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missmimii · 5 months ago

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☏ 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐄𝐒 | 𝐌 － 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐎

－ 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 | In which Matt and the reader have a long distance relationship due to his career, the lonely aspects of the relationship catches up to the reader.

୨ৎ — 𝐂𝐖. Brief mentions of mental health, and a whole lotta angst ♡︎

ℳ𝒾𝓂𝒾’𝓈 𝓃ℴ𝓉ℯ𝓈 －Almost 300 followers? Ily all so freaking much

☆彡－ The vibration from the girls phone tickles her palm, the sound of static dialling being the same sound that filled her ears before she succumbed to sleep every single night, for the past nine months. He’s probably busy, the time zone is all over the place, maybe he forgot. With a sigh of defeat, her phone fell from her hand and toppled on the pillow aside her. “Hey it’s me Matt－they already know that if they’re calling you － shut up Nick,” her eyes fell shut, a lazy smile gracing her lips as she listened to his voicemail. “I’m probably sleeping or driving if I didn’t a answer this call, so .. call me back later? －just end it!”

☽－ She felt her body numb to feeling disappointed or sadness, too wracked with grief and exhaustion to care whether or not her boyfriend was purposely dodging her calls. It was rare when he did, but she’d notice it being a reoccurring event for the last few days. Matt would send her short texts throughout the day, a soft smile appearing on her lips as she swiped up on them with her thumb at work. ‘Sometimes I wish I was an owl.’ Was a particular one she found herself amused by.

☆彡－ His added reply came not long after, said amusement growing by ten. ‘just so I could fly across the world and see you.’ The girls heart warmed at the silly clarification, the miniature interaction between the two sealed in the back of her mind permanently. This was rare, seeing as Matt often forgot to open anyone’s texts, let alone send back a reply. And in result of that, FaceTimes and phone calls were the couples main source of communication.

☽－ As the girl’s eyes fluttered back open, she was met with her own reflection. The mirror faced aside her bed, aiming perfectly at the outline of her body that was positioned on her side. It was faint, the image of her own body. All that could be seen was the hair framing her face, a faint view of her nose and eyes. Darkness enveloped her entire bedroom, the only source of light being found from the street lights blaring in through her window.

☆彡－ With a drawn out sigh, she slipped a hand under the pillow her head rested on, shifting a bit to find comfort. God, she was restless without his voice. Sleep came easier after coming to terms with Matthew’s absence, but it didn’t cure it. Nothing but him could cure this pit in her heart.

☽－Buzzzzzz’. Vibration rattled neck to her ear, sending a shiver through her body as she peeled her eye lids open. As much as she did want to grasp her cellphone, the hesitation that fell over her kept her set in stone from her lying frame. It didn’t matter how much she tried to convince herself that he was busy, or that he fell asleep － the girl knew he’d forgotten. Beep.

☆彡－ Beep.The ‘Missed call’ icon was the top notification her eyes laid on as she powered her phone on, upon one message underneath. “You awake?” It read, making the girl’s thumb halt against the screen. Whatever, she thought to herself, fingers tapping across the surface. “I can’t sleep.” The girl replied, seconds after being sent his name popped up across the top of her screen. Incoming call: Matty.

☽－ “Baby,” Matt’s voice came through the speaker, a hint of husk in his octave from sleep deprivation. She wasn’t the only one who lacked sleep in each other’s absences. Silence filled the male’s end of the phone for a moment before he spoke again. “I’m sorry for missing your call.” Too sorry to send a message?

☆彡－ The tired girl’s lips parted to speak but only elicited a soft yawn, making Matt’s lips twitch. “S’okay,” pulling her hand from under her pillow, she grasped her phone and sat it on her chest while rolling onto her back. Boom, boom, boom. The triplet let his eyes slip shut as he stretched out across his mattress, feeling warmth course through his body at the sound of the girl’s heart pattering through the speaker. He missed the real thing so badly. “You sleepy, kid?” He murmured lowly, fighting a yawn himself.

☽－ “hm?” She misses his hands against her skin, she yearns for his sweet nothings to be lulled against her ear as she slept － she missed him so fucking bad. Matt opened his eyes, hearing her barely audible sniff. “How much did you sleep last night?” He knew. The girl sighed, shaking her head, forgetting he couldn’t see her. “That’s so boring, what did you do today?”

☆彡－ Matt immediately shot in. “Don’t do that.” He stressed, running a hand down his face in frustration. Guilt wrecked the boy inside out, churning his stomach as he fought his inner subconscious. Why did he have to be such a douche? The least he could’ve done was answer her call. Sigh. “I’m tired.” He heard the girl’s meek tone utter.

☽－ The girl felt her chest tighten, emotions running high in her system. So long she kept them in, knowing that Matt had no way of fixing the pain that tore her apart. Too far, he was too far to fix her. “.. I’ll call more often －” Matt trailed off, hearing a small whimper come from his girlfriend’s end, statics breaking the sound apart. “baby,” oh god, what has he done to his girl.

☆彡－ Suddenly wide awake, he shuffled up in bed, resting his back against his headboard while holding his phone in his one hand. “Listen to me, doll.” Matt attempted to get ahold of the girl, running a hand down his jaw. Cries emptied her throat, a blubbering mess she became as the exhaustion fell over her entire body. “I’m so tired.” So tired. Her head felt heavy with unspilled tears that begged to fall, making her skull ache as she buried her the side of her face into her pillow.

☽－ The pillow no longer carried the natural scent of the male, the lack of his presence resulting in a faint linen smell, along with a slight undertone of his musk. When he left it smelled just like him. But just like him, it was fading. “Why didn’t you call last night?” She whispered finally. “Baby-” she cut in. “Or the night before?” Or the night before.

☆彡－ Matt’s eyes flicked down to his side, breathing out a stuttered breath as his hand fisted the blanket next to him. Owl’s could fly. His hand slipped around the plush material, bringing it to his face as he breathed in the aroma of her. “Take it,” she giggled, Matt’s eyes rolling playfully as he felt the warmth weigh on his shoulders. “Is it really necessary?” He murmured, seeing his girlfriend’s eyes narrow. “pretend it’s me hugging you whenever you cover up at night.” Matt blew out a chuckle, but pondered on her words. Maybe he should take it..

☽－He awaited the end of her sobs and pained cries as he squeezed his eyes shut, a lone trail of water escaping the corner of his eye, sliding down his cheek leisurely. Not that he’d voice it in such a selfish manner, but hearing his poor girl in such a way left his chest aching in a way he was convinced hurt more than her. Matt couldn’t hold her, look at her as she broke apart, or even talk to her, fearing that he’d end up revealing his sorrow, but in tears.

☆彡－The girl shakily placed a hand atop her mouth, because when it rained, it poured. And it wouldn’t stop －it poured down on her entire body. Maybe it was the exhaustion, or the fact that she’d cried everything out she could muster, but slowly her cries calmed into hiccups, and the hiccups drifted into sniffs. Boom, boom, boom. Both parties unknowingly listening to each’s pumping hearts, the two fell an inner deprived feeling of sleep come over their bodies.

☽－ Eyes fluttering shut, dried tears coating water-lines, trembling of hands. “I don’t even like owl’s.” A husky voice spoke up, the end of his sentence crackling a bit as he heard his girlfriend shuffle around in her no cold bed. Matt rubbed his one eye with his two fingers, water tainting the skin as he heaved in a breath that fought away sobs. “I don’t like planes, birds － I don’t like anything, really.” She listened overtop his heart. Boom, boom, boom.

☆彡－“But I’d rather face everything I don’t like in this world if it meant I’d face the one thing I love.” Her, it would always be her. It didn’t matter how many midnight calls he’d missed, or whether or not he texted her meaningless messages throughout the day －that really did have meaning, Matt would always choose her. He wouldn’t choose a FaceTime call, a picture － every single time, he’d pick her. Face to face, skin to skin contact, eye to eye, lips to lips － just his girl.

☽－ Despite loving the melody of her tired voice at night, just before he drifted off into a broken slumber, it wasn’t enough. He craved the feeling of her warm body pressed against his as they slept, the scent of her hair blowing into his nostrils as he placed affirming grazes and touches against her untainted skin. Because the love he felt for her across the world, was too strong for an electronic device － or mere words.

☆彡－ Boom, boom, boom. “Matt..” A mixture of her own heart and voice filled his ears, and for one second, it felt real. So real that he swore he felt the itch of her hair falling against her neck as her back pressed into his front. So fucking real, that he felt like there was a chance for a split second. “Call me tomorrow? Please －” but it wasn’t.

☽－ “No.” Her eyes drew open, the pattering in her chest shattering while falling to her gut. No? － “I can’t do it anymore －I can’t handle it.” Matt’s voice cracked nearing the end of his confession, the gut wrenching sound being followed by his harsh inhale. Don’t cry, Matt － don’t fucking cry. “I need you here － or there. Anywhere. Fuck, I’d drop everything in a heartbeat if it meant I could have you now. Feel you, be with you.”

☆彡－ If you loved me you would, she didn’t care to say. But she almost did. Because it wasn’t until he was thousands of miles away, that she dared to question his love for her. “Then do it.” The girl whispered, hearing her boyfriend’s breath hitch. Rolling onto her back, she sucked in a deep sigh. “Because I’m not sure how much longer I can handle it.” The statement was a reminder we that not only he felt such a way, it was consuming the both.

☽－ Boom, boom, boom. “I’ll have Laura book my flight tonight.”

𝒯𝒶𝑔𝓈 － @fratbrochrisgf @jetaimevous @sturnstvr @sturnrc @stonermattsgf @imwetforyourmom @st7rnioioss @endereies

#chris sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #nick sturniolo #sturniolo fanfic #sturniolo x reader #writers on tumblr #christopher sturniolo #matt sturniolo #matt stuniolo fanfic #sturniolo smut #chris sturniolo smut #christophersturniolo #fanfiction #fanfic #smut #oh yeah

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neosprites · 6 days ago

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Digital Stamp Making Tutorial

Hello, and welcome to the long-awaited(at least on my part) digital stamp-making tutorial from neosprites! I’d like to preface that I learned what I was doing from this tutorial so it may be a bit redundant, but if anything I get a bit more specific. Thank you so much to @graphic--horde for your work, it changed me as a graphic maker. This is gunna be a long post so feel free to bookmark it for later. Now, onto the show!

The frame I will be using for this tutorial (which is the frame I use on 99.9% of my stamps) I found from the above linked post, which I believe is from a creator that OP lost track of. Its inner dimensions are 94x50 pixels and its outer dimensions are 99x56 pixels. Here it is!

Find your material! - I recommend using websites like Tumblr and searching with the “GIF” filter only on, or alternatives such as Giphy or Tenor. Your browser may let you directly save the .gif file; if not and you are noticing it restricts you to save it as a .webp file you can try an extension like “Save webp as PNG or JPEG” (for Firefox but I image other browsers have similar functions, but I really recommend you switch to Firefox). To use this you will right click on your source .gif like normal but instead of clicking on “Save image as…” click “Save webP as…” and then click “GIF”. You should be redirected to the website ezgif.com where we will actually be doing all of our editing! Here’s the .gif we’ll be working with.

Convert to GIF (optional) - if you used the extension from the above step you should already be ready to click the blue “Convert to GIF” button. If not, go ahead and open ezgif.com and click on “webP” and then “WebP to GIF”; then convert to a gif with the blue button.

Resize the GIF - now that we have a gif ready to edit, let’s make it the right size. The easiest method I have found is to change it directly to the frame’s inner dimensions, 94x50 pixels. [EDIT: Make sure in the aspect ratio drop drop menu you select "stretch to fit" and not "center and crop to fit" like I did in the photo example.] Click “resize” and then type [94] in for the width and [50] for the height. Next press the blue “resize image” button.

Add the frame - next click “overlay” then click the thin blue button that says “Extend canvas size(use if overlay exceeds GIF sizes)”. This will give us some extra room to add the frame onto the design. Next click “Browse…” and find the frame you have saved onto your device, then click the blue “Upload image” button.

After that it’s going to be misaligned, that’s normal! It will say you have the option to drag it into place, but don’t bother. That’s one of the reasons my old stamps look wack, it’s just harder to do. Instead type [44] in for the Left box and [22] in for the Right box. It took me a while to figure out these dimensions to be honest, and I’ve only tested it with this frame so I don't know if it works with others. Then click the blue “Generate image” button.

Crop the transparent edges - click on “crop”. You will have the option to check a box that says “trim transparent pixels around the image” however, I don’t recommend this as it tends to crop a few of the frame’s pixels with it sometimes. Next, set the Left position to [44] and the Right position to [22]. For the other dimensions we will use the outer dimensions of the frame which are 99x56 pixels, this will trim everything except the tiny spaces in between the stamp frame’s spikes. Type the width as [99] and the height as [56] and click the tiny blue button that says “set”. After that click the blue “Crop image” button.

Save and use! - all that's left is to click “save” and upload the graphic to your liking. (best seen on dark mode obviously)

If you’d like to tag me in stamps you’ve made using my tutorial I would love to see them, but it’s not required!! Make sure to always give credit for pictures/gifs when you can and try not to make stuff out of personal/fan art. Thank you to the person in my inbox who requested this tutorial, I had been meaning to for a while but it was just the kick I needed. :)

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brooklynisher · 5 months ago

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Hey all, you ever hear of Jaunty?

[x]

Do you WANT to learn more about Jaunty?

Well I dug deep, and found some things I never thought I could find. I'm really excited to share what I've found with y'all. This post is sort of a little journey of how I found Jaunty.

There's a few sections to this.

Skip to But where does Jaunty come from? If you just want answers

Is Jaunty even a real character?

Jaunty, from what I originally found, is SUPPOSEDLY a Steam Powered Giraffe character. But where have we seen this character before? Was it the comic? Was it the timeline? Maybe in a song cover? Does the band ever talk about Jaunty?

And to answer all of your questions, no! At least not that I knew of. The only source of Jaunty’s existence is here.

The Steam Powered Giraffe Wiki

So that makes this whole thing pretty complicated right? The wiki has info, and it’s not too inaccurate most of the time, but some of the lesser known/more nuanced information tends to get scuffed.

It really doesn’t help knowing that David has mentioned before that the information on the wiki wasn't that accurate.

What I’m saying is, the only proof we have for the existence of this character is on what might be one of the more unreliable sources of SPG information.

But despite that, this page is special in the fact that SUPPOSEDLY it was uploaded by Steam Powered Giraffe themselves!

[x]

However, there isn’t really much of any information on this user at all. All we know is that they founded this wiki, added a few characters and a bit of information, and then became inactive. Really our biggest reasoning for believing that this was an actual SPG member is the fact that they are the founder and have been around for a very long time.

Okay, suspicions aside, let’s see what I found about this thing.

What the wiki tells us

One, this image was touched by the founder of this wiki twice, it was uploaded in 2011, and in 2014 they protected the page, which means only the administrators can edit the page.

[x]

Both are pretty major years for SPG being the year Upgrade left the band and the year Rabbit transitioned, but there’s not many connections you can make with that.

This user was first active in 2010 and last seen in 2015 [x]

Cool dates to have, but not a lot to work with. It mainly gives us a clear vision of what SPG was looking like at the time of the creation of this page. I can see this thing being used for a special, slightly themed show.

Of course, the information the wiki alone offers is very limited, but we know two things for sure. One, this character is a robot being under the category of robots, and two, these photos were taken by Cineria.

[x]

So, here's the problem, you'd think that by having the name of the photographer, we could get far with that, but unfortunately, it is such a vague name, that there is just no way we could figure out who Cineria actually is. It really doesn't help that they don't seem to be a professional photographer. The only page I could find that connects both the name Cineria and Steam Powered Giraffe is this one.

Useless information

I started searching for stuff by reverse searching it. It wasn't really successful, as I was expecting, but I did find one thing.

A different source.

This source doesn't go anywhere must you know. The ORIGINAL site, florist.buketbunga.com is still up an active serving as an Indonesian site for selling flowers, but this very specific link is broken, and the Wayback Machine doesn't know a thing about it.

The good news is, the link title alone gives us a ton of stuff to work with! Appropriately, the last part of this link translates to "Flower Bouquet Florist Shop Address Nearest 24 Hours Online", which makes sense.

What DOESN'T make sense is everything else coming before it. Specifically the Team Fortress 2 Wiki. This made me believe that someone used these sites to create a scam link, but it's weird because somehow, it's relevant?

Yandex was able to match these images of Jaunty to this site, and what's crazier, Jaunty is in the title of the link! But it's not just Jaunty, it's the Jaunty Explorer.

I did some searching, and discovered that the Jaunty Explorer originates from a TF2 livestream charity event called Tip of the Hats! Donations can earn you medals known as the Jaunty Explorer ($10 Donations), the Jaunty Ranger ($30 Donations), and the Jaunty Mountaineer ($100 Donations). They can come in many different color variations, but here are the main ones.

[x] [x] [x]

There are TWO connections between this and SPG. One, the shared name of Jaunty, and two, hats. Steam Powered Giraffe is pretty big on hats. But, bad news, these are completely unrelated. Main reasoning? The image of Jaunty was posted to the wiki back in 2011, while Tip of the Hats as an event started back in 2013. Can't even take the "SPG was inspired by TF2" route with that.

Okay, but what even IS it?

Now we get into the visual aspect of this!

I tried to see if there was at least any way to identify what this is, but that solely relies on observational skills. There are two images of this thing, but the image with the blue background is much easier to make out.

[x]

There's a lot that's going on with the design of Jaunty. Unfortunately, I'm not smart enough to identify what half of the doodads are. This machine, whether it's an actual machine or just a prop, is definitely a one of a kind as I couldn't find anything like this.

I talked with @boneinator about this, and he was able to read the text: "STAND CLEAR!" on the top of the doors of this machine which lead him to believe that it might be a time machine of sorts.

What we both managed to agree on when it came to the design of this thing however, was that it looks like a cabinet.

Now, like I said, this thing has a one of a kind design, so it's not going to look exactly like one thing or another, but it has similar features to other things such as to this cabinet

[x]

Two longer doors on the upper half, and two smaller doors/drawers on the bottom. Is that actually what it is? I didn't know, but there is a resemblance.

One thing that's REALLY interesting about this machine is the intense amount of steam it lets out.

[x]

So it's definitely a very active machine.

But where does Jaunty come from?

Something I've been wondering is how much of this is actually connected to SPG.

Is it theirs? Is this a part of a bigger thing? Is it just associated with them?

A bigger thing. There is one example of a big SPG show that comes to mind, and it was not just them.

During their 15 Year Anniversary Livestream, the band was asked about their favorite memories. Bunny mentions that one of her favorite memories was at a show called Clockwork Vaudeville. This was one of the band's first time having a massive audience. According to her, this was a time traveling show, and they performed alongside others.

I looked into it and found that the full name of this performance is called Clockwork Vaudeville Circus Cabaret. And there, I found a little advertisement for it as well!

youtube

The Kickstarter for this show started in late 2010

I did some more searching and realized there is a bunch of video from this show out there though all these clips are recorded at random intervals. Assuming that the uploader posted these clips close to the date of the actual show, we can see that this show took place in February of 2011!

About one month after this show, this page was added to the wiki.

I checked the clips, and guess what.

[x]

Right there in the corner, there was Jaunty.

But that's not all

Not only have a found a video that contained Jaunty, I found a video that contained Jaunty in action!

[x]

Unbelievably enough, it was a video of the band performing Honeybee alongside a pole dancer. And thanks to the title, we now know that this show took place February 19, 2011

Which all this confirms 100% that Jaunty IS a time machine.

Now with all things considered, Jaunty is not necessarily an "SPG character" as in they didn't create it. It's hard to say if Jaunty is even a character at all at this point! But it does exist in their world and they actively interact with it!

Who cheered? I cracked the code!

#so hyped about this you guys don't even know #steam powered giraffe #spg #my stuff #spg info #vintage!rabbit #tw michael reed #jaunty spg #big post yall

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hellsite-proteins · 6 months ago

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Featured Protein: Bacteriorhodopsin

this fantastic protein was suggested by @imperialinquisition, and i'm so excited i finally got around to putting together some information about it!

this protein is found in archaea – specifically Halobacterium salinarum, which are halophilic (live in extremely salty environments) obligate aerobes (need oxygen to function). it has 7 transmembrane domains and is an analog to human rhodopsin (a G-protein-coupled receptor protein in the rod cells of our eyes *note: bacteriorhodopsin is NOT a G-protein-coupled receptor, but is still in the 7TM receptor family) and forms distinct purple coloured parts of the cell membrane. this protein is also the source of a lot of interest from an engineering and biotechnology perspective.

this is one of several types of proton pumps, which transport protons across a cell membrane against an electrochemical gradient. however, the feature that makes this one so interesting is that it is powered by sunlight. when a photon of light is absorbed, all-trans-retinal (one molecule attached to each of 3 protein chains) is isomerised to 13-cis-retinal. this induces conformational changes in the rest of the protein through a 9-stage photocycle, altering the pKa values of a few conserved residues and allowing one proton to be transferred outside the cell. through this action, the inside of the cell is made 10,000-fold more basic than outside the membrane! this proton gradient is used to power ATP synthase, making most of the cell's ATP

sources:

i wasn't able to download a version of the structure with all three chains, but i found some cool images of the structure:

as always, if i made any mistakes, please let me know!

#science #biochemistry #biology #chemistry #stem #proteins #protein structure #science side of tumblr #protein info #protein feature

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iridiss · 18 days ago

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it’s that time again folks. minecraft block people character analysis time. This time I wanna take an in-depth look at Garmau, Laurmau, and Garrance’s character dynamics, and I MEAN in-depth. I am breaking the canon source material down within an inch of its life. I am going to go until I either discover the character limit for a tumblr post, or reach the end of all Aphverse content, or reach the image limit of a single tumblr post. Whichever stops me first. Which is to say, this is a very long post, so if you want to read a Great Gatsby’s worth of information and analysis and gushing about Garrance, Garmau, and Laurmau, this is the place for you!

To get the party started, something I find to be immediately of notice is that the first thing Garroth ever says to Aphmau is a complaint about how he believes no one will ever listen to the guard (to him) anymore, not after Lord Malik’s “horrible” rulership.

This already paints a picture of a corrupt (or at the very least inept) leader that Garroth followed the word of. And by following Malik’s word, the people’s distrust or disdain for their previous Lord now extends to Garroth by proxy. There’s a sort of running theme with Garroth that I presumed, and it’s that Garroth feels a disconnect from the townspeople. They don’t trust him, he fears their disapproval, he’s a little bit of an outcast, regarded with some level of disdain. In Diaries: Rebirth, it’s instead stated that the guard are being suspected for the murder of Lord Malik and his family, because they don’t have the bodies to prove it wasn’t them, which is a WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL of “not trusting the guard”!! But Donna reiterates this idea in Rebirth, stating how the villagers have lost faith in Garroth.

This brings to mind the idea that Aphmau was likely one of the first few that really did listen to Garroth. If he already felt like an outsider in his own town, then it makes sense he would be drawn to a…literal outsider who’s new in town. There could easily be an aspect to Garroth and Aphmau’s relationship that extrapolates upon Aphmau’s attentive and persistent friendliness and kindness making Garroth feel heard and seen in a way he doesn’t often get.

His first overall impression with Aphmau is on the note of feeling surprised and grateful for all the work she’s done for the town. He thanks her, and offers minor aid/makes requests/encourages her to continue. He appears to only grow more and more flattered by her generosity as she continues, and one notable moment between the two of them I found to be utterly adorable was when Aphmau built him the first guard tower in episode 48:

It’s likely that this is how Garroth first started falling in love with her, through her acts of selfless generosity. The lines that stick out to me here are: “This is too much, you didn’t have to do this for me,” and “No one has ever done anything this nice for me.” Giving the impression that Garroth not only hasn’t received very much kindness in his life, but also feels insecure about being showered in presents from Aphmau, further pointing to this idea that he feels like he doesn’t deserve it. She keeps giving him what effectively feels like the world to him by repairing his withering village, and he doesn’t feel like he personally deserves any of the gifts she gives him, he’s taken aback and flustered by it and it absolutely means something significant to him that she’s helping his case as much as she is.

Plus, the state of the village likely contributes a lot to Garroth being frowned upon by the other villagers, so she, entirely unintentionally, ends up doing a lot to save his skin and make his life better in her casual, day-to-day improvements on the town. Even more so when Garroth becomes her personal guard and right-hand-man. If his name was soiled by working for Lord Malik, I can only imagine his reputation would be healed by working for Lord Aphmau. Which is to say, she makes his life better overall, without even realizing it.

After that, Garroth gets mortally wounded, and Aphmau travels all the way to Bright Port and faces the Alpha of the Southern Werewolf Tribe (and goes to hell!) to save his life. And soon after his recovery, Aphmau finds Levin, and brings him to Garroth.

He automatically volunteers to help Aphmau raise him the second he hears she’s going to raise this child herself, not even sparing a second to ask if he could but just. Without any hesitation or argument, he immediately steps up as Levin’s new foster dad. This blows me away, personally! Not very many people on this earth would just, without any hesitation or question, automatically volunteer themselves as some random kid’s new father figure just so that they didn’t have to watch their friend suffer through the trial of being a single mom. He recognizes that Aphmau is going to struggle to be a single mom, so he immediately takes away as much of that burden as he can by signing himself up as a co-parent. Now it’s Garroth’s turn to help Aphmau <3

To me, the intimacy of this commitment cannot be understated, even though the canon source material doesn’t recognize it as an intimate thing at all, or even as that big of a deal! They are now co-parents!! Well before they’re ever lovers, most likely well before Aphmau even develops any sort of attraction to or deep, personal bond with Garroth, they have become co-parents. They are now a family, because Garroth refuses to let her go through this alone. That shit!! Should mean!! A lot!!! To her!!! I think!!!!!! And should at the very least be the first, most pivotal moment between the two of them solidifying their bond as companions before anything else!!

I’m also beginning to notice a pattern between these two, a sense of “You’re not gonna be alone anymore. I’m here.” That now goes both ways. Previously, Aphmau had unintentionally been making Garroth feel less alone, and now, Garroth is making sure Aphmau doesn’t go through it alone.

Another adorable addition!!!

“In fact, he welcomed it like a proud father, he did!” I’m going to cry. Garroth helped organize a baby shower celebrating Levin’s arrival!! He was so happy to accept Levin as his new son, he threw a party about it!! “Look at my son!! I’m so proud of him already!!! I love him!! Look at him!! Everyone from Bright Port to Scaleswind will celebrate my new son!!!” Papa Garroth is so cute sometimes, he makes me so happy <3

From this point on, I would consider them companions. Garroth might have developed a small crush on her by this point, and there’s a chance that Aphmau has as well, but there’s also the chance that her feelings for him are still entirely platonic and such a thing has never even occurred to her before. They’re not really close at all, but they’re parenting together now. They’re a family before anything else.

I could be wrong about this but I think this is also around the time when Aphmau starts to receive a lot of pressure from people on the outside to Pick A Man And Get Married. A sizable chunk of the garmau/laurmau/etc. shipping content seems to consist of this, sadly. Where everyone else but Aphmau continues to press her over and over again about when she’s gonna shack up with Garroth or which man she should choose, and if I were in her shoes, I’d get pissed with anyone who asked me this. It’d get real old after the second time ‘round of someone else, completely unrelated to my love life, trying to pressure me to hook up with someone when I didn’t want to or didn’t feel ready to. Fortunately, Aphmau has a LOT more patience than me when it comes to dealing with this shit.

Dale asks Aphmau if she plans on hooking up with Garroth. Aphmau says no, she has too much on her plate right now to think about romance. There’s probably something to be said about how her rejection reason is “I’m too busy right now to worry about that” and not “no, ew, WTF, im not attracted to him, why would i ever hook up with Garroth.” Which, in the subtext, would imply that she very well could have some sort of attraction for Garroth or desire to get with him romantically, but since she’s the Lord of a village and dealing with all kinds of shit, she has decided to sweep all of that shit under the rug and just. Not worry about it, and ignore it for as long as she can before it starts to become a problem. Aphmau likes to do this a lot. If there is any romantic attraction in her brain, throughout most of the series she does a very, very good job at refusing to look at it. (which is very reasonable considering how fucked up everything around her is!! girl’s got a lot on her mind!! she doesn’t have time to start worrying about emotional shit, not when lives are at stake and she has a whole ass village to run and wars to fight !!!)

When the townspeople ask her if she wants to hook up with Garroth, her reaction is not “wait, what? why would I hook up with Garroth lmao. no, I’m not interested in him,” her response is “I don’t want to think about that right now.” And that is a noteworthily different thing than saying “ew no.” There is a world of difference between those two replies. And that is fascinating to me.

This is still a strong contrast to Mystreet Aphmau however, especially in comparison to how Mystreet starts with an Aphmau who crushes HARD and LOUD and is an open book with her feelings, it is NOT hard to tell when that freshman has a crush. MCD Aphmau is, from what I can personally tell, such a master of repressing her own emotions that she can easily be mistaken for having zero attraction for anyone at all throughout the entirety of season 1. For her, you kinda have to dig for “tells” that she’s attracted to Garroth or Laurance, up until the beginning of s2. While Garroth and Laurance wear their hearts on their sleeve, Aphmau buries it deep where she doesn’t have to look at it, doesn’t have to worry about it, doesn’t have to make any rash, life-changing decisions, doesn’t have to face the vulnerability of it, and can instead put her energy towards much more important shit, like saving lives and recovering towns and stopping wars.

This is how I interpret her reactions and responses, at least. She seems much more romantically reserved than Mystreet Aphmau ever is, if im being honest

…then of course there’s this classic moment lmao

Garroth prepares Aphmau a chest of supplies she’ll need for her journey to meet Levin’s mother, and inside is a wedding ring. Aphmau is confused to find a wedding ring in the chest, and says “uhhhh…I don’t need that” and sets it aside. Meanwhile, Garroth stands less than a foot away.

My man, you have got to be less subtle than that.

Not that I think she would have accepted the offer if it were bolder, I believe she would still reject him all the same at this point in time, but this also shows how Garroth prefers to handle matters of confessing his feelings for someone. He doesn’t get on one knee and beg for her to marry him in front of everyone in Phoenix Drop, or make any sort of grand love confession—no, he doesn’t even specify that he was the one who prepared the chest!! He tries to be incredibly subtle about his feelings for her, trying backwards silent ways to maybe, quietly, suggest that he likes her. He’s shy about it!! He struggles to make grand gestures of proclaimed affection!! He’s quiet with his feelings and doesn’t talk about them!!

Later on, this will contrast Laurance, who handles his feelings in the POLAR OPPOSITE way, loudly and proudly and utterly obnoxiously even to a highly detrimental point, and it’s interesting to see the differences in Aphmau’s beginning opinions of Garroth vs her first impression of Laurance. She’s civil and friendly and giving towards Garroth, they don’t talk about their intimate feelings (because they’re both chronically bad at it lmao) but they become a family and she trusts him with that, she trusts him with her child and with her life, and goes the limit to save his own life and make sure he’s okay. And meanwhile, her first impression of Laurance is much closer to hating his guts lmao. It’s interesting to think about how Laurance’s bold demeanor clashes with Aphmau’s more reserved demeanor at first, before that boldness ends up becoming something she needs, something that fills a void in her life that she depends on and trusts to always be upfront and honest with her (we’ll get more into that later). And meanwhile, Aphmau and Garroth both matching with kinda-similar demeanors leads to them becoming friends much faster than Laurmau does, buuut it also means it takes them 100+ episodes to actually confront how they feel about each other lmao.

I also want to point out: At this point, Garroth is not just asking Aphmau to maybe consider dating him. He’s going straight to marriage. Which means Garroth—the man infamously known from running away from a previous engagement, might I add—is willing to become her goddamn husband right goddamn now.

This could probably be attributed again to the fact that they’re co-parents together. Something about assuming it’d be “easier to raise a child together and be levin’s mom and dad for realsies” if they were married. But Aphmau’s also just about to travel to meet Matilda, so Garroth knows that there’s a full possibility that Levin may not be their kid to raise anymore when she gets back. If they got married now, before she left, then they may not be parents anymore, but they could still be a couple/a family together. Maybe this was even some sort of last-ditch effort to salvage that and make sure their new arrangement stays, so he doesn’t have to let go of this wonderful thing with Levin’s absence. My man’s got fatherhood and family and marriage on the mind—and meanwhile, Aphmau doesn’t even want to start THINKING about the possibility of romance. When it comes to handling a possible intimate relationship, they’re both really bad at talking about their feelings, but in terms of what they’re willing to face—these two are on opposite ends of the book. He’s willing to become her goddamn husband, but Aphmau doesn’t even wanna think about romance—no matter what she may truly feel.

It is at this point when Laurance enters the scene.

Lmao, MCD!Aphmau has a WILDLY different reaction to Laurance’s advances than Rebirth!Aphmau. Rebirth!Aphmau blushes bright red and feels flustered and confused by his flirting, and meanwhile MCD!Aphmau says he is “creeping her out” and tells him to get the fuck away from her and says “uhhh no thanks!!” To all of his advances. She is NOT a fan of his pick-up lines and finds his advances unnerving, unwelcome, and often frustrating. I like to imagine this is to contrast gentlemanly Garroth, who would never EVER treat a lady so inappropriately. But Aphmau is frustrated with Laurance’s advances for a long while throughout S1, and it’s only as she starts to get to know Laurance intimately as a person and as a friend first that her reaction to his flirting gradually changes from irritation to laughter, teasing him back and playing along with their banter. He ends up flirting with her mostly just to make her laugh, because he knows she’ll crack up smiling whenever he does, and he likes to see her smile. Buuut that’s only when they become closer friends first, right now they’re practically strangers, and Aphmau hates his inappropriate behavior.

(disclaimer to all the fellas in the audience: please don’t ever actually do this in real life. if a girl very clearly says no to all of your advances, back the fuck off and stop. im taking a gentle hand with this because Laurance is a little more complicated of a character whom I adore very much and I want to analyze him and his relationship with Aphmau with an open-minded, gracious hand in order to give their later relationship and true bond in canon a fair and accurate, loving chance. but in real life? its much simpler. this would be considered sexual harassment. please don’t ever do this lmao)

The first ever Garroth/Laurance/Aphmau interaction is when Aphmau gets arrested. I love the contrast here between how Laurance and Garroth talk about each other. “He seems like a nice guy!” VS “How inappropriate. I’ll make sure to have a few words with him…” Garroth’s first impression of Laurance is disdain for his behavior (and for flirting with his crush), and Laurance’s first impression of Garroth is “I like this guy! He’s nice :)” lmao. The feeling is not mutual, Laurance.

Then we have the face reveal scene. Here, Garroth’s deepest shame is put on display. Very intimately, Aphmau is the only one he trusts enough to see him like this, to let her in and see his worst sins.

He feels like he’s failed the village, and has likely failed his people in general, for a myriad of reasons. 1. He feels responsible for Zenix’s betrayal and corruption, because Zenix was his apprentice, he feels like his upbringing is his responsibility, and if Zenix turns bad, it’s therefore his fault for not teaching him to know better. For not noticing that Zenix was even corrupt or a Shadow Knight in the first place. Garroth feels like the attack on the town is his fault, because of this. 2. He left his kingdom behind in their time of need, because he couldn’t face marrying a woman he didn’t love, so he’s already pretty predisposed to feel guilty and ashamed of himself and convinced that he’s a failure. This is why revealing his face to Aphmau brings back the worst of his shame when paired with Zenix’s betrayal. To him, showing her his princely appearance and his true identity (the thing he tries his damndest to keep hidden from other villagers, his skeleton in the closet) is the equivalent of showing her a raw and infected wound. He is deeply insecure, but Aphmau doesn’t see him as a failure. She doesn’t see him for his faults at all and sympathizes with him, insisting that he doesn’t deserve to hurt like this. He disagrees.

Maybe he’s too far deep in his own shame for pretty words to drag him out, maybe he knows that Aphmau doesn’t understand that he’s a Prince yet. She doesn’t understand the full extent of his crimes, so she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. It’s a nice sentiment, but he’s certain that once she learns the full truth about him, she’ll turn her back on him and see that the cruel voice inside his head is right.

Little does he know how truly forgiving Aphmau is, especially with him. She worries for him.

I wonder if there’s an angle to be played that Garroth’s personal shame and self-loathing might effect his ability to open up and be confident and bold on his own—and how that would effect his view of Laurance, as well. Because here’s the thing, Garroth doesn’t know it yet, but Laurance is just as full of guilt and shame as he is. Laurance blames himself for the death of his father figure, Lord, and previous mentor, in the same way Garroth blames himself for Zenix’s attack. Laurance feels like he’s failed as a guard, and it’s easy to think that he would carry that feeling with him going forward. But Laurance handles his shame differently. He handles it by hiding behind a mask.

This clip is fascinating to me because it’s the first time Laurance truly, fully, deeply opens up to Aphmau on a vulnerable level. And in doing so, he lets her peek behind the mask for just a moment, to reveal that this flirtatious Casanova exterior he has is nothing but that—an exterior. An act. It’s something he’s making up to hide the fact that in truth, he’s awkward and doesn’t know what to do or how else to respond to all the one-sided advances he’s getting. He doesn’t flirt with the girls of Meteli because he actually likes them, he does it because… he doesn’t know what else to do. He goes along with the game as a sort of front, and without it, he actually really struggled to talk to girls and connect with others. He never actually forms a more intimate bond with any of these girls, and later on he even reveals that he’d never even kissed a girl before Aphmau. This man is a single virgin who hasn’t even kissed anyone before, he doesn’t actually sleep around or date anyone, the player act is all for show.

And I believe Laurance uses this front to cover up other emotions or parts of himself as well, more than just his true awkward nature and disinterest in any of these women. Laurance strikes me as the kind of guy who uses humor to cope with the pain, or to hide how insecure/scared/depressed/upset he actually feels. Maybe if all of Meteli thinks of him as the confident, sexy, Casanova flirt who picks up chicks all the time, they won’t see him for the failure he truly is: the guard who couldn’t even save his father’s life.

Garroth hides behind a literal mask. Laurance hides behind a figurative one.

But Laurance is so good at pretending to be confident and bold and brave that it’s likely Garroth feels jealous of him. In episode 15 of S2, Garroth says: “…Or maybe, I’m just having flashforwards to things I should have done. I feel like I should have taken the time to know you more as a person, rather than just protecting you as my Lord. In a way, I’m a little jealous of Laurance. He was able to befriend you, and make you laugh. . . . I wish I had the chance to create fond memories like that with you. I wasn’t sure how to approach you, so I just acted as your Guard.” Which is true! Before Laurance showed up, 98% of Garroth and Aphmau’s interactions were purely formal.

It’s funny, despite Aphmau not actually wanting any of Laurance’s romantic advances, Garroth wishes he could be more like Laurance. I can guarantee you if Garroth tried to flirt with Aphmau as obnoxiously as Laurance did, he would still get rejected. Because Aphmau doesn’t really work that way, you need to become her friend first, form an actual bond, before she’d even allow herself to start thinking about romancing you. She’s not one for smooth, confident, hot guys who pick up chicks, she’s got a goddamn job to do (even if Garroth flirted with her, it wouldn’t change the workload she has to focus on instead)

By episode 39, Garroth‘s opinion of Laurance seems to be improving. From nothing but irritated disdain, to “he’s a good man, he’s in my good graces and I’m on friendly terms with him now, but I still don’t like how inappropriately he treats you.” Laurance’s friendliness is beginning to be reciprocated! :D There’s also a blooming impression that Laurance and Garroth are beginning to speak with each other off-screen, especially with Laurance talking about them sharing a previous confrontation over Aphmau off-screen (and Laurance flippantly disregarding Garroth’s request to stop harassing her lol)

And then… Laurance gets trapped in the Nether. He sacrifices himself to save Aphmau (and castor)‘s life, but sadly gets left behind to face Shad all by himself. It’s an incredibly noble thing for him to do, and frankly, it’s a way we can look at Laurance’s actions, and not his words, to see more clearly what kind of person he truly is at heart, and it’s someone selfless and caring and honorable enough to give his life to save an old friend that consistently pisses him off, and a woman he barely even really knew. It’s an act that solidifies an impression on Aphmau, and from this point onwards, she doesn’t seem to treat him like an annoyance anymore, but as a friend that she worries for and wants to take care of.

Garroth’s reaction is more…complicated, however. When Aphmau first arrives on PD shores to tell him the news, Garroth’s reflexive reaction is this:

Garroth doesn’t hate Laurance for “stealing his thunder” and saving Aphmau’s life, it actually hugely improves his opinion of the man. He’s deeply grateful for him and his sacrifice, and values his honor and knighthood quite a lot. He’s determined to save him and bring him back (even though he may pose a “threat” as a “romantic rival”).

…Up until Ungrth comes back with the news of Laurance’s transformation into a Shadow Knight. Now here’s where shit gets dicey. As a Shadow Knight, it would be in Laurence’s nature to kill Aphmau, and he forever will be drawn to killing her. This makes him incredibly dangerous, and a massive risk to Aphmau’s life from this point forward. Understandably, this makes Garroth feel a bit… nervous. Apparently so nervous that he decides to pull this:

This feels a bit cold, to me. It makes sense logically speaking, but like. I’m pretty sure the continuity of the series forgot this rule for a reason lmao, because forcing Laurance to kill himself the second he leaves the Nether would be one HELL of a derailment of the main plot. There’s a potential timeline out there where the narrative didn’t forget about this rule and Garroth could’ve tried to hold him to this, and he tries to pressure him into it, and Laurance gets caught in a binding dilemma as a guard, but also as a person!! That’d be dark as shit!! And very fucked up!! Especially considering the horrific trauma he’s been through and the mental state he’s in once he’s freed!! There’s a world out there where Garroth makes his mental health sooooooo sosososo much worse than it was and Aphmau has to step in and tell him to knock it the fuck off. Would it be in character for him to do that? I dunno! That’s why I’m here! Did Garroth abandon his own rules on purpose? Was it intentional that Garroth never ended up holding Laurance to the rule he created? Is there a world where Garroth gets it in his craw that he needs to protect Aphmau above all else, even at the cost of Laurance’s life, and he hand-writes and integrates a new and damning rule into Knighthood itself to eliminate him as a threat—but then he actually reunites with Laurance, and he sees him for the traumatized, earnest, tender, broken man that he is, and silently decides to never bring it up again? To potentially betray his own honor as a guard by forgetting the very rule he created, because he can’t bring himself to face the cruel reality of actually forcing Laurance to do it now that he’s seeing him face-to-face? Did Laurance’s return soften his heart?

…or was that just a continuity error in an amateurly crafted minecraft roleplay series made in a youtuber’s bedroom lmao.

…Probably just the latter. Either way, I can’t help but just…take note of the vehement 180 he did? When it’s just Laurance by himself, he’s desperate to save him, but when he’s dealing with a Shadow Knight who’s very likely to kill Aphmau, it’s Aphmau’s life over all. She is his Lord after all…but also, the love of his life. Of course he would pick saving her life over making sure Laurance gets out of the Nether alive. He barely even knew the man by this point. He had only just barely started to feel positively about him on a basic level, so of course he would choose to kill Laurance and single-handedly sabotage any chance of bringing him back in one piece, if it meant he could save Aphmau’s life instead.

…now, of course, the narrative kinda forgets this rule and it doesn’t really come up ever again, especially after Laurance’s return, but I still want to point this out as a view into a sort of…darker side of Garroth. For a man with supposedly such a big heart, he does seem to be able to drastically shut it off at a moments notice, if he’s been horrendously slighted in some way or another. Even if it comes at the expense of others lives. It’s cold as fuck of a choice, but it’s also very understandable that he wouldn’t want to welcome a sort of…murderous monster into his home and put the life of his Lord at such huge risk, possibly even his family and Phoenix Drop itself could have been endangered as well. Thats the mother of his child he’s protecting here, and all he knows is that Laurance is pretty guaranteed to try to kill her the second he comes back. They just barely tangoed with the damages of Zenix’s own attack on the village, he does not want to contend with that a second time.

I can’t help but imagine how Garroth and Aphmau might’ve argued and fought over what to do about Laurance.

Aphmau desperately wants to save Laurance and bring him back, despite the risk upon her own health and safety. Garroth, however, stops her, and holds her back. He’s terrified of Laurance hurting her now. Even if he is their friend, he’s not willing to sacrifice her to bring him back. They still care for each other, despite this conflict of interests. Aphmau’s care for Laurance pulls her to him, despite the danger, Garroth’s care for her holds her back, and Aphmau’s care for Garroth brings her to listen to him and continue to do nothing.

I don’t feel like Garroth is doing this to “keep Aphmau all to himself.” I think his love for her is most certainly influencing him to be more protective than usual, but I think the theory that he’s actively sabotaging Laurance’s return out of “jealous rivalry” was proven wrong by his reflex response at the start. Like, if Laurance had gotten stuck in the Wyvern dimension instead, Garroth would 1000% single-handedly fish him out and bring him back to stay at their side. Before Ungrth confirmed that he was being transformed into a bloodthirsty monster, he was desperate to rescue him. But now, he had to choose between Laurance’s life, or Aphmau’s, in bringing him back. He’s closer with Aphmau, he loves her dearly, he’s raising a child with her, a son who needs his mother, Phoenix Drop had just been attacked by another Shadow Knight already, an attack he feels horribly responsible for. So if he feels guilty for leading Phoenix Drop into ruin under Zenix, then he absolutely is going to try his damndest to prevent that from happening again. He will do everything in his power to amend his sins by keeping the village, and his Lord, perfectly safe.

And I think he’s probably even sad that Laurance is gone! “Laurance was a good man and a worthy guard, it’s a shame the order lost him. Ulrich and Luna of Meteli told me so many notable deeds Laurance has done for his people…” He wasn’t intimately close with the man at this point, but there’s a clear solemn respect that he holds for him now that he’s gone. He wishes that it hadn’t come to this, he wishes that Laurance was okay and that this never had to happen. He believes he’s honoring Laurance’s wishes by choosing to keep Aphmau safe, saying if it were him in Laurance’s shoes, he would have wanted him to do the same. This tells me he fully believes that if Garroth had gotten trapped in the Nether instead, and Laurance was left on the other side, he would fully expect Laurance to treat him the same way, to leave him abandoned in the Nether, to suffer the torture and trauma and pain alone.

…I don’t fully think Laurance would do the same, however. I feel like he would have been at least a handful more open to the idea of rescuing Garroth, especially since Laurance felt much more positively about Garroth as a friend than Garroth felt about Laurance.

Garroth and Aphmau make up when Zane arrives. He starts trying to force Garroth to reveal his identity as the Prince of O’khasis. Aphmau doesn’t know that he’s a Prince, however, she only knows that he feels uncomfortable with showing his face for reasons he refuses to talk about. When the High Priest of O’khasis himself demands she order him to take off his helmet, she defends Garroth’s boundaries and refuses.

And even when her hands are tied and he forces her to order him to do it anyway, she finds a loophole to make sure his boundaries stay protected.

This means A LOT to Garroth. Considering how vehemently Zane, his brother, is currently trying to break his boundaries (and the fact that he was forced into a marriage he didn't consent to), its likely that Garroth's family frequently refuse to give a shit about his boundaries or his consent or his opinion about what he does and does not do with his personhood, life, body, and appearance. So to have Aphmau, someone in charge who very much has the power to force him to do what he doesn't want to do, then turn around and respect him as a human being and care for his consent on a level no one's ever done for him before? It means a fuckin lot!!

they truly are the “he asked for no pickles!” couple of all time…… aphmau protecting Garroth as he protects her…… protective aphmau…… aphmau defending Garroth when he’s the one in need of a knight……

This means so much to him, that he decides to...go out in public for some reason?? Anyway?? Despite all that fuss?? And shows up at the reception to ask Aphmau to dance with him. Any strain over Laurance is mended, as they enjoy their night together and share a special moment.

They're starting to really drop their formal, professional behavior from earlier. They really are beginning to draw close to each other now, allowing themselves to joke around more often. Aphmau starts teasing him more, and he lightens up a lot. Aphmau’s own reactions have started to shift from neutral, professional, unbothered, breezing through the scenes without much of a reaction at all on the video cam, to now smiling and laughing along. She grows fond at the sight of him. A playful heart that’s often so buried under the professionalism of their jobs and the stress of their lives bleeds out in the brief moments where they can take a break from it all, in the moments of casual comfort they bring each other.

(also Garroth nearly asking if they could get married…… he tries a second time……)

I do want to note that Aphmau 100% supports Garroth’s decision to leave his throne behind. She doesn’t want Garroth to go back and fulfill his duties, she wants him to stay right here with her and leave the rest of the world behind. She needs him here with her, with their son, with the town that relies on him, as her guard, as her dear companion. This contrasts Laurance’s own opinion, who believes going back and returning to his old throne and marrying Nicole is not only the more honorable thing to do, but would likely get them out of this mess if he did.

He finds Garroth’s refusal to take the throne cowardly, and seems to resent him for it, at least on some minor level. If Garroth just tended to his responsibilities and stopped running away, he could single-handedly take over the threat of O’khasis as a whole and make the world a better place, and they wouldn’t need to suffer through any more violence and war and loss at the hands of Zane Ro’meave or the King. But it means more than that to Garroth. He’s terrified of taking any position of leadership. Partially because he’s just naturally better at being a follower than a leader, but mainly because he refuses to become his father. In episode 68 of S1, he admits that he used to look up to his father a lot, he wanted to grow up to be exactly like him. But then he turned cruel and corrupt with time, and Garroth’s feelings changed. If his father is abusive, it’s likely that he had some sort of realization of the truth about how horrible his father truly was. I do feel like it is NOT a coincidence that Garroth looks almost exactly like Garte and is named after him. It’s pretty much like if he named him, “Garte Jr.” It would make sense if Garroth’s chosen destiny was meant to revolve around continuing Garte’s legacy, taking his place when he’s gone, becoming the perfect King as his father wanted him to become, act and behave. Which is to say, a cruel and corrupt one. It’s easy to think that Garroth, as kind and soft and shy and good as he is, didn’t want anything to do with fulfilling that legacy. He had been running away from his father long before the marriage arrangement. When he was in his youth, he says he joined the Guard Academy specifically so he could get away from his father, saying “one day [he] had enough.” He runs away from the throne not because he’s a coward who doesn’t feel like being responsible—he’s incredibly responsible, when it comes to being a Head Guard—he runs away because he’s running away from his father.

It’s likely he’s running away from abuse. Or at least some sort of toxic, unhealthy, or potentially even abusive family dynamic, given how many examples we see of the Ro’meave being dysfunctional and cruel and uncaring, with Zane’s behavior, with Garte’s behavior, with Zianna feeling the need to cheat and confide in another man due to how bad her husband got, with Garroth running away from his family as far as he can get and literally going under cover just to avoid them. These are not the signs of a happy, functional family unit. These are the signs of trauma.

What doesn’t occur to Laurance is the extent of what he’s asking Garroth to do, by returning to his family and their legacy. To step up and become King. Laurance, the stubborn man who grew up with caring Hayden as a father, with a perfect loving sister, and however Joh was like as a dad, he only sees the potential Garroth has to become the wonderful, good Lord that fixes everything and undoes all the damage and brings peace to the world. He doesn’t see the darker truth that it means to Garroth, the scars that motivate him to hide himself so vehemently, all the time.

I wonder if Garroth would be more confident in himself if he grew up in a healthier family unit. Maybe that’s why Mystreet!Garroth behaves so differently (and was able to confess his love to Aphmau MUCH sooner). He carries this strong sense of guilt, of shame, of feeling like he’s always inadequate and always a failure who doesn’t deserve love or nice things and doesn’t quite know how to love yet. Insecurity that strong usually comes from somewhere, and I believe it came from Garroth’s upbringing/childhood/family/mainly his father. Especially since that level of shame and guilt isn’t anywhere NEAR as present in Mystreet!Garroth. There’s a point to be made about how he always hides his feelings, buries himself deep, and always assumes that it’s his fault when something goes wrong. Especially if part of his guilt stems from…not taking the throne. From refusing to become what his father, his family, wanted him to be, all because he couldn’t take it.

I feel like all of this does occur to Aphmau. And that’s one of the main reasons why she’s so empathetic with him, why she immediately takes his side and refuses to turn him over to Zane and insists that he stay here, with her, and run far away from that arranged marriage and his father. She’s protecting him. Here, he’s safe. Here, she can continue to love him and keep him close. She recognizes his family for the corrupt and fucked up unit that it is and refuses to let him subject himself to that suffering any more. She knows he doesn’t want to go back, doesn’t want to marry Nicole, and she stands by his boundaries and defends them, even with an entire army, even with her life and the lives of her people, if it means keeping him out of Zane’s grasp.

…But also… if he stays with her, and never accepts his arraigned marriage… it means he’s still up for grabs. He stays single… he stays with Aphmau. So if she wants to date him, if she wants to marry him sometime in the future, then she can. I do believe there is a romantic aspect to her refusal to accept the arraigned marriage. It doesn’t feel to me like she’s rejecting it purely only on principle, there’s surely some sort of intent behind making sure Garroth stays single lmao. (especially since this is the aphverse we’re talking about……)

No matter what he does or what horrendous faults he commits, she still clings on tight to him. She refuses to let him go.

Speaking of Laurance, guess who returns from the Nether!!! And Garroth has a turnaround!

I don’t know what happened to “Laurance needs to kill himself the second he touches overworld soil” but I’m happy to see it has immediately vanished from Garroth’s mind. He cares for Laurance, though “I’ll be watching just in case he turns” shows he still has that sense of caution when handling SK!Laurance. He wants to take care of him and make sure he’s okay, and he pities what he’s been through. Saving Aphmau’s life did a lot to improve his trust + opinion of the man.

Laurance hugely confides in Aphmau once he’s returned. But before I get to that, I want to unpack this confession.

Laurance refuses to pressure Aphmau into a relationship. Neither of them are ready for one, and he’s certainly not at a place mentally or physically where he could handle being someone’s boyfriend. He tells her this not to get anything out of it, but because he knows he lives on a timer, and he doesn’t know when it’s gonna run out. He doesn’t know if or when he’s going to hurt her and lose control, so he wants her to know that he loves her. As some sort of parting words before the storm begins, but also likely as reassurance for like…”hey, if I turn and try to kill you later, just know that’s not actually me and I don’t want to hurt you!” He’s also pretty chill about her rejecting him.

That rejection.

See, this is where my job gets hard. As the POV YouTuber roleplaying in a minecraft server, it’s harder to see into Aphmau’s head than it is to see into the NPCs. She’s sort of a…vessel, at times, and other characters often try to decide what Aphmau thinks or feels. There’s a lot of people in the cast claiming that Aphmau has romantic feelings for Laurance and Garroth, but that’s their opinion, and if you remove all the outside pressure and actually look at what subtle, minute actions and reactions Aphmau has, it is very different from what everyone else keeps presuming about her. It’s fascinating how everyone else in the cast just kind of…assumes Aphmau’s feelings for her and tells her how she feels, all the time, while Aphmau herself is a lot more reserved and subtle and harder to read. Laurance states a factual detail here though, she supposedly clenched her grip on his hand when he confessed.

…in real life, this kind of physical reflex would mean jack shit. My hands would be fuckin’ tensing up too if someone I wasn’t attracted to suddenly dropped a love confession on my ass. My hands would tense up if the love of my life confessed to me. My hands would tense up if they said they didn’t care about me. My hands would tense up if the love of my life said there’s a goddamn ice cream truck around the corner and we should go get that sweet sweet creamy sugar substance right tf now. I don’t care. This means nothing. If we’re gonna talk noticing physical details that imply someone is experiencing attraction, Garroth would surely mention something about Aphmau blushing bright red, or Aphmau’s own dialogue options would specify that she starts to blush, as they end up often doing later on. This is bullshit.

So I’m inclined to believe that Laurance is full of shit. But as a writer, I also know what it’s like to use characters dropping facts like this as some sort of way to directly communicate to the audience that they’re dropping an important truth bomb and that another character is lying. So I don’t know for sure. Personally, if we’re going off of Aphmau’s reactions and development up to this point, I’m inclined to believe that she’s telling the truth when she says she’s not interested in him romantically (as per usual) and Laurance is just being the same little shit he always is. But MCD!Aphmau also seems to be the type to lie about her feelings and push them away if she was pushed against some sort of wall and pressured to choose in the moment. So take it as you will, I guess.

Nonetheless, she appreciates the honesty. This hasn’t ruined whatever fondness she feels for Laurance. But additionally, she appreciates the honesty, coming from Casanova Laurance. The man who puts up a mask and fakes being a flirt. If she knows that all the previous times Laurance flirted with her was him blowing smoke and pretending to be something he’s not, then she knows that this confession was as real and true as they come. This is Laurance finally dropping that mask completely and being nothing but his full, vulnerable, genuine self for her, and there’s this potent fondness shared between the two of them for it. That raw intimacy, he shows her what he’s really like underneath, and she says, “I appreciate the honesty.” She appreciates the true Laurance. She cares, deeply, for the real Laurance, and is happy to meet him. “Please do this again,” she communicates to him, “I don’t want my rejection to dissuade you from thinking I still care about you, because I do. You mean so much to me already, and I want to see more of the real you. I appreciate you, I’m happy you’re back. Stay by my side.”

They’re so soft I’m gonna die. I’m gonna SCREAM—

Aphmau immediately turns around and starts teasing Garroth. Lmao look at this loser you guys.

…do you think this means she knows he has feelings for her. do you think this means she has feelings for him. Either way, I love to see her fluster Garroth by being bold and ballsy with her taunting. When she’s comfortable with someone, MCD!Aphmau really can be a flirt at times. ((btw this definitely absolutely counts as a flirt. like this is the kind of shit I would pull on my own crush. girlie you are not fooling anyone))

These two are fucking hilarious. Aphmau like “…what if we ‘pretended’ we were dating……… what if you called me your girlfriend and gave me kisses and called me honeybear in public ……… what if we hooked up but it was all for the joke hahahaha…… purely only for business!!! because all that matters to me is making sure my job of saving the town and my people and my loved ones is fulfilled!!! and that includes saving your life rn hahaha!!! do you think it would save your life if you kissed me” girl. girl come on. at this point you are actively looking for an excuse to allow yourself this. I just love so much that she’s the one who suggested it and came up with the idea in the first place (why were u thinking of pretending to be his girlfriend honey… that’s suspish…), and Garroth immediately turns very visibly flustered and refuses, insisting he could never force her to do such a thing for his sake. Of course Garroth Ro’meave would never ever ever ever come up with the idea of forcing someone else into a romantic relationship they didn’t want to be in, that’s so on brand for you. Of course it would never occur to you to envision a hypothetical scenario where you possibly had an excuse to be romancey with your crush. Loser. Nerd. Doofus. Dork. Dweeb. I want to squeeze his tiny body in my hands and make him squeak repeatedly

The idea that Aphmau searches for an excuse to allow herself a love life the moment it becomes relevant to her “job” because she feels like work is all she’s allowed to focus on… girl……… you have got to allow yourself to live a little I stg

Behold, the beginning of Laurance and Aphmau’s playful back-and-forth teasing banter!!! One of the best and funniest parts of their dynamic. Once Aphmau forms a genuine bond with Laurance giving his life for her and revealing his true self to her from that point onwards (because he’s too fuckin traumatized and depressed to keep up the mask as much as he did before, and Aphmau means way too much to him now to not be sincere and vulnerable with her), she switches how she responds to his flirting and his dialogue, and starts teasing him back. They become much more light-hearted, and in the same way Laurance loves to make Aphmau laugh, it’s heartwarming to see her return the same sentiment for him, making him crack a smile while he’s at his worst. She brightens his day, every way she can. She’s so proud of him. She’s seen how he’s changing, and she’s so, so proud. She sees him smile again, and it makes her so happy to see. She’s so proud of him every moment he smiles and laughs and looks towards something better. She takes his hand!! She holds his hand and happily offers to guide him through!! She convinces him to get back on his feet and go to a party!! AUUGHHH !!!!!! He means so much to her now. Maybe she’s trying to do everything she can to repay the favor of the immeasurable gift he gave her, maybe she’s incredibly grateful for his sacrifice and wants him, the real Laurance, to know that he’s safe here, with her, and he always will be. She was desperate to get him back, and now that she has him, she’s going to do everything in her power to make sure he feels appreciated and happy and safe and cared for. She’s not just tolerating a weird stranger anymore—thats her new best friend.

They’re so goddamn adorable. They turned into something so wholesome. I love them you guys.

Also, remember that I said I would go until I hit either the character limit or the image limit? I’ve hit the image limit now. We’re making this analysis journey a multi-parter. I’ll link the next part here at the bottom of the post (and likely at the top as well) once it’s uploaded! I could and I can and I will gush about these losers all day and night long. See you in part two!

#aphblr #mcd #minecraft diaries #aphmau #garmau #Laurmau #mcd aphmau #mcd garroth #mcd laurance #laurance Zvahl #Laurence Zvahl #garroth ro'meave #garroth romeave #garroth x aphmau #laurance x aphmau #tw suicide mention #long post #tw abuse mention

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matramancer · 3 months ago

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🌸KIKORU THE WINGMAN | Narumi Gen x Mitsuri! reader

Synopsis: As much as she admires her two mentors, seeing the two of you pine over each other was INFURIATING. Perhaps it was time to take matters into her own hands. Unfortunately.

part 1 | Mitsuri! reader Masterlist

Tags: fem! reader, HCs w scenarios, Narumi x reader, Kikoru and Mitsuri!reader found family ft. Narumi, JEALOUS NARUMI, Narumi Gen is an idiot, fluff, mutual pining, Kikoru the wingman

By the time Kikoru’s batch rolls in, she’s already gotten word about several of the unique heavy hitters in the force. She wasn’t her father’s daughter for nothing–an extensive knowledge of the Defense Force is a part of keeping yourself up in the game.

She knew about the infamous First Division—home of Japan’s Strongest Anti-Kaiju Combatant, and the more recent officer who made a name for herself as the Pillar of Love.

However, it still didn’t prepare her for the rather… lousy introduction her supposed new captain and mentor gave her. And the chronic gaming addiction. And the Yamazon addiction. And everything else in between.

When she thought things couldn’t get any rowdier, she was very bombastically introduced to you.

“Captain Narumi! You wanted to see me?” The blonde turns at the new voice entering her ears, your figure standing by the doorway. At a glance, she was taken aback at the mountain of sakura mochi on a tray in your hands, your expression an immediate stark contrast to all the officers she’s ever seen in the force.

As she locked eyes with you, your smile only widened, and Kikoru wondered if it was possible for a human to emit their own light source.

Nothing however prepared her for your figure to zero in on her in a flash, your movements so abrupt she had to take a few steps back to process them. “HELLOOO! YOU’RE SO CUTE! Do you want some sakura mochi? Though I only have a little.” A little?! You were holding a MOUNTAIN!

“Platoon leader (L/N)! Great timing!” Hasegawa keeps his grip strong on Narumi, even as he wriggles about. The man then proceeded to point at his BS5, which the other officers in the room were trying to fit into a trash bag. “HELP ME FARM A DUNGEON! IF WE START NOW WE CAN 100% IT TONIGHT!”

The room is silent as Kikoru watches on, mortified. Hasegawa is seconds away from bloody murder. You were still holding onto your plate of sakura mochi.

“…I’ll just leave these here.” you set down the plate and slowly try to make your escape— “COME BACK HERE PLATOON LEADER!”

If it weren't for the kaiju attack that happened soon after, Narumi’s image would’ve been permanently tarnished in Kikoru’s eyes.

And not only that, she actually also caught a glimpse of you in battle—that was when you really made an impression on her. She solidified her choice by then. She was going to get stronger, with your help.

Although Kikoru was mainly Narumi’s disciple, it soon became clear that the responsibility had also fallen to you. If Narumi wasn’t training her, you were.

It was really based on two things. One, you already spent lots of time training with Narumi, and second, Kikoru had approached you herself.

“You want to train together?” You blinked owlishly as Kikoru stood before you.

“Yes. I saw how you fought–” Kikoru starts. Truth to be told, she couldn’t keep her eyes off of you. She was assigned to your platoon, which gave her front row seats to you on the battlefield. “--Those maneuvers you did, your consistent energy distribution…”

She recounts the battle she witnessed, finding herself staring in awe as you finished off a group of yoju with your machine gun, before strapping said weapon to your back and immediately winding through the street with fast maneuvers. Even with the suit, your speed paired with such strength belonged to no one in the low combat power bracket. Then, the next thing she heard was your unwavering voice, commencing that the neutralization in your zone was complete.

She was absolutely flabbergasted. She hadn’t even registered the weird shape of your sword before you sprung forward, flooring her even more with your superhuman strength. She was a bearer of a heavy weapon herself, but seeing you jump so cleanly with all the weight of your weaponry was on another level. Not to mention how precise each and every move you did was. Anyone with a lower level of skill would’ve cut themselves with that sword!

On the other side of the comms, she hears Narumi send her a taunting chuckle. “You seeing this, newbie? You’re going to have to go on par with that.”

Back to the training grounds, she holds a determined expression on her face, surprising you with a bow, even. “...It would be an honor for you to train me, Platoon Leader.”

“Eh–EH?!?!?!?!?” Kikoru looks up from her bow to see your nervous stupor, a complete 180 from what she saw a mere two hours ago. “ME?!?!?!?!!?” Yes, you.

(Kikoru does not know if she made the right choice).

Usually, you’d be correcting Kikoru’s form and giving her pointers, then holding a sparring session to demonstrate how your techniques flowed. In particular instances where you both used your weapons, you’d move to the specialized training areas.

Narumi in all of his glory would be stuck to his console before you unceremoniously plucked him away from his lawn chair and forced him to participate.

During her training, there was one particular day that stuck out for her. The day she watched you and Narumi spar for the first time.

For once, Narumi had a look that was indescribably amused hidden under his normal demeanor. Excited even. He was the one that initiated it, after all.

“Kikoru, watch.” He says, a lazy smile curling on his lips as he gets into position. A hand to hand spar .No weapons, no gear.

“--I wanted to say that!” You sulked a bit in your mind, biting your lip.

Whenever the two of you sparred, it was always a spectacle. That much was evident on Kikoru’s expression as the two of you went at it, the lighthearted banter from prior completely abandoned as Narumi went on the full offensive.

He was ruthless, not sparing a single punch even as you took a defensive note in your steps. Even if you were dodging his blows, you did so very narrowly.

And then, you flew. An elegant figure belonging to the one deserving of the title “Love Pillar”. Your body twists and contorts with not only polished skill but extreme calculation. If you were even a centimeter off base, Narumi would finish you. It was like you knew where to dodge, and Narumi knew where to hit.

Every single one of your moves had so much thought put into them, which made sense given your weapon of choice. Similarly, Narumi was a master at switching stances, knowing when exactly to go on the defensive before he’s sending another strike to your hazy figure.

It was then that Kikoru realized that she wasn’t just watching any fight–but a culmination of efforts and hardwork that brought the two of you together in this ring. An undoubted match up of strength that solidified your places in the force. That solidified your positions next to each other in battle.

Yeah, she’s never gonna doubt you guys again (or at least, your strengths) as she watches the fight come to a close, courtesy of an announcement by the megaspeakers.

Narumi curses as he hears news of the 3rd Division’s arrival, already muttering not so clean words at the mere thought of their vice captain (you on the other hand were the total opposite, excited at the prospect of seeing some long distance friends).

“We’re going to crush them!” Narumi grunted, cracking his knuckles with the biggest stink eye while you happily tugged Kikoru along, not interested in hampering the mood. “I wonder if we can catch the captain and vice captain! You must miss them, right Kikoru?”

“Haah?! Don’t you DARE even mention Hoshina’s name!” Your captain’s rage immediately intensifies, like a man out for murder. Something Kikoru wanted no part of.

Unfortunately for poor Kikoru, out of pure bad luck and personal circumstance, she had unintentionally gotten herself caught in the front view seats of her captain slash mentor’s unexpected dilemma.

You ignored Narumi’s blatant hostility, smiling ear to ear. You couldn’t wait to catch up with your friends. “Just in time for lunch too! I wonder what’s on the menu…”

Narumi zeroes in on this, already knowing the answer. In fact, he’d even request the chefs to make today’s portions extra bountiful, under the guise of the 3rd Division’s visit.

He cleared his throat, “casually” mentioning your favorite food, and your reaction after is expectedly, a surge of excitement.

Having spent lots of time with you already, Kikoru thought nothing of it–your attitude with a superior present was certainly a bit unrestrained, sure, but after seeing your bond with Narumi, she chalked it up to you guys just having mutual respect and friendship.

Yeah, friendship. Her eyes drift a bit to Narumi, seeing his side profile. Surely, with Narumi being super nonchalant about all this, he was…

wait.

She sees it. Bared witness to it. Lays eyes on it.

A TINT of red on his cheeks. And the aversion of his eyes soon after.

Oh no. Oh no no no. OH NO.

She refuses to get involved, not in the lives of her superiors and DEFINITELY not in the sad lack of love life that belonged to loser master Narumi.

Okay, it was a bit impossible not to. Not when it was one of those things that you’d definitely always notice after realizing it once. And she was spending hours every day with these people.

In Narumi’s defense, he didn’t know how or when it happened. He didn’t even really take note of you until around the time where you earned his acknowledgement, as harshly as that sounded.

His principles, his life revolved around results. Around skills. Around the Defense Force. As far as he was concerned (and hilariously mortified at), you suddenly carving your presence in his psyche and imprinting your being into his heart was not part of any life plans he had in particular.

Sure you got more and more involved with him, sure you just became a regular part of his day, sure you were the number one person he’s most comfortable fighting side by side with, but as anticlimactic as it was, there was nothing spectacular involved. He just noticed it one day.

He especially realizes that something about you in him has changed when he barges in on two officers (nobodies, he didn’t even bother to remember their faces) throwing jabs at how air-headed you seemed. Without even thinking, his brows had furrowed and a scowl was already forming from his face, and when he came to, the officers had already scurried.

At first, he thought it was just acknowledgement and respect for your strength. But thinking about anyone–or anything badmouthing you, calling you names or underestimating you for just being yourself absolutely had him seething.

He got more particular about you all of a sudden as the feelings hit him. He thinks about it all–Your already bright smile that widened just a bit more when you saw him. How you lit up, whether it was from a good day of training with him, or when he would surprise you with a meal. How he has your face memorized by then. He especially loved when you were enjoying a good lunch by his side, when you won a game together, and–

Huh, that’s particular… Did he always notice all of that stuff from you?

Kikoru knew it was over for him when you gathered in the mess hall, and although Narumi had his console in hand, she saw him sneak more than a few glances to your ever joyous figure, your 5th bowl in hand as you excitedly chatted with Captain Ashiro.

And his eyes were full of love.

Hell, he was still quipping with Hoshina, but that’s exactly the thing. The four of you were sitting on the same table in close proximity. Rivalries aside, you were quite good friends with Mina and Hoshina and were always one for conversation, but he and the Vice Captain were usually at each other’s throats. Why was Narumi willingly sitting through this? CALMLY, no less.

These people (you two) were driving her NUTS. Crazy even. It was tolerable at first, hell, things were smooth sailing when she was none the wiser. But now? His lingering gazes, how he lights up when he gets texts from you, how he’s been pushing for your presence more and more often…

Don’t get her started on the special treatment. Did he think he was being smooth?! Kikoru was LOSING it!

Kafka, oh poor Kafka, got dragged into this mess too, via Kikoru finally spilling the beans in a frustrated burst of emotions.

“I can’t take it. It’s disgusting,” she feels like tearing her twintails out, airing out her grievances to Kafka. “The Captain is bad enough as he is.”

The older man just scratches his head with an awkward laugh. The situation reminds him a bit of his high school days. “Well, sometimes the best way to make it stop is to let it happen. Sorry, Kikoru. Young love calls.”

Kikoru groans. “Nevermind that. I don’t know what’s worse. How hard he’s trying–”

Their gazes land on the training grounds where you were chatting with Mina again, before Narumi’s figure emerges from your side as he offers your favorite grilled onigiri nonchalantly. As you thank him with a smile, you‘re completely clueless over how even Mina notices the way his hand brushed against yours for a tad bit too long. How he’s so clearly not doing this for just anyone.

“--Or how oblivious she is.”

So begins the adventures of Kikoru the unwilling wingman.

As much as she’s unwillingly involved in… whatever this was, she joined the Defense Force for a clear reason. She’s not going to toil on this and let it hinder the progress of her training, for her life’s mission.

But there are times where she throws in a gentle push. Not directly getting involved in things by the slightest, but you were quite the talker. What better way than to plant the idea in your head and handle your obliviousness this way?

She ended up learning a few things–one, you were obviously super comfortable with Narumi. Two–you amassed a great deal of respect for him, and was gracious over the opportunity you had to get close with him. REALLY close. Receiving surprise gifts and playing games together in secret during the night type of close. Three–despite all that, you had no idea about the obvious truth.

“You better pay me back for this, idiot master.” Kikoru thinks to herself sometimes.

Don’t mention how you were so good at love advice (love pillar and all, it’s in the name), having been a good ear and cupid for the 1st Division when clearly the one who needed that the most was you. It only frustrates Kikoru more.

So how does Kikoru function as a wingman despite her total unwillingness? Well, she does it through the most unconventional methods… Which is to steal you away from her idiot master instead!It’s a win-win, because she gets to one up her captain and not suffer any consequences–lest he upsets YOU.

On the occasions where Narumi wants to train one on one with you? Nope–Kikoru booked a slot first. You’ve got Friday off? Whoops, girl’s day out with Kikoru and she made you promise.

It was peak “I’m just a girl”. A concept you loved and could heavily indulge in with Kikoru. You’re not sidelining the things you love doing with Narumi, you’re moreover doing things that were more up to you and Kikoru’s forte.

How could you not? Kikoru was an absolute sweetheart, and you’d taken to her like a mother duck. Not only did she see you as a mentor now, but also as a sister figure.

When she started to call you nee-san, you were absolutely ecstatic.

Narumi was understanding. At first. But when even your gaming sessions, which was a sacred bonding time for the both of you, had been slowly taken over by Kikoru’s rendezvouses, that was when the seeds of jealousy started to plow through his skull.

“Ah, Kikoru-chan wants to go shopping.” “Can’t, sorry Narugen! I got tickets with Kikoru and Rin…” “No way! That’s OUR Gossip Girl rewatch marathon and you’re not allowed in.”

And oh does it work. It DEFINITELY started a reaction in him. Narumi has upgraded her status from idiot disciple to menace.

All of a sudden, a new competition rolled in town, and the First Division had a new point of interest to watch.

The rivalry of Isao’s brightest disciple vs his rising star daughter for the attention of the Love Pillar. (Coming to a division near you!)

Both are now vying for your compliments, and sometimes the comms get so loud with their bickering that the operations room has to work overtime over the noise pollution.

Narumi is seething because it seems like Kikoru always wins, your attention so doting on her, your favor clearly present as you never fail to praise her. Hell, the little brat was now on HUGGING terms with you! You even braid her hair the way you did yours some nights. It was driving him crazy.

Kafka’s also always at the scene in the worst timing possible. At more than one instance, he’d walk into the training grounds just as Kikoru successfully stole you away again, and he was forced to endure his daily training under an unmerciless Narumi Gen in a bitter mood.

What made him grumble at the same time was as much as he hated how Kikoru was monopolizing you, you looked absolutely joyous enjoying things with her–and he just couldn’t take that happiness away from you. No, he absolutely won’t allow it.

He wouldn’t ever reveal it so lightly at this point in time, but you meant so much to him.

And as he grows more and more obvious with the shift in his demeanor, how much he’s wagging his tail, even Hoshina had noticed and sent his tips to the betting pool.

If it weren’t for Kikoru’s sleight of hand however, the slow burn you had with Gen would’ve probably lasted longer than the existence of kaiju itself.

When he’s FINALLY able to steal you away from Kikoru, he’s taken aback by how vigorously he was vying for your time in the first place. How he felt so victorious over catching that empty spot in your schedule before his menace of a mentee dragged you away from him.

And when he finally catches himself unable to hold back a grin as he sees you all dressed up pretty on the train with him, it hits him deeply with the realization that you had made yourself home in his consciousness. That he values the many moments he gets to spend with you so much.

Maybe that was okay. Maybe he wants to treasure the little moments he has with you. Maybe… maybe this normalcy the two of you fostered together was alright.

You made him feel normal. Like the two of you were just young adults given a glimpse of a life outside of the Defense Force, where he could imagine days like this with you to come. Like he was just a boy, no captain or anything. And you saw him as just that.

That was what went through his mind on a nice afternoon out in the city, Narumi insisting he be the first to bring you to this new restaurant that served your favorite kind of dishes.

Equipped with disguise gear of great caliber (a mask, sunglasses, and two hats you had lying around), the two of you comb through the crane games and rhythm machines in the arcade, working up an appetite an hour before your reservation.

His eyes couldn’t stop glancing at your excited figure at the small plushies in the crane games. He chose your favorite songs on maimai. He made sure to reserve seats in the restaurant beforehand and nearly even used his name card to guarantee them.

And later on, when Kikoru’s eyes scanned the photostrip you were showing her taken at a purikura booth you and Narumi tried, she nearly fell down over how loving his gaze was on the last pic.

When it was finally time to enjoy your meal, you were beaming in absolute delight as you finished bowl after bowl, plate after plate, offering Narumi a share of everything.

He gladly accepted, absolutely reveling in how you spoiled him. Especially with how there was no Hasegawa around to hold you back. He was practically on your lap, figuratively.

Yapper gf x listener bf to the max as he sat beside you with an expression so soft in comparison to the rest of his unruly personality, being absolutely glued to everything about you.

Well, that was when he was facing you. Narumi had secretly turned away and glared at any other patrons who dared to even attempt to send a nasty look your way from “how much you were eating” .

“You got a problem with that? Do you want me to shove the rest of the food down your throat instead, huh?” Was what Narumi’s intense glare communicated, immediately causing the aforementioned judgemental patrons to look away in embarrassment.

Then, he’d immediately whip his head back when you addressed him, completely at your mercy.

As you finished the last of your food, you were completely obvious to Narumi’s sudden change of demeanor, a wave of nervousness washing over him as he fidgets with the inside of his pocket.

He hopes you’ll like this gift of his.

[restaurant scenario - coming soon]

“I had lots of fun today!” You gushed with your usual cheerful demeanor, sinking into the bathwater next to Rin and Kikoru. You were recounting the eventful afternoon you had to them. “I have so many new plushies now, and there’s so many new stores in that shopping district that just reopened. Let’s go there together next time!”

Kikoru huffed a bit, hearing about your day. She was both lightly covetous over how Narumi somehow managed to steal a slot of your time before her, having grown very attached to you and your attention, yet at the same time, she was absolutely floored at just how smitten her idiot mentor was for you from all the pictures, videos, and stories you showed her when practice finished. If anyone who didn’t know any better saw these, they’d IMMEDIATELY assume it was a date. Hell, that was what Rin thought when she joined the conversation!

You in your Sunday best? Taking you to a specialty restaurant that had your favorite food? Sharing bites? Winning you all those plushies? And…

She recalls just how eye catching the subtle change of your appearance was to her when you returned to the base with him. When you didn’t take off the new item you acquired until you hit the showers.

“Gen got me this today,” as you finally removed the accessory from your hair, you eagerly showed Kikoru and Rin the gift Narumi got you, barely noticing the other two girls’ wide-eyed, open mouthed stare at three things. One, how you addressed your superior, THE Narumi Gen by his first name so lightly. Second, THE Narumi Gen being thoughtful and paying attention to your tastes. He knew you loved cute things. Third, how your cheeks were glowing just a bit more radiant, how your tone had a slight change to it. How…

The love in your eyes was so evident.

“You’re so dense,” Rin’s comment brings Kikoru back to the present, the former crossing her arms and furrowing her brows. “Are we not seeing the same things here?” She continues, recalling all the times he’d been so partial to you. He’s still mean to you, yes, but there’s such an obvious touch of softness and mutual standing there that everything just speaks for itself.

You blink. “What things?”

Rin sighs, more than familiar with your disposition. “You’re going to kill me.”

The blonde watches as you haphazardly rise up from the water in a frenzy, Rin screaming as you dart towards her direction, arms reaching out to catch her. Water spills in every direction as you wrestle each other in the tub, you bleating pathetically for answers while Rin attempts to fight you off.

“SPILLLLLLL!” The other woman shrieks as you push into her body, a comedic expression on your face as you tackle her sides.

Immediately trying to regain her balance, Rin lets out a chorus of strangled noises as your body pressed against hers, desperately trying to squeeze out an answer. She attempts to steady both of your bodies as she feels you move around way too frantically. “HOLY SHIT– Your breasts are going to spill out BE CAREFUL–OI!”

“TELL ME RIN!!” You cry out again.

“IT’S LITERALLY SPELLED OUT IN FRONT OF YOU, YOU DUMMY!”

“WHAT IF I CAN’T READ?!”

Amidst all the banter, Kikoru finds herself lost to her thoughts, drifting back to her thoughts of you and Narumi. She couldn’t wrap her head around it at first, but something felt so familiar…

Then, it hits her, recalling the stories between her own parents during their youth in the Defense Force. How Hikari Shinomiya was quite the spunky, passionate youth akin to her namesake, and how Isao Shinomiya was the much mellower, passive homebody, yet had loved her with so much passion all the same.

History seemed to repeat itself.

At the sound of the water splashing, you watch in surprise as the top of Kikoru’s head dives down into the tub, seeing air bubbles form on the top. You quickly call out to her in concern. “Kikoru-chan?!”

“I didn’t expect it to work too well…”

i cant wait to write out what went down in that restaurant... here's the expression that Gen remembers the most, and the face he fell in love with. waaaaa

#after this its angst btw #kaiju no 8 #kaiju no. 8 #kaiju no. 8 x reader #kaiju no 8 x reader #gen narumi #gen narumi x reader #narumi gen #narumi gen x reader #narumi gen x you #fem! reader #mitsuri! reader #kaiju no 8 headcanons #kaiju no. 8 headcanons #reader insert #headcanons #scenarios

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calliemity · 11 months ago

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Orin Scrivello's Lost Head Prop: A Masterpost

Written and researched by Calliope Avery

Content Warning: Very very mild and low quality special effects gore, implied violence, uncanny valley stuff(?), Orin Scrivello's face.

Little Shop of Horrors (1986) has an unfortunate reputation of leaving a lot of really cool things on the cutting room floor. The most infamous would be the movie's original ending, a beautiful and impressive sequence of puppetry that ended up completely scrapped. However, today we're talking about a prop that never made it into the final movie in any form:

Orin Scrivello's Decapitated Head!!!

Pictured above are the only 2 photos of the prop in its original state that I can find at the moment. The left photo was taken for promotion and advertising purposes, and the right image is actually a Topps trading card! (Which I have a physical copy of, hehe!)

To put it bluntly, I am slightly (very) obsessed with this prop head. There's so much mystery around it, and everything I've managed to dig up both fascinates me and makes me very upset. So much thought and hard creative work was put into the creation of this thing, and it was left completely left out and forgotten! I desperately want more people to be aware of this, so here is my big and (hopefully) well organized masterpost on everything for your learning pleasure. Alright, let's talk about some heads!!!!!!!!!

Forming a Timeline

The earliest mention of the head can be found in an early draft of the movie script, dated February 14th, 1985. There's plenty of concepts in this script that never seemed to get past this draft, but the severed head concept was not one of them. Here, take a look!

source

This section, found on page 66 of the script, not only established the existence of the head, but also establishes the facial expression it will later take on! Clearly, this concept was good enough to be held onto once actual production started, which is good for us! If it wasn't, then this post would be a lot shorter.

Early production of the prop began after the actors were cast, as face molds of Steve Martin were created as bases for the head.

source for the left image - source for the right image

Oooo, check these guys out!!! The left one is made of plaster, and the right one is made of rubber. The website sourcing these images included a quote from Steve Martin about the casting process. Here's the full provided quote:

"These molds were taken of my head for Little Shop of Horrors. It was cast on the lot at Pinewood Studios outside of London, and I got exceedingly claustrophobic during the casting. My entire head was covered with plaster and two straws were placed in my nose for breathing. Argh." - Steve Martin

I unfortunately don't have much information about the crafting process of the prop. I'm currently trying to track down anyone who could've worked on it, but the few people I've managed to contact haven't responded to me yet. So I can't say anything concrete about who worked on it and what went into creating it. The only thing I can assume somewhat confidently is that the creation of the prop happened around the same time as filming for Orin's scenes. It would allow them to make the face molds and also match up Martin's post-mortem Orin face with the facial expression of the prop.

Here's where it starts going downhill. From what I've found, the prop was never filmed with its face toward the camera. In the workprint that I accessed from the Internet Archive, the prop appears for 2 shots, and both of them only show the back of the head. Take a look:

source - timestamp: 1:02:59

[Video description: a low quality, slightly green tinted video depicting a deleted scene from Little Shop of Horrors (1986) where Seymour is feeding the decapitated head of the dentist, Orin Scrivello, to the plant. The video starts with a man in glasses reaching into a garbage can and pulling out a dark-haired decapitated head, holding it upside-down by the fabric on its neck. The head is faced away from the camera, so only the back of its hair is visible. There are vines flailing in the foreground of the shot. The video cuts to a shot of the plant puppet laughing silently. The video cuts again to a shot of the man slowly shuffling forward while dangling the head in front and away from himself. The plant is seen on the left side, still laughing and flailing its vines. Throughout the video, there are brief flashes of light that resemble lightning. The video's audio only consists of thunder noises and an unidentifiable sound that resembles chewing noises. End ID.]

My best guess for this choice is maybe it isn't as convincing when filmed? In the photos it looks really well made and realistic, but perhaps it didn't come across that way during shots. Regardless, the head was still in the film at this point, so that counts for something!

But as you and I both know, those 2 shots were left on the cutting room floor, completely removed from the final product. The prop was left completely unused and unspoken of... except for one instance.

Remember the trading card I mentioned at the beginning? It's a part of a full set of trading cards that were made and distributed by the brand Topps. Back when the movie first came out, you could buy a pack of 5 mystery Little Shop of Horrors themed trading cards, along with a stick of bubblegum. This 44-card set is notable for featuring a lot, and I mean a LOT of images from cut movie scenes. There's photos of the original ending, there's photos from the cut sequence The Meek Shall Inhereit, and of course there's also the card featuring the prop head! However, those 2 sequences would later be rediscovered, cleaned up, and then added into the Director's Cut rerelease of the movie. The prop head wouldn't get this treatment, staying obscured, unknown, and unmentioned.

Fast forward about 30 years. A certain unused movie prop would be offered in an auction, allowing us to not only see high-quality photos of said prop in its current state, but also to allow us to know the exact materials it was made of! Without further ado, I present Orin Scrivello's decapitated head, circa 2018:

source

This absolute freak of a guy was up for auction at the "Profiles in History: Icons and Legends of Hollywood" auction on June 5th, 2018. No one ended up buying it (I would. I need to buy it actually. Please sell it to me.), but the auction gives us some absolutely divine information about the prop, such as what it's made of and its dimensions! Here's a quote from the auction website describing its materials:

"Vintage original hollow cast resin character head painted in realistic flesh tones with brown eyebrows and eyes. The 13 x 8 x 9 in. head has been polyfoam filled for stability. Exhibiting cracks to the crown, which is brittle and with other wear and age. A striking likeness of Steve Martin. In vintage good condition."

How neat! The high-resolution images allow us to see the detailed sculpting of the prop, which is still evident and impressive with its age and missing parts! The creases on the forehead, and around the mouth and eyes, the realistically colored teeth, this was clearly sculpted with a lot of attention to detail. I would've loved to have an image like this back in the prop's prime, back when it still had hair and a fresh coat of paint.

Why was it Scrapped?

This is entirely just me theorizing, but I have a feeling it's for the same reason the original ending got snubbed.

If you take the time to watch the archived workprint, you'll find a lot of cuts and changes were made that changed the tone of the whole finished project. Orin's death and dismemberment scenes got edited down a lot. Shots of him struggling and knocking things down as he falls to the ground got cut, the voiceline where he begs Seymour for help is gone. The shot where Orin's legs jolt when Seymour brings down the axe is gone too.

It's not just Orin-related scenes either! Mushnik no longer cries out for Seymour when being killed and eaten, and that's ignoring how different the scene happens in the stage musical. And obviously, the entire ending got changed so that Audrey and Seymour survive, leading to the cut of the magnificent ending sequence where all the Audrey II's destroy New York. In a way, the film got murdered and gutted of any of its real horror, with attempts to cover up any of the blood they couldn't scrub out.

In the movie's later quest to rebrand as a softer version of itself, it only makes sense that 2 shots of a decapitated head wouldn't make it. The appearance of the dismembered leg made it through, probably because it's less gruesome, but a head is... different. I obviously think it should've been kept it in, along with almost everything they trimmed from the workprint, but alas.

Tldr, they cut the head off of the movie because it wasn't funny enough.

Conclusion

This is where the information I have ends, unfortunately. I do have more research routes I would like to take, but one of them involves desperately contacting random people who I suspect could've been involved (I've tried this, I've gotten no responses from those who I've managed to find an email for), and the other route involves taking a road trip to the actual goddamn Library of Congress, which is not something I can do right now or even in the near future. So this is probably as far as I'm getting!

However! If I find anything new, this post will be updated and/or remade again, depending on how big or little the info is. For now, I think this is good enough to share, and maybe letting people know will encourage others to research this prop as well! It'll probably be easier if it's not just me, y'know.

I'll finish by saying that I think research and preservation of art like this is very important. While it's common for cool artistic things to end up cut from movies, I think preserving that those cool things existed in the first place is something worth doing. Even though this prop head was a very small part of the movie, it's clear a lot went into creating it! I feel bad that I'm not able to credit any person or people for their work, but I hope getting the word out about it will do some justice.

If you've read this whole thing, thank you so much! I appreciate your interest and I thank you for taking the time to read all this. I hope you found it as interesting and fascinating as I do!

Oh, by the way, if this post looks familiar at all, you've probably seen the original version of this post I made awhile ago. I wasn't happy with the formatting of that post, and I ended up making too many discoveries to just continue updating it. I'll keep the original up to preserve it, but reblogs will be off for it, as I want this version to be the one to go around. Thanks!

#i dont usually do this but reblogs are So appreciated #i worked on this for way too long lmao #little shop of horrors #lsoh #little shop of horrors 1986 #orin lsoh #orin scrivello #lsoh orin #orin scrivello dds #steve martin

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anki-of-beleriand · 11 months ago

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Bad Liar ch. 16

Summary: Life is about lessons, and Wanda has been learning some harsh facts that had define her life and taken her to a place in which she was given a second chance. Then, all of a sudden, she meets you, and she realizes why it's easier to lie to yourself than to accpet what's right in front of her.

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff/ Female!reader - America/Kate - Mentions of past Vision/Wanda - past Natasha/Reader - Some Female!Reader/Carol Danvers - Mentions of Natasha/Maria being married

Warnings: Slow burn - Enemies to friends to lovers - Mentions of abusive relationships - Toxic relationships - angst - drama - mentions of abuse - violence - mentios of abused and sexual assault - more tags as the story progress.

Author's note: The aftermath of the confrontation with Vision, and the realities Wanda now needs to face.

Guys, we are almost there!!! Two chaptrs to go! Please rmemeber English is not my mother tongue so forgive my grammar, spelling and funny mistakes, hope you like this one.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18

Chapter 16

New Year’s Eve

There was a constant beeping inside your head.

Your mind broke into several images at first, your ears twitching trying to grasp the source of the beeping noise without any success. At first, it was difficult to get a hold of your consciousness, your mind was a pool of different sections of memory that made you dizzy at first, then it stopped.

A gun.

Screams.

Wanda!

The beeping became a deafening whistle and then it stopped.

Your eyes popped open only for you to close them again with an exclamation of pain leaving your lips. You tried to lift your left arm but it was heavy, numb to any other sensation; thus, trying to protect your eyes from the lights above your head was impossible. You grunted, clenching your eyes close tightly, until a soothing hand placed itself on your right hand.

“Y/N?” America mumbled softly; her voice denoted the tiredness the young woman felt though there were traces of excitement right there. “Y/N?”

“Ugh, just give me a few minutes, I feel like my head is going to explode.” You whispered back making a face while trying to open your eyes once more, this time around slowly and squinting your eyes so as not to bother the retina.

America sighed in relief, her lips drawing a sad smile while she grasped her sister’s hand. The moment she had been brought into the hospital; America feared the worst but was soon calmed down by Tony telling her nothing too life threatening had happened. Just a gunshot on the arm, and a few badly cured wounds and bruises you couldn’t keep up with any longer.

“Wha-What happened? Wanda…Wanda, the kids…America!”

You jerked awake completely almost falling on your side while trying to sit up, America jumped away only to go back to you trying to push you back on the bed. She frowned, shaking her head until her eyes finally found yours, reading in them the desperation you had been experimenting all day.

“I’m here, they are here, we’re fine.” America tried to sound reassuring, pressing you back on the bed, “come on stop struggling, you idiot! You’re hurt and need to take it easy for a moment.”

It wasn’t until then that you noticed the bandages covering your sister’s wrists, she too held some bruises and cuts on her face but otherwise America was unharmed. Your eyes went big, this time around you lifted your good arm cupping your sister’s face.

“Kiddo, are you alright? God, I’m so sorry…”

America swallowed down her emotions nodding curtly, “I’m…I’m okay. I’m fine.”

“Your wrists…”

“I-I cut myself trying to get away from the ropes.” She explained looking at the bandages, “I couldn’t and perhaps if I had done so…”

“You would be dead.” You replied wrapping your right arm around your sister putting her to you. “I’m sorry, I put you in danger kiddo, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry.”

America slumped down holding onto you with tears forming in her eyes, her arms sneaking under your body until she was hugging you tightly. You felt your own tears prickling in your eyes, holding onto the only family you had left.

“I was so scared.” She whispered between sobs, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I’m sorry that…that she didn’t tell you everything.”

You blinked slowly while pushing America away for a moment, you tilted your head trying to sit down. America soon was by your side lifting the bed and helping your position on the bed, she was still crying softly but relief was quite evident in her features.

“What do you mean everything? Who was supposed to tell me everything?” You dragged the words tilting your head, America tensed with her brows knitting together.

“Wanda.” She spat out shaking her head, “Me and the others found out she had been living with that asshole for a time now, I confronted her when things with you were getting serious, she told me she would speak with you but…”

“Wait, you knew about Wanda’s husband? You dug into her past without consulting me?” You snorted, shaking your head, “she told me about Vision. She told me…”

“That he almost killed her and the twins several times? That the last time she was put into the hospital she decided that was enough because the man burned a knife on Tommy’s back while she was out?” America exclaimed with her voice getting louder and louder with every word.

“That the man had a restrained order? That…that, I almost lost you?” America was shaking by now, it was as if she had been containing herself until that point and seeing you like this, all hurt and weak finally broke the resistance inside her.

“It is her fault! It’s all Wanda’s fault!”

You winced trying to incorporate, almost falling on your knees you grabbed America and pulled her towards you hugging her as tight as you could. A part of you understood where this was coming from, America had never seen your parents’ bodies the way you had to, she had only gone to the funeral so she was never there to see their broken bodies still, the trauma lingers and the fear that was trying to consume America was something you had already experienced. You were her only family, if she lost you then what would be of her?

She hugged you back sobbing silently against your chest, your body protested at the stress you were putting it into but you didn’t care. You waited until America seemed to calm down, your voice finally reaching out to her more logical part instead of her emotional one.

“It’s okay to be angry, Kiddo, it’s okay…” You whispered with your hand drawing soothing circles on her back, “but it’s not Wanda’s fault, or yours, or mine…Kiddo, what others do, what others decide to do is not our fault…This is the fault of a man that wanted to be evil, Wanda was just a victim, like you, like me…but we cannot blame ourselves when he is the one that should be carrying with this.”

America took a breath holding back her rage and her fear, she didn't agree nor she denied your words, instead she stepped back giving you a quick check up. You were wearing a hospital gown, your left arm had been put on a sling holding your arm tightly against your chest. Your face was covered in bruises, with your hair badly combed with a paleness that came with the concussion and the tiredness you felt the day before.

“You were lucky,” America stated pointing to your arm, “the crazy woman, she went mad shooting like crazy she just hit your arm, the…they have to shoot her down.”

You gulped nodding curtly while glancing at your arm, you didn't remember much after the initial shooting. But you remembered the burning pain, the numbness going on your left side and then just giving into darkness.

“What about…?” You didn't finish the question, America shook her head.

“He was arrested, not before he almost killed Wanda with his bare hands.”

America had heard enough from Tony and that one eyed man, she had been taking care of the twins when this was mentioned and of course she had seen Wanda come into the emergency room right after you. Everything had been so confusing she could barely remember anymore, or at least tried to pinpoint where to go whenever she felt lost. Kate had been released early in the day and while she offered to stay, America knew Kate’s mother would want to be with her.

You sat down on the bed again, your knees trembling under the weight of your body. You winced finally feeling the effects of the medication wear off.

“How is Wanda?” You asked tentatively, America tensed up nodding to the door.

“She is at the other end of the hall, with Billy and Tommy.” Then after a moment of hesitation, “Hope is with them.”

“Have you talked to Hope already?” You inquired lifting a brow at your sister, the young woman shrugged looking away from you. “America…”

“I'm just happy you are okay.” America let herself drop right beside you, you smiled wrapping your good arm around her.

“I'm happy you and the others are okay.”

America sighed, closing her eyes, “do you want something? I need to tell the doctor and the nurse you are okay.”

“It's Vodka an option?” You teased, America snorted, shaking her head.

“I can try.”

“Please do, and while you're at it try to record their reaction.”

America chuckled, pushing you playfully while standing up.

“If you're cracking bad jokes already, that means we will be home on time for the New Year celebrations.”

You frowned, cocking your head while speaking again.

“What do you mean? What day is today?”

This time around America was the one frowning, “It's New Year's Eve, more exactly we are eight hours away from the new year.”

“Woah, so I was unconscious what? Twelve hours?”

“More or less, yes.”

“I was lucky.” You stated absentmindedly, America glanced at you for a long time before nodding.

“We were lucky.” America didn’t say much after that, you furrowed your brows trying to actually feel the strength coming back to your body.

“Even if I’m not release today, we should celebrate New Year today,” you dared to glance at America who pursed her lips nodding curtly, “I mean, we shouldn’t stop celebrating the good things in life, and well…”

America let out a heavy sigh, she passed around the room stopping right in front of you. Her hands placed carefully on your shoulders and for the very first time you saw your stepmother in her, the same determination behind her brown eyes and her serious features.

“I have never felt so afraid before, Y/N, and while I was there trying to get away I was…I was feeling powerless to help the twins, to help Kate, to help Wanda.” America trailed off never breaking her eyes contact with you, she swallowed down her tears opening her mouth with a quivering lip.

“I thought what you would do, and when I heard him said he had killed you,” America snorted, “I was ready to do something foolish, yet I felt so defeated.”

“America…” You started but she then broke into a half smile, shrugging while squeezing your shoulders comfortingly.

“Then I heard you were okay, that you were trying to get me and the twins out of it and I knew.” America rolled her eyes punching you lightly on your good shoulder.

“What did you knew know?” You asked when America didn’t elaborate, the young woman lifted her chin stepping back nearing the door.

“That you are in love with Wanda, that you love those kids as if they were your own, and that you would never let anything bad happen to me or them, even if you have to sacrifice yourself.”

You broke into the same smile, shaking your head you offered a sheepish stare to America.

“What can I say? It is the foolish in me, perhaps in another life I was a hero.”

“Perhaps, you doofus, I think…it would take time, but I understand.” She mumbled with her eyes shining lightly.

“I know, kiddo, I know.” You called to her and she stopped right before closing the door, “I think more now than ever they will need a big sister, you know?”

America snorted shaking her head, “it’s good then that I learnt how to be a good big sister from the best.”

And with that, America left you alone while she went to look for the doctors. You kept your eyes on the white door for a long time, your mind numb giving into the growing pain on your left side. You didn’t dare to let your thoughts wander towards Wanda or the twins for fear of just jumping to your feet and running to her room. Whatever had happened, whatever stated she was in the last thing you wanted to do was to overwhelm her or scared her away. You could still remember the fear in her eyes, the sudden changed in her whole demeanour while she gave into a state of numbness that broke your heart.

You took a deep breath, looking around you found America’s mobile and after a moment of hesitation you grabbed the gadget watching the time and the day. With a trembling thumb, you decided that you wouldn’t let this to change things with Wanda or America or even Billy and Tommy.

A plan already forming on your mind.

__________________

It took fifteen minutes for everyone to come rushing into your room as soon as the news of you waking up reached them up.

As you expected it, Christine and Strange were the first to come rushing into your room ready to check over your wounds and bandages. Your chest exploded into a wave of warm affection when they started fuzzing around you making you go back to the bed to make a full check-up while asking questions about your physical health.

Soon Hope came in as well with Tony, Reed and Sue who had made sure to be there as well. This time around the questions changed into a more deep, emotional speech to find your emotional state, with everyone being careful of mentioning Wanda or her children. When it became too much, and your anguish grew without everyone taking noticed of this, Christine and Pepper came right in hushing everyone out of your room with only America, Christine, Hope and Pepper staying behind.

You closed your eyes slowly, wincing when the shifting on the bed made you pressed your weight on your left side.

“Easy there, Y/N, it would take some time to get use to it but the pain won’t last that long.” Christine spoke soothingly, she offered a shaky smile at you while helping you get comfortable. “You were really lucky she was bad with guns, and her aim.”

You gave a crooked smile, “I was lucky indeed.”

Hope glanced at America then at you, the exchanged didn’t go amiss by you and soon your eyes were on your best friend.

“How is Wanda?” Finally, after almost two hours of avoiding the topic you brought the white elephant into the room.

Hope sighed stepping closer to you, “she is not okay, this really shake whatever progress we made in the past and has been affecting her greatly. She feels guilty, she feels as if she doesn’t deserve you.”

“She actually thinks you hate her.” America chimed in playing with her lower lip, “and I may have led her to believe she was right.”

You glared at your sister but said nothing, it was okay. It was only natural. The situation had been less than ideal, and everyone reacted differently to these situations, you couldn’t blame America more so than you could blame Wanda or yourself. Hope grabbed your right hand squeezing comfortingly.

“She will need a lot of support, Y/N, if you…” Hope took a deep breath, “if you are serious about her, about a relationship with her then I suggested you start working on convincing her that she deserves to be happy. And that you don’t hate her.”

You looked away finding Christine’s eyes on yours, the young woman smiled gently at you already knowing the answer. You nodded turning to America then to Hope.

“I am very serious, Hope. I wouldn’t have done what I did with just anyone.” You stated serious grabbing your best friend tightly, “I fell in love with Wanda because of who she is, I don’t know if she feels the same or if she even is ready for this but I won’t give up.”

“I know, Y/N. It will take time but…well, I cannot say she feels the same, I can say though that she really feels strongly about you.” Hope shrugged stepping back, “so, who knows?”

“Right.” You sighed turning to the door then back to Hope and Christine, “I need a favour.”

“What is it?” You offered a half smiled wiggling your brows and soon America knew you had planned something incredible reckless and crazy.

Christine and Pepper exchanged a glance pretty familiar with the mischievous glint of your stare ready to see where this favour of you lead them.

____________________________

You were ready to go out of your room, you were tired already of staying in bed more so if there was no need for you to stay overnight.

“You really should try to follow Christine’s advice,” America mumbled helping you inside your pants while shaking her head, you almost fall flat on your ass if America hadn’t hold onto you.

“Ugh, please I’m okay, just bruised and in pain but at least I can get dress, and besides I want to see Wanda and I wasn’t about to flash my but to everyone in this wing.” You glared at the hospital gown before turning to your sister.

America winced making a face at the mention of your butt.

“Yes, I agreed, we don’t need that anymore than we need to.”

You chuckled sitting down on the bed while watching as America went to grab your sneakers and put them on you. Just as she was finishing up the last of them the door to your room opened without any warning, you were about to scold at whoever had come in unannounced when you found yourself staring at Nick Fury and Peggy Carter.

Both agents came into your room, closing the door behind them. Peggy stepped closer her eyes checking you up before the fell on America. The older woman offered a warm smile stretching her hand to your sister.

“You must be Ms. Chavez, I’m Agent Peggy Carter.” America took her hand lifting a brow at her.

“A pleasure.”

“So, agent Carter, Agent Fury, what can I do for you?” You asked right away with your eyes going from Peggy to Fury.

“We came here to inquire about your injuries and your general state,” Peggy started taking a seat on the closest chair, “and then, if you were agreeable to the idea, we are also here to take your testimony.”

“As you can imagine, the case against Jarvis is going to take high priority since he broke into a private airport handle by National Security so, now only is he under some federal charges, he is also being investigate for terrorism and treason.”

You snorted shaking your head, not really understanding how all those charges came to be but happy to know the man would have it really difficult to go out of the trouble he got into. America stood right there glancing at you then at the agents, she bounced on her feet before nodding curtly to herself grabbing her phone and moving to the door.

“In that case, I’m out of here and directly to help Christine and the others with your…surprised.”

“Go on, Kiddo, I’ll be in Wanda’s room if you need anything.”

Peggy watched as America left before settling her eyes on you, Fury took a seat on the sofa and soon both agents had their attention on you.

“Well, where should I start?” You finally asked, Peggy put her phone on the table the recording app on.

“You can start from the beginning, when did you meet Wanda and how you became involve with her, and Jarvis.”

You raised a single eyebrow before nodding, for a moment you kept silent contemplating how much had happened in the last six months of your life. With a deep breath, you started telling them the first day you met Wanda, the different encounters, and the conversations you held with her. It was not relevant, but soon just to humour yourself you started talking about your changing feelings, how you started seeing the other woman and the shaky friendship that blossom one day when you first got to see the scars of the abuse in the boys.

The story then went directly to the confrontation you had with him the day before. His words inviting you over to see something he had been working on, then the surprised attack and you fighting back up until the moment they showed up and cooked up the plan that almost cost you your life and Wanda’s life as well. Peggy shifted uncomfortable, her eyes glancing fast to Nick then back at you.

“Now, I want to know what happen to him,” you asked glancing at both agents, “You promised me nothing bad would happen and I got shot and Wanda was almost killed by the man.”

The reproach was quite evident in your voice, Peggy glanced at Fury then back at you, she leaned forward placing her elbows on her knees making sure you could not look away from her.

“He was already on top of Wanda by the time Agatha shoot you,” Peggy shifted as she recounted what happened while you were unconscious on the ground, “we were supposed to arrest him right there and then, but we never expected him to get to Wanda and tried to strangle her before we could pull him away from her.”

“He knew he had been caught, so his last act before going to jail was to make sure he would kill his wife.” Fury continued shrugging, “he was just a fucking coward.”

Peggy glared at Fury but the man didn’t even flinch, you scowled shaking your head.

“What is a dead woman if he is the sole survivor and the only guardian to his children?” You snorted, shaking your head, “he knew you needed him alive if you were to keep building a case against the criminal organisation he had been stealing from.”

Peggy nodded curtly, not even bothering in denying your words. clenching your jaw, you sit up trying to get out of the bed, Fury stepped forward helping you out of the bed while holding you up.

“I will make sure that man doesn't see the light of another day, Agent Carter, he tried to kill me and my family.”

“I know.” She replied softening slightly, “I'm sorry you have to go through that, you and Wanda…”

“Whatever information he is offering you, I can double it. You have my resources at your full disposal as long as there is written guarantee he won't have the kids custody; his name will be erased from their records.”

Fury lifted a single eyebrow quite impressively while Peggy tried to hold back her expression into a neutral facade. You shrugged pointing a finger to the door.

“I don't know if the movies are real or not, but if the government can make it happen I want that man like the iron mask prisoner from Dumas’ book.”

This time around Peggy cracked a smile nodding curtly, “I shouldn't tell you this but, he wouldn't be our first iron mask prisoner.”

You opened your eyes before squinting them with a hint of suspicion there.

“I can't promise you he would be put away in such a secure place, but I can promise you the other part of your request. He won't have any claim on the children or his ex-wife or his freedom.”

“Good, now I think I'm going to see my girlfriend. If you excuse me, you gave me the perfect chance to run from this place.”

Fury and Peggy watched you leave the office, Peggy waited until she heard your footsteps far along the hall.

“So, tell me why we never recruit her?”

“Her father threatened to skin you and Steve alive if you ever tried it.”

“Right, like father, like daughter.”

_________________

The energy you had spent re-telling your story for the last six months was soon building up again. Your hand hover above the doorknob of Wanda’s room, with you standing right outside waiting for courage and the right words to find a way into your mouth.

You played the words of Hope inside your head, and you went over what America and everyone else had told you so far about Wanda’s real physical and emotional state. You needed to play this right so as to ensure Wanda would not run from you; you lifted your face ready to go in when a couple of questions creep into your mind, what if Wanda really didn’t want anything with you? What if things really change?

The white door was suddenly heavier, bigger and it stood before you as a silent guardian of what was at the other end. You remembered your sister's anger, the fragility of life as your left arm pulsated with the ghost of a bullet piercing your skin and muscle.

Wanda.

Everything you did up to that point had been for her, right? Then, why were you hesitating?

With more courage that you felt, you grabbed the doorknob and pushed through.

The room had the light of the TV projecting colours of a children’s program on the wall, there was only a single lamp projecting a different light resting on the bedside table. You stepped into the room closing the door behind you and effectively calling the attention of the little lumps resting on the sofa. Billy and Tommy both turned to the door, their eyes growing wide while they expression changed from one of boredom and tiredness to one of happiness.

It caught you by surprised to see as the both of them came rushing to you meeting you halfway and wrapping their arms around you. You winced when Billy got to you first, he crushed into your left side while Tommy grabbed your right side.

“Hey guys,” you greeted them softly, wrapping your good arm around Tommy while later on ruffling Billy’s hair, “it’s good to know you guys are okay.”

“Mommy said…” Billy trailed off stepping away from you, frowning he then pointed to the sling, “she said dad hurt you.”

Tommy pressed his lips together looking down in shame, “we’re sorry.”

You opened your eyes kneeling while putting a hand on Tommy’s shoulder.

“There is nothing to be sorry about, Tommy.” You replied looking at the boy before turning your eyes to his brother, “never felt sorry for what other’s do, guys. He hurt me, but it was not your fault.”

Billy clenched his jaw close stepping closer to you, “he hurt mommy too, and Tommy.”

Tommy trembled feeling the tears in his eyes, you softened your features cupping his face while offering a smile to Tommy.

“I’m sorry he hurt you, Tommy, but he won’t be able to do so anymore, I promise.” Tommy then stepped towards you hugging you tightly hiding his face on your neck.

You wrapped your good arm around him drawing soothing circles on his back, you could see Billy hesitating though this time around he was looking at you with a glint of hope in his eyes.

“Are you…mad? Mommy said you saved her but…she was crying.” Billy furrowed his brows glancing at the bed where his mother was resting then back at you, “I don’t want mommy crying anymore.”

Your heart melted right away, these boys had been in constant fear yet always ready to defend and protect their mother. You shook your head nodding to Billy to come closer to you.

“I’m not mad, Billy. I was worried sick about you guys, and Wanda, I love you guys.” You said without a hint of hesitation, “and I’m sorry I was not there to make sure nothing bad happen to you, or Tommy or Wanda. But I promise you, this won’t happen again. And he…he won’t be able to hurt you again.”

“You promise?” Billy said lifting his right hand, putting his little finger out, “you pinkie swear it?”

You held back your smile, you let go of Tommy for a moment taking Billy’s finger with yours.

“I swear it, Billy.”

And you meant it.

You would do anything that was in your power to protect this family from any harm, they didn’t deserve to keep on suffering the way they had done in the past and if you could offer them something different you would do so.

Billy nodded curtly before he too came into your arms hugging your tightly, you closed your eyes for a moment enjoying the embrace these two kids were sharing with you. You smiled when they let go of you and put their fingers on their lips turning to the bed where Wanda was still sleeping.

It wasn’t until that moment that you noticed the state she was in.

If at any point you doubt your love for Wanda, and what the future held for the both of you it soon crumbled under the weight of your emotions and your beating heart. Your eyes softened at the sight of Wanda sleeping on a hospital bed, there was nothing relaxed on her expression and the way she seemed to be clenching her jaw and fist told you she was probably having a bad dream.

“Dad hurt mommy.” Billy mumbled looking up at you, “can you make her feel better?”

“I will try, kiddo, why don’t you and Tommy go back to the sofa, okay?” The twins glanced at one another then back at you and then at their mother before nodding and running back to the sofa.

You stood by Wanda’s bed taking in the bruises on her face and the bandages covering parts of her body. You were trembling by now, your hand lifting to touch at the bandages covering her neck. The man had tried to make s much damage as he could, and Wanda was now paying a price she shouldn’t be paying. You made a silent promise to the skies to never let anyone or anything hurt her the way Vision had done so.

With a softness that surprised you, you grabbed her hand in yours, drawing soft circles on the back of your hand while leaning in to place a single kiss on her forehead.

Wanda stirred with her eyes popping opened all of a sudden, you could see the flash of panic in those green orbs and the tension of her body pushing her to almost sit up and put herself in unnecessary risk.

“Hey, wait, it's me, Wands.” You tried to soothe her, this time around you placed a tentative hand on her shoulder, tilting your head. You tried to offer a shaky smile but Wanda just shook her head trying to get away from your touch leaving out exclamations of pain from her lips.

“Hey, Wands, wait…” You tried to calm her down, with the twins standing up coming to the bed while looking at you and then at Wanda.

“Y/N? Mommy?” Billy asked tentatively, hearing her son was enough to make Wanda returned her attention to them then back to you.

“Hey, love it’s okay.” You furrowed your brows, while Billy and Tommy were not understanding such a reaction for you was crystal clear what it meant.

The words from Hope came back, and now you understood what they really meant. The fear she was flashing on those green eyes were the silent symbol of the fear she was feeling of getting closer to you once more, of perhaps living the rejection coming from you and experimenting the hate she thought you had for her.

Wanda never lost the tension on her muscles, she tried to ignore you while turning to her children that were looking at her wide eyed.

“I’m okay.” She tried to speak but her voice came hoarse with dried undertones and broken words.

Billy frowned grabbing Tommy by the hand then turning to you and Wanda.

“Y/N is here, mommy. You can sleep again; she pinkie promise dad won’t hurt you. Ever again.”

While Billy offered a tentative smile to his mom you could see the widening of her eyes, and the tension coming back to her. You grabbed her hand, trying to be as careful as you could while making sure she returned her attention to you. Wanda pressed into the bed keeping her face hidden from you while keeping her hand limp.

“Wanda, look at me, please.” You spoke clearly, without demanding but asking as a favour.

After what seemed like an eternity the young woman turned to you and the tears were filling up her eyes.

“You want some water?” You asked lifting your good hand to brush some locks of hair away from her face, “I notice your voice was hoarse and…well, I know why but perhaps cold water can help some with the swelling.”

Wanda felt her lower lip shivered, she was trembling waiting for you to start screaming at her, for the words of finality to leave your mouth. But you never changed your posture, or the softness behind your expression, or even the tender caresses from your hand. You locked your eyes to hers lifting an eyebrow at her.

“Well? You want water or, I can also offer you some Vodka, but that will cost you a kiss at least.”

You chuckled when Tommy and Billy made gaging sounds before erupting in giggles and going back to the sofa. Wanda frowned opening her mouth ready to speak, but with her breath caught in her throat when you placed a single finger on her lips.

“Don’t, Princess, try to not put any unnecessary stress on your voice. Let me bring you the water, and then…” you trailed off leaning, “then we will talk.”

Wanda trembled nodding slightly, you winked at her and then asked the boys if they wanted something to drink asking them to come with you while leaving the room for a moment.

Wanda was soon left alone with her thoughts, she thought the first time she would see you again after the whole ordeal she would be far away, perhaps ready and strong to face your hatred and the finality of whatever relationship you two had built in the last couple of weeks. She had been waiting for you to hate her, to perhaps blame her for what had happened the way America had done so hours ago.

She never expected you to behave the way you were doing, or for you to offer her the smile she loved so much. Or for you to just be you. She held back her tears, her heart beating heart against her chest while she tried to quiet down any whispers of hope that had been trying to grow inside her head and heart, she couldn’t allow herself to hope only for you to perhaps coming back with a breakup and hurtful words against her. Her heart wouldn’t take it.

Ten minutes later you came back alone, your lips curled into a sheepish smile while lifting a glass of water with a straw.

“America and her friends were down in the cafeteria, and Balder was there and the twins wanted to talk to him, I hope you don’t mind.” You stepped closer to Wanda helping her up before offering the straw. “Here, drink some water.”

The woman hesitated before drinking form the straw, her face broke into a mask of pure relief while wincing lightly feeling her throat pulsated with the water flowing inside her. She then opened her eyes, looking directly into yours.

“Thank you.” Wanda whispered looking away for a moment, getting ready with the huge speech she had prepared in your absence, her mouth opened but whatever she had prepared came crushing down and the only thing she could say was a shaky, “I’m sorry.”

“Wanda…” You started but the other woman put a hand on yours gripping your tightly, her green eyes big and desperate.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…I…It wasn’t my intention, I’m sorry, please don’t hate me…”

You could hear and see the effort she was making into talking, her voice was trembling just above a hoarse whisper. You waited until it was impossible for her to continue and then, you leaned in to kiss her forehead tenderly.

“There is nothing to be sorry about, Love.” You whispered for her only, breaking into a tender smile while letting her see the love you felt for her.

She shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks her lips trembling. You brushed your hand against her cheek, wiping away the tears while brushing her hair.

“I have never had so much fear in my life that the fear I felt knowing I couldn’t stop him on time and you and the twins and my sister were in danger.” You said softly, furrowing your brows while looking at Wanda.

“I was so afraid that something was to happen to you and them, when I finally got him to leave the kids and America behind my next concern was to make sure you were okay.” This time around you let your fingertips trace a line to the bandages around her neck.

“I’m sorry he hurt you, Wands.”

“Why?” She finally asked, and that single question held everything she wanted to tell you.

Why were you still there with her? Why did you keep coming for her? Why?

You opened your eyes blinking away a couple of times, “I thought it was obvious.”

Wanda furrowed her brows shaking her head, you softened leaning in making sure she was looking deeply into your eyes.

“Because I’m in love with you, Wanda, and from the moment I met you I realized I want nothing more than to make you and the boys happy.” You shrugged offering a tender smile, “I thought it was that obvious, but let me correct that, from now on I will show you every day how much I love you, and I will tell you so, to make sure you know without a glimpse of a doubt.”

Wanda felt her lip quivered, she wanted to say so many things. She wanted to ask for your forgiveness because if she had told you the full story of Vision nothing would have happened. She wanted to tell you that she would understand if you wanted to end whatever it was the both of you have, she had put you and your sister in danger and she would understand. She would understand if you hated her, if you wanted to leave.

And then, you came over to crash all of these thoughts by confessing the most wonderful thing to her. She felt her heart stopped for a moment, and soon she opened her mouth wanting to tell you the same, that she had been in love with you from quite some time. She locked her eyes with yours, her mouth opened ready to say those words…

I love you.

She gripped your hand tightly, and your heart broke at the fragility you found there. Your own tears welling up your eyes, offering a comforting smile when you hold her hand.

“I know.” You said to her silent confession.

She lowered her gaze, gasping when you brushed your lips against hers.

“Wanda, I know life has not been easy or kind to you, but I want you to know that I will be here for you, for Billy and for Tommy.” You all but whispered to her, “whenever you are ready, I still be here, and I won’t leave unless you tell me to. So, you better be ready because, If you want to, I’ll be by your side until we are old and living in an Italian coast watching our grandchildren grow.”

Wanda offered a shaky smile clenching her eyes closed thinking she really didn't deserve you. Or happiness. When she opened her eyes again, you were still there smiling softly at her, and Wanda had to ask herself if she was ready to be with you in such a way. To finally step forward and give herself to you. You whispered sweet, comforting words to her, trying to ease out the sobs leaving Wanda’s lips until the young woman finally fell into an easy sleep.

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

Wanda was not sure when she fell asleep, her body stirred painfully under the weight of recovery and sleepiness. She could hear the muffled conversation happening in her room, and the excited chatter coming from her children but her eyes refused to open, only giving her the comfort of the sounds of conversation.

She let the voices soothe her worries, her heart shrank deeply hearing the snickered from her son's and the conviction behind your voice. She loved the tenderness in which America chided them but also the way she conspired with the twins. Wanda didn't know when she let the smile showed on her face, but the moment she opened her eyes your hand was comfortingly wrapped around hers.

“Hey, sleepy head, are you ready?” Your question caught Wanda by surprise, she furrowed her brows opening her mouth only to close it again.

You chuckled turning to the bedside table lifting the glass of water with straw that was left there by a nurse. You offered the straw to Wanda and, after some hesitation, she drank some of it trying to clear her throat while locking her eyes with yours.

“Ready for what?” She finally said in a raspy, guttural voice wincing at the effort.

“For New Year’s celebration, of course!”

It wasn't until then that the young woman noticed the change in your clothing. You were wearing a loose shirt, your left arm still wrapped around the sling, your legs covered by a nice black jean and some Vans. Your hair out up in a ponytail, freshly washed and ready for an afternoon stroll apparently. She turned to see the twins were both wearing black and khaki jeans with matching jackets and light blue shirts. America wore a beautiful dress and everyone was just ready to go out, Wanda tried to sit up with her eyes slightly open glancing around her room with her heart beating fast and a tingling down her abdomen.

“I brought you a dress that Billy and Tommy select, and a nice coat because, baby is cold outside.”

You chuckled winking at America who rolled her eyes making gagging sounds while Wanda returned your smile blushing lightly.

“I would offer to help you get dressed, but you know…” you pointed to your arm sheepishly, “Nat is coming over and we will wait upstairs, don't take too long, Wands.”

Wanda opened her mouth to say something, but soon enough her words tangled on her throat when you leaned in, placing a kiss on her forehead.

“Just go with the flow, love.” You winked walking backwards before hurrying everyone out of the room.

The room soon felt empty, with just a tad of cold breeze making Wanda shivered. She sat on the bed for a moment until the door of her room opened and there was Natasha with a huge smile.

“I hope you're ready because Y/N really outdo herself this time around.”

Wanda was not sure what to say, the tears were back and her heart was just trembling under the raw affection trying to overwhelm her. Soon her eyes fell upon the dress, Wanda narrowed her eyes trying to calm herself down while letting the older woman assist her still confused as to what exactly was happening and not obtaining any direct answers from the redhead.

“Nu-uh, you will have to wait, Wanda, and you won't regret it.”

Half an hour later Wanda and Natasha were making their way to the elevator of the Hospital, not many people were left in the halls. Midnight was almost there, and many were either in their rooms, on their homes, or on the rooftop. You waited patiently by the elevator, your eyes growing big when you took in the appearance of Wanda who was holding Natasha tightly.

“You look beautiful,” you stepped closer offering your arm to her, Wanda hesitated before taking yours her cheeks burning brightly while her eyes lowering shyly.

“You look good, too.” She replied softly, you chuckled winking at Wanda.

“I want you to have the best New Year’s celebration ever, we were supposed to go to Stepehen and Christine’s party but…since we can, I brought the party to you.”

You explained while standing in front you Wanda, the young woman furrowed her brows turning to the open door of the elevator then back at you. For Wanda you were a box filled with surprises, one after the other, you had always shocked her in ways she never thought possible. She gulped wincing when her spit went down her sore throat, closing her eyes she then lifted her hand to cup the side of your face stepping closer to you.

“I wish I could show you the same, our date was cut short last time,” she shook her head stopping any reply from you, you clamped your mouth shut letting her finish, “I’m sorry about everything, I still think I don’t deserve you…but I will make sure to be worthy of your love, of your company.”

Your heart leaped forward, and your eyes fluttered close when Wanda leaned in kissing you tentatively on the lips. It took you a moment, and soon the both of you were sharing the softest kiss you had ever experienced in your life. By the time the both of you parted, you two were equally flustered, smiling at the other with the same affection growing in your eyes.

“Well, then let’s go.” You said holding onto Wanda and leading her to the elevator where a very amused Natasha had waited all along.

When the doors of the elevator opened in front of you, you smiled hearing the gasp coming from Wanda. The young woman stepped forward glancing around the place while admiring the decorations and the people filling out the place. The night was completely dark, with a cold breeze traveling around the celebrations goers that were wearing heavy coats and drinking warm beverages.

The place had been decorated with lights and torches, tables were set up and many patients with their families and friends were sharing light conversation and food, doctors, nurses and staff members had also been invited and all of them had also chosen different tables to enjoy the music and the tension just before the clock hit midnight.

Wanda turned to you, and you could only smile at her shrugging.

“I thought we need to start the new year with a huge celebration, not on a hospital bed.” You said simply earning yourself a tight hug before she grabbed your hand dragging you down the different tables to the furthest part of the rooftop.

The lights of the city twinkling down the streets, and the music was sometimes interrupted by the host of the radio station someone had put on. Wanda approached the group and soon she found many familiar faces she had met before, she stopped dead on her tracks with you wrapping your arms around her midsection while putting your lips on her ear.

“I told you I call everyone.” You whispered making her shivered under the caress of your voice.

Wanda soon spotted her children talking with Balder and Morgan, while America was standing with her friends laughing and drinking alcohol free cocktails. At the other end was Hope with Reed and Sue, and nearby was Tony, Thor, Sif, Pepper, Stephen and Christine all sharing a good meal. There were to spots free right beside Christine, facing Eleanor Bishop that was trying very hard to not glare at you.

“Thank you.” She whispered at you, you winked at her pointing to the table.

“Let’s go to eat.”

“Here they are!” Tony stood up calling everyone’s attention, he lifted a hand then pointing at you and Wanda just as you two took your seats, “please everyone, let’s give it up for these two women that had shown us that the power of love can do everything and anything!”

You rolled your eyes with your lips drawing a smile, while Wanda dipped her face trying to covered the blush on her cheeks. Soon conversation resumed, and Wand found herself the subject of Christine’s fuzzing.

“Now, I know this may be difficult at first, but nothing spicy, or acid or anything like that, I chose your food for today, and only cold drinks. Well, lukewarm so as to not to hurt yourself.”

You chuckled grabbing your fork with your good hand watching as Wanda gaped at Christine who was like a mother hen trying to tell the young woman what was good for her sore throat. The table was buzzing with light conversation, the food was soon finished and the dessert along with the flutes of champagne were brought over. All around the rooftop people were getting ready to receive the new year, people glancing at their watches while others were just calling their loved ones.

“Are you guys ready?” America came from behind the both of you, you turned around seeing as America rested her stare on Wanda.

Wanda shifted nervously nodding while offering a tentative smile to the young woman. For a moment you waited, you knew America had been mad, she had told you as much as well as the heavy discussion she had with the redhead. But after you spoke with your sister, you thought whatever disagreement she had with Wanda had been cleared out.

“Wanda, I just…” America started, you could see as Wanda tensed clenching her fist while leaning back with her eyes lowering to the ground, “I’m sorry for all the things I said to you. It was not your fault, I just… Y/N is my family, and I almost lost her, I…”

Wanda shook her head placing a hand on top of America’s, her eyes going wide opened gleaming in disbelief.

“No, I’m sorry.” Wanda replied hoarsely, she put a hand on her throat standing up. “I’m sorry, I put you and Y/N in danger, I…”

America did something you never thought possible, she stepped closer wrapping her arms around the woman holding her tightly.

“Stop talking, you fool, you’re going to hurt yourself even more.” She said tenderly, “don’t apologise, I’m sorry for the way I treat you, it was not fair.”

America looked out of the corner of her eyes to see your smile there, she returned the smile before stepping back grabbing Wanda’s hand in hers before grabbing yours and joining them with hers wrapping around your joined hands with Wanda.

“I know there is no one better to be with my sister than you, just don’t hurt her.”

“I won’t.” Wanda whispered looking at you, you stood up intertwining your fingers with hers.

“I won’t either.”

“Good, now get ready is about to be midnight.”

Wanda turned to you, everyone was getting ready around you. You could see the hesitation in her eyes, with a nod of your head you locked your eyes with hers offering a comforting smile.

“It is going to be okay.”

“I don’t deserve her forgiveness.” Wanda replied, she closed her eyes allowing the comforting squeeze from your hand to warm up her heart.

“Whatever happens, Wands, I want to be right there with you. I want to live with you, to grow old with you…to love you, if you let me.” You said softly, “you deserve forgiveness, and you deserve happiness, Love.”

“I'm scared.” Wanda confessed while unable to tell you the reason behind her fear.

She didn't need to tell you, though. You knew, you could imagine the guilt and the fear she held inside her mind for everything that happened, for the things that came in between. You placed a soft kiss on her hair, putting her closer to you.

“Me too.” You replied, chuckling lightly, “but I prefer to be scared and have you by my side than miss the chance to be with you.”

“You're so sappy.” she leaned back offering a teasing smile you returned with a wink.

“Only for you, Princess.”

Wanda relaxed in your embrace, everyone started standing up checking their watches and grabbing the flutes of champagne.

“Okay everyone, it's about time!”

The music stopped and soon it was replaced for the local radio station in which the announcers were ready as everyone else to start the countdown to the new year.

The rooftop vibrated with excitement, families and friends came together, everyone talking and exchanging their new year's resolutions.

Wanda stepped back welcoming her children in her arms, and America stood right beside you with Kate hugging her from behind. Your eyes soon found those of Wanda and the man in the radio start counting.

“10, 9, 8…”

You chuckled when the twins jumped excitedly, Billy dragging his mom closer to you while also grabbing his brother.

Kate watched the scene with a softening stare kissing America on her cheek.

“You guys look like a happy family.”

“...3, 2, 1 Happy New Year America!!”

The fireworks broke into the sky, everyone gasped and celebrated while Wanda leaned in tilting her head and kissing you openly in front of everyone. Wanda never imagined her year would end in such a way, when she ran away from Vision’s grasp she did so with one thing in mind: To survive.

Now, standing on the rooftop of a hospital with a woman kissing her slowly, tentatively, she realized that love was possible, that being loved was something she also deserved, and that loving someone might not be as bad as she was led to believe. Just as you stepped back with a huge grin adorning your face, Wanda knew.

You two would be forever.

_______________________________________

Next Chapter: Wanda and Reader need to have that date, only family fluff and a bright future ahead of them. With some decisions to be taken, and Wanda finally giving in.

#fanfic #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #wandaxreader #female reader #imagine wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x female reader #reader

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bijoumikhawal · 5 months ago

Text

Planning a Mallory Grace cosplay: The Ironwood Tree Dress, but more medivaler

This came about for two reasons: one, recently I've been making fabric flower corsages, mostly to wear on my head, and two, I was reminded of the imagery of green clad young women from medieval times.

If you know Mallory, you probably know this image. We have a few more useful images as well, but we won't be sticking to them; they'll just be inspiration.

From there four images we get the details that

the dress is mostly white with deep green accents

it has the princess cuffs over the back of the hands on the under sleeves

the over sleeves are angel sleeves

Mallory's hair is in a little ribbon cage with two silver flower pins

there may be a subtle flower brocade on the skirt

The skirt has two tiers of bottom ruffles and a border above them with three stripes

There appears to be a white underdress peaking out of the sleeves and skirt

I loved this dress design as a kid, but I think the bodice is actually rather unflattering. It reminds me of some armor breast plates, which is cool, but doing what's basically a paned sleeve as a bodice... makes me think of a pumpkin. This artistic difference led to me sketching a new design

This design is a houppelande underneath a boat necked cotehardie/kirtle with a shortened hem. I did another pass on the cotehardie design (see the left). I'm going to do the embroidery with silver clon cord and beetlewings I already have from another project. The neck is going to be cut even lower, and I'll make a lattice pattern out of ribbons or fabric strips over a sheer fabric to stabilize it. The embroidery isn't period, but it covering the bodice is inspired by some miniatures depicting that composition.

I also needed to scrap the ruffle on the houppelande- the fabric I wanted to use is an old dark green Ralph Lauren flat sheet with a rose jacquard pattern, and I don't have enough of it for a houppelande already. My solution to this is that I'll be color blocking the houppelande, and making up the difference with a complementary green fabric. The houppelande will be working with the circle theory.

I planned to use silver curtains I already had for the overdress, but it has this evil rubber backing fused on so it won't behave for this. I'll be in the hunt for an appropriate silvery fabric.

The original dress has no clear and specific historical source imo, other than it does resemble a boat necked cotehardie a bit. The hair, however, is clearly a coazzone. The most well known depictions of this are from 1490s Italy. However, in Spain it was worn at least between the 1360s and the 1530s. There are multiple theories about what exactly these were, including a veil that's been wrapped around a braid or ponytail with ribbons. I'd probably make a "fixed" version, so I wouldn't have to re-wrap the ribbons every time.

However, the cotehardies and houppelandes i was looking at were moreso mid to late 1300s. While the coazzone does fit that time in Spain, it has a late "feel". So I kind of want to make a bycocket in addition to a coazzone and flower corsages, to give me options for headgear. The bycocket is also called the "Robin Hood" hat, and it was worn by people hunting, traveling, hawking, etc. It seems to me like it functioned to protect the eyes and direct rain away from the face. I think it fits because the dwarves had a sword in with Mallory, which to me indicates some respect for her running about as a fencer. Additionally, one analysis of women depicted as wearing this hat by R. L. Pisetzky (Storia del Costume in Italia, vol. II, 1964-69) referred to it as a "rude oddity", "masculine/ambiguous", and that women wearing it had a "diabolic essence". The place I found it said this was too harsh, but I find it funny and it reminds me of the reaction the Pooka had to Mallory.

I may make a foam sword for photos/if I ever wear this to a con, but it's not pressing to me right now (this project will probably take awhile). I do want to make this as wearable as possible so various elements can be worn on their own or in combination with other things, which is why I didn't plan to make a single dress that just looks like two layered on top of each other, and why the over dress with be silver and not white (also I hate sewing white fabrics).

#cipher talk #The ironwood tree dress

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a-court-of-fics-and-errors · 7 months ago

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Keep Moving Forwards, Part 21

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Azriel x Reader Fic

Summary: After finally deciding to leave your abusive and manipulative mate for good, you find unexpected companionship with Azriel, the Shadowsinger of the Night Court. As you navigate the aftermath of your traumatic relationship, you struggle to understand where the mating bond went wrong and contemplate your path forward, vowing never to return to the past.

Find other parts here: Master List

To follow this fic, follow tag "Keep Moving Forwards Fic" or comment to be tagged in future parts.

Content Warning: This story contains depictions of extreme emotional manipulation and abuse, detailed descriptions of direct physical abuse, and scenes of men hunting women with implied sexual assault. Please read at your own risk.

Word Count: 3.7K

Author's Note: This is a multi-part series. Unlike my previous works, this fanfiction delves deeper than just fluff, exploring complex emotional landscapes. As I navigate this new writing journey, I kindly ask for gentle feedback. The topics addressed are profoundly impactful, touching many lives with diverse experiences. Please be gentle with yourselves and others. Healing is a journey, and everyone processes it differently. Be kind to yourself. Take what resonates, and leave what doesn’t.

Please continue reading, being aware of the above content warnings, ensuring you are in a healthy headspace. Give yourself time to process and be gentle with yourself.

Caelum stood before you, leaning casually on the corner of a stone building. You took him in, and he seemed almost larger than the last time you had seen him. His shoulders, under that wool hunting jacket, seemed broader, his legs longer, and his hands larger. His blond hair, which you used to trim back to keep tight to his scalp, was now much longer, the tips of it barely brushing over his shoulders. His beard, usually kept in stubble, had now grown in more fully, but those green eyes were still the same, filled with the same hatred and lust that they always had been.

You pushed yourself back so your back hit the side of the barn as he just looked at you, his eyes tracing you up and down as he took you in. “You look good,” he continued, pushing off the wall and taking a few steps forward.

Your eyes widened as he closed the gap between you two, the overwhelming scent of spruce and sage filling your nose as he stood a mere arm's length away. He gazed down at you again, “You’ve put on some weight,” he commented nonchalantly as your heartbeat pounded in your ears.

You swallowed hard, trying to steady your breath, your voice barely above a whisper, “Please, Caelum, just leave me alone.”

He smirked, his eyes narrowing as he leaned in closer, “Oh, love, you know I can’t do that. You’re my mate. Sacred and forever.” You pressed harder against the barn, feeling the rough wood digging into your back. “Two parts of one whole creature,” he said, placing his hand firmly beside your head while his other hand traced the side of your cheek. He smiled, a catlike grin as you flinched away from his touch. Your entire view was consumed by his body as you whimpered. “Forever destined to roam the world in search of the other.” He placed his other hand to the opposite side of your head, closing you in. “So many others spend lifetimes searching for their mate, and now that we found each other, you would want to throw that all away? And over what?”

You hardened your gaze on him, “Over you beating me, and screaming at me, and making me wish for death.”

Caelum merely rolled his eyes, “You were always one for drama, my love, you always did love little stories.”

You pushed your hands against his chest, though he didn’t move. “You beat me!” you screamed.

“I never hurt you more than you could handle.”

“You broke my nose and jaw!”

Caelum raised his eyebrow, his fingers drumming the wood, “I seem to recall you fell backward and hit your face on the counter.”

You shook your head as you stammered out, “You put me on the kitchen floor and kicked me.”

His mouth turned down as he seemed to search through memories, “I can’t seem to recall that. You sure you weren’t just dreaming?”

You just shook your head again as you said, “No, no, I know that all happened.”

Caelum let out a sigh, letting one hand drop to his side, the other still firmly planted next to you. “Y/N, I know that I had problems—”

You shot out, “You’re a psychopath.”

Caelum’s face fell flat as he continued, “With drinking. But,” his face lifted, “I’ve stopped drinking altogether.” You scoffed out a laugh as his face became more serious, “Honestly, Y/N, I haven’t had a single drink since you left.”

You tried to steady your breathing, “Good for you.”

“For us,” he corrected, taking your hand in his. You recoiled at his touch, but his grasp was tight enough that you couldn’t pull away. He pulled your hand to his chest, placing it over his heart. “I know I’ve done things that I regret, and I know that I’ve hurt you. But things are better now. I promise.”

You looked at his eyes, seemingly innocent but also void of any emotion other than greed. “You can’t change who you are.”

“You have to give me a chance.”

You screamed back, “I gave you over a century's worth of chances!”

“We have a lifetime, my love.”

“A lifetime of brutality and rage?” you spat at him.

His face turned harder, “Of love and adoration.”

“Two feelings you are incapable of having.”

A flash of anger ran across his face as he stared down at you, his chest nearly pressing into yours as he leaned in closer. Your heart caught in your throat as he gently moved the braid from your neck, leaning into it and breathing in deeply as he went to place a small kiss on the soft flesh behind your ear. But he paused, breathing in again. He pulled back, a smirk on his face as you caught his eye. “So you’ve been whoring yourself out?”

You furrowed your brow, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He merely scoffed, nodding his head as he bit down on his lower lip, his head tilting slightly, “I know my mate’s scent. And I know that that stench on your neck isn’t yours. And unless someone isn’t almost on top of you, you won’t hold that scent this long.”

“Caelum—” you warned, trying to wiggle your way to the side and away from him, but he planted his hand firmly on the opposite side of you. “Caelum, stop it. You’re being idiotic.”

“Is he charming?” he taunted. “Is he so kind, and sweet, and gentle?”

“Stop it,” you hissed.

“Does he know that if he runs his fingers on the small of your back that it will make your toes curl and you’ll melt?”

“Caelum—”

“Does he fuck you softly?” Caelum moved in close to your face, merely a whisper, “Does he know that you like your hair pulled?”

“Please—” you pleaded.

Caelum traced his tongue up the side of your throat, “Mm, I can almost taste him,” he whispered. “Was he in you this morning? You little slut.”

Your body shook with terror and revulsion. You tried to push him away, but he was immovable. Your breath came in ragged gasps, your vision blurring with tears. “Caelum, please, just go.”

He laughed softly, a chilling sound that made your blood run cold. “I’m not leaving without you.”

You pulled back slightly as he leaned against you again, “Just let me go.”

Caelum pressed a kiss into your neck which made you whimper in fear and disgust, “You are mine. You bonded yourself to me and promised that you would always be mine, and I would always be yours.” He pressed in another kiss as you gulped down the rock that had formed in your throat.

“I am not your property.” You hissed.

Caelum gripped your chin, pulling you to look at him as he hardened his gaze, “You didn’t get to decide that, love. The bond was formed. It’s unbreakable. You are mine, and I will always come for what is mine.” Caelum leaned in close, pressing his lips hard against yours as you struggled against him. Your mouth twisted into a scowl as you shoved him back, but his strength and large frame kept him planted in place.

You shouted out, “Caelum, stop!”

Your mate grabbed you around your waist, holding you in place, continuing to force himself onto you as you struggled, crying out for him to stop.

“Hey!” you heard from behind him. Caelum did not immediately turn. Instead, he took a deep inhale, grinning like a predator.

He turned slowly as your chest heaved, your eyes wide. “So you're the one who’s been keeping my mate warm and limber,” he said.

“Kai,” you called out, reaching your hand forward, but Caelum threw his own back.

“Not now, my love. The males are talking.” Caelum took a few steps forward, casual as Kai met him with a hard gaze. While tall, Kai had nothing on Caelum, who towered over him, and for as muscular as Kai was, your mate had at least forty pounds on him.

When Caelum approached, Kai merely stared up at him. “She doesn’t want you here.”

Caelum scoffed. “How can you know what she wants?”

“You don’t have the right to come and force her back with you.”

“Oh, but I have all the right. She’s my mate. She bound herself to me.”

“She doesn’t have to stick by that choice.”

Caelum smiled, a light laugh pushing from his nose. “See now, maybe you don’t understand because you don’t have a mate, but when you bond with someone, they enter your mind, your soul, so to speak.” Caelum turned around, wrapping his arm around Kai’s shoulders as he pulled away and pointed at you. “And the lovely female before us decided almost a century and a half ago, give or take a decade, that she would devote her life to me. And I to her.” Caelum turned his attention back to Kai. “So by reasonable understanding, I would say that she made her choice, and as adults, we stand by our choices.”

Kai’s gaze hardened. “Your sick interpretation of the mating bond means nothing to me.”

Caelum’s lips dropped, and he shrugged his shoulders, taking a few steps back towards you. “It doesn’t have to mean anything to you. You’re not involved. And even if she somehow, in a world that doesn’t exist, decided to continue running from me and deny the bond that so rightfully was agreed upon, I would still live forever in her mind, for every little moment.” Caelum pressed his finger to his temple. “Because even while she can be so incessantly frustrating, closing down the bond, or trying to shove me back, she can’t do it all the time.” Caelum turned back to you. “In those little moments, when you’re asleep, when you’re in pain, or even when you’re in ecstasy, the moments where you forget to shut me out, I feel you.” Caelum took a few strides towards you. “And I’ve been so patient. Feeling your ribs crack and break, listening to your screams, feeling the terror coursing through you while you watch your friend be slaughtered in front of you, or the rush of arousal when you touch someone else. All those moments, I sat by and watched, waiting for you to beg me to come get you and come home.” Your eyes widened, suddenly aware of everything that he might have seen in the months since you had been gone. Caelum closed the gap between the two of you, his breath hot in your face as you stared at him. “You, my love, so strong, and yet also incredibly weak. Sorry to hear about your mother, by the way. Perhaps you are more like her than you thought.”

From behind, you heard Kai, “What? What is he talking about?”

Caelum’s eyes widened, his smile lengthening as he raised his brow. “Oh, so you haven’t shared that little detail with him?” You gulped. “Well, let me fill you in on the details, Kai.” Your mate turned to him, Kai’s name in his voice filled you with venom. “You see, while you were out with your friends last night, my mate went on some soul-searching journey back home.” Kai looked to you as you tried to plead with him through your gaze not to listen. “And she learned that mommy dearest had been raising her in a pleasure house and had a rather nasty habit of using drugs to get through her day.” Caelum turned to you. “Isn’t that right?” You said nothing, the lump in your throat seeming to constrict any words from leaving you. “And who knows what all my mate witnessed,” his eyes flicked to you, “or felt.” He turned back to Kai, who looked only at you. “And it turns out that all those memories my sweet mate has of her mother aren’t really real, are they? No, her cute little head as a child just thought mommy was that caring and generous when really she was whoring herself out around the city for drugs.”

You whipped your head to your mate. “Shut up,” you hissed.

“But it’s true, isn’t it?” he asked back. “All of it? And then your mother took you into the woods and raised you there until she left you. She left you to go back and get high again.”

“Stop it,” you warned.

“And then, when you were so, so sad, you went out to find her.” Caelum flashed his gaze to Kai. “Does he know this part? It really is my favorite.” Caelum rested his arm against the barn. “I found her lying in the dirt and the cold, almost dead, and I brought her into my home. And she begged me to let her stay. She told me about her poor mother and how she was lost in the woods. And all it took was me giving her a place to sleep and some food to eat, and she wrapped herself around my finger.” You gulped down as tears began to fall. “And then she told me this long story about mates, and about how before the fae lived, the gods split creatures into two forever cursed to wander the world looking for their other half.” Caelum looked at Kai, smiling, and then turned back to you. “So you’ve shared your little bedtime story then?” he asked. “And then, just like her mother, she threw herself at me, begging me to let her stay, all because I smiled at her and fed her.” He smiled at Kai. “She really is so easy, isn’t she?” You felt the tears burn hot trails down your face as you glared at him, your gaze cast away from Kai. Caelum continued, “And then, the very first time we slept together, the bond snapped, and I’ve never seen so much relief on someone’s face. She started insisting, ‘We have to be mated,’ and ‘we can’t be apart.’” Caelum placed his hand on your shoulder. “And I couldn’t let you down, not after I took you in out of the kindness of my heart, and I fed you, clothed you. Loved you. So we accepted the bond that she so desperately wanted.” Caelum turned back to Kai, his head tilting slightly. “Now, my love, am I forgetting anything?” You gulped down your tears. “Oh yes, that’s right. What about when you begged me to build you that cabin in the woods so we could move away from my family and into a place of our own? And how I spent months up there, hauling trees, and slaving away to build you that home?” Caelum leaned into your cheek, pressing a kiss into it. “But it was all worth it because I was going to spend my time with you. My mate. My whole life. You promised me that.” Caelum turned back to Kai, “She sure does love telling her sad little stories, doesn’t she? And she performs them so well, with her puppy dog eyes and her quivering lip.” Caelum faced you, his voice dropping. “So why don’t we just go home, back to the life we know, and we can pick up where we left off?”

As he turned away from Kai, he slowly pulled back his jacket, revealing two large knives strapped to the inside. Your gasp caught in your throat. “It doesn’t have to end badly,” he whispered. “You can decide how this goes.” You looked between the knives and his face, feeling your heartbeat thumping in your ears. Caelum was a skilled hunter; you had seen him take down prey by hand much larger than Kai. You’d also seen him fight with his hunting party, and even though that was mostly for fun, the fights were brutal and often left the others bloodied and bruised. Caelum would have Kai bleeding on the ground before Kai could even know what happened. You swallowed and nodded lightly. “Good choice,” Caelum whispered.

He let his coat fall back into place, shielding the knives from view before reaching his hand out to you. Your breath quivered as you slid your hand into his, his grin purely primal and sadistic. Caelum turned back to Kai. “Seems we’ve reached a conclusion.” Kai’s mouth dropped when he saw you hand in hand with your mate, his head shaking lightly.

“Y/N,” Kai started, “You don’t have to do this.”

Caelum brought his hand to his pocket, right over where you knew the knife was, and he squeezed your hand. “No, Kai,” you said, your voice shaking lightly. “No, it’s okay.”

Kai’s face scanned yours in utter confusion as Caelum smirked. “She’s come to her senses,” he called. “Seems she finally remembered her promise to me.”

Kai made to take a few steps forward, but you lightly shook your head at him, your eyes widening. As you glanced toward Caelum’s hips, Kai’s eyes followed your own. In a moment of understanding, Kai stopped and looked at your face, still shaking a subtle no.

“We’ve got quite the journey home, so we’ll be on our way,” Caelum said, smiling at Kai, whose gaze never broke from yours.

Caelum gripped your hand tighter as he stepped away from the barn, pulling you alongside him toward the large iron gates. Your heart pounded in your chest, your head swimming with the reality that you were being taken back, and that no one here knew for sure where you were going. Not to mention that since you fought back, there would be a certainty of pain when you got back to the cabin that you hadn’t known in a long time. You took a few weary steps, your legs shaking as Caelum pulled you alongside him, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and pressing a kiss to the crown of your head.

Without much warning, you heard a few fast-paced steps from behind, followed by a grunt as Kai leapt onto Caelum’s back, his arms sliding around his neck in a chokehold. Caelum stumbled backward, throwing his head back and meeting Kai’s nose with a blood-curdling crack. Kai released his hold and fell to the ground as Caelum steadied himself, reaching into his jacket pocket and silently pulling out a large, serrated hunting knife.

You turned to find Kai on the ground, propped on his forearms with his hand to his nose, gushing dark red blood. He scurried back as Caelum let out a low growl and started walking towards him, gripping the knife in his hand.

“Stop!” you called out, running after your mate, who was determined to gut Kai. You knew the look in Caelum’s eyes too well—when red had shadowed over his vision and reason no longer existed. You grabbed his shoulder, pleading for him to stop. “Caelum, please, let’s just leave. I’ll go home without a problem, I’ll never leave again.” But he didn’t respond, continuing to trudge forward as he shook you off towards Kai, who had stumbled back onto his feet.

“Please, Caelum,” you screamed, trying to grab at the knife. You gripped his hand in your own as he turned, his face curled in angry rage. “Please, my love, let’s just go.” You heard Kai groan a few feet from you as he backed into the wall, his face reddened with blood.

You ran your hands up the length of Caelum’s arms as he looked at you, and for a second, the world seemed to stop turning. Your eyes pleaded with his, searching for a sense of pity or empathy. But there was none to be found. In a moment, Caelum raised his hand and slapped you hard across the cheek, causing your whole body to fly sideways as you let out a screech and gasp.

In the same instant, Kai rushed forward, knocking his shoulder into Caelum. Caelum raised the knife, poised to stab down into Kai’s back, but Kai raised his own arm to stop the blow. Kai struggled under Caelum’s pressure as the knife slowly inched down towards his face. Regaining your bearings, you jumped fully onto Caelum’s back, gripping his arm in your hands and trying to pull the knife back. The three of you grunted in determination until you finally brought your teeth down into the soft flesh of your mate’s wrist, tasting his blood as he cried out in pain.

Caelum brought his other hand up to try and pull you off, calling you every name he could think of. He gripped you by your hair, yanking you back and throwing you to the ground. Your body hit the wet cobblestone with a thump and splash. In that moment of distraction, Caelum drove the knife right down beneath Kai’s left shoulder blade, all the way to the hilt.

Kai roared out in agony, leaning forward into Caelum, who twisted the knife in the flesh, causing a sickening squelch as blood poured from the wound. You cried out for Kai as Caelum tugged the knife free, now dripping with blood, and sheathed it. Kai fell to the ground in a heap.

“No, no, no!” you screamed, crawling over to Kai, who lay wheezing.

Caelum twisted his head, as if trying to work out a spasm, his hand coated in blood as he wiped the knife on his pants and sheathed it. You pressed into the wound on Kai’s back as he groaned in pain. “Just stay with me,” you ordered, looking around as Caelum seemed to reorient himself. “Help!” you screeched, “Someone please help me!”

As your cries echoed, the sound of heavy footsteps came down the street. Caelum stepped forward, wrapping his bloodied hand around your mouth to stop your screams and hauling you upwards. Behind you, the gates of the city shut as Caelum hissed out a curse, his hand still pressed over your mouth as he considered his options. You still looked down at Kai, who was turning pale as the blood drained from his wound, wheezing out. Tears clouded your vision as you fought against your mate’s hold, but his grip was too tight.

As the footsteps pounded closer, Caelum took off with you in his arms down the side street. As he turned the corner, taking you out of sight of the stables, you saw Kai’s face, clenched in pain, one hand extending out to you.

....Sorry: @thatacotargirl @mcuamerica @lilah-asteria @florabelll @fightmedraco @marvelbros-oneshots @mariahoedt @quinzzelx @romantasyreader28 @minnieoo @mysteriouslydeafeningwerewolf @annabethgranger123 @krowiathemythologynerd @scatteredstardustt @romantacyreader28 @caroline-books @slytherintaco @sevikas-whore @sidthedollface2 @405rry @sleepylunarwolf @acourtofbatboydreams @quiettuba @julesofvolterra @skylarkalchemist @darling006 @rhysandorian

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