#i know silas wants to have it for different reasons but still

[whitelotusherald]

Honestly, I thought that the greatest challenge in The Spirit Bares its Teeth would be the C-section scene but guess which chapter was the fastest and easiest to translate?

And I have to emphasize how I hate all surgical procedures in practice (but at least thanks to this I ran into an animation of how hysterectomy is done which is the funniest shit bc I should've looked it up before going through it... Better late than never?)

[meo-eiru]

The thought just occurred to me but, if Elves like Silas evolved to have bodily fluids with healing properties (and implied to consider it normal to regularly imbibe them) then... Is. Is Silas's barely covered ass, legs, and bared tits the normal attire for them? And that's attire for outside? Does Silas even wear clothes indoors? Does he force his darling to adapt to his normal dresscode when he first brings then back? I have a desperate need to know.

Yeah his attire gives you easy access to all his body parts you might need for whatever reason!

There are of course differences in how individual elves dress, it kinda depends on their personality and which body parts they like showing off or don’t, but the type of fabric and gold they use are mostly the same.

(Also the fabric in his attire is a bit see through so he doesn’t really leave much to your imagination👀)

He does still wear clothes indoors if you can count his current state not mostly naked. He bas a few different outfits but they all mostly look similar. Elves are already pretty enough and to them clothes are more like an accessory than a necessity.

He wouldn’t force you to dress like an elf! He does sometimes feel curious about your bodily fluids. If he gets sick and is feeling particularly weak he might cry and sob for you to let him drink some of your blood or cum no matter how many times you tell him yours doesn’t work like that. He just wants to try, have a little taste :( He won’t know until he tries right?

But since he’s into human culture he finds it more adorable when you are wearing normal clothes. He might sometimes come home with new clothes for you but unfortunately he won’t tell you where the hell he got them from no matter how many times you ask. Less questions and more playing dress up quick!

[darkbluekies]

This is going to be interesting fr, like how much differently do your ocs treat the reader if they were childhood friends. I’m super excited! Also can’t wait to see Jerry again ❤️

Warnings: violence, murder, unstable home life, bullying

Silas:

Being Silas's childhood friend guarantees you a bodyguard. He doesn't let anyone get close to you. You don't ever have to worry about the fact that anyone will bully you, because Silas will obliviate them. He's the type to let you lean on his shoulder in class whenever you feel tired. He will ditch school with you and go to the zoo if you want to.

People around you will try to separate the two of you. “Silas isn't a good influence”, they say, and doesn't want his behavioral problems to rub off on you, or for you to get in danger. There are speculations that Silas is involved in criminal gangs — and if someone asks you, you won't deny it. But Silas won't let anyone take you from him, won't let anyone touch you. You always have his arm wrapped around your waist or shoulders, always claimed by him.

“I'm going to bash that kid's skull in, I'm not fucking joking. If they dare to to touch you — no — if he as much as breathe near you, I'll send them to the nurses office. Lean your head on me, Y/N, its okay. Does your hand still hurt? I cant believe that he fucking stepped on it. It doesn't matter if it was a mistake. I'll cut his off.”

Dr Kry:

There is something off about him, and everyone can see that. He sits back straight, hands together, and always in clean, ironed clothes. His hair is always brushed and fixed, he hates germs and people. And he hates it all, he really does. The only friend he has, is you. The only one he doesn't think is dirty, is you. You know that the reason he sits and talks like a robot is because of how strict his parents are. There has been multiple times where he has dirtied his clothes while playing with you, and has panicked. You help him clean them before going home, and when touching him you make sure to wipe your hands with a cloth — even if you know that he doesn't mind your germs. You know how he doesn't like to be touched, so you never hug him or linger on too long, which is just why Kry likes you so much.

You are the only one who knows about his author's dreams. His parents want him to become a doctor, or a lawyer, and you know he's interested in medicine, but he wants to be able to write. He wants to write sci-fi stories, and you are the only one that knows it.

You get teased by others for being with the “clean freak” but it doesn't bother you. However, it does bother Kry. After someone has been mean to you, they always end up in the hospital, one way or another. You can't help but wonder if it's your shy, sweet friend who's behind it.

“I like having picnics with you. Oh, you forgot the other fork? No, don't apologize, I understand that it was a mistake. We can share a fork, I'm okay. Yes, it's fine, I don't mind … you're so nice, wiping the fork for me, you don't have to do that ...”

King Edmund:

If you are Edmund’s friend while he's the crown prince, you need a lot of patience. He is spoiled rotten, entitled and unpleasant to be around. Everything is on his terms. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't value you. He is locked in his room day in and day out with a private tutor, completely isolated from everyone else. He will throw fits and threaten not to do his classes, unless he is allowed to play with you. So, they bring you to the castle where you get to live from now on.

Edmund absolutely loves to spend time with you. You ride horses together, torment the staff, play pranks and read. When he can't sleep, he walks into your room and crawls under the sheets.

You're with him when his parents are murdered. Edmund's first instinct when the castle is attacked is to run to your room, wake you up and hide the two of you. He is equipped with a sword and will protect you to the last moments.

Although the two of you are isolated, there are people in the staff making fun of you, or talking bad. Edmund doesn't even hide the fact that he orders for their deaths.

“I fucking hate classes, and I hate that tutor. It's so boring. I wish you could take the classes with me, it'd be so much more fun. After class, can't we do something? Can't we go down to the fountain and read? I want you to read for me. You're the only one that reads the story right, that does them justice. Everyone else sounds like fucking donkeys.”

Jerry:

Jerry goes to an all girls school in South Korea. You don't go to the same school — which is probably for the best. Jerry is the leader of her little gang, and they are notorious for their bullying. She is a bully for fun, but won't allow any of her friends to make fun of you. If they do, she will ruin their lives. You do know about her life outside the school though, you have been with her when she steals from stores (often makeup stores). You often meet her after school and go to the mall or amusement parks together. She's a very sweet person to be around when it's just the two of you.

You're friends with her before she starts to call herself ‘Jerry’ — when she's still ‘Yubin’. She had seen the name in a TV series and liked the character. She says that she is going to move to the US, and then she wanted an english name.

You're often with Jerry's friend group on weekend nights, often strolling around the town with alcohol and cigarettes, sometimes breaking stuff. Jerry makes sure that if they're ever caught, her and you slip away. She finds it all extremely exciting.

Jerry escapes to you when she gets to know that her parents (and perhaps sister if i want to give her one) have been murdered by a rival, when she has involved herself in criminal activities for real. It's the first time you get to see Jerry break down. She's in your arms, crying heavily, admitting how scared she is and how much she misses her parents. She loves her family, and now there is nothing left of it. She says that she died that day, and that whoever is inhabiting her body now is a fraction of who she once was.

“You're such a fresh wind from that fucking girl school. Why do I have to go there? Why am I not allowed to join a coed school? What? Why my nails have blood under them? No, I didn't get into a fight again. I didn't. I promise. Get up, let's go get sushi, I'm starving.”

Hedwig:

If you're a childhood friend of Hedwig, you're basically a family member. You go on her family's expensive vacations, just because Hedwig doesn't want to be alone.

You play every day and go through all stages of life together. Hedwig has always been the sweetest human you've ever known, and it surprises you when you see her angry. The many, many years you've been friends, you've only seen her angry a handful of times. You go to summer camps together, share beds, share everything. Teachers ask for the other when one is gone (which is rare).

Being childhood friends with Hedwig would most likely end in romance at one time, so she would win without having to do anything harsh. But if you started developing crushes other than Hedwig before, she would ruin their reputation until you wouldn't want to look at them anymore, but no one would know that it was Hedwig.

Hedwig has always been very popular, both for her money and looks, and by default, you've been too because you're her best friend. Hedwig likes to see how nice everyone is to you, because they know better than to upset you. No one wants to get out of the magical bubble that is Hedwig’s popularity.

“We will be friends forever, won't we? I don't think I could live without you, Y/N. You're the other half of my soul. If I don't have you nearby, I can't breathe.”

[a-big-apple]

pls can we get your most niche tlt headcanons/ canon points you think are too overlooked or unappreciated/ fanon you see too often mistaken for canon/ juicy background bits on the babytrap or skater AU or otherwise.. the ppl are starving

omg this is exactly the treat i deserve after doing so many chores today, im gonna hit all these categories just for funsies

niche tlt headcanon: this is maybe more a theory than a pure headcanon but i think someone in Camilla's direct family line, either a parent or a grandparent, was from outside the Houses. Hect is an arithmonym, but it's not Sixth, it's a prefix meaning 100. as there's no 10th (or 100th) House, i like to think this is meant to indicate that someone in her recent family tree was an outsider! also she's hot enough for the Alexandrites, which suggests at least one of her bio parents or grandparents was hot enough for the Nireids and perhaps scored some out-of-House genetic material to spice up the Sixth's diversity. also Silas questions her eligibility to be cav primary, and since she's brilliant and badass and the Sixth don't base these things on bloodline/inheritance, there's no reason for even a prig like Silas to disqualify her other than some kind of citizenship issue. anybody with at least one Sixth parent is considered Sixth, that's their whole deal, but maybe the Eighth take a dimmer view?

smaller but purer headcanon that has no basis in anything except my gut: i think the "very silly" description of herself that Dulcie sent to Pal and Cam, and the drawing Cam sent back (mentioned in TUG), is a reference to this classic of ancient tumblr

overlooked/underappreciated canon moment: at this point i dont think there's anything i have noticed that i haven't seen at least one person blog about, but one of the tiny little things that gives me shrimp emotions is Gideon in the pool scene, after she's had this intense thing with Harrow, and then Harrow starts waxing about her beloved in the Tomb: "[Harrow's] voice had the quality of someone in a long dream. She stared through Gideon without looking at her, and Gideon gently took her hands away from Harrow's jaw. Instead she sat back in the water, buoyed by the salt, her eyes starting to sting from it." she's suddenly being told that Harrow is into someone else, she assumes these feelings she's been slowly catching are doomed before she can even really examine them, she pulls back from the very intimate position they've just been in, and she has a quiet lil cry about it that she won't even acknowledge in the narration. BUT I KNOW WHAT THAT SALT STINGING YOUR EYES IS GIDEON NAV

fanon you see too often mistaken for canon: GIDEON ISN'T STUPID T^T she's not a himbo jock, she's just a jock who doesn't care about necromancy! she also can't sense it, so she naturally has less information than Harrow about what's going on in GtN. she has a baller vocabulary, she's strategic, she's observant, she's super good at what she does, and she adapts to a completely novel situation VERY quickly.

also? i understand why it's visually more appealing to draw Kiriona with her chussy out, or modern au Gideon showing a lot of skin, i dig it, im hot for her too. but Gideon is canonically shy. she doesn't even take off her robes to duel in GtN, and is so constantly hooded that nobody even knows she's a redhead until halfway through the book. Kiriona is buttoned up to the point of wearing a goddamn ascot to cover her neck hole. i definitely understand au situations where her upbringing was different and so she's a little different, that's part of a good au for me, but it still always crosses my mind when i see her with her shirt wide open or her tummy out or in booty shorts or something. she's hot and she wants everyone to think she knows it, but deep down she does not know it and doesn't really flaunt it, except those guns

juicy background bits on babytrap or skater au: hmmmmm. Kiriona would deny it's the reason she hasn't named the baby, but she IS waiting for Harrow. she doesn't feel like she has the right, and she has complex feelings about both the names her own parents gave her. she has a deep-seated sense that Harrow, who is smart and cares a lot about doing things the right way, will be better suited to this responsibility.

in the figure skating au...a minor character from early in the story is going to be very important in the sequel fic, i think.

[smokescreenimusprime]

so I've started rewatching Prime because I'm dragging a friend into it and I just had such an interesting idea for an AU Crossover: Fifth Sigma + Early Crash

because there is just. SO much potential for various interactions between Smokescreen and everyone else and the differences of him being a medic here

for one, Smokescreen isn't a warrior, he's essentially a doctor. He isn't good at fighting, and the only protocols he knows are ones for first responders, and while he might've gotten some other lessons due to the war, he's still civillian

perhaps Smokescreen spends some of his time researching human medicine. Hell, maybe at some point he tries to attend college to learn even more

Smokescreen having to patch himself up every time he gets hurt, knowing what's wrong with himself when he's injured but not always being able to fix it. Knowing just how dangerous some of the injuries he gets, but not being able to do anything except hope for the best

Smokescreen, desperatly trying to communicate with anybody else and sending out message after message in an attempt to contact anybody

Knockout and Breakdown learning about the presumed last Rescue Bot in the entire universe being right here on this backwater planet out in the sticks of the galaxy. Not knowing how to respond, not knowing if they should tell anybody, because while there's no protocol for this it's almost certainly treason to not report it

Meeting the Autobots and learning that he's apparently the last one. That the reason no one was responding wasn't because the messages weren't getting there but because there was nobody to recieve them

Silas using Smokescreen, someone who's only ever wanted to heal and help, and taking what he learns to harm and kill

Even moments from the canon show will have such different impacts. The children, Sigma-17, his relationship with Ratchet (especially with the whole Synth-En debacle), Unicron

just. There's so much it would impact and I'm so interested where it could possibly go

[spearxwind]

Hi this is where I talk a bunch about ocs :D

I dont have a lot of time lately to talk abt lore but i still think abt my guys whenever i have some chill time to myself, so here's some patch notes. This is also just me thinking out loud haha

CD:

ive been playing w some changes for CD and seeing if they stick :] gonna make the story slightly more complex and the sides of the conflict also different (for example I am going to make hades and talas full on enemies at first along with connon, caval and silas >:3 (and I am also making silas and his monster form two separate characters so the lion (hal) is now a mount instead))

Specifically what I've been thinking about is making Hades either a ship captain or a first mate for a rogue ship. The deal with Hades is that he comes from a renowned family from Redbridge and is a disgrace to them. In previous versions of CD they were artisans but that never rly clicked for me, and recently I have been reworking Redbridge into a naval empire to add some 🤏spice 🤏to the world, which would mean Hades' family is actually a naval captain family putting him next in line to be one of them but since his thing is being a disgrace he takes off and becomes a rogue. And instead of hating leviathans he fucking hates hunters instead. Conversely, I think with these changes Talas would also NOT be inclined to kill hunters (or at least not as often as he currently does). He'd pick fights with the naval fleet and other similar factions instead which is more like his character.

I also wanna try and bring back an older concept I had where connon's ship was able to both become fully submerged (like the subs in sunless sea where her character originated from) and this other idea I had where a ship could split in half into two smaller ships. Like if a catamaran could split into two and flank a vessel on both sides. But we'll see if I can make this work x)

Dragons (broken horizon + extinction):

I vaguely mentioned this a while ago as well but I've also been thinking abt my dragons and how I kinda want them to all be in one world/setting, which includes both my broken horizon guys (cer, jarek, octane, etc) and my extinction guys (alex, c, orion, etc) but I dont know how to deal with all of the conflicting lore and themes.

Because for extinction the big theme is there are people who can turn into dragons, and technically all of the dragons' powers are based on energy (for lore reasons). Meanwhile for my other dragons I have a few different elements or other ways of using fire (eg instead of using straight up fire/energy, my oc Jarek can breathe out gas only and ignites it with his mandibles).

I miss all my dragons a lot so I kinda wanted to make a world for them where I could have them Vibe and do different stories in so I thought about having a dragon-only universe but unfortunately Extinction has a pretty huge human element that I cant just eliminate.

It feels counterintuitive, i know the first logical choice is 'just let them be different things' but I genuinely feel like the right choice is to put them both together so the characters can interact and the whole story can be deeper because as it is both are really shallow and I would really like for them to work together so that's what I've been picking at for some months now (it's um. been real slow)

For these two stories I do have two different vibes though that I've been wondering how to weave together nicely bc they overlap for some characters. For broken horizon I had flying and aerial racing as a big theme (and some of the chars in extinction would be rly into that) and for extinction I had dragon arena fights as a big theme (and some of the characters in bh would be rly into that) both of these is another of the reasons why I wanted to put them both together bc it feels like they can fit very well I just have to find the right idea for them to click and then itll be smooth sailing -w-

I also wanted to talk abt this in hopes that talking abt all the dragons gets me to think more about them as well

I wanted to make this post bc I've been really busy lately and rly absent from here in general and I don't have as much time to draw (or even think abt ocs) anymore but I still wanted to keep posted about what's been going on in my head and hopefully get some eyes on it and maybe even some feedback if anyone is so inclined

If u read this whole thing thank u i owe you my life fr I hope u enjoyed reading abt my patch notes :D and hopefully sometime in the future I can get back to drawing concepts and stuff or maybe even writing stuff

[irondiotallica]

Date Night

Yay, another blurb!!! I'm really liking writing again. It's been a long time since I've written with joy and no expectations. Also, Robin finally makes an appearance. Kraft Cheese Singles have existed since the 50s. Let that sink in. Anyway, here's the blurb. Hope you enjoy it!!! -Silas

[Steddie}

Steve Harrington was nervous. For the first time in his life, he was nervous. There wasn’t anything that should be causing this anxiety save for the date that he had tonight. He’s had a million dates before, but this one was different. Eddie was different.

“Robin, what do I do,” Steve asked with panic clear in his wide-eyed expression.

Robin looked at Steve like she had many times before and if she had a whiteboard near her, there would be a tally under ‘You Suck’. She rolled her eyes and fixed Steve with a confused glare. 

“Steve, I think you’re forgetting three very important things.’

Robin held up three fingers and began to count down as she continued speaking.

“One, I’m more single than a Kraft Single.”

“Two, I’m a raging lesbian.”

“Three, you’re the one who’s had a very fruitful dating life.”

Steve shook his head. He was distraught at Robin’s very sound reasoning. He knew he was being irrational, but it was Eddie. He didn’t know how to go about wooing Eddie.

“Robin,” he whined hoping to wear her down,” This is different. Eddie’s different. Help me please.”

“I can’t help you with this. You’ve already planned it. What do you want me to tell you?”

Steve wanted her to tell Steve that he was doing things right.

“I’m doing it correctly, right?”

Robin sighed at that and shook her head. She looked up into his face and felt her gaze soften at the sight of her platonic soulmate.

“You’re doing fine, dingus. No need to stress,” she paused and rubbed his shoulder soothingly,” You’re doing great so far. Okay, Steve?”

Steve let out a sigh of relief and smiled at her. 

“Okay, yeah. Thanks, Robin.”

“You’re welcome, Steve.”

There was a comfortable pause of silence before Robin broke it with a smirk.

“You owe me lunch on Wednesday,” she said as she packed up to head home.

Steve rolled his eyes with a grin.

“Whatever you say, Rob.”

Steve stood in front of the familiar trailer with roses in his hand. He was stressed and his once perfectly styled locks were now disheveled with the numerous times he had run his hands through it. He chewed his lower lip nervously before running his hand through his hair again. Finally, he bit the bullet and knocked on the door.

Steve listened amused as someone stumbled through the trailer, seeming to trip multiple times and stubbing something as Steve heard a quiet ‘God dammit’ and ‘Son of a bitch’.

The door flew open as Eddie came into Steve’s view. Steve felt his breath leave him as he took in the perfection that was Eddie Munson.

Eddie always looked good, but today he had Steve close to busting. Those dark curls were pulled up into a high ponytail with a few strands falling out around his face. His eyes somehow popped more than usual and his rings were polished to perfection. He had a Dio shirt that had probably seen better days on and a pair of jeans with not a rip in sight. His belt and chains completed the entire thing and made Steve fall for him all over again.

Suddenly, confidence and charm flooded his system.

“Hey gorgeous, ready for our date?”

Eddie grinned and responded in kind.

“I don’t know big boy, am I?”

With no hesitation, Steve handed Eddie the flowers with a wink.

“Not until you put those flowers away, wouldn’t want them withering, left to their own devices.”

Eddie flushed at what Steve was implying. Maybe Eddie had been right to think that he would be with Steve for a lot longer than just a date.

“Hold on,” Eddie said, still bright red in the face.

The flowers were placed in water and left on the kitchen counter with care. Eddie grabbed his jacket, keys, cigs, lighter, and whatever else he thought he needed. He locked the door before following Steve to the car. He watched Steve with a pounding heart and a face blushing even more than before as Steve opened the door for him.

“After you m’lord,” Steve said with a flourishing bow. 

“I love it when you start speaking nerdy with me.”

“Good, cause there’s a lot more for later when we’re in a more,” he paused leaning in until his mouth brushed against Eddie’s ear,” private situation.”

Eddie felt a moan bubble up in his throat at the feel of Steve on his ear. He managed to trap it, but God, Steve was driving him up the wall.

They buckled up and Steve turned to Eddie. 

“Let’s get going, shall we?”

Eddie nodded, not trusting his words. Steve grinned at that entwining his fingers with Eddie’s before peeling out of the trailer park to their date of the evening.

[jolieblack]

Jolie’s thoughts on

Silver Blaze Part 3 & 4

(Sherlock & Co. podcast)

No, I tell a lie, because I still have stuff from part 2 that I wanted to point out, too:

I‘m a tiny bit obsessed with John's "doink - doink - doink" sounds after they cross the river.

I also laughed out loud at the Romans clearing out at 3:45.

And there’s a very sweet moment, too, that I didn’t really notice before, when they look at the victim‘s body with Inspector Gregory and Watson goes on about possible reasons why a single blow with a stick could have inflicted such damage, osteoporosis etc and Gregory thinks he’s just rambling, but Sherlock absolutely knows he’s not and nudges him back on track with that gentle "What are you thinking?" Because it’s not just John who wants his Sherlock to shine on a case, it’s the other way round, too!

And I honestly hadn’t noticed until the third relisten that at the very end of part 2 when they’re sneaking around Mapleton, John is basically solving the whole effing case just when Sherlock turns up and interrupts him!

Well, on to part 3 & 4!

Sherlock getting a black eye this time rather than a broken nose, yay, we love variety in our hero whumps. I could listen to entire episodes of Sherlock getting hurt and John looking after him.

Sherlock and John faking a legit job to get the information out of the local bookie was such a classic ACD scene, the way they work together completely seamlessly in situations like that is so great. I’ve also seen it pointed out that Sherlock can be so awkward with people when he’s being himself, but he’s always so confident and at ease when he’s just playing a role and being completely fake (without needing a break afterwards or telling us it’s exhausting, too!). That’s a totally fascinating contrast.

Part 2 had John accidentally solving the mystery of the murder weapon. Part 3 has John basically paving the way for the dog deduction. I love a competent Doctor Watson who knows exactly what he’s doing, but I also love it when he’s truly being Sherlock’s famous conductor of light.

John being canonically a Bond fan, love how they’re still incorporating so much BBC Sherlock fanon into this show. I‘m now eagerly waiting for Moriarty and Colonel Moran to be hot young men who have hot sex with each other, too.

"No more than you’re being human" - "Me more than you, mate" - Can ALL the John Watsons of this world please instantly stop dehumanising their Sherlocks and calling them robots or machines. I can accept it maybe up to their third case together, but in any adaptation that I know, the Sherlocks have proved themselves to have a big heart and to have it entirely in the right place, too, by case 4 at the latest. I don’t like to see any Watson regressing to the cheap laugh of "Sherlock’s a machine and doesn’t have feelings" after that, and I dislike it especially in this version where we get a Watson who is particularly well-attuned to and tolerant of Sherlock’s neurodivergence. Sorry, rant over.

Hey and I was right in my prediction that Sherlock didn’t drop John's phone at Mapleton Stables by accident but left it there on purpose! Even if I assumed it would be recording audio evidence rather than be used as a tracker. Which of course begs the question, did Sherlock really manage to somehow connect his phone to John’s and enable tracking in the very few seconds he had before Silas Brown turned up with the gun? Or is he always tracking John‘s phone as a matter of course? And if the latter, does he do it out of care/worry for John‘s safety and wellbeing, or is he doing it in a creepy/possessive way?

Anyway. After listening to part 4, I must admit I am somewhat underwhelmed by that bit… I don’t know what it is, but parts 1-3 are positively bursting with humour and action, while by part 4 I felt they had kinda lost the momentum. There’s nothing really wrong with it, and maybe it feels different when you’re not familiar with the original story and every revelation is truly jawdropping and not just ticking a box. Maybe I‘m also a little underwhelmed that the final denouement at Aintree is so… private. The horse whose disappearance - we are to believe - has GRIPPED THE NATION and is THE news story of the year is just back, and everyone’s just fine with it? No comments from anyone involved in the case? No congratulations from the owners? No bittersweet relief from Edi and Ned? No genuine relief from Fitz? No acknowledgement from the official police? No tearjerking speeches in parliament? I‘d say if you start a story on that kind of epic scale, you shouldn’t end smaller. I really wanted all those loose ends nicely tied up and got… none.

I also either missed something important, or we never really learned the reason why Mapleton kept hiding Silver Blaze? I see how they took him in at first, maybe thinking they’d get a big reward or ransom, or wanting to pass him off as one of their own, but the way it is, they just hide him for no reason and then give him back for no reason?

Am I being too critical?

The thing with the "S" and the "5" was clever though. And poor John and his abysmal Air BnB rating was hilarious, too.

[whumpy-wyrms]

What would Silas be like as a whumpee?

ooh good question i’ve thought about this before A LOT!!

in short, he would be EXTREMELY defiant. like the most defiant, feral, unhinged whumpee you could think of. he’d constantly berate, insult and threaten the whumper until he’d be made physically unable to. he’d bite and scratch, kick and scream, be as violent as he possibly could without holding back in the slightest. if he was restrained because of this, he would literally chew or rip his own arm off to get out of restraints, silver or not.

he’s not afraid of pain, at least not at first. pain, and an equal opponent, is something Silas rarely experiences. so he’d see this as an opportunity for a real exhilarating hunt. he’d welcome pain with open arms. being hurt is FUN to him, in a fucked up way. he knows he can’t actually die unless he’s staked in the heart or burned in the sun, so he’s not afraid of any other pain (at first. it’d get old fast). and like i said, he rarely gets opponents just as strong at him to even cause him pain, so this’ll be a thrilling change of pace.

he’d take amusement in what whumper is doing, the fact they even think they can keep him locked up and break him. he would try to instigate and provoke whumper to make them even more angry and frustrated with him, causing them to lash out more violently. he’d taunt them, tell them to keep hurting him and see what happens, tell them that they’re not even trying, that they can do better than that.

and he’d LAUGH. loud, manic, deranged giggling and maniacal laughter nonstop. he wouldn’t take this situation seriously at ALL, it’s incredibly amusing to him. the fact he’s at this point to begin with is because he ALLOWED it to happen (of course, this might not be true. but it’s what he believes or what he tries to convince whumper to believe). the fact whumper thinks they can do serious harm to Silas is laughable. he still thinks humans are beneath him and that he’ll overpower them and get out of this situation eventually. and when he does, oh, whumper will wished they never crossed paths in the first place. like i said, he’d shout threats nonstop, describing in detail all the horrible ways he’d torture and kill whumper once he gets free. and if he does get free, he WOULD act on his promise.

anyway, if he doesn’t get free, obviously he wouldn’t last like this forever. he’d eventually get tired of all this and try to escape, wanting to return to his normal life of tormenting weaker humans, and he’d have a lot of ways. he’d easily kill whumper if he could (maybe the reason why he didn’t before was because he wanted to ride this out and see how far he could push whumper into hurting him, see what he’d do). if not, he’d break his own body in ways he’d be able to escape whenever they locked him up. he’d just dig or claw his way out of the cage or cell, bend the bars, break the chains, whatever. he wouldn’t let himself get to the point where he was too weak to do that (assuming he’s being starved the whole time). if his restraints are made of silver, he might be more hesitant but he’d easily touch that with bare skin if it means getting free. if he’s out of his restraints, he can also just turn into a bat and escape through small spaces too.

if whumper actually locks him up to where there’s physically no possible chance of him ever escaping, then things will be different. i’m not really sure how long term captivity would go exactly, there’d be a lot of different things to take into consideration. but the thought of Silas being a broken and conditioned, quiet and compliant whumpee just doesn’t feel right to me. i think he’d just keep fighting until he’s broken in a different way. he’d literally just drive himself completely insane. i don’t know how to explain it but he’d be a demented, monstrous beast until the end. he’d lose all sense of his humanity. that IS if he wasn’t being drugged or anything else that could potentially change his behavior

i did this one rp on discord once with @loonybun (using tupper bots. it was not taken seriously at first but it got good at the end) where Silas gets taken down by a doctor whumper. it was great. he kept like poking the bear and encouraging Vian (evil doctor guy) to shoot him and see what happens. Vian keeps shooting at him and missing since Silas has inhuman speed and could easily dodge the bullets. whenever he did shoot him, even just slightly, Silas would smile all bloodily and laugh while continuing to taunt him. Vian eventually shoots him with a stronger weapon and Silas finally gets knocked down. Vian then injects him with something and during that whole ordeal, Silas is laughing maniacally and spitting out threat after threat before finally slipping into unconsciousness.

so if he were ever a lab whumpee and constantly kept in a drugged state, this would definitely affect the way he’d act. this is the same with mind control or anything else that can actually alter his behavior. but in general, Silas would always be pretty defiant until the end :)

[dezelies]

⭑ Substitute Teachers ❜

ᵖ﹕→ ONE.

Some senior students had agreed to a program to teach students who are still lea rning about this world. To give them tips, and advice, and substitute as their teacher for the day.

You, Alex, and some other students have accepted this opportunity. You love to teach children because you have the patience, hence you're a professional at this. While, Alex has the complete opposite reason, his reason being that he only accepted this for the extra grade he will gain.

With his formal suit on, he gained his courage and headed straight to the office where he will get his directions.

Alex held a straight face as he held his shoulder bag with a strong grip, only smiling at the people he familiarized.

"HUY! KUYA! ANG POGI NIYO PO!" You're so handsome! All the grade students yelled as Alex walked out of his car and headed towards his class.

"MGA BATA! BUMALIK NA KAYO SA CLASSROOM NIYO!" The guard yelled making everyone scatter around and leave the school grounds.

While you got easily lost, fascinated by the school. Which was rumored to have underground buildings and other essentials in a community. It made you wake up from your bed feeling curious and excited.

With your borrowed formal clothes you made your way over to the office where you will get your directions with the help of a guard.

As the two of you walked to the office, you both faced each other.

You looked up from your shoes and saw the man in front of you, just outside the door of the entrance that led to the office.

"Hi." You quietly greeted him first, he just glared at you and faced away from you to look at the door.

Before you could even respond to his demeanor a staff called the two of you to come inside with a smile to seem friendly.

He entered first not even opening the door for you, How rude. Was your FIRST impression of him.

"Okay, parehas kayong late." Okay, you're both late. The staff said with a strong expression that says it all.

"So, what are we going to do now?" He asked. You didn't expect his voice to be soft and sound a bit younger but, moving on.

"May isa nalang room sa building six, meaning parehas niyong tuturuan mga bata doon, mga ilang oras lang." There's only one room left in the sixth building, meaning the both of you have to partner up for now to teach the children, only for a few hours.

"Here's a paper that will inform you about your surroundings and the class." She gave the two of you a paper and you immediately observed the information of the children.

"Grade 3 sila? Akala ko po grade 6 ang tuturuan ko?" They're 3rd graders? I thought I was going to teach 6th graders? You saw their names and couldn't resist judging their names, like come on! Who the fuck names their child Calvin Klein? An underwear brand?

"Ehem! Miss? Are you listening?" She waved her hand in front of you making you snap out and look back up at her.

"Like what I said, there's only one room left!" She firmly said, her annoyance obviously radiating off of her voice.

"Okay po. What time are we going to go there?" He looked up from his clipboard and seeked for her answer.

"In about 40 minutes. Quickly get to know each other, it seems like to you are both strangers." She shooed the two of you and pointed at the door.

"Uhm, alright." You awkwardly held onto the clipboard that came with the paper.

You didn't know where to go so you just followed him around making him a bit annoyed, since he just wanted this day to be over already.

"Are you good?" You gave him a smile, assuring him that he could talk to you.

"Yeah." He responded dryly, "Well, alright, I heard the cafeteria in this school is pretty large and has good food, would you like to come?" You offered him to come with you.

"Err.. 'wag na, mamaya nalang, may 12 minutes nalang tayo before we go to the children's room." Err.. we can't, maybe later, since we only have 12 minutes before entering the children's room. He differed.

"Oh, come on! Mabilis lang naman." It will be quick! You insisted, standing up to see if he would come along.

"Seriously, no. Bahala ka nalang diyan, if you get late." He picked up his stuff and headed to the 6th building.

Oh, he's pretty bossy. You grabbed your stuff and followed him to the building.

You both entered the room and was greeted by the children in the class. "Hello!" You waved at them with your charisma.

"Goodmorning po!" They all said in unison while standing up, some with their cheeky smile.

"I'm Ate Y/N! You don't have to call me Teacher Y/N pero, it's fine if you want to." You noted to them.

"And this is-" He cut you off, "Goodmorning, I'm Kuya Alex, and is there someone who's willing to introduce themselves in front of the class?" They stayed silent not wanting to do it.

That's too straight forward, baka nahihiya yung mga bata. You thought for a moment, "Or! Let's play a little game!" They agreed and waited for you to respond,

"I want everyone to stand up." They all stood up, surprising Alex a bit, "Okay po, very good. Partner yourselves into TWO or more!" They all rushed to their very best friends and held the other.

"Okay, sige. So with your group pwede po ba kayong mag-stay sa isang table so that we can start the introduction?" Alright. So, with your group, can we stay around one table so that we can start our introduction? They nodded and laughed in excitement.

"Here's a twist! We are not going to introduce ourselves but! Introduce the other person in your group! Like this, This is Alex po, he's my best friend he can be a bit bossy at times but he's a great friend!" They gasped and excitedly nodded.

"So, who wants to go first!?" Most of them raised their hand and you picked the one that caught your eye first. As they all introduced their friend one by one, Alex observed the whole thing happen, simply shocked by your teaching style.

"All of you are very good students! But! I'll give a piece of chocolate to the one who will answer my question!" You caught their attention automatically and students prepared to raise their hand to participate even if they get it wrong.

"Oh sige, how do we put an elephant in a fridge?" You saw a lot of the same hands so you decided to choose one who hasn't been raising her hand at all.

"You! How do we put an elephant in a fridge?" She hesitantly stood up, the other kids looking at her for her answer.

"Kakatayin po!" We slaughter it! She confidently answered, making you, Alex, and the other kids laugh at her answer.

"AY! Nice try, Reb, maybe that was a unique answer but the real answer is-".

"So, does anybody have a question?" Alex looked at each one of them with a friendly smile.

"Me!" One child raised his hand, "Okay, go ahead." He crossed his arms. "Mag-jowa po ba kayo ni Ate Y/N?" Are you and Y/N together? He asked shocking the two of you while the whole class cheered on with an "Ayie!"

"Okay, thank you for your question, Jak. But, me and Ate Y/N are friends!" The disappointed look they had after his answer made you laugh.

"Any other questions?" "Ako po!" "Okay, Roberto go." "May jowa na po ba kayo?" Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? What is it with these ridiculous questions, Alex thought. "Wala pa po, I'm quite busy with my studies." You answered.

Another disappointed look but someone raised their hand again, "May crush ka po?" Do you have a crush? Nanaman? "Okay, the next person who asks about my love life will gain a deduction on the next seatwork." Finally, they stopped.

The class hour ended meaning you and Alex had to say your goodbye's and see if you both can come back tomorrow...

TBC

sorry 😔

[unloneliest]

IIIIIIIIIII want to know about the complex machinations of the soul (and the web of reasons underpinning your story and symbolism choices)

WAH thank you i have like such a complex web of thoughts spinning in my head this week. i'm gonna put it under the cut but i've been thinking a lot about places imbued with enough magic that i'm considering them somewhat of characters? particularly the Forest vs castles in general, but as applied in specific to the castle that my oc silas had been the prince of specifically.

(silas is a part of the adult generation of my story? the story covers quite a span of time. the adult gen is introduced as 18-21 year olds & the story later follows their teen children as time passes; it doesn't stay in detail for the entire span of their lives. there's dull moments that aren't worth focusing a book on & the juxtaposition of generations is much more interesting to me. it'll be released nonlinearly)

point a is the Forest.

so like. the original inhabitants of this world are, to the humans and comparable hominids, giants, though they did not of course call themselves this. they were twice the size of humans and had unlimited magical power until the gods who made them got pissed they were using their unlimited magical power and took them out, creating humans and others in the process, & leaving a handful of diminished giants behind - they would now age to death/had limits to their magic/could not still have children.

and the Forest was beyond massive to them. the Forest in the valley is large enough that humans can live in the canopy, build homes on branches. giant magical forest. you get the deal.

but part of the deal of the Forest is that like - rather than fading out, most of the remaining giants consciously chose what to do when they were nearing their end, and used their still considerable magic to become a part of the trees. it was irreversible, and an end to their previous existence, but a way of preserving themselves as a collective and they're still able to communicate and have an impact with some highly magical humans. this is a very alive awake forest, and it's an alive awake forest that once experienced the world & time very similarly to the way that humans do.

my character rohsi escapes a shitty situation and finds out she does have magic powers and like. when gaining access to them also discovers that she's Chosen by the forest? for her this is a hereditary type of magical connection, and not one that the forest always activates - not everyone in rohsi's family has been forest chosen but it's easier for the forest to have a chosen person with certain attributes and those attributes are present in rohsi's family (but not only her family).

rohsi's mother, szadeh, was supposed to be chosen by the forest but a diety laid claim first; it left the forest with nobody to work with it and had ultimately catastrophic consequences for szadeh.

rohsi having uniquely strong magic/being connected to the forest has been true for probably close to a decade, but i haven't previously had the details of magical functioning to the level that i now do? ANYWAYS. even though "rohsi has weird magic and a forest connection" has been true i haven't previously gotten in to the like, ways the forest exists and is independently.

so what i've been thinking about is like - different people's magic works in different ways - some people are seers, some have a great talent for a particular craft, some have magic that most easily takes form as light, some are healers, some have natural resonance with different pieces of nature. and different deities have different domains of power. different natural features all have ambient magic of their own, too. but entities like the forest exist somewhere between all of these things, especially when they're enough of entities to have opinions about what's happening around them and can attempt to influence what's happening.

what's the nature of a forest, this Forest, and its magic?

communication/connection. i'm thinking about pando, i'm thinking about mycelial networks, i'm thinking about thee decay exists as an extant form of life post. and i'm thinking about how a community of people with shared interests and goals chose to become a forest together, and how that'd impact not just them but the plants they were in community with.

a lot of the abuse that rohsi experienced growing up was her being isolated from others; how is community and communication a strength? how does the functioning of the central group of characters resemble & deviate from the strengths of the Forest? how does rohsi's inclination to work well with the Forest impact the way that she does magic even when she is not working with the Forest specifically? etc etc.

also in this vein: how many people live in the forest now, and under what circumstances? is the forest as an entity representative of the coalition of allied resistances working against the monarchy on purpose? how does the relationship to the land that people who inhabit the forest - none of whom are supporters of the monarchy - differ from the relationship or lack of relationship people in other locations have and how is that reflected in/an extension of their politics? how did i not notice that i was doing this on purpose to this degree????

point b is the castle, possibly called north hold.

it's actually kind of just slightly north of the west edge of the valley but like. further north than that is mostly forest, so it doesn't get counted as a Further North that you could be in.

i have several inroads to thinking about this castle in conjunction with the Forest? i've been thinking a lot about the relationships that wakeful locations have to people in general, and the ways that members of the monarchy are alienated from meaningful relationship with the land despite ostensibly being rulers of it.

silas, of the adult generation, is the inheriting prince of the northern throne. there are three castles, three rulers, in the valley, but they function as one state overall. there have never been borders or edges or separate citizenships between the three seats of power - they're just the three corners of a single region, each "needing" their own local castle/monarch. i'm still working out the details on the structure of the government. a lot of it was invented when i was 13. by a dream.

but. the thing is. silas, as prince. he does think he's doing what's best for the people. he tries very hard to. it's not something he would turn his back on on a whim; he takes the duty very seriously. he is a prince but also a born leader. he's possessive and protective over the people who are his, both the unknown people he leads and the friends he loves. he's the younger of two sons. he's the only son remaining. he's haunted by the question of whether his brother would be handling things better than him.

there is no easily backed heir if something should happen to silas, if something first happened to his mother the queen & whoever it is she's married to [i have yet to fully develop. silas' parents/family dynamic but he's inheriting from his mother. no only men can rule in my universe. anyone can do anything forever, including gender transition. babes there's magic]. his heir until he weds and produces one is his cousin, but there's no guarantee there wouldn't be conflict over that, because there's others with similar levels of a blood claim on the throne.

things have been peaceful. silas was the spare and his mother can't have more children. there was no reason to expect it might be a problem, that there's only him.

it is a problem, that it's only him.

i can't get into the entire details of the circumstances because that'd just add. the entire plot of the actual first book. to this ramble. but silas' family is killed and his own life is in jeopardy. and he leaves. he runs off into the desert. and i've been rotating what it would take to make him do that, because he wouldn't do it just to save his own hide. it would take something very significant to convince him that it wasn't right/possible for him to stay and fight for the people by fighting for the throne.

part of the tragedy of silas is that it might have been possible for him to survive and win had he been able to connect with allies that truly supported him in the moments between when he finds out his family is dead & when he flees with jay. (jay is my best boy. who i talk the most about of my ocs. a guard/soldier/?? on the specifics who deserts and turns his back on his entire life when he's sent after silas to kill him because he knows that it's the wrong thing to do and would rather devote himself to silas' cause. listen to me. their relationship is everything to meeeeee but i'm getting off topic)

silas, when he returns to the castle/finds out his family is dead? he goes first to his mentor, norna. who is evil. i realized i love a fucked up mentor/mentee relationship after rewatching phantom of the opera at new years. i'm making her a sexy about it. it's better when villains are hot. she's in magic academia. she's butch. and she started going grey when she was like. twenty. and she knew his brother and he's been trusting her and the things she tells him are memories and she's a huge part of why he compares himself so much with his (much older) brother who died. and she's fully been manipulating him the entire time.

norna is sooo slay to me. i know she's done a lot of things wrong but she's hot about it.

ANYWAYS this is all just like, context around the idea that the castle, silas' castle home, it's a character too. oh i have to make a detour.

the biggest cities in this story, they're all built. well. let me take another step to the side.

in the valley, humans do not call themselves the people. they call themselves the people of the roads. because the giants used their magic to create roads that will never, not ever, need infrastructure upkeep, and that connect the most important central locations in the valley. if enough soil forms on top of one of the roads it might become buried and plants may grow in the soil above it, but literally nothing can damage them. the whole damn valley isn't full of roads, but the giant's roads between castles have seriously impacted the pattern of human dwellings & communities within the valley.

the connected locations each have their own "ruins"; highly magical structures abandoned by the giants, either when they went into the trees or before that during the great unmaking by the gods. so whatever castle it is silas grew up in, it either is a repurposed dwelling of the giants, or it incorporates one of those in the structures that have been built up around what the giants left behind.

the magic left behind by the giants behaves differently from a forest that was once people; it's aliveness is different but it was still created to be an active sort of thing. there was intention put into it.

what is the essence of a castle? a castle is meant to enclose, protect, enforce. a castle has strict delineations between what is inside and what isn't. a castle is stone and is of the earth. when danger threatens, the people in the communities around a castle come in to the castle for safety and protection until it's safe to return to their places outside of its walls. it serves and protects the people; or, it is at least supposed to do this.

if the castle's magic was created by the giants, it would not have stayed awake in their absence. and in the absence of all the giants, the humans and other hominids left the valley completely; it spent several centuries uninhabited. great magical catastrophe that altered plate tectonics and all that.

so the people who became the monarchs of the north when humans returned to the valley, well. originally they were the ones taking care of this abandoned castle/city, and making it a place people could live again. they're the ones who rediscovered the magical functioning of the castle, who established a connection and reciprocal relationship with the castle's magic. they woke it back up. they kept the connection alive and passing through the generations just like the crown did.

the valley wasn't originally intended to be a monarchy.

but like. what's the essence of a castle! what's the nature of its magic, the way the Forest's is communication? to protect and enclose. without active magical connection to people inhabiting it, it has no way of knowing there's anyone to protect. and that connection is something that has to go both ways.

norna is able to convince silas - if not completely, thoroughly enough that he starts closing himself off - that he's at fault for his family's deaths, and that his closest allies have been given cause to believe this too. his doubt and his withdrawal, his closing of himself off, that means - without realizing it - he's separating himself from the castle's magic. he mentally undefines himself as prince - not wholly, but enough. and the castle's magic going to sleep affirms that partial belief until it's whole. and that's why he turns his back on the throne. he believes it to have turned its back on him first.

but it didn't. it just didn't realize there was anything left to protect.

and when i think about the castle, about it alive, i think about it having a heart, some underground and physical representation of it having an essence. and i know that's influenced by a Number of things - the song of the lioness quartet's dominion jewel/book four climactic fight, the phantom of the opera final caverny bit, the so you want to be a wizard book with worlds each having something like a heart, probably barbie and the magic of pegasus' whole thing about keystones but i cannot remember enough about that to be sure - i just remember that there was something about the keystone of arches. definitely some fics i've read set in magical universes.

a castle with a heart, a stone radiating light, a light that goes dark when it sleeps; some kind of visual representation of the moment silas loses that connection.

something crucial, here: there's a post about what the individual unit of a bee is. i can't remember who it's by or find the damn thing but it was talking about how like, we're a part of our ecosystems? how if you're trying to define the singular unit of bee, that unit is hive. and how we're not separate from what's around us. and with my story like. that's how it is with magic. it's a deeply magical world, and though everyone's internal wellspring of magic is of variable size and not everyone has enough internal magics to use their personal magic to influence the world around them, anyone can use the magic that exists in the world around them to do magic, especially in collective group magics.

a barn raising is a type of magic. and the way that barn is rasied will include magical steps to minimize the risk of a fire. and the reason that it works is because it's a collective magic, dependent on ritual.

run of the mill academic magic users (read: anyone with any kind of training)? they may think of themselves as solo magical practitioners, but they're adherents of a school of thought. the group they are doing magic with is themself and the person who taught them how to do magic, or the many people; if they're using a spell or anything of that ilk, it's them and the person who created the spell.

high level academic magic users have learned about how all magic is collective and learned to do magic where they're in relationship with something in the world that has ambient magic: a fire, a flower.

without connection to the castle, and when explicitly disowned by a major teacher of his? silas' magic starts acting up, starts not working.

all of this has been like. developing in every direction at once for me, recently. it's not just one thing at a time. thinking about the castle having a heart means thinking about why it does, and how that exists as a coutnerpoint to the Forest, and that means thinking about rohsi's magic, and how rohsi skips straight to high level academic magic user methods because she grew up magicless and was already used to only doing collective magic & applies that principle to individual magic easily.

thinking about the conditions under which silas runs away with jay and how terrifying the disconnection from the castle must have been for both of them means thinking about what might wake that castle back up.

and nait is jay's son (& the son of two other adult gen characters who are jay's best friends/marital partners, riamin & ymalis; marriage conventions aren't 1:1 with our world). and jay never got to have a family with silas. silas never got to know nait. but they're still so fucking similar, in so many ways. of course it's nait who wakes the sleeping castle.

and that's knowledge he shares, because it's something he learned how to do from rohsi, rohsi with communicative connecting magic, rohsi with ties to the Forest. it's not something he ever has to carry alone.

jay more than anyone is the one who lost silas. he spends the rest of his life grieving. ym was the next closest to silas, and rohsi and nait are both so like silas it hurts. they're raising their son and then suddenly the kids he brought home with him, too, and there's echoes of silas everywhere even in their kids growing up in his absence.

and then nait's waking the castle.

and he's just a fucking kid!!! and jay and ym and riamin are so worried the pull of what's happening in the world is going to eat their son alive, because it killed silas. it killed silas but nait can't be killed and somehow that means it might be worse for him, though at first it seemed a blessing.

but anyways. thinking about whether the heart of the castle is conflated with sovereignty, that's currently on my plate. i need to stretch this web and explore the other key castles, too.

and i need to think about point c: the river, and how all of this applies to her.

because good lord, i think i finally have the right angle to approach the river with.

anyways. this is. a lot of words. it stretches in every direction at once and i tried not getting too far off topic with background information but like. i feel so fucking dialled in to enjoyable to write & include but also spot on symbolic representations of the underlying values of varying political groups in the story & the themes of the narrative in general????????? which i did NOT feel before yesterday when i started having most of the culminating brain waves on this stuff. holy Shit.

also um. thank you for asking me about this. ilu <3

[trashcatsnark]

So, because I was talking about this a bit with friends, I wanted to ramble and make a post

So, my Durge and my Tav have interconnected stories/backstories. And I've seen it pointed out that in their little prologue and in general, Durge calls themselves The Dark Urge and of course, given Durge's are namable, they're never referred to directly by name. Which the irl reasons is- you can name them whatever you want. But in universe, giving the impression that The Dark Urge is likely a title. Similar to when Sceleritas calls them Dark Lord etc. And any other name is likely given by their foster family/name before they officially was found and brought in by Bhaal's cult.

But my tav- Petra, knows him by his given name, not his title. She knows him as Silas. While they have an age difference, they were at the same orphanage for a time. And the first time they met after each leaving the orphanage, is before the flayers- where his name was stripped away, due to her own enchantment/magic- he doesn't remember her, but she remembers him. And the Urge is already whispering in his ear when he sees her and her lover, two people committing the greatest crime- doing absolutely nothing at all.

Then she says his name, without really thinking- just "Oh, Silas?" And his ear prick up, a name he hasn't heard in years- the name of a version of him that no longer exists. The little boy who didn't understand the urges pulling at him. The version of him who couldn't understand why blades called to him or why blood felt warmer than a hug. The child who still cried when he was left at the orphanage. Silas who still tried to make friends and play games, trying to hide how afraid he was of the monster inside of him.

The version of him that is long dead. The version of him Bhaal killed.

And if they want to be a part of that life, perhaps they should die too.

Because The Dark Urge has long accepted the monster he is, revels in it because that's what he's been taught to do or suffer the consequences. He embraces what Silas was terrified of- so he attacks them, because he can, because he must. Petra survives, just barely breaking away long enough to save herself after watching her lover die at The Dark Urge's hands.

And just a few short years later, his brain has been reduced to tadpole infested swiss cheese. He cannot remember his name, his titles, or who he is. Only knows that he's in danger, from the tadpole, from the world, from whoever hurt him, and whatever is whispering in the back of his skull. And this girl- Petra, seems to know him, but she doesn't say how or why, and doesn't acknowledge it. Only seems to hesitantly watch him, like she's waiting for him to make a wrong move, her hand always hovering around her weapon when he nears

Then she nearly gets struck down by a skeleton in this dusty old tomb and he yanks her away before a blade can pierce her belly. And she's caught off guard and looks up at him with confused eyes, surprised that it's him- "Silas...?" She says it without thinking, again, her muscles tightened and her brows narrowed.

And maybe he can be Silas again. It fits him, he wears it well, he thinks...

[rebouks]

Okay, so I'm being completely self-indulgent here but I went on a little foray and dug up a load of old posts n' such to go thru Wyatt's journey n' pick out some important moments/juicy tidbits so uh.. here it is if you're interested 😆

Major Somnium spoilers if you haven't read it yet tho so be warned...

The first hint of genuine emotion/doubt we see cross Wyatt's face, and it's about his father.. hmmmmm, also to be noted is that even if he did up sticks n' go to work with Ash, he wouldn't have been free of anything, least of all his father's judgement!

The infamous Silas scene, yikes.. two things here, anytime he mentions it, it's not Wyatt's reach, always Arturo's! Like Oscar said recently, he doesn't have any connections now that he's gone (and Ashton, so.. oops) Second of all, Bruno DID understand.. which is interesting. Wyatt's family may not have been any relation to Bruno by blood, but they were still his found family for a long time and he n' Wyatt didn't much care for each other either, but they knew one another pretty well (what they showed each other anyway aha..) So yeah, he didn't LIKE it, but he UNDERSTOOD.. much to Ivan's dismay 🙈

Wyatt pretty much admits here that he's pretending his way through life.. which is SUPER fun to look back on, 'cause we all took him at face value here, but who's to say it wasn't just another act? 🤷‍♂️ He learnt to look at the world through calculated logic at a very young age.. and he's kinda right, if you observe everything & everyone else from a neutral standpoint, it's pretty interesting what you can see that you might've missed if you were too angry, sad etc.. to notice...

Did anyone believe Wyatt when he said he would leave Joslyn's kids out of it? 'Cause he was telling the truth.. maybe she should'a called his bluff. An easy bargaining chip, never to be played.

After learning of Oscar's plan, Wyatt decides to help him.. why? I don't think he's sure at this point, he just knew he'd had enough of his father's disrespect and wanted to fuck him over.

This is suuuper interesting, mostly because of Bruno's "no".. he's a bit of a hypocrite ngl, cos he knew more than Wyatt, and for longer, that what he, Artie n' co. were up to was wrong, yet he stuck with them, protected them and continued to work for them anyway. The difference between them tho, is that Arturo respected and trusted Bruno enough that he would've let him leave if he wanted to, but he didn't.. and Wyatt never had that luxury ⚆_⚆

In this scene we (I think?) first got a glimpse into Wyatt's brain, and I particularly like this part...

Although he wanted to prove to Arturo that he had been right, he knew he couldn’t risk it. Doing so would only reveal his own betrayal. It should have been satisfying, but Wyatt could already feel himself shrinking under his father’s cold, piercing gaze as he realised his own son had deceived him so immeasurably. He didn’t need to know; his demise would be satisfying enough, it had to be.

Simply because as it turned out, it wasn't satisfying at all.. and Arturo was already well aware of his own son's involvement at this point, double yikes.

So everything's gone to shit but Wyatt/Darien are still sitting pretty with Ashton.. but why is it sad boi hours? Why doesn't it feel right? Hmmmmm.. I like this scene because Wyatt's pretty much lost his whole family and yet.. is he sad? He doesn't think so, not really. It's kinda the start of him "waking up" so to speak, with no one left to live "for" and no one to impress, please or serve he's lost at sea! It's fun, because honestly at this point he could have slotted neatly into life in Del Sol. He could've worked with Ash, business as usual, new connections and protections, lotsa women, lotsa money and power..... and yet.. it doesn't feel right? 🤔 HMMMMMMMMMMM

Thanks to Brynn's help, Wyatt finally comes face to face with the reality of his actions. It's interesting for so many reasons.. first of all, he'd always kept the details at bay, 'cause that's what he was used to, what was easier, what he was taught to do.. business isn't personal, right Pookie? 🙈 and Ashton hadn't exactly told the whole truth either, making out like the girls would work for him (which ig they would in a way, at least some of em.. but it's definitely worse than Wyatt assumed, which I think can show how naive he could still be sometimes) but with no daddy around to answer to/impress, and no one left to pretend to, Wyatt suddenly NEEDED to know and there was no one left to persuade him otherwise.

Love this scene.. Wyatt's still a little demented isn't he, taking sadistic pleasure in fucking someone over, but at least this time he's on the right fkin side. Look at that smirk.. ohhh Ashton you are fucked, but please enjoy your sauna whilst you can 😁

So it's been a few years at this point and Wyatt's had a hell of a lot of time to think, and a lot of distance from his old life. He doesn't really know who he is at the moment, but he's kinda learning to just BE instead of pretending all the time.. kinda scary, tho a little less so when you've adopted a cute old neighbour who invades your space with his genuine care and good advice. Something Wyatt's definitely not used to, but he doesn't completely hate it.

Not only does bumping into Brynn again make Wyatt realise how grateful he was for her help, but it also kinda forces him to stop ignoring his past. Her visit and their brief time spent together really made him start looking back at his old life n' tryna figure out how it fit into his new one. He still has no idea who he is or who he should be and it's particularly disconcerting to him how comfortable Brynn is around him, given what she knows...

He'd just about managed to keep it at bay until this point, but it's time for an existential crisis 🤸‍♀️

Ahhh baba Ichi is so kind 😭 would he still be so keen to help Wyatt if he knew about his past? Who knows.. but he sees someone struggling and he wants to help! I think it's interesting that Wyatt trusts him/likes him enough at this point to actually admit his doubts/feelings, which is more than he'd ever done before. He might not see it yet, but it's still progress.

Brynn's back, and she's about to fuck Wyatt's shit up (in the best way).. I love how he's been so wrapped up in his own misadventures that he hadn't even stopped to think about hers. If we're gonna look at things in black and white (which we don't do here but just bear with) they're both "bad" people who've done terrible things and made terrible decisions; driven by necessity, both perceived and literal. They've taken lives without regret, stolen from people who didn't deserve it, fucked people over for their own survival or for revenge ETC ETC.. and yet, Brynn knows she's not black and white, she knows she's still capable of being a good person and she can see it in him too, even if he's like ??? about it himself.

Wyatt not only admits his feelings to himself, but to Brynn too.. and goes against what HE wants n' agrees to her wishes instead, putting someone else first for like.. the first time EVER 😳

Though he was glad to know the truth, Wyatt was less than thrilled with Brynn’s plan; but she craved true freedom, and after everything she’d endured – in part due to his own transgressions – he figured he owed her as much.

What sorcery is this?!

Wyatt's not great with empathy or at putting himself in others shoes, but I loved this scene with him n' Oscar because now he's actually been forced into Oscar's well worn vans and he had no choice but to confront his previous decisions head on.. he did NOT like his own medicine and I think it's the first time he properly felt regret/guilt.. super important discovery.

Ahh the crux of the issue, daddy issues.. 😅 I'm not saying Wyatt didn't have free will or the chance to idk NOT partake in the family "bidness" but idk, he was indoctrinated into that life since birth. The fact that he eventually made it this far and didn't go totally insane in the process is still kinda impressive.

We don't have to forgive him, Brynn hasn't, and won't.. but people are grey and there's hope things will be different in the future. I love how much these two have been through in life, yet still managed to SOMEHOW end up with a second chance/a way to be & do better. Idk I think it's awesome (disagree with me if u want idc ahahakjsdksj) and I especially love that they literally know almost every nasty detail about each other but still perceive the other as "good" despite those details.. ough

With a dead dad (yay), plenty of distance, a lot of time and some forced introspection not only from himself but Brynn, Oscar, etc.. and ELLIS, Wyatt finally broke in the best way possible. It'll take time and it'll still be shit at times but now that everything's outta the bottle maybe he can piece everything together again. I especially love this part..

The moment Ellis had made his way into the world, something deep inside Wyatt’s soul had shattered, breaking into a million tiny pieces that pricked his heart with every shred of hurt, regret, and stifled guilt he’d ever buried within its previously impenetrable depths. Try as he might, the tears refused to cease.

I think it was easy to believe that Wyatt was a psychopath (that was the point) but we only believed it with such conviction because HE did too. I think he's relieved to finally learn that that's NOT the case, even if it's scary af tryna figure out who he is from scratch.. but hey, he has a pretty good reason too now. Being the dad he wished he had... ;-;

Anyway.. thanks for coming to my pointless, long ass, self-indulgent TED talk, if you read all this please take a cookie on the way out and know that ily muchly 🖤🍪

[darkbluekies]

Cat & Mouse

Mafia!yandere x fem reader x female!mafia!yandere

Summary: Jerry decides to take you from her rival, and Silas decides to take you back, creating a cat and mouse game where you're nothing more than a prize in their game.

Warnings: kidnapping, cutting, arson, knives, possessive behaviors, obsessive behavior, corpses, yandere, car crashes, mentions of broken bones, rope, bruises, guns, choking

Word count: 5.3k

[I wrote this a year ago, so I apologize if it's not as good! This was originally written in 3d person and Jerrys character was a man, so please excuse the errors I couldn't see during editing!!]

Jerry is humming for herself as she makes her way through Silas’s house. It’s in the middle of the night and she can’t sleep. Why not bother her rival? She struts around, looking for her dear rival. The men in his house are dead, Jerry’s men have made sure of that. Jerry walks upstairs. 

“Silas~”, she sings, spinning the gun on her fingers. “Where are you?”

No answer. 

“He doesn’t seem to be home, ma’am”, one of Jerry’s men says. "Must be out on a mission."

Jerry opens Silas’s bedroom door and walks in. She turns on the lamp, looking at the bed. There is someone lying in the bed, but it’s not the man Jerry’s searching for. It’s a woman tied to the bedpost. 

“Oh?” Jerry says in shock. 

She walks over to the girl, sitting down on the bed beside her. She meets your terrified eyes. Jerry lets her eyes wander over your body. You’re not visibly hurt which means that Silas must be fond of you. And for the situation you appear to be in, you’re not very fond of him. Bingo. Jerry needs to take you.

"W-Who are you?" you cry out.

Jerry can't help but think it sounds beautiful. Normally, she finds girls in fear annoying, but there's something mesmerizing about you.

“Be quiet”, Jerry says. “I’m going to untie you and you’re going to come with me. I’ll help you away from here.”

“D-Do you promise?”

“Yes. I’ll help you away from this bad man. You'll never see him again.”

She’ll make sure Silas never sees his precious little prisoner again. She unties you and helps you stand, holding her hand on your back, pushing you with her. Jerry’s worker looks at her with a weird glance in his eyes. Jerry sends him a stern gaze before directing her eyes down to you.

"Come with me quietly", she says, taking out her gun. "I don't know if there are any guards still alive. We don't need to get them here. I need you alive."

You grab  her arm, not wanting your savior to leave you. Jerry looks down at your hand in confusion before meeting your scared eyes. Her brain goes blank before she grabs your hand in hers and starts walking. Her heart jumps.

You make your way out to the car. Jerry helps you into the backseat. She sits down beside you, gun still in his hand. The man in the driver's seat starts the engine.

"Where are we going?" you ask weakly. "Can I go home?"

"You can't go home", Jerry says, tilting her head to the side with a smirk. "Two reasons. I need you to piss Silas off and you're kinda cute. I don't know if I want to let you go home."

You suddenly realize that who you just saw as a savior doesn't seem to be a hero after all. What if she's another villain?

"B-But…"

Jerry cuts you off. "Just rest. It's in the middle of the night. I'll wake you up when we get home. What's your name?"

"I don't feel comfortable telling you…"

Jerry puts the gun to your throat.

"Y/N."

"Cute name. I'm Jerry."

The car stops outside a house. It's different from Silas’. You can’t tell how though, it just different.

"Get out", Jerry says.

You do as she says, too scared to do anything else. The voice in your head is screaming at you to run, but you can’t. She’s right behind you with the gun in her hand. She leads you into her house, gun visible. 

“Stand still, Y/N”, Jerry says and goes to get a knife. “I’m going to do something.”

“PLease don’t hurt me!” you beg. 

“I’m not going to hurt you … a lot.”

Her men hold you still as she cuts a quick cut on your cheek. You scream in both pain and shock. The woman cleans the blood on her black clothes. 

"Come here", she says, bringing you into his arms. "Don't worry about that evil man. I'm here now."

Jerry takes you up to the bedroom and runs her hand through her shoulder length black hair. 

“I’m not going to tie you to the bed or lock the door”, Jerry says. “But I’d advise you to stay here. I can’t guarantee what you’ll see if you leave.”

“Let me go home”, you plead.

“Let’s compromise. If you go to sleep and actually sleep for the rest of the night, I’ll answer every question you have tomorrow. Good enough? Nothing is going to hurt you as long as you stay in this room. I promise you that.”

“Alright …”

What other choice do you have? You don't want to get hurt. You need to be healthy and alert if you want to be able to run and fight back. Jerry fixes the bed for you and watches how you lay down. To your surprise, she tucks you in before leaving the room. Right on time, her phone rings. She can see Silas’s name pop up on the screen. 

Brilliant. 

“Silas”, she says. 

“Why are you always messing around with my fucking stuff?!” Silas groans. 

“Because it’s fun, old man.”

“Where is she?”

“Who?”

Jerry knows damn well who he’s talking about, but hearing the frustrated hisses from him is all he wants.

“The woman”, Silas says. “The woman that was sleeping in my bed.”

“I wouldn’t say that she was sleeping. She was more or less crying.”

“Stop fucking doing that! Where is she?!”

“With me of course.”

“Why can’t you just leave her alone? Why do you have to mess with me all the time?”

“I told you … I think it’s funny.”

“You’re so immature. Give me my lady back. She literally doesn’t have anything to do with our business. Let’s keep it professional. For real.”

“Why would I? If you need to have her tied to the bedpost I’d say that she’s better off here.”

“It wouldn’t be forever! Just until she learned to trust me!”

Jerry laughs. “That’s so tragic, man.”

“Give her back. Let me have one thing for myself.”

“She’s so cute though. I don’t think I can let you take her.”

“Stop. Seriously.”

“Such a beautiful woman…”

“Jerry, I’m telling you, leave her alone. She’s mine.”

“Not anymore.”

Jerry smiles and hangs up, stretching her neck. 

After a night of barely sleeping, you wake up, seeing Jerry sleeping beside you. Your eyes linger on her for a while. She’s wearing a black bra and the tattoos on her shoulders and arms look too harsh for the face that now is turned towards you. She looks sweet, not like last night. You sit up, rubbing your eyes. Jerry is indeed sleeping. Could you try to get out of this house? You carefully get out of the bed and walk over to the door opening it. Right outside lies the body of a girl, a girl you recognize all too well. Someone you wished to see again. You let out a screeching scream that wakes the sleeping woman.

"I did say I wouldn't be able to guarantee what you'd see if you tried to leave the room", she yawns from the bed, stretching her body.

"W-What have you done?!"

"Isn't it pretty obvious?"

You put your hand over your mouth, too shocked to even cry. Jerry drags herself up from the bed, over to you. She walks up behind your stunned figure and wraps her tattooed arms around your waist, locking her hands in place before resting her chin on your shoulder. She’s warm and puffy from sleeping and her bare skin feels too warm for her ice cold heart.

"That stupid bitch Silas thinks he can have you", she scoffs with a small smirk, voice raspy from the lack of talking during her sleep. "No, he can't. I like watching him struggle. And I don't want to be alone again. You're going to stay with me."

You rip her arms off of you and jump over the dead body. You start to run before Jerry can stop you.

"I'm too tired to play!" Jerry groans, but sets off after you.

She doesn't even try catching up with you. She knows he doesn't need to. Every door and window in this house is locked. You stop after trying to open every door you pass.

"Poor thing, did you think I left doors unlocked like Silas? I'm not that stupid. I'm not unlocking them until I trust you", she cooes, pulling you to her chest. "Let's go eat something."

She lets go of you and starts walking downstairs. You look at her matching underwear, appalled that she was sleeping like that right next to you. You feel a couple more doors, all are locked.

"No use, Y/N", Jerry smirks over her shoulder.

“How do you know Silas?”

"Me and Silas aren’t friends. We kind of were, but not anymore. I used to be his right hand man, but quit. I can’t stand that bitch. He seems to have gotten fond of you and I had to take you. Out of spite."

"So can you let me go home? You don't want me-"

"I think I will be interested in you, pretty thing, so no. I can't let you go. And I told you that I didn’t want to be alone again! Never again.”

You decide to keep silent from now on as a protest. Jerry makes a simple meal and gives you one plate. You look away. 

“Eat. I’m not telling you twice”, she warns. 

You shake your head.

“I haven’t put anything in it for fuck sake, if that’s why you’re so hesitant”, he sighs. “I could do it, but not without a reason.”

She starts to feed you when you refuse once again. 

After breakfast, she takes you to the bedroom again. The body is still lying outside the door, but she covers your eyes and nose and closes the door behind you. 

“I have some business today”, she says, placing you down on the bed. “You will be alone until night time. I want you to tell the man downstairs when you’re hungry and I want you to behave and not cause any trouble. Can you do that for me?”

You only find yourself nodding. 

“You can walk around in the house how much you want, you can watch TV. That's it. Got it?”

You nod.

“Good girl. I’ll be back later!” Jerry smiles, walking out. “I’ll remove the body, I promise!”

Only a few minutes later, all you can hear is silence. 

When your stomach is rumbling, you walk downstairs. No man can be seen. 

“Hello?” you say hesitantly. “Hello?”

“Yeah?” the man says and comes out of a room by the living room. 

“Jerry told me to tell you when I got hungry…”

“I’ll make you something. Go up and wait until I call for you.”

“Can I watch TV?”

“Go ahead.”

You walk into the living room and sit down on the couch, turning on the TV with a remote. After not being able to sleep for a few nights, you feel like a walking zombie. You fall asleep while watching TV, waiting for your meal. 

While you’re sleeping, the front door gets unlocked and a familiar face walks in, hiding the gun in his belt. His men kill the cooking man quickly and quietly to avoid any drama.

“I’ll go find her”, Silas says. 

“The TV is on”, one of his men says, listening closely. “Look there. I’ll go to the bedroom.”

Silas nods. He walks into the living room, seeing his darling sleeping on the couch with a blanket over your body. His heart melts upon seeing the sight. He walks up to you and  crouches down by your face, caressing your cheek. You open your eyes. 

“Y/N …”, he says with a voice full of regret. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have gone on that damn mission, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“S-Silas?!” you stutter, quickly trying to get away from him. 

“Shh, shh, it’s alright, come here, let’s go home now. Everything will be okay.” 

He traces the cut on her cheek with a hiss. 

"I'll kill her."

He starts pulling you into his arms and lifts you up. You start to panic. He might save you from Jerry, but he’s no better himself.

“Let me go!” you shout. 

“Shh, it’s alright, I’ll save you from this bad man. I'm so sorry I didn't come earlier, I could have prevented you from getting hurt. Jerry’s a madwoman, it wouldn’t surprise me if she hurt you to make me mad. ”

He picks you up and walks with you out to his car, placing you down in the backseat. You hug yourself and feel how you’re shaking. This can’t be happening!

“I’m here for you”, he says, hanging his jacket over your shoulders. “It’s alright now, my love.”

You stay quiet. You should be happy that you’re out of Jerry’s claws …  only problem is that you’re now back in Silas’s. 

The car stops outside his house. He walks around the car and opens your door. 

“Come, let’s go inside”, he smiles. “You’re safe now. With me. You must be hungry. Are you?”

You nod slightly. Silas smiles and brings you inside. 

“If you want, you can take a shower while I cook food and then we’ll eat together. Does that sound good?

You nod almost unnoticeably. He leads you to the bathroom and gives you a towel and clothes.

“All clothes I’ve gotten for you are soft, made of cotton, satin or that fluffy teddy bear material and my laundry detergent are allergy free”, he says. “I don’t think any of the clothes will give you any discomfort. The shampoo, soap and conditioner are also allergy free and skin friendly. I have moisturizing cream in the cabinet in case you want some. It’s all yours.”

He gives you a little pile of a nightgown, cardigan, socks and underwear. He puts the towel by the sink. He walks out. You close the door, locking the door. While you remove your clothes and step into the shower you can only think of the last few days and how bizarre they’ve been. 

Afterwards, you walk downstairs, looking at Silas’s back as he stands by the stove. He turns around, looking at you with a smile. 

“I thought I felt someone staring at me”, he says. “You look beautiful, baby. The lunch is done, let’s eat.”

You sit down by the table. Silas puts a pink plaster over the cut Jerry’s  done. You poke the food with the fork, not feeling hungry anymore. You were hungry before you got kidnapped back to Silas’s place. Now, you just feel nauseous. 

“Aren’t you hungry?” Silas asks with a frown. 

“I don’t know …”, you say quietly. “Sorry…”

“Don’t be, sweetheart. Whatever damage Jerry has done to you, I will heal. I will take care of you.”

“Please don’t tie me again …”

“I won’t. If you promise me you will give me a chance.”

“Alright …”

Silence.

The very next day, Silas takes you on a mission, refusing to let you get out of his sight again. When you come back however, something seems to be wrong. The house is on fire and two of Silas’s now dead men are hung on the wall by the front door. Silas hurries to turn you around before you see too much. One of his men who has gathered outside the burning villa gives him a bloody note. 

“How are you going to take care of Y/N when you don’t have a house, huh?”

Silas turns around, looking at you who look more than terrified. He clenches his jaw.

“We need to move her. Now”, he says in stress and calls two of his men over. “You two, drive Y/N to the secret base. She has to stay there for a moment.”

He hugs you tightly. You can feel his hammering heart against your chest 

“I’ll go kill Jerry and then I’ll come for you. She can’t have gone far. I’ll come soon, I promise. I love you so much, baby.”

The two men take you to the car to drive you away to the safe place. 

Jerry knows you’re in that black car that drives on the empty road. And she knows what to do with it. Crash it. Not a chance she’ll let it reach its destination. To him. She tells her men to crash the other car, but make sure not to kill anyone. She’ll kill the chauffeurs alone and bring you back to safety. The car Jerry’s men are in crashes into Silas’s, making it come to an abrupt halt. Jerry runs out of her car — doesn’t even close the door behind her— over to the destroyed one. You’re lying in the backseat with blood running from your mouth, nose and hair, eyes barely open. The very sight makes Jerry’s heart ache. She pulls you out and holds you in hernarms. You whimper out a broken sob, moaning in pain. 

“Shh, don’t cry”, Jerry whispers. “It’ll be over soon.”

She holds you gently in her arms as she walks back to her car. You’re crying loudly from fear, shock and pain, moaning painfully from every step Jerry takes. It reminds her of a baby that hurt themselves. But this is not a baby overreacting from walking into a wall, this is a real scenario of a broken girl in a car crash.

“Shh, shh”, she hushes, kissing your forehead. 

Jerry sits down in the backseat with you in her lap, putting a blanket over you. You cling onto her, crying heavily. Her heart flutters. You’re searching for safety in her.

“Do you think you have any broken bones, Y/N?” she asks. 

“I-I d-don’t k-know!” you sob loudly.

The drivers look at each other. 

“I have you, baby. You’re okay”, Jerry whispers. “Try to relax. Can you do that for me?”

“M-Mhm”, Y/N sobs. 

“Good girl. My best girl.” 

You meet her dark eyes. She can see the pain you’re in, it’s exposing you. She kisses your bloody forehead.

“I’ll take the pain away”, she promises. “Just hold on a little, baby. You’re so strong, I’m so, so, so proud of you.”

She holds you in her grip all the way to her house. Jerry carries you inside, changes your clothes, wipes the blood off your face and washes your hair. She gently removes your clothes, seeing the bruised mess underneath. 

“Everything hurts!” you almost scream as she pulls one of her t-shirts over your head and moves her arms to get in the arm-holes.

“Shh, I know, I know”, Jerry cooes before placing you down on his bed, tucking you in. 

“Why did you do this to me?” you asks weakly. 

“I had to risk it to get you back. I’ll take away the pain. I promise. I’ll take good care of you. Can you try to move your body? We have to make sure nothing’s broken.”

You wiggle your fingers, lift your legs and arms, turning your head. Nothing’s broken, only badly hurt and bruised. Jerry sighs out in relief. She knew what she was doing, but the small risk of anything unplanned happening was always there. 

Her phone rings and when she sees the name, she smiles sadistically. 

“I’ll go get you some painkillers”, Jerry says and leaves the room. As soon as she does, he picks up the call. “Hello, Silas.”

“What the fuck have you done?!” he shouts on the other side. “First, you burn down my fucking house and kill two of my guards and now the car is wrecked and the drivers are killed! What have you done to Y/N?! Don’t you realize how badly you could have hurt her?! Are you fucking insane?!”

“She’s a little manhandled, but she’ll be fine. She’s strong. I’ll take care of her very well and make sure she heals right.”

“You’re risking Y/N’s life! You’re playing with her as if she was some toy! She can die!”

“I know what I’m doing, old man. Loosen up. I don’t like seeing Y/N in pain, but I’ll do anything to get her away from you. And you should see how dependent she is on me when she’s hurt. You wish it was you, don’t you?”

“You’re a damn parasite, Jerry! Let me talk to her.”

“Why?”

“I need to see so you haven’t fucking killed her!”

“Fine. Two minutes.”

Jerry walks inside the bedroom again, putting on the speaker, giving you the phone.

“Hello …?” you whispers quietly. 

“Y/N, oh, my … darling, are you hurt?” Silas asks worriedly. 

“Everything is hurting …”

“I’m sorry, once again I fucked up, I‘m sorry! I shouldn’t leave you alone. You know I would never do that to you, right? I’d never hurt you.”

“Hey, don’t manipulate her like that!” Jerry scoffs, taking the phone. “You’re worse than me.”

“I’m not trying to manipulate her! I’m telling the truth!”

Y/N whines out a broken sob. Their loud, upset voices make her head pound heavily. 

“Shh, it’s alright, baby girl”, Jerry cooes, caressing her cheek. “I’ll go get that painkiller now, I promise.”

She walks outside the room. 

“I’ll never forgive you if you give Y/N forever damage, do you hear me, Jerry?” Silas says. 

“If you don’t want her in every condition she comes in, I’ll gladly take her. I’ll love her however she is.”

“I will too, but if she’s suffering, I’ll kill you!”

“Try. I dare you. While you plan it out, I’ll be with Y/N.”

Jerry smirks and hangs up, going to the bathroom to get the painkiller. She walks back with the little pill and a glass of water. You tries to sit up, but moan in pain. 

“No, no, I’ll help you”, Jerry says. “Don’t move.”

She helps you up in a half sitting, half lying position with a big pillow behind your back. She holds the glass and pill to your mouth. Thankfully, your neck wasn’t very badly injured so you can swallow it yourself. 

Silas pulls the knife out of the man’s chest, exhaling shakily. He’s never felt this type of anger. He imagines that the near dead man under him is Jerry. You’re lying in her bed, hurt beyond infinity and he can’t do anything about it. Silas lets out a loud, animalistic roar before dumping the body down in the water. He sits down on the sand and starts to cry into his hands. He neither has have a home or the person that matters to him the most. Jerry is two steps before him and he has to think quickly if he wants to win. 

I have to do something. I have to hurry. 

Silas has to get a new house and a new plan. The house is the most important at the moment. He has to have a safe place for you when he rescues you. The base isn't a good place, it's not safe. He doesn’t have much time.

“I’m going to kill you, Jerry, and I’m going to enjoy it”, Silas says before standing up. 

One of his men is quick to find a new house for Silas. He likes it, but there’s a lot to fix before you come back. His men have to take care of that. Silas has another thing to do: to get you back. He thinks about how to do it. No way he'll do what Jerry did. He'll never scare or hurt his love. He is way too mature for that.

"Jerry is violent, but she's dumb", Silas tells one of his men. "She is in that age where she thinks she's untouchable. She's never on her guard.”

“We'll get her back, boss."

"Yeah, we will."

The pain is eating you up from the inside. You want to scream, but you’re too exhausted to do that. Jerry is downstairs today and you’re all alone in the room. The silence is just what you need. There are guards right outside the door, ready to attack in case Silas appears. They have one objective: to protect you at all costs. 

All you are doing is lay in that bed, day after day. When Jerry isn’t home, you watch TV, listen to music or sleep. You’re exhausted. Getting kidnapped back and forth is tearing you physically, mentally and and emotionally. You can’t take it anymore. Jerry was willing to crash a car to get you. What more is she prepared to do? 

Silas makes his way through the house, finding Jerry by the bedroom door. Silas’ men take her by surprise and hold her still as Silas makes his way into the bedroom, over to the bed. Jerry should have known. The sound she heard earlier was footsteps, she should have known!

"Don't you fucking touch her, you sons of bitches!" Jerry shouts angrily, trying to get out of the grip the guards are holding her in. One of them holds their arm around her neck in a chokehold. "Let me go, you fucking idiots!"

She almost doesn't sound human, more like a demon. The fear of Silas taking you away makes her adrenaline pump through his veins. 

“That you can use those kinds of words in front of Y/N is just disgusting”, the older man says. “You really are horrible.”

You whimper out a sob, a single tear running down your cheek as you watch Silas get closer. He looks heartbroken to see you in this condition. You look like you’re on the edge of seeing death. 

"Don't be scared", Silas says gently. "I got you."

You think about all the times you had to get manually moved to the toilet to empty yourself and how badly that hurt. You can’t get moved again. 

"Don't move me … please", you whisper.

"What?" Silas asks. Please tell him he heard wrong. That can’t have come out of your mouth. 

"Please don't move me … it hurts so much."

"You heard her!" Jerry almost shouts, fighting against the guards. "Leave her alone!"

"Y/N’s opinion doesn't really matter now", the older one says, standing up. "She doesn't understand what's best for her. I'll take care of her even better than you do."

He bends down to pick her up.

"No, no, no, no, please-", you whine.

"Shh, it'll only hurt for a little while, I promise. Then everything will be good again."

"No, please…"

"Shh."

"Why don't you listen to her?!" Jerry spits. 

You let out a moan of pain as you get lifted off the bed.

“Stop, Silas, for real!” Jerry panics. “She wishes to stay! You can't do that to her!”

You have never seen her like this. She actually looks — and sounds — terrified. She doesn’t look like the cruel woman who wears an iconic smirk … for once she resembles a real human.

“I can do whatever I want. Shut her up, she’s too loud”, Silas says and walks out of the room with you in his arms. 

“D-Don’t kill her”, you manage to get out. 

It’ll all be your fault if Jerry loses her life.

“I wasn't going to kill him!” Silas hurries to say. Clearly lying.

“Let me down, it hurts too much!”

"I'm so sorry. We're soon in the car, I promise."

He carries you out to the car and places you down in the backseat with your head in his lap. You start to cry as the car drives. The small jerking, rocking motion makes every muscle in your body ache. You’re deadly afraid that Jerry will crash this car too. You won’t survive another attack. Silas wipes your tears. God, his heart is aching. How could Jerry do this?

A week goes by. By now, you can walk normally, it’s only in the mornings and evenings you feel the pain in your body. Today though, a weird feeling has entered your body and won’t go away. Something will happen, you can feel it.  It's been too peaceful for too long.

“Let’s bake something”, Silas says. “Let’s bake … a cake! You deserve a cake for being such a good girl even though Jerry broke your body.”

They walk down to the kitchen and prepare everything, taking out the eggs, milk, sugar, flour and what more they need. 

“Are you ready?” Silas asks, holding up his phone for the recipe. “Let’s go.”

You start pouring in the different ingredients in the bowl and stir. 

They take the cake out of the oven thirty minutes later. A wonderful scent has spread throughout the house. You smother the purplle vanilla cream over the cake, looking at the pretty color. You’re all in your own world.

 Suddenly, she hears some weird sound. Silas frowns, looking behind him. Jerry and five of her men enter the kitchen with guns in their hands, directed at them. 

“How nice to meet you again, Silas”, she smirks and looks at Y/N. “Hello, baby. You don’t have any bruises left. You’re still pretty.”

“Leave”, Silas growls. “Leave us alone.”

“I’m going to leave, but I have to bring my baby home first. I let you have her, I was generous. But now it’s time for her to come home. And I’m going to have her. You care about your men, don’t you? I will kill them one by one until you give Y/N to me voluntarily.”

She shoots one of the men to show that she’s serious and that she’s willing to  kill more. You force your scream to silence as you watch the man fall down, blood covering his corpse. You start to shake as tears fall down your cheeks. 

“One down”, Jerry says, tilting her head. “If you don't want more of your men to get a first class ticket to Hell, Silas, leave the room. Now.”

Silas sighs heavily, gives you a defeated kiss on your cheek before passing Jerry in the door.

“I will get her back, you know that”, he says. “I’m only letting you get her because I know you’ll do something insane that’ll scar her for life or give her even more bruises. Look at her, you’ve already done enough.”

“You’re right, I’d do something worse. Don’t worry though, I’ll take care of her, like I always do.”

Jerry walks over to the scared girl by the cake, collecting some purple icing on her finger, tasting it. Her gun is still in her hand, resting on the kitchen aisle. Your gaze is stuck on it as the tears fall down, shoulders shaking worse than before. 

"It's good, you're a good baker", Jerry smiles. “Look at me.”

You  force her eyes to meet hers. 

“You’re going to come with me now, won’t you?” she asks. 

You don’t answer. 

“Y/N, I’m going to shoot one of Silas’s men for every minute you refuse to come with me.”

“Please don’t …”

“I’m not kidding.”

“Okay, okay, okay, fine, I’ll come.”

“Good girl..”

Jerry takes your hand, giving it a kiss. You have to walk over the dead body to get out of the kitchen. The smell of fresh blood is making your head and stomach  spin. Jerry brings you with her out of the house, just in time for you to duck into a bush and throw up. 

“Ah, poor baby”, she says worriedly, holding up your hair. “You’re not used to death. It’ll be fine.”

She helps you to the car. Your gut had been right. It had been too calm for too long. 

Am I just a ragdoll for them to pull apart as they please? you think. I can’t deal with this anymore. 

But you have no other choice.

[andreal831]

What's your thoughts on the Bennett coven and their lore?

I'm not sure if you're asking about how they are depicted or just generally about them so I'll answer both. It has been a while since I've rewatched TVD, so correct me if I'm wrong on anything.

Generally, the Bennett coven is one of the oldest and most powerful covens in TVDU. I know there is so much debate over the different witches and I'm not here to do that. While, yes, there are other powerful witch families, the Bennetts have a very long history and enough members to make an actual coven on their own, unlike a lot of other families. If the writers and producers were different people, I would love to see a spinoff focused on them. You could pick any time period and it would be an incredible story.

The show tells us they are so powerful because we consistently see other powerful beings (witches, vampires, and even werewolves) coming to them for help. Silas and Amara rely on Qetsiyah, without whom there would be no TVDU. Esther relies on Ayana, the brotherhood relies on a Bennett witch, a Bennett witch creates the weapon used against the sirens, Katherine relies on Emily, and then the entire TVDU on Bonnie. Even at Grams' age, she still had Damon backing off. Every time they bring up a new villain, somehow the Bennett coven has been involved.

So while we can argue witch against witch (which I'm not going to do), I don't think you can say there is a coven that could go head to head against the Bennett coven. They just have a much deeper history than any other coven we are shown. The Travelers may be the only ones that have as much history, but the Bennetts derive from them through Qetsiyah.

Now I don't think we can talk about the Bennett witches without mentioning the racism that permeates the TVDU. No matter how powerful they are, the Bennet witches are often delegated to sidekicks, which makes no sense given their power. Qetsiyah is the only Bennett witch that we see actually get revenge for the wrong that was done to her and she is seen as a villain for it. The Bennett witches are constantly losing their lives helping people who are just taking advantage of them. People like to paint it as they are helping their friends, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Especially when you factor in the time periods these "friendships" happened in. Katherine and Emily were not friends. The Bennett witches were constantly used and abused until they died trying to help others.

The Bennetts are not given their own storylines that don't directly impact the "main characters." They don't even get relationships (both romantic/platonic/familial) unless it can be used against them. Throughout history we always see the Bennett witches on their own, removed from their family.

A big reason that they could be so spread out is because of how powerful they were. If the Bennetts all stayed together, they would be an unstoppable force. But they would also attract a lot of attention and put an even bigger target on their backs. The Bennetts have a deep respect for their ancestors, so you would think we would see them form a coven like the New Orleans witches or even the Travelers. But because of their power, they are forced to live separate lives, not even staying in contact. I would have loved to see an actual Bennett coven.

Bonnie not knowing she is a witch until her teenage years goes against everything we know about witches. Hope has access to her magic as a baby, yet Bonnie doesn't until she is well into her teenage years. I would have loved to see it where Grams raised Bonnie herself and she grew up as a witch. But honestly, the show couldn't have done that because most of what happened in season 1 and season 2 wouldn't have if Bonnie had fully understood her power. She easily could take down the Originals, so a couple newbie vamps wouldn't have stood a chance.

Not sure if this is what you wanted, but if you have a more specific question that I didn't answer, feel free to ask!

[can-of-pringles]

When I'm Alone with You - Chapter 16

Rating: Gen

Warnings: None

Word Count: 3k

Summary: Silas finally introduces Copia to Hanna.

Also Read on AO3

Hanna looked around the vast ministry building as she walked beside Silas.

“I know you said before that this place was big, but that was an understatement. This place is huge.” Hanna’s voice echoed slightly.

She looked up at the tall ceilings, eyes widening as she admired the beautiful artwork of the stained glass windows.

Silas chuckled shortly. “Yeah, you’ll get used to it. Thanks for coming to visit, by the way.”

Hanna smiled as she looked at him. “Of course, you just moved in. Think of it like… a housewarming party. Plus, you’ll finally introduce me to your work best friend.”

“It’s starting to sound like that’s the only reason you wanted to visit.” He joked.

“I have to see who I’m competing with for the title of your best friend.” She joked back, playfully nudging him with her elbow.

“You know that’s not going to happen.” Silas lightly scoffed.

“Oh, I’m aware.” She thought.

“Where is he, anyway?” Hanna’s brows knitted in confusion.

“He had a bit of work left to finish and then we can go out for lunch together. It’ll be good for y’all to meet finally.” Silas explained.

“Y’all.” Hanna teased, slightly putting on a fake southern accent. “You know you haven’t lived in Texas since you were a teenager, right?”

“Well, it’s not something that just… goes away?” Silas shrugged. “Är detta bättre?” (is this better?)

“Mycket bättre.” She teased. (much better)

“Texas mat är bättre.” He added. (Texas food is better)

Hanna faked a dramatic gasp while Silas laughed to himself. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Anyway… while we are waiting, do you want a tour?” He asked.

“Your room, right? Because I’m not sure we have the time for all of this, no offense, but this place seems like a maze.” She winced.

“Yeah, it’s a maze at first. You learn the map in your head, eventually. I meant my room,” Silas replied.

“Okay, good.”

“It’s this way.” He gestured to one of the winding hallways. “And then you take a turn here.”

She followed him, and they caught up on stuff in both of their lives. Now that Silas wasn’t living as close to Hanna, it was different. It wasn’t a drastic change, but it still altered some of their usual daily routines. They were grateful to still have the option of texting and calling.

Hanna couldn’t help but notice someone else walking down the same hallway, going the opposite way. She appeared to be a nun of sorts, keeping her hands folded in front of her. The woman reached up to move the brown bangs out of her eyes.

“You okay?” Silas asked. He furrowed his brows when her steps faltered.

“What? Oh, um, yeah.” She fidgeted with her hands. “Um… who is that?” She whispered, glancing at the woman walking away.

Silas followed her gaze. “Oh, her? She’s one of the Sisters of Sin. They’re basically the nuns here.”

“Oh, okay…” She murmured.

“Here it is.” He smiled, opening his door.

She followed him in, looking around to see if anything had changed. “Oh, it’s like your old place.”

“That’s good… right?” Silas asked.

“Yeah, I was worried it would be completely different.”

“Hanna, I work as a janitor in an unholy church. Do you think I could afford to buy all new furniture and decorations?” He spoke in a deadpan tone.

She struggled to keep her expression neutral before losing it to a snicker, quietly chuckling. “No… but I thought you said the pay was fairly good.”

“Just because the pay is good does not mean I am by any means rich,”

“Yeah… I feel that.” She sighed.

“There’s no need to replace it all anyway. That wouldn’t be practical and I like the familiarity.” He added.

Hanna noticed a certain food and water bowl on the tile floor near the kitchen/dining area. “Speaking of familiar…” A smile crept onto her face. “Blizzard!”

The grey and white dog came trotting into the room at the sound of his name. He wagged his tail nonstop when he saw her.

“Blizzard! Oh, it’s so good to see you!” She crouched down and began to pet him, talking sweetly about how much she’d missed him.

Silas smiled at the sight. “I’d just taken him out for a walk before you came. He was sleeping on my bed afterward, well, until you woke him up.”

Hanna looked up at him, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry…”

“No, no, it’s fine. He’s been missing you.”

She looked back down at Blizzard, cooing at him. “Aw, did you miss me? Sweet boy.”

Once Blizzard had (surprisingly) enough pets, he hopped up on Silas’ couch and curled up in the corner, silently watching the two humans.

“It’s been odd not seeing him every day for sure.” She lightly frowned, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

Silas did the same, sitting down on the couch. He reached over to pet Blizzard before leaving him be. The dog was already falling asleep again.

He gave her a sympathetic look. “Yeah… but now you have way more time to focus on getting your own business started.”

“That’s true. Speaking of that, I’ve already started the process of finding an actual location!” She grinned.

“That’s great! I thought you were going to do it out of your apartment, though?” He asked.

“Well… I’m not completely saying no to that idea. I want to keep my options open.” Hanna shrugged.

“Hm, that makes sense. I really hope it’ll work out,”

“Yeah, me too.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, how’s he been settling in?” She pointed to a sleeping Blizzard.

“Oh, he’s been doing pretty well. I was a little worried before the move, but he’s still eating normally. I think he really likes it here. The Ministry grounds are big, so he’s been having fun exploring when I take him out on walks.” Silas explained.

“That’s good to hear,” she said.

Silas looked up, hearing a knock at the door. “Oh, that’s probably Copia.”

Blizzard opened his eyes, raising his ears, but decided to stay on the couch. He let out a big sigh, already used to hearing lots of knocks recently.

“Finally, I’m starving!” Hanna exaggerated, faking a dramatic sigh and causing Silas to chuckle.

He opened the door and was met with the familiar Cardinal, smiling. Silas felt something warm bloom in his chest but decided to ignore it. “Hey, come in,”

“I just had to finish up some paperwork and send it to a higher-up… but I’m finished with work for now,” Copia explained, walking into his room.

Hanna stood up from her seat.

“Copia, this is Hanna. Hanna, this is Copia,” Silas introduced them.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hanna.” He held out his hand, and she shook it.

“Yeah, nice to meet you, too. Silas has told me a lot about you.” She smiled.

“Really?” Copia raised a brow.

Silas could feel his face heat up and he glanced away, sticking his hands in the pockets of his jeans and shrugging. “I wouldn’t say a lot…”

Hanna refrained from rolling her eyes. “You know what I mean…”

“Anyway.” He cleared his throat. “Is everyone ready for lunch?”

“Oh, yes. What were you thinking?” Copia asked.

“There’s this cafe place that opened nearby recently. I looked at the menu and thought it sounded good. Sandwiches, soups, things like that. If that’s alright with you guys?”

“I’ve been wanting to check out that place. Heard good things,” Hanna commented.

“Sounds good to me,” Copia agreed.

“Alright, great. So… how do we want to do this? Drive there separately? Or a car-pool situation…?” Silas asked.

“We could take one of the Ministry’s cars,” he suggested.

“Please don’t be like a church van situation…” Hanna thought, hoping her apprehension didn’t show on her face.

“Is that allowed?” Silas frowned slightly.

“Seeing as I’m in charge currently, mostly, I don’t see why not.” Copia shrugged.

“Oh, okay, cool. Let me get Blizzard in his house and then we can go.” He opened a box of dog treats that was on the counter and got a biscuit out.

“I thought Blizzard could free roam while you’re out?” Hanna pointed out.

“It’s a temporary situation until he gets more used to the new place. I don’t want anything happening to him or my room while I’m gone.” Silas explained, calling Blizzard over with the treat.

Copia smiled and waved at the dog while Silas led him to his crate. Blizzard listened and went inside, curling up on his pillow and blanket; chewing on the treat Silas gave him.

Silas went to wash his hands and dry them before grabbing his phone, keys, and wallet. “Alright, we can go now.”

---

“Do we want to take the new one?” Copia smiled and held up the keys. “It’s… um, a replacement for the one that Sister crashed…” He kicked loose gravel.

“Oh, hey, it’s an actual car… it’s nice.” Hanna raised her brows. “Wait, crashed?”

“What were you expecting? As for that, it’s a long story…” Silas’ lips pressed into a thin line.

She opened her mouth to speak before closing it, shaking her head. “Never mind. Doesn’t matter. I’ll sit in the back, you can sit up in the front with Copia.”

“You sure you’re alright sitting in the back by yourself?” He asked.

“Yeah, no worries.” She smiled.

Copia unlocked the car, and they got in. After the Cardinal made sure everyone had clipped in their seatbelts, he started the car and they began to head out. As expected, Silas sat up in the front next to Copia, giving him directions from his phone to the restaurant. Hanna kept her gaze focused on the window for the most part, chiming into conversations with them.

She smiled to herself when she noticed how carefree Silas was acting around Copia; occasionally chuckling at his jokes. She could sense it wasn’t just a polite act, it looked genuine; natural.

Once they arrived, Copia put the car in park and they stepped out, squinting from the bright sky. Silas held the door open for both of them and they walked inside, immediately being hit with the scent of coffee brewing and delicious food cooking. Silas pointed to a table near a corner and they each sat down.

“I was worried it might be full, but it looks like it’s just us and a couple of other people,” Silas said, quietly sighing in relief.

“It’s a nice break from the usual packed lunch room of the Ministry.” Copia smiled.

“At least you’re not covered in dog fur and stuff on your lunch breaks.” Hanna half-joked.

“Pretty sure Blizzard fills that fur quota for me.” He chuckled.

“Even I end up getting his fur on my clothes when I visit!” Copia pointed out. “I don’t really mind that much… he’s a very sweet dog.”

“Two words: lint-roller,” Hanna said. “Anyway, after we’re finished deciding what we want, I can go up and order it all for us, if you two would like.”

“Oh, really? Thanks.” Silas smiled.

“'Course, I know it can be difficult to go up and order,”

They pointed out what they wanted while Hanna wrote it down on the notes app on her phone. Easier than just remembering it all. Silas gave her a grateful look before she got out of her chair and left to order.

“It’s nice that Hanna offered to order for us,” Copia said.

“Yeah, it’s not that I can’t, it’s just… I don’t know.” He sighed.

“I get it. Though at least you’d probably fit in better. When you’re an Italian Cardinal here, you tend to… eh, stick out.”

“Maybe if you learned more Swedish.” Silas lightly teased.

“I know, I’m working on it.” He chuckled.

They both looked up as Hanna returned to their table.

“And now we wait,” she said, sitting back down.

“So, Hanna, Silas mentioned you work as a dog groomer…?” Copia asked, trying to start a conversation.

“Yes, I work at that one place you know, that’s downtown? Actually, I don’t know how you'd know, but anyway, I want to open my own place, eventually.” She explained.

“Oh, interesting. Did you always want to work in that business?”

“Well, I’ve always loved animals and dogs specifically, so I knew I wanted to work a job involving that, but I didn’t always know what kind of job,” she answered.

“When we were kids, she thought she wanted to be a vet, but then realized she couldn’t take the emotional toll,” Silas added.

“You wouldn’t be able to either.” She gave Silas a look.

“Oh, that would be tough… I already get anxious taking my rats to their check-ups.” He fidgeted with his hands.

“Oh, that’s right! Silas told me you had pet rats.” Her eyes lit up.

“Yes, I have three little sweethearts named Alessa, Bella, and Clara.” Copia beamed, talking about them as if they were his children.

Silas pulled out his phone and found a picture of them he had taken, showing it to her. Copia pointed out each one in the picture.

“They’re adorable. I honestly don’t have much experience with pet rats…” Hanna chuckled sheepishly.

“I get that they’re not for everyone. They take a lot of work, but it’s worth it.” Copia sighed.

“They love to give him a heart attack by jumping off high things. They think they’re little cats I guess.” Silas joked.

“It’s not funny, it’s scary!” Copia exclaimed before ultimately losing his serious expression. “Okay… I guess it’s a little funny…”

Hanna turned her head when she heard her name being called. “Oh, looks like our order is ready.” She left the table to get it.

“So… overall thoughts?” Silas asked in a hushed tone.

“I wish we could’ve done this sooner. Hanna is great. I can see why you two have been friends for so long.” Copia matched his tone and smiled.

Hanna came back with the tray of food and set it down in the middle of the table.

“Thanks for getting it, Hanna.” Copia gave her a polite nod.

“You’re lucky I came back and didn’t just decide to eat it all myself.” She kidded and sat down again.

Everyone took their plate and drink and began to eat, occasionally talking.

“So, you've known each other since you were kids, right?” Copia asked.

“Yep, practically grew up together like siblings, except for the long distances when we were apart, but that hasn’t been a problem in a long time,” Hanna explained.

“We met in a library and bonded over the Moomins. We used to joke that we were like Little My and Snufkin,” Silas added. “Uh… remind me to explain Moomins to you later.”

“Got it.” He smiled. “I understand the whole feeling like siblings bond. I had that with my brother figures growing up…” He glanced away for a second.

“Oh, nice,” she said. “What was it like growing up in a… ministry environment?”

“Um… well, it was interesting. I lived in the Ministry location in Italy for most of my life, then was placed here. Spent a lot of time reading in the library or exploring the building. There was always something to find.”

“Wow… I definitely can’t imagine living somewhere that big. I would’ve run around constantly.” Her eyes widened.

“Hanna, you did that anyway.” Silas pointed out.

“True. It used to drive my parents crazy.” She had a sheepish grin.

“Sometimes the Sisters would get onto my brothers and I about running around…” Copia fought the urge to chuckle. His smile slipped for a moment when he thought about them.

“Hey, you okay?” Silas asked, mild concern showing on his face.

Copia snapped out of it. “Yes, I’m just a bit tired, is all. Don’t worry.” He gave him a reassuring smile.

“I am too.” Hanna sighed. “There was this one dog at work, big fluffy guy, high energy. It was hard keeping him in the bath... but he looked very cute after he’d been cleaned and gotten his fur trimmed.” She had a small smile on her face.

“Wow… and here I thought that doing paperwork was hard.” Copia slightly joked.

“Oh, no, it is hard. Reading all of that stuff gets so confusing.” Her face scrunched up.

“You tend to get used to it.” He shrugged.

“Which is heavier? The stacks of papers you have to carry, or the dogs that Hanna wrangles into baths and up onto the grooming tables?” Silas asked rhetorically.

“To be fair, the papers can’t bite me.”

Hanna laughed, causing them to chuckle as well.

---

After their meal, they returned to the Ministry. Hanna said her goodbyes to them, hugging Silas and shaking Copia’s hand again. She didn’t forget to say goodbye to Blizzard as well, petting him briefly before leaving.

Copia had a little bit of time left before he had to start on his work again and decided to spend it sitting on Silas’ couch; talking with him while occasionally petting Blizzard, who lay curled up next to him.

“I thought that went well.” He had a small smile on his face. “Perhaps we could do it again soon.”

“Oh, of course. I’m so glad you and Hanna get along. Now I don’t have to worry about if my two best friends wouldn't like each other.” Silas sighed in relief.

“Was it a serious worry?” He tilted his head, lightly frowning.

“Not really. Hanna gets along with lots of people. It’s just one of those nerve things, you know.” He rested his face in the palm of his hand.

“Yeah, I understand. Again, thanks for inviting me to lunch with you two. Maybe at some point, I could even bring along some of the ghouls.” Copia thought aloud.

“Do they… need to eat?” He raised a brow.

“No, but they like the taste. Anyway, I’m sure they’d appreciate the gesture.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Silas nodded.

“I should probably get back to work… I enjoyed lunch.” Copia smiled.

Silas could’ve sworn he felt fluttery inside, or at the very least, his heartbeat quickened. “Yeah… I did too.” He smiled back.