smile and whispered.

"Will you be my key, Kai? Will you set me free?" he asked softly. At first, he couldn't answer. The concept sounded foreign but familiar all at once. When he did remember he mentally slapped himself for forgetting. The key to breaking the Dragon Lord's curse. The key to freeing his lover and all the people been nothing but kind to him. Kai smiled at the prince, no doubt or hesitation cloud his voice.

"Yes, Cole, I want to be your key." He promised as he leaned up to meet his lover's lips. Outside his dream world, Kai smiled in his sleep. But his lover didn't kiss him back. Instead, he turned his head, as if startled by a strange noise. Kai blinked and looked at his companion bewildered, even more so when his companion stood up hastily. His eyes focused on something foreign in the distance. Before Kai could ask what was wrong his savior broke into a run.

"Wait! Come back!" Kai called and chased after him, determined not to lose him. The hillside vanished and before he knew it he was chasing the Dragon Lord through a field covered in long grass and speckled in flowers that curled and blackened as they died. He wasn't sure how long they continued to run, but Kai refused to let the distance between them increase. Finally, his Dragon Lord leaped off the hill and vanished behind it. Kai could see his wings and head peeking over the greenery.

The Dragon Lord had stopped in a small clearing, his back still towards Kai, but his wings had fallen limp behind him.

Kai felt a surge of relief when he made it to the hillside and made to call to Cole, but the words were quickly replaced by a scream. At the base of the small hill lied the corpses of all the members of the castle. Red splotched their bodies and their glassy eyes were all frozen open. Thorny rose vines with withered, blackened blooms contorted around their spread arms and bodies. The corpses of roses and vines littered the area like thorny green skeletons speckled with blood shining like scattered rubies against the black ground.

In the center, where the ring of thorns and dead roses died was a circle of scorched earth, vacant of vegetation.

It was as if life knew better than to dare accumulate in that circle. That was where he found his Dragon Lord shaking and collapsed to his knees as if every movement hurt him. His beautiful wings, reduced to tattered strips of bleached leather, his clothes ripped to shreds and blood speckling the visible skin and scales. He turned to Kai with sad, pleading eyes, as if begging him for help. He was either forbidden to speak or didn't have the strength to.

It was then he heard a laugh like ice cracking on a frozen lake.

Kai's blood froze in his veins. He knew that laugh he followed the crackling sound to the man standing in front of his weakened lover.

"Get away from him!" Kai yelled, entering the clearing. There, he saw the same wine and amethyst-colored clothing and soulless eyes of the man who tried to kill him. Rage boiled in his blood as he suddenly recognized who he was. "You're behind all this!" Kai screamed in fury. The man said nothing. He just smiled a curled, mocking smile that set Kai's blood ablaze. His natural protective instincts and anger took over. Sparks crackled to life in his hands forming flames around his fists.

"Ah, so you've discovered your power, too bad it won't do you any good," He mocked the teenager and Kai saw red.

"I said get away from him!" He screamed throwing his hands forward, palms open and bright hot flames burst from his hands, roaring at their victim. But the man didn't flinch. His smile never faltered. Then he threw back his cape and raised a hand, sending a blast of purple fire back at Kai. The flames collided and he blocked the attack with ease. Kai's eyes bulged out of his skull and the man just laughed. When he brought his hand down again the flames and sparks retracted, forming a giant spell that bounced back towards its source.

Kai barely had time to scream before he was thrown backward with such force he skidded against the ground.

He coughed and groaned, aching from the force of his own attack.

"You can't save them!" The man's voice echoed dramatically around from everywhere. Kai shot up and turned to the closest corpse. Echo was lying only a few inches from Jay with their fingers just shy of touching. He got to his feet and crawled over to the boy's body and gently reached to touch it. He retracted his hand when Cole screamed, falling over and clawing at the ground until his wails transformed into a dragon's cry of agony. Lights clustered together above the victims spiraling into single orbs then blazed through the air all spiraling towards a single center.

Above the screaming and writhing Dragon Lord.

His limbs and back contorted. His spine cracked and the scales of his arms, legs, and back began to spread until they covered his entire form. He was no longer a man, but a dragon. Kai rushed to him, but streaming lights stopped him. The Sorcerer crackled like a madman, his laughter increased in volume as all of the lights came together in his hand. Around him Kai could see the ghost of each victim kneeling over their own corpses, weeping bitterly.

Some of them shrieked from despair, others just looked at him with dead, glassy eyes vacant of all emotion.

"I told you, boy, you can't save them," The Sorcerer chided, mockingly. When the lights died away it revealed the object in his hand. A crimson red wax candle with a bright, flickering purple flame. Kai's heart stopped in his chest when he saw it. His eyes fell on the dragon, writing on the ground. He groaned as he moved until their eyes met. The Dragon Lord's eyes were the only thing that was still human. They pleaded for him to run and save himself.

"He'll never be yours, you know." The Sorcerer said as he walked towards him. Kai took a shaky step away from him suddenly overcome by a nameless fear. The Sorcerer's smirk widened as he stepped closer, his intent naked in his eyes. Kai took another step back and stumbled over his own feet and landed on his butt but he continued to back away from the man. The Sorcerer laughed at his efforts and leaned closer so his eyes burned straight into Kai's.

"Even if you give him your mind and body and soul, he can give you his heart, he can give you his body." He smirked as he gestured with his arm to the ring of corpses, his grip on the candle dangerously tight. "But his soul and theirs belong to me!" He roared and suddenly crushed the candle in his hand...

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

Electric fear shocked his heart and mind to life and Kai shot up panting. Only when he confirmed he was back in his room, and that the contents of his subconscious experience hadn't actually happened did he calm down. He concluded that it was a dream, running a nervous hand through his damp bangs. Or was it a disturbing premonition? He prayed it was the former and not the latter. Just the thought of it coming true sent a shiver of horror through his spine.

However, when he shivered again, he realized it was from cold.

His hands immediately flew to his shoulders and began rubbing his chest, hoping to bring warmth back to his form. He felt nothing between himself and the blankets confirming his suspicions that he was naked. A jolt of alert brought his senses into focus when he felt something wrapped around his torso and a leathery texture pressed against his back and sides. He had never been modest, but the sudden lover-like embrace sent a blush of embarrassment and fear surging through him.

He couldn't remember how he had to be gotten there.

He knew he had been sick, he still felt the weakness in his limbs and his weary body was abnormally pale. Unfortunately, his last clear memory was falling through the ice when he had been skating with the others, the rest were hazy recollections. He heard a light purring next to him, reminding him that he wasn't alone in the bed. Fear of what he might have done compelled him to simply slip away, but the desire to know compelled him to accept his actions.

Slowly, unwillingly, he turned around and looked down and found himself wrapped in the arms and wings of the slumbering Dragon Lord.

Unable to contain himself any longer, a loud, mortified shriek tore itself from his lungs. The sudden scream zapped Cole to life. He tried to take a battle stance but found the bed he was in too small for his massive form and instead he stumbled and collapsed in a mass on the floor. He swore as he got up, forgetting his lack of dress. He yelped and leaped into the air when his upper back and head were attacked. He whirled around and braced himself for a fight only to discover his assailant was a pillow.

Confused, he followed the source and resisted the urge to laugh when he found Kai bunched up, back pressed against the headboard on the other side of the bed.

He clutched the remaining comforter in his fist and held it to his chest like he was trying to merge the cloth with his skin. His free hand clutched braced himself against the mattress, clutching the sheets so tightly they started to rip. His eyes were narrow in embarrassed rage, his jaw twisted to grit and his face was bright scarlet from shame.

"What the hell are you doing here!" He demanded turning redder when the comforter shifted, revealing some of his skin. He used his free hand to cover it up, still blushing glaring. "Why am I naked? Or a better question is why are you naked? And in my room? In my bed!" Kai shrieked, positive he had a permanent blush on his face by now. Cole didn't answer. He had a blank look on his face, like was he momentarily stunned.

"What?" He questioned then looked down at himself. He grimaced at his own stupidity, scooped his robe off the floor, slid his wings through the slits, and clumsily tied it closed as he walked. It did little to cover him. Kai's heart rate doubled in speed watching the near-naked dragon came closer. Questions that needed answers swam in his mind like fish trapped in a net and Cole's silence only increased his panic. Instinctively, he inched away as the Dragon Lord came closer.

Finally, he backed up too far and he fell straight off his bed and landed on his back, only adding to his humiliation.

Cole paused, waiting for him to get up. When he saw this, Kai scampered to his feet as he took the comforter with him and backed away. He cursed when his back hit the wall. He stuttered an order and pointed at his assailant.

"What are you doing?" He demanded but Cole still didn't answer. His face was still vacant of emotion except for shock. He leaned closer and gently grabbed one of Kai's arms and held him steady despite Kai's yelps and stammering protests. "W-W-Wait! Stop!" He cried as he closed his eyes tightly, and struggled in the prince's grip until he felt the gentle touch of lips against his forehead. His eyes flew open and a small blush dusted his cheeks, but for a different reason.

Before he could question the action, Cole removed his lips and replaced them with the back of his hand.

"Your fever's gone." Cole breathed, still in shock. He double-checked, taking into consideration the temperature differences between them. "You're still a bit warm, but it's definitely gone." He added as the realization suddenly brought another concern to light. "You're awake!" Cole exclaimed as he jumped for joy. Kai's eye twitched in frustration.

"Of course, I'm awake! Why wouldn't I be? Now for the last time, Cole what the hell is going on?!" He growled but once again he never got an answer. Cole suddenly grasped his shoulders and pulling him into a tight, loving embrace like Kai would disappear if Cole loosened his grip. Kai was even more confused now. Cole released him and smiled at the confused boy. "What's going on?" Kai asked again, bewilderment all over his face. Cole stared at him like he was insane.

"You... you don't remember?" He frowned, then he pinched the top of his nose. "Of course, Kai, what's the last thing you remember?" He asked but Kai struggled to remember.

"I was skating with the boys and the ice broke, I think I fell in and, then it was all a blur; I remember a shadow, a light, music, and something... a voice calling out to me, but... I don't know if that was real or if I was dreaming... what does this have to do with anything?"

"Kai, you had hypothermia, you've been asleep for three days." Cole sighed with a grave look. Kai was glad Cole was holding him since if he hadn't been Kai was sure he would have collapsed from shock. "You were unconscious and freezing; everyone was worried sick, but thankfully, my body heat managed to get your core temperature back up." He smiled weakly but one look from Kai cut him off.

"Cole, what happened?" He asked. The sharpness in the boy's eyes and the gravity in his voice demanded the truth. Cole frowned but didn't look away. His face was conflicted. As if it was torn between two decisions that both promised a negative end.

"I dove in to save you, but I thought you were trying to leave so I threw you in the dungeon." He admitted in shame and Kai's eyes widened. "But after reading your gift, I realized how stupid I was and freed you but..."

"But what?" Kai asked, but Cole was hesitant.

"Nothing." He muttered, but Kai wasn't stupid.

"Cole, you saw him, didn't you? The man with the red cloak?" He asked, but it was clearly a statement.

"How do- How do you know?" He stuttered in disbelief.

"The night I... ran away, he... well, he made it obvious what he wanted, when I escaped him he sent that beast on me, didn't he? That's why you came to save me, wasn't it? You knew it was him? He did something again, didn't he? With that monster in the lake?" He explained with a frown like he had been keeping a terrible secret and had no choice but to reveal it to prevent devastation. Cole's hands fell limp at his sides and stumbled backward until he was sitting on the mattress.

He opened his mouth to speak but no sound would come out.

The words died in his throat. Kai's expression hadn't changed. Instead, he leaned over and put a hand on Cole's knee so they were face to face.

"Cole, I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth alright?" He said as the gravity in his voice was rivaled only his. Cole nodded. He said nothing but his eyes promised Kai the world. "That night, you and I saved each other, tell me... did I kill that monster with fire magic?"

"Yes, you did," Cole answered, sensing the desperation in his plea. Kai didn't look surprised. Instead, he fell to his knees, his arms at his sides, allowing the comforter to pull around his hips. His hair shadowed his eyes, but Cole caught the smile on his face. Cole knelt down in front of him, his wings braced to comfort him, but Kai just chuckled darkly. "So it did happen, that explains it."

"Explains what?" Cole asked confused, gently tilting Kai's chin so their eyes were even. He gasped in surprise when he saw the tears glistening at the base of Kai's lashes, but his twisted smile hadn't faltered.

"Everything," He retorted but regretted it when he saw the worry on the prince's eyes. Kai pulled away from him and pulled himself back so he was leaning against the wall. Feeling cold returning, he pulled the comforter up and wrapped it around his shoulders.

"It was you, Cole, I'd been dreaming about you." He growled as his hands started shaking and he looked at the floor, unable to look Cole in the eye. "After I arrived here, they started becoming clearer and clearer; now... now, I'm convinced somehow they're real, my dreams, my magic," He muttered as he looked at his shaking hands, remembering how it felt when sparks flew between them. "Now, I'm convinced something terrible will happen, and the worst part is that I don't think I can stop it."

Cole couldn't take anymore and rushed to the teen's side.

He gently ceased Kai's shoulders and pulled him closer. He hadn't failed to notice the tears abandoning his face.

"Kai, shush, don't worry about that, they're just dreams." He soothed, stroking Kai's bangs away from his face and gently running the smooth backs of his claws over his cheek to brush away the tears. Kai shook his head and whipped his eyes with his arms, angry at himself for his lack of control, but the tears of fear and sheer helplessness refused to stop.

"They're not dreams, Cole! I was naïve to think they were!" He shouted. The volume and intensity, caused Cole to fall back from shock. Kai's fist shook in rage next to him and his wild eyes were bright with unrivaled certainty. "I know about the curse, Cole," He whispered, trying to look away, but found he couldn't. "I pretended not to because no one likes to talk about it, but I know, and I know him... that man, sorcerer, whoever he is he's behind it, isn't he? If you don't break the curse by spring he's going to take your soul, right!? Tell me!"

Cole said nothing, but his neutral mask spoke more than a thousand words.

"I know no one can reveal the details of the curse or how to break it, even you, but that doesn't matter, I'll find a way." He promised as he shifted his position so he and Cole were face to face. Tears glittered on Kai's eyelashes, but he was smiling, happily, making Cole more confused. "Cole, I don't regret coming here, or choosing to stay; being here with you, the boys, everyone... I've never been happier than I am when I'm here, everyone here is so wonderful; no one's treated me like an outcast."

He paused for a moment, but no doubt or hesitation clouded his voice when he spoke next.

"Whenever I'm with you, I can't explain it but... I'm happier than I've ever been in my entire life." Kai smiled brightly, gently whipping aside a joyful tear. Reading the bewildered and almost blank look on Cole's face the entire time he spoke, Kai didn't know how Cole would react to his declaration. The moment Kai finished his sentence Cole pulled him into his arms and rested his chin on Kai's shoulder. At first, the sudden embrace surprised him, but Kai could feel the warmth and the passion behind it radiating against their bare skin.

"Cole?" Kai questioned, but it was more a statement of happiness than a voice of concern.

"I don't care about that stupid curse," He whispered against Kai's skin. He blinked and gently pulled away, confused. Cole just smiled at him and wrapped his arm around Kai's still covered waist and stroked his cheek. "I mean it, even if I lose my soul; even if I spend the rest of eternity in hell, I don't care! That bastard can do whatever he wants to me, it won't change anything, and do you know why?" He asked, but Kai didn't and Cole smiled again.

"Because I'll always be able to take this with me." He declared and Kai's widened at what the man was implying and a slight pink color rose in his cheeks. Cole chuckled and hugged him tighter. "You've made me happier too, Kai, happier than I'd ever thought possible, I'd given up hope that I'd ever been happy again." He said as he pulled away to look Kai in the eye and pressed their foreheads together. "I'm not going to lose that or throw it away for anything so I promise you, no matter what gets thrown in my way or who stands in front of me, I promise I'll protect you with every fiber of my being, nothing is going to take you away from me, my flame."

Kai didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Tears burst from his eyes and laughter exploded from his mouth.

He threw his arms around Cole's neck and hugged him with such force he was taken off guard and his scaled spine and wings crashed against the bed frame. They both laughed at the action, but when their eyes opened and locked once more, they wasted no time and closed the distance between them. Lips molded perfectly over the other, Kai's arms wrapped tightly around Cole's neck and shoulders. Cole's wrapped around Kai's waist pressing the blanket still wrapped around Kai's hips and torso, closer to his flesh.

One hand stroked up Kai's upper back as his tail twitched at his side.

The kiss slowly turned deeper. His body moving on its own, Cole kept one arm around Kai's waist and the other clutched the bed and hoisted himself up. His arm repositioned Kai so he was holding him bridal style with one arm. Kai's arms tightened their hold on Cole, not wanting to break away just yet. They finally paused to breathe when they fell back against the mattress. Cole took notice at how lovely Kai looked sprawled out beneath him on the bed.

Face flush, one arm level with his head the other at his side, eyes half-lidded with passion, his chest rising and falling with each deep breath.

Seeing that the dragon hybrid above him wasn't moving, Kai leaned forward and kissed Cole passionately. He pulled him closer against him, urging him to move, and Cole obeyed. His body was now flush against Kai's as their arms wrapped around the other. The loose knot of his robe had come undone long ago. The comforter, the only thing separating them, slipped further down Kai's waist until it finally settled just above his hips.

"Rise and Shine you too! Shade made tea!" Neuro suddenly shouted as he burst through the door, balancing a tray with a large steaming teapot and several teacups in one hand and used the other to pry Echo, Nelson, and Jay off his waist. Harumi suddenly shoved the articles she had been holding into Ronin's arms and tried to help pry the servants off Neuro. The sudden commotion brought the two men back to reality. Their eyes flew to the spectacle, which froze the instant it turned its attention to the two on the bed.

All of their eyes flew open at the sight of their Master, robe opened and sprawled on top of their guest, who was in nothing but a bedsheet.

Amber and emerald eyes widened in horror. The servants just stared, too shocked to do anything else. Suddenly, the entire East Wing erupted in eight different, horrifying screams. No one noticed the red eyes peeking through the crack in the curtains...

[scottybrock]

Without Trust - Colby Brock

A/N: “reader X one of the boys and finding out you slept with one of their friends before you started dating (maybe just once or maybe as a summer fling). She probably didn’t tell them cause she didn’t think it was a big deal but they definitely don’t agree on the topic and now the guy feels uncomfortable leaving you two alone together and that makes Y/N feel like he doesn’t trust her blah blah blah angst angst angst”

It only took one single round of truth or dare at Sam’s for everything to fall apart. You and Colby stood on opposite sides of the room, shouting at each other. What was supposed to be a lovely night out with your friends had ended in bitter words exchanged, and angry tears to flow. “I can’t believe you’ve been with Mike, and you didn’t tell me until tonight!” Colby snarled, his cheeks flushing a bright shade of red. You simply glared back at him, crossing your arms over your chest. “And how many of my friends have you hooked up with?!” You demanded, your voice as sharp as a freshly sharpened knife. 

Colby’s blush deepened. It was true. Before he’d met you, he’d hooked up with a few of your friends. Just like how before you met Colby, you’d had a fling with Mike. It wasn’t anything serious. In fact, it meant nothing- to both you and Mike. It was right after he and Xepher had broken up, and he was on the rebound. You were going through a rough breakup of your own, and you were on the rebound. It was a casual thing- a one night stand. You didn’t have any feelings for Mike, and he didn’t have any for you. 

Obviously you found Mike attractive, because why the fuck would you hook up with him if you didn’t? Clearly, you had a type. Colby gritted his teeth together when you pointed out that if it wasn’t for Mike, then you most likely wouldn’t have met him. Mike had invited you over to a party that the boys were throwing, and on a whim, you’d agreed. Mike didn’t invite you as his date; he just invited you, period. 

That night, you met Colby. He was the handsomest boy at the party, and he made your heart flutter in ways that it hadn’t since you and your ex had broken up. His smile seemed to light up the whole house- not even just the room, the whole fucking house. His bright blue eyes were attentive, and he was sweet. The two of you spent the whole night talking, and when he asked you on a date the next day, you pinched yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming. 

Things had been going really well. You’d only been dating Colby for a few weeks, but you felt yourself falling more and more for him every single day. He was sweet and kind in a way your ex never was. He was tender and caring, funny and brilliant. He made you feel like you were the only girl in the world, and when he looked at you with that soft, sweet smile, you felt like you could be the best person you could be. 

However, it wasn’t one-sided. Colby struggled to truly connect with people- let alone a girl he was interested in. He didn’t know who he could trust, and his trust was a hard thing to get. When he trusted someone, he trusted them deeply. You were the first person in his life that made him feel like he was on top of the world. You cheered the loudest when he succeeded, and when he felt like the world was against him, you were there to hold him close and remind him that he was loved- he had people who cared about him. 

Yes, it was true that he’d hooked up with a few of your friends. It was before he even knew you, he tried to justify to himself. Granted, it was the same for you; you hadn’t even known him when you had hooked up with Mike. But it felt different to him. 

Hearing that you’d hooked up with Mike was like a gunshot to the chest. It wasn’t that you hadn’t told him right away- it was that he learned it from a game of truth or dare, in front of all of his friends. The rest of the night was spent in tense, awkward silence from the both of you. 

When you’d followed him back to his apartment at his request, you weren’t ready for the anger and stubbornness that your boyfriend had broached the conversation with. He was a fury of harsh words that had quickly reduced you to frustrated tears at how hypocritical he was being. Obviously, he’d hooked up with girls before you. He’d dated girls before you. He’d kissed girls before you- you didn’t have a problem with that. You heard the stories from Sam, from Colby himself. You didn’t come into the relationship with rose-tinted glasses on. Colby was fucking hot. Obviously he’d hooked up with girls. 

“Cole, you’re being ridiculous,” You snapped, your eyes narrowing. “What, so are you going to ask me about all of my sexual history? Make me block all of the guys that have ever looked my way?” Colby rolled his eyes, the set of his jaw tense. “Of course not,” He replied back sharply. “That’s ridiculous. I just don’t want you to talk to Mike anymore.”

Your lips curled into a snarl. “Mike is my friend!” You protested. “Would you block all of the girls that you hooked up with, if I asked?” Colby shook his head. “It’s not the same!” He argued. “I don’t have feelings for them! I feel nothing for them!” 

You paced the floor, running your fingers through your hair. “And I don’t have feelings for Mike, Colby! I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. Until I’m blue in the face, maybe. I. Don’t. Like. Mike.” You enunciated your words slowly, turning your glare from the floor onto him. He flinched back, avoiding your eyes. 

“Is this what it’s going to be like from now on?” You demanded, your eyes filling with tears once again. You blinked them back impatiently. You were sad, yes. But you were also fuming. Colby was turning a blind eye to his hypocrisy, and you hated it. “Are you going to be watching my every move every time I hang out with your friends, and Mike just so happens to be there?” You asked. 

Colby shrugged feebly. It wasn’t the answer you wanted. “Because if that’s the case, then I’m out.” You stated firmly. Colby’s head snapped up at that, his bright blue eyes wide. “What?!” His voice cracked. You shook your head, the tears spilling down your cheeks. You slumped against the kitchen counter, the fire seemingly draining out of you. “I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me,” Your voice was soft now, sad. 

You looked up at him, more tears cascading down your cheeks. “Do you trust me, Cole?” You asked. “Because without trust, we have nothing.” Hope flared in your chest, burning brightly in your eyes. However, the flame died out instantly, when Colby shrugged weakly. “I don’t know,” Was his soft reply. 

You stood erect, your spine stiffening. You couldn’t hide the tears that welled up in your eyes once more, and you didn’t try to. Let him see what he’s done. Let him see how he hurt you. Let him see how he broke your heart. You didn’t care. Your heart was bleeding, and it felt so fucking hard to breathe.

But you’d been through this before. You’d gone through heartbreak, and you’d come through on the other side. With time, you would be okay. You’d be fine. 

It felt like you’d been walking on a tightrope with no net beneath you. Colby had been the one to push you, and he hadn’t been there when you fell. 

You nodded stiffly at him. You reached for your purse that was sitting on his kitchen counter. You turned towards the door. “Then I guess this is goodbye,” Was your reply. You were proud of yourself for managing to keep your tears at bay. You heard Colby inhale sharply, but you didn’t turn around. He didn’t try to stop you. You opened the door and walked out. 

You couldn’t find it in you to be able to look back. 

Not even to see the tears streaming down the blue-eyed boy’s cheeks.

[aweebwrites]

Celestial Influence pt2

Part 1

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(Big thanks for my lovely beta whom I love very much @thelucariosfish! 😘😘😘)

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After the two days of winter Zane brought forward, Sensei Wu double banned pranks. He banned them before but now he banned them with the consequence of several hours of community service in Ninjago City- with no powers. They were already busy helping the city pull itself together again and it sucked. Doing it longer than they needed? Pass. It's been a month since then and another major incident hasn't really happened. There were near misses but nothing too extreme. They haven't quite found a way to voluntarily use these new powers as yet but they were still trying. Sensei Wu thinks if they find the key to voluntarily use these powers, it will unlock a way to control them, even when they were angry or upset.

“You know, how cool is it that I can control the sun?” Kai says, reaching a hand up towards it, trying to move it in the sky and failing.

“And I, the moon. It is quite the phenomenon.” Zane mused from where he was meditating nearby.

“I could make quakes before but nothing like the ones I made then! Like, I bet if I tried, just a little bit, I could level this whole mountain!” Cole grinned from his place laying on the ground in the shade.

“Yeah, let's not… Do that.” Lloyd says with a grimace, glancing over at him then turning back to the practice dummy, going at it in hand to hand combat.

“You know what they say: with great power comes great responsibility.” Nya says, focusing on making various shapes with an orb of water she summoned.

“I would say that's pretty boring but I've learnt my lesson.” Jay says, flopped over on the stairs to the inside.

“I certainly hope so.” Zane huffed, keeping his eyes closed.

“Well, I guess your powers would be bad if someone got struck.” Kai shrugged and Jay frowned. “And I guess Nya's would be bad if it didn't stop raining…” He added and she looked over at him with an arched brow.

“When you put it that way, Lloyd's powers are completely harmless. Auroras are rather beautiful however.” Zane added and Lloyd blinked then narrowed his eyes.

“Our powers are just as bad as yours.” Jay says defensively.

“It's really not.” Cole says as he sat up. “I mean, lightning is pretty normal and so is rain. Auroras may be rare but not unheard of. Kai can literally hold the sun in the sky and create heat waves like nothing you've ever felt. Zane can do the same for the moon and he can bury Ninjago under inches of snow in minutes. I can level everything in just a few shakes. It's not that I'm saying your powers are weak or useless but ours are just… More powerful, more dangerous.” He told them with a shrug.

“Cole is correct.” Zane agreed.

“Yeah. No offense.” Kai says to them with a one shoulder shrug.

“None taken.” Lloyd says dryly.

Offence was fully taken.

_________________

“Can you believe those three? Our powers may not be as bad as theirs but dammit, we're valid!” Jay growled irritably after they split up for a mission, thunder rolling overhead.

“Cool it Jay.” Lloyd cautioned as they searched the museum for the thief trying to hide them out.

“I'm trying.” Jay says after taking a deep breath. “It's just- really gets under my skin.” He says irritably, a thin spark of electricity traveling up his arm.

“Look, it posses me off too but we can't afford to let another incident happen again. Especially not while we're in the middle of Ninjago City.” Nya told him as she held her sais defensively. “Don't think about it. That actually helps.” She advised as they entered the hall holding animatronics.

“Yeah, alright.” He sighed, looking around instead. “You know, maybe animatronics weren't the best idea for a museum. Have these people ever heard of Five Nights at Freddy's?” He says, walking over to the animatronic of himself.

“Jay-”

“Lightning!” They all jumped once his animatronic spoke, nearly giving Jay himself a heart attack.

“Holy fish sticks.” He got out, a hand held over his chest.

“Jay, stop fooling around. We have perp to catch.” Lloyd says with a sigh.

“R-right.” He grinned sheepishly before returning to their side.

“Kai, any signs of them?” Nya asked from the comms.

They only got static back.

“Kai?” She questioned but received no answer.

“Guys? Are you there?” Lloyd tried his but only heard static. “Jay.”

“What? I'm not doing it on purpose!” Jay huffed, crossing his arms.

His electricity sometimes messes with their comms like this but he and Nya made these ones. He was sure they would have been ok… Oh well.

“I'll look in the next room.” He says, already walking towards it as they checked the comms again.

He looked around as he spun his nunchucks idly. That perp must have either escaped or have already been caught. Nothing looked stolen anyway. He looked around then perked up, realizing that this area held the gift shop. He looked around before dashing towards it with a grin. He picked up a snow globe before shaking it, watching the particles fall over the Grundle hunting its prey. Nice. He noticed movement in the reflection of the snow globe and quickly turned around. His eyes widened at the sight of the masked figure holding a metal spear then jumped out of the way before he was speared.

“Woah! Careful with that thing!” Jay yelled, getting to his feet, holding his nunchucks defensively.

“Or what?” Jay was surprised and confused to hear the familiar voice.

“Zane?!” He says, alarmed then blocked his next swing with the chain of his nunchucks.

“Guess again.” The masked person says again, attacking quickly but Jay kept blocking, despite his confusion when the person sounded like Kai now.

“What is this? Are you some kind of skrull?” Jay accused then ducked out of the way of the person’s and punched them in the gut, making them stumble back.

“Cheap shot.” They said in Cole’s voice then cracked their neck.

“Look, I don’t know who you are or why the heck you sound like all of my friends but I do know you’re going down.” Jay says, channeling his lightning into his golden nunchucks.

“Oh really? You take me down?” They sounded like Nya now and very cocky.

He didn’t know what they aimed to do, changing their voice every time they spoke like they did, but he wasn’t about to get taken down by this wannabe.

“Lightning!” Jay yelled, using his nunchuck to zap the person dead on.

He looked alarmed when they didn’t even look phased. They didn’t even falter.

“What? Did you really expect that to work?” Oh great, Lloyd’s voice now. “Face it Jay. You’re the weakest one on the team. It’s about time someone took your place.” They said as they began circling each other.

Jay scoffed.

“What? You think you can take my place?” Jay asked, unphased. “News flash!” He struck again with a bigger bolt of lightning but they only stepped back before stepping forward again.

“I’m the only lightning elemental here.” He says, thinking of taking this person down.

“Oh I wouldn’t be so so sure about that.” The person says, using Jay’s own voice.

Jay was about to make a crack at that but then the person brought their hands together and his mouth dropped open to see them charging electricity in their palms.

“I’m sure you find this shocking!” They yelled, using his voice still before they blasted Jay, making him yelp as he skid back then fell over from the powerful blast.

“Ok, this is a little scary.” Jay grunted to himself as he got back to his feet.

“Even my electricity is better than yours, stronger even. Face it Jay, you don’t stand a chance.” They said as they walked towards him, electricity cackling along their hands.

“Uh guys! Now would be a great time to jump in!” He yelled out to the other room.

“Don’t worry about them, they’re not there.” The person says in his own voice then stood before Jay. “Zane gave them the tip that they found the perpetrator on the roof of the museum and you’re already on your way there.” They said using Zane’s voice then pulled off the mask and Jay looked at them wide eyed.

They looked almost exactly like him. Same hair, same round face, same appearance but a closer look showed their nose was just a little narrower and a little more crooked and their freckles were thinner and dotted differently than his.

When plastic surgery runs wild.

“With that, we should hurry this up. My new team will be here any second now.” They said again, a blue light coming from the collar around their neck.

That must be how they talk like them but how can they use lightning?!

He ducked out of the way of the next attack before charging, swinging his nunchucks at their head. They ducked them punched him in the gut, making Jay grunt as he stumbled back.

I can’t believe I fell for my own move!

“Are you realizing now, Jay? You’re nothing but the weakest link. The ninja need a stronger, faster, better member. I bet they’ll be glad to have you gone.” They hummed, circling Jay.

“Jay’s such an idiot. He can’t even focus on a mission. Here we are, needing to catch the intruder and there he is, playing with snow globes!” They said in Kai’s voice and Jay flinched at that.

Kai never said that. They’re just trying to get into my head…

“After analyzing our team dynamics, it is proven that Jay is the weakest member on our team. His physical strength is lacking and his powers are weak.” They continued on in Zane’s voice.

No. Zane wouldn’t say-

Their conversation earlier came to mind.

‘Well, I guess your powers would be bad if someone got struck.’

‘It's really not. I mean, lightning is pretty normal.’

‘Cole is correct.’

Jay gritted his teeth, lightning arching along his arms. The Jay knock off didn’t notice, too busy monologuing with his friend’s voices.

“Face it Jay. You’re as useless as useless gets.” They said in Cole’s voice, only adding fuel to the fire.

The nerve of them! Sure he couldn’t raise the sun or lower the moon or split Ninjago in two with a sneeze but he wasn’t weak! He was valid! His powers mean something! Outside on the roof, the ninja finally met up, all of them confused.

“Where’s the perpetrator?” Lloyd asked Zane.

“I do not understand. You said you had caught them up here in the comms.” Zane says with a frown.

“Uh, what’s going on here?” Kai says, confused.

“We were bamboozled, that’s what’s going on.” Cole says with a frown.

“Where’s Jay?” Nya says, looking around with a frown.

A huge clap of thunder had them flinching before looking up wide eyed at the night sky. The sky was overcast from the rain that fell before but they didn’t hide the lightning continuously arching and dancing in the sky.

“We need to get back down there fast.” Lloyd whispered before they all took off.

Jay on the other hand was thinking himself into a spiral, sneering at his own thoughts.

He had use! He had purpose! He may not be the strongest or fastest or even the smartest but he does his best! Sure he may joke around during serious situations but it was only because he couldn’t handle the stress of those situations!

The lightning arcing against his body became bigger, wrapping around him like a serpent as his eyes glowed. The intruder noticed this and scowled.

“Your fancy little light-show won’t change the fact that you’re nothing but a waste of space on the team!” They yelled at him, charging even more lightning into their hands then blasting it at Jay.

They looked on alarmed once Jay seemed to absorb it before he floated off the ground, his hair turning into a glowing blue, raised on end. Glowing white lines crawled up his face, creating a sharp swirling pattern over his cheeks and forehead. The perpetrator stepped back, seeming to realize that they were way over their heads now. Jay was getting hard to look at, only glowing brighter.

“Jay!” The perp looked past him to see the other ninja rushing towards him before turning around and taking off.

This won’t be the last time they see them!

“He’s gonna blow!” Cole says as they stopped in their tracks, watching him glow even brighter.

“Get down!” Kai yelled and they quickly dove behind a display stand just as the electric energy Jay kept building went off in the form of a massive electromagnetic pulse, shattering glass and short circuiting every single power source it came across as it rapidly expanded past the city and even further out.

The team of ninja had to quickly throw down their ear pieces before it could electrocute them in the process. Outside, they could hear the alarmed sounds of the citizens of Ninjago City as everything that needed electricity or even batteries went out, plunging the city, all of Ninjago into darkness.

“Zane!” Lloyd was the once to yell when he fell over, his eyes dark.

“Let me see.” Nya says, crawling over and taking a look at him. “It looks like he just shorted out but I won’t know for sure. I’ll have to get to Borg Tower to see for sure.” She told them before looking out to were Jay was still floating, lightning shooting out of him much like one would see in a plasma ball.

“You two need to apologize to him now.” She says, looking at both Cole and Kai.

“What did we do?!” Kai asked, alarmed.

“Yeah! I’m not lightning proof you know!” Cole says, a little terrified to go out there.

“Look, it was all three of your insensitive comments about our powers compared to yours that made this happen. Zane is offline so he can’t apologize but you two aren’t.” Lloyd told them firmly.

“And if you don’t hurry up, he’ll go off again.” Nya told them sharply.

A quick look showed that he was indeed charging lightning again.

“Ok, ok.” Kai says then took a breath.

Both he and Cole looked at each other before heading out, yelping when they were immediately almost struck by lightning. They managed to not get stuck and took the place the perp once was standing.

“Jay!” Cole yelled over the sound of cackling lightning and he looked down at them with his oddly glowing eyes and sneered, revealing fangs that glowed bright white as did the rest of his teeth.

“Don’t electrocute us!” Kai was quick to say once he held a hand in their direction. “Just hear us out! Please!” He begged, not wanting to feel Jay’s divine wrath.

He didn’t lower his hand but he didn’t attack so that’s a plus.

“We’re sorry we’re insensitive jerks about your powers! We really didn’t mean to hurt or upset you!” Kai yelled out to him.

“Yeah! Lightning is way powerful! We were just idiots not to see that! Believe me when I say, we see it now! Your powers are just as powerful as ours! All of yours are!” Cole says, looking across at Nya and Lloyd who were peeking out from behind the display, its glass shattered. “I know Zane would be apologizing too if he wasn’t offline right now but you’re our friend and we promise to be more considerate!” He told Jay and he looked over to where Nya and Lloyd were.

He then turned fully to where they were and Kai and Cole had a moment to panic once he floated towards them, thinking they had somehow turned Jay on them.

“Jay!”

“H-hold on!”

Their yells were ignored as he floated around to where they were, Nya and Lloyd creeping backwards a little terrified. He didn’t seem interested in them however. He looked down at an offline Zane before charging electricity in his hand, making them all panic now.

“Zane’s sorry!”

“Don’t do this Jay!”

Jay ignored them and blasted Zane with a bolt of electricity. Before they could even think of attacking Jay, Zane sat up with an unneeded gasp, his systems rebooted so suddenly, it left him scrambling for his bearings. He blinked up at Jay  owlishly just before the lightning ninja closed his eyes, his powers fading as he passed out. Zane quickly caught him on reflex before blinking down at the glowing blue streak in hs hair. Well then.

A long moment of silence passed in the room.

“So uh, how do we explain this to Sensei Wu?” Nya spoke up and they all grimaced.

______________________________

Jay felt guilty sitting before the TV late the next day. Getting the power on was easy but Ninjago City has a lot of glass related damage. Not to mention the cars stuck in the roads still. No-one died and the only ones injured was his look alike. Apparently they wore an elaborate get up under their clothes that involved a lot of powerful batteries. It was what made them appear as if they also had the power of lightning. The EMP short-circuited it and gave them quite a shock in the process. Let’s just say they would have scars to look back on. None of that helped his guilt however. He brought his hand up to his face, seeing the lazy arching of lightning between them. While anger and intense emotions fuel this power, sadness and guilt does the opposite.

He reached up and toyed with the ever glowing streak of blue towards the front of his hair. Sensei believes he’s unlocked the full potential for this power and had called in the other elemental masters to take care of things in Ninjago until they all had. He had right to fear what destruction unlocking the rest of their powers could bring forth. His was the most predictable yet no-one expected his powers to be felt continent wide. It put their poor Sensei on edge. There wasn’t any sign or cause for their powers to suddenly evolve like that and still no signs of how to control them. It had the Monastery shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere.

“Jay.” He jolted at his name then looked over his shoulder meekly to look at Zane.

“Hey…” He says awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

He was surprised he wanted to talk to him after he made him go offline like that.

“I never got the chance to apologize.” Zane says as he took a seat next to him.

“You don’t have to. Really.” Jay says, looking down at his hands. “I mean, at least you were knocked offline. I could have really hurt your systems.” He says quietly.

“But you didn’t.” Zane pointed out and Jay frowned. “You would not have been in that state if I had been more insightful. If anything, it was a dose of karma.” He says and Jay looked at him borderline horrified.

“No-one deserves something like that happening to them, especially over something so simple.” Jay paused to consider. “I’ll forgive you but only if you forgive me.” He offered and Zane smiled.

“I think I can work with that ultimatum.” He agrees and Jay smiled back.

“Who do you think will reach their potential next?” Jay asked, changing the TV channel.

“It is hard to say. When unlocking our true potentials, you were first but I think it is unlikely the same phenomenon will happen again. Perhaps Kai. Or Nya. Cole even. Perhaps even I. Like I said, it’s hard to say.” Zane shrugged.

“I guess.” Jay says, returning his focus on the TV.

Lloyd frowned from the doorway. He wasn’t even on the list of possibilities.

_________________________________

Lloyd didn’t know why he let it get to him. It wasn’t that Zane didn’t mention him that bothered him, but the likeliness that he wouldn't actually have anything to unlock. He wasn't stupid. The auroras were just a timed coincidence. Kai sending more heat from the sun like he had must have triggered it. He was meant to be the green ninja. Nothing more, nothing less. He bounced the tennis ball against the wall again, catching it a second later. The question now was how to break the news to the others. He threw the ball again the caught it, holding it as he stared at the wall. Now that they had their newer, stronger powers, would they even need him anymore? He gripped the ball tightly, gritting his teeth just as tightly. He should be happy. Being the Green Ninja was never any fun. Some nights, he wished destiny had chosen someone else. But not being the Green Ninja meant not having his friends. He would probably have to leave the Monastery and just disappear. Careful what you wish for as they say. He looked down at the green ball. Looks like the legacy of the green ninja ends here.

Lloyd watched as Jay practiced with his new powers for the first time, everyone watching him in awe. He didn't know how he set it off, just that it had gone off. He wasn't charging energy or anything but he was levitating again and his hair was blue. The marks on his face were also along his arms and legs, stopping in a jagged swirl around the back of his hands and the tops of his feet. When he spoke to warn them he was going to try and call a bolt of lightning, his voice sounded all echoey and- godly even. They covered their ears at the loud clap of thunder once he did it successfully then watched in awe as he held the lightning bolt and molded it into a pair of nunchucks. The lightning at the handles faded, leaving a material similar to chronosteel in its wake, lightning arcing between both handles.

“So cool.” Jay says as his powers faded, leaving him slowly floating down to his feet, still holding the nunchucks.

“It’s like an alternative version of the Golden Nunchucks of Lightning…” Nya says in awe.

“Hey, could we do that too?” Cole asked, excitedly.

“There is a high possibility.” Sensei Wu agreed.

Lloyd looked away sadly and walked back into the Monastery. That was an epic show of power and he didn't even know what he was doing. Imagine what would happen when he does? Imagine what would happen when they all do. He heard into their room and took a picture of himself and his father from under his pillow. He didn't know where his father disappeared to after everything with the Oni. It was as if he left the realm completely- and that wasn't as impossible as he had once thought.

“If things were different, maybe I could have gone with you dad…” He whispered, heart aching as he looked at his purified father.

He then flinched at another loud clap of lightning and frowned at the cheers that came after. He shouldn't wait for them to tell him to go. He should leave while he still had some dignity left. He reached under his bed for the duffle bag there and began packing.

__________________

“Alright, maybe we should put away the overpowered nunchucks before people begin to think some huge storm is coming.” Cole says as Jay grinned at his new nunchucks.

“That would be best. Lunch will get cold.” Zane says as he stood up.

“Lunch!”

“Yes!”

“I'm starving!”

“Lunchie munchie time!” Jay says with a grin, filtering in with the rest.

“Jay, what?” Nya says and he gave an embarrassed grin.

“One of you should get Lloyd.” Zane says as he slipped on his pink apron.

“Got it.” Nya says then headed into their room. “Hey Lloyd lunch is-” She cut herself off, realizing no-one was there.

She frowned then went over to the bathroom and knocked. Before she could call to see if he was there, the door squeaked opened to reveal an empty bathroom. Getting worried, she made quick work of checking the other rooms and came up short. She even checked outside with no results.

"Guys." She panted once she walked into the dining area, everyone looking at her confused. "Lloyd's gone." She told them and they gasped.

____________________________________

Lloyd swiped the sweat away from his brows as he continued to walk in the Sea of Sand, planning on spending the night in the old Anacondrai tomb before heading off to find somewhere people won't recognize him. He'd just squeeze himself into a nice village and everything will be fine. The Ninja didn't need him anymore. Not when they would all soon have powers far beyond his own. He pulled the bottle of water he stashed from his bag then took a few gulps before continuing on, seeing the tomb in the distance. Once he got there, he dropped the duffle bag then sat in the shade close to the entrance of the tomb and rested his tired feet. He's been walking for hours on end and he was really tired. He spared a moment to wonder if they've noticed that he was gone. Would they even bother looking for him?

He had thought of leaving a letter but they were smart. They'd figure out why he left. He leaned back against the tomb wall and closed his eyes. They'd probably be grateful that he left without them needing to tell him to go. They were better off anyway. They were always the ones meant to keep Ninjago in tact. He sighed. He'd miss them but they won't miss him. He looked away. If only he had power like they did. He could stay then. Be apart of the team but he was weak… And no-one wanted a weak leader. He looked down at the tennis ball he had in hand, not sure why he brought it along. He wished he was just a little stronger, had just a little more power. They were more than his friends. They were family.

He missed then already…

____________

"Any idea where he would go?" Kai asked as he paced the length of the bridge.

"No. He could have gone anywhere. Traffic cameras in Ninjago City are down and still in the process of being repaired after the EMP hit so we can't know without going there." Nya told them as she and Zane ran a search.

"What else can we check?" Cole asked, anxiously.

"I'm afraid there's nothing much we can do…" Zane says with a frown, hands moving at an inhumane speed against the control panel.

"Ugh!" Jay says, pacing too.

"Perhaps the sky may help us." Sensei Wu says and they all frowned but walked out.

They all gasped at the bright, familiar aurora borealis streaking across the sky, flowing in the opposite direction they were going.

"Quick! Follow it!" Nya yelled as she ran back inside the bridge, taking the wheel.

She then swerved and sent the Bounty full speed towards the source.

"I'm detecting high levels of radiation ahead." Zane says minutes later, walking over to the computer to check.

"Radiation? I don't understand." Nya says with a frown.

"But I do." Jay says after a moment. "Zane! What's radiation?" He asked his Nindroid friend who looked at him puzzled.

Didn't he say he understood? He answered anyway.

"Radiation is the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles which cause ionization…" Zane whispered the last bit then looked at Jay. "You think he's unlocking his powers as well?" He says to Jay who grinned.

"But what set it off? How do we end the episode?" Nya asked them.

"That's… The hard part. We won't know unless we talk to him." Jay says with a single shoulder shrug.

"Then I must be the one to go. These increasing levels of radiation can and will kill you." He told them and they weren't very happy sending him alone but what other choice do they have?

"Alright. But be careful. We can't go all the way in so take your mech." Nya told him and he nods before heading down below deck.

He then headed to the holding area, climbing into his white mech and powering it up.

"This is as far as we can go. Anything beyond this would be dangerous for us." Nya says through the comms so Zane could hear from the suit.

"I'm ready." Zane says, looking at the screen showing her and the others in the bridge.

"Dropping now." She says then pressed a button that allowed the bottom of the Bounty to open.

He then hopped out, landing the mech on its feet.

"Here I go." He says, heading further into the source of the radiation.

"And while he does that, I'll send out a warning to every nearby city and village." Nya says, leaving the steering wheel to head back to the computer.

"I wonder why he left in the first place…" Cole says as he walked out next to Sensei Wu.

"Only time will tell." Wu says calmly, despite the worry over his nephew he felt.

____________

"The old Anacondrai tomb… but why would he come here?" Zane says as he walked towards it, a frown on his face.

"That's what we're about to find out." Nya says from the comms.

He walked closer and soon saw Lloyd himself walk out then stepped back.

"Lloyd." Zane says in relief but Lloyd obviously wasn't happy to see him.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" He asked as Zane stopped in his tracks.

"We came to find you, to bring you home. We found you by-"

"Wait, we?" Lloyd says, cutting Zane off. "As in the others?" He asked, stepping even father back.

"Yeah Lloyd. We came to take you home." Jay spoke from the comms, the volume loud enough for Lloyd to hear.

"Why did you run off like this? We were worried! We still are!" Nya says next and Lloyd gritted his teeth.

"You shouldn't have come." Lloyd says as he turned away and stalked off.

"Why shouldn't we? Lloyd, speak to us, to me. We don't understand what's going on. Let us help you." Zane says, following after him and Lloyd growls.

"Help me by leaving me alone!" He snapped at Zane, whirling around as his green energy began to arc and flash around him. "I left for a reason! I'd rather leave before you guys tell me to!" He yelled, eyes glowing green as his energy continued to grow and so did the radiation, the super charged particles around him taking on a green glow.

"Crap! We need to get away now!" Nya's panicked voice came from the comms and Zane switched it off, just so he could focus on Lloyd.

He left the video on however.

"We would never tell you to leave Lloyd. Why would you-"

"AARGH!" He growled, a glowing streak of green lighting its way through his hair, the tips taking on the same color as he began to float. "Don't you get it Zane! You're supposed to be the smart one! You're a Nindroid after all!" He yelled, his voice taking on that echoey tone but far louder.

"I can't get anything if you don't-"

"I don't have any powers Zane!" He snapped at his friend, confusing Zane completely, even as he watched the bright green swirls, similar to Jay's make their way on his face.

Unlike Jay's, his were perfectly swirled using perfectly curved patterns. He watched wide eyed as two smaller swirls made their way high on his forehead before dark horns began to grow in, swirled from tip to base in the same green.  

"Kai was the one to create the auroras! His heat was the one to make it happen! It was just a coincidence! All I'll ever be is the green ninja! I wasn't meant to have powers like you do! I'm not meant to be or have any more than I have now! Don't you see?! I'll only drag you all down!" He yelled and with that, another huge wave of radiation pulsed out of him.

Zane snapped himself out of his shock and awe. He knew he had to stop this before the radiation field spread to villages- or worse: Ninjago City.

"Lloyd! Listen to me!" Zane yelled.

"No! You listen to me!" He yelled at Zane, floating right over to him, directly before him. "I'll only drag the team down! I've already been dragging the team down! You guys are better off if I leave! I was trying to do you all a favor! Now let me leave!" He demanded, warning signals going off in the suit.

"I can't do that!" Zane yelled back and Lloyd only grew angrier, the entire sky turning green. "Open your eyes Lloyd! You do have power! How else could you be as tall as I am in this mech?" He says, softening his tone towards the end and Lloyd was about to yell then paused.

He looked down and realized that he was floating off the ground.

"What?..." Lloyd whispered, floating back, looking down at his hands.

He then turned them over and saw the swirls on them glowing green.

"Even if you didn't have this power, we wouldn't care. You're our family Lloyd. Our brother. We love you as you are. Power or no power. We would never ask you to leave either nor do we want you to." Zane says, and Lloyd looked up at him. "It wouldn't be home without you." He says and Lloyd's eyes filled with light green glowing tears that poured from his cheeks.

His eyes then rolled back as he began to fall. Zane was quick to catch him with the mech, watching as his powers faded away, the horns leaving with it. He sighed in relief then smiled at Lloyd. He spotted movement from the corner of his eye then turned to see Nya waving at him. He quickly flipped on the audio again.

"Sorry about that. I needed to focus. He's ok now." Zane told them and they all sighed before cheering. "We're coming home." He says before turning around and walking back.

"Yeah but before you do…" Jay says and Zane frowned at that. "Make sure to stop by the decontamination shower we had Cyrus set up outside the radiation zone. It should be done by the time you get there. No offense but I'd like to keep living." Jay says and Zane huffed.

"Seems fair." He nodded.

_________________________________________________

Part 3

Part 4

____________________________________

(I’m turning the Ninja into gods? pffff What? Noooooo. I wanted to add Nya in this but it’s already past midnight so she’ll be in the other part of this series. Yes! I did say series! I have sooo many ideas for this I simply cannot not make it a series! I hope you guys liked this! Nighty night!)

[allisondraste]

Allison Replays Origins 2018

A few days ago, I decided to replay Origins for a handful of reasons:

To figure out my canon order and choices.

To see if I catch anything new based on my knowledge of the books.

To force myself to read more codex entries

The teaser lit a fire beneath me and I won’t be stopped

Last night I left Lothering and completed the Broken Circle first, then I recruited Zevran, and went to retrieve Shale from Honnleath. Then I headed to Orzammar.

A lot of the playthrough has been the same so far aside from me having Lucia choose different dialogue options (with Alistair in particular. She’s much less flirty than in the past, but it still works!). However here are some of the things that really stood out to me:

Duncan really stans mages and mage rights and thinks the Chantry’s oversight is abhorrent. The Calling makes this mean a lot more.

Also, just Duncan in general means a lot more. Knowing where he came from and the man he become is really lovely. It is SO much harder to deal with his death

It’s also harder to deal with Cailan’s death

LOGHAIN WHAT ARE U DOING STOP. I TRUSTED YOU.

The Circle is so good to do first narratively because the dreams give a lot of insight about what the characters value.

Wynne is so good. I see traces of Asunder Wynne already.

Speaking of Asunder: the Codex Entry for Shades makes me think of Cole in the very beginning.

Alistair’s approval is, IMO, harder to win as quickly when you don’t do Redcliffe first

Matthias in Honnleath has Cullen’s voice.

SHALE’S WILHELM IS MARIC’S WILHELM AND SHALE WAS THE GOLEM IN THE STOLEN THRONE EEK.

Zevran gets really really REALLY shitty with Dulin Forender when he asks you to do the Proving in Harrowmont’s name.

“Why should we support someone who cannot keep his allies” (paraphrase)

Zevran honey shh

“Ah yes, they follow his fine example of cowering in fear from Bhelen”

Zevran pls

*more Antivan piss matching with Dulin*

Zevran not everyone can be as brave in the face of death as you

“Heh, well. You are right. I cannot expect everyone to die valiantly like a Crow”

Me: PHEW! GOD. WHY HAVE I NEVER GOTTEN THAT DIALOGUE BEFORE ITS SO GOOD.

That’s basically my summary so far. I plan to keep updating because this is like a new game with all the extra lore knowledge. I’m pumped.

[elliemarchetti]

A Wonderful Mistake (part 3)

Marecal Modern!AU with a slight mention of Mareven in which Maven’s not a psycho 

@lilyharvord not as lighthearted as the previous parts, I know, but I hope you like it anyway!

@nightmarebarrow I know you probably didn’t read the second part yet but I wanted to tag you anyway, since one of your question’s answered here

Part 1

Part 2

Other Red Queen fics:

A Rebel’s Son (part 2)

Red Queen Soulmate AU (Mare’s POV) Part 2 (Diana and Shade’s POV) Part 3 (Diana’s POV)

Words: 1549

She had been so indecisive about what to do for the whole afternoon that Mare was still drying her hair at seven. She urgently needed a session at the hairdresser but she barely managed to cover the cost of living alone, let alone a luxury of that kind. Also, there was Ann who could cut her split ends, but that wouldn’t be the day. In fact, the one with Tiberias was absolutely not an appointment and there was no reason to be beautiful: demonstrating this, she decided to wear her favorite sweatshirt and a pair of old and crumpled jeans. If he really had to prove that he was not a spoiled rich man he would have to take her to a place where that was the right clothes choice.

When she was ready, she stepped out of the bathroom and glanced sideways at the clock. He was late.

"He’ll arrive." said simply Ann, who was already wearing her pajamas watching the Griffins perched on their uncomfortable couch.

"It would be better if he didn’t." Mare replied, throwing herself next to her.

"Don’t lie to me, you already look disappointed." the other answered, before dropping a handful of popcorn into her mouth without taking her eyes off the screen.

Five minutes later, when she had already surrendered to the evidence and began to relax, someone rang at the door. Mare jumped up like a spring, disappointing herself and snatching a cunning smile from Ann; she would’ve never admitted that her friend was right, but that was it. She didn’t know why, but she desperately wanted to believe that Cal was a good person, that he was different from the boy they all thought he was, that there was something else behind the façade, and at the same time a tiny part of her, the one who thought of Maven, the one who was supposed to visit him, wanted him to disappoint her, to remind her why she had chosen his half-brother and all the problems that it involved instead of simply falling into his arms. Not that he had ever tried to hook up with her before, but she doubted that if she went looking for him he would refuse her.

When she opened the door, however, there was no Cal to wait for her but a child of about eight years, not so tall, with white skin accentuated by long black hair.

"Are you Miss Barrow?" he asked, in a serious voice that didn’t seem to belong to a child. Mare nodded, perplexed, until she realized that a white van awaited them on the road. She immediately recognized the writing on its side, because she had seen it countless times since the accident that had taken away the use of her father’s legs: Jacos Foundation. The founder, Coriane Jacos, was Cal’s mother, a woman, according to her parents, born in the wrong family; unlike her brother, in fact, she didn’t like the academic life but preferred manual work, as she had amply demonstrated when she started working for a misery in the Cole’s workshop against her father’s will, and wasn’t even vain as her great-aunt, or attached to material goods like her uncle. She had drawn young Mr. Calore’s attention to the graduation of her friend, the current heart surgeon who supported the Foundation and had also operated Mare’s father, Sara Skonos, and from that moment they had become inseparable. Together, they had faced everything: the divorce of his parents, the death of her father, the coming out of his father, her first abortion and finally the fulminating end that Tiberias Senior met because of AIDS. Every scandal and sorrow was faced with strength and integrity by what was defined as the most beautiful couple in the city, until Coriane became ill. At the death of her father-in-law's partner, whom she was very attached to, she found herself alone, with her brother busy with his studies in another city, her dearest friend distant because of her exhausting work, her aunt on her deathbed and her husband too busy with family affairs to pay attention to her. Perhaps it was depression that caused her two successive abortions, perhaps, as some liked to whisper, her husband's lover who was trying to poison her, however, when Cal was finally born, for a short time, she seemed to have come back to herself . In order to keep herself busy, as she left work in the workshop on the second abortion, she had created a foundation in her name, using all the money received by her family, which used as a base the old estate she grew up in just outside town. It didn’t have a specific purpose, other than to help those who needed it most: the loner, the marginalized, those who were in non-positive economic conditions, the mentally ill and those who had lost their will to live. For two years Coriane Jacos had been the perfect woman for public opinion, the apotheosis of the American dream. Still, something in her mind didn’t work as it should, for one day they found her lifeless body in the bathtub. Mare's mother had told her that the newspapers had talked about it for weeks, until the news was slowly forgotten, replaced by the imminent marriage of the new widower with what had long been his perfidious lover. For the poor, however, Coriane’ story had remained important even years after her death, as was her family’s name, since it was her brother who took the reins, while still continuing his work as a teacher at the university, helped by his wife and her innumerable acquaintance in the medical field of her foundation. And now Cal was leaning out of that damn bus to greet her with his hand, as if the thing didn’t touched her at all, as if a day of volunteering were enough to make him good as his mother. Undecided about what to do, she replied to the greeting without too much enthusiasm, and went back into the house, telling the child to get back on the bus, where she would reach him once she got her jacket and bag.

"Don’t you think I would’ve known if Tiberias Calore had volunteered?" Mare asked to Ann, a bit of annoyance peeping in her tone.

"I think if you were interested in the city's gossip a little more, you would’ve known it." Ann replied, throwing her a sideways glance.

"You knew it?!" Mare asked, amazed. Did she really lived so detached from the rest of the world?

"Even Diana knows that, and she doesn’t even live here!" the other answered, finally deciding to turn around to look at her. Diana Farley was Tristan's best friend, a subject quite prickly, at the beginning of their relationship, but that over time had become a safe haven for both of them when they needed to detach. She lived in another city, about an hour away, and she and Tristan had met at school, before he decided to retire and return to live with his parents. Sometimes she came in town to visit them, but Mare had never had the chance to hang out with her, unlike Shade and Kilorn. Working in the evening certainly had its advantages, but unfortunately it also led you to accept a life of compromise, including abandoning your social life.

"So you're telling me I should go and act like I've always known?" Mare asked, grabbing her jacket with irritation. She didn’t know what had bothered her, but something had, turning her into the grumpy self that her siblings hated.

"I'm saying you should go and behave normally, enjoy the evening and remember ..."

"... it's not a date." they concluded in chorus.

The bell rang again, urging her to move.

"Keep me updated!" exclaimed Ann, who had already returned to look at the brightly colored screen.

"I will do my best!" the other exclaimed, just before closing the door behind her. Waiting for her now, there was Cal himself, wearing a sweatshirt and a heavy jacket too.

"So where are we going?" Mare asked, trying to start with the best good intentions for the evening.

"At McDonald's," Cal replied, leaving her deeply perplexed. He probably noticed it, because before opening the side door, he explained that once a week they took the residents of the clinic to eat out, a way to reintegrate them in society and not make them feel different from the rest of the world.

"And why there?" she asked, before getting in.

"Because this time it was up to Luther to decide." Cal replied, throwing a knowing look at the child who had gone to ring at her the door. The child replied with a wide smile of satisfaction, while who she supposed was his father seemed even sadder; that young life would be broken before reaching adolescence, yet Cal had the expression of who would do anything to make him happy. While she was fastening her belt, Mare felt a grip on her chest, right at the heart.

"Are y’all ready?" Cal asked, having reached the driver's seat, with a fake southern accent. The occupants of the bus answered positively in a choked choir of voices of every age and gender, and Mare couldn’t help but join them.

[antheiin]

Revered - Supergiant Challenge

Part 3 - 3,411 Words

Part 1 | Part 2

The garden is an interim, an in-between time that acts much like purgatory. In it, Miriam has time to her own head, enough to think about just what this entire thing means. Maybe, she’s floating about in a dream, in which there has been an entire city built out of pieces she hasn’t even experienced, full of people she can hardly picture coming up with. That’s the part that makes it hard to completely buy in to, the fact that she can’t reasonably make it all true.

Though, the impossible had been proved to her a few times before. Namely, her ascension, which had been put away as an impossibility when Miriam was younger. So, at this point, it could go so far either way that she hates to make any conclusions.

Fedir and her had talked for a time, under their breaths and slowly traversing the overgrown areas. He had told her more when pressured, spurred on by Miriam’s insistence and furrowed brow, the edge of concern in her voice that didn’t reach a whine, but still expressed her distress. They had gone over the impact on her in their initial attempts to remove Miriam from the location, her panic rushing her out the door before she could be truly impacted by it.

Bleeding a god from their mortal form was a phrase that made Miriam just a tad bit nauseous to think about. The implications of anything of that nature happening to her person was worth the upset. It wasn’t anything she couldn’t watch in a horror movie, but when the process was placed further into reality, she found it repugnant at best. That was all she needed at that moment, but leaving sight of the house behind meant lowering her anxiety at least a little bit, forcing Miriam to think.

What else would happen? What else could happen, even?

Fedir had answered her with that prodding, and she’d known the moment his voice lowered even more in preparation had let a rock of dread settle into her abdomen. Despite her own abilities not requiring the first law of physics or thermodynamics, this apparently does. The extent of the power requires input of its own, something not found on any measurable scale.

Hundreds of thousands of people, he had said, people who would be going about their days before suddenly seizing and being taken by the actions of people miles and miles away. People they had never met, doing this for a god that they had not met, and likely would never meet in the end. That fact scared her, and badly, so running away from the source of it seemed like the best possible option to undertake.

Miriam had run and run and run, not looking back to the house until she snagged herself on a crawling root, falling down with a muffled thump that turned into a semi-uncontrolled somersault. Fedir’s footsteps behind her skidded on the stones lining the path, both of their breaths caught up in a shallow wheeze.

“Hey, hey, you can’t run away like that.” Fedir is hissing his words, crouching down to help Miriam get to her feet. She does so, stumbling and clutching at her chest as she tries to stomp her panic down. “It makes a lot of noise. I don’t want us to be heard. There’s not a lot of places to hide here.”

“Can’t we go any faster, then?!” Miriam’s voice, while hushed, strains and even cracks at one point, her fingers digging into Fedir’s sleeve. “Things were already pretty bad, but that extra information just makes it so much worse.” It could be comedic, were the situation not so dire.

“...Fine.” Fedir stands, pulling Miriam up with him, and linking their arms together. Somewhat comforted, she squeezes her son’s arm, and tugs them onward, content to take the lead this time. “Just, keep your ears open.”

Any strange sounds, any oddities, and she was about as likely to hurt someone as she was to flee.

“I can’t, I can’t wrap my head around why they would do this.” Miriam speaks softly after the next few minutes of walking don’t alert to anyone following them. “If that many people are going to die, how do they know that they all won’t just be wiped out?” It’s a reasonable question, in her mind, but Fedir doesn’t seem to know anything on it, and shrugs his reply.

Perhaps the philosophies of Katherine Piwowarski had held on for the time she’d skipped through. After all, in Poland, there had been twelve-hundred present, scattered about and ranging from warrior sorts to children. It was a compound, practically disguised as a rustic little town. That was enough people to pass a story on to colleagues and children, for however long. It wasn’t as if she was taking in the world after the sun had gone out, or something similarly catastrophic. Those philosophies of Katherine’s were timeless, to a degree, and her gospels claimed to be by Miriam’s own tongue, a wondrous collection of obsession and a belief so strong it had manifested itself into a global threat.

The entirety of it wasn’t something Miriam knew. But, in her times bound to the center house in the first foggy town, Katherine had ranted and cooed as she sprawled herself across Miriam, the oxygen tank hissing with the effort of her preaching. At times, when her mind didn’t scream with danger alarms, it was almost serene. A different sort of her could have been loved by a woman invested more in her power than her person. At least she was beautiful, at least she was hard pressed to pull her attention away from Miriam for any length of time.

For the Miriam who was desperate and lonely and unsure about what had happened to her, this was set up as a story reaching it’s romantic conclusion. She had liked Katherine for a good long time, when she seemed like a dream come true. Really, if she had not become what she was, she could have loved Katherine dearly. Could have taken Bruno and Tabi along as well. At one point, there was a Miriam so intuned with the world around her, who would be happy to tie herself to a group of similarly odd sorts. They could have been friends, really.

Miriam could have married a woman like Katherine Piwowarski had she not been what she was when they met. There have been fragments of a reality like that that she’s been gifted, where the idea was more prominent. Katherine could have been something wonderful in her own troubled existence.

Besides the gift of blood in the dirt and stone, the interim garden is left with little else to present. Miriam does pluck a flower, a dappled lily that she cups in her hands, unsure of what to do with it. She needs to chase away this face before the people around can get attuned to it. “I’m switching up again.” Miriam speaks lowly to her brother, and tugs the cloak further around herself, as if hiding the transformation in her cloak. This form is a bit more slight, and the notches in her borrowed hands and the blonde hair at a weird length makes her think that she’s landed comfortably as Cole. He wouldn’t mind, she doesn’t think. It’s for the good and safety of her and someone she cares about very much. The pilfered lily is slipped behind an ear, shaded by the heavy weave of her stolen cloak.

“Thank you hon,” she mumbles that bit under her breath as the pair leave the garden, diverting from the path to clumsily scale an adjacent stone wall. “I’ll take good care while I borrow this for awhile.” Really, Miriam assumes that she can hold this form while Cole is Cole. No issues with one physical form, and multiple vessels jockeying for it.

On the other side of the wall, the world drops into brambles and oddities that she only sort of recognizes. Miriam had gotten better with botany as time had gone on, but she still is lost when her feet hit the ground. The snarls at her ankles prompt a grumble, and Miriam has to pull herself free, before bending to unsnare some of Fedir’s coat from tangle of thorns.

“What’s through here?”

“This is where it starts getting bad. Someone’s going to alert that you’re gone like, any minute. People use the path through the wooded area like a main highway. So we’re going off the grid for a bit.” Miriam nods, thinking of leave no trace mentalities that had been imbued on her during some camping expeditions. She can do off the grid, she can disappear.

“Then let’s, get a bit off trail, I want to repack our bags. Quiet as possible is the plan, yeah?” She’s picking her way down carefully, cutting north-west to get away from the garden. The noise of bugs drops off, and for a moment, they’re cast in silence that’s just relaxed enough to not be a problem. Once they’ve left that silence space, and have gone back into the faint murmur of the woodland, does Miriam take her bag off, and gesture for Fedir’s.

“This shouldn’t take long.” The bags are near empty, but hardly neat. Miriam moves lightening fast, pulling things out and tucking them away. The spotted extra boots are given a stern look. “I hope you ordered on the larger size, I guess I can stuff these with socks if I need to.”

“I don’t know women’s sizes, so I just got what looked close. So uh, it’s probably not the best.” Honesty, that’s something to appreciate. Rearranging Fedir’s bag as well, she finds a few more things. A locket (tarnished), a few pill bottles, and an obscene number or bandanas (colored obnoxiously). It’s worth little more than a chuckle, before they’re both heading out down the hill and through this woodland.

The woods surrounding the gardens and the hidden town had grown exponentially since the people had come. Well, the fog had rolled in first, blanketing it from imaging, and swallowed up in the same way the fog swallowed up the sound. Between the foreboding evergreens, to the ferns so broad that they could pass for an eccentric skirt. Those sensitive to the subtle changes of the world- the deities and Conduits she once knew- could tell that there was energy bubbling over this chosen land.

It’s kind to them, though. The woods is quiet and mossy, and allows for slips and falls and blunders with great forgiveness. Nevertheless, the serenity only lasts for forty-five minutes, as most things do. The silence was broken apart by voices coming closer, urgent feet crunching through the rock. Clutching Fedir’s arm, Miriam pulls them into the brush, fingers digging in and her other hand clasped over her mouth to prevent the whimper in her throat from working out.

“The Sergeant ordered anyone…” The first voice is muffled, but Miriam feels cold at this point, and by the way Fedir stiffens, he’s unhappy too. Determined to get a better sense of what’s being said, she worms forward, still hidden in the brush, but just a little bit closer to the source. “The Sergeant ordered anyone who isn’t in a vital post to comb the gardens and down into the Walkways. Said that there’s been a breach.”

“Oh, oh my.” The next voice is thin and reedy, really, Miriam could call it reedy without being wrong. “And I had heard that the High Priestess retreated at the news, both her and the Maw. Is the Sergeant still running the front lines like he does?”

“If he didn’t, I’d be surprised.” She can catch a glimpse now of a tall, broad man, built like a lumberjack .That’s the muffled voice. A few feet to his side is a girl no more than five feet tall, practically a fairy, considering how delicate she looked next to him. Miriam sits on her conscience, and wonders about the benefits of simply eliminating these two, to make them a problem no longer and never again.

But, she just can’t make herself, and instead, focuses on their words for something useful.

“The breach,” the woman starts, her fairy voice twisting itself into a sigh. “She got out of the house the High Priestess was holding her in, didn’t she?” It’s snide now, grating on itself and making Miriam shiver. “Now we’re all putting up with extra for the sacred cause because someone couldn’t get the whole thing right in the first place.” Kind of an interesting way to consider things as a cult member, but Miriam figures she wouldn’t know unless she was one person. Just best not to judge it.

“Seems so, but keep your voice down.” The woman is admonished near immediately, and Fedir fidgets when the sound can be hidden by speaking. “You don’t know who’s coming. We should hurry anyways, before we’re late.”

And with that, the footsteps and voices faded as the pair went further down the tree lined path, leaving Fedir and Miriam behind. She’s shaking without realizing it, and has to grab at a tree limb to keep herself steady as she gets out of her stiff legged crouch.

“That can’t be the last of it,” Miriam mutters, casting a glance to Fedir, before helping to pull the boy to his feet. “It was twelve-hundred here the last time I remember. How many are there now?”

“Uh, let me think.” Fedir chews on his lip, back to leading the way as he takes both himself and Miriam through the least dense parts of the woods, still remaining off the path. Eventually, he seems to give up, and shrugs to Miriam with an apologetic sort of look. “I think over four thousand, now? I dunno, I tried to do some research, but it’s all cloudy, and I think they’re all over the place. How come you don’t remember any of this?”

Miriam, unsure and unwilling, shrugs right back and stares at her feet for awhile. “I just don’t. There’s, there’s this whole section missing.” Waving a hand, her brow furrows, expression desperate for understanding. “Like waking up from a dream to, this. Nightmare, something.” His mouth stands agape, unsure and unsteady as they keep hiking just off the edge of the path. The fact that he squeezes her hand, and says no more, makes her a bit anxious.

It’s miserable walking and snagging on every other briar in the woods. However, it’s safest, by all arguments, and while they can’t talk much, it’s easy enough to pretend to be a woodland creature, venturing just out of sight. Miriam, in the meantime, tries not to manipulate anything, tries not to flex any of what she is. The plants feel heavy, as if weighted down by the atmosphere of this place. Worth watching, but touching is far too dangerous. It’s distracting, even, the way these things exist.

Too distracting, she finds out soon.

They’re about ninety percent of the way there, Fedir says. It’s an estimate at best, given how things feel so much different when you’re looking at them theoretically. Still quiet, walking one foot in front of the other, with an ear out for danger. So, it comes as a shock to hear someone else again, a shrill sound that sounds a bit too surprised to have been following for long.

“Oh, that face of your’s, I don’t recognize it. And I know everyone. So, It, it has to be you! They said that you were hiding in someone else’s skin.” It’s no voice she’s known before, cracking up an octave and stammering on itself. Whipping her head around, Miriam finds herself about six feet away from a young woman in a hooded cloak, her round glasses eschew on her nose. “You’ve been right here the whole time! What luck-”

Deciding that she doesn’t like that tone at all, Miriam grabs Fedir’s wrist, shoving the boy back and behind her with the nudge of her hip. “Stay behind me, run if you need to.” The words are muttered, strangled out, really. Fedir looks cross, but nods his agreement to the frantic, nervous plan.

“She told us you couldn’t just leave us.” The strange cultist is stock still, too still, her smile stretched across her face. “Turn face from those who would deny your faith. Keep your goddess close and reap her bounty.” It sounds like verse, and Miriam hates this entire thing more and more each moment, limbs stiff and frozen in place. “Reap the fruits of your labors.”

“Stop.” She warns, fingers digging into Fedir’s wrist. “Just, I, please stop. We don’t have to do this. We just want to go home.” It’s begging, really, her attempts to get the woman to allow them to pass. In response, her head tilts, and she gives Miriam a quizzical look. That isn’t comforting, not at all.

“But goddess,” the whine makes Miriam drop her disguise in a fit of fear, suddenly much smaller and damn near cowering. The stranger’s smile splits her face open, and she takes another step forward. “Your home is here, don’t you know? Nothing else.” Another step, another little skip that sends her off the path and into the woods, ankle deep in the undergrowth. “There’s no leaving us now. It wouldn’t be fair, after all this time the priestess has worked to bring you here with us, to grant you your power.”

That paralyzing dread stays, and Miriam can hear Fedir step back behind her, wrist still stuck in her grasp. Still smiling, the stranger slides forward again, the hem of her pants snagging on a thorn or two. She moves so slowly, that it’s hard to process, so hard that Miriam suddenly processes just how close she’s gotten to them both, how her smile has widened more and more, how open her eyes are. It’s like watching a haunting in progress, specters clambering over a living body. A moment later, the stranger is close enough to hear her breathing.

“Let me take you home.” She lunges, snapping a hand around Miriam’s free wrist. Throat stuck, all she herself can do is stand stock still, gaping at the scene. But then, Fedir finds himself faster, and pulls his mother, trying to tear her from the strange woman’s grasp.

“Let go of her-!” His cry jumps Miriam forward, and she struggles too, trying to twist herself loose as the woman snaps her other hand onto Miriam’s forearm, fingers like a vice. It feels like she’s going to die, like this stranger is going to snap her up and bring her back to be pulled apart at the seams, for people to die. This feels like the end of the world.

With nothing else on her mind, Miriam releases Fedir and snaps forward like a let go spring. The fact that she’s breaking someone’s nose is a little surreal. Despite the power, violence makes her nervous, and the memories of her own crimes is painful. Desperation does terribly funny things, though.

Faced with a great deal of pain, the stranger recoils, releasing with one hand, and then another, reaching to clutch at her face as she bleeds. Miriam’s own arm is clawed up where nails have tried to break her skin, the marks sure to bruise. In reply, the strange woman lashes out, and briefly, Miriam sees a sea of stars.

It’s difficult to process, immediately after being hit in the face. This is somewhere between a slap and a punch, her hand curled and nails striking Miriam’s cheek. Pain blooms soon enough, and Miriam just wobbles in place while the both of them try to process what’s just happened to them. Fedir, with more sense in that moment, grabs Miriam’s arm and yanks.

“C’mon, we’ve gotta go! Now! Go!” She stumbles at the first tug, dancing over her feet and trying her best to not fall. It works, thankfully, and Miriam manages to break into a run.

The edge of this woods isn’t far now, and comes closer and closer the more they run. For now, the goal is to escape, to hide away from the strange woman until she loses direction of where they are. She’s too perceptive, too interested, and too touchy. Best to just keep trying to taste freedom from this nightmare.

After all, there’s just a bit longer to go.

[my-words-are-light]

Ngawooin: Chapter 3 — Stillness

I commissioned this image from NOPEYS

Click here to go to Chapter 2

Destiny dropped Neil off somewhere close to his home and allowed him to find his way back without her drawing attention to him. Now she could get back to her place, have a nice sit down to relax from Judgement whopping her, and then go to bed.

But first, she had to turn off this hero mode. One question: how?

She looked at her bow. Maybe she could get rid of it the same way she got it but in reverse? Maybe she could unsummon her weapon like she wanted to do with her armour or something? Nothing would do, just something that she could avoid using so she’d have a free hand. Nothing, nothing she could use to protect herself and fight, she couldn’t just go home looking like an extremely intricate cosplayer…

… Nope, her bow was still in her hand. You’ve got to be kidding.

Destiny fell to the ground on her back. She just wanted the day to be over. She was sore, tired, creeped out, shocked, surprised, irritable, hungry… the list could go on forever if she had the patience but she didn’t; she’d had enough of Judgement, had enough of Goetius, had enough of Riley for causing all this, had enough of her new power for falling into her and not someone else, had enough of this day as a whole and all she wanted was for it to just stop.

She closed her eyes.

She opened them soon after she felt another change to her body, to a… familiar state?

Her vision wasn’t tinted blue anymore. Her arms were bare again. So were her legs. She was back in her school uniform and the bow was nowhere to be found. Her hands went to her hair and, oh thank everything; it was short and blonde again.

She was back to normal. No more fighting monsters, no more… anything. All that remained was home. And the pain, too; Judgement’s hit still lingered in her stomach.

She got up, which took a bit more time than she expected. She winced and gasped as she felt the pain from her fight linger in her abdomen. Her pain tolerance must’ve been huge when she was transformed but now, back as her old self, it was really starting to smart.

As she walked home, holding her stomach, the night was oddly hushed. People were usually more active and loud, even at this time of night. Plenty of people would stay inside but at least the streets weren’t deserted. Maybe they were still worried about Judgement?

Meh, not her problem anymore. She approached her home, which was a simple weatherboard house only a single story tall with a roof of rusty corrugated iron and the walls covered in flaking, burnt amber paint. Like every house in Stillgate Street, really, except they all had their own unique paint jobs with different shades of yellow, orange, brown, or white.

There was one aspect aside from colour in which the Pride household was different from the others; Sergeant Judy Coles’ car was parked on the nature strip right outside. It should be noted that such was not usually the case, however, and that only happened when Coles was visiting for one reason for another, which didn’t help Destiny’s fatigue. As if tonight couldn’t be any more of a hassle.

Destiny took a breath and entered her house. In the entryway, she took off her school shoes and placed them on the shoe rack, which was just a wooden rectangle that her dad nailed two small wooden squares to and placed on the ground. Crude but it did its job.

“Who’s that?” called her dad, Saul Pride, from the dining room on the entryway’s left.

She sighed. She didn’t want to make a fuss but what could she do? “‘ey Dad, it’s me.”

A chair squeaked from scooting along the floor and her dad’s footsteps quickly carried him to the entryway. As soon as he saw her, his frantic eyes and the tense expression on his red face softened into tremendous relief. Saul was a heavyset man who chose to be a stay-at-home dad; he was rarely dressed for anything serious, preferring to wear a loose pair of navy blue pants and an unbuttoned red plaid shirt over a white singlet.

“Oh, Dezzie...!” he said with a cracking voice as he pulled her into a great big hug, making her wince. “Jude told me how some great big monster found you! I’m so happy you’re okay...”

Speak of the devil, Judy Coles had just stepped into the entryway. Compared to when she came across Destiny and Judgement, she was a lot less panicked and confused, although she still looked tired and irritated. She looked more at home with her typical frown and her arms in the pockets of her police jacket. She wasn’t the warmest police officer but that was something Ngawooin got used to.

Destiny grunted from the hug. She was a bit too sore for this sort of affection right now. “Sorry, Dad...” She returned the hug as lightly as she could manage. “I was just hiding.”

“Good, good on ya. It’s important you’re safe.” Dad pulled away and placed his hands tight on her shoulders. He looked her up and down, inspecting her with worry. “What happened? You’re acting like you’ve been kicked around a fair bit. Did anyone hurt you?”

Destiny rubbed her stomach. “I’m a bit raw but nothing too bad. The monster never got me. Coles came in the nick of time and I ran to the park and hid there.”

“I looked for you there,” said Coles. “I searched every bush, nook, and cranny and you were nowhere to be found. Exactly where were you?”

Destiny gulped. “Well, I, uh, left at some point. Didn’t know if the big guy was going to find me there and I wanted to get away.”

Coles crossed her arms. “But why didn’t you head straight home?”

“Oi,” said Dad, raising a finger at the police officer while keeping his other hand firmly on Destiny’s shoulder. “Not now. Back off.”

Coles’ face flashed with irritation for a moment, but she then calmly raised her hands in assurance. “Sorry. Long night.”

“I can relate,” sighed Destiny.

Coles smirked. “Fair. You sure you’re alright, though? You do look really sore.”

“Yeah, nothing serious. Just need a bath to deal with some aches.”

“Well alright then. You dropped your shopping, by the way, so I brought it back. Late night dinner, I suppose.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Jude,” said Dad. “Wanna stay around for dinner? I reckon we’ll have enough for you too.”

“That sounds great but I have to say no.” Coles walked to the door. “Need to ask around, see who else saw that monster and pick up statements.”

“Sure it can’t wait? You’re going to need a lot of energy for tonight after everything.”

“Actually, no. It can’t wait. I need to do it now while everyone’s still awake and they can’t pass it off as a dream or something.” She grabbed the handle. “Oh, Des?”

“Yeah?” said Destiny.

Coles fixed Destiny with a serious stare. “I saw you with the big guy and I saw you run off. That’s all good but, just to be sure, did you see anything else?”

Destiny was confused but she slowly shook her head. Maybe she was talking about the whole superhero thing. “No… I just stayed hidden.”

Coles sighed. “A’ight. Stay safe. And I never thought I’d say that in Ngawooin.”

“First time for everything,” said Dad. “G’night, Jude.”

“And to you, Saul. Both of you get a good sleep tonight.” Coles left and shut the door behind her.

Destiny hissed in pain as she walked into the dining room. She pulled out one of the wooden chairs at the table and slumped down, resting her head on her folded arms. The lounge room had a sofa but she just needed to sit down right now. “First time for everything. Including giant monsters, huh?”

Dad rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, that was pretty stupid. But I think everyone’s tired and scared. Just what happened today? Where did that big guy come from?”

“Bugger if I know. Is mum home yet?”

“Nah, she’s back tomorrow. Good thing you weren’t hurt that badly, otherwise she’d have been back yesterday.”

“Hi Des!” called Destiny’s little brother as he ran into the room. Milo, only seven years old, had very short brown hair and wide brown eyes. “Are you okay? Dad and Jude said there was a monster and a superhero outside!”

“Hey Milo,” said Destiny, not lifting her head. “Yeah, that’s about it. That’s why dinner’s late, sorry.”

“Did you see ‘em?” Milo asked, sitting next to Destiny. “What was the monster like? What about the hero? Did you talk to them?”

“Milo, let your sis be,” said Dad. “She had a run in with that monster and she’s lucky she wasn’t hurt.”

“It’s good.” Destiny waved him off tiredly. “The monster was like a big knight with a big black robe and it had this big axe that looked like a judge’s hammer…”

“Those are gavels,” said Dad.

“Whoa!” said Milo. “What about the hero?”

“Ugh…” Destiny rubbed her eyes against her arms. So much had happened tonight and it was hard to get her thoughts in order. “I dunno. Didn’t see ‘em.”

“Des, kiddo.” Dad was setting up the dinner ingredients on the bench. “You’ve had a rough night. We all have. Maybe it’ll be good for you to have a bath and relax before dinner.”

“Couldn’t agree more.” With a groan, Destiny pushed herself up from the table and stretched. “Need to clean myself from sitting on dirt for half an hour too.”

“Hey Dad,” said Milo, “since there was a monster, can I stay home from school tomorrow?”

Dad turned around quickly to refuse as he normally would but then he paused. “Actually, that might be a good idea. It’s quiet now but it might come back...”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” said Destiny right before she wished she didn’t. How could she possibly sound sure of that? That’d be suspicious at the very least…

Dad shook his head. “I know you like to underplay problems but you have to admit this is kind of a big deal.”

Oh thank goodness; her apathy protected her from scrutiny. “Yeah but, like, what about the hero? Didn’t they take care of it?”

Dad pursed his lips. “Y’know what? Tomorrow morning, I’ll call Jude and ask if it’s safe for you two to go to school. If she says that monster’s still a risk, we’ll just hang out here at home and play games or something.”

“Yes!” Milo pumped his fist. “I hope she says it’s still a problem.”

“I don’t,” grumbled Dad. “But it’s still important you go to school. You need to get out of the house from time to time so you can learn and make friends.”

“But you stay home all the time.”

“That’s because I went to school.” Dad grinned and placed a plastic bowl on the bench. “And I do all the work around the house. I cook, I clean, I wash the clothes, I’m basically always busy. You’re lucky you don’t need to do anything for stay-at-home days and you can just lie about all day.”

“Aw…” groaned Milo. “Does that mean I won’t be allowed to have fun if I grow up?”

“Oh you’ll be allowed. You’ll just need to make time for it.”

“Alright,” said Destiny. “As fun as this conversation isn’t, I need a bath. See ya.”

“Take care, Des,” said Dad. “Dinner’s going to be a while so take your time and relax. You’ve had a long day; you’ve earned the rest.”

“Thanks,” mumbled Destiny. “Looking forward to something to eat.”

She made her way to her bedroom first. After the bath, she was going to want to change into something comfortable for the rest of the night so she was going to get her pyjamas ready.

Her bedroom was very simple. She had no posters or paintings or anything on her beige walls, preferring to leave them bare. Her single bed had white pillows with a pale green blanket and a doona cover depicting sheep-shaped clouds with a sun in the middle. Aside from that, she also had a small desk with an office chair and her laptop, which was very old and couldn’t stay powered for over an hour unplugged so it basically served as her desktop.

Her fitted closet was opposite her bed. Her pyjamas were in the bottom drawer. It would be simple to retrieve her sleepwear and continue onto the bathroom but Destiny had spent the night getting superpowers and fighting her classmate who was possessed and transformed. Being hurt and truly spent of energy, she collapsed onto her bed.

She had never felt this tired before. She had never exercised a lot or even done much in P.E. but she never thought that this sort of fatigue was humanly possible. It was hard to even think, let alone move. She held herself together in the conversation with Dad and Milo but, on her own in her bedroom, she let it all go. She stopped trying to hold it all together and fell as she pleased.

Forget the heroics. Forget Judgement. Forget Goetius and Neil. All she could think was that her bed had never felt so comfortable in her life.

[annesurelyblythe]

Of Friendship and Forgiveness (1/1):

Summary: Gilbert rescues Anne, and Anne’s not very happy about it. Also, Billy Andrews is a jerk. Post-Season 2. 

If you’ve read the books or watched the 1985 movie, you might recognize some things :)

Words: 3,700+       ao3 

Rated: G 

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It was springtime in Avonlea again, Anne’s favorite time of the year. The rebirth of the forests and fields she walked through daily made her heart sing with delight. The very air around her seemed to hum with life as bees buzzed to and fro and birds called out their afternoon greetings.

The Lake of Shining Waters was teeming with life as the Avonlea schoolchildren descended upon its banks on assignment from Miss Stacy. They were studying ecosystems in class that day, a topic that normally would had interested Anne tremendously. However, Miss Stacy had chosen partners for them to explore with, and to Anne’s immense displeasure, she had somehow ended up with Billy Andrews.

Anne had long ago decided that if she had a sworn enemy on this earth, it was Billy Andrews.

The boy in question made a derisive noise at her as she came to stand next to him before he turned and sauntered towards the lake. Diana eyed her worriedly from where she stood nearby with Charlie Sloane, and Anne gave her bosom friend a look of resignation as she reluctantly trudged after Billy. She followed him to the dock where he promptly proceeded to start scanning the ground for rocks. Anne withheld an annoyed groan and walked down the dock to observe a charming cluster of lily pads.

It was amazing to her that so much life could be found in such a small area. On one of the lily pads, a small frog sat, and Anne watched enraptured as his mouth opened suddenly to catch a fly on his tongue. She smiled brightly, in awe as a snapping turtle paddled along nearby, startling the frog from its perch. Further across the lake, a graceful swan was teaching her ducklings how to fish, and every so often, she would dive under the water, leaving her white tail sticking up in the air.

So many creatures living in day to day harmony, Anne mused. And those were just the ones she could see. Beneath the surface were different plants and algaes that were essential to maintaining the equilibrium of the lake’s ecosystem. Every organism had its own part to play in the grand scheme.

Anne heard voices nearby and glanced up to see Gilbert Blythe pointing something out to Ruby Gillis whose starry-eyed face could hardly be persuaded to look away from his to see what they were supposed to be observing.

Anne sighed. Ruby had been over the moon when Miss Stacy had partnered her with Gilbert, while Anne had found herself strangely displeased by it, perhaps even more so than she was about her own partner. Gilbert was smart, as Anne had grudgingly admitted to herself on more than one occasion; he needed a partner who would challenge him, not someone who hung on his every word as if it was the gospel. It was an unkind to her enamored friend, Anne thought, but no less true.

Anne realized she’d been staring at them for some time when Gilbert shifted his attention her way and caught her eye. Her eyes widened as he smiled, tossing her a playful wink over Ruby’s shoulder, and Anne turned away hastily, feeling her cheeks warm in what she was sure was an entirely unbecoming shade of red.

She gave her attention back to her lily pad nook, and began a small sketch of the ecosystem she had found, determined not to look over at Gilbert and Ruby again. Although she was nowhere near as good of an artist as Cole, she took joy in drawing the enchanting scene, and pretended she was Monet, painting his famous water lilies. Suddenly, the tranquility of the lily pads was disturbed by several rocks being tossed in the water in front of her.

“Must you be such a nuisance?” she exclaimed, glaring at Billy, who had made his way to the end of the dock.

He only snickered and started skipping rocks across the lake. Anne huffed in exasperation. If he didn’t want to complete the lesson that was fine, but did he had to torment her when she was trying to enhance her own knowledge? What had Miss Stacy been thinking when she’d partnered Anne with such a brute?

The brute in question had found new victims to torture and skipped his rocks in the direction of the family of swans. Anne watched, growing increasingly upset as he missed the first couple of times before finally hitting one of the ducklings in the face, causing it to squeak piteously.

“Billy Andrews, you stop that right now!” Anne said, dropping her slate and hurrying to the end of the dock.

“Awww, is the ugly duckling worried about her fellow feathered friends?” he mocked, sending another rock sailing towards the swans.

Anne watched helplessly as it hit another precious duckling. “I said, leave them alone, Billy!”

“Why don’t you make me?” Billy sneered, not even looking at her as he winded back to toss another stone.

In that moment, something inside of Anne snapped at seeing him harassing such innocent creatures. She vaguely thought she heard Diana calling her name in concern, but Anne ignored her, intent on the rocks in Billy’s hand. Only, when she grabbed his hand to extract them from his fingertips, she didn’t count on Billy shoving her in his attempt to escape her grasp.

“Get off me, orphan!”

“Anne!”

Anne put her arms out to find balance, hearing thundering footsteps coming towards her, but it was too late. Billy had pushed her to the edge of the dock and she could do nothing but brace herself as she fell backwards into the lake.

.

“I said, leave them alone, Billy!”

Gilbert’s head snapped up from where he and Ruby were examining some tadpoles, to see Anne advancing down the dock towards Billy. Noticing Gilbert’s attention shift from the tadpoles to the dock, Ruby also looked up.

“Oh no,” she moaned nervously, and Gilbert stood up from where he was crouched down by the water’s edge.

“Why don’t you make me?”

A general feeling of foreboding washed over him, and Gilbert started heading towards Anne and Billy. He wasn’t the only one either.

“Anne,” Diana called, suddenly at his side as they reached the dock at the same time.

Both of them watched in horror as Anne reached over and grabbed Billy’s hand, only to have him push her away.

“Get off me, orphan!”

“Anne!” Gilbert yelled, as Diana gasped loudly, her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

Gilbert raced up the dock towards them, but he was too late. She toppled backwards into the lake, making a loud splash into the water. Angrily, he turned to Billy, grabbing him by the front of his shirt, ready to lay into him, but Diana’s words made his blood run cold.

“Gilbert!” She tugged on his sleeve, and he heard tears in her voice. “Gilbert! Anne can’t swim! She doesn’t know how!”

Gilbert swung his panicked gaze over to where Anne had fallen, and his heart stopped when he realized that she hadn’t resurfaced. The dock extended a decent length away from the shore, and the water there was much deeper, too deep to stand. His body was moving before his mind even registered it, and suddenly he’d jumped in after her.

The water was freezing, but he hardly felt it, his heart pounding in his chest as he opened his eyes and searched for Anne in the murky water. She wasn’t far from him; she wasn’t even far from the surface, in fact, but her arms were flailing in distress. His eyes darted around her and he quickly spied that the hem of her dress was caught on the branch of a fallen log and it was preventing her from rising to the surface. Gilbert sprung into action, swimming down to where she was entangled, wasting no time in ripping her dress away from the sharp branch it was ensnared on. Once she was free, Gilbert tugged her into his arms and kicked them both up to the surface.

They broke through with heaving gasps, and Gilbert had a firm grip on her, keeping her above him as he treaded water. Anne seemed okay but disoriented, and her gray eyes widened in shock to see him holding her.

“Anne, are you alright?” Gilbert asked her urgently.

She coughed a little but nodded, averting her gaze, and Gilbert sighed in relief, swimming them over to the dock.

“Anne!” Diana exclaimed above them, “Oh, Anne, are you okay?”

By this time, most of the class had gathered on the dock, watching them anxiously, or in Josie Pye’s case, triumphantly. Gilbert helped Anne up the dock’s ladder before following her up, and watched as Diana, Ruby, and Jane descended on her, fretting over her waterlogged dress and hair. Gilbert barely paid them any attention, focusing on Anne’s pale face to determine if she was really fine. Luckily, she hadn’t been under very long, so he didn’t think there was any water in her lungs.

Spying Billy still in the crowd, his anger swelled again, and he rounded on him, only to be held back by Charlie and Moody. “What the hell was that, Billy?” he exclaimed. “You could’ve killed her!”

“It was an accident!” Billy claimed, his face growing red. “If she hadn’t put her ugly orphan hands on me, she wouldn’t have fallen in!”

At this insult, Gilbert struggled even more fiercely against Charlie and Moody to get to him, but his friends held firm.

“What is going on here?!” came Miss Stacy’s voice as she and the rest of the class joined them on the dock. Her eyes took in Anne’s pale, shivering form and a drenched Gilbert glaring angrily at Billy. “Someone explain this instant!”

“Anne jumped in the lake, Miss Stacy,” Josie said before anyone else.

Several of the girls audibly gasped at the statement, and Gilbert’s head whipped around wildly, his mouth falling open in outrage.

“That is not true,” Anne retorted, finally finding her voice, her eyes blazing. “You take that back, Josie Pye!”

“Anne,” Miss Stacy said, sending her a warning glance.

“Please, Miss Stacy,” Diana pleaded, her arm around Anne’s shoulders. “Billy pushed Anne into the lake ( “She fell! ” Billy protested.), and she can’t swim, so Gilbert jumped in and rescued her.”

“It was most heroical,” Ruby chimed in eagerly, looking at Gilbert with those moony eyes he tried so hard to avoid.

Miss Stacy sighed. “All right, everyone back to the schoolhouse,” she directed. “This particular lesson is over for now. Anne, Gilbert, you’re dismissed for the day. I don’t want you to catch a chill in those wet clothes, so please go straight home.”

She grabbed an unrepentant Billy by the arm, and urged him down the dock, and the rest of the class dutifully followed behind her. When he swung his gaze around to look at Anne, he found her staring right back at him, a warmth in her eyes like he’d seen the day they’d parted in Charlottetown and again at Bash and Mary’s wedding. He blinked, feeling warm himself despite his sopping wet clothes.

He suddenly felt a light touch on his arm, and looked down to see Ruby standing next to him. “Thank you for saving Anne, Gilbert,” she said in that soft voice of hers.

Before he could even think about moving, she had stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Oh, no.

.

“Thank you for saving Anne, Gilbert.”

Anne’s heart, which had swelled three times over when she’d seen who her rescuer was, now dropped down to her feet as she watched Ruby peck a kiss to Gilbert’s wet cheek. Whereas she had been warm with appreciation and some other emotion she couldn’t name, she now only felt the cold misery of being completely soaked through.

“Uh, it was nothing,” Gilbert stuttered, casting Anne a contrite look as Ruby continued to look up at him adoringly.

Anne drew herself up with as much grace as she could, as regal as Mary, Queen of Scots. “Yes, I’m sure I’m very grateful for your assistance, Mr. Blythe ,” she said curtly, since it would have been poor manners not to thank him.

Gilbert’s brow furrowed in confusion and he opened his mouth to speak, but Anne had already swept away with as much dignity as someone who most likely resembled a drowned rat could.

“Anne, that wasn’t very nice,” Diana chided in a whisper, keeping pace with her down the dock. “Gilbert just saved your life.”

Anne scoffed. “I would have been fine,” she asserted, ignoring the minute of sheer terror she’d experienced when she’d been surrounded by water on all sides with no hope of reaching the surface.

Anne picked up her slate and hat from where she’d dropped them earlier and put the hat primly on top of her wet head. Quick footsteps behind her indicated that she had a very determined Gilbert Blythe on her heels so she marched off the dock to evade him. It was no use, of course.

“I’ll walk you home, Anne.”

Stopping to send him a long suffering expression, she said, “If you must .”

His gave her one of those inscrutable looks, though it was accompanied by a small smirk. “Yes,” he said simply. “I must.”

He hurried to grab his satchel, slinging it over his shoulder as Anne said a sullen goodbye to Diana and Ruby, who cast a longing glance back at Gilbert as Diana escorted her to the schoolhouse.

Anne started off down the lane, not looking back to see if Gilbert was following her, but hearing his footsteps a couple paces behind her. She experienced a brief moment of deja vu, and thought back to their first meeting. Billy Andrews was the common denominator between the two events, as was her would-be rescuer trying desperately to get her attention as they walked along.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine.”

“No water in your airways?”

“No.”

“No chills or a headache coming on?” He persisted. “Blurry vision?”

“No, Dr. Blythe .”

His presence disappeared from her side, and she peered over her shoulder to see Gilbert had halted abruptly on the path. The hurt expression on his face instantly made Anne feel about two inches tall.

“Are you mad at me for saving you?” He asked incredulously. “What was I supposed to do, let you drown?”

Stubbornly, Anne remained silent, averting her gaze.

“I don’t understand you, Anne,” he said, his voice cracking with frustration. “One minute we’re fine, and then the next, you push me away. Why can’t we be friends?”

She gave an impatient sigh. “We are friends.”

“Not like you are with Diana or Cole or even Jerry,” Gilbert pointed out. “What makes me so different? Why do you put this wall up between us?”

“Because you’re off limits!” Anne blurted out.

Her eyes widened in panic, and she immediately clapped a hand over her mouth. Her words seemed to echo in the silence thereafter. What had come over her to say such a thing? Why, oh why, did he have to push her so hard?

Gilbert squinted at her. “I’m what ?”

Anne shook her head, turning around to continue walking. “No, just, forget I said anything.”

“No, I want to know what you mean,” he demanded, grabbing her wrist and swinging her back to face him. “Why am I off limits?”

Growing frustrated herself, Anne shook him off. “Why don’t you figure it out, if you’re so clever.”

He studied her face, and Anne realized how close they were standing. “It’s Ruby, isn’t it?” Anne didn’t answer. Gilbert threw his head back, glaring up at the sky in exasperation. “Of course I’ve noticed her crush on me, but it’s not reciprocated, Anne . Besides, it’s not like I have ‘Property of Ruby Gillis’ tattooed on my body, do I?”

Anne felt her cheeks grow warm. “Well, no, but—“

Gilbert groaned. “Then, what is the problem?” He placed his hands on Anne’s shoulders and she had to remind herself to breathe. “This childishness has gone on long enough. Anne, from day one, the only thing I’ve ever wanted is to be your friend.”

“Well, you sure had a funny way of showing it,” Anne said crossly, trying not to soften in the face of his sincerity. “Teasing me about my hair, in front of the whole class nonetheless. It was excruciating .”

“I was an idiot,” he admitted. “I just wanted you to pay attention to me! I’m sorry I ever said anything about your hair. You’ve no idea how sorry,” Gilbert added softly, all his frustration seeming to have evaporated. He fingered one of her damp locks almost reverently. “Please, can’t you forgive me, Anne?”

Anne bit her lip. How on earth was she supposed to say no to that?

.

Gilbert watched with bated breath as Anne bit her lip, and he tried not to think about how red and inviting it made her lips look against her porcelain skin. Friends definitely didn’t think about one another’s lips, that was for sure, and if now was his one chance to finally be friends with Anne, he didn’t want to blow it, so he focused instead on her gray-green eyes. They looked hesitant, but not unyielding.

“All right,” she said finally after a long silence. “I forgive you, Gilbert.”

Gilbert threw up his arms triumphantly and whooped loudly, gratified when his reaction produced a smile on Anne’s face.

“We were born to be good friends, Anne,” Gilbert told her matter-a-factly, feeling his grin stretch from ear to ear. “You’ve thwarted destiny long enough.”

Her cheeks took on a rosy hue. “Yes, well, I suppose I won’t be sorry to be proven wrong,” she said lightly. Her face grew stern for a moment and she pointed a finger at him. “But I fully expect you to keep up your end of the rivalry in school. No going easy on me now that we’re really friends.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Gilbert avowed. There was a slight breeze rustling through the trees, and he steered them back down the path towards Green Gables when he noticed her shiver. “If anything, we’ve got to push ourselves harder than ever if we’re going to be the top two students from PEI to pass the Queen’s entrance exam.”

“Top two out of everyone on the whole island?” Anne asked, her expression dubious but hopeful. “You really think we can do it?”

“Oh, I know we can,” Gilbert replied confidently. “Mr. and Miss Cuthbert are going to be bragging about you to all of Avonlea, I can just see it now.”

“I don’t know that either of them knows how to brag,” Anne laughed. Her voice took on a wistful note. “It is my greatest wish to make them proud of me, though.”

“They already are, Anne,” he told her as they came to the gate of Green Gables. “Anyone with two eyes can see that.”

“Oh, I know,” she said absently, looking ahead to where where her home stood proudly.

Gilbert was struck with the knowledge of how little he actually knew about Anne’s past before she’d come to Avonlea. He didn’t know what traumas she may have faced, but sometimes a shell shocked expression would come over her face, and he knew she was reliving something terrible. His heart ached for her then, that anyone as pure and effervescent as Anne should have to deal with such dark memories. But if there was one thing the last few years had taught Gilbert, it was that life was hardly ever fair. He hoped that since they were real friends now, she would feel comfortable about sharing that part of her life with him.

“Now, I’m prescribing dry clothes and a cup or two of hot tea,” Gilbert said, playfully stern. “Doctor’s orders.”

Anne rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Right away, Dr. Blythe.”

They dallied at the gate, uncertain how to say goodbye after what felt like such a monumental day. Which was why Gilbert was astonished when Anne suddenly threw her arms around him in a quick hug. He barely had time to return the embrace before she pulled away, her cheeks flushed.

“ Thank you for saving me, Gilbert,” she said softly.

He felt like the happiest boy in the world at that moment. Anne had forgiven him, agreed to be friends, and hugged him? It was almost too good to be true, and he knew he was smiling like a moke, as Bash would have said.

Gilbert bowed dramatically. “I am but your humble servant, Queen Anne,” he told her, hand over his heart. “No thanks necessary.”

Anne’s eyes lit up in delight, making Gilbert’s heart soar, and a small part of him thought of how lovely it would be to spend the rest of his life making her that happy.

.

“See you at school tomorrow,” Gilbert said, his hazel eyes lively and warm.

Anne nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

He turned and ambled away, and Anne heard him whistling the opening notes of a cheerful tune. He looked back at her and waved before heading down the lane towards the Blythe farm, and when he was out of sight, Anne dreamily made her way toward the house.

Queen Anne, Gilbert had called her. She’d only ever wanted to be Princess Cordelia, but she had to admit that Queen Anne had a wonderful ring to it.

In the kitchen, she encountered Marilla who was baking a pie. The older woman looked at her in alarm.

“Heavens, child, what’s happened to you now?” She asked, taking in her disheveled appearance. “You look like you fell in a lake!”

“I was pushed in a lake,” Anne corrected, taking off her boots and placing them in front of the fire to dry.

“Pushed?” Marilla echoed in disbelief. “Pushed by whom, might I ask?”

“Billy Andrews,” Anne answered, wrinkling her nose.

Marilla shook her head, untying her apron and pulling it off. “Right then, I guess I had better go have a polite word with Mrs. Harmon Andrews.”

“It’s all right, Marilla,” Anne assured her, eyes sparkling. She would dream of Gilbert coming to her rescue every night for the next week. “I was saved by a brave knight.”

[puddygeeks]

Another month, another favourites post! Is it me or is this year just flying past already! I keep getting lost about which month we’re on. I’ll take that as a positive, as they say time flies when you’re having fun. So let’s get into what I’ve enjoyed this month!

Beauty

Urban Decay Naked Cherry Palette

It’s hardly a surprise to me that I’m impressed with this as a long term fan of Urban Decay palettes. I knew from the moment I saw it announced on their Instagram page that I wanted this desperately. It was a pretty big deal for me to buy a new palette, as let’s be honest they’re not particularly cheap and I’ve been more onto Makeup Revolutions palettes for £8 for the last few years. I decided that since I hadn’t bought myself a luxury palette in ten years and I hadn’t been able to source the one I wanted whilst in the States as planned, it was about time to invest in another. As per usual, the pigment in this is fantastic and the colour selection is charming. It helps that the colours perfectly fit my aesthetic, and they’ve allowed me to recreate many of the looks that I’ve had saved on my Pinterest for years but not had the right colours for. This palette gets a massive thumbs up from me and I have to be honest, I’m in love.

TRESemmé Colour Revitalise Colour Fade Protection Shampoo & Conditioner

I’ve been a long term user of Kallos products from Notino, especially because of the size bottles that you can get for very reasonable prices. However this time I decided to try something I could just pick up quick and easy from boots, and these huge bottles of Tresemme were half price. I’d had a little test of them as Hollie bought them first and I was pretty impressed. I recently recoloured my hair, and so it’s important for me to keep that colour looking fresh for as long as possible. After using these for the month, I must admit I’m very happy with the condition of my hair. It’s smooth and silky, easy to style and nowhere near as knotty. My colour is also still looking fabulous and at least to me, it doesn’t look like it’s faded at all. If you’d like to give it a go, it’s still only £3 a bottle at Boots which is a total bargain!

So…? Bali Breeze body mist

I originally bought a mini bottle of this in the travel minis section of Boots before my trip to Florida. I wanted something summery and fresh that I could keep in my park bag. I didn’t end up using it as I was gifted a cute little Ted Baker set for my birthday, and so ended up taking that instead. Recently, I decided to change up my daily fragrance and found this hanging out in one of my drawers and I am obsessed. As far as I remember, when I bought it, it was only £1 for a 50ml bottle, which will last me a while. To me at least, it smells like holidays and the beach, and gives me a little smile every morning when I spray it on. In my opinion, it’s well worth a pound for your own holiday feeling every morning. And much cheaper than the Orangasm by Soap and Glory that was my previous summer scent.

Schwarzkopf LIVE Colour Ultra Brights – 094 Purple Punk

If you any of you remember my multicoloured barnett from just before Florida, you’ll probably be quite surprised to see that I’ve gone back to dying my hair at home. To be perfectly honest, it was my absolute favourite hair colour that I’ve ever had, but at a pricy £115 it’s just not within my budget at the moment. I probably will continue going to the salon for a bleach now and then, as from previous attempts I’m not crazy enough to do that at home any more. For now though, I’ll stick to Live XL for my colour and try out a few different looks! This time I’ve gone with Purple Punk, as I wanted to return to my original Cadbury’s purple shade and I love it. It’s so vibrant, it’s stayed fantastically bright and left my hair still in lovely condition. When I bought it, it was reduced to £4.50 in both Asda and Boots, and although I used two bottles, I feel like £9 is much more my speed than £115.

Food

Beanies Coffee

As part of living within a tighter budget, I’ve been trying my best to cut down on my excessive Costa purchases. That doesn’t mean to say that I’ve miraculously stopped living off coffee though! As a compromise, I’ve been trying some of the Beanies coffee flavours. So far I’ve got Chocolate Orange, Coconut and Gingerbread in my drawer at work for emergency use. You can find these occassionally in Aldi on special buy for a bargain price! Otherwise there’s just about every flavour available on Ebay.

Yorkshire Tea: Breakfast Brew

As you’ll remember in my December favourites, I started experimenting with some of the Yorkshire Tea flavours after seeing Brogan Tate rave about the Biscuit Brew, which I quickly became hooked on. Occassionally Sainsburys runs a half price offer on flavoured Yorkshire Tea’s, and so I also picked up the Breakfast Brew. This is basically just very strong tea, which is exactly what I need when I’m leaving the house at 7:15am for work. This is yet another step in slowing down my Costa abuse.

Movies and TV

You

Okay so I started this back in December, but I took a long break before coming back to finish the last two episodes at the beginning of this month as I was working like a crazy person. I am so glad that I found the time to finish this. I know pretty much everyone is talking about this show, so I wont waste too much time repeating everyone. I really enjoyed this show, it was so unique and gave a perspective that I had never seen before. Hearing Joe’s reasoning for his actions was absolutely fascinating and Penn Badgley did an incredible job of playing the character. Joe scared life out of me, but I’m thankful to him for introducing me to Penn because god is he lovely haha!

Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

I know that all of the Ted Bundy content is a hot topic at the moment so I don’t want to get into it. I will however say that I absolutely live for True Crime documentaries so I was always going to watch this, whether it had blown up on social or not. I found this such a fascinating show, and Bundy’s story was almost unbelievable. Although I knew his name, I didn’t know much about the case beforehand and it was so unpredictable that it kept me hooked. I especially liked that it was only 4 episodes as it didn’t feel like a huge commitment to watch.

Spotless

I don’t want to discuss this too much as we’re only about 4 episodes into this, and I definitely would appreciate no spoilers please! We put this on randomly last weekend in desperation of finding something to watch together and were immediately hooked. Again this show has such an original concept, and is tense to watch. The strange thing with this show is that I don’t feel like I really like it, but I’m definitely hooked and feel like I need to know what happens next. More on this when we finish it!

Big Mouth

Again I’m still in the process of watching this, I’m about half way through season two and am aware they just released a third season, so would appreciate no spoilers please! I love this show, it definitely feels like one of those guilty pleasures. It’s cringy as hell and sometimes really weird (ie pillow babies?), but mostly I feel like it hits the nail on the head for all the weirdness of puberty. If I’m really honest, the main reason I love this show is for the hormone monstress and the goddess that is her voice actor Maya Rudolph. My only criticism of this show is that I feel like it focuses a little too much on the boys, and although it’s very funny, I’d a love little less dick jokes and a lot more Maya being a queen. Now, if you need me I’ll be in the bubble bath….

Music

I’ve been lucky enough this month to join a family spotify membership, and so I’d definitely say my music collection has gotten much more varied than just the same limited music I have on my very old iPod! These are the tracks I’ve most been enjoying this month:

That’s My Girl – Fifth Harmony

Him & I – G-Eazy & Halsey

Let You Down – Perception

IDOL – BTS, Nicki Minaj

Back & Forth (Acoustic) – Becky Hill

This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) – Natalie Cole (this one is a bit random but I’m just loving it recently!)

And that’s a wrap for February! As always, I hope this post has given you some inspiration on things to try for the next month.

What have your favourites been for February?

Peace

Kit xx

February Favourites Another month, another favourites post! Is it me or is this year just flying past already! I keep getting lost about which month we're on.

[blackhound14]

Paint it Red

I thought all that mattered was my work, but sometimes the world isn't just black or white, sometimes it's a whole spectra of colors. Love, I learned, is the most perplexing of all colors.

I hoped that I never learned that.

View on AO3

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 1: The Painter

I always thought that the world was black and white. That there is only either good or bad and nothing in between. As cliché as it sounds, my entire life was overturned by this one case that lead me to feel everything that I tried very hard to keep locked and chained away in the far-far depths of my conscious mind. So… what changed?

The moon shone brilliantly over the dark sky. Any normal person would have long gone to bed or the teenagers might be busy smoking or snuffing a fist full of powder because that is what seems to be trending nowadays. My days are spent in the same clockwise motion; wake up, get ready, reach the station, look over the evidence and if luck permits, the case is solved and closed.

However, its seems that lady luck isn’t on my side this time. Earlier this night another homicide was reported to DPD. And why I am the one being sent to investigate it at this hour of the night, you ask? Well, I was assigned this case five months ago and I'm nowhere near solving it! I get out of my car and make my way towards the crime scene.

The place was nothing out of the ordinary, just a normal house belonging to a single man who worked as an employee at a nearby amusement park who was reported missing by his friends when he didn't show up at work for six days. The walls of the room were painted in red and in the middle laid a single motionless body. Chris, one of the officers from the DPD, came forward and handed me the details they managed to gather up-until my arrival.

Name of the victim: Caiden Huffman.

Reported Missing: 1 June 2018

Date and time of death: Unknown.

Reason of death: unknown.

Suspects: None.

“What do you think, Lieutenant? Do you think its his work?” Chris asked.

“It’s too early to confirm, but by the looks of it, it seems likely. I’m going to have a look around.” I reply and start doing my job.

The walls are definitely covered in red paint, if I didn’t know any better I'd think it was blood. It looked magnificent. I am no master of the arts but the color never looked so real, it was breathtaking how a person could just blend different pigments to get something like this and most astonishing is how the killer is able to get the color so perfectly same even after six kills. It was a work of art.

Just what am I thinking, calling a crime scene a work of art?

I then examine the body and see that the traces of blood is still fresh. He was killed recently, but was reported missing about a week ago. I need to find more clues. I walk over to the door that leads to the basement and enter it. Nothing unusual but stains on the floor caught my attention. Blood, probably belonged to the victim. I followed the trail which lead me to this giant book shelf. “Chris! Help me with this!”

“Coming, Sir!”

We push the shelf out of the way, whatever we had witnessed before hadn't prepared us for what we’ll come across in this basement.

There were shelves on each side, which contained what seemed to be jars filled with organs. Was this man selling organs illegally? There was a huge table at the center and another smaller one at its side. The smaller table held several different types of scissors, saws and tongs. The larger one was painted red. Then there were cupboards, filled with more bizarre equipment.

“Do you think that’s paint too?” Chris asked.

“No.” I replied, “This was a torture chamber. Get the forensics team on this. We need to find out whether our victim was killed here or who was held captive. And if my guess is right, our victim was selling child organs.”

“Child organs. That's some fucked up shit! You think the FBI will get a hint of this?”

“I hope not. This is my case and I will be the one to solve it.” I turn around and leave the crime scene with more questions than answers. I definitely need a good sleep after this.

I return home and see the lights on. I sigh. On the sofa sat a man in his late fifties, a bottle of beer in his one hand and the other scratching the head of the huge St. Bernard, “Hank. How many times have I told you to stop drinking yourself into a stupor?” I said disappointingly.

He seemed to have finally noticed me and gave me a smile, “Connor! You’re back! I was waiting for you to return. Cole was asking for you, he said that you both were going to watch a movie.”

“I'm sorry, a new homicide came up. Had to leave, I'll make up to him tomorrow. But for now, you need to get to bed. You have work tomorrow.” I help him up and half dragged him to his room.

I open the door with much trouble and lay him down on the bed. “Thanks Connor, for being the big brother to Cole.” he said catching me off guard.

“Being drunk make you very sentimental, Lieutenant.” Maybe drunk Hank wasn't so bad, he was just a little adorable puppy. I smiled.

“Calling me ‘dad’ once in a while wont kill ya!”

“Even if I did, you wont remember it in the morning. Now sleep, Hank.”

Hank waved me off and I leave the room. I could feel my eyes giving out on me, I'm too tired.

Another murder, sixth in these five months. I laid on my bed, thinking. What is with sleep, seriously? All I wanted to do before was get to bed, now that I am I cant seem to fall asleep. I’ll just look over the evidence again.

First kill was five months ago. None of the victims were related by any means, except that all of them were into some sort of shady business which was found out only after the investigation. The walls of all the crime scene were painted red.

The killer must get his paint from somewhere.

I start searching for art shops all over Detroit. God bless Google.

Of all the names, one stood out the most, ‘Bellini Paints’ The best quality paints in all of Detroit!

Why that one, I don't know, but I have learned to always trust my instinct. They did always direct me to the right path if not always the right person.

I wake up the next day with weight pushing down on me. “Sumo! Be a good boy and let me sleep!”

“Its time to wake up, brother!” and I feel more weight on top of me. Cole!

“Fine, get off and get Sumo off!”

“You promised me that we would watch Dexter together!”

“I’m sorry, a case came up. You’re twenty years old but still act like you are fifteen! Tell you what, we can watch it tonight. I’ll even get us some pop-corn.” I say in hopes that Cole will finally get off and he did. But didn’t leave without giving me a firm warning that if I did ditched him again, he’s sell my fishes and that is something I wasn’t going to take lightly.

Now that I’m up and awake, I get ready and walk into the living room, it was quiet so maybe Hank already left. I quickly made myself a sandwich, grab a glass of juice left graciously by Hank and leave for the art shop

The navigation stopped as I arrived at my destination, I got out and walked over to the shop that had the board at the top displaying ‘BELLINI PAINTS’. I make my way inside, making the bell at the entrance ring, and notice that there’s just a single employee working there. The shop was was lined with wooden shelves containing several shades of paints and every other area was occupied by huge canvases.

The shop’s smell seemed familiar, it didn't take a lot to figure out that its the same smell from the pain that the killer uses. Do all paints smell the same?

The man smiled and asked, “What can I help you with today, sir?”

“I’m Lieutenant Connor Anderson, from DPD. I’m here to conduct an investigation regarding the killer known as ‘The Painter’.” upon hearing that the man’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but I’m not sure how I can be of service.” I heard a bell from my back, indicating another customer had entered.

I handed him the paint sample,“I just want to know more about this color, how you make it, who buys it and how much is it bought.” I said in a calming voice, threatening him wont help me get anything.

Jerry, as the name tag suggested, looked over it and shook his head, “We don’t sell anything like this. The person seems to have mixed red and maybe blue. I'm no expert in art, I’m just an employee. Perhaps you should ask someone who’s more involved in this than me.”

Jerry didn’t seem to be lying. But the color of the paint remained consistent over the course of five months. Did the killer make all the paint at once and stored them? But, paint dries overtime doesn't it?

I stare at his face for a second when I’m interrupted by a hand on my shoulder. I turn around and see a man, not much older than me.

He was what you could only define as breathtaking, with a buzz cut and a light stubble that many people despise, but the look suited him just fine. What’s more was his skin, it seemed rough but reminded me honey; sweet and smooth. Then there were those lips, full and ready to be devoured or devour, but most importantly, what caught my attention were those pair of discolored eyes that stared at me with confusion and curiosity.

What am I thinking again? Did Hank mix something in the juice?

“May I know the reason as to why you’re making my employee so tense?” he asked in his silky voice.

“I'm Lieutenant Connor Anderson, from DPD. I’m here regarding the investigation to find out more about a killer named as ‘The Painter’.” I said while calming my nerves, “You said that he’s your employee, does this mean that you’re the owner?”

The man’s brows shot up in surprise, “Yes, Lieutenant, I am the owner. My name is Markus. Maybe we should talk somewhere else.”

[ninjagoruinedmylife]

Ninjago shadowhunters au: chapter 1

Hiiiii and welcome to my kitchen have here first chapter of my veeeery long fic for au i made a few days ago. I hope you'll enjoy! *** Lloyd Garmadon had currently only three problems: lack of money for comics, math and his best friend Brad. Not that he was complaining, though; his mother taught him that he should always look at the bright side of life. There were so many people with such bad things happening to them all the time, like Nelson, second one of his two friends: he constantly had problems with health. Or Gene, the other boy from his school: his parents were putting a big presure over him, to the point where they had big arguments. And even Brad: there were moments when he didn't got money for even the most basic products. Garmadon's little family, consisting of Lloyd and his mother, was in much better situation. Misako's salary wasn't the biggest one (she worked as a toruist guide in the museum, after all), her husband died in the war, they were living in a little apartament in one of the poor parts of the city... Still, they had each other. Lloyd was happy with his life in all honesty. He just couldn't help but also feel a bit irritated sometimes. Like today, when everything seemed to be against him. Math test was so hard that he won't get anything above F, he lost twenty dollars while chasing his bus, and now Brad just needed to get him to some kind of club he wanted to check out. "Hello, earth to Lloyd? Man, we're losing connection with you!" Brad tried to yell over the loud music from the building and bring his friend back to senses at the same time. Lloyd sighed. He was so tired of this day and just wanted to sleep. But well, friends are friends. "Tell me again, what did you promised me in exchange?" Boy asked while they were standing in a short queue to the entrance. "Uh, that I'll give you my collection of Spiderman comics?" "Okay, fair enough." Brad grinned evily. "As you might or might not remember, my collection consist of one volume..." "I hate you. It's not fair." Lloyd murmed, hiding his head in his hoodie. He looked up, at the bright purple neon sign hanging above the door. The letters formed a word 'Pandemonium'. "And what kind of name for a club is that one? I don't get why you wanted to come here so much..." "Come on, it will be fun! You need to socialize more." Brad replied. He grabbed his friend by his arm and pulled him through the entrance. "Just chill and breathe in the atmosphere." The only thing Lloyd could have breathed in when he walked inside was a cigarette smoke. He started coughing. Brad patted his back. When his throat finally started working normally, boys returned to exploring this place: Brad with an excitement written on his face, and Lloyd with a posture that was yelling "I don't care about this place or any of you." Music in the club was strange. It reminded music from radio, but in the same time it felt kinda different, more heavy and dark. This whole place smelled like a mix of two thousand botttles of cheap perfumes, sweat and alcohol. Lloyd looked at the people surrounding them. Most were dressed very party-ish, like a big percent teenagers would if they were going out, some were rather elegant, and the rest wore simple, casual clothes. Even though he wasn't so outstanding in his normal, green hoodie and black jeans, he felt so out of place that he wanted to dissapear. When it comes to dissapearing. Brad vanished while Lloyd stopped paying attention to him. At first, blonde boy had a nervous thought that something bad might have happened to his friend, but after a few seconds he saw his figure through the jumping, dancing people and calmed down. 'Great, now he left me. Such a good friend.' He walked to the other room. It was separated by the partition wall and, what's more important, it was less crowded and less noisy. Six tables were standing next to walls, vis á vis of the boy there was a pair of door with a sign saying "stuff only." A couple of guests were dancing at the shining dance floor, but most of them just talked, watched others or ate something. Pretty girl in a long silver dress and boy with a messy dark hair tried to convince some punks to dance, nerd in the corner was doing something on his laptop, two guys were glaring at each other like if they had an argument... Lloyd guessed he fit there, with all those weirdos, better than to the other part of the club. He decided that he'll wait here until Brad will get bored of dancing, and then they'll go home and watch some cartoons. However, he changed his mind when he saw a blade in the pretty girl's hand. *** This girl's name was Nya Smith and she was both frustrated and thrilled for a whole day, just as the rest of her team. Maybe a half hour before Lloyd Garmadon saw her in a little bit of not so fortunate situation, she sat next to the boy with a messy hair at the same table nerd had taken before. "For the God's sake, we're in this place for five hours and we haven't noticed nothing unusual!" Nya hissed to her brother, Kai. He shrugged. "Well, sensors are mostly right. And Zane is also mostly right." He winked at their friend, who was looking with a frown once at the monitor of his laptop, and then at the black object in his hand. "My apologies, but I really get strong demon vibes from this place. I wouldn't be suprised if it was the place of their meeting." Zane replied with his usual, serious tone. "Okay, Zane, I don't have anything against you." Girl sighned. "I'm just pissed of because I have to wear heels and makeup! You all know I hate it." "You're right, sis. Who decided that it has to be us again, anyway?" Kai neatened collar of his black suit. "Looking perfect all the time is tiring." "I understand, but in the same time you two are the most appealing from the whole team, when it comes to the terms of physical appearance, of course..." Zane started to explain. "Uh. One more time, please. I don't get your whole science talk after such a long mission." Kai interrupted him. "I guess Zane just said you're handsome, my gentleman!" Another guy who joined them said with a melodious voice. He had curly, brown hair, freckles and he was wearing clothes that were seemingly way to big for him. "And you, my gentleman, are spilling your drink over my favourite hoodie." His companion added while sitting next to him. "Hey, it is Zane's fault! He pulled my hand! I'm innocent!" Jay raised his hands in a defensive way. Cole gave him a deadly look. "You've spilled even more now. You are going to wash it..." "Calm down lovebirds, move those arguments for another time." Nya hit the table with her fist to get her teammates attention. "I guess we should think about the purpose of this mission. I'm not sure..." In this moment, a red necklace on girl's neck started shining. They all knew what it meant - beside Jay, as always. He was still spilling his drink. "Hm?" He gave the others suprised look. "Somebody died or what? Why are you so quiet now?" "Nobody died." Zane informed him calmly. "But it doesn't mean that someone can't die in the spin of few minutes!" Kai got up quickly. "Everyone on positions, now." When they were going back to their place, Jay asked Cole with a trembling voice: "Does it mean..." "Yes. The demon is coming." Cole answerd without a shade of fear on his face. "Get ready for your fourth one, newbie." *** It all happened so fast that Lloyd didn't know on what he should focus. First thing: nerd closed his laptop and left it on the table. He came to the stuff door, took a long white stick and then the door opened and he dissapeared in the darkness. Second thing: one of the punks, guy with a green mohawk and piercing all over his face, was having a slow dance with this suspicious girl - that was when her bracelet changed into some kind of a weapon. Third thing: two boys who probably had fight before, also walked into the stuff room. One of them granted a look to the guy in a suit, who was sitting at one of the tables with most of the punks. Fourth thing: girl grabbed punk's hand and, with a smirk on her face, she came to - suprise! - stuff room. It all looked... too well planned to be just a coincidence. Lloyd was sure that he should just go and talk to the guards that something strange is happening, but then fifth thing took place: punks started yelling at each other and jumping at each others throats. They were so loud that they nearly screamed over the music. Lloyd frowned. What was happening? He would be able to just find Brad and go out of the club, but in the same time... He had to find out what was this all about. His willingness to do so only grew when he saw boy with messy hair, sneaking out of the group. Lloyd tried to use all of his skills and followed him to the staff room. Luckily, he didn't locked the door, so boy as fragile as young Garmadon could have walked through the crack. He hid behind a tall shelf and started listening. "You didn't tought that it would be this easy, didn't ya?" "I-I don't know what are you talking about! What-" "You are fully aware of your situation, demon." "A demon? Do you mean... No! I'm normal, very normal!" "Don't try to fool around. We know who we are." The sound of taking out the weapons froze blood in Lloyd's veins. "Wait! I have... informations to sell! Many informations! About Garmadon! You want to know more about him, right?!" "Oh, can we shut him up already?" Boy's mind was working like crazy. Were those teenagers going to kill this poor person? Why would they? Personal damage? No, it didn't sounded like this. More like if they were a part of some kind of gang or cult... And, after all, what did it had to do with someone with the same surname as his? Lloyd was ready to get out and somehow stop them. He couldn't let this happen, dammit! If someone died next to him and he did nothing, he wouldn't forgive himself. "Wait!" He yelled, getting eyes of everyone in the room at him. When he looked at the scene that took place there, he had to take a step aside. Those guys were surely gonna kill someone - but this someone wasn't a human by any chance. More like a monster of some kind, like a wicked creature from one of his comics. It looked like a zombie now, but a zombie with claws, sharp, long teeth, tail and dead, black eyes. It took the moment of the shock its opponents were in and attacked. Someone screamed. Lloyd covered his eyes. He heard grinding of the blades, unhuman voice was yelling in a cracked tone, strange liquid flew at his hand - was it blood? - and then, after the explosion of the bright light and scream of a dying creature, it all ended. Lloyd took some unsure steps in a direction of the teenagers. Two of them were wounded, one was drawing something on their skins, girl was cleaning her blade... Boy in a suit looked at him. "Hm, guys? I think we have a little problem."

[roseisread]

VINYL VIBES: Blossom Dearie Sings Rootin’ Songs 

Cold weather is great for digging through the crates of vinyl that have been acquired over the last few months and giving those records a proper, dedicated listen. So today, I bring you a random selection from my collection: Blossom Dearie Sings Rootin’ Songs, which was recorded in 1963 in a partnership with Hires Root Beer. 

For the uninitiated, Blossom Dearie was a jazz singer and pianist with a distinctively sweet, breezy vocal style that evoked a youthful innocence and playful spirit. A modern comparison might be made to Zooey Deschanel’s vocal delivery in She & Him, although personally I think Blossom did it better. If you’ve only heard one Dearie song, it’s probably “A Doodlin’ Song” which has been used in a few commercials. However, she’s much more than a novelty act, and her final recording before she died was dedicated to 9/11 victims and survivors, titled “It’s Alright To Be Afraid.” My personal favorite Blossom Dearie tune is in my top ten songs of all time, “I Like You, You’re Nice,” which would have fit nicely on the soundtrack of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset.  So on to the album at hand. Up to this point, Blossom Dearie had recorded exclusively for Verve, a jazz label, and was known primarily as a jazz singer. This album saw her crossing over into the pop realm, and covering the big hits of the day. It’s very up tempo and one could imagine hearing it in the background of a Mad Men episode. Just the opening bossa nova shuffle of “Days of Wine and Roses” makes me want to summon the nearest bartender to whip me up Tom Collins or San Martin.  Track 2, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” was ten years old by the time Blossom got around to recording her version, but it had been a hit the year before thanks to one Mr. Tony Bennett. It’s hard to touch Tony’s signature song, but I do love the subtle vibrato and unique phrasing of Blossom’s take. Unfortunately for both Tony and Blossom, a human can never equal the wonders of a parrot named Pancho, who recorded his own version of this song and forever established that it belongs to him. I strongly urge you to give Pancho’s version a listen, because it will change your life. And yes, I do own his version on vinyl.  I wasn’t familiar with “I Wanna Be Around” before I gave this a spin, but I dig its shade-throwing vengeance vibes. “I wanna be around... when she breaks your heart to bits; that’s when I’ll discover that revenge is sweet when I sit there applaudin’ from a front row seat,” sings Blossom. Turns out this song was penned by a hairstylist from Ohio who sent it to Johnny Mercer and he retooled it for the likes of Tony Bennett and Brenda Lee. It apparently has an eternal appeal, as evidenced by Michael Buble including it on his latest album.  Next up we have “The Sweetest Sounds,” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. It occurs to me that Blossom Dearie would’ve been an adorable Cinderella, though I don’t know if she ever tried her hand at acting.  Blossom infuses a real melancholy to her version of “The Good Life,” another Tony Bennett tune, with lines like “The good life lets you hide all the sadness you feel/You won’t really fall in love for you can’t take the chance.” The way she sings it, you can’t help but wonder if this song holds personal meaning for her.  I adore “Lazy Hazy Days of Summer” no matter who sings it. I’m personally partial to Nat King Cole’s rendition, which came out the same year as this album. Blossom gives it a lot of pep, and the imagery of a summer picnic with beer and bikinis really comes to life as you hear her voice cascading along over a lively piano accompaniment.  Side A summation: A fun throwback to the early 60s, with a tinge of Blossom’s dark side coming through on a couple tracks.  As we flip the record over, Side B starts with another bossa nova track, “Desafinado.” This tune mourns a love that has turned lukewarm, but holds out hope that there could be a chance for recovery yet. “We used to harmonize, two souls in perfect time/Now the song is different and the words don't even rhyme,” goes one of the saddest lines. For me, the musical accompaniment doesn’t quite match up to the mood of the lyrics; but I’d love to hear a version with just Blossom and her piano as she muses about this mellowing romance. The Stan Getz/Antonio Carlos Jobim version is probably the most famous, but I love Ella Fitzgerald’s take on it. “Our Day Will Come” was originally by Ruby & the Romantics, and if the title sounds familiar, Amy Winehouse recorded it as well (although her version wasn’t released til after she passed away--it’s an outtake from the Frank sessions, and ended up on her Lioness collection). There’s a little too much flute in this version for my liking... but I do love the sweetness and teenage lovestruck feeling of the lyrics, which Blossom translates very well with her vocals.

Blossom’s version of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me To the Moon” is so unlike the original that I didn’t recognize it til the chorus. It’s slowed down and intimate, with the kind of yearning not even Ol’ Blue Eyes could capture. Here, it almost sounds like a torch ballad to an unrequited love. I’d say this is the highlight of the entire album, and if I were making a movie about forbidden love, I’d find a way to include this tune. Next up we have “I’ve Got Your Number,” a swinging tune that Tony Bennett also recorded (this could be a Bennett tribute album, as it turns out), which calls out a love interest in a knowing way with a bit of sass. “You ain’t no Eagle Scout,” she sings. “You brag a lot, but you’re unsure a lot, like me.” The sing-songy style of this tune reminds me of “Sixteen Going on Seventeen″ from The Sound of Music, which of course means I’m a fan. I can’t seem to find Blossom’s version on YouTube, but you should definitely give a listen to this awesome cover by Jill Sobule. The introspective, existential sadness of “What Kind of Fool Am I” could end up sounding cheesy and overwrought in the wrong hands, but Blossom keeps it real and raw as she sings lines like, “A lonely cell in which an empty heart must dwell“--I mean, this line on its own is akin to Winona Ryder’s proclamation in Beetlejuice that her “whole life is a dark room, a big, dark room.” And yet, Blossom brings depth and tenderness to this self-loathing ballad. Unfortunately this track is not available online, but for a very different yet equally gorgeous cover, be sure to look up Filipino singer Regine Velasquez. The album closes with “He Loves Me,” a track that rivals “I Will Possess Your Heart” and “Every Breath You Take” for Best Stalker Song. I mean, Mel from Flight of the Conchords should have this as her theme song. Just check out some of these lines: “He loves me/True he doesn’t show it--how could he when he doesn’t know it” and “My teeth ache from the urge to touch him...  it won’t be long now before my love discovers that he and I are lovers/Imagine how surprised he’s bound to be!” All the stalker vibes aside, I actually really love this song and Blossom sings it in such a non-creepy way that I’m willing to accept she is just in love and hoping her secret lover will realize how adorable she is any minute now. Also, this song just happens to originate from the Broadway musical of the same name, and that musical has its roots in the same source material that beget one of my favorite films, The Shop Around the Corner (as well as its modern-day counterpart You’ve Got Mail. So I think in that context, it’s actually a sweet sentiment rather than a bunny boiler. Side B summation: A couple duds but overall a more interesting and varied collection of tunes than side A, delving into some more psychologically fragile territory. So there you have it! Thanks to Hires Root Beer for making this album happen, and thanks to the Discogs Record Fair for helping me get my happy little hands on it at a bargain price.  What have you been listening to lately? Leave me a note with your recommendations.   

[shannaraisles]

Set In Darkness

Chapter: 51 Author name: ShannaraIsles Rating: M Warnings: None Summary: She’s a Modern Girl in Thedas, but it isn’t what she wanted. There’s a scary dose of reality as soon as she arrives. It isn’t her story. People get hurt here; people die here, and there’s no option to reload if you make a bad decision. So what’s stopping her from plunging head first into the Void at the drop of a hat?

Surprise

"You made it!"

Rory laughed as she stepped into the tavern in Evy's wake, her attention immediately caught by Kaaras waving one big arm in her direction. She'd briefly seen him when he'd arrived, though he had been whisked into the war room pretty damned quick. It looked like he had a bit of a head-start on the drinking. She didn't even have a moment to scan the tavern floor for Cullen before her Qunari friend had an arm around her waist and was lifting her up to squeeze a throttling hug about her ribs. Feet dangling, she hugged him back, gently patting his cheek.

"Put me down, beanstalk, or Cullen might just stab you," she warned cheerfully.

Kaaras snorted with laughter. "What with, his ale?"

Still holding her off the floor, he gestured toward the long counter where Cullen was seated, a lone island of calm amid the merry gathering around him. The commander raised a brow in their direction, that invisible smile of his making Rory laugh as Kaaras stumped toward him to deliver her very nearly directly into her lover's lap. Gloved hands reached out to steady her as she landed, her cheeks bright with embarrassment as Kaaras chuckled happily.

"How much has he had to drink?" she asked Cullen softly, brushing a kiss to his cheek in hello.

"According to Krem, he's on his third ale, but Bull's been adding measures from that hip flask of his," Cullen told her in amusement. "Not that it will do any harm. After the adventure they just had, one night of carousing may be just what he needs."

She grinned at his tone, twisting to lean against him as she surveyed the inhabitants of the bar. Kaaras had wandered off to loom over Lace Harding with a grin - the dwarven scout was eyeing him like a bomb about to go off. Sera was sitting on the railing above them; Cole on the other side of the chimney from her, since the Red Jenny was violently uncomfortable in his presence. Josephine was present, a bright spot amid the earthier colors of the men and women gathered there, perched demurely on Iron Bull's knee as she talked with Cassandra, who looked as though she was going to be nursing that one small cup of wine all night. Krem was deep in discussion with Blackwall, though quite what that was about was anyone's guess; unexpectedly, Leliana was also visible amid the gathering, though not exactly taking part so much as observing. Further down the counter, Rylen and Evy were on either side of Varric, who was scribbling away at something with what looked like a lot of advice from both captain and noble. A roar of welcome from Kaaras announced Dorian's arrival. The only people not here were Vivienne and Solas, neither one of whom could be convinced to come to the tavern even for a small drink. They were sociable enough in smaller, less raucous settings, but The Herald's Rest seemed to offend the two mages, for very different reasons.

"And how are we this evening, children?" Dorian asked with an expansive grin as he wrested himself from Kaaras' outstretched arms to take a seat at the counter beside the couple. "Feeling effusive and full of confidence?"

Rory snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes at him. "Yes, the point is taken," she assured the mage with genuine affection. "Why else do you think we're both here?"

"I had wondered, it's true," Dorian mused, eyeing Cullen teasingly over her shoulder. "It is a rare day to see our friend and commander deigning to mix with the unwashed masses."

Cullen narrowed his eyes at the jab, however kindly meant it was. "I can mix with anyone perfectly well," he pointed out. "Without the need to be drunk, unlike some people I could name."

"My dear commander, I'm shocked and hurt that you would imply such a thing." Dorian laid a hand theatrically over his heart, grinning at the former templar he now called friend. "There are some people I can't even look at without needing a drink. Thankfully, you and your lady there are not among them."

He turned to acquire a drink from Cabot, and Rory gently nudged Cullen. "He doesn't mean to annoy you," she reminded him in a soft voice. "He's more excited about telling people than we are."

Relaxing as she leaned into him, Cullen let his gaze flicker over to Dorian briefly, the faintest hint of a smile flickering at his lips. "You're right," he agreed quietly, tilting his head close to kiss her just behind her ear as his hand flexed possessively at her hip - so subtle that it didn't seem anyone had noticed. "He deserves the chance to throw a little shade before we steal his obnoxious thunder."

"It may get worse after we do, you know," she pointed out in a murmur, laying her hand gently over his at her hip.

"It'll be worth it just to see his face," Cullen predicted with a slightly evil flicker to his smile. He and Dorian were friends, but it could be an antagonistic relationship at times.

"Well?" Dorian asked, turning back to them with his drink. "Everyone is gathered, as you stipulated. Either you say it, darlings, or I will, and you may rest assured that if I say it, people will think that you're sleeping with me."

Cullen laughed, shaking his head at the outrageous piece of friendly blackmail. "Sadly, no one is listening," he pointed out, dragging out the moment for as long as he could while Rory giggled beside him.

"That, my good man, is easily dealt with." Dorian rose to his feet, lifting an arm to catch Sera's eye. He made a silencing motion with his hand.

A moment later, the dulcet tones of Skyhold's Red Jenny pierced the air, cutting through every conversation and demanding attention. "OY! SHUT IT!"

As eyes turned to where the cheeky elf was leaning over the railing, Dorian sighed, rolling his eyes. "Charming as ever, Sera," he complimented her, turning his attention to the rest of the tavern. "My lords, ladies, commoners, and muck, this way, if you please. That's better." He paused to allow everyone to be looking at him attentively - or as attentively as they could get, this being a tavern. "I'm sure you're all dying to know the real reason our stalwart commander is here. I know I am. I do believe it's time he told us, don't you?"

Again, all eyes turned, this time to Cullen. As he sighed and rose to his own feet, Rory bit her lip, trying not to laugh at the sight of Kaaras peering over everyone's heads. It looked as though Cassandra was propping him up from this angle.

"Yes, well ..." Cullen cleared his throat. "I'm not much at home with speeches, so this will be short. I simply - that is, we - I ..." He looked at Rory, his eyes a little wild. The words just weren't coming, it seemed. But there was her smile, and the panic faded from his gaze as he raised his cup. "I'd like you all to join me in raising a glass to my wife."

You could have heard a pin drop in the crowded tavern. All around them were various expressions on the theme of shock and amazement. Dorian was a picture of it, openly goggling as his slightly smug teasing backfired on him spectacularly. Kaaras and Cassandra were a still-life study in astonishment; Josephine looked delighted and somehow infuriated at the same time. Cole was beaming silently; Sera snickered behind her hands at everyone's reaction. Along the counter, Evy smiled, gently shutting Rylen's open mouth with a finger as Varric's quill suddenly began scribbling once again. Then Bull threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"Congratulations!" the big Qunari declared, raising his mug as Cullen had asked. "To the commander and his lady!"

Maryden struck a chord, and with the music, the laughter and talk returned, a definite trend of movement toward the counter where Cullen and Rory were suddenly besieged with well-wishers. Dorian got there first, voluntarily embracing both of them with laughing exasperation.

"Wife?" he demanded. "That wasn't part of the agreement!"

Cullen laughed at the mage's indignation. "I don't recall ever promising not to marry her," he pointed out mildly.

"You were supposed to tell them about the baby!" Dorian objected, making no effort to keep his voice down. He just had to get that in there, didn't he?

 "Baby?"

Rory turned, finding Cassandra close beside her. The Seeker seemed to have abandoned Kaaras by the nearest prop to come and congratulate them herself, close enough to have heard Dorian's announcement with absolute clarity. She raised her brows expectantly.

"I'm pregnant, yes," Rory told her in a much softer voice, and abruptly squeaked in shock as staid, calm, unruffled Cassandra suddenly dragged her into a very unexpected hug.

"Be happy," the Nevarran woman told her, though it sounded more like an order than a wish. "You are good for him, and him for you. And I demand the details when we have time. I have missed a great deal in just a few weeks, it seems."

"Would it help to know that none of it was planned?" Rory offered, hoping to mollify the hurt feelings she could see in the eyes of the friends gathering around them.

"Ror, not even you can plan a baby," Rylen pointed out in a cheery tone, his hand clapped firmly on Cullen's shoulder in unspoken acclaim for his friend and commander's good news.

"I knew you weren't just feeling unwell!" Evy added in triumph, ducking past the two men to squeeze her arms around her friend. "Why didn't you ask us to come to the wedding?"

"It was all a little spur of the moment," Rory apologised with a shrug, unable to keep the smile from her face. "You know us. We didn't want to steal your thunder."

"I am capable of organizing two weddings," Josephine was saying to Cullen, a little put out to have been done out of it. "The Commander of the Inquisition should be celebrated in such things. But I am happy for you." The Antivan woman rose onto her toes to kiss his cheek, eliciting a blush from Cullen at the unprecedented display of friendly affection.

A thump from the bar brought their attention to Kaaras lurching into the group finally, wrapping his strong arm around Rory's shoulders to drag her into a hug. He winked at Cullen over her head. "Knew you had it in you," he commented merrily, if a little slurred, only to guffaw as Dorian spoke up from behind the commander.

"I think you'll find it's in her, Kaaras," the altus offered helpfully. "Do let her breathe, there's a good chap."

"Oh!" The Qunari Inquisitor hastily released his friend, dropping down onto one knee to directly address her mid-section. "I am your Uncle Kaaras," he informed the unborn child in a booming voice. "I will teach you how to kick dragons and live."

"You most certainly will not!" Cullen objected, not entirely sure the man wasn't serious.

"You'd rather they kicked dragons and died?" Kaaras asked innocently, stroking one finger against Rory's middle.

She sighed in amusement, meeting Varric's eyes as she looked away. The dwarf was grinning at her, raising his cup in a far less invasive salute than the personal space breakdown happening all around her. Kaaras wasn't the only one staring at parts of her body - Josephine had seized her left hand and was admiring the ring with Cassandra. At least Cullen was having to put up with the same thing; he had Leliana holding him by the amulet, running her fingers over the mabari charm with subtle approval as she murmured to him.

Another hand touched her midriff, and she felt a strange tug to her senses. There was a ... faint beeping sound, just at the edge of hearing; a steady, electronic beat that seemed to grow louder as the sounds of the tavern faded. She could smell disinfectant and perfume, things she hadn't smelled in months, and there were voices, too ... murmuring, close but far ...

She blinked, drawing back from the touch that seemed to have pulled her away, finding herself looking into Cole's watery eyes. The spirit boy was wide-eyed as he looked at her. Somehow, he'd heard and smelled those things, too. Rory swallowed, worried fear in her eyes.

"Connected, but broken," Cole told her softly. "Two bodies, one mind, one soul. Two worlds in a single touch. I won't do that again. You belong here."

"No, don't do that again," she agreed fervently. That had been ... too unsettling. So I'm here, but I'm also there? I'm in a hospital bed somewhere as well as in this tavern? How the hell does that even work?

"He's happy and frightened and happy some more," Cole then said, offering her some comfort the only way he knew how. "Love brings a child, brings a family, brings a home. The nightmares will change now."

"I know they will," Rory assured him softly, privately wishing for some escape from this conversation before Cole inadvertently freaked her out completely. She liked him, but he was weird. She took his hand, feeling a flicker of pleasure when he didn't flinch away. "Are you happy for us, Cole?"

He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Happy ... yes. I am happy for you. And I will not let Kaaras throw your baby at dragons."

She bit her lip, trying not to laugh and offend him. "That's very good to know. Thank you."

Content that he had fixed the upset he'd caused, the spirit boy slipped away. Rory felt a familiar arm wrap about her waist, drawing her close into Cullen's side as he dipped his head to catch her eyes.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly, concern deep in the whiskey-lit depths she loved so much. "You're a little pale."

She smiled, forcing the uneasiness aside. I wish I could tell you. "A little tired, that's all," she assured him, looping her own arms about his waist. "I could go into more detail for you, if you like."

"Ah ... no, I think I can live without knowing exactly how you're feeling with all this going on," her husband conceded comically, leaning down with that invisible smile to kiss her forehead. "We'll let them celebrate a while, and leave when there's a chance."

Because their friends didn't really need them there to celebrate their good news, it was plain. As the news traveled through the tavern and out into the courtyard, they could hear the good-natured cheering from groups who knew them only as the commander and the healer. It had been a long time since the Inquisition had celebrated anything without fear. In a way, this was a gift, something not even Corypheus and his armies could take away from them. For tonight, at least, Skyhold sang good wishes and high hopes for two in their midst, tethering other hopes and wishes to the music of their celebration. They needed this, all of them - some proof that, even in the midst of war, life went on. Who better than the healer to give it to them?

[teiranlavellan]

Ba-Boom!

@dadrunkwriting

Thank you @queensoledad for the prompt!!  It was so nice writing everyone together, happy and able to smoothly operate as a team!

I extend the timeline of the Inquisition to at least 2 years rather than 1 (because I feel that is more realistic) so this is a little more than half-way through the game.

Teiran Lavellan surveyed the battlefield.  They had been fighting inside the eastern fortification in the Exalted Plains.  Her companions hunted down the last of the Freeman to retake the area, their footsteps pounding on the wooden planks.  She watched as they broke into predictable pairs and threes to converge on the last few Freeman.  Teiran smiled at their ability to work seamlessly as a team, it had taken over a year to reach this point.  Cassandra, Solas and Varric formed a trio while the rest paired up.  She began scanning for the odd-man out in their current groupings amongst the ten of them.  

Teiran’s head snapped around at the sound of Iron Bull’s pained groan; she was already rushing to him when she saw the bloody dagger being pulled free of his side.  Coming within range, Teiran slid to a stop, thrusting the end of her staff into the ground and electrifying the rouge until he collapsed.  Iron Bull buried his axe in the fallen enemy with a grunt, leaving it in the body and putting a hand to his side.

Teiran sprinted the last ten yards to reach her injured companion, a worried frown wrinkling her forehead.  The Iron Bull turned around at the thump of her footsteps, a pained smile on his face and blood soaking his thigh, “Hey Boss.  Thought it might be you.”

She gave him a quick half-smile, “Oh, Bull.  I’m so sorry.  I should have been here earlier.”  The Qunari was so much taller than the Dalish elf; she barely had to bend down to reach his side.

The Iron Bull moved his massive hand to let her heal him.  Within seconds, his hot blood coated her glowing hand.  She closed her eyes to focus on the flesh her magic healed.  A few minutes of silence passed, Bull’s breathing becoming more steady the more flesh she mended.  

The battle had ended.  Bull watched the other companions searching for valuable items and documents among the dead, all gradually gravitating towards the Inquisitor.  His eye fell on the Enchanter mending a scratch on Cassandra’s shoulder when a shimmer to his right caught his attention.

Bull to spring into action as the crackling sound of an assassin signaled the emerging from their stealth ability mid-lunge.  Teiran spun around at the sound.  The enemy sailed through the air, a dagger raised high over their head in their suicidal revenge mission.  Throwing his balance forward with the motion, Iron Bull swung his horn into the assailant, bending protectively over Teiran.  The momentum of Bull’s movement caused the assassin’s knife to sink into the Qunari’s shoulder.   Then, Iron Bull fell forward pushing Teiran under him and to the ground.  

The assailant only had a moment to savor the heady satisfaction of vengeance for the deaths of their comrades.  One after another, arrows and bolts sunk into their body from adjacent angles.  The vengeful rouge swayed as each arrow pierced his flesh.

BA-BOOM!

The air shook with the sound of all three bodies clattering against the wooden planks.  Everyone ran, racing towards Bull and Teiran from their various locations.  Varric and Sera’s weapons were still trained on their victim even as they hurried towards them.

Teiran’s breath had been forced from her chest when the massive Qunari landed on top of her.  Now she struggled to pull in more air, gasping like a fish out of water.  While Bull’s body had effectively shielded her from the knife, his dead weight now pinned her to the ground, blocking her lungs from filling.  Although there was little chance that the elven mage could perform a push-up to free herself, she still tried.  And in the face of her failure, her last oxygen-deprived thought was to hope the others would save them promptly and to curse her lack of a warrior’s physique.

Solas reached the downed pair, using Fade step to reach them before anyone else. He quickly assessed the situation; both were alive if only one was breathing.  He was eying how close Bull’s bloody horn was to Teiran’s neck when Cassandra, Dorian, Cole and Blackwall joined him.  Varric, Sera and Vivienne were not far behind.

Dorian immediately dropped to Bull’s bloody side, continuing to heal the initial wound from the first troublesome rouge.

“We’ll have to lift him before we take out the knife.” Cassandra announced.

Dorian answered, his mind focused on healing and his eyes assessing how much blood leaked from around the dagger in his shoulder, “Well, before you order him to bleed to death from that wound, let me finish healing this one.”

Solas, his hand already hovering over the wound at Bull’s shoulder caught Dorian’s gaze, “Dorian, I can heal him unaided if necessary.”  Before Dorian could unleash the indignant remarks that went with his expression, Cassandra took charge.

“Blackwall!  Varric! Take positions on either side.” Cassandra barked as she gestured to either side of Bull’s body while moving to stand ready next to Dorian. She and Solas locked gazes and he nodded knowingly: she would pull Dorian out of the way if necessary.  

Solas and Blackwall on one side of Bull; Varric, Cassandra and Dorian on the other, they positioned themselves with their hands under his body ready to lift up.

“Be weary of the horns.  This will hurt.”  Solas advised, taking his position nearest the dagger to lift Bull’s body.

Simultaneously, Cassandra called, “Vivienne!” and Solas called, “Cole!”

Cole ghosted over to Solas, while Vivienne turned her attention to Cassandra but did not move any closer.  Sera could be seen behind Vivienne pacing and muttering reassuringly to herself while biting her nails.

Solas spoke, his voice low and strained, “They will not work together.  Cole you must get her away from—”

Vivienne folded her arms indignantly, “I do hope you are not seriously suggesting the pet demon is more equipped than I—”

Cassandra shouted,  “Enough!  Ready and lift!”

The five of them lifted the Qunari just enough so Cole could pull Teiran out from under him.  They attempted to do it as evenly as possible, however, Bull still roared in pain, sweeping his horns from side to side.  Solas and Dorian both dodged the unconscious reaction; managing to keep ahold of the mountain of a man and help the others lower him back to the ground.

Cole and Teiran were almost one hundred yards away.  Vivienne and Varric tore after them.  While running towards the pair, Vivienne began crafting a sigil to revive Teiran, preparing to utilize the impressive range of her Knight Enchanter skill. While Varric shouted an explanation to Cole: he had gone too far and he needed to come closer.

Cassandra turned her gaze on Blackwall, Solas and Dorian in turn,  “Blackwall, pull the dagger loose then get clear.  Solas?  Dorian? Are you ready?”

Blackwall nodded confidently, his hands already moving towards the hilt of the dagger.

“I am ready.”  Solas answered, his eyes glued to the group in the distance but his hands bloody and in position.  

Cole had come closer to bring Teiran within Vivienne’s range, now only about twenty yards from Iron Bull.  After relinquishing her into the Enchanter’s care, the spirit hovered close to Varric.  Varric reached out to pat Cole’s elbow paternally.

“By all means, lets relax and host a debate. Just do it already.”  Dorian replied, his hand opposite Solas’.

With a huff of effort, Blackwall pulled the dagger up and out of the Qunari’s thick skin eliciting a roar and another slash of his horns.  Dorian, in his zeal to begin healing his lover, moved into reach of the Qunari’s horns. Cassandra, still by Dorian’s side, grabbed him and pulled him out of range.

“Cassandra wha—” Dorian began when he saw Iron Bull’s horn swipe inches from his shoulder.

Before more could be said, Cassandra repositioned the mage back where he had been kneeling.  Dorian nodded in realization of the situation and placed his hand back into the pool of blood on Iron Bull’s shoulder.  

Solas’ serious, glazed expression looked blanched with the green light emitting from the healing magic leaking between his fingers. Dorian joined him, their healing magic different shades of green, mingling together to rapidly mend bone, organs and muscle.  Although Dorian wore the same glazed expression of seeing something in his mind that did not physically exist in front of him, the tight set of his jaw showed strain and his meticulously groomed mustache twitched in worry.

Vivienne stood above the unconscious Inquisitor; her arms steely as she spread them across her body then raised them into the air commanding the revival in a swirl of green magic.  All could hear Teiran’s rough intake of breath followed by a bout of hacking coughs.   The elf rolled on her side, gulping air as she regained full health.  

Solas’ glazed expression wavered, but his eyes flitting towards the sound of Teiran’s raspy breathing; he continued to watch her while Vivienne administered a health potion as soon as Teiran could sit up.

Iron Bull’s flesh sealed under their palms, fully repaired.  With a relieved gush of air, Dorian threw his weight backwards into a sitting position beside Bull.

Solas was already gone and halfway to the Inquisitor’s side.

Dorian surreptitiously watched the Qunari warrior flip onto his back with an exaggerated groan, his eye closed and his breathing even.  Wiping the blood from his hands, Dorian pretended to observe the others: Cassandra, Varric, Blackwall and Sera had formed a group to continue their hunt for valuables, perhaps feeling safer together.  Even from where he sat, Dorian could see Solas thanking Cole before kneeling down to Teiran.  

Then Cole disappeared, the hurt healed and his task finished.  

Vivienne turned from the elven lovers to join the others, her disgust hidden from them but plain to Dorian’s noble-born eyes. Dorian knew Iron Bull was watching him as he saw all this; the blood finally gone from his hands, he turned to meet the Qunari’s gaze.

“I take it the Boss is alright.”  Iron Bull said, his tone light.

“Yes, after we extracted her from underneath you, Vivienne revived her in short order.” Dorian replied, lightly placing his hand on Bull’s arm.

The Iron Bull sat up, stretching the newly healed muscles, humming in satisfaction, “You and Solas did a good job.  How does it look?  Will it leave a scar?”  He asked, flexing suggestively.

Dorian rolled his eyes, but smiled, “I would be offended that you think I would leave a scar if I didn’t already know you would have preferred I did.”

Heaving a sigh, Dorian finally asked, “Are you alright?”

Bull placed a calloused hand on the side of the mage’s face, “You worry too much, this isn’t my first knife in the back and it won’t be the last.” Iron Bull smiled at his own word choice having a double meaning.  Dorian sighed in exasperation at the joke, smiling in spite of himself as he rose to his feet.  Iron Bull got to his feet at a leisurely pace, making a show of stretching and extending to his full height.

“ ’ey Elfy!  Enough with the kissy kissy, right?  She’s fine. We’re all fine as pie.”  Sera yelled across the fort.  “Well, great.  Now I want pie.  Any chance of that?” she continued, equally as loud, but the question was yelled in Cassandra’s direction.

Everyone watched the two elves freeze, their foreheads still touching, and then slowly drift apart with Solas pressing a quick kiss to Teiran’s forehead. Solas stood, his gaze stony while he offered Teiran his hand.  Teiran’s blush was a red beacon that shone even in the mid-day sun as she took his hand and stood, gazing murderously in Sera’s direction.  Sera danced happily at the discomfort she had caused, casually putting Cassandra’s body between her and the couple.

[heysnowflake]

Oh boy...

I do these types of ‘questions blogs’ every once in a blue moon as they’re interesting to read back on and cringe over. Without further ado, let’s embarrass myself further 

1. What was the last thing you googled?

I googled ‘questions tumblr’ to find these questions but if that doesn’t count, I googled ‘snowfall’ in google images 

2. You have to listen to these songs:

Shadowland- The Lion King Broadway OST

and whilst we’re talking about The Lion King

The Circle Of Life- The Lion King OST

As The World Falls Down- Labyrinth OST

Within You- Labyrinth OST

In A Crowd of Thousands- Anastasia Broadway OST

I’m Still Standing- Elton John

For A Moment- The Little Mermaid 2 OST

Be Somebody- Paula Cole

The Handler- Muse

Mambo No.5- Lou Bega

I Like It Heavy- Halestorm

Thunderstruck- AC/DC

A Dream Worth Keeping- Sheena Easton

Sandy’s Song- Crimson Doves

What You Feel- Once More With Feeling OST (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

In The End- Black Veil Brides

and just to add even more to the list, I’m going to add scores as well as I listen to movie and game scores just as much as I do songs, if not more (also piano pieces)

Harry In Winter- Goblet of Fire OST

Paintings On The Wall- Layers of Fear OST

Waterfall- Undertale OST

Transformation (Piano)- Beauty and the Beast OST

One Day- Pirates of the Caribbean OST

The Nightmare’s Beginning (Piano)- Final Fantasy 7 OST

Swan Lake- Tchaikovsky

Now We Are Free- Gladiator OST

Song of the Stream (Piano)- FIrefly

Fairy Dance- Peter Pan (2003) OST

Basically every piece from the Abzu OST

Aslan’s Camp- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe OST

Okay, okay, okay, if I name any more, I’ll bore both you and myself to death. But hey, you can’t say I haven’t given you a solid list to both listen to whilst also completely judging me based on my taste of music 

3. Do you chew on your straws?

Depends on the day

4. Have you ever been awake for 48hours straight?

Pffftttt I’ve been up for 62

5. Will you get married? Do you see yourself getting married in the next 5 years?

Absolutely! As for the next five years, I highly doubt it :P 

6. If you could move somewhere else would you?

Yeah. For sure. Though I would miss being two minutes away from the beach

7. Read on a Kindle or paperback book?

A paperback every time, if I can

8. If money was no object, what would you do all day?

Yo mAM- no. Disneyland. All day. Everyday of my life. 

9. University or life experience, which do you feel best prepares you for life?

LIFE EXPERIENCE, I can’t stress that enough. However, I do find that, if you do particular courses at Uni, it can be highly beneficial also. For example, Business Management

10. What is the one thing that should be taught in school that isn’t already?

General Life Skills. It still baffles me that this isn’t a compulsory subject from day one of secondary school, let alone not being taught at all. 

11. If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to?

1743 to see if I can find Jamie Fraser 

12. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?

Writing, composing on the piano or reading 

13. What’s the best/worst gift you’ve ever given/received?

Assuming we’re talking about physical gifts, it would have to be either the personalised Harry Potter letter that my best friend made for me who also played Hedwig’s theme as I opened the envelope (quite the magical moment), or it would be the envelope my dad gave to me, inside of which was the confirmation letter to my very own dog business that I’ve been dreaming about for as long as I can remember. It was made even more special as he combined my first two dogs’ names to make the business name. 

14. What was the first thing you bought with your own money?

I imagine it was a Freddo, back when they were the reasonable price of 5p and not the ridiculous 25p that they are now

15. What would your parents be surprised to learn about you?

There really isn’t anything my parents don’t know, to be honest. I’ve always been extremely open with them.Bit of a boring answer, I know, but I literally can’t think of anything my parents don’t know.... well anything I can say on here anyway ;)

16. Apologize or ask permission?

... eh?

17. Beach vacation or European vacation?

Europe!

18. What is the ideal number of people to have over on a Friday night?

One. My best friend. Don’t need anyone else. 

19. Who is a non-politician you wish would run for office?

THE ROCK!!!

20. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Telekinesis, hands down!!!

21. What do you usually think about right before falling asleep?

My fantasy romance scenarios playing over and over in my head, the face changing on whoever I’m ‘crushing on’ at that time

22. Ever been addicted to a iOS/android game? Which one(s)?

Where the fuck do I begin? Disney Magic Kingdom, Dragon City. My Singing Monsters, Pyramid Solitaire, Candy Crush Saga, Piano Tiles 2, Angry Birds, Angry Birds Go, Hearthstone (I’m aware it’s a  Battle.net game and didn’t come onto iOS until much later, I just preferred playing it on my phone ssshhhh)

23. List 5 goals on your life’s to-do list:

1. Go to Disneyland in Florida, 2. Buy my own Newfoundland puppy, 3. Eventually grow my dog business that I have the domain name for, 4. Move in with my best friend, and 5. Publishing my own book would be pretty neat

24. If you HAD to change your name, what would you change it to?

I have two in mind that I can’t decide on. Crysta (from FernGully, one of my all time favourite films) or Odette (from Swan Princess/Swan Lake). Fun fact: these are also the names I have picked out for a baby girl, if I were to ever have one 

25. What is one thing you will never do again?

Read Fifty Shades of Grey

26. What words of wisdom would you pass onto your childhood self?

Being ‘cool’ in secondary school literally doesn’t mean anything, the adults weren’t lying about that one. 

I know your temper is out of control now but eventually you’ll see the light and change your ways for the better as you reach your 13th birthday.

Never stop believing in magic, it makes the world more wonderful. 

That girl Ellie? Hold onto that one because she’ll become the bestest friend you could have ever dreamed of. 

Speaking of dreams, write those down. 

Those stories you’re thinking up in your mind, write those down too. 

Most importantly, have courage and be kind. Also, say ‘fuck it’ to decisions most of the time, they make for the best memories. 

27. If you could speak another language, which would it be and why?

French, easily. I can already read and write Ancient Runes though, does that count?

28. If you were head of a major TV station for one day, what would you play?

Spongebob Squarepants 24/7

29. Which one of your friends would make the best U.S. President and why?

I like how you think I have more than one friend 

30. What’s your favorite holiday and why?

Christmas because everyone turns into a little kid again

31. How would you survive a zombie apocalypse?

I wouldn’t 

32. In what ways are you the same as your childhood self?

I watch and irrevocably love Disney. I think Spongebob Squarepants is quality content. I still order my pieces of a chocolate bar by size... honestly the question is ‘in what ways am I different from my childhood self?’

33. If you could master one skill you don’t have right now, what would it be?

Painting

34. What was your dream job growing up?

Working with, caring for and training dogs. Spoiler: dreams do come true :) 

35. If you could live forever, how would you spend eternity?

Reading

36. If you could bring one musician back from the dead, who would it be and why?

Freddie Mercury because good lord, the man had talent and could everything from rock to opera. One of the best voices to have ever graced this earth

37. What was the last picture you took with your phone?

A picture of one of the dogs I look after, his name is Maxwell and I want to steal him 

38. What kind of sickness have you lied about so you wouldn’t go to work?

Not exactly a sickness but menstrual cramps. It’s a great excuse because it makes the men uncomfortable and women are completely and 100% sympathetic of you 

39. What was the last lie you told?

‘I wasn’t watching Tinker Bell, it just flicked onto that channel when you turned the TV on’

40. What is your perfect pizza?

Pepperoni with extra cheese

41. What question do you hate to answer?

Questions that are like ‘if you could one thing about yourself’ or ‘if you could change one thing in your past’ etc. because I just wouldn’t

42. What keys on a keyboard do you not use?

On a computer keyboard, the function key because who uses that? XD 

43. Who would you most like to be stuck in an elevator with?

Russell Howard so that not a single moment would be dull and plus, he’s easy on the eyes

44. Is there anything purple within 10 feet of you? What is it?

A purple candle next to ONE of my series of the Harry Potter books

45. When was the last time you ran/went for a jog?

I don’t like this question because i can’t remember and, even if I did, it probably involved food 

46. Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?

No :(

47. What after school activities did you do in high school?

I did art club in primary school. Then, in secondary school, I didn’t really join any clubs but I did used to love sneaking into the music room and playing on the piano 

48. What ice-cream flavours do you love/hate?

Love Vanilla and I don’t necessarily hate it but I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate 

49. What is your secret recipe?

For scrambled eggs, I put paprika and other assorted spices in it. For pasta, I cook it with a little bit of chicken stock mixed into the water 

50. What channels do you have subscribed on YouTube?

I CAN’T NAME ALL OF THEM!!! XD to name a few favs (which probably won’t surprise anyone), jacksepticeye, Markiplier, Dan and Phil Games, Dan and Phil’s separate channels, CalikoKat, Glam&Gore, Jenna Marbles, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Matthew Hussey- they’re the main people I watch