#i have it all mapped out and i just wish people trusted it enough without making me play this whole circus

[essential-randomness]

TFW you realize there's a typo in the title of the post of your very important content hours after posting it

In my defense, it took me 2 and a half hours to write the copy and post it across 4 different socials (and this is in addition to the time that took me to write the blog post) so by the time I got to Tumblr I was literally dying. You have no idea how grueling every single piece of this work is going to be.

I don't really know why I'm saying this, but I guess if the spirit of 2024 is (also) to help people understand the reality of what we're fighting against, then I should let people know that every single piece of content I'm going to put out is hours and hours of work I wish I was spending on actually making the incredibly important progress that is right in front of me.

[zorosdimples]

AFLOAT

pairing ༄ zoro x gn!reader

warnings ༄ this fic is slightly suggestive, but it’s more fluffy than anything else. reader has an unspecified devil fruit power, and thus cannot swim. reader wears a bra and underwear, and is implied to be shorter than zoro, but no gendered terms are used.

word count ༄ 1365

notes ༄ my birthday fic for zoro! this has been in my drafts since july. it’s disgustingly self-indulgent and filled with emotion; i hope you all enjoy regardless <3 tagging my beloved wife @redskyvenus!

sitting on the edge of a rickety, weather-worn dock, you dip your legs in crystalline water and try to keep your focus on the depths: on the flora that roots at the bottom and reaches to the sun, on the schools of tiny fish that flit around the underwater jungle.

but your gaze keeps drifting to the man swimming laps around the spring, admiring how gracefully his strong body cuts through the water. the midafternoon sun hotly caresses your skin and presses into you like a greedy lover. you lean back on your palms and tilt your head up to soak in the barefaced sky; its cerulean is only obscured by the dense foliage that surrounds the secluded watering hole.

you’re startled from your thoughts when you feel something tickle your toes. with a strangled yelp you scramble back from the edge of the dock. as you steady your breathing and wonder what the hell just touched you, a familiar mint green head bobs up to the surface.

“asshole!” you shout, slamming your hands down on the wooden planks for emphasis.

zoro laughs heartily as he hoists himself out of the water and plops down next to you. he ruffles his hair, sending sparkling droplets flying in the sunlight, landing on your sweat-damp flesh. your eyes flicker to the rivulets that ebb and flow down his naked torso into a little pool beneath him.

remembering your irritation, you half-heartedly punch his tricep and scold him. “you scared me so badly i could’ve fallen into the spring and drowned. and then you have the audacity to laugh at me?”

zoro snorts at your dramatics, but glosses over them, nudging you with his elbow. “i’d never let you drown and y’know it.”

he’s right, of course. zoro is certainly strong enough to haul you out of the water. you’ve watched him save countless people—friend and foe alike—from a premature grave. you put your feet back in the spring, playfully kicking the swordsman’s leg in the process. the chilled water cools your body but isn’t enough to stop the perspiration that beads at your hairline.

“i miss swimming,” you state, thinking aloud more than speaking to the man beside you. you can’t see the way his lone eye maps your profile as though he will forget the cant of your nose and the curve of your lip once this moment passes.

silence hangs comfortably for several breaths before zoro turns to you with a sly—or is it sinister?—smile. “let me take you swimming.”

you blink at him a few times, face scrunching into the signature scowl he secretly adores.

“did you hit your head on a rock or something? i’m a devil fruit user. it’s physically impossible for me to stay afloat in water, let alone swim in it.”

his grey eye shines with mirth. “just listen for a sec, will ya? no need for insults,” he chuckles as he rises to his feet and offers you a hand.

you appraise him with a quirked brow. you will yourself to push away thoughts of how beautiful he looks bathed in sunbeams and how you wish you could chart the planes of his body the same way you are charting the grand line. how you would see and count and kiss every scar etched in his flesh and tell him how happy you are that he’s alive.

zoro keeps his expectant stance, and you focus on his outstretched hand, just as sinewy and scarred as the rest of his body.

“d’you trust me?” he inquires. his eye searches yours for truth.

“more than i trust myself,” you answer without thinking. the admission is perhaps too honest, but you catch his dimpled smile and feel a little lightheaded as you grasp his rough palm and stand up beside him.

zoro leads you off the dock and around the rocky curves and edges of the spring to an ideal point of entry. you reach a stretch that resembles a beach: a sandy shore that slopes into the water. he starts walking into the spring expecting you to follow, but when you hesitate, he pauses and spins to face you.

“somethin’ the matter?” he asks.

you wordlessly glance down at your jean shorts and white top. “ah,” he says with a curt nod. “you should just wear your swimsuit. don’t wanna get all bogged down with wet clothes.”

you absentmindedly fiddle with the edge of your shirt and clear your throat. “i don’t have a swimsuit, zoro.”

“huh? nami’s always got one on. you’re tellin’ me you don’t?”

you rub your temples. “oh my god, zoro. nami can swim—i can’t. why would i ever wear a swimsuit when i have no intention of swimming?”

after a few tense beats, he tries again. “so—”

you interrupt him with a huff. “just turn around and wait a second. please?”

he obeys without question and you sigh. before you second guess yourself, you undress, leaving your shirt and shorts in a tidy pile on the sand. you’re left in your bra and underwear. they’re nothing special: just a matching cotton set that has seen better days. they are well-worn and comfortable—perfect for the sticky summer heat. you muster all your courage and start walking toward the shoreline.

it’s not a big deal.

it’s just like a swimsuit.

he won’t care.

it’s not as though he likes me.

zoro can hear your tentative steps, faint splashes in the water behind him. he doesn’t turn to you since you never told him he could. once you reach his side, he angles his head so he can look you directly in the eyes, saying, “we’re gonna walk until the water is up to your shoulders. is that okay?” if you saw a rosy flush on his cheeks, you could have easily mistaken it for the heat or too much sun.

“yeah,” you breathe.

the two of you walk in silence. you feel fine until the water hits your waist, then reality sets in. you haven’t been in a body of water since you were a young child. icy panic surges through your veins when you feel a fish graze one of your legs; you instinctively grab zoro’s tanned forearm to steady yourself.

“easy there, s’okay,” he soothes, stopping so you can get your bearings. when you don’t let go of him, he adds a simple “c’mere,” securing a strong arm around your waist. the water is cold, but his touch burns you.

it’s a strange sensation, delving deeper in the clear water, the surface lapping at your shoulders. it’s both nostalgic and new, familiar and foreign, frightening and exciting—even more so with the man holding you.

“see? you’re a pro,” zoro teases, calloused fingers gentle as he squeezes your waist.

usually, you would bite back, but you’re transfixed by the feeling. you attempt to turn and face zoro, but stumble in the process, unused to how clunky your legs feel underwater. he wraps both his arms around your waist, anchoring you to him.

it dawns on you how close you two are: your bodies pressed together, a thin layer of sodden fabric separating your flesh from his. the swordsman hopes you can’t feel how fast his heart is beating. (you would if you weren’t so focused on your own heartbeat.)

you peer up at zoro, hands splayed on his firm pecs, and for the first time, you see unguarded longing in his steel gaze. it’s awkward, the way neither of you can bring yourselves to speak. but leaning into one another feels right.

uncharacteristically, zoro breaks the quiet. his voice is rich—husky—as he asks, “you okay?”

boldly, you link your hands around his sun-warmed neck, thrilled when he doesn’t pull away, but instead sinks into your touch. you stand on your tiptoes, inching closer to him. zoro’s head hangs low, chapped lips parted, breath heavy. he’s so close that you can see him and smell him and hear him and feel him, but you want to taste him, too.

“let’s just stay like this,” you murmur.

and in the middle of the chilly spring, two burning souls stay afloat, zoro’s lips moving, melting, blurring against your own.

[cepheustarot]

What awaits you in June?

Attention! This reading is for entertainment purposes only. This tarot reading does not give a 100% guarantee that all the described situations will occur or being ultimate truth. You build your own life and destiny and only you know yourself best.

✧ Masterlist ✧ Paid readings

Pick a pile. Choose one or more pictures. Trust your intuition.

Pile 1: Now you may feel that you are in an indecisive state, in a situation that has not developed for a long time. Because of this stagnation you could not do anything, find a solution, you could generally feel at a dead end, as if you had no answers to the questions that have been tormenting you for a long time. In June you will finally be able to get out of this state, an opportunity will open up for you to do this, perhaps the situation will move forward and you will find some kind of solution or they will help you, lend a hand. The cards show that to a greater extent your condition is related to the situation with a person dear to you, it can be someone from your family or close circle, a friend or lover. In any case, here you will resolve the impasse, everything will be solved safely for you. The cards also show that your decision will affect your life and your well-being for the better, you will finally feel like a  stone fell from the soul, you will feel easier to breathe, you will feel happiness, some freedom, peace, tranquility, background anxiety will disappear. 

This month you will also meet a new person, they will be very friendly, open to you, sociable, quite attractive, has an alluring charisma, handsome enough, knows his stuff, is quite capable and not someone who worries about little things. As the cards show, it will be a good acquaintance, you will have a good time together, it will be interesting for you to talk to each other, however, from your side I see a certain distance, as if you are distrustful of a person and are in no hurry to open up to them, share something personal. Here is about the initial stage of acquaintance, when you just get to know each other, make up the first impression of a person, here we are talking about a slow rapprochement with each other. 

You will spend the remaining days of the month quite calmly and peacefully, you can often see your close friends, family or your siblings. It will be a good time, without quarrels and misunderstandings, you will really feel comfortable and safe.

Pile 2: You will be "in great demand" at the beginning of the month! Not a day will pass without meeting someone, a lot of people will want to spend time with you and will often invite you to meetings and, judging by the cards, you will accept their invitations. The maps show that you will often gather with a group of close friends but I can't say that you will have a big company, rather only those people whom you have known for a long time and with whom you have built a strong connection. You can also be invited on a romantic date! Someone can make a marriage proposal this month and someone can be invited to a wedding. In any case, you will have busy days here at the beginning of summer. 

Also this month, you will go on a trip that you have planned with another person. For some, it will also be a business trip. As the cards show, all the goals that you planned to accomplish during this trip will be fulfilled, all the places that you would like to visit will be visited, in a word, your plans and wishes will be realized. But there may be a quarrel, misunderstanding with the person with whom you went and partly this will spoil your mood and positive attitude, take this into account!

At the end of the month, you may have a joint project with people that will need to be done and submitted before the deadline. Some may have exams during this period or final tests. As the cards show, you will throw all the forces into solving these tasks, preparing and your efforts will be justified, you will get a good result, the one you wanted to see! But at the same time you will feel a lot of fatigue and some apathy, so you should pay attention to your rest and recuperation. Moreover, you had quite busy days before that.

Pile 3: At the beginning of the month you will have thoughts about changing something: this may concern both your social circle and your environment, you may want to settle in a new place, you will want to change your job, field of activity. But mostly the cards show that many will move and for some it will be a forced move when you are already happy in this place, but by coincidence and for certain reasons you need to move. You will leave past connections, past friends, you may feel sad because of this, but there is no feeling that you will now be alone in a new place. On the contrary, you are driven by curiosity, interest, since you are essentially expanding your horizons, it will be interesting for you to explore your new place, you will adapt relatively quickly. 

However one of your loved ones will not tolerate such a distance between you, perhaps it will even be your lover. This person will begin to respond coldly, will tell little about himself and little ask about you, will often disappear. It is very difficult for them without you, they are sad and worried, worried that your relationship will get worse, will not be so strong. You may also feel tired because of moving or some other kind of change of things, as it is emotionally and physically exhausting, you may not be able to keep in touch with your loved ones because of this condition, as you need to regain strength, adapt to a new place. 

At the end of the month, you will feel that it is very difficult for you but you will be able to get out of this difficult state. Remember that the transition to a new stage of life is always difficult and need time to deal with this, do not rush yourself and give yourself time to get used to it. As the cards show, you will definitely cope with everything and feel better, you will begin to feel a surge of vital energy, some activity will appear in you, a desire to do something. The cards also show that you will devote enough time to work or your hobby, you will be satisfied with what you are doing and you will feel pleasure. It will also help you improve your condition.

Thank you for reading! I will be glad of any feedback 🖤

[romanoffsbish]

A Prompt List

Feel free to pick and choose from the list for your own stories, as well as send in requests (view my masterlist for who I write for) with whatever prompts if you please, 🥰

Angst/Fluff/Smut prompts listed. (18+)

Bonus points if you take the assigned genre and flip it 🤔😏

———

Angst

“Are you serious?” / “I never wanted this!”

“This was never real, was it?” / “I was just a warm body for those cold winter nights…”

“You are vile…” / “I can’t believe I ever believed someone like you could love me.”

“Nothing good ever lasts.” / “Goodbye.”

“I love you.” / “It’s not enough this time.”

“Please, don’t leave me, we can fix this.” /“You left me first, I’m just finishing the job.”

“I love you Y/N.” / “Why do people only say that to me when they’ve wronged me? Am I not deserving of the guiltless love? Like the ones I see in fairytales, where they get swept away smiling, and not where I curl up to weep in my bed for another damn night.”

“I’m sorry.” / “For what exactly? Breaking my trust, and in turn my fragile heart? Or do you only mean that you got caught?”

“I can’t even look at you anymore.” / “Please…” / “This is the end for us.”

“I can’t live without you, I won’t survive.” / “Then I guess I’ll be back for your funeral.”

Fluff

“There’s nobody else I’d ever love like this.”

“Everything I do is for you—my beloved.”

*while stargazing* “If I could, I’d rearrange the stars for you, have them map out your face, because a beauty like yours should transcend the bounds of Earth my darling.”

“I can’t believe that the world had infinite chances to find me a soulmate, and I lucked out and hit the absolute jackpot with you.”

“Did you know that a kiss is worth a thousand words?” / “You should kiss me.”

“You’re the most gorgeous person here.” / “I’d never lie to you darling, god, I wish you could see you the way I do” / “Perfect.”

“Call them —, the worst they could do is say no to you, and trust me, they won’t…” / “They said yes!!!”

“I’ve loved you since the first time I ever laid my eyes on you.” / “Well damn, why’s it taken you so long to make a move then?”

“I can’t believe my cat/dog loves you more than it’s ever loved me.” / “Actually, on second thought it makes sense, you’re far too lovable to even question it; *pets name* you have good taste.”

“I will never tire of watching you sleeping next to me, you’re just so peaceful, and I get to celebrate that you’re all mine.”

Smut

“Careful what you wish for baby, because I’m nothing if not generous…”

“Where should I sit?” / “The couch works just fine, but if you prefer comfort, my face works far better my darling.”

“I’m not letting you go until you’ve either drenched the sheets, or passed out.”

“Fuck me like you mean it —, let everybody know I’m yours before I no longer am.”

“Aww, did my precious little dove think I’d just let that little stunt go?” / “I was hoping so.” / “You’re sadly mistaken toots, now prepare yourself for a long night full of passion, and if you’re lucky—pain.”

“Mommy isn’t very pleased with the outfit you chose to wear tonight, you made those fools think they stood a chance.” / “Maybe they did.” / *incredulous laughter* “Is that right baby? I go on one week long business trip and you just forget who you belong to? Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll remind you.”

“Stay still, or I’ll have you warming daddy’s cock all night long.” / “That’s a good girl.”

“I-I can’t take anymore, please.” / “You can take it, and you’ll do it graciously, one more complaint and I’ll edge you all month.”

“Kiss me, please.” / “Is that all you want baby, is for me to kiss you?” / “N-no, I also want you to fuck me senseless, but a kiss sounded far more romantic.”

“If you don’t fuck me, I’ll be doing it myself!” / “I’m coming!” / “No, I am!”

[thelovelyspirit-collab-fics]

@officialfeysandweek Day 4: Bargains

Read on Ao3

Summary: A fever has been sweeping the village for over a month now, devistating family after family. Already grieving their mother's death days before, Feyre is unwilling to lose her sister from the same fever. Without the help of the village doctors, she's now forced to take a less favorable route.

For her sister, she'll bargain with the fae.

AN: Happy Feysand Week, y'all. It’s @starfall-spirit and you’re watching Disney Channel I’m so happy to share the first chapter of my current collab with @thelovelymadone based off of this text post by @deluxeloy. Enjoy!

Passion is the truest state of the fae spirit. Follow your instincts and act on your impulses. Live life to the fullest without regard to the consequences—they will come about regardless of what you do.

~The Unseelie Code

Chapter I

The evening woods were eerily quiet as Feyre tracked the sound of a nearby stream. The almost-silence was enough to push her closer to the edge of fear, her nerves surrounding that night’s plan doing nothing to help. Because what waited for her when the stream met the lake…

Feyre couldn’t believe she was doing this. And yet, what other choice did she have? The fever had already claimed her mother, now Elain was bedridden too, eyes glazed more often than not, trembling with fever beneath the meager covers she and Nesta had managed to gather.

It had started about a month prior. Though winter had fully yielded to spring, a fever common to colder weather had started spreading among the children playing in the village streets, just as easily carried home to their doting mothers and fathers. Then four children from different homes died, one after the next. Their families had no one to support them in their grieving period.

All because that tragedy had been accompanied by a frightening word of the trusted village doctor: mutation. A virus one could brush off in a few days had turned deadly.

Less than a week ago her mother had shown symptoms, passed them to Elain two days later. If her sister was only meant to last the same span of time, she’d be dead by the next dawn. Even if they had money for a doctor, there were few in their village with true medical training, most of them too frightened of catching the illness to treat it.

Feyre was left with only one option. The Faerie Wood.

The enchanted forest seemed more sinister than enchanting with moonlight as her only guide. It fed that fear born of the tales her childhood nanny had told her some fifteen years ago to keep her in bed.

There is a portal just past our village border, invisible to the human eye, you know. Leads right to the Unseelie Court. It’s High Lord has servants and spies who stand at the veil, searching for naughty children to drag through. You girls best behave, or tomorrow morning it’ll be a few of their changelings waking in your beds.

Feyre and her sisters had stopped associating the kidnappings with household shenanigans a few years later, but that maturity hadn’t completely erased the fact some from their village had gone missing overnight. Whether human or fae, the abductors didn’t seem to favor an age group either. She was never quite sure how to react when she saw the people she’d known since birth wailing at the loss of a spouse who had been lured from their bed or an infant snatched from its cradle.

Would her wish be granted, she wondered, or would she be stolen away before she could voice it, simply for daring to ask?

A cold draft rattled the trees, chilling her down to her bones, far too cold to be considered natural for a spring evening in their region. Consulting her rudimentary map for what felt like the millionth time, she had to assume the biting air had something to do with approaching the Unseelie Gateway—if this was its true location.

The forest lightened then, startling Feyre enough that she paused on the trail, lifting her gaze from the parchment. Dawn was hours out still. The pale light wasn’t from the sun, but… starlight. If she wasn’t in The Faerie Wood, she would have thought she was suffering hallucinations without the fever that accompanied them. But sure enough, stars were lighting the trail like a dusting of breadcrumbs down to the water at the forest’s edge. Confident now she was on the right path, she quickened her pace until she broke the tree line, slightly unsteady when the shed foliage transitioned to pebbles and stones beneath her flimsy boots.

A dozen yards and she’d be at the edge of the lake. If the stories were true, the crystal clear water before her was the gateway itself. Even now, before she reached the edge of the water a faerie would sense her as a trespasser and weigh the question inside of her to deem her worthy of its help or declare her the next victim of some ruthless immortal’s game. If she was being honest with herself, she had no idea whether she wanted all of that to be the truth or utter nonsense. If it was true, at least she’d have a clue what she was getting herself into.

“Of course it’s true, darling. Outlandish as your childhood tales may seem, they need a bit of the truth to become anything significant.” Shaking from head to toe, Feyre frantically scanned the forest and waters to locate the voice seeming to pour in from every direction. “Here, darling.”

Finally pinpointing the voice, she watched a man—if a faerie could be called something so simple—materialize from a pocket of shadows, the slightest smirk she sensed he often wore illuminated by the waxing moon.

She couldn’t help but stare, taking in the high cheekbones, the hard line of his jaw, the breadth of his shoulders his clean cut jacket was unable to hide. He was tall, too. Enough so that she’d be forced to tilt her head back of he closed the few yards between them to get a better look at her. Not that he’d need to, with faerie senses being significantly better than those of a human.

Terrified—and worse than that, flustered beneath his undivided attention—Feyre couldn’t begin to think of a proper way to show deference. She fell back on instinct, dropping into a clumsy curtsy even the snap of a rod had never been able to perfect.

“I come in need of a favor,” she said simply, not wanting to risk offending the man by addressing him with the wrong title. Surely the curtsy had been safe. Dressed like that, carrying himself tall, he had to be some sort of gentleman or noble among his kind. Then again, most gentlemen she’d met weren’t built like a soldier in service. “My sister needs help.”

He cocked his head. “Come closer, darling. I can hardly hear you.” She stayed rooted to the spot. How easy would it be for a man like that to pull her beneath the surface of the glassy lake? Drown her or drag her down into his world of wicked things? No, she’d be staying right where she stood. “Have it your way.”

Just like that he folded into a flurry of shadow, reappearing mere feet in front of her, hand tucked casually into his pockets. It took everything in her not to scramble away. “Now, tell me more, pet.”

“My sister is ill. She’ll be dead by morning. I want to bargain for her life. If you’d be so gracious,” she tacked on.

He considered her request for a moment, seeming to study her more than anything. “Most young woman are warned against these woods.” He leaned forward slightly. “Yet you’re here intentionally, asking to bargain. My, things must be dire.” She swallowed hard. “Just what are you willing to offer, darling?”

“I don’t…” It had to be a fool’s choice to tell a faerie to craft the bargain to his own liking, but Feyre had a fair idea of what men usually wanted and she highly doubted the man she now faced had any desire for mortal coin or the intimate company of a human woman. She wasn’t sure she could puzzle out something that interested him, being so unsure of faerie customs.

“Could I simply owe you a favor?” she offered, hoping and praying that would provide a solution for the time being and wouldn’t bite her in the ass further down the road. “To call in when you require assistance.”

He chuckled and the little flame of hope winked out. “Darling, you’re asking me to help you defy the nature of life. It’s going to cost you more than a favor. No, I fear this bargain will require something a bit more… substantial.” Feyre crossed her arms, but held her stance. “Your firstborn,” he purred.

She blinked, lost for words. “Excuse me?”

“Your firstborn child is the price I demand.”

“That—” She bit her lip, finally retreating a step. She couldn’t think with him so close, the combination of his salt and citrus scent and unyielding stare unnerving. “I never intended to marry, let alone have children,” she admitted.

“You wouldn’t change your mind on that to save your sister’s life? And you humans call my kind cruel.”

“I didn’t say—” Feyre huffed. “If that is the price, I will pay it.”

“Very well, darling.” There was a sharp tingling up her right arm. From her fingertips to her elbow a black swirling pattern crawled up her arm, the color much like tattoo ink. Before she could express her anger at being marked against her will the design vanished, leaving her arm bare once again. “The ink of the Unseelie Court can only be seen in the land of Faerie.”

Raw dread chilled her down to the bone. “You intend to take me there?” Feyre asked. He raised a brow. “For the, um, conception?”

~~~~~

Rhys had no reason to bring the girl into his domain. He’d had no intention of claiming her beyond the bargain mark, if he was being honest. He assumed when making his proposal that she would find a nice man in the village to father the child and that would be that. Despite what rumors claim, most of the stolen children lived fulfilling lives among the court. Occasionally things got out of hand with the crueler crowd, but the same could be said of humans who kept servants and entertainers.

But dear Feyre had interpreted the bargain incorrectly, assuming he meant to drag her to his bed. Studying the human once again, it was far too easy to imagine her carrying his heir. And then a few more to follow. He could pretend he had a decision to make, but deep down, he already knew the path was decided.

“Your sister’s health has been restored. Your family and neighbors will forget the illness ever burdened her, though there’s nothing I can do to bring back your mother.”

“I understand,” she said softly.

“You will let me escort you to the Court tonight. After the child is born you can decide whether you wish to return to the human world or live among the Unseelie to raise the child.”

A strange sort of tension settled between them. He imagined leaving the child behind would be difficult, even if she didn’t desire a family.

Even if she thought the babe to be more monster than human.

“How are…” Feyre crossed her arms, curling in on herself a bit. “How are humans treated there? Poorly, I imagine. I just want to prepare myself for the worst.”

Rhys closed the distance between them in two strides, lifting her chin so she’d meet his eyes again. “My guests, Feyre darling, are treated with respect.” He let his grip tighten ever so slightly before bending to brush his lips along the shell of her ear. “No one touches what belongs to the High Lord.”

[fuckyeahisawthat]

Yeah so I couldn't stop thinking about this idea of Chani being in some kind of command position in Paul's army attacking Arrakeen so here we go.

The war camp is huge, slouched out along a narrow valley between towering dunes, and it's one of many. Thousands of fighters streaming up from the south at the command of Muad'Dib.

She sets up her tent on the furthest edge of camp, backed up against the dune. Without any discussion, Adaner and Emad have planted their tents on either side of her, almost closing her in. She doesn't know these people, and she can't guarantee that some too-ardent zealot won't have a go at silencing a dissenting voice while everyone is sleeping.

It's late afternoon, too hot to sleep still, so she sits outside her tent doing one last check of her gear. They'll start the final push toward Arrakeen after midnight.

The sun is slanting dramatically over the dunes when he finds her. He has...guards? servants? hangers-on? with him now. Three southern men and one woman, none of whom she has seen before.

"Chani."

She looks up from sharpening her knife, but stays exactly where she is, sitting cross-legged on the ground. She's not jumping to her feet for him.

"I have nothing to say to you." She stares him down.

He's wearing that cloak again, the black one he's had since the war council. She has no idea where he got it. She has seen the sum total of his wardrobe tossed in a pile on the floor of her room and there was nothing like that among it. Harkonnen black is her gut reaction every time she sees it. But no. He was wearing black the day he first stepped off an Atreides warship onto her world, wasn't he? It's Atreides black if it's anything.

After a minute he seems to realize she is really not going to say anything to him. He dismisses his newly-acquired attendants with a wave of his hand. One of the men is staring down at her with particular suspicion and doesn't scurry away fast enough. "Leave us," he says, quiet but pointed.

It makes her shudder, how effortlessly he has slipped back into being someone who is used to giving orders and having them obeyed.

"As you wish, Lisan al-Gaib," the man mutters, and fucks off to do who knows what.

He's still staring down at her. She's still staring up at him. She still has nothing to say to him.

He opens his mouth, closes it again, then says, quiet and even: "I've split the northern fedaykin into two battalions for the attack. Stilgar will command one. I want you to command the other."

Of all the tactics she had expected him to try, this wasn't one of them. She does get to her feet then. Not because she has any respect left for him. Just to look him in the eye. She doesn't bother sheathing her knife, and he doesn't flinch. She searches his face, looking for any hint that this is some kind of trap, or an attempt at flattery, or a wildly inappropriate form of apology.

"Why?" she asks.

"Because I trust you."

She wants to scream. She wants to scream I TRUSTED YOU TOO AND LOOK WHERE IT GOT ME! right in his face. She clenches her jaw instead.

"What if I say no?" Will you simply make me do it, like your mother did?

(He doesn't know. She has to keep telling herself he doesn't know about that, because thinking about any of the alternatives--that he could accept or even plan such a violation--makes her want to dry-heave.)

He shrugs, a tiny, resigned movement. "It's your choice. But you already know you're the best person for it."

The infuriating thing is, she does. They've been discussing battle strategy for weeks now, as the number of fighters who would follow his command grew from twenty to two hundred. Figuring out together how to best organize large numbers of fedaykin who are used to fighting with two dozen friends they've known their whole lives. He's told her everything he knows about Arrakeen; its defenses and how they can be compromised. Drawn a map of as much as he can remember of the city, and the exact layout of the ducal residency including the secret passageways that even the servants don't know about. He's told her everything he knows about the Sardaukar, how they fight differently from the Harkonnens. He's even told her how he would fight his own House's troops, if they had still been holding Arrakeen.

It enrages her all over again. Because they should be doing this together, they should be doing this as equals, I trusted you, I trusted you, YOU PROMISED--

She's not sure if he expects her to make a decision right now. After she doesn't respond for a long moment, he says, "There's a briefing in an hour, in the big tent. Come if you accept the position."

"As you wish, Lisan al-Gaib," she spits.

She sees the flinch; she knows she hurt him with that but she can't bring herself to feel bad about it. What else did he expect?

Nothing, it seems, because he just nods once, almost to himself, and walks away.

[jeankluv]

Snow on the beach || Trafalgar Law x fem!reader

Chapter I: The new girl

Words count: 3,8k

Warnings: none(?)

Notes: this is inspired by one of my fav books, it will be a multiple part story, I still don’t know how many but please enjoy. Sorry if there are any mistakes English is not my first language.

Materialist || Next chapter →

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

You still didn’t know what you were doing in that place, it was freezing, isolated and without any coverage. But you need it, you need to be away from everyone you knew, you need to find yourself and leave those toxic thoughts and people.

You took a deep breath and looked at the map, the house you were going to be staying, it was far from the station, really far.

“Shit…” You said under your breath. “I really booked the most isolated house in the whole town, didn’t I?”

You sighed and started walking, carrying your bags. Despite the freezing weather there was no snow, so you were grateful for it or else you wouldn’t make it to the house.

There wasn’t a single soul in the streets, you could understand why, the weather was freezing. You should’ve called a taxi or a Uber, although it was probably impossible there were any around here. You kept walking, making small stops to catch your breath. It was until a car passed you by and slowed down parking a few meters away from you. You froze, you have seen enough crime documentaries and films to know how this works. The man that got out started walking towards you, waving his hand. Before reaching for you, he slipped and fell to the ground.

“Eh?” You let out.

“Auch!” The man sat and started sobbing his head. “Always the same…”

“You okay?” You said without moving. Holding strongly to your suitcase, just in case you need it to throw in his direction and run away.

The man then stood and started walking towards you. I’m going to die, y/n you have to react! He is much bigger than you but you are faster!

“Young lady! My name is Rosinante, I’m a police officer in the town!” He said, once he was close enough.

A police officer? Dressed like that? You thought about looking at his clothes. He was wearing a heart shirt and… a dark red hood with two heart-like shapes hanging?

“Oh! I know I don’t look like one but here, look!” He said showing his license, he really was a police officer. “Sorry if I scared you! But I was going back home from my shift and I saw you carrying those suitcases with you. Where are you heading to, young lady?”

“It doesn’t matter… Now, if you let me I would like to keep going, sir.” You said starting to walk.

“I can take you. It seems like we are heading in the same direction!” He smiled.

You were really hesitant, could you really trust him? But the sun was already setting and you were still far from the rented house, so it could be a good option to accept his offer, besides he didn’t look like a bad guy.

“Okay… thank you, sir.” You said.

He took one of the suitcases and started walking to his car. “Please call me Corazon or Cora-san. I’m not that old to be called sir.”

You simply nodded. Corazon? Is it because of all the hearts in his shirt?

“You don’t talk too much eh?” He said once both of you were in the car. “What’s your name?”

“No sorry, I’m just tired… my name is y/n.” You smiled.”

“Nice name and tell me y/n, what are you doing in this small town?”

“Getting away from everything, I guess.” You really didn’t want to talk your head hurt and you didn’t want to bother a stranger about your personal problems.

You just wanted to get in a bed and sleep for the next 24 hours at least, your body was exhausted after traveling so much.

“You came to the perfect place then.” He smiled. “This has to be one of the most remote places on earth. Getting away from the busy and fast life of the big cities will be easy here.”

You wished it was only getting away from that type of life but it was much more than that. He didn’t say a word after that, you guessed he understood that you didn’t want to talk about it, so he stayed silent.

“You’re staying in the house that is in front of the beach right? The old lady that used to live there moved back with one of her sons and now it’s for rent, so I guess you will be staying there.” He spoke after a couple of minutes.

“Yeah…” You simply responded.

“That’s great! We will be neighbors!” He said. You gave him a small smile.

The trip continued for a couple of more minutes, until he stop on the side of the road. You looked outside the window and saw the same house that you found on the website when you were searching for a place to stay. Corazon helped you getting your suite cases from his car and take them to the door of the house.

“Thank you, for helping me.”

“Don’t mention it, now that we are neighbors you can come and ask for anything. If I’m not at my home, I will probably be at the police station.” He said placing the suite case in the floor.

“Thank you again Corazon.” You smiled at him.

“Alright y/n! It was nice to meet you! I hope we can get a long.” He smiled.

You both said goodbye and you entered your new house. You took a deep breath, you were exhausted and the house felt so cold, not only for the fact that outside there was probably five degrees and inside there must be like ten or so but because everything looked so empty and lonely.

You sighed, at search for a heater or something to warm the house. You looked around but you couldn’t find anything, there was only a chimney but you didn’t know how it worked.

“Shit…” You murmured.

You opened your suite and took a jersey from it and took one of the blankets that you found in the house. You covered yourself with it and prepared a tea, there wasn’t almost anything in the house. Tomorrow you need to go to the town and buy food. But for now, you could only drink that tea and go to sleep.

You were exhausted, so falling asleep that day wasn’t difficult and almost after throwing yourself into the bed you fell completely asleep. It wasn’t until the next morning you woke up with the sound of someone banging on your door. You looked around, a bit confused after sleeping so much. Checking the clock you saw it was ten in the morning. You drag your feet to the entrances and look who was outside, it was Corazon dressed in his police outfit.

You opened the door and greeted him. “Good morning Corazon.”

“Good morning y/n! Did you sleep well?” He smiled at you.

“I did, thank you again for yesterday.”

“Stop thanking me. I’m here because I’m on my way to the town and I assumed that you would need to stop by the supermarket. So if you want I'll take you there.”

“Oh! But you probably need to go to work, I can go on my own. So please don’t worry.”

“Y/n, if I’m offering it’s because I can and I want, so please don’t worry.”

You considered his offer for a moment, it would really help if someone could bring you closer to the town, you knew there was a bus but it passed every hour, you had discovered it the hard way when you arrived at the station yesterday. It is true that you could wait for it to happen again but Corazon really seemed determined to take you. So you nodded and told him yes, he told you that he would wait for you outside while you got ready, so you went to get ready quickly, you didn't want to make him wait too long either.

You cleaned up and put on something a little warm, you really didn't know if you were going to be able to get used to that climate at some point. When you decided to come here it was because of the beautiful beach and the tranquility that seemed to exist, not because of the cold and winter had not yet arrived, so you were really afraid of what winter would be like in this place.

You left the house and saw that Corazon was already in his car. You got in it and Corazon started the car to go to town. The trip to the town was quiet, Corazon told you about the town so you could get to know it better, she also told you that you could go to the police station if you had any problems.

"This may be very nosy of me, but do you plan to look for a job in town?"

“Oh… yes, I have money saved but it will eventually run out, so if I would like to look for a job. Do you know any place that is looking for a worker?” You turned your face, looking at him.

He stood there for a moment without saying anything. “Mmmm… I think the restaurant of the town might be looking for a new waitress. You could ask the owner, Zeff, if they need a new worker.”

“I will, thank you for your help Corazon.”

“Do not mention it and I know I already told you but if you need anything, you can always come to the police station.” He stopped the car, you already arrived at the center of the town. “If I’m not in the police station you can either ask for Sengoku or in the hospital ask for my son, Law. But don’t worry, everyone is really nice around here, I’m sure you will get along really well.” He smiled.

“I will keep it in mind. Now I will go and start exploring the town.” You joke. “Thank you for the ride. I will see you around.” You said leaving the car.

“Bye bye y/n!” He said and left with the car.

You looked around, Corazon left you in the center of the town where most shops were, well actually the few shops. You decided to do the necessary shopping first and then go to the restaurant to ask if they needed people. You entered what seemed to be a supermarket, the establishment was relatively empty, you knew that few people lived in the town but it was also quite early, so it was normal that it was almost empty. You began to look and take what is necessary to start in your new "home". The people who came across you greeted you, almost as they had known you all their lives, Corazon was really right. With what you need already in the car, you paid for everything and left the establishment. Time had passed faster than you expected as you went from store to store, buying what you needed, until you arrived at the restaurant that Corazon had mentioned, the only one in town. You entered it, finding yourself in a cozy environment full of noise.

“OI SANJI!!! I WANT MORE MEAT!” You heard someone screaming from the other side of the restaurant.

“Give me a damn minute!” A blonde guy who was serving responded.

“You’re too slow stupid cook” Was a green haired guy who talked this time.

The blonde guy stopped what he was doing and turned around to face the guy. “What did you say stupid bastard!”

You watched them as they fought, wondering what to do, everything was so crowded and everyone there seemed busy at the moment.

“Excuse me.” You approached one of the people there. “Do you know anyone named Zeff?”

“Zeff? Yeah he…” But the person was cut out before ending the sentence.

“Hello beautiful lady.” The blonde guy from earlier appeared right next to you, making you jump. “My ask, my lady, why are you looking for that old man?”

“I was told that they might need people to work here, so I’m looking for him.”

Before the blonde guy could speak and an old man appeared from inside the kitchen, he was told that he had a long mustache.

“Sanji, stop bothering the young lady.” The old man told the blonde guy, Sanji sighed and murmured something for himself while the old man approached both of you. “I’m Zeff. So you want to work with us?”

You nodded. “Yes I just moved in and I’m looking for a job. I was told that you might have a job for me here.”

“Yes we have a place for you, since this little bastard is always getting distracted.” He pointed at the blonde guy named Sanji. “Your help would be very useful.”

“Thank you so much sir.”

“Please call me just Zeff. Would you like to stay for a bit and see how things work around here? Don’t worry I will be paying you if you stay.” He joked.

“Oh yeah, of course. I would like to start as soon as I can.”

“Alright, Sanji, teach the new girl how things work out here and when your friends leave, come inside to show her everything.” Sanji nodded. “And don't flirt with her, you understand?”

“Yes old man.” He said with a sigh.

“You know I will kick your ass if she mentions feeling uncomfortable or anything right?” Sanji looked in another direction ignoring Zeff. “By the way, I haven’t asked you your name.”

“It’s y/n.”

“Well y/n welcome here.” He said and left, leaving you with Sanji.

“Well my lady.” He turned to look at you with the biggest smile on his face. “Come with me, I will show you around this shitty place.”

Sanji started to show you around, how the things worked there, he also showed you the kitchen, where you had the opportunity to meet the rest of the workers.

“You’re the only waitress here?” You asked him when both of you got out of the kitchen.

“Yes, I’m actually a chef but most of the time I’m out here working as a waitress. Weekends are busier since a lot of people come to spend their days near the sea, but now that you’re here my lady, everything will be easier.” He smiled.

You were about to respond when an orange haired girl spoke. “Sanji, stop flirting with everyone you see, the poor girl will end up running away.”

“It’s okay… don’t worry.” You looked at her.

“Please don’t be so polite.” She smiled at you. “I’m Nami. And these two are Luffy and Zoro.” She pointed at the two boys behind her, you recognize them as the loud boy screaming for meat and as the green haired boy that was fighting with Sanji earlier.

“HI!! You’re new in town right?!” The black haired guy said with a bright smile. “I’m Luffy, let’s be friends alright?”

His energy was overwhelming and his smile was so calm and heartwarming.

“Luffy, you will scare her.” Nami told her friend. “Sorry for that, he is always full of energy.”

“I can see but it’s nice. Nice to meet you Luffy.” You smiled at him.

The particular group chatted with you for a few minutes, mainly Luffy and Nami spoke, the green haired guy named Zoro, only said a few words. Nami mentioned that you needed to meet the rest of the gang and join them from time to time since you were new in the town. They all made you feel welcomed. The three of them said their goodbyes and left, leaving you and Sanji to clean and work for the rest of the missing day

“Where do you leave y/n? It’s already getting dark outside so I could…”

“Don’t worry Sanji, I will take the bus. Don’t worry.” You told him.

Sanji nodded and you both said goodbye, you went to the bus stop to go back home. Unlike your hometown, the bus stop did not indicate what time the next bus would pass. So you sat in the seat to wait for the only bus that took you home to pass. The minutes began to pass when you noticed that you hadn't taken your shopping bags and your bag with your keys and everything were in the restaurant. You cursed yourself and ran back to the restaurant, but as you feared, it was already closed.

You tried to call, hoping that someone was inside and that they would open it for you, but nothing, there was no answer.

“This has to be a joke…” You whispered. “Fuck!”

How was it possible that whenever things seemed to be going well, everything would break down and go to shit? You didn't want to upset Corazon, but in those moments he was your only option and salvation. Hopefully he was still at the police station. With heavy feet you headed for the police station, trying to think of how you would tell Corazon that you had been clueless enough to leave all your belongings in the restaurant.

“Are you going to go in?” A deep voice spoke behind you.

You turned to see a tall, dark-haired young man. Waiting for you to step aside so he could pass and enter the station.

“Oh… yes. Actually, do you work here? I’m looking for Corazon? He told me I could find him here…”

“Corazon?” He softly spoke. “He is inside.” He said and moved to get in.

You followed him and heard him calling Corazon in a familiar way, they were probably close. You then saw Corazon appearing from the corner with a big smile.

“Oh kid you’re here already? Did your shift already end?” He said and hugged the dark-haired guy.

The guy nodded and said something that you couldn’t heard from where you were. Corazon then looked in your direction.

“Y/n!! Hello, I didn’t see you there.” He approached you. “How are you? Did you enjoy your day in the town? Met a lot of people?”

“Yes, it was really fun and I already got a job.” You smiled. “But I have a problem… I left all my belongings at the restaurant, I can’t go back home or enter it.”

Corazon stared at you and you could also feel how the tall boy that Corazon had hugged was looking at you. Barely 24 hours had passed since you met Corazon and he had already seen your clumsy and clueless side. Stupid y/n you thought to yourself.

“Really? Oh my y/n, you went back to the restaurant to try and take it back.” You nodded but Corazon was already answering his own question. “Of course you did, silly me. Well don’t worry, it happens all the time…”

“No it doesn’t.” The tall guy spoke.

Corazon looked at him and then to you smiling. “Don’t worry y/n, it happens. You can stay with us tonight, we have a spare room where you can stay.”

“I’m so sorry for …”

“y/n stop apologizing, okay?”

“But…”

“No buts, now I will go and get my things. You two.” He said pointing at you and the guy. “Wait for me outside. And Law smiled a bit more, you will scare y/n with that face.” He smiled and left.

So that’s Law, Corazon mentioned him in the morning. So this is his son? You looked at him.

“Are you going to come or are you going to stay there?” Said getting out. You followed him silently and stood next to him.

“So… you’re Corazon’s son?” You tilted your head. He didn’t respond and simply stood there watching the entrance of the station. “He told me you work in the hospital.”

“I do.”

You hummed, he was nothing like his father. Corazon came out and the three of you got in the car to go to their place. Corazon was the one making the conversation, while you talked from time to time. Law didn’t say anything during the whole trip and when you arrived he was the first one to leave the car without a word. You and Corazon got out of the car to go into the house. You were really having blind trust in Corazon, but somehow being around him made you calm, safe.

Upon entering the house you noticed something different from yours, it was that warmth and feeling of home that yesterday when you entered your new home there was not. The walls had pictures of Corazon along with some people you didn't know and Law. You stared at an image of what appeared to be Law as a child holding a frog and a scalpel.

“Law has always been a big fan of surgeries.” Corazon laughed behind you.

“Is he the surgeon here?”

“No, he is just a doctor, we don’t have the equipment to do operations in this small town, you have to go to a bigger town or city.”

You kept watching the pictures, noticing that there weren't any pictures of Law as a baby or Corazon and Law together when Law was little.

“y/n come here.” You went where Corazon was. “You haven’t eaten anything right?”

“I eat something at the restaurant before closing.” You told him.

“You sure you don’t want to do anything? We have plenty of food.”

“No it’s okay, I would like to go to sleep.”

Corazon nodded and showed you the bedroom where you were going to spend the night, he also gave you some old clothes that he had so you could sleep with. When he left, you changed and went to sleep. You woke up hours later, you knew it only had passed a few hours because it was still dark outside but you really needed to drink some water, so you went for a drink. Not expecting to find anyone you walk to the kitchen but there he was Law, reading a book in the middle of the night in the kitchen.

“Hi…” You whispered, not wanting to disturb Corazon who was probably sleeping.

You didn’t get a response, but you knew he heard you because he looked at you. Why was he like that?

“Isn't it too late to be reading?” You asked him while drinking the water.

“You ask a lot of questions you know?”

“And you don’t respond to any of them.”

He stayed quiet, reading and passing the pages of the book he was reading.

“Are you always this rude? I’m trying to be nice and…”

“I don’t want you to be nice or be your friend.” He closed the book and stood up.

“You…” But before even speaking he left the kitchen and disappeared in the darkness of the hallway.

You tried to be positive, that he was just probably tired and that’s why he had that attitude towards you, after all you were a new face, who appeared out of nowhere and was staying the night at his house. You would speak again with him in the morning to fix everything and start all over.

“Be positive y/n.” You told yourself before falling asleep in the bed.

————-

And that’s it for the first chapter, please let me know your opinion on it 🫶

See ya ❤️

[galaxycunt]

He’s My Thing pt 2

Find part 1 here also on AO3 if u prefer that

Also smut warning forgot to add that on the last one lmao

He wasn’t stupid, he couldn’t have been doing what you did to him. You looked over your shoulder anyway, sleeping light. Why did you go this far anyway? Surely you had nicer romantic pursuits, were you in love with what he could’ve been?

The nights you stalked him, spying on private moments, when he’d slump his shoulders in the ways you did. Quick as ever when you’d pounce. You weren’t sure how to kill him after all these years, a puzzle you loved to solve.

That was love wasn’t it, for people like you. You watched him carefully, you knew his favorite meal. His love of drinking, the kind of villages he’d target. You had to, and you felt you knew why now.

You had to know more.

He’d share a meal with you now, answering your little questions about himself without a hint of annoyance. You told him this morning that you loved to sing, a small attempt at a connection.

”I know.”

”How’d you know that?”

He smiled, “you know the spiel.”

”But how? I don’t think I’m that loud doing chores am I?”

He looked a little sad, “I kept tabs on you. An ear tucked away, kids paid off. I wanted to stay ahead of the game.”

This made you blush, he heard everything. Since when or how much, you were too afraid to ask. You couldn’t be that surprised, the days you’d watch him in that circus tent staring at his reflection, hidden in a pile of costumes. It was like he hated himself, you knew the feeling all too well.

You carefully brushed your hand against his on the table, Buggy holding it firmly. You never spoke of your feelings after what happened, afraid to be rejected. You held his gaze, hoping you weren’t falling into wishful thinking.

”So you sing while you work huh?”

”Doesn’t everyone?”

He shrugged with a smile, “maybe.”

You slowly inched forward, enough time for him to push you away. His lips stayed still as you pressed against him.

You frowned, “sorry.”

”How can I know you won’t change your mind? Not everyone has the stomach to be a pirate. Especially where we’re going.”

You nod, eyes glued to your plate the rest of your meal. Buggy didn’t know what to say, the bitterness he felt made him sick. He could throw you overboard, slit your throat in your sleep. You claimed to love him and did all the same to him anyway. He could love you to death, by his hand only.

You avoid each other again until nightfall, your little ritual at this point. This time it’s you with your arms around him, listening to the ocean waves hitting the ship. Buggy was lonely, no matter how many betrayed him, he always let someone in. You were the same. A dangerous game you both played, no wonder you loved him.

”I never thanked you for the map, so thanks,” he said.

”I needed to make things right, even if you killed me after.”

He nodded, “I wanted to dock somewhere close. Get you something better than that peg leg.”

”Makes me feel like a real pirate,” you attempt to joke.

”I really didn’t mean it.”

”You meant to kill me.”

He smiled sadly, “no, not that either.”

Your heart raced, he always loved you. Why?

”You-why? I mean look at me even before all this, look at what we’ve done to each other.”

”You always made me feel like a big shot. I mean, shit. I got wanted posters everywhere, but you were so persistent. Couldn’t just be that bounty, I saw the real you.”

You saw him at his worst, his best. The way he’d carefully apply his mask, smudging the make up just so. A performance, one he’d flub once in awhile. And you saw that too.

”Can you trust me?”

He frowned, “can you?”

You searched his face, you had a crazy idea. Grabbing his hands you led him toward the cockpit, until you pushed your back against a wall. You reached into his jacket pocket, fishing out the knives.

”Maybe we need a do over, right now.”

A grin spread across his face, “alright. I can do that.

The deck was dark, Buggy’s eyes adjusted to your form against the ship. This was crazy, but he was careful. Always was.

”What’s your favorite color?”

A knife landed by your wrist, “you’re seriously asking that? Uh, blue.”

Another by your waist, “why’d you keep the pinky?”

You thought about it longer than he expected, “I wanted to study the chop chop fruit. But I guess…it was really to keep you close. You felt it, couldn’t you?”

”Yeah. Until you kept it in that island. Good way to avoid you for awhile.”

You blushed with embarrassment, “you occupied my thoughts way too much.”

He laughed, throwing another knife between your legs.

“What kind of thoughts?”

You supposed it wouldn’t hurt to admit it now, “one too many sex dream. Made me mad as hell.”

He laughed again, a hearty cackle that meant he was never going to let you live it down. You were thankful for how dark it was outside.

”Baby, are you blushing? Aw, don’t be like that. Hope the real thing lived up to the hype.”

”And if it didn’t?”

”Oh, I don’t believe that. Guess I’ll have to try it again, won’t I?”

Buggy glanced at the remaining knives in his hand, his heart ached at the things he wanted to ask you. You smiled gently at him, silently encouraging him to continue. This act was always about trust, and you trusted him.

Another throw, “why’d you do it?”

You gulped, “you consumed my life too much. I figured it was time. If I acted like I wanted you, you wouldn’t kill me. If my leg hadn’t been injured, I’d probably lie and say to trust me and then…well you know.”

That hurt to hear as much as it hurt you to say it. Buggy didn’t look at you, turning the knife around in his hand.

”I think…I know, the moment I let my guard down…The first time we…I knew I was in love with you. And that I always was.”

His throw landed above your head, “so why?”

A tear rolled down your cheek, “you’d do it first. They always do.”

He moved to walk toward you, you stopped him.

”Let’s finish this.”

You stood tall, and Buggy aimed carefully.

”Would you have liked me at that bar? Before all this?”

You choked on a sob, “yeah. Of course I would. I’m sorry I teased you, I didn’t know.”

”I have a temper.”

”I know.”

”You can throw in a jab now.”

You shook your head, “I’m not that clever.”

He walked over, holding your chin in his hand. The kiss he gave was tender and sweet, like either of you would break. You leaned into him, afraid to break the kiss first.

“Come on,” he whispered.

You felt like a kid again, giddy as he led you to your cabin. And it really was your cabin, already filled with your own personal items. Buggy never intended for you to leave.

He held you close as you peeled the layers of clothing off. You were taking your time, drinking each other in. He suddenly kissed you in a hurry, holding your face close to his as you lowered onto the bed. Your fingers roamed his chest down to his stomach, a soft hiss escaped as you touched his wound.

”God, I’m so sorry.”

”Hey, look at me. It’s okay. I like a girl with that kind of fire.”

He smiled at your laugh, continuing to kiss you. You clung to him to keep your bodies close, Buggy working a shuddering moan out of you. He sighed in your ear, appreciating the slickness.

“Baby, I love you.”

”I love you, I’m so sorry.”

He shushed you, “don’t say that ever again. Please.”

As he entered you, he apologized. You kissed his closed eyes, his thrusts slow and deliberate.

“You don’t gotta keep saying it either.”

He nodded, his persona stripped away in this moment. The kisses smeared his makeup, slowly revealing the man beneath the mask.

The build up was too much, you urged him to move faster. He obeyed your command, following your lead. Your hands reached for his, locking fingers tightly as your rode your orgasm together.

He rested his head on your chest, still inside you. Softly, you hummed as your played with his hair. What would have happened if that first night you met went smoother? The young, angry Buggy seemed so different to the man you held now.

You supposed you changed too. You were soft, and that was okay now. He pulled out and you missed him, Buggy keeping his hand with you as he cleaned up.

“You really like blue?”

”Don’t flatter yourself, honey.”

He laughed, settling into bed with you. He spooned you, kissing your head. You cried, only a little bit. Your heart was just too full.

”Hey, hey. It’s okay now. I promise.”

You trusted his words, and you trusted him.

[gaymaramada]

Got @weirdozjunkary ‘s STH + PIB AU on the brain so have some sonadow angst :)

~

Sonic watched in fascinated horror as the words etched themselves onto the map — this was it. He was so close. Just a few words and this would all be over.

“Star light, star bright,” He would have his lives back. He would be safe from the jackal.

“First star I see tonight,” Everything would go back to the way it was. He wouldn’t be scared anymore… right? All he needed was to make this wish.

“I wish—”

“I can’t believe I fell for it again.”

The voice made the hedgehog jump, and he whipped around half expecting to see a blind eye and two razor-sharp sickles — instead, he saw a familiar striped hedgehog scowling at him from the edge of the star with a little orange fox by his side. Somehow, that was worse.

“Shadow,” He started, only to falter because what could he even say? Every predetermined moral he had was screaming at him that this was wrong, but it was hard to focus on that when his blood was racing through his veins as his heart thundered in his chest. His eyes flitted back and forth between him and the map, its luminescent text drawing him in, “Y-you don’t understand—”

“Don’t understand what?” Shadow spat, his barely-contained anger filtering through his voice as he stalked over to the hedgehog, “That you’ve been playing me this whole time?”

“I need this wish,” Sonic’s hands were shaking — he felt so small like this, cowering away from his rival like some scared little kid. He held the map in front of him like a shield, hiding from those judging eyes that twisted at his heart and head. He needed this. He needed this, Shadow couldn’t understand.

He wasn’t sure, though, who he was trying to convince anymore.

“Do you, now?” Shadow drawled, his lip curling into a sneer, “Your life just isn’t enough? Not up to your standards? No, Sonic the Hedgehog deserves more.”

Sonic felt dizzy as he frantically looked back and forth between Shadow and the map. Shadow stepped closer, sarcastic disgust dripping from his tongue, “It’s not enough to just be a hero, adored by thousands, trusted by thousands.”

Suddenly, the map disappeared from his view, and Sonic looked up to see it grasped within Shadow’s hand, held behind him as he jabbed a finger into Sonic’s chest — his voice rose into a growl as he trapped Sonic in his gaze, eyes like daggers as they bore into him, “It’s not enough for him to have people he knows he can trust in return, is it?”

And then, for the first time since he’d arrived, Sonic looked at Shadow — really looked at him. His nostrils flared as he stared him down, ears flat against his head and teeth bared like a predator about to pounce. He was furious, more so than the hedgehog had ever seen him, but there was something else there that made him stall, evident in the slight twitching of his brows, the way his chest heaved as if he’d just run a marathon, the subtle shakiness of his hand as it clenched around the map like he wanted to crush it — somewhere in those crimson eyes that held so much fury was a genuine pain that he’d only seen him direct his way once.

To have people he knows he can trust… Sonic let out a breath as his posture sagged, the realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. He must have been making a face because Shadow abruptly pulled back, huffing as he glanced down at the map in his hand, “… Yet you’re still running. Still the same ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ you’ve always been.”

“But I’m not!” Sonic burst, startling himself with the suddenness of it, “I’m not Sonic the Hedgehog! I… I-I’m…”

He coughed out a sigh, shoulders going slack as he caved in, catching Shadow’s eyes and admitting, “I’m on my last life.”

To his surprise, Shadow drew back a bit, blinking as his eyes widened and his scowl dropped. Sonic took it as an opportunity, needing him to understand, “I need to get my lives back, Shadow. Without them, I’m not… I’m not…”

“Not what?” Shadow clipped, “The legend?”

Sonic’s stomach dropped, curling into himself without even realizing it. He wanted to deny it, to correct him somehow, to shake him by his shoulders and scream I’m being chased by the freaking Grim Reaper, but when he opened his mouth, the words wouldn’t come.

Shadow waited for a beat, and Sonic prepared himself for another barrage of insults to come his way. Instead, Shadow just sighed, crossing his arms and shaking his head as disappointment fell off his tongue, “… I truly expected more from you.”

He spared another glance at the map, eyes flitting up to meet Sonic’s before he dropped it at his feet. Sonic all but scrambled for it, falling to his knees and gripping it to his chest. Shadow scoffed above him, and Sonic shrunk under his gaze as he spoke, “Go on, then; get your lives back.”

He leaned down a bit to meet his eyes, those crimson flames making Sonic feel like absolute slime, “Just do us both a favor and keep them out of mine.”

With that, Shadow turned on his heel and stalked off, fists clenched at his sides as he brushed past Tails, who had been silently observing from the sidelines. His baby blue eyes followed the black hedgehog, then turned to find Sonic with a pleading look, almost as if he were silently begging him to stand, please don’t give up, you can’t give up.

And despite it all — the guilt weighing down on his shoulders, the desperate fear coiling in his gut, the dizzying feeling of his priorities battling through his mind — Sonic felt something burn in his chest, stealing his breath and forcing his voice to project out a final, desperate cry, “Shadow! Death is after me!”

And Sonic didn’t know if it was genuine concern on the other’s part, or merely blatant bewilderment at the vagueness of what he’d just said, but against all odds, Shadow turned around, his brow raised in a rare look of raw confusion as he replied, “… What?”

[yourdreamscenarios]

When they cheat on you I part 2

∙ Request ♡ ∙ Word count: ...

Seokjin

“So, have you heard from him?” Sarah asked once more, as if she hadn’t asked that question a thousand times during the past couple of weeks. You rolled your eyes at one of your most cherished band members and even though you loved her, you wished she’d just leave.You’d banned the topic Kim Seokjin in your dorm for as long as you possibly could. But there was a time a person simply could no longer run from their problems. It seemed like you’d reached that point about a week ago, when your members had been done with your sulking and had told you to call him and talk to him. But that was the thing. No matter how much you it hurt you to talk about what had happened and no matter how much it pained you to hear someone say his name, it was nothing compared to the rage you felt. 

It was boiling inside of you, day and night and you were afraid that once you’d no longer have anything left to distract you from all of those bottled up feelings, you’d just loose it.There had never been someone who’d been able to make you feel all of these things. One of the most important people in your life had put a knife in your back and you had never felt more betrayed. He was supposed to be the one who supported you whenever, through whatever. And instead, he had only been thinking of himself and his own needs. “How about no.” You muttered, knowing you were being moody towards them for no reason. They couldn’t help the situation you were stuck in right now. None of it was their fault. 

Yet,  you couldn’t help but feel like you had to be mad at someone, everyone. Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to take it out on something. Take boxing classes perhaps? Maybe they’d allow you to put a picture of Seokjin’s face on your punching bag so you might actually be able to let go of some of your anger. It would feel good to actually be able to put a punch to his face without actually having to deal with the consequences. “Don’t you want to hear from him?” Jaimy asked you from across the room, where she was reading her book on the couch, laying upside down.She was one of those human beings you simply couldn’t seem to understand, no matter how hard you tried. 

She was one of the nicest people you knew, but there was something new to learn about her every single day. And hearing her ask you this question, you knew for sure she was rather focused on the novel she was reading than the conversation you were having. “Definitely not.” You said, looking up from the spot behind your laptop to send her a hard stare. As her eyes slowly slipped from the chapter in her book towards yours, she blinked her eyes innocently before going back to her reading. “It might give you some closure, talking to him. Maybe then you can move on, stop being moody.” Kyla muttered softly underneath her breath. Your fingers tingled from the urge to throw something at her while she continued to play her video game like this was some neutral conversation about the weather or your favorite ice cream flavor.

This was your heart they were talking about so carelessly. You had loved that man, for such a long time. You had given him so much of yourself. You had trusted him enough to let him come close to you, to let him know all the small details about you. And still, he’d been able to hurt you the way no one else had been able to do before. You moved back toward your computer, where you’d opened the program which you used for songwriting. You wished there were any more things you could write than lyrics about heartbreak and hating your ex boyfriend, or the way you wanted to slap him with a baseball bat. The last thing you wanted was to have to think of him every single time you had to perform. So these past few days had consisted of you writing them, before saving them in a long forgotten map on your computer where you’d hopefully never have to look at them again.

You told yourself they helped you to progress everything that had happened, but everyone knew that was a round out lie. Why couldn’t your friends just focus on their own problems instead of trying to be your therapist? “We’re just worried about you, you know that right?” Sarah said, looking up from her piano where she had been jamming on some keys, as if she’d heard your thoughts. You demanded your defending posture to back down, trying to convince yourself that was exactly what they were doing. Though, sometimes you couldn’t help but think they were trying to get into the middle of something they just didn’t understand. 

You nodded once, then sent her a small smile which probably looked as awkward on your face as it felt. “Oh god.” Kyla said, pausing her playstation so that a big source of sound fell from the room. Frowning, Jaimy pushed herself upright, fidgeting as she tried to steady herself and not drop her book at the same time. The probing on the piano keys faltered as Sarah looked up from her melody to stare out of the window. It had been raining outside since you’d woken up, which was probably the reason why you’d all decided to stay indoors today. A set of headlights flashed throughout the window and you squeezed your eyes as the light shone straight into your eyes as a car parked on your driveway. 

You’d recognize that vehicle anywhere. You’d sat in those leather seats so often you’d lost count. The lavender smell still seemed to be lingering inside of your nose. It made all the hairs on your limps rise in discomfort. Out of all the things he’d do, you surely hadn’t expected he would show up at your door. You thought that he’d understand, that after ignoring his texts and phone calls, he would get the fact that you simply didn’t want to see him. But Seokjin had never been one to quit so easily and he wasn’t one to give up on something he wanted. Displease churned inside of you as you realized that all your members would be able to see this entire scene happen. 

He’d chosen a hell of a moment to come around for a chat. Listening to the sound of a car door slam shut you stretched out your neck, trying to see beyond the curve of the wall. But you couldn’t manage to spot him before the doorbell rang and he was already standing at the front door. An intense silence fell over the apartment as everybody sat on their spot, frozen. The ticking of the clock in the hall indicated a few seconds had passed before the buzzer went off a second time, and quickly followed by a third. He probably knew you were home and he wasn’t going to give up until someone opened the god damn door. “Well, are you going to open it or are we?” Kyla asked, sending you an uncomfortable look from her spot on the couch. You glared at her while slamming your laptop shut, making sure to make it looked as dramatic as it sounded. 

If you’d find out that one of them had something to do with this sudden appearance, then this wasn’t over yet. The sound of your chair scraping across the floor as you stood echoed against the walls and you took your sweet time making your way towards the hallway and to the front door. The thought that he was standing right outside, getting soaked by the pouring rain made you feel a little bit better. Standing on top of your tiptoes you reached to look out through the peephole and to be honest, what you saw made your stomach drop. You’d never expected it to be easy to see him again after what had happened. It was probably one of the reasons why you had avoided sticking anywhere after showcases or watching too much tv these days. 

You’d avoided his face on purpose, so you wouldn’t have to deal with all of the negative feelings its sight would have to offer. But now, you couldn’t do anything but stare at him, once again realizing how handsome he was. Once, he’d been yours, before he’d decided to mess it all up. Taking a deep breath that crushed your lungs, you ripped the lock from the door and opened it. His hand had once again been on its way towards the doorbell, but paused halfway as he realized you were standing right in front of him. He was drenched, his clothing sticking to him in a way that would have turned you on not such a long time ago. Now, the only thing you felt when you looked at him was agony. A silence passed between the two of you as you stood on the dry side of the house and the rain continued to tickle on top of his head. 

The look inside of his eyes was one you had never seen him wear before. You could sense all the guilt in it, all the pain and the hate he probably felt towards himself. The thing was that you couldn’t bring yourself to care. “What do you want Seokjin?” You asked, surprised that you had it in yourself to sound as cold as you did, while you felt your insides falling apart. A visible shiver traveled through him, and the logical part of you told you that you had to move him out of the rain. If you wouldn’t he’d probably get terribly sick tomorrow. But then you reminded yourself that he had done this to himself, it was his own fault he was standing out there in the cold.

“I just want to talk.” He muttered, his voice straining as he looked at something over your shoulder. You didn’t need to turn around in order to know he was watching your members disappear from the living room, creeping up to their bedrooms. On one side you were glad they were giving you the privacy to handle this without them being all over it. On the other side, you weren’t sure if you’d be able to do this alone. “I thought I’d been clear last time? I don’t want to talk to you, nor do I want to see you. I want you to leave me alone.” You spat, hoping he could feel the heat of the fire inside of your voice. You hoped your words hurt him half as much as his action had hurt you. For a brief second he closed his eyes, as if letting go of something he’d held onto until now. 

“Please…” He implored, his voice cracking in the middle of the world. And you realized that perhaps it was his dignity which had just left him, from begging you. God, the strength you held in this situation. It would only take you a second to slam the door in his pathetic face. It would only take you a single breath to tell him ‘no’. But you immediately realized that wasn’t what you needed. Kyla was right, you needed closure. If you ever wanted to move on from what had happened and leave it behind you, you’d have to endure this. It took everything inside of you to put a step aside and let him pass. You could tell he was trying to make eye contact with you as he slipped inside of the house, but you purposely looked down at the trail of drops he was creating on the clean tiles. 

You could feel the memories of all the times he’d been in the dorm probing inside of your mind, willing to surface and make this even harder for you. But you pushed them all back, refusing to give into them. You took your sweet time locking the door, checking twice if you’d done it right. And that time you took to pull yourself back together. Taking deep breaths in through your nose and letting them out through your teeth. No matter what he said, you must never forget what he’d done to you. You must never forget that moment you’d found him in your shared bed with a strange woman underneath him, calling out her name. Straightening your shoulders and flipping back your hair, you turned around and walked towards the living room, where he stood at the centre waiting for you. Once he’d been as much at home here as he’d been in his own dorm. Now, he didn’t even seem sure if he was allowed to sit on the couch. 

You were sure his wet clothing wasn’t the only thing to blame for that. “Well go ahead, talk.” You said, stilling at a safe distance from him. You didn’t want to smell the soft scent of limes coming from him, or see the reflection of yourself in his sad eyes. You told yourself you had to set boundaries, in order to protect yourself. “I wanted to apologize.” He said, and it seemed that only now that he’d said those words out loud, he realized how they sounded. You squared your shoulders and crossed your arms over your chest as you took him in. You could tell the plan he’d made before coming here was starting to unravel in front of his eyes. This wasn’t some kind of fairytale which ended in happily ever after.

This wasn’t the kind of world where love made you forget all the bad and remember only the good. You wondered if until now he’d even realized how high you’d built your walls ever since everything had happened. He would never be able to break them down again. You’d built them brick by brick, to make sure he would never get back in on the other side. What he’d done, wasn’t something an apology was ever going to be able to fix. “I-I know that’s not what you want to hear. But I’m so, so terribly sorry. I want you to know that I never wanted to hurt you. I never should have done what I did. I will regret it for the rest of my life.” He rattled, wringing his fingers together in front of him. His hair was starting to curl around the ears, in the process of drying up. It was probably the first time you looked him straight in the eye as you answered him. 

“Good.” You’d never known you had it in you to hold these kind of grudges, to be this mean. But then again, nobody had ever treated you the way he had. He swallowed harshly, emotion flickering across his face. You took a deep breath, preparing yourself for what you were about to say. “Maybe I’d like to hear your explain yourself one day. Perhaps one day I could handle having a civilized conversation with you again. But not today. Right now, I hope you’ll feel as hopelessly lonely as I did the past couple of days. I hope one day you’ll find out what it’s like to be left in the cold, to have your heart broken into pieces by someone so important to you, you were willing to give them everything. I hope you’ll find out what it feels like to think it’s all your fault, and you’ll have to handle it on your own.” By now a shimmer of tears swam inside of his eyes and it didn’t take long before the first ones rolled down his cheeks. Not so long ago you would have rushed towards him demanding to know who’d made him this upset so you strangle them.

But right now, you were fighting your own battle and there was only one of you who could win. “Right now, I wish you pain.” You croaked, trying to keep your own emotions in check. You weren’t going to cry, not in front of him. It was one thing to tell him how much he’d hurt you, it was another thing entirely to show him. He nodded, brushing off his tears with his already drenched coat. You could tell he understood, and for now you were able to find peace in that. That he knew that he’d been wrong, and that he would carry this mistake with him for a very long time. You hoped he’d be able to use this lesson in the future, even though you’d both had to learn it the hard way. 

“And now I want you to leave. If I ever wish for you to contact me again, I’ll let you know. Until then, I hope you could at least respect me enough to give me my space.” You said, trying to make him understand that you did not ever want to see him appear on your doorstep again. He shouldn’t try to talk to you when you ran into each other during broadcasts. That he shouldn’t congratulate you on your birthday or text you to ask how you were doing. That he shouldn’t like your Instagram posts and shouldn’t promote your songs. By the look on his face, you could tell he understood, and you could tell it was breaking him apart. Letting out the air you hadn’t known you were holding you stepped aside, creating room for him to let himself back out. He knew how the lock worked, he’d used it many times before.

“Goodbye Kim Seokjin.” You mumbled, for the last time tasting his name on top of your tongue, the feel op it rolling over your lips. You took him in, remember him like this before burying the thought somewhere in a black box in the back of your mind, locking it and stuffing away the key. His steps trembled as he walked past you, his hand briefly brushing past the sleeve of your sweater as in a final greeting. You felt the love which had once been there glide against your skin, tickle your nerves. But you forced it to trickle onto the floor, together with the trace of water he was leaving behind on the floor on his way out.

Namjoon

“Please, please get into the car. You’ll catch a cold out here.” Namjoon said, sticking his head out of the window from the driver’s seat. With your arms crossed over each other you tried to press your coat closer against your body. Protecting yourself from the wind trying to slice through you. For some reason or another, you seemed to welcome the cold. It was exactly what you needed right now, to sober you up and make sure you didn’t give into whatever your heart was trying to tell you. Tears were still running down your cheeks, but you barely felt them. 

Your feelings felt like a hurricane, rushing through you and leaving you breathless. How could he do this to you? After all the time the two of you had spent together. After everything you had shared and the promises you had made to one another. You’d gone through so many hardships together. But in the end, none of it seemed to be enough. Self doubt started creeping in, and your nails pressed half moons inside of the skin of your arms through the fabric of your jacket. No, this was not the time to start blaming yourself. It was something you’d never thought you’d find yourself doing. Thinking someone else’s mistake was your own.

But you couldn’t seem to stop it. Unintentionally, the thoughts started dripping in, and you couldn’t seem to stop them, or ignore them for that part. What if part of this was your fault? Had you started lacking in this relationship? You’d been together for so long, maybe you hadn’t noticed the signs. You’d gained a few pounds while being with Namjoon. You felt comfortable around him, with yourself and your own body. You’d stopped trying to dress up every time you saw him, thinking he accepted you for who you were by now without having to try too hard. After a certain amount of time, you hadn’t bought any sexy lingerie anymore, like that girl in the picture did, because Namjoon knew your body, and you’d expected that to be enough. 

“Honey please, at least let me drive you home.” He’d been following you with the car for what felt like hours now. After you’d ran from the house and had stepped into the cold weather, he’d gotten straight into the car and driven up to where you were walking. Cars were honking as they passed by, clearly annoyed by the fact that Namjoon was deliberately holding up traffic. But if he cared about any of that at all, he didn’t show it. A painful giggle squeezed itself out of your lungs. This was the kind of crazy thing that was only supposed to happen in the movies. Straight after, another sob followed, breaking through your body.

You still refused to look at him, keeping a steady pace as you passed several people on the pavement. They were all giving you weird and stunned looks, which you ignored. Was it just the physical part about the relationship though? Or had he simply stopped loving you? Was the feeling you had no longer enough? Your relationship had been stable from the start. There hadn’t been many surprises, many bumps in the road. You’d both always just gone along with it, without complaining much. Was that it? Had he gotten bored? Bored of you, bored of your love? All of this was so funking painful, you couldn’t even believe it was actually happening. You refused to let your mind wonder off to all the things she might have done to please him. 

To the ways she’d been able to make him feel better than you had. To the things she’d been able to give him that you apparently hadn’t. You’d never felt so small in your entire life. It was terrible, love being such a beautiful thing, but it was able to shatter you in the matter of a heartbeat. “___________, get in the car, right now.” It was the slight annoyance inside of his voice he usually had whenever you wouldn’t agree with him whenever he was trying to prove his point. It was the edge inside of his words that cause you to turn around to face him. You had no idea what he was seeing inside of your expression when he looked at you. But it seemed to make him flinch and his grip around the steering wheel tightened as he searched for something to say.

“You don’t get to boss me around anymore Kim Namjoon.” You could tell that you using his full name was like a punch in the gut for him, but you didn’t care. Actually, honestly, you quite enjoyed seeing him suffer. Because he couldn’t be hurting half as much as you were throughout all of this. After all, if he was, he never would have done what he did. “Let me take you home __________, let’s talk about this. Please, give me a chance to explain.” He tried, sounding desperate as he stopped the car as you stopped walking. To out standers, you probably looked ridiculous. You looked like a couple being dramatic while having a stupid fight over nothing. If they only knew. 

“And then what? Is this the point where you’re going to tell me that you don’t know that woman? Or that nothing happened? That you didn’t fuck her? Or that it didn’t mean anything, and you regretted it from the moment it happened? Or were you going to tell me that you will never do it again? Oh, no wait, you were drunk! Is that it?!” With every word that left your mouth, your voice raised louder and louder. Every emotion was searching for a way out, and it had been a long time since you’d felt this good screaming. Namjoon’s lips parted, as if he wanted to speak up, but you could see it in his eyes, that he had nothing left to say. There was nothing he could say to make up for this. There was nothing he could do to undo what he had done. It was as if he only just now seemed to notice how much damage he’d wreaked.

You ignored the drops of rain which were gradually starting to fall from the sky, landing on top of your head. It seemed as if the weather was feeling sympathetic with you, as if it understood what you were going through, knew what you needed. The sky was crying with you, weeping over everything you’d lost, everything that was no longer to be. In a matter of minutes, your entire life had fallen apart. “I’m not getting in the car with you. I’m not going to let you explain. I don’t want to hear whatever it is you have to say. I’m not coming home with you, not now, not ever. It’s over.” Never in a million years had you expected to say these words to him. 

He’d been everything you’d ever wanted, your past, your present and your future. Yet, if that didn’t go both ways, then what had you been doing all along? If all things happened for a reason, then you had a very difficult time seeing one right now. Namjoon looked completely beaten down as the rain tickled down on the windshield, not even reaching out for the wipers. He seemed to be frozen in place, hurt plastered all over his face as he realized he’d lost you, and there was nothing he could do to make it right. You looked at him one last time, and swore there would be a day when you’d look up at his face, and you would no longer feel the agony you felt right now, as you turned around and walked away. 

Hoseok

Sweat was dripping down your forehead, your back and in between your breasts. Your breath coming out in little puffs as you let the music flow through you. Your feet moved to the beat without even trying, not missing a single step. By now you’d gone through this choreography so many times, you barely had to think about it. But that wasn’t what you wanted. You didn’t want to think. You wanted to get lost, lost in the moves, in the melody. You didn’t want to give your head the time to register everything it had seen, everything it had learner over the past few hours. After you’d fled from Hoseok, you came straight here, and you’d been here for hours. 

You’d watched dancers come and go, and you were the only one staying behind. It was almost four in the morning, and your body started protesting. Fatigue was trying to take over, your arms becoming heavy and your feet getting slowed down. But you refused to give in. You knew what would happen when you got home, to your quiet apartment, which hadn’t felt like home in a long time since you’d practically moved in with Hoseok a few months ago. Going back there, it felt absolutely horrible. You’d always thought you’d sell the place, gather your stuff and live happily ever after with the love of your life. You should have known it sounded too good to be true.

You were afraid that as soon as the quiet would gather around you, you would no longer be able to fight the feelings threatening to drown you. That the images of him snogging that girl would pop back into your mind, and they would never leave again. If you’d decided to go home, you knew you’d never been able to sleep in the first place. The song ended, and you were planning on pressing replay, when all of a sudden, a knock sounded on the door. The studio had been deserted for hours now. Most people came here at a reasonable hour, and not in the middle of the night. Your step faltered halfway towards your phone, and you turned your head towards the door just in time to watch it open. 

You threw your head back and let it rest in the back of your neck while staring up at the ceiling as you saw who entered. “Oh fuck me.” You muttered, tugging the band out of your hair, only to gather it back up on the top of your head and turn it into a messy bun. Hoseok stood in the middle of the doorway, clearly looking uncomfortable. At first he couldn’t even look at you as he fiddled with his hands in front of himself, his gaze pointed towards the floor. You wanted to yell at him, and all the frustration you’d been trying to hold off seemed to swirl inside of you just by the sight of him. Yet, after a few seconds, as if he could tell he’d caught your attention, his eyes met yours. Your jaw clenched painfully as you saw the look on his face.

What did he expect? For you to feel sorry for him as you spotted the guilt written all over it? “Get to the point of get out.” You snapped, making your way over to the other side of the room where you’d put your phone on a chair. Scooping it up, you shut down your music app and grabbed the towel lying beside it to wipe away your sweat. The silence inside of the room was deafening after the blasting of the music had stopped. If you hadn’t known any better you might have wondered how he had found you here. But the two of you both knew where you went in order to let off some steam. There was nothing that helped you better to clear your head than dancing. A thing you both had in common. A thing you’d both been passionate about. 

“I swear what you saw in there is not what you think.” He started, and you shook your head, throwing the towel into your bag and zipping it up. Were you seriously supposed to stay here while he was going to give you that bullshit? “What do you take me for? Are you really going to treat me like I’m stupid?” You asked, and you could see the alarm bells going off inside of his head as he listened to your snappy response. You wondered how he had expected this conversation to go. If he’d come here with the thought that he still stood a chance of he only apologized.

“Because if not you wouldn’t say such a thing. Are you going to tell me she forced herself on you? That you weren’t enjoying yourself when I walked in? Because it sure as hell didn’t look as if you were going anything against your own will.” It surprised you how sober you felt while talking about this. It was as if you had the lead role in some kind of movie. As if the life you were living right now wasn’t yours. You knew that once everything would sink in, you would probably spend hour on end bawling your eyes out. You would scream, and scold yourself for letting him go. For not forgiving him and taking him back. It was going to take you a very long time to get over this. “I didn’t mean it. If I could undo it, I would right now. I don’t even like her. She’s been after me for weeks…” 

You felt like punching him when he said that, and you were very close to growling at him. Everything he said enraged you even more. It was like adding oil to a flame, growing out to become a terrible, uncontainable fire. “Don’t you dare put me up against her! They were your actions! You did this to us! And I will not accept you blaming another woman for your own stupid behavior! You make me sick!” You yelled, and all of a sudden, you knew you could no longer be in the same room as him. He no longer resembled the man you had once fallen in love with. You had never once thought that he’d ever do something like this to you. But neither had you ever expected that he wouldn’t own his own mistakes.

Grabbing hold of your bag, you swung it over your shoulder as you walked towards him, making e beeline for the door. “And if this is what you see as an apology, then you have a lot left to learn.” You were so close to him it would only take a matter of seconds to overcome the distance between the two of you. It would be so much easier for you to forget all of this had happened, and just say that you forgave him, move on. But you would never be able to live with yourself if you did that. Whatever had been between the two of you, it was broken beyond repair, and it could never be mended. 

“I never want to see your face again. You disgust me.” His bottom lip actually trembled at your words, and his hand fisted at his side, as if he had to stop himself from reaching out to you, to stop you from leaving. But you could see it in his eyes, that he knew there was nothing left to do. This could have been beautiful, the life you could have had together. It could have been something you’d both dreamed of. But now, it had turned into something that would never be, something you would never know.  

Yoongi

Walking into the café, you were immediately hooked on the smell of coffee. It used to give you an adrenaline rush, and the smell always made you happy. These days, there was a negative feeling being thrown into the mix. Somehow you couldn’t help but letting the feelings from last time you’d been here come forward. It had seemed like the easiest thing to do, meeting up again in this spot. Where you’d found out, and where you wanted to see things through until the end. Plus, it somehow didn’t feel right to do this at your place, or at his. Either of you needed to get the chance to get away as soon as they felt like it. 

And you didn’t want to have the memories of this conversation lingering in your home after it was over. The fact that you had to have this conversation on its own, was terrible enough as it was. You gave the barista your order, and slid into a booth in the corner of the room after she confirmed she’d bring it to you as soon as it was done. A deep sigh escaped from you as you leaned back against the seat, gazing out of the window. You’d avoided this moment for a while. It had been quite a lot for you to wrap your head around after Yoongi had given you the information he’d cheated on you. You appreciated him for telling you in person, sparing you from the shame of having to find out through someone else.

Two weeks later you still didn’t feel ready to face everything. Not seeing him had helped you giving everything a place inside of your mind. But knowing he would be here soon and you would have to endure this conversation had your heart beating double time. You had definitely gone through a few of the stages of a breakup the past couple of days, and you were absolutely exhausted. As he told you what he had done, you hadn’t been able to grasp it. It was a reality you didn’t want to know existed. You couldn’t believe that the man you had loved to fondly, had done this to you. No matter which excuses he thought of. You had never thought he would be capable of doing something like this. 

By the time you’d gotten home after finding out, you’d been so incredibly angry. Angry at yourself, for trusting someone as dearly as you had trusted him. You had given him your heart. Christ, you had given him everything, and he had thrown it all away. And for what? For one evening with someone else? To forget his problems for a few hours? But most of all you had been angry with him. Furious for what he had done to you, and for how much he had hurt you. Angry, for telling you the truth, because if he hadn’t then at least you’d still been happy. Disappointed, since he didn’t love you enough to not need anyone else but you. You’d been angry for a very long time. You still weren’t done being angry to be honest, and you knew you would be for much longer.

And then the process had started of trying to figure out what you were to do with everything he had told you. How could you possibly move past this? He had betrayed you, your trust and had indirectly told you that your love was no longer significant to him. And apart from that, he had proven to you that you could never put your trust in him again. Because what would prevent him from doing this again? He said he was sorry, and that might be true. But one could feel terrible about something, but still repeat that action. Trust that was once broken could not be restored. A relationship depended on it. Without it, it didn’t mean anything. You wanted to pretend it had never happened, deny the entire thing. But that was impossible. 

Every time you thought about Yoongi, it was as if there was a hole inside of your chest. Your heart broken into tiny little pieces. How could something so beautiful be destroyed by one action? And after crying your eyes out for days, not having any appetite, and not being able to get out of bed, you had finally decided that it was time for the two of you to talk. You needed to get this over with, because otherwise you would never be able to get any closure. “One latte.” You looked up to see Yoongi putting your coffee down in front of you. Inside of your chest, your heart had no idea what it was supposed to do. For the first second it betrayed you by fluttering softly. But the next, it seemed to shatter, and a pain you didn’t know you could feel without any physical injury took master of you.

He looked just as handsome as he normally did, but there was a certain sadness that felt like a shadow all around him. It seemed to follow him everywhere he went. As he sat down across of you in the booth, you noticed he looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t had any decent sleep in days. “You look tired.” You spoke before you could change your mind. Internally you scolded yourself. The last thing you wanted was for him to think that you were worried about him, not after what he’d done. “Yeah, I’ve had a hard time sleeping last week. Can’t seem to quiet my mind.” After that, an awkward silence fell over the two of you. It was as if you were both trying to hold on to what had been, even if it was just for a few more minutes. 

Because you both knew, that once either of you would speak up, that fantasy was about to come to an end. “I’m really glad you asked me to come. I thought you might no longer want to see me after…” The remaining part of his sentence was floating around in the air, and you both didn’t want to finish it. You cleared your throat and brought your coffee up to your lips, taking a sip without actually tasting anything. It gave you a minute to collect your thoughts before answering. “At first I didn’t.” His lips pulled together in a sad smile at those words and he sighed before combing his fingers through his hair. He looked sincerely sad because of it. His gaze drifted off towards the table, as if he was no longer able to look at you.

“Listen, I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time now. And the truth is, I don’t think I can forgive you for what you did. I would be lying to myself if I’d tell you that I would ever be able to move past this. I just can’t. You really hurt me Yoongi.” Your voice was soft, as if even after all of this, you were still scared of hurting him. He leaned his elbows on top of the table, resting his face in the palms of his hands. You couldn’t tell whether he was crying, even though you knew he wasn’t someone who was easily emotional. “I know. I don’t deserve for you to forgive me.” His voice sounded hoarse, and there was a part of you that wanted to reach out to him, giving him a gentle squeeze. 

But that part of you was broken and so your hands remained where they were. “I really respect you for telling me the truth when you had the chance. But right now, I think you’re an absolute asshole for what you did.” He dropped his hands, and his eyes looked slightly red as he looked at you. He was drinking you in, as if this was the last time he might ever be able to look at you from this close. “But, maybe because of your honesty, we might be able to be friends one day.” Because no matter how difficult this was, and no matter how much you hated him right now. He wasn’t the kind of person you wanted to miss being in your life. He smiled sadly, running his fingers across his wet cheek. “I’d like that very much.”

Jimin 

Coming soon...

[thebigsl33p]

We Were Angels Once, Don't You Remember?

A/NM: I love this musical and no one can stop me from titling my fics after it, or just general War and Peace quotes. (Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812). (I also tattoeed myself with the comet yesterday and idk abt it I reckon it'll be gone in three weeks)

Bold : Aleksander's letters

Italics: The Reader's lettersb

My Dear wife,

I have no intention to bore you with my journey to The Fold, nor the details of the First or Second Army. In summary, the armies are well, as was the journey save for the major flaw that you were not by my side. I suppose, however, that it is good to be with and among our soldiers, to see your plans into action.

Despite my previous words, I will tell you of something I saw during the journey. On horseback and taking a different route from everybody else on the journey, as usual, I came across a field. It was too early in the season for the flowers to have bloomed, however I could see many green, unopened stems and buds, and stopped to think of you. I would very much like to take you there when summer comes, to witness a natural beauty secondary to yours.

I do sincerely believe it will be a sight you will favour, and we could make a nice break out of it - something different from our usual afternoon horseriding, and a savoured rest from The Little Palace. Do tell me what you think.

I beg of you to write me about the most trivial aspects of your day, just so I may have more of you with me while we are apart. Even though it is only a couple days we must spend away from each other I think of you endlessly. I must confess it is hard to work without thinking of you but if I had to choose any distraction, it would be you. In your absence, I see you in everything: in the maps the otkazat'sya cartographers, in the patches of greenery around the camp, in the ruins of the buildings we passed and the lights of the tents.

You haunt me, and yet you are not dead. I know you wait for me at home, and still I cannot help but feel grief over being apart from you.

I beg of you to write me swiftly, milaya,

All my love,

Aleksander.

-

To my love, Aleksander,

How you are so charming through pen and paper, I will never understand.

Moreover, I am well. Genya has been keeping me company between the Tsar and Tsarita, but she does not have your looks. On a serious note, I miss you terribly. A few days since reading your last letter has built a thousand years of longing inside me.

I find myself turning to speak to you in the library or in meetings which results in Genya's teasing when she sees my words catch in my throat. The bed feels unbelievably big and cold, and I'm reluctant to tell you that I have taken to falling asleep next to, or wearing, your old Keftas. Silly and childish, I know, but at night I can dream it is you.

There is not much else to tell. The Little Palace is... well, The Little Palace: teeming with gossip about who is betrothed to who, about us and so forth, Preparations have begun for the next upcoming ball, which I trust you will have returned for. I hope you, my husband, will not leave me to face those horrible people alone.

And you know how much I enjoy our private conversations in front of others. The little looks of distaste, slight taps of our fingers and slight turns of the head. They are very entertaining, even if the company is boresome.

I fantasise about your return too much. It doesn't matter how - whether day or night, whether I fall into your arms or wake up with you beside me - all that matters is that you are finally back with me, in our Little Palace. I long to sleep beside you, to hold you in the night and to wake up with the soft spring sun across us, soft sheets and your ever-inviting eyes.

I have spoken enough about myself. How are you, my love? How has The Fold been treating you? I send my deepest wishes that the work is not too hard... and there are not too many fights.

I wish for you to know that I wait for you, painfully. Though may I urge you to return soon, unless you wish to find Genya sharing your side of the bed...

My heart,

Y/N.

[lal-ffxiv]

Prompt #12: Quarry

The young lady approached the Keepers of the Moon with a proposal of work in dispatching some vilekin, and it would be easy enough to just take the money in a confidence trick. However, she made claims of hidden treasures in the abandon city of Gelmorra.

"... I do not mean be babbling on about history of Twelveswood to you, but it is quite interesting. Don't you believe?"

"It will believe it if have any proof on where to find these treasures."

"Well, of course. I came across this map in my grandfather's library. He is so old. He might as well be one of the first that came out from the underground, and see here this is marked as sacred place, so I believe any relics would be stored there. I plan to make a collection of the relics as I am sure I am not the only one to be fascinated by the citystate's origins. Unfortunately, my father not one of those people. He refuses to lend his men for my expedition. As a business man, he can only understand the words of money. I tell him he is inviting the wrath of The Elementals upon himself by logging. Although, without his sacrilegious lumber mill then I would not have this opportunity. It is with my allowance from him that I fund this venture, which is just enough for two guards. Are you interested?"

Epokhan's head spun by time the long-winded maiden had stopped talking. He was afraid of giving her an answer as it would allow her to start talking again.

Luc was quick on her feet and tongue. While tedious in her speech, the young lady was trusting and optimistic, so a perfect pigeon. Since Luc loved birds, she made the choice on the deal. "This sounds like a very meaningful venture, and we would please to undertake it, but sounds much to dangerous for you come along. My partner and I have to insist on half payment now, and the rest once we have returned with your relics."

"And due to danger, we will need to double the price." Epokhan added.

The girl took her head violently like a child throwing a tantrum. "No, no, no! First, I am not paying you to stand prettily while I search. I need to be able discern the relics of value. I want none of gaudy relics of any precious metals or jewels. Second, I need to see the place were my people toiled for my kind's survival under the harsh rule of The Elementals. I must go to the underground city myself. I will pay the higher price, but I can not be denied this wish."

She had more than just earnesty. She had a fire in her eye that Luc would not argue with. Instead Luc looked to her partner. If the treasure were true then they could make more profit with her along, if they weren't the couple could still rob her and leave her in underbelly of the earth on their merry way.

"Alright. We'll take the venture."

"Excellent! I am so excited! Truly I did not believe I would find a pair so brave as yourselves. Father also warned me about ... that is end of that. I will meet you both at Camp Emerald Moss on the morrow then." The young lady beamed, and sadly walked away with her full coin purse as Epokan's and Luc's stomach growled.

Epohkan, a well-learned hunter, would blame the hunger on addling his mind. No other reason would he walked into such an obvious trap.

As soon as the trio entered the underground, they were overrun. Not by seedkin or vilekin, but by duskwight bandits.

Luc held the line while he cut his way from the net. He would have thought their client lost in the confrontation as he became Luc's sole concern aside from her own life. From his hovering position though he could see maiden go from green to grey, and raided the bandit's stores appearing as bandit herself. Epokhan fell from the net, and lost sight of her. For now.

He is a trained tracker too after all. Side by side the two of them made a quick show of incapacitating the bandits to chase their quarry.

The arrow scraped the tip of her nose. It would have gone straight through her head, if the arrow had been aimed for it. She took the hint and walked backwards to face her attackers.

"What have I done to deserve this greeting?" Asked the duskwight from the keepers.

"Drop the act. We know its you." Epokhan said as Luc let another arrow fly towards the elezen.

"Oh caught on to me and my tricks did ya." A wave of the hand and in front of them was young lady over the bandit.

"Leading us to our death was the whole plan was it?"

"I haven't killed anyone, nor do I plan to. Only I thought a mob of bandits would distract you longer while I got farther away from here is all."

"Like how we were meant to distract the bandits while you stole from them."

"It it really stealing when you take from a rob-"Luc fired an ice core tipped arrow with the idea of freezing her mouth shut for good. It would be well worth the tipped arrow as to never hear the elezen's voice again.

Instead the sprite core reacted to the active glamour prism. Then, a Seeker of the Sun stood before them.

Ri'anni Tia felt naked without a glamour over her, even worse than that. She was being perceived wrongly in this very moment. After a lifetime of that, she wasn't going to take another second of it.

Arianni dropped the item she sought to activate another glamour. Then, faced her attackers anew. "That was more embarrassing than being caught in my smallclothes, so let forget about it."

The Keepers of the Moon were stunned though. Luc had lowered her bow, and Epokhan stood mouth wide.

"Why disguse yourself was a woman?" Epokhan asked

"You sound like my mother." Arianni groaned. "Because I like to, why else?"

"How does it work? Can you show us?" Luc asked.

The skill every criminal should hone is being able to find the object a person wants and promising it to them.

"Oh is dressing in eachother's clothes not fooling the amount of people you want?" Arianni found the thing that might save her life from the Keeper with the bow and arrow.

"I learned from some imps, but I can only teach you if you have the talent." She offered and waited.

The Keepers shared a look between themselves. Arianni was quite jealous of the intimacy the two shared. To know eachother's thoughts without words, that was something she could never have with another.

"We'll considered forgiving you if you teach us the way to be disguised." Epokhan started

"As if you weren't planning on leaving me there for dead either." Arianni interrupted. Luc lifted the bow again. Arianni sewed her mouth shut quick.

"But your debt is separate, and for that we will go along with to where you'll be fencing that." Luc pointed at the trinket Arianni had dropped in her desperation. Split three way the reward for retrieving the noble's personal property was going to be small, but living another day is worth more.

"Then, you will stay right by us until we've learned." Luc finished.

"Fine, but then we never speak another word to each other after."

Arianni crossed her hands to shake each one theirs, so the three shook hands on the deal.

[flowercrowncrip]

So today’s theme seems to be “question all of Echo’s choices”. I can barely make a decision without my carer either questioning it or flat out telling me I’m doing the wrong thing.

My friend couldn’t make it to mine because of an issue with maps on her phone, so I said I’d go to her. It’s a bit of a drive but I haven’t seen her in a while and would be very sad not to see her.

My carer just started talking about how bad it is that young people today don’t know how to use paper maps, and why can’t I just give her directions. And like there’s reasons why! But I shouldn’t have to explain all my thought processes every time I make a decision.

I wish she’d just trust me to have thought about options properly instead of assuming that because she’d have made a different decision that I must be doing something wrong. And I wish she respected me enough to make the wrong call sometimes.

[funtimecheetah]

Sneak Peak Into A New VF Fanfic!! 🎉

The draft is not finished yet, but is so far 4,000 words! I would like people's honest opinion about it so far!

⚠️Future Warning!! ⚠️ This fanfic will include many major character deaths, suicided themes, lots of angry and more. But the sneak peak does not include any of that.

Word count: 604

Rewriting The Past

Keith pov: Arus is gone. A planet, like many others, destroyed completely by the Drule Empire Great War. Killing numerous people that it cannot possibly be fathomed by any mind. Ruling that dreadful Drule Empire is King Lotor, a fierce leader who spares no one, not even allies or soldiers who have failed him. The only soul who barely escaped being killed by his majesty’s hand is the right man, Maahoxs. One, and only reason he lands himself into safety, is that he is the only one able to create what Lotor wishes for battle. His deep knowledge and understanding of Haggarium is the key to their so far success. Transforming normal soldiers to deadly beasts from that vile violet bright liquid. The deadliest among those infected is Lotor’s right most ‘trusted’ soldier…Chaos. A brilliant soldier that knows Voltron’s weakness, our normal strategies, and is too chaotic to figure out what they would do next. Flash to a small planet, far off Drule’s map, where the resistance hides and plans. The main power force in the resistance, letting the innocent have a chance to live, is the Voltron Force. The leader of the team and the resistance as a whole is Keith. He sighs to himself, as he leans back in the chair, deep in thought. Mind going through every that has happened because of this great war. ‘This was supposed to be a time of peace, a new era. One with a new black lion pilot…Daniel.’ A sad smile across his face before tears rolls down his face, ‘It was torture for all of us to see Lotor take Daniel’s bloody broken body. He came out of nowhere, but we all should have known that he would never stay dead. Daniel fought so hard to fight back against…and the Haggarium infection. But not even Daniel was strong enough to survive that long fight with the infection taking over his mind and body.’ The painful memories cause Keith to dig into his arm, almost making it bleed. More tears fall out of his eyes. ‘If only I did things differently, then maybe Daniel would have trusted us…me about his Haggarium infection. This would have never happened in the first place. Larmina and Vince apparently knew the whole time. They explained that Daniel thought he would kick off the force if we found out. We never really treated the cadets as members of this team, I know that now. We never allowed them to attend meetings or anything planning, leaving them in the dark without a clue of what they will be thrown into. Being forced to act like adults in a war but treated like children by everyone around. I thought since they were kids we shouldn’t put them through every part of that war, let them enjoy life. How foolish I was, we expected them to act like adults when most of the time we treated them like children. I was blind. I wish I could go back and change that.’ A loud alarm sounds, red flashing lights flickers. This pulls Keith out of his thoughts. He jumps out of his seat. Running to the black lion. The final stand to turn the tide of the war is upon them. Five lions fly into the air with surrounding ships of many kinds following them to battle. Quickly, they all fly to Earth. Finding Earth in its middle of its destruction. The Drule Army is destroying everything in sight…just as the resistance thought would happen. Luckily, they have a plan. If it fails there is no more hope for victory. This can not fail.

[kimmykoosh]

Finished all DLC's for New Vegas. Here's what my review of them so far, according to the order I played. Very biased and contained opinions.

Old World Blues (Science fantasy gone wrong).

My first entry to the new world. After failing to make it out from Think Tank for a 987- a couple of tries, I manage to keep myself alive for most of the expedition here. Best DLC in my opinion. New world, so much to discover, new guns, everything is out there to kill you, great. Story wise, I admit, I had to provide extra attention to differentiate the doctors here without confusing things. Most of the science fiction things they often described and the references they gave are all over my head and often made me sleeepy. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the personified helpers. Sinks, doc, the sexy jukebox and the plant seed thing that helped me too many times in making things. The scientists came to grew on me. I like the suit talking to me because it's lonely being by yourself in an empty world :')))

TLDR; All the science fiction things are snoozefest, but I am still alive after got shot in the head, getting labotomized AND played around with my organs. NPC's are fun and have many personalities. Lots of new weapons, upgrades and big place to make my stimpaks. 10/10 would give Muggy more coffee mugs for his sanity.

Honest Hearts (A much more vertically challenging desert with a view. )

Entered this with half of my things, and a heartache coz I actually reseted 4 times just to save my Caravan crew. And accidentally shot Follows-Chalk because I thought he was a baddie before I realize I'd done goofed up. Story wise, the whole thing was okay. Nothing much I'd care since Salt-Upon-Wounds will kill me regardless if I'm doing pacifist or not. I did enjoy getting high to fight a ghost bear. The map was big enough for me to find everything, but didn't make me care for it much. Joshua Graham is okay, but he didn't like me raiding his stuffs to make bullets that fucker has a bajillions of pistols wtf rude.

TLDR; Forgetable DLC, NPC is one-sided. But the view though. Plentiful mountains, greeneries and high skies. Also lots of fresh water. Sometimes rain. That's new. Weapons are, meh. Useful if you use unarmed or melee. 4/10, would kill more Yao Guai.

Dead Money (Ghost Town Heist With the Gang. )

Started this with a bump on the head (poor Courier holy shit) The only DLC that made me feel challenged because of the constant ducks and sneaking. The Ghost People are creepy and also hard to hit. I cant remember how many times I had to look down and check at my feet or I'll be blown up and get detected. The place is very barren of any places to make stuffs and bullets so you'll learn to adapt with alternate weapons and use any ammo you do have or get, while the Sierra Madre vending machine becoming your next best friend. The NPC's though. The beeping on my neck will haunt me for the rest of my days and I get that casino Obsessed freak to thank for. I'm sad I didnt get too much time with Christine, because she seemed to be a great character towards the end. Dean Domino is a charismatic asshat that gives out very convenient stashes everywhere, but we didn't get to be friends. I did like him though, brilliant mind, just doesn't trust in people. Didn't get to know much about God, coz Dog is too fun and made me feel safe from the people. Story wise, it's very well paced. Though after I opened up the casino, and darted through ALL the ghost people in town by myself, I cant help but noticed I missed something else, but the collar keeps on killing me and I had to go to the next place without checking. Just wished I can check it myself without dying.

TLDR; DLC's challenging, but not that you can't do it. You can do this without killing as much of the Ghost People if you can. Story is rich in juicy details. Betrayal, conflict, and also, plain love. Always love Laura Bailey inside as Vera Keyes. 8/10 for exploding collars.

Lonesome Road (The Sad Tale of the 2 Couriers. )

The only DLC that has a history of the player in past tense, other than being dead, and a mailman. This also introduces our antagonist of the DLC, Ulysses. A very angry ghost who talk through EdE.

Okay, Ulysses is interesting. We got to know about him more throughout the DLC. His history and how he came to here. Interestingly he knew about the factions in New Vegas and everything that is happening there. He is honestly my saving grace in this DLC, but god, his prosses and the way he talks is so BORING. Often I had to relax and do something else for me to understand much about what he is saying. Does that outed me for being an idiot? Maybe? I guess coming from the Legion, he has a style of talking that is unique.

As for the rest of the playthrough, the DLC provides a different thing in going through the whole map. We get to use the laser blaster to blast through and open up certain sections of the blocked roads. Other than some extra weapons, the map and gameplay was decent. I certainly didnt expect to see the Deathclaws coming in here.

TLDR; A very good connection towards Ulysses, a fellow courier that saw our work, and then blamed us for nuking the entire map. Among all of the DLC's I enjoyed this one for the courier per courier connection. I dont really enjoy the Deathclaws and the long and frivolous way to get to Ulysses' hideout. 4/10 for more couriers sending bombs towards the Mojave wastelands, to combat Ulysses' boring speech.

[zrtranscripts]

Season 10, Mission 3: Another Invented Disease

Quoth the Raven

~

[water swirls]

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: “In the glare of the day, there is little poetry about Venice. But under the charitable moon, her stained palaces are white again.” I see now that Mark Twain was quite correct. A moonlit gondola ride across the Venice Lagoon has always been a dream of mine. My wife and I booked tickets only two months before the gray apocalypse. We never took that trip.

FRANCES DEMPSY: [gasps] Quinzi, stop rowing! I can hear a patrol boat.

[boat motor rumbles]

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: I believe we remain unobserved. Quinzi, you may resume your labor at the oar. We’re close now. I see the [?] of the Grand Canal.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: We got through because they’re looking in, not out. They’re only worried about stopping people leaving. They don’t think anyone would be mental enough to try to sneak into a plague city.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Indeed. We’re most lucky.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Is luck the right word?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Fortuna has favored us in one regard, at least. After months of fruitless searching, we have a lead to Runner Five’s location at last. And with Quinzi as our local guide, our visit should be brief.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: I wish we could do it all by gondola. People said they’ve got the zombie situation in Venice under control, but that could mean anything. And do we even know what this plague is?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Only that it’s almost invariably fatal. But the aquatic route isn’t possible, I’m afraid. In days past, the canals of Venice were home to a profusion rats. Today, it’s the restless dead who clog the waters.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: There, Quinzi. There’s a dock at the base of the stairs. [gondola bumps against dock, canal water splashes] Throw me the rope!

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Careful! Frances, Quinzi, the steps are slimed with weed.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Don’t worry, I never slip. Alice always said I was like a goat. At least, I think that’s what she meant. She might have just been telling me I needed deodorant.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Lead the way, Quinzi. The one we seek is at the far end of the canal. The mysterious Raven nests in the Giardini Reali, the Royal Gardens. We’re in Venice, a plague city ruled by unknown powers. I believe we should make haste.

~

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: This place is labyrinthine. We’d be lost without the map your band of thieves supplied, Quinzi.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: You call yourself the Magpies, right, Quin? Why does everyone in Venice name themselves after birds? And how do we know we can trust this Raven person? The message came through like, five different people before it reached us, and no one even agrees who the Raven is.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Indeed. A shoe seller in Istanbul was quite certain the Raven is a man of indeterminate but enormous age. An immortal, older than the city of Venice itself. A [?] assassin described a girl of twelve, a killer like himself, the most deadly of them all.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: That’s not ominous.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: They say the plague began with the Raven. Its first victim appeared the day after the arrival of that ill-omened bird. Of course, people have always blamed outsiders for their misfortune. And Venice has a shameful history in that regard. Did you know that the word ghetto had its origins here? It was the area of the city the government forced its Jewish inhabitants to live.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Yeah, we did the Merchant of Venice in school. Antonio was a dick.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: My feelings entirely. And I can tell by your face, Quinzi, that you feel the same.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: I don’t like it here. There’s something... wrong with this place.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: It’s sinking. The waters always clamored to reclaim it, and the apocalypse has hastened the process.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: It’s more than that. It’s the way the paint’s all flaking off the walls. The buildings are beautiful, but the stonework’s crumbling. It looks, I don’t know, decaying? Like it died a long time ago.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: But someone yet lives here. Two factions patrol the streets of Venice, keeping an uneasy peace, one by day and one by night. Neither is our friend. The Raven advised us to travel in that liminal time when powers change hands and Venice has no true master. Our window of opportunity is brief.

FRANCES DEMSPEY: You know the route the Raven sent us, don’t you, Quinzi? Let’s run.

~

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Oh, we’re back at the Grand Canal. I’ve got totally turned around. I think I can see... Up ahead, that covered bridge. Is that...?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: The Rialto. It houses stone shops within its arches. Venice was a city built on commerce, and so it remains. Trade is the lifeblood of this place and the reason so many still make their home here.

FRANCES DEMSPEY: But who’s in charge? You said two factions.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: They are but parasites on the body politic! The gondoliers and their poisons roam during the day, while the Mala del Brenta patrol at night. Once, the Mala were a mere mafia. Now they’re said to traffic in far worse than drugs. But as for who rules? Venice has changed hands a dozen times since the apocalypse. Rumors are the King of Zagreb ran it at one time. The French warlord Jacques Le Renard claimed dominion for a year and two days. Now? Perhaps the city belongs only to itself.

GONDOLIER: Knives for sale, [?]. Knives, knives for sale!

FRANCES DEMSPEY: The gondola! I guess the changeover hasn’t happened yet. Quick, under this bridge. Hide in the shadows.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: There are three women in that boat. One to row, one to cry their wares, the third has a knife! She’s using it to sever the hands.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: The hands!

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Grasping for the boat out of the water. Bloated and white in death, the flesh half-peeled away. The dead seeking company in their watery grave.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Glad we didn’t try to row in. Look, the boat’s tying up. They’re getting out.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: The time of the gondoliers draws to a close, and the hour of the Mala approaches. We must hurry!

~

FRANCES DEMPSY: It’s so silent. I know there are people living here. Up there, see? Eyes watching us from the window. But there’s no one on the streets.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: We’ve traveled broadly, you and I, in our quest for Five. A sighting in Budapest that was nothing but smoke and mirrors. A trail running through the warring cantons of the Alps. Helpless people pulled from danger by a nameless benefactor. No trace of them remained. We’ve visited pirate archipelagos and a warlord’s palace, but Venice is more dangerous than all of them.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: I heard Amelia the last time you spoke to her. She sounded really worried, for Amelia. Actually, not even just for Amelia.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: She’s followed many fruitless leads in the search for Five, made many painful deals for information that proved of little value.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: We’ve all tried so hard for nothing. If we need to take risks to finally get an answer, I don’t care. It’s worth it. [flies buzz] Ugh, that’s horrible! Quinzi, watch out. There’s a pile of corpses in the middle of the road. They’ve just been... thrown there, like chucking out the rubbish!

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Only recently deceased. Their skin is covered in lumps, buboes.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Buboes? Like... Bubonic plague?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: More yellow in color, with a curious purple marking in their center. It’s almost like a letter.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Don’t get too close. Could infect you. [distant shout] Where did that come from?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: One of the arms in that pile of corpses is twitching. A leg is kicking out.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Are they zombies, or... God. People just left them here to die?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: We cannot stay to find the answer. Quinzi, lead on!

~

[bell rings]

BELL RINGER: Portate fuori i vostri morti!

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: The bell-ringer and his companions are entering a crumbling palazzo, no doubt to collect the bodies of more unfortunates. From the charnel smell, I believe that’s their wagon up ahead.

FRANCES DEMSPEY: Ugh, it’s full of decapitated heads. They’re still alive! I mean, dead-alive. Their teeth are snapping.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Lacking their spines, they shouldn’t be capable of movement.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: V-types do that, though. You have to disassemble them into basically atoms before they stop moving. But there shouldn’t be any V-types outside the UK.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Perhaps the plague creates them.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: That’s... That’s a really bad thought. I can see people on the other side of the canal. I think they’re having dinner. There’s a white tablecloth and candles and everything. Who does that on the side of a canal full of corpses?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Italians.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: It’s my fault, you know. Five being missing, everyone being captured. It’s all my fault.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: I hardly think that’s true.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: They told me not to come. They never wanted me on the mission to Tunisia. They knew I’d be a liability, but I wanted to be part of the team. [sighs] I wanted to be as valuable to them as Alice was. And because I was there, it all went wrong! I’m a jinx.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: I believe in many things, Frances. I believe our spirit survives us after our death, and that a higher power guides the turning of the ages. But I will never believe that an innocent young woman, acting from love and with courage, is responsible for so much ill luck. No. There is some other force working against us, some malevolence that hasn’t yet shown its face.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: What if it is the Raven?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Then we’ve made a very serious mistake. Alas, we have no choice but to see it to its end. There, do you see? On the balcony of that half-destroyed house, figure in feathered carnival masks watching us. They are the Mala. We’re on their territory, uninvited. If they catch us, they will kill us.

~

FRANCES DEMPSEY: I can hear them following us, but I can’t see them. [distant shouts] Oh God, what’s that?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: The Mala’s hunting call, or...

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Or what?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Another variant of the undead, perhaps unique to these shores. Who knows what strange and terrible forms the virus may have taken in such a place as this?

FRANCES DEMSPEY: I can smell them, I think. It’s not like normal zom smell. It’s almost... Sweet?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: There are many mysteries to unravel here. Our challenge is to live to unravel them.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: What are you even doing here, Mo? You could have put me on a boat back to England and gone home to your wife. This isn’t your fight.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: I made a promise to Miss Spens that I’d see her people safe. My word is my bond. No true currency remains in this world except that.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: You’re a good man, Mo.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: One could ask for no higher praise!

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Look, over there, past the narrow marble bridge. Is that someone wearing a bird mask? The Raven, it must be!

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: A plague doctor’s mask, of course!

FRANCES DEMPSEY: They’re pointing left. What does it mean?

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Ah! Ah, a narrow alley between buildings, hidden in shadow. We would have run straight past it!  I believe the Raven means for us to take it!

FRANCES DEMPSEY: What if it’s a trap? What if it leads us straight to the Mala? Maybe that was the whole point of bringing us here.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: We have quite literally no other option. Follow our masked friend’s directions. Quinzi, run!

~

FRANCES DEMPSEY: There, at the end of the street. The person in the plague mask, the Raven. They’re waiting for us the other side of the bridge. They’re beckoning. But we’ve got the Mala or the zombies or whatever they are right behind us.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Ah, no! I understand now. The bridge is wooden, do you see? And there is some sort of mechanism. I believe it’s a drawbridge. We merely have to make it across and our safety is ensured. It appears the Raven was indeed attempting to aid us. It’s a balm to the soul to find such an honor in this fallen world.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Come on, Quinzi! Last burst of speed. We did it! We’re safe.

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Not until we raise the drawbridge. Quinzi, you could take the other side.

[drawbridge mechanism clanks]

FRANCES DEMPSEY: That’s creepy. The sound just... Stopped. Are they really gone?

THE RAVEN: The hunt’s over. They won’t bother me here. We have, uh... An understanding.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Is that...? No, it can’t be!

THE RAVEN: Oh, let me take this damn thing off. Oh, I can hardly breathe up here! [sighs] It’s so good to see you, Frances!

FRANCES DEMPSEY: Maxine!

MOHAMMED BOUJETTIF: Our missing doctor. We have come here in search of one lost companion, and found quite another.

FRANCES DEMPSEY: How did you get here, and what are you doing? Do you really know where Five is? Do you know how to rescue the others?

MAXINE MYERS: One question at a time, please! I don’t know it all, Frances, but I have found out a few things. Venice may be a hellhole, but a lot of information finds its way here. There is so much for me to tell you, and so much for us to do.

~