#i could go on forever about my love for lua

[apuppetmuseum]

🌹!

POSITIVITY TIME!!! | ACCEPTING!! send 🌹 and i'll recommend a blog that makes me happy

You send this as if you aren't one of my faves???and make me happy af??? but I won't cheat I'll choose someone else.

@giftandguile I LOVE LUA WITH MY ENTIRE HEART AND SOUL and whenever i see him on the dash I get excited cause what is the mad lad gonna do next?! No one knows. Crime Squad forever.

[seokmn]

chapter XXXI : always and forever

wc: 1k words

lua’s note: this chapter happens a couple years after the last chapter

seokmin, who was resting between your legs, his head laying down on your stomach, sighed and closed the book before turning his head upwards to look at you

“so, what do you think? did you like it? give me a review like you’re reviewing a movie on letterboxd!” you said looking down at him, nervous and curious about his opinion on your book.

“okay, but can i be truly honest? youre not gonna get hurt?”

you nodded, “yes you can, bring it on, i can handle it”

“okay, but you asked for it!”, he said while sitting up to be able to talk to you face to face, “i loved it. i really did”

“really?”

“of course! i loved the way you showed how you started lacking confidence about not sharing a string with someone and how you got the confidence back. i think you really wrote it so well and really put your heart on it, this book shows your thoughts in such a transparent way and i think it shows your vulnerable side, but also your strong side as well, it made me feel like i was reading your journal and not a book, which can be a good or vad thing depending on who’s reading it.” he placed his hand on his chest and chuckled, “but i liked it. i also loved the way you wrote about how our string can be invisible for ourselves just like other people’s string is invisible for us and how you put in your book our conversation about our love being a secret that the universe doesnt know about. i really, really, really loved your book, yn. im proud of you”

you smiled, holding back your tears, “im so glad you loved my book, honestly it was such a crazy experience and journey writing this book and, since at some point the book tells about our story, your opinion is really important to me. at first, i thought you were going to say negative things about the book”, you chuckled.

he put a strand of your hair behind your ear before wiping away the single tear that was starting to run down your cheek, “youre so talented. im sure people are gonna love your book”. he hugged you, caressing your hair as a way of trying to soothe you since you began to cry, “they better be happy tears”, he said softly.

you chuckled, still crying, “yeah.. they’re happy tears. im really happy about my book, about my life in general and about us… i would never replace one single thing about my life, i couldnt be happier”.

he hummed softly while laying you down on his lap and holding your hand as you two began to watch the sea, the comfortable silence filling the air. you kept watching the sea, but seokmin’s eyes were glued to your hands, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

seokmin cleared his throat and spoke up, “uh.. yn?”

“yea, minnie?”, you said still watching the sea.

“i think the universe knows our secret now”, he spoke quietly.

“huh? what you mean?” you looked up at him, seeing his watery eyes and then followed his gaze, only to find your fingers intertwined with his and a string around your pinky fingers. your eyes widened, “what the hell?! how did- when did that happen?!?”

“i dont know,” he sniffed, “it wasn’t there when we were reading the book!”

“did we… did we just made each other our soulmates?”

“i think we did!” he chuckled between his sobs, “i didnt know this could happen”

“i guess we can choose our soulmate. come here,” you hugged him, letting him rest his head on your shoulder, “i would spend the rest of my life by your side regardless this happening or not. i already knew youre my one, but i guess the universe also knows that now. our love is not a secret anymore”

seokmin nodded, trying to calm down so he could speak without any problems, “i.. i dont know how, why or when did this happen, but im so happy it did. i love you so much, yn”

“i love you too, seokmin”, you leaned back to look at him, cupped his face and smiled at the sight of your loved one crying with a smile on his face, it was clear about how much love he has for you just by the way he looks at you, like youre a diamond, like you’re the only thing that really matters to him, “i love you so damn much”

you kissed him, placing your hands around his neck and he wrapping his arms around your waist. the kiss was slow, soft and full of love. once the kiss was broken and he rested his forehead against yours, looking down at your hands

“i cant stop looking at it. im totally mesmerized” he sniffed and smiled, caressing your hand, “cant believe now youre really my soulmate… people are never going to believe us”

“our friends will”, you said smiling.

“youre right, our friends will”

“you know, i think ill need to write another book now”, you chuckled, “another best seller? wow, my girl will become the best writer ever. not you arent the best writer ever already, you know”, he pinched your cheek and you rolled your eyes playfully.

“you spoil me way too much”

“maybe i do and ill probably spoil you even more since now i know its gonna be us always and forever”

“thats true.. its gonna be us always and forever ”, you said and kissed the back of his hand before laying your head back down on his stomach. you didn’t know how did that happen, maybe the universe was testing out you too or maybe you changed your destinies. you werent sure of anything but the fact that you love seokmin more than anyone could ever imagine, that his love is the most important thing in your life and that this love will last forever.

THE END

lua’s notes: and with that, invisible string comes to an end! i want to thank everyone who read it, interacted with it and enjoyed it. i really means the world to me!! im still thinking if i should post an epilogue or not so let me know if you would enjoy invisible string having an epilogue! also, let me know if you liked the smau, it can be as a comment or as an ask. your opinions about the history itself, the characters or the end are always welcomed 😁 thank you for supporting my work and i hope to see yall here again for my next projects. love you ❤️

prev - masterlist

INVISIBLE STRING

in a world where when you turn 18 you share an invisible string with your soulmate that only you and your respective soulmate can see it, seokmin, also known as dokyeom, is an actor in the musical theatre world that doesnt have a soulmate and keep it as a secret. meanwhile, yn works in a bookstore and doesnt seem bothered at all by the fact of not sharing a string with someone. is it possible to change the destiny and find your soulmate even tho you dont share the invisible string with anyone?

[lualuabestningdungie]

Not a lot, just forever | C. Beomgyu

Pairings nonidol!gyu x Fem!reader; genre fluff; warnings kisses ><, established relationship, talks about marriage and kids;

-

You waited for beomgyu to arrive to your apartment. He had a business trip and was away for a few weeks for work. And now that he was back, he was given a few free days to rest, so he didn’t have to think twice to go to your apartment and visit his girlfriend.

When he arrived, he knocked a few times at your door and it swung open in less than a minute. A warm smile painted his lips as he pulled you into the tightest hug burying his face in the crook of your neck.

“I missed you.” He mumbled against your skin, his warm breath sending shivers to your spine.

“Missed you too, gyu.”

He wasted no time and scooped you in his arms, kicking the door behind close. He carried you to your room placing you down carefully in your bed, he laid on top of you resting his body weight on you as he held you tightly. Your arms instinctively wrapped around his neck as you inhaled his sweet minty scent.

He tilted his face up to get a better look at you. “You look so beautiful, my love. I feel like i haven’t seen you in ages.”

“It was only two weeks.” You said with a pink blush covering your cheeks.

“Two weeks is insane.” He buried his face in your chest and mumbling ‘too much’ his words muffled by the fabric of your shirt.

You stayed in a comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company, the feeling of your bodies together was so relaxing and comforting that you can never imagine being in such peace in any other situation.

“Can I stay tonight?” He whispered. “I don’t want to leave…ever” you chuckled at his words.

“Stay forever then, I don’t mind.” Your hand moved to his fair, gently combing through his hair.

“Yeah…I think I will.” He pressed a small kiss on the side of your neck. “I can’t help but to imagine my future with you.” His words were soft, saying every word with a genuine feeling. “Getting married, traveling together, starting our family.”

Your heart skipped a beat, all those things you once daydream about could actually happen, and beomgyu is the one you want to experience all this with. Because when you close your eyes, He is the one you see proposing to you, he is the one you see waiting on an altar for you, he is the one that you see being the father of your kids.

“I can’t imagine doing that with anyone else, gyu.” You whispered, “if it’s not you then I don’t want it”

“Glad you feel the same.”

-

Lua’s note: a bit delulu ngl but it’s alright.

[cyborg-hydra-girl-thing]

warframe is so fuckin trans

just

ough i love it so much

like even very early before we had the second dream and the operator it was kind of a not so subtle secret that we weren’t really the frames, we were just piloting them, with Alad V and Tyl Regor both commenting on how the warframe’s were just machines and empty shells, and also unpiloted wild frames are like feral animals, valkyr’s lore and a couple quests highlight this

so like even playing the game there’s this kind of meta level disconnect between you playing as the frames and just *swapping entire bodies* to fit the task at hand

where even the skin you wore was just a tool to do what you sought

and then we get the second dream and aw tits were actually an immortal space demon child

and oh no our spacemom(lotus), is actually a shapeshifter who took the shape of Margulis, who was the original mother to the tenno, and accidentally fell in love with these traumatized magic void children and donned the title of the lotus after the fall of the orokin at the hands of the tenno

and at the end of the new war when you get the opportunity to choose who space mom is like she is all of them, she is Natah/Margulis/Lotus and she will always be and has always been Natah/Margulis/Lotus and each one of those people has endured such trauma that that choice brought me to tears, i sobbed on my couch for over an hour just staring at the choices and thinking about

margulis was the orokin who took in and took care of the tenno. she protected them as best she could from the terrors of the orokin, and they ended up maiming her (on accident(i can’t actually remember how she died off the top of my head but)

and Natah, a mimic, the best mimic, daughter of Hunhow was sent to the original system ahead of the sentient invasion to weaken the orokin before they invaded, and donned Margulis’ skin

at some point the warframe’s are developed, a strain of the helminth virus injected into people mutating and twisting them into monsters

some kept their intellect, but it’s implied that a large number of the warframe’s were feral and uncontrollable

and the tenno, these ageless 12 year olds who’re the only survivors of a warp ship catastrophe and touched by the Void who made a deal with the Man In The Wall to save them and also give them magic powers, are able to connect with the warframes on a level nobody else can, and through transference can drive the warframe’s like external exosuits

perfect for ending this war with the sentients

and immortal child soldiers are perfect for a war spanning the solar system (at least? i know the sentients went to the Tau galaxy (system?) to terraform it ahead of the orokin)

and then the children murder their masters at the victory ceremony (after which they might have been executed? i can’t recall, i need to go reread the lore lol) and then Margulis -> Lotus hides them in Lua in the Void in a forever waking dream, still piloting their frames and as the Lotus, works as their mission advisor and probably securing missions to strategically weaken the corpus or grineer war machines

[roboraindrop]

So Ladd and I... I never really fleshed out a story for us before, but here's my first attempt!

It got a little long, so it's under a cut fjdjdh

I was on the ship with Maiza and the other immortals. I didn't drink the immortality elixir when everyone else did, though. I waited, because I was sure that I didn't want to live forever. Once I saw how lonely Maiza was without his brother though, I decided to drink and to stay with him for eternity, as his friend and younger sibling.

Being immortal has its downsides, though, and that's the fact that I am not crazy about the whole Living thing. For many years I tried to find an antidote for the immortality, but it never worked. There was only one way to end an immortal's life; To be devoured by another immortal. There was no way I could ask that of Maiza, so I kept trying.

One night, I stood on the edge of a bridge, watching the water rushing below, planning on jumping but knowing that nothing would actually take my life. I'd get a few broken bones, maybe, but they'd heal just as quick. Maybe it was for the adrenaline I was doing it now. Maybe it was just the comfort of the illusion that soon I wouldn't have to keep living.

That's when he found me.

Ladd stopped me from jumping, asked what a pretty thing like me was doing all the way out here on such a dark night, that the city is full of creeps and I should be careful if I wanna stay alive. Funny thing to say after I had just watched him kill two guys for simply standing in his way on his stroll over to me, but it wasn't any of my business.

We got talking, of course I didn't tell him that I was immortal, just that I was cursed. A curse that nobody can beat- A curse that won't let me die. He had to laugh. And he laughed hard.

"What a coincidence! You're here with a curse that stops you from dying, and here I am, the best assassin the Russo family's got! I'll kill ya, kid. In fact, I won't even ask you to pay me! I'll do it for free!"

There was no hesitation as he pulled out a gun, and I pressed my head against the barrel.

But, if anyone knows anything about Ladd Russo, it's that the people he likes killing the most are the ones who never see it coming. He lowered the gun and put it away, telling me that we should meet up again in a few days, give me time to get my affairs in order. What he really wanted was to get me unaware- This was a challenge and he was going to pass it with flying colors - Mostly red!

The problem was, though, that I was always ready. If he couldn't get me surprised, he wasn't going to get me at all, dammit. So we kept meeting, he kept telling me it would happen another time. The more we saw of each other, though, the closer we grew, and the more I wanted to live to see him.

Sure, he was a maniac who loved killing, and I was an immortal who could never die... But there was an energy between us. Crazy, some people might call it... But we fit each other's crazy.

He eventually asked me to stop trying to take my own life- That if anyone was going to kill me, it was going to be him. It was his honor and his alone. That's how our dynamic ended up along the same lines of his and Lua's in canon- "Its always been my dream to find people who want to live in this world more than you and slaughter them one by one until... Until there's just you, and I'd gladly spend the rest of your life lovingly murdering you. Until then you stick with me, and don't you dare die. Right, babe?"

Unlike Lua who is very reserved though, I am visibly flattered by Ladd when he flirts this way, very deeply into it xkdjskb

[buoyfriend]

06 - Why Not Try?

“I remember damage.”

If you could grab anything on your way out of your world and take it with you into the unknown as everything you had known slipped into oblivion, what would you take with you? What would you treasure forever? If you lost your ability to see the past plainly, what words would reach you as you’re set adrift into a stranger’s galaxy?

Time slipped out of my grasping hands, disappearing into the bitter Coerthan winds. I lost friend after friend in quick succession, in the Praetorium then the banquet. On our way to Foundation, crossing the Gates of Judgement, I grabbed my canvas backpack and pulled out the book that Thancred had left on my bed. It felt indecent to open before, M’runa’s private thoughts packed into a thick book of thin pages. Nearly every surface covered with thoughts and drawings save for the last twenty odd pages. I imagined Thancred, slipping into her room with ease. I tried to imagine him slipping out of the tunnels below Ul’Dah with the same ease, regrouping somewhere with all of our friends. Y’shtola, Urianger, and Minfilia, sipping an ale, thinking of where to go next. Where to find Alphinaud, Tataru, and I. Minfilia always knew what to do, always where our compass was pointing.

A fresh wave of hot tears brimmed in my eyes as I wiped them away. Alphinaud nor Tataru noticed, staring blankly out at the sea of snow. Powdery waves blanketing the landscape.

--

When all was said and done, we were safely ensconced in House Fortemps. Haurchefant made good on his promise, and for the first time I heard “my friend, Lua” pass his lips. I truly felt like his friend in fresh clothes, waking in his home from the most restful night of sleep I’d had in weeks. Alphinaud was less lucky, refusing to slip into dreams for fear of what he would find there. Tataru had not returned for the night, choosing instead to settle into The Forgotten Knight, eager to learn Foundation’s gossip.

The first week passed slowly. Haurchefant’s brothers had mixed responses to the Scions’ presence in their home. At the request of our host, I helped with any small task I could. With Emmannellain, I learned that reputation means everything in Ishgard. Quickly, he attempted to use my role as Warrior of Light to his benefit. I felt a wave of embarrassment, followed by appreciation. I understood how he was the baby of the family. No ill intent, just a teen boy wanting some measure of space outside of the shadow of his brothers. I groaned and complained the entire time, but some part of me loved our short adventure together. You could say any number of things about Emmannellain, but he truly was funny. His sweet face stretched into the most serious faces to garner respect, how could you not love him?

Artoirel was another story. The serious faces he made were etched into his skin, a young man wearing an older man’s gait. I like to think that I’d proved myself, that I put to bed any doubts he had about the safety of House Fortemps after they’d taken such a large risk to accept the Scions into their home. I had my doubts, though. Still, I thought he was just as endearing as Emmannellain. I didn’t think he protected House Fortemps’ reputation as if protecting an inheritance, but protecting all within the house. It came from a place of deep love, the same as Haurchefant’s actions for his friends. I knew he doubted me, but I felt safe. 

At night, I would bring my bag out from my bedside table and attempt to read Runa’s journal. I couldn’t bring myself to read more than a few words. She had described the first day we met, she thought I’d been “pitiful” and “small”. It was true. She had seen me so clearly, past whatever anyone had said about me as the Warrior of Light. My mind was assaulted another crest of shame as I put her journal back into my bag and reached for the one about the star ship instead. Like a prayer, I repeated the traveler’s words to myself “I remember damage. Then escape. Then adrift in a stranger’s galaxy for a long time.”

--

On a bright morning, I found my way to the dining hall. Count Edmont sat alone, his sons already out of the door with the rising dawn. I had never spent much time with him that week, feeling shy under his relentless kindness. I took my place at the table, near him but apparently not near enough.

“Come, Lua! Closer, the only thing I mean to bite this morning is my plate of eggs.”

I managed a small laugh, resettling myself at the seat to his left. His face was worn with time, deep grooves in his skin illuminated by the tall windows and stark light. To this day, he has the kindest eyes I know. They rolled over me, assessing the small woman that had taken a place in his home.

“Artoirel and Emmannellain sang your praises this morn. Emmannellain is not much of a surprise, but it is a trial to meet Artoirel’s approval.”

“Oh! That’s a relief. I’d thought him to be suspicious of me.”

“Anyone would be, I’m afraid. Ishgardians are not known for providing warm welcomes to outsiders. Be at ease- House Fortemps has and will always stand apart in this regard.”

I hadn’t noticed how tense my body had been at the mention of Artoirel, my subconscious betraying me, hoping that Artoirel’s stance was not shared by the entirety of his family. Perhaps some surprise that I was successful in earning some measure of trust, so much so that he would share it with his father.

“You may have noticed that Haurchefant bears little resemblance to his brothers and I. My son, my own blood, was an outsider to us for some time. I provided as much support as I could, but he earned his way into the trust of his nation. He worked tirelessly.”

“I’m afraid I don’t-” a splitting headache sliced through my words. I grasped at my temples as a fuzzy image clouded my eyes.

I saw Count Edmont arguing with a woman, Artoirel with longer hair and softer features. She slapped him, a sharp smack cutting through my ears before she turned to run away. A pale haired woman bleeding into a bed clasping Edmont’s hand until it turned the whitest of white. Edmont clutching a wailing baby, pressing against the whistling snow to the doorstep of House Fortemps.

I gathered my thoughts as the dining hall returned to my eyes, Edmont’s face burning with...shame? Embarrassment? Guilt, regret?

“I’m so sorry. I can’t control when it happens, it’s the Echo. Hydael-”

“Hydaelyn’s gift. I understand. A story I’d rather not repeat, I suppose you saved me the shame of speaking the words myself.”

What could I say? It was not my business.

“But you know now, that he was an outsider to his own family. I suffered a great deal to allow him my home, into my family. To pay the price of my shame, of my weak will. The man he has grown to be is no thanks to me. The man he became was through his own honor, through his good heart. Every day I marvel at the wisdom and kindness he shows, that he would seek to welcome others in their time of need just as he thinks I did for him.”

My body relaxed again, sinking into my chair as Edmont said to me “You are welcome here, Lua. You are safe. You are safe because for a mercy, the Fury gave me a son who could see past bitterness and rejection. A son to teach us all the kind of nation we could be.”

His face broke into a wide smile, followed by thunderous laughter. “Now that we’ve spoken plainly and discussed how we both came to be here, let’s speak of lighter things.”

And we did. I felt my fear slip into the endless waves of time, resting in the past behind me. We spoke of my first meeting with the Lord Commander, of Edmont’s assurances that as much as he may play the Ishgardian smoke and mirrors, he was as good hearted as any of his sons. I told him about my adventures through town, the kindly old man who took me on a tour of Ishgardian architecture, the familiarity that rolled over me the first time I laid eyes on the Holy See.

“Does your homeland look much like Ishgard?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t remember it, but I remember buildings like Saint Reymanaud Cathedral. I felt a pang of homesickness.”

“Where is home for you?”

Again, the pit in my stomach. It tugged at me to be truthful, to be honest. To be seen by the kindest eyes. I gave myself to the feeling and told him everything I knew. How I had awoken in Gridania, the books I carried with me, Runa, the warm feeling as I smelled the incense at the cathedral like I’d been there before. The first time anything resembled home in months.

“Adrift in a stranger’s galaxy”, he rolled the traveler’s words around in his mouth, considering them “Fiction it may be, but true all the same. What happens next, in your book? What became of the traveler?” 

“It was him, and another traveler. Alone for a while, then...The pages are stuck together from the rain, I’m afraid to pull them apart. I might damage the book worse than it has been damaged already.”

“Why not try?”

--

Note: Honesty is hard. Letting yourself be seen is hard, especially when you don’t feel like you know yourself. Honesty when you feel that you’re lying to everyone who heaps admiration on you is hard.

It’s frightening, but think about trusting others when they say that you’re a true friend or even a hero in their eyes.

[marlasomething]

Piles Of Nonsense Bingo: Defying Morality

Hi there! This is my third individual contribution the @pilesofnonsense 2021 Halloween Bingo. My idea? To fill the marked column (bellow) adding an extra one in each entry.

"Boxes" filled: The Spiral and Leave a Comment.

For the Leave a Comment Tag I got playful. First, we ought to recommend another person’s work, so I am going to recommend this Jonah Magnus/Robert Smirke one-shot “A Love Letter In Stone” by Lua in AO3 (https://archiveofourown.org/collections/ponbingo2021/works/34902205; https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lua/pseuds/Lua); it is a very interesting relationship/break-up study from Smirke’s point of view. But then I thought…leave a comment? So that’s the reason Sasha is “leaving comments” for Daisy and, finally, wanted to ask you for a particular comment to leave…What/About who else would you like to read in this AU of mine? What are your theories of what they are doing/what is going on?

Characters: Sasha James, Tim Stoker, tape recorders, Michael the Distortion, Gertrude Robinson, Original Characters, Original Statement Givers, Original Human Characters

Pairings: Sasha James/Tim Stoker, Background minor relationships, Georgie Barker/Melanie King

Additional tags: Original statement, Season 4 AU, Scottish Cabin Period, but it is Tim and Sasha, Lonely!Tim, Archivist!Sasha, Slaughter!Melanie, Hunt!Daisy, mental and physical healing, cops suck, PTSD everywhere, musical references bcs it is me, moral is pretty loose in here, I stand Michael ‘decision’ so hard though, special secret character(s) cameo, no beta we kayak like Tim

CW: murder, mentions of child abuse, Distortion typical content, revenge, mentions of past self-isolation and other unhealthy attitudes, mentions of police violence, swearing

Ranking: Teen and up (it is not really that harsh but maybe a bit thought for younger audiences)

Word count: 1962

Summary: We all know the story: the Archivist goes into the Lonely, saves their true love and both go to some well-deserved “holidays” on Daisy’s murder cabin. Only that, this time, it is Sasha and Tim. And instead of a Jonah Magnus centred statement, Sasha is going to find a text related to another old friend….

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35007676

As always, kudos/likes (as this is going both to AO3 and Tumblr), feedback or any random comments are so greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy it and forgive my quick tipper and non-native speaker mistakes,

Allons-y!

Marla

Mornings in Scotland were rather chilling. Why could being a full Avatar of a primordial fear also eliminate the ability to be cold?

That was what occupied most of Sasha’s mind as she wrote down some notes for Daisy to find when she came back to her…how did Tim called it? Yes, murder cabin.

Because she would be back; she had to believe she wasn’t lost forever, no matter what the odds were.

After all, they had managed to bring back Melanie. Or, at least, a more Slaughter-y version of her, but still the same Miss King in the core –soon to be Misses King-Barker (Sasha couldn’t help but find those two adorable).

She sighed, as much as cold bothered her, it was great to be there. It was great to have Tim back, it felt AMAZING to end up with Lucas’ existence (she had decided that pretending human morals still applied was a foolish exercise that might get them killed and the world ended).

Well, more precisely, to have Tim for the first time. Yes, they might or might have not kissed before she went to stop The Stranger’s ritual (after the Circus experience, Sasha didn’t trust her memories regarding those days completely, and The Lonely’s influence over the man was far too huge still and those kind of affectionate actions in the past were still a blur in his head), but that was it.

Before she…she sighed, she just guess that, even if she didn’t first come out as work-obsessed, world-alienated as Jon had…she kind of could be. Especially when relationships were concerned.

But that was the past. Now, they had time for themselves.

Time they were using the best they could.

Good thing their only close-by neighbours were cows and the corpses’ of the Section 31 victims (Sasha had made the effort of knowing who was buried there, and they weren’t exclusively Daisy’s victims; but from the whole Section, some of the people just victims of police usual practice, no supernatural elements to them or the events proceeding their deaths).

As she smile at the thought of finally let go of some of her tensions in a biblical sense that included someone apart from herself, a completely out-of-place odour came into her nose.

Smoke.

Timothy Stoker what the actual fuck?!

She followed the smell to the backyard, where she found Tim with a small pile of papers and a smirk on his face. Small drops of black ash were settling on his now white hair. She crossed her arms.

“Tim, explain.”

“Oh, hi, Archivist! Just burning a little present from Jonah Majorgnus Asslias. See, I was going to bring one of your snacks to you from the boxes Basira send and decided to, you know, take a pic of the spooky of it all. So if I run into you while you are at it, I am ready and you don’t scare the living shit out of me and…” he flinched for a second, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe because of the ash entering his eyes “…I think I prevented Armageddon” he sighed, full of himself.

Sasha smiled, there was still sadness to the man, a darkness he was now trying to downplay for her but about which, sooner rather than later, they were going to have to speak about.

There were so many things they had to talk about that weren’t going to be nice.

But not right now.

Her stomach made a weird sound and it wasn´t of human food this time (since they had arrived, Sasha had started eating like a regular person for the first time in…perhaps, years; and her body was thankful for it).

“I think it is creepy your Eldritch metabolism has decided to complain as your regular one” Tim said, handing her some papers put together with a clip. “Here you go, my lady.”

She just half-smiled at him, muttered a ‘see you later’ that made him blush (it was quite funny since, with his new paleness, even the slightest blush was far more noticeable than before. Good thing he wasn’t going to go around trying to flirt with every living thing again, it would have been a hiccup on his confidence).

Once inside, she sat, found (completely unsurprised) a tape recorder and started reading.

Statement of Abigail Harris, regarding the deaths that took place in a storey building near Victoria Station, London.

Statement written down by subject for Gertrude Robinson, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

A few years ago made a new friend. It insists on being call an it, so I will comply, as weird as it sounds (pun intended). It calls itself Michael and it has a round face that is also very sharp most of the time.

It wears very bright, colourful outfits that never seem to stay the same from the moment it comes into my real home (not my parents’ house, hate that place, though I ought to live there until I am eighteen…) to the one it leaves.

It brings me food, and sometimes even winter clothing, when the cold starts being a bit too much.

I knew it since I was eleven. Now, I am fifteen and it is likely my one true friend; though the first time we met it tried of kill me. I don’t blame it; I would have done the same if the tables had been turned.

I didn’t know how much fun it was back then!

You see? I had a pretty particular hobby: murder. But only boring, rude people. Those are my rules: boring, rude people. And they are soooo many of them that regular people had nothing to worry about. Even if I expanded my criteria, it would be a very long time until you are included in which I consider valid pray.

The thing is, the moment Michael realised that the reason I was covered in blood in that building right next to Wicked the Musical wasn’t that I happened to be in some bizarre accident, but that I had killed a man that had hit his son for being too wide-eyed while staring at the emerald green lighted facade of the theatre, calling him a few slurs I’ve chosen not to include in here, it was impressed.

After all, I was a short, chubby kid with red curls and a skin that would be burned in winter if I didn’t put on some sun lotion. Not exactly the potential serial killer type.

It understood and then pointed out that, maybe, in exchange of not telling anyone, we could reach an agreement.

IT WAS ALL SO EXCITING! I mean, imagine; I could do whatever I wanted and this person was going to make things easier for me.

The deal was simple: I had to left the people I chose to kill almostdead and get them into the building, where it would make a random-colour door appear (it was biased, and most times they were either purple or yellow, but I am not going to complain to it about that; I am not stupid, it is still a murderer! I might kill it if it said something about my, so called by some former people, tacky fashion style) and I would through the person inside…for them to reappear as if they had just passed away weeks after.

The cops go CRAZY when they received a notification of a body in that building; especially since pretty much at least half of my victims are rich people.

Again, so fun.

Once, Michael even allowed me to enter its corridors, though it told me like a quintillion times not to try to play maze on them, for it might not be able to resist the temptation of trapping me if I did so.

I was ok with that; letting myself being guided through them to further torture our shared victim of the moment (a little priest that had taken all sacraments a bit too extremely) was more than enough for me.

However, this is not the reason I am here now. Well, partially, I guess it is; after all, I wanted to brag with someone about all this. It isn’t as if I could tell my dull fake high school friends about all this stuff as if it was a real thing.

There is this girl called Freddie that is CERTAIN this Michael I kept talking about is my boyfriend. She is so stupid! I had told her over and over again: I don’t feel that way about people; and I am pretty sure that, if Michael feels attracted to someone, it is likely to be guys.

I might kill her too; she is too nosy. Maybe I will ask Michael if burning people is allowed in its domain…

Domain…uh, I never thought of its corridors that way before…

Sorry, digressing.

The reason I was here…yeah. Michael sent me.

It wanted to talk to you but, you know, you two have a history (it wouldn’t tell me more and I know better than to annoy the person-creature with the fingers that cut like razors).

It said that it was kind of happy for you for finally adopting a new cat; and a tabby cub nonetheless! Adorable.

However, you don’t deserve adorable. Actually, you don’t deserve.

Literally, that is the way it put it.

But don’t take it too literally, sometimes Michael can have problems expressing what it truly intends to (I bet you know that).

Not to worry, though, it might be a monster, but it is not a monster of your kind; the kitten is going to be just fine. Better than fine. Apparently, The Mother (whoever that is) has plans for the little guy before leaving it with a couple of uni students.

Michael laughed as it told me how excited it was to see how one of them went throw a path not so different form its own…

Well, I think that is all.

I just hope you don’t try anything funny when you finish reading this. I even used my real name! That is a sign of trust, Miss!

Bye bye!

Statement ends.

Additional notes by Gertrude Robinson: yes, the kitten I adopted has gone missing. However, as irrational as it might seem, I am prone to believe Michael not harming him in any way. Neither The Distortion in its pettiness nor Michael Shelley in his general personality were capable of doing so as separate beings, therefore I highly doubt they would do anything as the Thing they have become.

That I made them become.

In which respects Miss Harriss…she might still be too human to justify action against her.

Yet.

“Well, thanks for the meal Michael. I guess” she didn’t know whether there was something left of the thing that had come from the merging of original Michael Shelley and the Distortion itself, or if Helen had completely replaced it; but a nice thought for the evil entity was free.

“Wow; that was intense.”

Tim was at the door. She didn’t bother to ask how much he had heard.

Actually, she didn’t want to know; she didn’t want to have to accept that he was seeing her being…well, being what she had become.

“So…am I crazy if I state here and now that Abigail the potential-past-victim of Gertrude’s fight was speaking about Jon and Georgie’s little guy?” Tim said, breaking the temporary condensed ice.

“Seems so, why would anyone of us actually be normal?” Tim laughed at her complaint, between amused and saddened.

“However, I had another story in mind” he gave her his best witty smirk.

She returned it.

“Oh, yes? How does it start?”

“Well, quoting the undoubtable great classic of our time Mamma Mia! ‘dot dot dot’…”

Extra notes:

[I am really proud of “Jonah Majorgnus Asslias”]

YEES THE ADMIRAL WAS A WEIRD CAT ALL ALONG! (He needed to have more of a regular rational being conscience if I wanted to maintain my multiverse ship with Kohshekh after the latests WTNV eps; sorry not sorry)

Are the names of the statement kind of based on Hannibal? I mean…won’t lie, yeah.

Really hoping you give “A Love Letter In Stone” a go and answer y question(s),

Marla out (bis)!

[deathonyourtongue]

Willow Run | Ch. 8

Summary: On a horse ranch in Texas, life is far simpler than on the streets of Bakubah, but Syverson has a bad habit of taking in strays of all kinds, no matter what demons may be after them. Pairing: Captain Syverson x OFC Word Count: 4K Warnings: Mentions of past sexual assault A/N: It’s late and it’s long and sadly, there’s not nearly as much fluff in it as I thought there would be, but that’s where the story went.  CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5 | CHAPTER 6 | CHAPTER 7 |

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Sasha awoke excited for another note. Though she’d only received two, they’d become something of a calling card for Sy, his thing, so to speak. She loved that he took even a moment out of his day to ensure she felt comfortable and safe in his home, and though she never brought it up, she’d begun keeping them in one of the shoe boxes that came from their shopping spree. Always carefully folded, she allowed herself the small, childish hope of one day filling the box with Sy’s writing, if only so she could go back and reread them, remembering their story from the beginning. 

Flopping her arm down on the pillow, she pouted as she found only cotton. Maybe it was just a formality. Truth be told, while she trusted his character and kindness, Sasha didn’t truly know Sy, especially where it pertained to how he acted as a lover. Maybe the gestures stopped once he knew he’d locked down a lady, or maybe this was just a one off. 

Sasha pondered both sides as she got dressed and headed downstairs, surprised when she found Sy leaning against the counter, still in his lounge pants. Despite a serious case of bedhead, she couldn’t help but find him even more attractive in his freshly-woken state. Sy smiled when he saw her, gesturing for her to join him in the kitchen. It was only then that Sasha noticed the phone pressed to his ear. Sy blindly lifted his free arm up, a signal for Sasha to snuggle in close if ever there was one. 

“Morning, darlin’,” Sy whispered against the crown of her head, giving Sasha a tender kiss that turned her knees to jello on the spot. Squeezing him tight, she pressed her own kiss to Sy’s chest, just over his heart. 

“Yeah, uh, I’m not sure...Would you be able to tell that from lookin’ at ‘er? Okay, okay, good. Yeah, uh,” Sy checked his wristwatch briefly before his hand swept over Sasha’s head affectionately, “ten works. I took the day off, so we’ve got plenty ‘a time. Alright, thank you. See you soon.” 

Closing the call, Sy set the phone down and wrapped Sasha up in a bear hug, a plethora of kisses scattered all over her face before he cupped her jaw in one hand. 

“I called my mom this morning. Told her about you and asked her for advice on the lil’ one, especially when it came to a doctor--”

“I can’t go to one now! He’s got all my information, Sy! The second I go to a doctor and they pull up my name, the insurance company will send a letter, and he’ll know where I’m at!” Sasha interrupted in a panic, eyes wide, hoping Sy hadn’t just done what she thought he had. 

“Darlin’, I know. That’s why I called my mom for advice. The answer was under my nose the whole time and I’ve just been so caught up in makin’ sure you were okay and that things are runnin’ smooth around here, that it totally escaped my mind. None of us Syversons were born in a hospital. I was born upstairs in my room, actually.” Sy spoke soothingly as he held Sasha’s shoulders, his blue eyes holding her gaze so she understood that they were on the same page. 

“Our family’s been friends with the Taylors for years, and Nat’s taken up her mama’s post. I invited her over so y’all two can get acquainted. If you end up likin’ her, she’ll be your midwife and see things through with us to the end. Her husband is actually one of my best friends. We served together. If she manages to wrangle him away from his job, it’ll be more like an afternoon barbeque than anything else. Don’t panic, mama. I got you.” 

Sasha took a deep, shaking breath, emotion threatening to get the best of her once more. Pressing her face into Sy’s chest, she was silent for a few breaths before looking up at him, her eyes glazed with tears. 

“Why are you doing all this for me, Sy? You barely know me.” She whimpered, her breath hitching in her chest as Sy kissed her tears away, his smile sweet and understanding. 

“Because someone helped me once, and I’m in the position to do the same. And because you’ve been doin’ a lot for me too, mama, without even realizin’ it.” At the confusion on Sasha’s face, Sy’s smile grew. 

“I don’t...I don’t open up to people much, darlin’. I’ve told you more than I’ve told...anyone...in years. And I’ve been sleepin’ through the night, which never happens. I don’t know what kinda magic you brought with you, but I haven’t felt this at peace with life...ever.” He explained, a blush creeping up past his beard, Sy’s long lashes dusting his cheeks as he gazed down at the floor, utterly vulnerable.

Sasha’s guilt was forgotten as she reached up and stroked his face with the back of her hand, bringing Sy’s gaze back to her. No words needed to be said as they stood, an island unto themselves, each understanding the other’s heart in a way they’d never expected to. 

“You’re special to me, Sasha. Very special. I hope you know that.” Sy whispered, each word spoken closer to her lips, until his were pressed to hers in the most tender show of affection she’d felt yet. Sasha’s arms slipped around the broad frame of his back as she drank in the gentility that rolled off Sy in waves, knowing she’d never find another man like him. 

She could have stayed like that forever, wrapped up in his strong arms, floating away on the gentle breeze of his attentive kisses, but the clock on the stove caught the corner of her gaze and she knew they had precious little time to eat and get ready for Nat’s arrival. Still, she couldn’t help but cup his face and tug him down for one, much more playful kiss before they finally parted, each wearing a lopsided, twitterpated smile. 

Natalie Taylor was probably the most beautiful woman Sasha had ever seen, and her husband Mark was no slouch either. The couple looked like they were straight off the cover of a magazine, with Mark wearing a smart gray-blue button up, black tie, and matching black slacks, while Nat wore a carmine off-the-shoulder top and high-waisted jeans with heels Sasha was immediately jealous of, even if she’d never worn heels in her life.

Sasha watched Sy greet them both warmly, her anxiety growing as she wondered just what the pair would think of her and Sy being so close, so fast. One look from Natalie however, and Sasha’s worry was thrown out the window. 

“Sy, you told me she was pregnant, not that she was damn near ready to go!” Natalie laughed warmly as she stepped out of her heels and made a beeline for Sasha, her long braids trailing behind her like the train of a wedding veil. 

“You must be Sasha. God, you’re gorgeous! I’m Natalie, but you can call me Nat,” Natalie smiled, extending her hand, which, like the rest of her, was perfectly manicured. Sasha shook it with a shy smile, wondering if Nat was always this put-together, or if she just dressed up for the initial meeting; she couldn’t imagine a midwife who attended a birth in heels and super luxe-looking fabrics.  The cleanup alone would be a nightmare. 

“Sy, there’s no way she just ended up at your gate. Where’d you meet her, really?” Nat shot a playful glare over to Syverson, making him laugh. 

“At my gate, I swear on my mama.” Sy chuckled as he gave Mark a hug before holding a hand over his heart as though he were pledging allegiance to the flag.

“Sy’s always had a horseshoe up his ass with this type of stuff. Shame it never came in handy outside the wire,” Mark joked with a wink, moving to join his wife, carrying her stuffed-to-the-brim work bag with ease.

“Well, however you two met, I have to say, first and foremost, congratulations. Second, do you know how far along you are, honey?” Nat asked, getting straight to the point, her smile faltering a bit as she saw the marks strewn all over Sasha’s arms and legs. A look back at Sy made him close his eyes and huff out a breath. 

“We met three days ago, Nat. None of that was my doing,” Sy explained, doing his best to stay patient, knowing full well everyone assumed the worst, even if they knew him. 

“I was about to say…” Nat murmured, shaking her head, her eyes moving back to Sasha with even more kindness than before. 

“Good riddance. No one needs a man like that in their lives. Boys, if you’ll excuse us a second, Sasha and I are gonna have a little chit chat about the baby, then we’ll be back.” Natalie said with confidence, taking her bag from Mark before giving him a kiss on the cheek, having to reach up on her tip-toes to do so. 

Taking Sasha’s arm in hers, Natalie led her upstairs, keen to find out not only more about the baby, but about what had happened to Sasha and how she’d come into Sy’s life. Sasha moved as though on autopilot, looking back at Sy for reassurance and only feeling better about everything when she got a gentle nod of encouragement from him. 

The boys had turned the TV on downstairs by the time Sasha and Nat had closed the door to Sasha’s room, only the faint sound of garbled voices coming through the wood. 

“Well, first thing’s first. I’m glad you got out of wherever it was that you were before Sy, ‘cause any more of this,” she pointed to one of the fresher injuries to Sasha’s legs, “and who knows what would have happened. I’m so sorry you had to go through that, sweetie. You’re safe here. Sy’s good people. I’ve known him since I was little and that man’s always gone out of his way to be kind to others. Even more so after he enlisted. Heart of Gold, just like my Mark.” Nat’s words were earnest and sentimental as she unzipped her bag, pulling out everything she’d need to carry out an exam and then some.

Sasha didn’t recognize half of what the devices were, but she panicked a little at the sight of something that looked more like a penis than anything medical ought to. Nat, seeing where Sasha’s gaze had gone, smiled knowingly. 

“It’s for an internal ultrasound. Helps me see the baby a little easier. It doesn’t hurt, I promise. Have you had an ultrasound yet?” The concern in her tone came with the last question, Natalie fighting every urge she had to hug the other woman, already feeling for her and the situation she’d escaped from. 

Sasha shook her head, too overwhelmed to speak much. Logically she knew she’d have to be examined at some point, she just hadn’t counted on it being so intimate. “I only managed to get to the doctor twice before coming here. Once just to make sure I was carrying, and the second to get some general info on what was normal and what wasn’t.”

“Did they do a blood test?” 

“Yeah, but just in-house. Just to confirm.”

“Okay. Well, we can cross that bridge another time, since I didn’t bring my cooler with me today. Don’t worry though, all my testing is done with patient numbers, not names, so if you ex is savvy to that sort of stuff, he won’t be able to tell you apart from any other woman in Texas,” Natalie explained, wishing Sy had told her more of the story over the phone, but understanding that Sasha’s story wasn’t his to tell. Turning to face Sasha after dousing her hands in alcohol, Natalie indicated to the bed with a kind smile. 

“If you wanna go ahead and lay down for me, undies off, we’ll have a quick look, and go from there, okay?” Sasha nodded, feeling a touch more anxiety as she moved to lay on her bed, slipping her underwear off as she was told to. 

“This won’t hurt, will it?” She couldn’t help but ask, her anxiety getting the better of her and making Sasha’s breathing more laboured than it needed to be.

“Shouldn’t hurt at all, sweetheart,” Nat confirmed, gloving up to do the visual inspection. 

Once started, it didn’t take long for Natalie to find the tell-tale signs of abuse she was nearly certain even Sy didn’t know about. 

“How long ago were you raped, honey?” She asked as kindly as she could, her face one of sympathy as she watched Sasha tense up immediately. 

Though in the back of her mind, Sasha knew what it was, she’d spent years avoiding the word, not wanting to admit it to herself. Tears filled her eyes as she looked over at the nightstand, unwilling to meet Nat’s gaze.

“About f-five days ago,” Sasha mumbled, face red and hot with shame, one arm coming up to cover her eyes. If the house caved in on them at that moment, it would have felt better than remembering her last time with her ex.

“That’s why you ran. I understand. You’re beyond brave, Sasha. Most women, even under those circumstances, are too paralyzed by fear to leave. You took the most important step to save your baby’s life, and that’s something you should be very proud of.” 

Though she wasn’t certain anything would come of it, Natalie discreetly took a swab, labeling it separately, and slipping it in her bag, hoping that if nothing else, it could be used later against the man who’d caused Sasha so much physical and psychological pain.

With her visual complete, Nat set up her portable ultrasound and attached the internal wand to it. Anxiety rose up in Sasha once more as she watched Natalie prepare, and before she could stop it, her voice came out in something of a whisper. 

“Could...Nevermind.” Quickly correcting herself, Sasha shook her head, wiping furiously at her eyes and chastising herself for being such a baby about things. 

"Nuh-uh, honey. None of that holding back nonsense with me. You want or need something you voice it out. Loud and proud, mama." Nat coached, stopping what she was doing and moving to slip a blanket over Sasha’s knees, having a good idea of what the other woman meant to ask. 

“No, nevermind. It’s fine. Let’s just get this over with, please.” Angry at herself, Sasha took a deep breath and nodded to Nat, who still looked concerned, but nodded back. 

Though the ultrasound was uncomfortable, it didn’t hurt, something which gave Sasha only the smallest bit of joy, as she knew it meant she was healing physically. Looking out the window, she mentally checked out through the rest of the exam, responding only when spoken to, and only with what she needed to say. It was all overwhelming, but having shed enough tears in the past three days, Sasha refused to allow herself more, her internal monologue having nothing good to say about her own behavior. 

“Okay, sweetheart. We’re all done. Both you and your baby are in great shape, although I would ask that you start eating more. With Sy around, that shouldn’t be an issue. Man loves to cook,” Nat said with a sympathetic smile, feeling for Sasha even more than before. 

Taking a seat by where her patient had sat up, Natalie took Sasha’s hand in hers. Smiling softly, she looked down to meet Sasha’s gaze. 

“Do you wanna know what you’re havin’, or do you wanna wait ‘till the day?” 

Still lost in her own thoughts, Sasha merely shrugged. “Just want it to be healthy. Nothin’ else matters.” 

Natalie’s lips pressed together, the answer breaking her heart. She’d tended to many a battered woman due to her volunteer work at a women’s shelter, but it never got easier to see just how things that were supposed to bring joy on any other occasion, were nearly always reminders of what a woman had endured instead. Rubbing Sasha’s arm, Natalie stood. 

“I’ll go get Sy. After all of that, I know you could use a snuggle.” 

Sasha decided then and there that she liked Natalie, hoping Sy would keep his word and allow her to entrust the other woman with her and her baby’s care. Though she didn’t outwardly show it, she felt relieved that Nat had the intuition to know when to pull back and keep from being overbearing; it was a rare gift, in Sasha’s experience and one that would be useful during what she could only imagine would be a painful labor.

“That girl’s been through a lot.” Natalie sighed as she took a seat on the couch, handing the ultrasound photos to Syverson. “Sasha’s about 6 months in and she’s gonna be having a baby girl. She was too overwhelmed to even ask about pictures or care about what the sex of the baby is. There were signs of repeated sexual trauma, and she confirmed that she’d been raped two days before coming here. Whoever she was with before? Needs to get bit by a rabid dog and die as slowly as possible, because what he did to her is just…” Natalie couldn’t finish her sentence, too angered by what she’d seen on Sasha’s body to even think of a fitting word.

Without needing to be told, Sy tucked the pictures into the back pocket of his jeans, pointed at Mark then at the barbeque where the steaks were cooking, and jogged upstairs. Knocking softly, he opened the door after getting no reply. 

“Hey, darlin’,” he whispered kindly, taking a seat at Sasha’s hip, one hand reaching out to rub the back that was facing him, Sy knowing she was upset just by how heavy the air was. Still getting no response, he slipped the pictures out of his pocket before getting into bed behind Sasha, one hand sliding under her head while the other went around her swollen tummy. 

Sy stayed silent, not wanting to push. If Sasha wanted to talk, she would; he’d gladly spend the day with her wrapped up in his arms if it helped her more than talking did. Pressing kisses to her shoulder and the back of her head, it wasn’t long before he felt Sasha’s fingers thread through his over her belly. 

“It’s funny how easily you can push something to the back of your mind, to ignore it completely because to believe it means accepting more pain.” Sasha whispered, her voice hoarse with emotion. Sy squeezed her hand, urging her to continue

“Nat asked me point blank if I’d been raped, and up until she said it that way, I’d never once thought of what had happened to me, as that. He was basically my husband, I just...I always told myself that it was normal. That husbands just took whenever they wanted to get their rocks off, y’know? But in the back of my head I knew. Knew it wasn’t normal to...to bleed after, stuff like that. Back when I had friends, they always went on and on about how good it felt, and I just...It’s never felt good. Never.” Sniffling, she curled further into the pillow she held against her chest. 

Feeling his rage rise to meet the bile that made a knot in his throat, Sy breathed deeply, reminding himself that it would do neither of them any good to be angry at a man who wasn’t there to answer for his crimes. Stroking a hand over her hair, he gently shifted them until Sasha sat with her back pressed to his chest. Holding her close, he tucked his face into the crook of her neck, choosing his words carefully before speaking. 

“It shouldn’t ever hurt. Even if you’re just havin’ a one-night-stand. What he did to you wasn’t out of love, like a husband’s supposed to. He did it to control you, to make you fear ‘im, because he’s a weak sonofabitch. I can’t imagine the kind of pain you suffered under his hand, but I know one thing; it backfired on him, big time. Because the moment he put this lil’ one in ya, he made you the strongest woman on earth and no amount of fear or control could keep ya. You fought, you got out, and you got to somewhere safe. Never again will he have any power over you. Never.”

Sasha felt herself smiling as she realized that Sy was speaking the truth. She had gotten out, gotten away, gotten somewhere safe. All because of her baby. Sniffling, she wrapped his arms around her tighter, Sy gladly giving her another squeeze as he kissed her cheek fondly. 

“Wanna see your lil’ one, mama?” Sy murmured against her cheek, his own smile growing as he slipped the pictures into view, resting them on her bump. 

Sasha’s breath hitched in her throat as she took in the grainy, black and white image of her baby. Though there wasn’t a lot of detail, it was easy to see the baby was at ease, sucking on its thumb. 

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Sasha asked, remembering Natalie’s question, and immediately regretting her answer. She did want to know. 

“That right there, darlin’, is your lil’ sweetpea,” Sy whispered, surprised when he found his own voice thick with emotion. Sy let out a wet chuckle when Sasha practically dove onto him, hugging him tightly. 

“Congratulations, mama,” he murmured against her hair, Sy’s expression softening as he felt Sasha cup his face. Their gazes connected only for a moment before she brought him down, their lips connecting in a way that made both their hearts sing.

[cinlat]

50 Kisses Prompt: #3 or #4 for whichever pairing springs to mind First when you read them.

First off, DUDE! So glad to see you on my dash again, it’s been forever.

So, I’m going with the Sith Twins here because I don’t write them enough and they are two sides of the same coin, perfect for these lovely prompts you’ve sent me.

These are all loosely edited for time’s sake because I don’t want them to fall to the wayside like so many others.

50 Kisses Prompts Found here

50 Kisses Prompt: #3 A breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond. (Lyesh/Quinn from Generations of War)

“Kiss me.” The command surprised them both.

Malavai looked up from his datapad, one brow arched. “My Lord?”

Lyesh sat behind her desk, unaware that she’d been watching Malavai while he dealt with their daughters. Despite being Force blind, the man waded into the chaos of their varying degrees of control every day while Lyesh attended her duties in the Alliance. He’d just navigated a particularly spectacular tantrum by their youngest while directing the older three to ready for bed. Afterward, Malavai had returned to Lyesh’s office without a word of discontent and settled into his customary chair.

Pushing the stacks of datapads aside, Lyesh rose and circled the desk until she stood between Malavai’s knees. “You know how much I hate repeating myself.” Life had been busy since joining this militia army. Acina was curious about the logistics, which Lyesh had discovered to be a mess upon arrival. There had been no time to spend with Malavai at the end of the day.

Malavai stood without hesitation, pushing Lyesh back until the back of her thighs scraped the rough desk surface. His lips brushed her neck, tracing up to the scar across her cheek, before moving to her ear. "What does my lord require?"

The husky words dragged a sigh from Lyesh. Her fingers wrinkling the back of his uniform jacket when he ground his hips against hers. With a flick of her wrist, the door shut, perhaps with more force than intended. Malavai offered a brief look over his shoulder, huffing a laugh when the lock clicked. “Is it soundproofed?”

“Should it be?” Lyesh asked, sliding her hand between their bodies.

Malavai jumped when Lyesh found her target, his fingers tangling in the links of her braid when he pulled his gaze back to hers. “Yes,” he whispered. “I believe it might.”

 #4 An accidental brush of lips followed by a pause and going back for another, on purpose. 

Lua/Felix. I love these two. It just made sense to me that post-kotfe Felix and Darth Imperius would have a lot in common in the Alliance.

“Couldn’t sleep again?” Lua smiled at the warmth in the voice and looked up to find Felix leaning against the door, arms crossed over a plain, grey shirt. He pushed away from the frame, taking her acknowledgment as permission to enter the room. 

Lua had positioned herself in the mess hall, seeking that sense of life that permeated the space. The echoes of children’s laughter, boisterous soldiers, and the bragging of pilots made Lua feel alive. Here, she could pretend to be a part of the Alliance she watched from the outside.

“Nightmares,” Lua admitted when the silence had stretched too long. Visions of death and the ghosts of lives too numerous to contain. 

“I hear that,” Felix answered, then snapped his fingers. “How about some ‘caf, no wait, you drink tea, right?” 

Lua couldn’t help the smile that slipped into place. Despite all that he’d endured, the Republic soldier turned his attention outward, seeking to alleviate the stress of those around him. Over the months since his rescue, Lua had come to depend on that optimism more than she’d expected.

Pots and glasses clanked from the kitchen while Lua turned back to the reports of dwindling resources across the galaxy. She lost track of time until a mug appeared in front of her. Lua blinked. While the liquid within might be the right color, she’d have never considered putting it in such an unorthodox vessel.

Lua accepted the mug with a nod while Felix pressed one hand against the table from behind her and sipped his 'caf. Lifting the tea, Lua knew that the brew was off before the vile liquid touched her tongue, invoking a cough as she dribbled it back into the container. 

Felix chuckled. “I probably should have warned you that I’ve never made tea before. That bad?”

“Bloody awful,” Lua answered with a laugh. She placed the offending drink on the far side of the table and returned to her reports. 

Chuckling, Felix leaned closer. “So, what's on the best seller's list tonight?”

Lua could smell the ‘caf on Felix’s breath, a heady mixture of locally procured beans that the agricultural guild had been thrilled to discover. “Statistics,” she answered, turning to look into those dark eyes that always soothed her. 

The motion brought her closer to Felix than anticipated, their noses bumping and the briefest whisper of brushed lips. An apology sat on the tip of Lua's tongue, muffled by the sensation of warm hands on her cheeks and the shattering of glass in the distance.

Felix’s kiss was gentle, delicately probing for permission to move further without being invasive. Lua tugged, not remembering how her fingers had found the fabric of his shirt until he straddled the bench by her side. In that moment, only they existed. There were no demons, no war, or shortages to worry about; only the illusion of safety as Felix’s arms encircled her waist.

[pxisonoak]

i’m making these lil bracelets again like i used to when i was a teen and it reminded me of a story!

the girl who taught me how to make them was this hippie girl my brother brought home from bonnaroo. her name was katie and she had dreadlocks and she was glowing and beautiful and canadian and i was in LOVE. i knew her for exactly two days. my parents were taking me to go see glee live (shut up) for my 16th birthday, and it was me and a friend going to cleveland. katie was passing through traveling the country, so she came with us so she could get on a train there.

it was basically 6 hours of us crammed in the back of my mom’s van, me closeted but gay as blazes, just absolutely losing my mind because i was squished between my friend thursa and then katie right beside me 😳 when i tell you i thought about that for the next MONTH… anyways!! lmfao i was heavily crushing and we tested out her new headphones on my ipod, she told me stories about canada cause i’d never been. had me name one of her dreadlocks, wrote it down, and i wrapped a string around it so she remembered the name 🥺 it was “lua” btw because conor oberst has been My Life for well over a decade now. but yeah so she had a bunch of string and was like “you guys know how to make bracelets?” and showed us all the ones on her arm and in her bag.

cut to her teaching us for a solid hour, me in love, us trading bracelets before she got on the train, which i sadly lost when i moved. when i make these bracelets, i still tie them EXACTLY the way she taught me. katie was precious. i really liked this older girl that i knew for maybe 48 hours and then thought about her forever and absolutely wrote poems about her.

[lockhcrts]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN!

Name:   mani    (    but people can also call me eve if they want   ) 

Star sign: aquarius,    which is the same as gilderoy and i feel that   says a lot. 

Height: 5′4,   which makes me a short dutch gal and an average canadian pal

What’s your middle name: don’t  @  me but i have two             antonia hubertina. 

Put your spotify/apple music on shuffle. What are the first 6 songs that popped up?:       oh this is going to be a mess.  

 piano   -    ariana grande    (   good brain drugs,   good vibes   )

 river   -    bishop briggs    (   this song is a small gilderoy vibe tho so ?  a mood  )  

 here comes my baby   -   the mavericks   (    a true   bop    ) 

 désolé   -    sexion d'assaut    (   i don’t really understand but a vibe    ) 

 please don’t go    -   joel adams    (    another gilderoy vibe   )   

 im schneckenhaus    -     joris     (   the perfect callout for my bpd tbh.   ) 

Ever had a poem/song written about you?: lua   @saevrus​   wrote a song about gilderoy a couple weeks ago and i ...  feel that that counts.    i’m not the kind of person who inspires poems or songs,   and that’s okay.  

When was the last time you played air guitar?: probably 30 minutes ago,   in the kitchen when i was making myself tea  ?   who doesn’t play air guitar constantly  ?    air drums anyone   ?

Who is your celebrity crush?: i don’t think i have a celebrity   ‘crush’   in the traditional sense.   i really love kenneth branagh    (   duh   )     and simon pegg but i’d ...  much rather    talk    to them   ?   have a coffee and just ask them about their opinions about life and the things they value   ?     there are a lot of celebrities who i find aesthetically attractive,   but u know what,   i don’t really thirst after them like that   ? 

What’s a sound you hate; sound you love?: cutlery scrapping over plates   /   bowls.    that shit gets me   every single time   .     i love the sound of blackbirds in the morning,    a rowdy ocean,    someone laughing   ;    and i mean    honestly laughing  ,    like the kind of laughing that makes you forget how to breathe.   

Do you believe in ghosts?:   which sane european doesn’t these days  ?

How about Aliens?:   are we really going to believe that we’re the only form of life in an infinite universe  ?   are we really going to be so vain as to claim that  ?    of course i believe in aliens.   

Do you drive?:  ....    for legal reasons i shall say that i do not have my license and therefor i do not drive ...   

If so have you crashed?: absolutely not.    

What was the last book you read?:    uhh  i think it was the chamber of secrets book because ...  i re-read that for obvious reasons.    i am waiting for 7 books to come in today though   !   

Do you like the smell of gasoline?:   yes,    it is one of my favourite smells in the world.     but then again i also love the smell of burning rubber so ...   

What’s the worst Injury you’ve had?:  no thanks,    i’m gonna pass because all my injuries are either really depressing or i can’t talk about due to confidentiality agreements so xoxo. 

Do you have any obsessions right now?: does gilderoy lock/hart count as my forever obsession  ?   i think i have been    really    into f1 racing lately.    to the point where even my boyfriend who is a f1 fanatic has to admit that i am ...   more of a stan than he is at this point.    perhaps my obsession for years has been to be happy   ?   

Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?:   i’d say both yes and no.   i give people    a lot     of chances,    but the moment they pass that final line it is done.     only a few people have crossed that line though ....    and those who have absolutely deserve it.     

In a relationship?:   yes,    dating a non artistic white man who is a car guy  ....    i could have done better in that department     (     no,   all jokes aside he is lovely and i adore him    )   

TAGGED BY: stole it from   @prophecyfated​ 

TAGGING: absolutely no one,   we condone meme piracy in this house and you shall nick this from the dash.  

[xxsovereignsarayaxx]

A King Needs His Queen - The Originals (Chapter 4)

“True love is like playing chess the King may be the most important piece on the board however the Queen is the most powerful and dangerous as she performs more moves than any other. The Queen will always protect her King.” Word Count: Warnings: 

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

We left Marcel at the bar and we walked hand in hand down the street. It was pitch black and the streets were only lit by the streetlights that were all lined up like soldiers. "I can't remember the last time we did this" I say to Nik.

"Well we have all the time in the world for me to make it up to you." He tells me. We carried on walking and we arrived at a small clearing. When Nik spins me around to face him, he brings my hand up and kisses it.

"Mrs Mikaelson? Will you dance with me?" Nik asks me with a smirk.

"Of course Mr Mikaelson" I chuckle.

We stepped apart a little and just looked at each other for a few moments I put my hand on his cheek and just looked at him in his eyes, they were so beautiful the dark blue-green colour complimented his pearly white skin, and dirty blonde hair. I ran my hand down his right arm and grasped his hand softly and we began to sway. "I love you so much" Nik mumbles in my ear, his hot breath tickled my ears.

"I love you too" I whisper. As we swayed Nik lets one of my hands go and twirls me around and brings me back towards him his head now resting on my shoulder.

"Lets go somewhere a little more private" Nik whispers his lips pressed against my ear. And with that he takes my hand once more and we run through the empty streets of New Orleans, towards the hotel room I once was staying in when Elijah freed me from my slumber. Once the door was closed sparks flew between me and Nik. He pushes me against the door and pressed his hips against my own and I felt the full effect I still had on him even after all these years of being married.

"After all of these years I still have the same effect on you" I say seductively, biting my bottom lip.

"I should blame you for the monster you make me Elizabeth" Nik growls at me, his arms caged me to the door and he smashes his lips into mine, I was completely at his mercy my mind fogged by pure pleasure as he moved from my lips to my neck. The room with filled with soft moans and the sound of fumbling getting clothing of each others bodies as quickly as we could. Nik returned to my mouth and used one of his free hands to softly grab a part of my hair to allow him to deepen the kiss. We break away and I push from his hold and push him to the bed and crawl into his lap straddling him, kissing him how he kissed me and continued down his neck, my hands went to the bottom of his shirt and lifted it up over his head and fling-ed it somewhere in the room. As I carried on kissing down his neck and torso he threw his head back in ecstasy, I smirked against his skin at his actions. Using his speed Nik flips up over.

"You are my Queen, let me show you how I should of treated you." Nik says in hushed tone. His fingers graze over my skin.

"A King worships his Queen, but I have no idea where I should start..." He says and then nips at my neck.

"Here?" he nips the lower part of my stomach.

"Or here?" As he stops near my covered entrance.

Nik lies on his back twisted in the sheets of the hotel bed, I lay on my front tracing the outline of his abs gently with my fingers. He runs his hands through my silky black hair. "Can I ask you something?" I say to him.

"You already did" Nik teased.

"Ever the jester, but why didn't you dagger me like you did your siblings?" I ask softly.

"Do you remember our wedding vows?" Nik replies. I nodded

1539 - England I stood in the entrance to the church seeing Nik at the end of the isle, I wasn't going to lie I was very nervous, scared I would mess up my vows to him. He looked absolutely handsome and I couldn't wait to become his wife and live out our eternity together. Nik was stood with Kol while I had no remaining family Elijah offered to walk me I clung onto him for dear life. When we finally joined the rest of my soon to be family Rebekah was at my side and gently squeezed my hand.

"Elizabeth Priston, wilt thou have this man to be thy husband, and wilt thou pledge thy faith to her, in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all faith thou pledge thy safety and tenderness, no finger shall be laid upon you while I cease to walk this earth, to live with her and cherish her, according to the ordinance of God, in the holy bond of marriage?"

"I, Elizabeth Priston, take you Niklaus Mikaelson, to be my wedded husband, and I do promise and covenant, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful wife, in plenty and want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.

"I promised you that no finger would ever come across you, that also meant my own. I would never hurt you, hence why I got a witch to preform a desiccation spell. I couldn't bring myself to plunge one of those daggers into your heart. All I ever wanted to do was protect you love, I hope you can understand that" Nik says quietly.

"We were always stronger together, I could have helped you, I was never one to hold you back from your curse" I say to him.

"It was far too dangerous though love, the doppelgänger and her band of merry men tried on many occasions to kill me. If they knew about you then they would have used you against me, if they succeeded in hurting you in any way I don't know what I would have done. I can't lose you again love." Nik says to me, I lean over to him and plant a small kiss to his lips.

"Nik? What happened to Finn and Kol? I noticed there coffins are not present at the house, when we were looking Elijah." I ask.

"I'm sorry my love but there no longer with us." He tells me my brows furrow together.

"Who is responsible?" I ask in a small whisper.

"I can't tell you, your temper is just as fiery as mine if not worse, even though I'm fond to a fight. A war path at the moment is not wise." Nik tells me sternly.

"Yes dear... Whatever you say dear." I tease playfully.  

While we were still lying in bed Nik had received a phone call from Marcel, apparently he wanted Nik to join him to deal with the two humans that were in transition. Marcel had asked Nik that I remain out of the way much to my my distaste. But I had other matters that needed seeing too. I had some business speaking with one of the witches of the Quarter I needed a little spell casting and I hoped that Nik could keep Marcel busy long enough.

Both me and Nik parted ways and said our brief goodbyes he made his way to join his friend I made my way to find the witches responsible for waking me from my slumber, that witch was Sophie Deveraux. I arrived at the bar she normally worked at and took a seat. It turned out to be a slow night for the bar and there were not many customers in, which would be perfect for discussing business. I turned my head and clocked the witch cleaning out glasses at the other end of the bar.

"Sophie, darling don't suppose I could have a quick word?" I ask her politely.

"Elizabeth... What do I owe the pleasure? Not here to kill  me are you? As that would be a very, very dumb move..." She replies sarcastically.

"No, no-one dies tonight, its not on my schedule but I do have a favor to ask. In return I shall help keep Marcel and the other vampires busy." I tell her.

"You've peeked my interest, what can I do for you?" Sophie asks.

"Well, many many years ago I was made stronger by a witch, a witch who also used the same magic as you - ancestral. This allowed me to have the same strength, speed and healing as Elijah, Rebekah and Niklaus before he broke his hybrid curse. Unfortunately though nothing lasts forever and I can feel myself getting weaker, I'm becoming your average vampire... I need you or any other of the coven of witches here to preform the spell so I can have a slight revenge vacation. Away from here of course so your not in danger. I can give you the spell I just need your word." I tell her.

"I need to know a little more about this spell and what is does to you before I will commit to this. Need to know what I'm getting into" Sophie replies.

"Well what do you wish to know?" I ask playfully.

"What exactly does it do to you?"

"Well as I said before I match the same strength, speed and healing as an original vampire. The only way I can die is either a white oak stake or have my head or heart removed. The thing I lack is the ability to compel other vampires. But like any other spell a witch can cast it and they can un-cast it don't worry even this has its draw backs. But I trust you, you helped awaken me. I have no reason to doubt you of all people will stab me in the back, but let me make one thing perfectly clear, you think Niklaus has a bad temper? Mine is much worse. Now? Are you going to help me?" I tell her.

I made my threat very clear but ended in a nice sweet tone, allowing her to realize what kind of person I am. I am not someone to be messed with, I am what they say a force to be reckoned with.

After the conversation with Sophie she agreed to help me and cast the spell herself on the condition that I keep Niklaus in check. Which I could do. We stood in the cemetery where the magic would be at it's strongest and handed her the spell to which she read and handed back to me. She told me she would need to make a slight alteration to which I agreed for. Sophie lights the candles she needs and begins the spell.

"Eu chamo sobre a terra, os antepassados me dar o poder para o vampiro em frente de mim, para dar-lhe prolongada de energia, de acordo com os acima dela. Mas por um tempo limitado a próxima lua cheia vai ser a causa de grande dor e sofrimento para a sua família."

It had been nearly 350 years since I last heard the spell and yet I didn't care that I was asking a witch for help once more. I must protect myself and my family again.

The heels to my knee high boots clicked on the concrete as I walked up to the Salvatore House, after having a long discussion over the phone with Nik mainly him being displeased by my choice of actions to confront the doppelganger and her friends regarding the death of Kol and Finn. I had debated on bringing him with me but I had plans to play a few games with my new play toys. My sadistic and playful nature had returned to me and I relished in it.

At present I was stood on the outer side of the Salvatores front door contemplating whether to play the sweet and innocent girl or just walk in like I owned the place. I went with the latter and just walked in, lucky for me everyone who I wanted to see was present and all turned to look at me. I had my sunglasses on my face and seductively removed them and threw them on the floor.

"I'm looking for a doppelganger, her brother and the Salvatore siblings and it seems I'm in luck I have found you" I say in a flirty tone.

Taking some more steps towards the group who seemed to be on edge regarding my presence."Haven't you heard of knocking?" A black haired vampire snapped.

"Oh I do apologize, forgive me I'm a little out-dated, behind on the times but when I was born we never had the luxuries of doorbells or those fancy ass knockers you have on your door. It's quite marvelous really but I digress." I tease.

"Who are you?" The doppelganger asks.

"Now that is for me to know and you to find out, but I shall warn you now, Stefan is it? Whatever you have planned with that stake you have behind your back really wont work." I say looking towards Stefan as he retreats backwards.

"Lets cut to the chase and I will ask again, who are you? Why are you here?" The black haired vampire asks me sounding slightly pissed.

"Well then seems like all the pleasantries have gone out of the window, I guess I should inform you why I'm here. You all killed members of my family. I'm here for some revenge." I say sweetly.

"Oh honey! Your going to have to be a lot more specific then that. I've killed a lot of people in my time, you saying I've killed members of your family isn't going to quite cut it to get my memory going." Damon says sarcastically.

I stride over to the group and fall into the sofa, I sit on something... a mobile phone and fling that on the ground. "Well lets give you a piece to this puzzle then. Finn and Kol Mikealson names ring a bell? I bet they do" I sang. I smiled knowing that I was winning. I noticed the doppelganger took a large breath in. She was very nervous. Good.          

"The psychotic hybrid never mentioned another sister..." Damon says. I swallowed and looked at him.

"Well your correct there. Keep going" I encouraged.

"Your married?" The doppelganger asks as she looked at my hand seeing my wedding ring.

"Go on?" I smile.

"Well  logically I doubt it would be Finn or Kol." Stefan starts.

"Yeah Finn was a mummy's boy and I don't think your Kol's type which leaves us three original vampires, highly doubt your into Rebekah which leaves us with two." Damon continues.

"Elijah and Klaus." Stefan finishes.

"Oooo so which one is it?" I say playfully.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say Elijah someone needs to control this amount of crazy." Damon says with a smirk. I sit there and shake my head at the group. I point out that Jeremy is in the room and sped over to him and grab him by the throat. Behind me I hear Elena cry out.

"That psychotic hybrid happens to be my husband, and if either of you boys take another step I will crush his windpipe. Choose carefully." I snap. Elena takes a small step towards me and with a flash I snap Jeremy's neck and falls to the floor with a thud. I flashed my smile.

"I did warn you but I do happen to notice he wears the infamous Gilbert ring so he will live... for now, but I can tell straight off the bat who I will be able to have a proper conversation with so they wont mind me doing this." I add and which that I sped over to Elena and snapped her neck and proceeded to do the same with Damon, which just left me and Stefan stood face to face.

"I understand that you and my husband had a jolly old time in the twenties." I state.

"I wasn't aware that you existed, but there was no need to snap their necks." Stefan tells me.

"I need to have a decent conversation, the doppelganger or your brother simply were not good enough, now back to business. You four killed members of my family and I want revenge and your going to tell me whose heart I'm going to rip out, tick-tock Stefan who is it going to be? Your brother? The doppelganger? The little Gilbert? Yourself? What a noble sacrifice that would be." I reply to him and start strutting around the Salvatore house helping myself to some of the alcohol that was stored nearby.

"Your not going to make me choose..." Stefan starts but the sound of a glass being smashed and my body dropping to the floor interrupts him.

Stefan rushes over to Elizabeth's fallen body to check to see her. He pulls out his phone from his pocket and calls up Klaus. "Stefan Salvatore, what a pleasant surprise what can I do for you?" Nik asks.

"Your wife has collapsed." Stefan starts.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Niklaus shouts down the phone.

"One moment she was threatening us, next she is unconscious on the floor. Her neck wasn't snapped we never touched her. She was the only one snapping necks around here." Stefan replies calmly.

With that Nik hangs up the phone. Stefan decides to pick Elizabeth's body from the floor and takes her upstairs into one of the guest bedrooms. He places her on the bed carefully. And proceeds to head back downstairs to which Damon starts to stir after recovering from a broken neck.

"Owww... Where is that loony Mikealson? I'm going to kill her" Damon grumbles rubbing his neck.

"That wouldn't be wise Damon, something happened to her. One minute we was talking next shes collapsed." Stefan replies to his brother.

"What do you mean collapsed? Shes a vampire Stef, we don't just collapse." Damon says to his brother.

"Well something has happened Klaus is on his way here." Stefan replies.

"What do you mean Klaus is coming here?" A female voice said in a gruff tone. It was Elena who had woken up and picked herself up from the floor.

"I had to call him, at the end of the day she is Klaus' wife, if she dies he will kill us no doubt about that" Stefan finishes.

"Where is she?" Elena asks.

"Upstairs" Stefan says back, pointing towards the upper floor. Elena takes off and walks upstairs to find the sleeping Mikelason wife. Who laid there peacefully. All is quite in the room when Damon joins her.

New Orleans After coming off the phone with Stefan I was so worried about Elizabeth, why would she have collapsed? She was fine before she left and seemed to be ok when I spoke with her on the phone. I hurried off to find my brother who I recently got un-daggered.  "Elijah I need you to keep and eye on things around here.

"Brother what do you mean?" Elijah asks.

"I must go. That is all I will say on the matter." I replied. Elijah tries to reach out to me I shake him off.

"Niklaus what has happened?" Elijah continues to press me for answers.

"Something has happened to Elizabeth she is not well." I finally admit.

I was so lost already without her. The woman I love with all of my heart almost taken away from me and not by my own doing this time. I was truly hurt and I needed to answers and to see her. I longed for her touch. Her skin on my own. As we once were days before.

"Go to her, bring her home. I will try and get to the bottom of this." Elijah finally says to me after thinking in silence. With that I leave his side and get into my car. Hitting the roads hoping I would get there soon.

Mystic Falls It had been hours since Klaus' wife invaded our home, threatened us and then fell to the floor. I got in touch with a few friends of mine to see if we could put a name to the face but so far nothing. I returned to the parlor to see Damon drinking and standing in front of the fire that was roaring in the background.

"Any luck?" Damon asks me.

I shook my head. "No, did you find anything in her bag?" I ask him.

"A phone with a few contacts in mostly Mikelason's, Elena is going through her bag now." Damon replies.

"Hey, I think I've found something" Elena shouts over to where the dinning table is placed, me and Damon head over to her to see items from the bag are scattered on top of it. There we find a folded piece of paper.

"That has witchy- woo written all over it. I'm not going to get involved in this. No way." Damon says as he walks away.

"I'm going to call Bonnie see if she can help." Elena says as she dials for Bonnie.

"Hey can you come over to the boarding house? We need your help translating a spell." Elena asks. "Ok, see you soon" Elena says as she hangs up the phone.

"Bonnie will get here as soon as she can, but I have an idea though in the meantime what about diving into her head? See if you can find anything out?" She asks.

"It's worth a shot but its best if Damon does that, he is better at it then me." I say to her. Elena starts to place the contents back into the bag, and walks back into the parlor to sit down on the sofa, I follow her and sit on the arm.

"Can you go into her head? See if you can find out anything" I ask Damon.

"I can, but I don't want to" Damon replies back sharply. "Wait for Bon-Bon shes the witch, let her doing the poking around in other peoples brains, then if anything goes wrong Klaus can kill her instead, I would like to keep being the eternal stud thank you very much" He adds sarcastically.

After hearing what Damon had to say Bonnie walks into the house. "Whats going on? You sounded very cryptic over the phone" She asks.

"Long story short. Klaus has a wife, she got mad and came for revenge for us killing Kol and Finn, she passed out. We don't know why and we can't wake her. Found this though." Damon says arrogantly and hands Bonnie the folded up spell and leaves the room. Bonnie takes a seat next to Elena and opens the spell and glances over it.

"I can tell you it's no spell I've seen before, its not in Latin so we're going to have to try and translate it.

We spent a good half the night trying to translate the spell searched hundreds of languages. Nothing made sense to why this woman was in the state she was currently in. But all the piece was interrupted the moment the hybrid stepped through the door.

"Where is she? Where is Elizabeth?" Klaus growls as he storms over and grabs me by my throat.

"Klaus let him go! Elizabeth is upstairs" Elena pleads. With that Klaus removes his grip from my throat and speeds up the stairs to where Elizabeth is resting. I cautiously follow and when I entered the room before me stood a broken man.

A man without his armor as he knelt in front of her. Stroking the hair away from her face. A few tears fell from his face and dropped onto the floor. I would never think that Klaus Mikealson would ever show emotion like this. We only ever imagined him to be heartless and cruel. But Elizabeth she was someone who could bring Klaus to his knees and was a force to be reckoned with 'alive or not'.

[zuraoftheblack]

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Character Profile - Music Edition  ♪

The Dark Side

It Has Begun - Starset But nothing could ever stop us from stealing our own place in the sun We will face the odds against us and run into the fear we run from It has begun ♪

My Demons - Starset We are one and the same You take all of the pain away Save me, if I become My demons  ♪

Beyond The Stars - Evans Blue Keep your silent song Reach for life beyond the stars Save your mercy For someone who needs it more  ♪

On My Side - Demon Hunter So now, where is the enemy? I can feel no bite Where is the enemy, when death is on my side?  ♪

Destroy the Obvious - Evans Blue I’m left no choice, we live in a black hole So let’s go destroy the obvious I’m left no voice, I live in your echo So let’s go destroy the obvious  ♪

The Reckoning - Within Temptation, Jacoby Shaddix Red tears run down like a river Don’t close your eyes, it won’t disappear No fear, you wanna end the pain Don't let go, don't back down, hold the line We'll bring the reckoning  ♪

Die Trying - Art of Dying If it takes forever I will die trying  ♪

The Light Side

Lifetime - Decyfer Down Sitting here with you right now is everywhere I wanna be Looking in your eyes I see Everything I ever could want Everything I'll ever need Has always been here next to me  ♪

Your Guardian Angel - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus I will never let you fall I’ll stand up with you forever I’ll be there for you through it all Even if saving you send me to heaven  ♪

Take on the World - You Me At Six Nobody knows you, the way that I know you Look in my eyes, I will never desert you And just say the word, we'll take on the world  ♪

My Freedom - Two Steps From Hell I will stay, by you, through the night  ♪

Until the End - Quietdrive To the end of the world, there and back Until the end of time, no one can stop me if they tried The darkest days, the darkest nights I won't stop until the day I die Until the end of the world, my love To the end of time  ♪

Summertime - My Chemical Romance If you stay, I would even wait all night Or until my heart explodes How long ‘til we find our way In the dark and out of harm? You can run away with me Anytime you want  ♪ 

The Gray Line

The Dalmasca Estersand (FFXII) - Distant Worlds IV

Dr Wily Stage 1 (From “Megaman 2″) - Ferdk

Shadowbringers - Masayoshi Soken ~ Shadowbringers OST

Life Will Change (Persona 5) - FamilyJules

Hopes and Dreams ~ SAVE the World - Ferdk - Undertale Symphonic Metal

Victory Fanfare (From “Octopath Traveler”) - Ferdk - Night Ode

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep: Fate of the Unknown - Crouch End Festival Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Shigatsu - Otouto Mitai Na Sonzai Piano - Kyle Landry

My Sanctuary / Passion (From “Kingdom Hearts 2″) - FamilyJules

Impossible - Two Steps From Hell

Secret Melody - Two Steps From Hell

Any number of songs by Dream Theater

The Dark Side: Part 1 of Zura’s album. These songs share themes of Zura’s personal battle against the darkness along with his physical battle against his enemies over the course of Final Fantasy XIV’s story. Cries of battle, cries for help, and declarations of his own shadowy might solidify how he is often perceived by those who don’t know him personally, but as a Warrior of Darkness: devoid of fear, brimming with power, cold, unrelenting, and unforgiving.

The Light Side: Part 2 of Zura’s album features a much softer side, much of the lyrics revealing an undying devotion to his allies and his friends, though it’s clear that the main focus is his lifelong partner, very best friend, wife, and lover, Lua. These reveal a deeper part of Zura that he often doesn’t show to anyone save those he trusts and can relax around: his kind, cheery demeanor and his willingness to always help out and better those who he cares about the most. While these days he knows that preserving himself is better than unnecessary sacrifice, he is still willing and able to put himself between anything that would do his friends harm, especially if it were Lua; truly, his love and adoration for her cannot possibly be overstated.

The Gray Line: Bonus disc. This is a set of instrumentals that are various themes of Zura’s gathered from various sources. Some heavy battle themes, some light and contemplative themes for touching moments, and some simply grand and adventuresome. While none have any lyrics (unless you dive into Dream Theater’s discography, in which case, Twelve help you) they all reveal some part of Zura’s soul in some way or another.

[[ Tagged by: @high-stakes-gambler​! ]]

[fumusdamnatorum]

GET TO KNOW THE BLOGGER.

Can be used for RP and non-RP blogs to get to know a bit about the person behind the screen!

1. FIRST NAME: Sam

2. STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF: My achilles tendons are very short, so when I squat to sit, I can’t do so without lifting my heels off the ground (Barbell squats or squats for exercise is a different story).

3. TOP THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE ON A PERSON: Eyes, face, body proportion

4. A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF: There’s a Vietnamese sandwich called Banh Mi Cha Lua, which is like a baguette loaf (not a whole one but like quarter/third size) cut open/spread with pate (which is like pork liver) and sometimes butter, you put in like a pork roll slices, pickled/sliced carrots and onions, some jalapenos and cilantro. It’s more delicious than I can describe, and it’s also pretty cheap, which is why I love it.

5. A FOOD YOU HATE: Can’t really pick one of the top of my head...for now at least. 

6. GUILTY PLEASURE: Ice cream, good fucking God. I can decimate tubs in one sitting.

7. WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN: Shorts (regular shorts or compression shorts), shirt and socks come on during the winter. Otherwise I wear just shorts. 

8. SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS: Serious relationships. I don’t have the looks or confidence to pull off a fling. 

9. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE: I would say there’s a lot to change...but the past is the past. Changing one thing is like erasing a lesson you’ve learned. I wouldn’t trade that, as painful as it is.

10. ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON: I’d like to think so. I won’t show it but I’d like to think so.

11. A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN: The Gentlemen is a recent one. Tbh any Guy Ritchie movie.

12. FAVORITE BOOK: Lone Survivor

13. YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE: Belgian Malinois

14. TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL]:  Arkos, Renora, Lucky Strike (@grcwingstrcng‘s Clover/@invernc‘s Winter), Kemuri/Onyx (@mistraliprincess/@quick-drxw), and Snowbird (Winter/Qrow)

15. PIE OR CAKE: Pie, by far. You can get pretty versatile with pies, and they’re arguably more robust than cakes.

16. FAVORITE SCENT: Eucalyptus, Lavender is a close second

17. CELEBRITY CRUSH: Myanna Buring...good God...

18. IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO: Everywhere. I want to touch down and explore every region in the world before I die.

19. INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT: Introvert

20. DO YOU SCARE EASILY: If I’m caught by surprise or loud ominous music, yeah. Usually no.

21. IPHONE OR ANDROID: Android

22. DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES: League of Legends, Rainbow Six: Siege, Modern Warfare, The Division 2, Escape from Tarkov. Those are the main ones nowadays.

23. DREAM JOB: A CIA analyst would sound like a pretty cool job

24. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS: 500k goes into savings (250k actual savings/emergency fund, 250k into a 6 year CD), I’d allot 250k to myself (traveling, paying debts, buying stuff I want or need like a new car, etc.), 50k to family (10k each to my mom, dad, sister, aunt, and uncle). 50k to friends (10k split among 5 of my close irl friends). 50k to charity (10k split amongst 5 charities). The last 100k goes into retirement fund. 

25. FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE: Hate is a strong word...but I’d think the closest one is Ardyn Izunia from FFXV

26. FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER: uhhhhhhhhhh idk....RWBY is the first one for me tbh

Tagged by: stolen from @kalopsic and others

Tagging: If you wanna do it go for it :P

[ask-elementalhermitcraft]

Simple in the Moonlight

Summary - Rendog is a creature of the night. For the first time, Grian shares Ren’s lonely night with him. (Inspired by Ren’s cover of Lua, by Bright Eyes)

Word count - 1.7K

Ren, with rockets in hand, flew up and out of his base, making sure that it was nearing sunset. Finally, Ren thought to himself, daytime couldn’t seem to pass fast enough. He flew to the nearest shore, ready to just spend a calm night to himself on the beach.

For Ren, going out during the day took quite the toll on him. Being in such harsh, direct sunlight only gave him headaches and brought him dizziness. He could handle dozens of torches, or staring into pools of lava, but something about sunlight brought Ren to an unforgiving state of nausea. Mumbo, amidst the end of his mole duties, gifted his sunglasses to Ren. These did improve his day-to-day life significantly, but nothing as drastic as to rid the incessant headaches.

He landed on a patch of grass along the sand, and he took a moment to take off his shoes and his elytra, just to rid the extra weight. He rolled up his pants before stepping on the shore, knowing it was inevitable he would end up wading through the water. The waves were small as they hit the shoreline, providing him with the comforting sound of movement and motion, letting him know that he was not the only thing with life on the quiet night.

As he took a seat into the damp sand, letting his hands sink down beside him, the moon began to rise in his line of sight. It was a clear night, with nothing but hundreds of millions of stars twinkling in the sky, and a full moon coming into view. It was beautiful, the most perfect night Ren could’ve asked for.

A full moon always brought a new type of energy onto Ren, something that even after years and years of experience, he was still never quite clear on predicting its effect at any one time. There were always trends he picked up on - the ability to see miles past what he can during daytime, a heightened sense of smell, even faster reflexes than what the night brought him normally. It was hard to differentiate the effects of a full moon versus the effects of nighttime in general, but one thing was for certain - the night made him stronger.

His eyes worked like a night vision camera. It could work during the day, sure, but its abilities shown best once the sun was down. Hermits could splash themselves with night vision all they wanted, but nothing could compare to the all-seeing eyes of Ren at night.

His teeth were sharp like those of a wolf, an untamed and unhinged creature. He could tear zombies apart with nothing but his teeth latching on to exposed skin. He could eat rotten flesh and never feel the effects of poison. To him it was another meal.

He could run as fast as his legs could take him. He could run endlessly without stopping, at speeds unmatched by anyone or anything the hermits had seen. He could run for hours on foot, never stopping, with rotten flesh hanging from his mouth as a source of protein if needed.

Ren was a wild animal, with nothing comparing to the werewolf abilities the man had once the moon rose and the sun had disappeared. He was strong, and fierce, a force not to be messed with. He could snap at a moment’s notice, and Ren himself would never even know.

But Ren was not only a creature of unforseen powers in the night, but he was also a creature of grace, of nature, of the given world. He was a creature of light.

He has a glow to him, only to be seen when light is lacking. He could create spheres of light, orbs of photons, all from his bare hands. A gift as his could only be found within a god, within a divine being, but here he sat, throwing up balls of white light out of sheer boredom.

Ren was powerful, a man who could both control the darkness of the night and the creation of light, and bend and shape both to his own will, to work with him. His strength and his abilities brought positive light to his name, his kind soul earning him many friends by his side. He was loved by everyone, and seemed to bring nothing but fascination and joy to those around him. What was he to be upset about?

Ren was alone.

"When everything is lonely, I can be my own best friend."

As a creature of the night, Ren lost a lot of valuable time to spend with his friends. It physically pained him to go about life during the day. It was the most awful feeling in the world. He felt useless, he felt as if he contributed nothing to his friendships. While everyone worked on projects together, and spent time with one another, Ren was confined within his base, with nothing but the cave walls to keep him occupied. His sorting system had the most perfect redstone, every inch of his walls were immaculate, because what else was he to do? When trapped in a cave during every moment the sun is up, what else was he to do aside from sleeping?

At night, everyone was asleep after a busy day out and about. Ren, however, was wide awake. It would be him, pacing around the cold and darkened world, wondering what would be different if his friends were here, night after night. Occasionally he and False would share nighttime adventures; False being Ren’s neighbor could see when he was out and about.

He always found joy in creating builds at night, however. Knowing that the hermits would wake up to a new addition to the railway network, or a new build in the medieval district, or a sudden surplus of diamonds within their shop, always brought him joy. He felt like Santa Clause, each and every night, and that was the one spark of joy no one could take away from him.

"What was easy in the evening by the morning’s such a drag."

Everything came to Ren during the night, his inspiration and his ability to build, his creativity, his joy, it all happened by the sunset. He could run freely and build freely with perfect vision and without a pounding headache. But once the morning came around, he was reduced to nothing. He immediately went to hide. He does it in the name of his health, but at what cost?

Is he truly any healthier?

Ren stared into the ocean, his legs pulled up to his chest. He wanted to do something, he wanted to be productive, but he felt no motivation. Once the morning came, all his efforts and energy would be useless.

"It was so simple in the moonlight."

He felt himself drifting away with the sounds of the moving water and the swirling of his own thoughts. He caught himself in a half-asleep stage after he heard another person in the distance. "Is someone there?" he called out, secretly praying that his senses hadn’t led him astray. After hearing no response, he turned to his sense of smell to find the source of what he heard.

"...Grian you know I can smell you, right?"

"You sly dog, you!" Grian shouted at Ren, swooping out of the sky and landing swiftly beside him. "I sometimes forget that even my sneaky-sneakerson skills can’t outperform your K-9 senses," Grian huffed as he tucked his wings tightly behind him, as to not whack Ren with his feathers. "No one outsmarts the diggity-dog, you should know this by now!" Ren exclaimed. They were both giggling at Grian trying to act pouty, which was an act he could never quite pull off.

"What are you doing out here man? It’s super late at night, you should be catching up on your sleep," Ren turned to face Grian. "Well, I kinda slept during the day so I could hang out with you, it has been quite some time since we last saw each other."

Ren was quite frankly taken aback by his response. He felt tears form in his eyes, and he had no clue what to do. Ren never really expressed his emotions so openly, but everyone knew he was quite the soft guy.

Grian could see the tears in Ren’s eyes glisten in the moonlight, and immediately went to bring Ren in for a hug, extending his wings to wrap around him for added comfort. Caught up in Grian’s kind gesture, he could do nothing but cry.  He hated crying in front of others, as something in his instincts told him it was a weakness, but he knew it was perfectly healthy, and he knew he could confide in Grian.

For a few minutes they embraced, Ren profusely trying to compose himself so they could carry on speaking with each other, but Ren struggled to pull it together. He had become so accepting of having the nights to himself, accepting of having his friendships exist but never acted upon, accepting of being physically alone. Aside from False, no one had taken such an effort to spend time with him. He and everyone around him had come to a silent agreement he existed on his own schedule, whether he wanted it to be that way or not, that was simply how it was.

Ren sniffed and looked up. "Thank you. Just thank you Grian. This means more than you could imagine." Grian smiled at him, radiating nothing but happiness. "You are very welcome buddy. I’m very thankful to spend this time with you."

"I know everyone always talks about the concept of the ‘lone wolf,’ but nothing about it applies to me. I don’t know what I would do without someone like you around." "I think you’d just go about, doing lone wolf things whether you wanted to or not.  It’s kinda in your instincts." "Thanks, captain obvious," Ren replied, shoving Grian’s arm.

The two always found peace and laughter in each other’s company, and nothing changed, despite the time they had spent away from one another. While they hadn’t known each other forever, their souls seemed to go way back. Ren created spheres of light for the two to admire by the shore, and the wind took it upon itself to send them dancing throughout the air. Everything seemed simple, and the universe seemed at peace.

Maybe the night was not as solemn as Ren once thought.

[girls-scenarios]

Honestly, Little by Little (Pt. 3)

Idol: Lua (Weki Meki)

Prompt: Because of who she hangs out with, Lua has the reputation of a “bad girl” around school. You’ve never spoken to her before, and never wanted to, but through a chance encounter, you begin to realize that everything you’d thought you knew about her was wrong. Fem!Reader.

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: FINALLY, I finished it. This idea started off small and then I just kept writing more and more because I love Lua and I love these types of AUs. Also disclaimer I still know next to nothing about ballet so I’m sorry if I butchered anything here. Anyway I’m so glad you guys enjoyed this long self-indulgent fic, and stan Weki Meki (and Lua). 

Part 1 Part 2

When Friday morning rolled around and your alarm went off, forcing you to wake up, you rolled over and stared at your phone. You knew your face was puffy from all the crying you’d done the night before, and your throat was still a bit sore, making it even harder to wake up. Today was the night of the ballet performance, but it was also the last day; after today, you would no longer be dating Lua.

The idea made you sadder than you would have thought when this all began, and you shoved your head into the pillow, trying not to be so negative. As much as you wanted to tell your parents to call you in sick, you knew you needed to go to your classes. This wasn’t worth ruining your hard-earned grades over, and you had tests coming up.

Sighing, you sat up and picked up your phone, blinking your eyes sleepily. There was a text, and the name of the sender jolted you awake.

-I won’t be at school today, we have rehearsal :( See you tonight?

You stared at the text, heart thumping in your chest. Hyunjin and Heejin had been right, it seemed. Lua did still want to see you.

-I’ll be there. What time?

-Starts at 7pm but my friends always come early to get good seats

-Will do

You put down your phone and rubbed your face, steeling yourself as you stumbled out of bed.

It was going to be a long day.

-

“You look like you didn’t sleep,” Hyunjin said when you sat down, making you groan.

“Why are you always like this to me. You know exactly why I didn’t get enough sleep,” you said, sending her a glare with no actual malice behind it. She just smiled and reached into her bag.

“I was just saying so because I think you’ll need this.” She held out a new stick of makeup towards you, and you cautiously took it. “It’s concealer. It’ll help hide those dark circles under your eyes.”

“Like I’ll know how to use it correctly,” you said, looking down at the object in your hand. “You know good and well that my makeup limit is foundation and some mascara, if I’m feeling brave.”

“At least try. Heejin and I can’t come over tonight to help but I thought I’d give you that.” You raised your eyebrows.

“Why? You guys have a hot date or something?” Hyunjin nodded and flipped her hair.

“You guessed it. I’m taking her out tonight.”

“Have fun,” you said, smiling at your friend as you slipped the makeup into your bag.

“Thanks. We totally will.”

The teacher opened the door, interrupting the conversation, but when you glanced back at Hyunjin, she mouthed a “good luck” and winked. You rolled your eyes at her, but it made you feel better, a little bit. Maybe today wouldn’t be as bad as you’d thought.

-

You hadn’t eaten lunch with your friends in what felt like ages, so when you approached the group, they all cheered.

“Hey, it’s (Y/N), Lua’s girlfriend!” Soyeon yelled, and Chaeyoung elbowed her, giving her a look as you winced and sat down.

“Not really. That was a week thing, remember?” Your friends looked at you, confused.

“Really? You guys seemed really into each other, though,” Chaewon said, tilting her head. “What happened?” You shrugged.

“It’s a long story. I’ve missed you guys, though.”

“We’ve missed you too,” Dami said, scooting closer to put her head on your shoulder. “But are you okay? That’s the most important thing.” You smiled and nodded, looking around at the girls you’d come to be close to.

“Yeah. As long as I have you guys backing me up, I’m good.”

“Awe, (Y/N),” Seoyeon said, putting her hand to her chest. Chaeyoung looked at you, eyebrows raised.

“Is everything a secret, or?” You shook your head and began to unpack the first homemade lunch you’d had in a week.

“No, I’ll tell everyone. Are you guys ready for the long story?” Dami sat up and nodded, looking all too interested, and the rest of them crowded closer. Chaewon pulled her tissues out of her bag, like she knew she might need them, and you took a deep breath. “Well, it started like this.”

-

Eating lunch with your friends and getting everything off your chest made you feel lighter, and there was a little smile on your face as you headed to your next class. You could still feel eyes on your back, but you didn’t let it bother you, knowing that you were just going to have to get used to it no matter what happened.

If you and Lua started dating for real, people would stare at you because you were the one who took her away, and if Lua rejected you, people would stare at you because you were the nerd who thought you had a chance. Either way, you were going to be the center of attention for a little while. So you needed to get used to it.

“Hey, (Y/N)?” You stopped in your tracks and turned around to see Yoojung standing there with Doyeon behind her. She gave you a big grin and threw her arms around you in a hug, while Doyeon stood with a hand on her hip and the trace of a smile on her lips. “What’s up? We haven’t seen you in forever!” It had only been a week, right?

“Um, nothing much. Just, going to my next class, like usual.” Yoojung let you go and nodded, glancing at her watch.

“We still have a few minutes, and we’re close to your classroom, right? Can we talk for a moment?” You weren’t going to get beat up or anything, were you?

You nodded. “Sure. What’s up?”

The two girls looked at each other, and then Doyeon stepped forward.

“We just want to know something. About Lua.” Your heart started up at the sound of her name, and you swallowed, feeling your cheeks getting hot. “Do you like her?”

“Uh-.” Yoojung didn’t let you finish searching for the words you were looking for before she spoke.

“We just need to know if you’re serious about her or not. Lua is a really sensitive person and we don’t want her getting hurt.” You waved your hands quickly.

“I’d never hurt her! Not on purpose, anyway. I- I’m serious about her. I really like her.” A slow smile made it’s way across Doyeon’s face, and Yoojung let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank goodness. I knew you were a good person and you wouldn’t lead her on but we had to make sure, you know?” You smiled nervously at them.

“I get it.”

“You’re going to her ballet performance tonight, right?” You nodded your head, and Yoojung grinned. “Great! We’ll pick you up. Chaeyoung said she’s going with you, so just have her text us your address, okay?” The bell rang, and you winced. You were late. Quickly, Yoojung waved. “See you tonight!”

“See you.” You turned as you waved and made your way towards your classroom, giving the teacher an apologetic smile as you entered.

Yoojung’s words hung in your head, and you found yourself spacing out thinking about them. Did this mean that Lua had talked about you to them? Or had they just noticed it too? This meant for sure that Lua liked you back, right? Although, her friends could just be guessing.

Sighing, you shook your head and tried to focus again, even though everything seemed to be getting more and more complicated as the day went by. Would you really be able to go through with this?

-

“It’s just concealer, I can do that much.” Chaeyoung’s voice echoed in your bathroom as she picked up the makeup Hyunjin had given you earlier, grinning. “This is the easy stuff.”

“To you,” you muttered, looking at your reflection in the mirror. You were wearing the same amount of makeup you usually did at school, other than the lipstick you’d put on and the concealer that Chaeyoung was now using on your dark circles. You’d done your hair and picked out an outfit that still felt you, but that was a little bit nicer than your school or casual clothes. This was a ballet performance, after all.

“What time did Yoojung say they’d be getting here?” She asked as she peered close, applying the concealer.

“She didn’t say, but Lua sent me a text this morning saying that her friends are always early, so they should be here soon.”

“I’m glad I sent them the address as soon as I got here, then.” She pulled away and capped the concealer again, setting it down. “See? No more dark circles.” You looked into the mirror and turned your head slightly, admiring how well the concealer had worked. Maybe this was something you needed to learn, especially during exam season when you hardly slept at all.

“Thank you,” you said, at the same time that the doorbell rang, signalling Yoojung and Doyeon’s arrival. You stood up, but Chaeyoung darted out of the room ahead of you, beating even your parents to the door.

“Welcome!” She said as she opened the door, making you roll your eyes and shake your head.

“This is my house, Chaeyoung.”

“I pretty much live here anyway,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders before turning back to Yoojung and Doyeon, who seemed very amused. “Are you guys ready?”

“Ready if you are,” Doyeon said, spinning her keys on her finger. You suddenly felt self-conscious, knowing what kind of life Doyeon lived, and grabbed your purse from the chair beside the door.

“Alright, let’s go,” you said, ushering Chaeyoung out and waving at your parents, who were looking curiously around the kitchen corner. “I’ll be back later!”

Doyeon owned a brand-new BMW, but you weren’t even surprised. Of course she would have such a nice car, if what you’d seen at the party was any indication of her life.

“Buckle in, I don’t wanna lose my license,” Doyeon said as she started the car, looking at you and Chaeyoung through the rear-view mirror. Immediately, the two of you obeyed, buckling up as Doyeon pulled away from the house and onto the main road.

Yoojung turned on some 2NE1 and began to sing and rap along, getting Chaeyoung to join in, but you couldn’t make yourself join in. Your heart was beating like crazy and you could feel your palms sweating as you looked out the window, unable to calm yourself down. The tickets and the keychain sat in your purse (you’d checked on them multiple times to make sure they were there), but as the car neared the venue, you could feel the confidence you’d gotten from your friends dwindling. You hadn’t seen Lua at all since she’d left you in the library the day before, and you felt just as nervous as you’d been at the party. It was like all the courage you’d gained throughout the week had been destroyed the day before.

You took a couple breaths to try and calm yourself, closing your eyes. But you saw Lua behind your eyelids, smiling so wide that the dimples beneath her eyes were showing. You saw that smile that had become so familiar, and quickly opened your eyes again, knowing that your cheeks were flushed. It hadn’t helped at all, and now Doyeon was pulling into the parking lot, and you were even more nervous than you’d been when you were leaving.

“Ready?” Chaeyoung asked, reaching over to grab your hand, and you gave her a weak smile.

“Not really, but I’m getting there.” She gave you an affectionate grin.

“You’ll be okay, I promise.” She gave your hand one last squeeze before she let go to open her door and get out, and you did feel a little better. Still, you took one last deep breath before getting out yourself, steadying yourself as much as you could.

The venue was huge, much bigger than you’d thought it would be, and you looked around with wide eyes.

“Wow,” Chaeyoung said, taking the words out of your mouth, and Yoojung laughed.

“Right? Lua’s ballet company is widely known, so they always have huge shows. They’re all crazy good, too.”

“So impressive,” you said, mouth dropping open as you took in the crowd waiting to get in. “When she said get here early, she wasn’t joking.” Doyeon nodded and held up her tickets.

“Yeah, but we have special passes since we’re close to her. Come on, we’ll get our seats and everything and then we can see her backstage.” Your heart jumped again, but you let Doyeon and Yoojung lead you over to the ticket booth as you pulled your tickets from your purse.

The girl behind the counter gave you and Chaeyoung a once-over, probably because she’d seen neither of you before, but she let you both in with Doyeon and Yoojung, handing both of you back half of your ticket.

“You’ll use that to get backstage,” Yoojung explained, pointing to the ‘exclusive access’ portion of the ticket as the four of you made your way into the almost-empty auditorium. A few other people milled around, other friends and family, and Doyeon suddenly stopped and turned around.

“Hey, (Y/N), we’ll go ahead and get the seats, why don’t you go back and see Lua now? She’s in the fourth fitting room.” Your heart stopped for a moment and your eyes widened.

“Alone?”

“Yep,” all three girls said together, and you resisted the urge to whimper. But the keychain still sat in your purse, and you knew that you wouldn’t be able to give it to her with everyone there. So you squared your shoulders and glanced around.

“Where do I go?”

-

It was easier than you had expected to find the fitting rooms, but your hand hesitated as you brought it up to knock on her door. Would she be happy to see her, or would you end up upsetting her? This wouldn’t mess up her performance, would it?

Your mouth felt dry, but you mustered all the courage hiding behind your anxiety and knocked.

You heard shuffling on the other side of the door, and Lua calling a quick “hang on!” Your heart beat hard in your chest, and you knew that your cheeks were flushed as you fidgeted with your fingers, moving from foot to foot.

When Lua finally opened the door, her eyes widened when they met yours. She looked different than she usually did, her hair slicked back in braids and her makeup done with a more feminine precision, turning her into the character Dorothy. She was in slippers, but she had on the dress that she’d be wearing for the show, the iconic blue and white dress, cut just a little shorter than usual to give her a full range of motion as she danced. She looked cute, and it made your heart skip a beat. The butterflies were back.

“Hey,” you said for a lack of anything else to say, giving her a small smile. She blinked, seeming to finally realize what was happening, and quickly stepped to the side, smiling back at you.

“(Y/N)! You made it!”

“I did. Doyeon, Yoojung, and Chaeyoung are with me, but they went to go get seats.” When she closed the door, the room felt like it got smaller, but you tried to ignore it as you stood awkwardly in the middle, unsure of what to do.

“Oh, you can sit down in one of the chairs! It’s just me using this room and the makeup artist already left,” she said, gently touching your arm to lead you over to a small seating area at the opposite side of the mirrors. Carefully, you sat down, allowing space for her to sit down next to you. “I’m glad you made it.” She was telling the truth, you could tell it from the way she said it, and it soothed your nerves.

“I’m glad I made it too,” you said, trying to keep it lighthearted as you looked at her. Wow, had you missed her smile. And it had only been a day. “How are you feeling?”

“Good, confident! I was a little nervous before but our rehearsals went well so I feel better.” She tugged at one of the braids, letting out a soft laugh. “I bet I look weird right now, though.”

“No, you look cute.” The words came out on their own, like they had been since you met her, and you could feel your cheeks heating up again. But you didn’t regret it, especially when it made her ears turn pink and her eyes get a little wider.

“Oh, really?”

“Really. I like the braids.” A wide smile, one that showed those dimples you liked so much, broke across her face, and she looked down at her hair again.

“Thank you.” The air still felt a bit awkward, but the thickness that had been there when you first arrived had gotten lighter, and when her hand moved over to cover yours, it felt right. For a moment, the two of you just sat there, not saying anything. Then, swallowing, you turned to look at her again.

“Um, I got you something.” Again, her eyes widened as she looked at you, curiosity crossing her face. Quickly, you reached into your purse and pulled out the keychain, displaying it to her before you could have second thoughts. Her mouth dropped open, and she slowly brought up her hand to touch the ballerina charm, almost like she couldn’t believe her eyes. “I meant to give it to you yesterday, but....” You trailed off for a moment before picking back up, not wanting things to feel awkward again. “I figured it might give you good luck before the show tonight. And I really wanted you to have it.”

There was something unreadable and soft in her eyes as she picked up the keychain and looked from it to you, and then back again.

“Wait, when did you get this?”

“When we were at the mall Wednesday,” you admitted, “when I said that I was going to buy the book keychain, I did it so that you wouldn’t suspect anything. You looked so excited when you saw it, I just.... Wanted to see you smile like that again.” She held the keychain to her chest, mouth slightly open, searching for the words to say.

“I.... Thank you. I don’t know what else to say, this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” she said, voice wavering, and you panicked a bit. She was wearing full show makeup, and you’d never meant to make her cry. But then she surged forward and wrapped her arms around you, holding you tight. It was the first time she’d hugged you, the first time she’d done anything other than hold your hand, and for a moment, you froze up.

Slowly, you brought your arms up to hug her back, breathing in the smell of her perfume as you fell for her even further. She was so warm, and you didn’t want to pull away.

“Lua, you have five minutes!” An unfamiliar voice broke the moment from the door, and Lua quickly pulled away, wiping gently at her eyes before looking back up and you and giving you a smile so brilliant it outshone that florescent lighting of the room.

“Sorry. It looks like I’ve got to go.”

“That’s okay!” You jumped up from your seat and closed your purse, eyes moving across her face to make sure you hadn’t messed up her makeup in any way. Thankfully, everything still looked amazing, and you smiled at her. “Good luck. I’m looking forward to seeing your performance,” you said, moving towards the door. She stood up as well and seemed to be debating whether to say something as she walked you to the door.

When you stood just outside the door, and her just inside, she stopped.

“(Y/N)?”

“Yes?”

“You’re making it really hard not to like you.”

-

Your head was spinning has you made your way over to where your friends were sitting, so spaced out that it was a miracle you didn’t trip and fall. As you got closer, you could see that the rest of Lua’s friends had joined, but that there was a seat left for you between Chaeyoung and Yoojung.

“How’d it go?” A voice sounded behind you and you jumped, spinning around to come face-to-face with Doyeon.

“Um.” You didn’t know what to say, because you were still processing what Lua had said. Was that a good thing? A bad thing? You’d been unable to respond because the stage manager had come up and shooed you away, so you were stuck with her words whirling around in your head. Her raised her eyebrows.

“(Y/N)?”

“I-I don’t know how to explain it,” you said, looking down at the floor. You hardly knew Doyeon, and she was still intimidating to be along with. But to your surprise, she put her hand on your shoulder.

“That’s alright. Why don’t we go sit back down with Chaeyoung, and if you’re comfortable, you can tell us about it then?” You looked at her, touched that she somehow seemed to know exactly how you were feeling.

“Thanks. I’d like that.”

All eyes were on you when you stepped up to your chair, and Lua’s friends waved at you, some of them looking a bit curious. What had they been expecting to happen when you went back there?

“How did it go?” Chaeyoung asked as you sat down, echoing Doyeon’s words from earlier. But with Chaeyoung there, you felt more comfortable, and you’d had a little bit more time to process it now.

“Well…. I don’t know.” Everyone’s eyes were on you, and you swallowed. “I gave her the keychain.”

“Did she like it?” Chaeyoung reached over to put her hand over yours, calming your nerves down a bit.

“I think so. But she said something.” As you spoke, everyone leaned in closer, and the lights dimmed. You glanced around, shutting your mouth, but Yoojung waved her hand.

“You’re good, the band will play before the show starts. What did she say?” Having everyone looking at you made you a bit uncomfortable, but you figured they should know. They were Lua’s friends, they might know what she meant.

So you told them what she’d said, and watched as their eyes widened and they looked at each other. Chaeyoung’s grip on your hand tightened and her other hand came up to cover her mouth.

“Wow. So she really does like you,” Suyeon said, eyebrows raising as she turned to look at Elly beside her. “I didn’t believe it at first.”

“Not because there’s anything wrong with you,” Elly clarified for her, “it’s just that Lua hasn’t liked anyone since… well, you know.” You glanced over at Chaeyoung, who gave you a sheepish smile.

“I told them that we knew about everything because Yoojung brought it up. I hope you don’t mind?”

“I don’t,” you assured her, shaking your head and looking up at the stage. Her friends had said it themselves, and as much as you could hardly believe it, it had to be true: Lua liked you too. The butterflies started up again and your heart squeezed in your chest, and you wondered if this was what it felt like to be in love. You’d never felt any of this before, and it was a bit overwhelming, but in a good way. 

The other girls looked like they wanted to say something, but the band had finished playing and the curtains were raising, so they settled back in their seats instead. Swallowing, you sat back and put your hand over your chest, willing your heart to calm down as the show started.

-

If Lua was cute doing everyday things, here she was stunning. From the moment that she came on stage, you couldn’t take your eyes off her. When you’d been with her, she’d shown that she could be slightly clumsy. She was known to be a tomboy and enjoy comfortable clothes and her mouth dropped open slightly when she slept and she was so incredibly loud when she talked and laughed.

But onstage, she was graceful and beautiful, another side to the girl you were still learning so much about. You were sure the audience would never guess what she acted like offstage, because she was so good. She never missed a step and her facial expressions were perfect, taking your breath away every time she was onstage.

As the ballet neared the climax, her eyes met yours in the crowd, and she smiled that brilliant smile that made your heart jump and stop. She was beautiful. And you really, really liked her.

The final dance ended, and the entire cast came onstage to bow, but you still couldn’t take your eyes off Lua. Somehow you even drowned out the clapping around you, and for a moment, her eyes met yours and it felt like the two of you were the only two in the auditorium. It was when she looked away that you made up your mind.

You weren’t going to be afraid anymore. You were going to pursue this, no matter where it took you.

-

After the show had finished, you made your way back to her dressing room again, following the familiar path with your heart beating hard inside your chest. Everyone else was somewhere behind you, but you were only focused on the path ahead of you that led to her.

The door was open slightly, and you didn’t hesitate this time when you reached up to knock on the door.

When she answered, she was smiling, strands of hair falling out of the braids and her cheeks flushed with excitement and exertion. She still looked so cute and pretty after giving it her best, eyes sparkling as she stepped to the side to let you in.

“(Y/N)! Did you enjoy the show?” You gave her a smile, opting to stand in front of her this time as she shut the door.

“I did. You were incredible up there.” She beamed, positively glowing, and reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“Thank you, I-.” If you didn’t say it now, you’d lose the courage to say it ever. So you interrupted her, rushing over your words.

“You know, you make it hard not to like you too.” You caught her off guard and her eyes widened, mouth dropping slightly open before her entire face flushed and she brought her hand up to cover her mouth.

“W-wait, you-? What do you mean?” It was such a cute reaction, and you knew your cheeks were flushed too as you let out a nervous laugh.

“I like you, Lua. More than just as a friend.” It was like a million emotions went across her face at once.

“Since when?” She asked, slowly bringing her hand down.

“I don’t really know, honestly. Tuesday? Wednesday?” It was embarrassing to admit it and you had to fight the urge to escape the situation.

“Oh my god. This entire time, I’ve been trying not to like you, and you’ve liked me back? I didn’t have to worry about anything?” She groaned and stepped forward, putting her head on your shoulder, and you didn’t really know what to do.

“I’m sorry? I didn’t know you liked me either.” She let out a sigh, but when she brought her head up to look at you again, she was smiling.

“You don’t have to apologize. We were both a little dumb. I’m just not used to all this stuff.”

“Same here. I’ve never dated anyone,” you said, regretting it almost immediately as your face flushed again and you glanced down at the floor out of embarrassment.

“Wow, really?”

“Yeah, I mean, who wants to date the math nerd?” You said, trying to joke the awkwardness away.

“I do.” She had to stop saying stuff like this, because your heart couldn’t take it. “Also, here’s a little secret. I’ve only dated one person I really liked.”

“But you’ve dated plenty of people,” you pointed out.

“It’s not like I really do anything with them other than maybe hold their hand. I don’t do any of the things with them that... that I want to do with you.”

“Oh-.”

“Can I kiss you?” It came so out of the blue, but her eyes were so earnest, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t want to kiss her too.

“I’ll probably be bad at it,” you said, voice wavering.

“You won’t know unless you try.” She was so... magnetic. You found yourself moving closer, as if your body had a mind of its own. Every bit of you just wanted to be held by her.

“Then yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, you can kiss me.” She grinned at your words and leaned forward, taking you into her arms. You wrapped your arms around her shoulders, shy because you didn’t really know what to do, and she brought a hand up to cup your cheek. Your eyes fluttered closed at her touch, and the next thing you knew, she was kissing you.

It took you a moment to tentatively kiss her back, pulling her closer without realizing exactly what you were doing.

And then she was pulling away, and both of you had matching pink cheeks. Her eyes met yours, and both of you burst into giggles, leaning back into each other.

“You aren’t bad,” she said, eyes sparkling. “But I don’t think it would hurt to teach you some more.” The butterflies started up again and you gave her a look, trying and failing to not smile.

“Your friends will be here any minute.”

“What? So they can’t see me kissing you?”

“It’s embarrassing,” you whined, and she beamed, letting her forehead fall against yours. She was so beautiful up-close, and for the first time, you noticed how dark and deep her eyes were. You could feel yourself falling into them, because they were focused on you, and only you.

“Just one more kiss,” she said, voice a whisper, and you couldn’t resist her. Everyone would probably burst through the door at any moment, and it would be embarrassing, and the two of you would probably never be able to live it down. But she was warm and inviting and your lips tingled for the chance to taste her again, so you couldn’t bring yourself to care, letting your eyes flutter closed.

“Just one more.”