#i should have some free time after my lesson tomorrow to make efforts in catching up---

[milesducemdominus]

Hm-

h m .

[twstarchives]

Vil Schoenheit・Voice Lines

Additional Voice Lines: Scary Dress event card

School Uniform - R

Unlock Card “Every single one of you looks miserable. Where should I start disciplining you all?”

Groovy “Classes are still valuable lessons. Let’s try to enjoy them.”

Home Setting “Stop looking so sluggish. You should move with more of a bounce in your step.”

Home Transitions “I am the only one who can express myself. Even these designated uniforms are just tools I use for that.”

“If you’re going to dress yourself in Night Raven College’s uniform, I expect you to behave appropriately.”

“Isn’t that uniform too big on you? It’s unflattering to your figure if it’s not the right size.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “Would you like to run to the store with me? I’d like some fresh fruit, and I could also use someone to carry my bags.”

Home Taps “Oh, no, don’t tell me that’s cat hair on your uniform—oh, wait. It’s Grim’s, is it?”

“You have a question for me? Heheh, I don’t give out my secrets for free.”

“It’s natural to need to work hard so that you make up for what you lack. I have no sympathy for you.”

“You want to know my diet? What are you going to do with it if I told you? You won’t become beautiful just by eating like I do.”

“Enough, stop pulling on me. I don’t remember saying you could mend my clothes for me.”

PE Uniform - R

Unlock Card “I spare no effort if it’s for the sake of beauty.”

Groovy “Are you ready? My regimen is very intense.”

Home Setting “Now, let’s begin our training.”

Home Transitions “You should do everything you can to preserve your beauty. Are you going to come running with me?”

“Hah, I’m worried about getting sunburnt during our outdoors classes... I’ll have to ask Rook to put on my sunscreen for me.”

“Every once in a while, I come across idiots who believe they can win against me if they use their fists. Of course, the tables always turn against them.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “How long are you going to stay here? I’ve already finished my daily workout.”

Home Taps “It’s good to do some stretches right after you’ve taken a bath.”

“Physical strength is an important factor in becoming a great mage. Make sure you work your hardest.”

“Sweating helps you feel refreshed. It isn’t good for your beauty to bottle up stress.”

“It’s important for there to be an agreement between your clothes and your body. You need to be careful not to build muscles for no reason.”

“You should direct any questions you have to Epel instead of me. Flying seems to be that boy’s strong suit.”

Lab Coat - SR

Unlock Card “You want me to teach you about magic potions? Will you even be able to keep up?”

Groovy “I could make any potion you could ever dream of. Hehe, should I tell you my tricks?”

Home Setting “I even pull this lab coat off beautifully.”

Home Transitions “I’m very confident in potions. It's helpful to know so much about herbs when making smoothies as well. It’s up to you to take care of your own body.”

“You want me to help you with your work? I’m impressed with how strong your will to study is. But research on your own first before asking me.”

“Rook is in the science club. In exchange for helping me with the film studies club activities, I lend him a hand from time to time too.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “True beauty is determined by strong intellect. You can always doctor your looks, but your true colors will still shine through right away.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Don’t I smell nice~? This is a perfume I concocted myself. It fits my image, doesn’t it?”

Home Taps “If you want to perfect your skill in pharmaceutics, then you need to have focus more than anything. It’s important to have a strong resolve to bring things to completion.”

“You can’t use magic, right? Then you should at least put all your effort into your studies.”

“I do my own cooking. I prefer to choose the nutrients my body needs.”

“You have wrinkles in your lab coat. Ironing is a must if you want to look polished.”

“Oh, you certainly seem to have a lot of free time. I’m not going to pity you if Crewel scolds you at your next exam.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “The ingredients I pick for my morning smoothies are always based on how I’m feeling health-wise that day. Hm? You want to know my recipes? That would take all day.”

Ceremony Robes - SR

Unlock Card “Being a student of Night Raven College is something you should be very proud of.”

Groovy “Don’t I look just as flawless in these ceremony robes as well?”

Home Setting “Chic clothing fits me well, doesn’t it?”

Home Transitions “Why are you so stiff...? Oh, are you nervous? You haven’t seen anything yet if you’re still getting nervous at school assemblies.”

“You shouldn’t strive to be like me. Try pushing yourself as hard as you can while keeping your experience level in mind.”

“Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. I wouldn’t mind you staring at me so mesmerized for a little longer.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “A mysterious makeup look with a monotone finish goes best with this unique outerwear. If the makeup doesn’t match the outfit, then your clothes are going to outshine you.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “The colors of our ceremony robes blend in nicely with the night. I don’t hate this deep and mysterious style.”

Home Taps “Just when I thought things were getting noisy... it’s you again. You’re always so full of energy. ...Hold on, that wasn’t a compliment.”

“Your figure is important with these ceremony robes. Tying this wide belt around your waist lets one show off an androgynous beauty.”

“You may not have magic, but you can still take care of your appearance, can’t you? It’s not an excuse to look sloppy.”

“At the entrance ceremony, I thought for certain you were going to get thrown out right away... But you seem to be adjusting to this academy.”

“I know you want me to entertain you, but I’m busy right now so can you wait until later?”

Home Tap (Groovy) “I like the ceremony robes. They have an eternal beauty that never goes out of style. You should be proud you get to wear them as well.”

Dorm Uniform - SSR

Unlock Card “Strength is what makes one beautiful. Allow me to present my power to you.”

“I presume you’re prepared to put your life on the line for the sake of beauty, yes?”

Groovy “Is it this uniform that’s captivated you? Or perhaps, is it me? Hehe.”

Home Setting “So? Do I look just like a queen?”

Home Transitions “What will you be off doing today? Would you mind helping with our shoot for the film studies club? I’m sure even you are capable of using the equipment.”

“The dorm leader’s work can be a lot to manage, but there is no person more suited for leading Pomefiore than me.”

“My skin has been on point lately. ...What? You want a closer look? It isn’t my fault if my beauty blinds you.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “The Ramshackle Dorm is just awful. It smells musty and there is dust everywhere. You do know the difference between “vintage” and “run-down,” right?”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Have you met our vice dorm leader yet? I have full trust in his insight. ...There are times his conduct may be odd, but I’m letting it pass as of now.”

Home Taps “The Pomefiore dorm leader’s crown was designed based on motifs the Queen was said to fancy. Take a look—it’s perfect for me, don’t you think?”

“I swear, I always catch Epel staring at me in complete silence... Hehe. He must have so much going through his head.”

“The freshmen this year are nothing but potatoes. None of them know how to improve themselves and it gets so frustrating to deal with.”

“You think I look good in this uniform? That’s only natural. The dorm leader is meant to flaunt it even more beautifully than the other students.”

“Yes, there is no doubt that my beauty would make anyone unconsciously want to reach out and touch it...”

Home Tap (Groovy) “You think I’m stoic? ...It’s true I hear that a lot. I’m simply focusing all my efforts towards my goals. Wouldn’t this be the obvious outcome?”

Duo Magic Vil: “Leona! I don’t need anyone dragging me down.” Leona: “Ha! Who do you think you’re talking to, Vil?”

Birthday Celebration Outfit - SSR

Unlock Card “Now, how are you going to celebrate for me?”

“It seems my birthday will be especially wild this year. Well, it is nice to go over the top every once in a while. Just behave yourself.”

Groovy “It’s completely unexpected that you would bring me so much joy. ...That is a compliment.”

Home Setting “This outfit stands out. Well, I’m used to having attention on me.”

Home Transitions “Leona gave me a pen, and it was out of ink. Was it too much of a chore to throw it out so he handed it off to me? ...It figures.”

“My father sends me postcards on my birthday. He travels all over the world, so every year I look forward to which country the pattern on it will be from.”

“Epel, Rook, and the rest of the film studies club put together an opera for me. It was clumsy, but not too bad.”

Home Transition (Login Greeting) “I’m beautiful as always today? Of course I am. But don’t think that I’m only trying hard because it’s my birthday. My beauty is flawless no matter what day it is.”

Home Transition (Groovy) “Sometimes, the energy you and Grim bring can be useful. Please keep it up and breathe some more life into the party.”

Home Taps “My birthday reminds me of the auroras. When Jack lived in my area, he told me the best spot to see them as a birthday gift.”

“I posted a thank-you picture on Magicam for all my fans who sent me birthday wishes. I need to show appreciation for their support.”

“There exists no magic that can stop you from aging. However, it’s up to you how you grow. I’m just constantly pursuing beauty that matches my age.”

“Lilia gave me shoelaces. They’re flat and seem hard to come untied. I think I’ll start using them right away for my jog tomorrow.”

“I heard your wishes to me the first time. If you want my attention that badly, why don’t you let me do your makeup? I’m curious how much it could transform you.”

Home Tap (Groovy) “Oh? Are you going to give me anything? Then list 100 things you find beautiful about me. Simple enough, right?”

Duo Magic Vil: “None of your schemes on my birthday, Azul.” Azul: “Of course. I wish you the best, Vil.”

Tutorial “Enough of that daydreaming. Let’s hurry up.”

Lv Up “Not bad. Let’s keep this up.”

“I’ve moved up a level higher, hm?”

“Don’t you think I’m someone worth dedicating yourself to?”

Max Lv Up “The fact that I can shine even brighter than I have before is because of your dedication, isn’t it? Heheh. Watch closely. I’ll show you I can be even more beautiful.”

Episode Lv Up “Hah. You’ve turned out nicely yourself. At this point, I’d even let you stand at my side.”

Magic Lv Up “Beautiful flowers are poisonous. But isn’t that just another one of their charms?”

Limit Break “My progress is far from over. I need to shine even brighter, even more beautifully than I do now.”

Groovy “Oh, I’m so sorry. Am I too dazzling for you now?”

Select Lesson “You’re only wasting time worrying. Please hurry up and pick.”

“You won’t rise to the top of this world if you lack intelligence. Study your hardest.”

“Neither our lectures in class nor the skills we learn firsthand must be taken lightly. Let’s put in all our effort.”

Lesson Start “Can you really afford to not pay attention?”

Lesson End “Well, that’s about it.”

Battle Start “Show me all you’ve got.”

Battle Win “This was the obvious result. You and I aren’t on the same level.”

Other

Profile Quote “Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all? Of course it is me, isn’t it?”

January 2020 Trailer “If you want to be beautiful, then you’ve got to do your very best at this academy.”

Countdown Poster “At this moment, who is the fairest of them all? ...Of course, it is me.”

Login Bonus “Neither beauty nor power can be achieved in a single day. It’s crucial that you persevere through everything that comes your way, but that’s the most difficult to do. I wonder how you will fare?”

Player Birthday Wish “It’s your birthday? Oh, dear, I completely forgot. Only joking. Don’t underestimate my memory. Of course I got everything ready. You should feel honored that I’m celebrating for you.”

Magic History

Good ★

“Trends come in and out.”

“You look half-asleep.”

“Competition brings one to the top.”

“What a beautiful dress.”

“This is more self-improvement.”

“The qualities of a king... hm...”

“Please sit up straight.”

“My makeup is still intact this afternoon.”

“Even great figures worked their hardest.”

Great ★★

“Naturally.”

“I enjoy reading.”

“Too easy.”

“Even my handwriting is beautiful.”

Perfect ★★★

“Didn’t lift a finger.”

“Perfect.”

“These are reasonable results.”

“There’s no way I wouldn’t get a perfect score.”

Special Lesson Perfect ★★★

“Oh, do you need something?”

“Please stay focused.”

“Not a problem.”

Flying

Good ★

“This is a nice workout.”

“If my hair’s a mess, my mind’s a mess.”

“Get me a hat, please.”

“Often reapply your sunscreen.”

“Just like a graceful raven.”

“Sound advice.”

“This is my after-meal workout.”

“Sunburns are my worst nightmare.”

“I’ve checked the new arrivals.”

Great ★★

“Staying hydrated.”

“So, what’s next?”

“Flexibility exercises are part of my daily routine.”

Perfect ★★★

“Elegant and graceful.”

“Beautiful? I know.”

“Just keep trying until you can do it.”

Special Lesson Perfect ★★★

“You’d like to see an example, wouldn’t you?”

“I feel someone’s eyes on me...!”

“Did I mesmerize you?”

Alchemy

Good ★

“Be quiet and concentrate.”

“Understand the materials we’re using.”

“Measure carefully.”

“Did you read the textbook?”

“A practical recipe.”

“Crewel has excellent taste.”

“This is making me smell like chemicals.”

“Eternal beauty...”

“Carefully...”

“This stench is making me lose my appetite.”

“Don’t lose focus.”

“There is no way I made any mistakes.”

“Done in the wink of an eye.”

“Looking sharp in these white clothes is a must.”

“That’s wrong.”

Great ★★

“It’s easy if you just follow the recipe.”

“I’m worth more than jewels.”

“Well done.”

“One cannot live without desire...”

“Unrusted gold... Just like me.”

Perfect ★★★

“What a snore-fest.”

“Brewing is one of my specialties.”

“There’s not a chance in a million I’d ever fail.”

“Gold used for more than just a crown...”

“The fact that I can do this much shouldn’t be a surprise to you.”

Special Lesson Perfect ★★★

“I can’t make any mistakes.”

“Stop talking to me right now.”

“You’re not done until you’ve reviewed everything.”

“Don’t rush anything.”

“This is what it means to work little by little everyday.”

[jilyesplz]

Saving Seats and Sugar Quills

Some TLAT!Jily fluff from after they get together because I’m currently writing angsty scenes and this is what’s getting me through. Also, because it’s been seven years and We Deserve This.

Inspired by this scene:

On the first Friday of her relationship with James Potter (because that was how she measured time now, apparently. Merlin and Agrippa.) Lily Evans ate breakfast with Sirius, Mary and Pete. James, Donna, and Marlene were at Quidditch practice, and Remus was busy tutoring… someone, though Sirius was too busy shuddering theatrically to explain who.

It was the first meal in six days that she’d eaten without James. She ached like she was missing a limb.

Agrippa.

They finished breakfast quickly and got to Charms early as a result. By unspoken mutual agreement, the four Gryffindors spread across an empty row of five desks, Pete next to Sirius next to open seat for James next to Lily next to Mary. They continued their debate about last night’s Harpies victory against the Cannons (a well-deserved clobbering, said Mary and Sirius; a disgraceful mockery of refereemanship, said Lily and Pete) across the gap.

Their conversation was prematurely interrupted, however, when Roger Diggory appeared and slid into the empty middle seat.

Lily blinked. “Sorry, we were actually saving…”

Roger did not seem to hear her. “So glad I snagged you! These silent Invisibility charms are kicking my arse. You’re going to save my life today, Lily.”

“But…” Lily tried to catch Sirius’s eye—surely telling people where they could and couldn’t sit was much more up his alley than hers?—but he just raised his eyebrows in amusement and turned to chat with Pete.

Of course. Because it was class. In five minutes they wouldn’t be able to talk to each other anyway, so it didn’t matter where they sat…it was pathetic that she was going to miss him.

Realizing she was being horribly rude to Roger, Lily forced a smile and nodded. “Sure, I’d be happy to partner up. The trick to Invisibility charms is just…”

The door opened behind them and Lily’s head whipped around immediately, train of thought stopped in its tracks.

James Potter strode through the door, bag hanging off one shoulder, tie off-kilter, hair wet from a shower and even messier than usual. Lily melted.

Her boyfriend scanned the room, then made a beeline for her the moment their eyes met. When he reached her desk he leaned down, seized her face in his hands, and kissed her hard. Lily’s eyes fluttered closed as their mouths moved together, and her lips seemed to read words from his: Missed you. Want you. Need you, Snaps.

It no longer seemed absurd that she should miss him from across a classroom. Suddenly it was ridiculous to imagine she could do anything else. When his tongue brushed across her bottom lip and she had to hold in a sigh, Lily broke away, flushing much too deeply for 9am Charms.

“Hi,” James murmured, and Lily smiled.

“Hi.” She bent to reach into her satchel and produced a brown paper bag. “Breakfast?”

James groaned aloud, then sat down on her desk. He swung to plant his feet on the edges of Lily’s seat, trapping her between his legs and nudging her thighs with his toes. “I knew you fancied me.”

“Eh. I’m really just in it for your body.” She kissed his knee softly, and he grinned and tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear.

“That excuse would work better if you weren’t fattening me up, Snaps.”

“With this?” She shook the bag. “Cottage cheese and vegan bacon, Love. Why, what were you expecting?”

“Ha.” James pulled the bag from her grip and ripped it open, then groaned with pleasure when the scents of kippers, biscuits, marmalade, and (mercifully non-vegan) bacon hit his nose. He tilted her chin up with two fingers and kissed her again. “You’re God’s gift to mankind.”

Lily smiled. “You don’t believe in God.”

“I believe in kippers.”

“Do you believe in sharing kippers?” Lily reached for the bag, but James caught her hand and trapped it against his thigh.

“Not when you were luxuriously eating breakfast while I ran kipper-less sprints!”

“Not with me, Git. Two of my best mates were out there running kipper-less sprints with you. Because of you.”

“But Shack and Price are small and dainty. I’m a growing boy.”

Lily laughed. “I’m telling Donna you called her small and dainty,” she threatened, and James blanched.

“My body won’t be as fun in multiple pieces.”

“Well, now, that depends on the pieces.”

James swallowed hard. Lily blinked innocently up at her boyfriend, blushing just a little. The effort of hiding her smirk made her cheeks hollow out, auburn eyelashes fluttering as she looked up at him from practically between his legs…

James shook himself. He pulled his legs off her seat and stood up, looking, a little wildly, for something else to focus on. His eyes landed on Flatface.

He rapped on Diggory’s desk with his knuckles. “Oi. Out of my seat.”

“James!” Lily blushed furiously. “Roger, he’s kidding.” Diggory, who had immediately started to pack up his stuff at the Quidditch Captain’s command, paused and looked between them.

“He isn’t,” said James. “Move.”

“I got here first,” said Diggory, emboldened by Lily’s defense. “Find another spot.”

“Where?” James inquired. “’Cause I’d sit with your girlfriend, but I heard Alexa Kyle chucked you for my best mate. Who, incidentally, is to your left, in case you’re still confused about what makes this my seat.”

Diggory’s ears turned red, and Lily glared at her boyfriend. “Ignore him, Roger.”

James shrugged. “Sure, ignore me. I hear the Toadies are overrated anyway…”

“Git!” Lily cried, but Diggory stood up and shuffled away, tail between his legs.

“I love Hufflepuffs.” James slid into the seat Diggory had vacated and grabbed Lily’s desk, yanking it a foot closer to his so he could rest his arm on the back of her chair. She crossed her arms over her chest, but she was not, he noted, annoyed enough to scoot away again.

“You’re never doing that again,” she told him firmly.

“Course not,” he agreed, grinning. “Flatface learned his lesson.”

“To anyone! So mean. You’re Head Boy, not emperor…”

“Snaps, he knew he was taking my seat…” James grabbed her elbow with his free hand, thumb stroking the soft skin.

“Because he needed my help with silent Invisibility Charms!” Lily swatted at his hand, or meant to, but somehow their fingers ended up interlocked.

“I could need your help with silent Invisibility Charms.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Step One: take out cloak. Step Two: put on cloak. Step Three: give Roger his seat back.”

James laughed, and Lily wished she loved the sound just a little less. He settled into a very self-satisfied crooked grin, and the hand on the back of her chair lifted to rub the place where her neck met her shoulder. His thumb dug into the base of her neck, finding a knot and working it out.

Lily’s head rolled back, eyelids fluttering, and she couldn’t hide a tiny little moan that immediately reminded James of last night. “Still want me to leave?” he murmured.

Lily bit her lip, trying to muster the last of her willpower, then sighed and slumped into his arm. “I might as well get ‘Property of James Potter’ stamped across the front of my robes.”

“Would you? That’s so hot…”

“Git.” Lily grabbed his tie and tugged him in for a kiss. “I missed you.”

“Mmm…” He hummed against her lips, one hand finding her thigh and the other tangling in her hair. “Quidditch is stupid. Quitting tomorrow. Shack can be captain…”

“She’d be a significant improvement in the generosity of spirit department,” said Sirius loudly, and both Head students whipped around to see him watching them with a very self-satisfied smirk.

“Have you been staring at us this whole time?” James asked. His best mate’s smirk widened.

“Oh God, you wanted James to kick Roger out,” Lily realized. “That’s why you let him sit there, you weirdo…”

Sirius grinned. “This,” he declared, indicating both of them with a regal wave, “Is seventy-five percent my doing. Am I not entitled to enjoy the fruits of my labour?”

The Head Students shot him identical glares, but Sirius just smirked and took a bite of a Sugar Quill. Lily sighed and reached a hand across James’s desk, palm up. “You could at least share your candy with the zoo animals.”

Flitwick clapped tiny hands together to summon their attention, so Lily never did find out what had made both boys smile.

[skampi835]

Letters (Mitsunari x reader x Ieyasu)

This is another contribution for the Unloved Characters Month event, hosted by @the-moonlight-dreams. Because I had so much fun writing the two before. Motonari: Hell of the Living & Yoshimoto: Corolla Promise. I really wanted to do another one (like an addict).

Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku

Language: english

Starring: Mitsunari x reader x Ieyasu (no real pairing though)

Genre: Fluff 

Warning: none

Prompt: Day 22 - Letters

Word Count: 1.400

Also I have absolutely NO IDEA why the heck Mitsunari’s on this list of unloved characters!😳 I mean, come on!😭😭 Mitsunari’s like the politest, sweetest cinnamon roll on earth (besides Vincent). Hope you enjoy!

"You're smiling like sunshine, again. Is there any good report?" You’re asking, while pouring tea into cups, which sit on the desk. Mitsunari’s raising his head thoughtfully, with that warm, angelic smile of his. "Yes, Lady (y/n). There was a very lovely letter in between again."

“Oh, was there?" Jokingly replying, you’re placeing the teapot on the desk between the two of you. You just brewed it a few moments ago, even though Mitsunari insisted in offering you tea in the first place, when you arrived with his mailing. But you're quite aware, that under no circumstances you should letting him work with boiling water or tealeaves, because you knew how clumsy Mitsunari could be sometimes. Besides it doesn't bother you at all, spending some time with Mitsunari and getting a break from your chatelaine duties, for he was always the politest among the warlords, when you’d first arrived in the Sengoku period. "Is it one of those love-letters?"

You are calling them love-letters in jest, since the first one had arrived a few weeks ago. "You know it's not such a thing." Mitsunari snickers lightly and its sound is warming your heart with delight. "But it's a very comforting letter with good advices I'll have to reconsider. Whoever's sending me this letters must care deeply for me."

A soft smile blooms on your lips as you’re reaching for your cup. "That's awesome. I'm so happy for you, Mitsunari.” Honestly you are more than relieved and thankful as you’ve thought, ever since these short messages from an anonymous individual started.

Mitsunari had a rough time lately, struggling with his self-care, after an incident that happened one month ago. During a combat against some threats from the Ouchi-clan, almost a devastating mistake had slipped through Mitsunaris calculations. It was thanks to Mitsuhide, that nothing dangerously had happened, for he was the one in charge of Azuchi, while Nobunaga was fighting on the front. Prescient thinking, Mitsuhide assumed a siege towards Azuchi, whereas the war had focused with the heated battle. This had made him evacuate the civilians inside the castle walls. Thanks to the kitsunes quick thinking he averted bloodshed among the village and prevented a great loss for Azuchi and the Oda.

Sadly though, Mitsunari’s miscalculation had left him so deeply crestfallen, that he’d fallen back in his old bad habits, even more than usual. It took you an amount of effort, dragging Mitsunari out step by step, of the cloudy thoughts, he’d locked himself to. Lastly it was thanks to those words written in these letters Mitsunari had received for a while, that he’s finally able to smile again, honest and candid.

Plus Mitsunari’s doing a great job, caring about himself again, besides for a few known issues. His place looks more organized, although with a few stacks of books. He’s even almost having a proper meal daily, looking rested and at ease. You had not enough words of gratitude for this unknown individual, who had sent Mitsunari the letters, lifting his spirit in a quite peculiar way.

Mitsunari was so confused when the first letter arrived and after your request, he had lent it to you.

“Stop worrying the people and get some sleep already!

You made a mistake, so what? It happens sometimes. Nothing bad happened, so pull yourself together.

The townspeople are talking that you’re looking tired and they were annoyingly noisy, that you weren't smiling during your last visit. You know how pesky that blabber is?”

There wasn’t any hint to the sender of this letter and after you finished reading, you were puzzled and worried about those harsh words towards poor Mitsunari. You recommended to just ignoring it, but Mitsunari was strangely solemn. “Ignore it? But Lady (y/n), the writer of this letter is probably right.” He confessed mournful and guilty. “I am worrying you and the others, don’t I?”

He’d looked so sad and lost, but after a good night’s rest, like the writer has requested, Mitsunari opened up again. He allowed you to help him, eliminating the mess in his room. Together you slowly established a new routine, that’s good for his self-care. Every time when one of these few letters arrived once in a while, Mitsunari’s amazing bright smile returns on his lips.

“What does this one say?” Curiously you’re asking over the rim of your teacup, that you just had a sip of. Mitsunari’s gently folding the letter and circumspectly tucking it back into its cover, while he's gifting you with an honest and featherlight smile. “It says that I’m not alone, when there’s a tough decision.” He answers with calm in his voice, pausing for a little while, searching for his following words. “I am sorry, but I’d prefer to keep the accurate choice of words a secret this time if you don’t mind.”

“Oh... But of course not.” Compliable you nodded, smiling mindful. “It’s a message just for you, after all.”

Mitsunari’s radiant smile’s remaining ever so lightly and beautiful on his handsome face, brightening even the sunny day outside. “Thank you, for your kindness, Lady (y/n).”

_____

After your nice break, with a delicious cup of tea and some pleasurable chat with Mitsunari, you’d left Hideyoshi’s manor with a good feeling, in order to continue your duties as chatelaine. It was nice, seeing polite Mitsunari so much calmer, than a few weeks ago. His reservation had occupied and saddened you very much, to the point of aching. Seeing him now with the same charming smile and kind yet clear alertness in his amethyst eyes, that you’ve grown so familiar with, makes you almost impossibly happy.

As you returned to Azuchi castle you’re catching sight of someone familiar who was just about to leave, before he spotted you. “Just when I decided not wasting my time any longer.” He mutters in his usual snarky tone. “Ah, Ieyasu, I totally lost track of time.” And you’ve nearly forgotten! For a while now Ieyasu had finally given in to your constant whinings and secretly prosecutions - that weren’t that secret at all - to teach you medical herbalism, biweekly. But telling him that, would’ve make him reconsider this decision, so you quickly add: “I’m so sorry, Ieyasu. I visited Mitsunari before and I guess I’d got a little distracted.”

“You guess?” Ieyasu’s bored scrutinizing glare is drilling through you, while he crossed his arms before his chest. But after a while, he unpleasant sighs. “It can’t be helped. It’s too late for your lesson today.” You’re sighing distressful, which made Ieyasu even looking more annoyed. Exasperated he avoids your gaze. “I can spare some free time tomorrow afternoon. But don’t you dare set me off again! My time’s too valuable.”

With relief you’re smiling happily. “I would never! Thank you, Ieyasu!” -- “You don’t have to thank me for that.” He’s answering stroppy, lifting his gaze again. “How is he doing?”

“He...? Oh, you mean Mitsunari?” You’re asking amazed, before a cute, joyful smile is curving your lips. “He’s doing great, lately. I’d like to believe he’d got over his personal rock bottom.” Suddenly you’re beaming a grateful smile towards Ieyasu. “Your letters helped a lot, truly.”

Regardless of Ieyasu, narrowing his eyes doubtfully, you go on: “Mitsunari showed me the first two letters and the characters are quite similar with your scrawly handwriting in some way. So I figured, that maybe you’re the unknown writer.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. And I don’t care. I don’t write letters.” Ieyasu answers brusque shooting a tetchy frown in your direction like a silent warning. But it couldn’t blur your smile nor falter the knowing look in your eyes. “You always insult Mitsunari, when he’s around you. Yet the last time you spoke with Masamune you’ve said, that it irritades you, seeing Mitsunari’s letting himself being pushed around, when he’s got such an extensive knowledge. I’d like to think, that you’re secretly admiring him.”

If Ieyasu was shooting with his glare before, now he’s definitely striking you down with his killing glance. “What are you babbling?” He blurts out, snapping a painfully irritated “Idiot.” as an extra. Without any hesitation, Ieyasu’s trudging off, his scarf fiercely wafting behind him.

“See, now I have a reason! Thank you, Ieyasu! See you, tomorrow!” You shouted cheerfully after him, whereas Ieyasu just grumpily groans, while he’s hurrying to leave the castle.

[takingcourage]

Can I request Simon Montjoy x MC for telling ghost stories? And bonus if I get to see Simon as a father 🥺

Thank you so much for this request, Nonny! Writing Simon as a father was an absolute delight!

This story borrows from Roald Dahl’s The Witches: not a “ghost story,” per se, but one of my favorite scary stories to read as a child. All excerpts are in italics.

_____

They were only an hour in, and Cassidy was already on her third flute of champagne. She sipped from the top of her latest glass, grateful for the fleeting moments when she had the the fizz of bubbles to counter the booming monotone of Viscount Kirkley.

Her grandfather-in-law really did have the most tedious taste in friends.

With a glance toward the opposite end of the room, she saw that Simon was in much the same state. Even from this distance, it was easy for her to see that his eyes had started to look a bit glassy. As he caught her attention, his mouth kinked up in a trademark smirk.

Returning the look with a smile of her own, Cassidy traced a finger over the stem of her glass and tried to give the appearance of being interested in the proceedings. Aside from decorum and the show of solidarity, her real motivation for hosting the evening's festivities was the promise of dancing. It had been too long since she'd had an excuse to dance with her husband.

Behind her, there was a brush of fabric and a quiet titter that sounded very much like an apology. Cassidy turned over her shoulder to find Celeste at her side, one lip caught between her teeth as if steeling herself for something unpleasant.

“I’m sorry to bother you," she sidled close with the whispered interruption. "But if you could join me outside, Ms. Davison would like to speak with you.”

“Of course.” Cassidy followed the other woman through the ballroom and into an adjacent hallway.

Even with a fair amount of alcohol in her system, her blood chilled on reading the distress in Ms. Davison's features. It wasn't the first time the nanny’s face had matched the color of Mitsy's roses, but the florid hue was still a rather unnerving sight to behold.

“I’m so sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but they've disappeared." In spite of her appearance, she managed to keep her tone even. With a deep, resolute breath, she resumed her explanation. "I was only gone for a moment, but I can’t find them anywhere."

“They’re quite good at that,” Simon remarked, sauntering in to round out the little gathering.

“Where were they when you left them?” Cassidy inquired, disposing of her glass on a nearby windowsill.

“The nursery.”

She shared a look with her husband. Even with the size of the estate and its extensive grounds, that could really only mean one thing.

“We’ll find them.” With a slanted brow, Simon downed the rest of his drink and set the glass beside his wife’s.

Following his cue, Cassidy continued, “Why don’t you take the rest of the evening off? We’ll take care of getting them to bed.” No matter what awaited them upstairs, it was preferable to enduring the rest of the night’s speeches. It wasn’t quite the distraction she might have hoped for, but she was hardly going to turn her nose up once it had appeared.

The relief in the nanny’s eyes was immediate. “If you’re sure, ma’am. Violet hasn’t been any trouble; she’s been sleeping since half past. I'd just gone to check on her when the other two ran off."

The news was hardly surprising. Their youngest was still too small to get herself into much trouble unless prompted by the other two. Somewhat unfortunately, the eldest Montjoy siblings were more than capable of producing enough mischief on their own.

"We'll see that the other two are tucked in soon."

She and Simon broke off from the group, finding their way to the staircase with purposeful strides. Now that the initial shock had passed, Cassidy was finding it difficult to keep a handle on the laughter that kept bubbling up in her throat. “This is all your fault," she accused, wagging a finger in the direction of her husband's nose. "You must be regretting your decision to show them those passageways last week.”

“And miss this prime opportunity to teach them a lesson? Absolutely not!” The wink he flashed her couldn’t mean anything good. 

When he wheeled toward the left and away from the nursery on cresting the top of the stairs, she caught his meaning. With a quiet gasp of surprise, Cassidy followed close behind him.

“No doubt they’ve snuck in there to tell ghost stories or some such rot.”

“Like you did when you were their age?”

“I didn’t run away from my nannies in the middle of parties.”

From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed the telltale tilt of his smile. “You’re a terrible liar.”

“Well....” he equivocated, “circumstances were different. Mine knew about the passages and could follow after me if they wished. My disappearances may have been a nuisance, but they were never a hazard to anyone’s health. Did you see the vein in her forehead just now? I hope she goes home for a proper lie-down.”

“We really ought to give the poor woman a raise,” Cassidy considered as they passed into the Blythe Room. "Even with us, those two are quite a handful."

Simon slid an arm behind the headboard, easily locating the release for the passage door. "I wouldn't have them any other way: unspoiled by the world, free to let their imaginations wander wherever they may. They’re rather perfect."

Her heart clenched at the tenderness of his statement. Their children were curious and kind and compassionate, with a mischievous streak just wide enough to keep life full of excitement. It was little wonder their family and all the household staff were so fond of them. 

"...though I shall need to have a chat with them about this particular scheme -- how they thought they'd get away with it, I'll never know."

"Do we have a plan of attack?" She joined him at the entrance in the wall, starting to feel the adrenaline thrum through her extremities.

"We sneak in and scare the dickens out of them," he shared matter of factly. “Does that meet your approval?”

“I can be pretty quiet when I need to be.”

“I know you can, darling.” The flash of heat in his dark eyes sent a thrill across her skin.

She was going to have to get him back for that later. Removing her shoes, Cassidy hooked the thin straps over her fingers and tiptoed into the tunnel after him. Her anticipation rose as the light faded behind them, leaving them in almost total darkness. As they rounded the corner, she could just make out the glow of a torch around the next bend.

“Shhh,” Simon warned needlessly.

With great effort, she managed not to elbow him in the ribs. If he thought she’d be the one to ruin a prank, he was quite mistaken.  

They edged closer, Amelia’s voice growing more articulate with every step. "Don't stop! It's getting to the good part."

"How should you know? You've never read this book before."

"I can tell! My neck is tingling. Feel it!"

“Fine.” There was an indistinguishable grumble before Calvin resumed reading:

“Did you ever see that painting, Grandmamma, with the little girl in it?”

“Many times," my grandmother said. "And the peculiar thing was that little Solveg kept changing her position in the picture --”

From somewhere ahead of them, Amelia gasped at the revelation.

“One day she would actually be inside the farmhouse and you could see her face looking out of the window. Another day she would be far over to the left with a duck in her arms.”

Cassidy predicted Simon’s response even before she heard his measured intake of breath.

"Quack-wack! Quack. Wack-wack!"

The noises weren't terribly convincing, but it didn't matter: a pair of shrieks echoed before they'd even stepped into view. Two small bodies were huddled tightly against the wall, though they jerked apart as soon as their parents appeared. A flashlight rolled aimlessly before coming to stop at Simon’s feet.

"What do we have here?" he asked, retrieved the torch to spotlight each child in turn. Though the shrieking had stopped, they were still working to catch their breaths. Still clinging to the cover of the book, Calvin held his hand to his chest. "A pair of escapologists who think it's clever to scare their nanny to death?"

Amelia's brow plummeted at the accusation. "We didn't mean to frighten her."

"Yeah!" her brother joined in, dropping the book to his side with the force of conviction. "We just wanted to read! Ms. Davison said we couldn't because she thinks it's too scary --"

"--even though you and mama told us we could. It's not fa--"

Simon's level gaze ensured that his daughter’s pouting was short lived.

Heaving a sigh, Amelia dusted off the book cover and replaced the bookmark that she'd been worrying between her fingers. "We'll write a letter to apologize tomorrow morning. Is she still here? We could go and tell her sorry right now."

"We sent her home, but I think she'd be grateful for an apology tomorrow," Cassidy encouraged, wondering how it was possible to move from fear, to frustration, to regret quite so quickly. Amelia rose, coming to meet her with a hug that suggested the depth of her feelings.

"Can we get back to the book then?" their son piped up again. "We can’t stop in the middle of a chapter.”

Simon handed him the light and considered the question, carding a hand through his son’s hair in the meantime. Calvin made a show of shying away from the attention, though the attempt was halfhearted. “If you promise to pen your apologies first thing tomorrow morning.”

“We do!” the children chimed in chorus.

Simon chucked the boy’s chin and took a step toward the nursery. “Then perhaps we should finish the chapter together before we send you off to bed.”

“Really?”

Simon darted back at his daughter’s question. “You know I don’t joke about story time.”

“But the party!” Amelia objected, eyebrows slanting into a perfect facsimile of Simon’s.

“We’ll go back after you’ve gone to bed.”

Satisfied with the answer, she joined her brother in trekking back though the dim hallway.

“Don’t drag your heels now, into your jim-jams!" Simon cast an eye after them before falling back to walk with his wife. With practiced ease, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her near. “I rather like this turn of events.”

“We’re as bad as the children, running out on our own party.”

“It’s grandfather’s party.”

“That we’re hosting,” Cassidy reminded, making a mental list of all the ways their sudden disappearance must have violated conventions.

“My grandparents are more than capable of seeing to the guests. Besides, it’s not as if people aren’t used to us being a bit... unconventional now and then.”

As they made it back through the nursery passage, she considered the pronouncement. “I was never one for conventions.” His hold on her hip tightened, and she settled comfortably into his side.

“It’s one of my favorite things about you, darling. Now, let’s get these two miscreants of ours to bed. if we time it right, we’ll be back just in time for dancing.”

[pedros-mustache-main]

hi baby, i love you. hope tomorrow is a better day🥰 might i request numbers 96 & 100 for a little blurb with whoever your heart desires?

96. “Can’t you stay a little longer?” 100. “You’re the only one I wanna wake up next to.” (uhhhhh idk what happened but i put this one under a cut cause it got way long whoops)

“i promise i won’t intrude on you much longer, mr. deacon.” you rise from the worn wooden table, your skirts swishing with the movement. in the chair across from you, elianna looks up from her reader and smiles. you tug on one of her braids. “we simply have a few arithmetic problems to finish before i go.”

from his place in the doorway, john nods. he passes a cracked and aged book between both hands. “don’t rush on my account,” he murmurs, his eyes lingering on yours before he offers you a tight-lipped smile and heads up the narrow staircase to his attic office.

the butterflies in your stomach do not cease, even after you hear the door close and you are left alone with your pupil.

“miss! look!” elianna pulls you back to the present with her exuberant voice. “it’s snowing!”

sure enough, you turn to see elianna out of her chair, her face pressed against the cold windowpane above the counter. her breath fogs the glass as she bounces on her toes in glee. you cross to stand behind her and watch the first snow of winter descend upon the frozen ground. your nose wrinkles, and you glance at your pocket-watch. you have quite the trek home, but still several minutes of work to complete with elianna. you usher her back to the table in your haste to complete the day’s work before getting snowed in.

despite your best efforts, the skies open and release a flurry of snow before you can complete elianna’s arithmetic and social sciences lesson. for her part, elianna is beside herself with joy. school is over early, much to her delight, and you bundle her tight and release her into the white wilderness to play with the village children gathered beneath a tall oak tree nearby.

you creep up the stairs to john deacon’s office and knock on the door. “sir?” you poke your head around the frame to see him leaning back at his desk. he stares out the window, his eyes following the movements of the children—his child in particular—playing in the snow below.

you clear your throat. “sir?”

he drops the pencil from his mouth and turns. “oh, miss [y/l/n]. i didn’t hear you.”

“i sent elianna out to play. she could barely focus with such excitement outside.”

he hums in approval. “hm’yes. snow is her favorite. was her mother’s too.”

you blink, caught off-guard by the mention of his late wife. you know so little of her other than her untimely death due to the consumption outbreak after elianna’s birth. 

john shakes himself free of the memories and rises from his desk. “make yourself comfortable, miss [y/l/n]. i wouldn’t want you catching your death on the journey home. wait until the snow has settled before leaving.”

“of course, sir. thank you.”

you spend much of the afternoon curled up on his single couch in the cramped living room with a cup of tea and a book you found neglected on the mantle. you start a fire in the hearth and soon warmth fills you inside and out. it feels domestic to sit as you do, your legs beneath your skirts, your eyes flitting to the sound of laughter outside the window, your ears straining for the sound of john’s movement upstairs.

it’s silly. he’s your employer; she’s your pupil. that’s all there is to it.

however, the snow only grows in intensity as the day wears on. elianna comes inside after a time, her nose bright red and cheeks flushed with cold. she shivers, but chatters on about the games she played and the memories she made. you sit her in front of the fire with a mug of tea and a fresh set of long-johns as she dries. after some time, john descends from his office. he sits across from you, his feet planted firmly on the floor, as he listens to elianna recount her day. the feeling of domesticity flares in your stomach, and you look away, willing yourself not to imagine what such a life—a husband, a daughter, a cozy home on a winter’s day—would be like if it were yours. 

the sun begins to dip below the horizon when you make your way to the door. 

“can’t you stay longer, miss?” elianna begs, her hands bunched in the material around your waist. she pleads with her eyes and puckered lip and blinking lashes. running your hand over the back of her head, you glance at john, who has risen from his seat.

“i should be going, elianna. it’s a long walk home.”

john swallows hard and coughs before speaking. “why don’t—” he draws in a sharp breath. “why don’t you stay here? it’s freezing and you’ll become an ice-block before too long.”

it takes a bit more convincing on elianna’s part before you relent and agree to sleep on the couch before returning home in the daylight. it’s wrong of you, of course, to assume that john means anything other than kind charity by offering you shelter from the storm. still, you can’t help but wonder if there might be something to the way he looks at you over dinner and out of the corner of his eye when you settle beside one another on the couch after elianna goes to sleep.

you read in silence until the living room is dark save for the light from the dying fire in the hearth. your eyelids are heavy, and you catch your chin nodding toward your chest a few times before john nudges your shoulder.

“[y/n]? wake up, darling,” he whispers.

prying your eyes open, you sit straight. “goodness,” you breathe. “i’m sorry.”

he shakes his head. “no, don’t apologize. you’re tired.” rising from the couch, he goes to retrieve a tattered afghan blanket from the back of a side chair. he drapes it over your lap and sits down next to once more. to your surprise, he drapes his arm over your shoulders and adjusts the afghan until he is satisfied with the way it covers your legs and is snug around your hips. “comfortable?”

you look at him, and the tenderness in his gaze sends your heart ablaze. he must love you.

you nod in response to his question. you are comfortable; very comfortable indeed.

“good. go to sleep. i’ll be here when you wake up.”

angst/fluff night! (requests closed now)

[prettywordsyouleft]

Reconciliation - Part 5 (Final)

Pairing: Im Jaebum x reader

Genre: ex-lovers au / angst / romance / business au

Warnings: unprotected sex, mature content.

Reconciliation will be shared daily at 10am NZST.

Preview | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

This was how you had originally imagined this trip. Waking up in Jaebum’s arms the following morning was sweeter than you could remember. And after spending a little too long in the shower cleaning up from last night, you both happily went into the breakfast buffet where you laughed and shared food. The light atmosphere continued throughout the day, as did the kisses, the hand-holding, and much later, the endless rides to Nirvana.

It was what you had hoped for all along. And with your trip closing tomorrow, you were satisfied that when you had first thought to come here, the things on your list had been checked off with today’s efforts.

However, those desires came from a time where you were happy to just follow Jaebum around. Since finding your independence, you had moments throughout the day and night where you were bothered, and a cold sense of dread would wash over you.

The dream had to end here, with the sand and sun.

You woke before Jaebum did the next morning and spent the time taking in every detail of the man you loved. Even with him showering you in all the affection that you had ever wished for, and knowing how deeply his own feelings ran for you, this time, it would be you who broke his heart first.

You wanted to memorise every inch of him, right down to his freckles and imperfections in case you never saw them up close like this again.

Eventually, the man holding you stirred out of his slumber, Jaebum blearily squinting at you and letting out a breath of relief. It pained you to think that he was counting his blessings to truly find you here at his side and no longer a dream as he had told you about.

“Why are you awake first?” he huskily asked, moving to catch your shoulders with his lips. He kissed your bare skin a couple of times before resting back onto his pillow. “I wanted to watch you instead.”

“Should’ve woken up earlier then,” you teased, taking his hand in yours and linking it together.

You felt the words you need to say at the back of your throat and you smiled, hoping that would ease your nerves.

Jaebum watched you and after frowning, he sat up a little. “You’re going to finally say it, aren’t you?”

“You knew?”

He nodded. “I kind of guessed. I mean, we fell back into one another as if the three months never passed us by. And I know that I’ve said some things that might lend you hope that it could improve between us.”

“It’s not even that I don’t want this, because I do. I want to be with you, wholeheartedly. You said that I was it for you. Well, I’m pretty sure it’s the same for me.”

“Then what is it?” he wondered, and you shifted so you could sit up as well. Once settled at his side, you began to play with his fingers, trying to find the right words. “You need time?”

“I need to find who I am. Things are scary but really good right now for me. I’m starting my new business and I’m looking forward to running it. And it’s not a being busy reason either, even though I know I’m going to be super busy.”

Jaebum nodded listlessly, and you could tell he was genuinely listening to you, though he face was devoid of emotion. He was simply closing himself off to help with the pain.

You pressed on. “I don’t want to fall back into you. I don’t want either of us to rely on the other the way we used to. I thought I only needed your validation and you felt you only needed me to comfort you. We’re both more than that.”

“So this is it for us? For good?” he breathed, and you blinked when you noticed how watery his eyes had become. “We leave the confessions, the feelings here in these sheets?”

“We’re ending it better this time around, don’t you think?” you bartered and Jaebum rubbed at his face. “I need to focus on myself. If I can’t even do that, then there’s no point in me trying to rediscover us.”

“I get it,” he answered, taking you in his arms right when you began to cry. “I don’t want to but I do. Just remember to find me when the time is right.”

“Maybe we’ll find each other when we least expect it, just like we did here.”

Time seemed to fly by once you were back to reality. You left the ground running and after a solid year of hard work, you could slowly reap the rewards. You were acknowledged as a bright, new CEO and your company was definitely catching heads from all around. By your second year of business, you could loosen off the steam you were moving with. Your products were making consistent sales and you had taken on your first overseas client.

Everything seemed to be working like a well-oiled machine.

Not only had you discovered your own style as a CEO, you excelled at it. You liked being able to support your team and motivate them to strive for bigger goals.

Much as you were doing with your personal life. You had taken up online courses alongside your job and although you were exhausted from time to time, you had developed a love for photography and passion for interior design. You already had future aspirations to branch out into design in the following year.

Right now though, you wanted to enjoy life at a slower speed and not watch it pass on by in the blink of an eye.

And there was no one else you would rather do that with than Jaebum.

It hadn’t been complete radio silence between you both. You had each compromised to emails, sending each other messages at least twice a month. You had learned through them that he had fostered some cats and was passionate about raising them, and his latest investor had backed him over the company you had once lost out to. He’d also started cooking lessons, opting to make it home in the evening to eat there instead of ordering to his office each night.

Neither of you talked of what more you wanted from each other and about relationships. You had on several occasions almost emailed him asking him if he was seeing anyone but each time you chided yourself for seeking out information that could lead to complicating things. And you really didn’t want to do that if you weren’t ready to commit.

Standing near the gate for your impending flight, you focused on snapping the sunset out the large windows that was casting brilliant light over the aeroplanes nearby, the land behind it looking magical just like the sky did. You were ready to feel the freedom that came with travelling and taste the delicious foods that your destination had in store for you. As you watched the sky change its colours right before you, it was hard to not get lost in the thought of your self-development. Standing here right now, you couldn’t be prouder of who you had become if you tried.

Still, the nagging voice that wanted to share your accomplishments with someone else pulled you back to reality and you gasped when you realised boarding had commenced. As you walked onto the plane, you tried not to get too excited about the impending trip and looked out for your seat number. You grinned when you found it and after pulling your bag strap over your head and putting your bag under your seat, you sat down, fussing with your seatbelt for a moment. The person travelling next to you was already seated and you sighed when you realised your belt was linked with theirs.

Tapping him on the shoulder, you waited until he turned to look at you, ignoring the way he stared at you. “Uh, my belt is trapped in yours somehow.”

“Y/N,” Jaebum breathed, sitting up properly as his eyes continued to remain wide. He didn’t react as you reached to undo the belt across him so you could get yours free, still staring at you until you waved a hand in front of his face.

“You okay?”

“I just… I’m not dreaming, right? The plane hasn’t taken off and crashed somewhere and this is the afterlife?” he blurted out and you gave him a look, aghast by his assumption.

“No, we’re very much so alive and we better stay that way!”

“Then, it’s happened again. Just like you said when we parted last time!” he continued, shaking his head with disbelief.

You tried not to laugh. “Oh yeah?”

“Well, I was invited to go on this trip, were you too?”

“I guess you could say that,” you mused, amazed that he hadn’t clicked onto it yet.

“Wait,” he finally said, pointing at you. “How come you’re not amazed to see me?”

“Maybe because I was not about to wait until fate would have us cross paths again and booked this trip for us,” you announced and Jaebum slowly grinned.

“Really? You want to spend time with me?”

“Should I go spend it with someone else?” you offered and Jaebum disagreed almost immediately, taking your hand in his. You shifted closer, smiling at him as he rubbed his thumb over the back of your hand affectionately.

“You know, when this trip is over, I’m not going to agree about parting ways again,” he told you and you grinned, leaning in so you could kiss his lips.

“Fate might have been late in bringing us back together but I’m not going to let anything – or one – pull us apart again.”

_________________

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[aiorevelations]

A Number, Not a Name part 12!

Chapter 12: Child of Pain

5 years earlier:

Liana quietly made her way down the hall, careful not to alert anyone of her presence. Her eyes rested on her bedroom door at the end of the hall yet the images that flashed before her were of earlier that day - when the love of her life was taken from her. She stared down at her dress. The blood splattered across the yellow fabric had now darkened from a bright red to a reddish-brown hue. She bit her lip as she struggled to hold back her sobs. Just this morning she had been filled with so much hope and joy for the future and now it felt as though her heart had been ripped out and torn into a million pieces. There were no words that could capture and describe her anguish and despair. As she came closer to her room Liana heard a voice coming from one of the rooms off the hallway. She stopped and realized that it was her Father’s voice coming from his office. She inched closer to the door and silently peered into the room. She saw him sitting at his desk, talking in a rather hushed tone on the phone.

“It’s been taken care of” Norvan spoke into the phone. He listened to the response from the man on the other end of the line. Once he was finished responding, Norvan spoke again. “It’s a shame Erik couldn’t be persuaded to join our cause. He had all the makings of a remarkable leader. Tsk tsk. Such a waste…Until later….Goodbye Dalmar.”

Liana stood there in shock, her face ashen white. Try as she might, she couldn’t comprehend what she’d just heard. She hardly dared dwell on the thought yet it couldn’t escape her, Her father’s words echoed in her mind. It’s a shame Erik couldn’t be persuaded to join our cause. He had all the makings of a remarkable leader…Such a waste. Had her father been behind his death, him and this “Dalmar” person. Even though she was scared to learn the answer she knew she had to find out no matter what it took.

…..

Present-day - Hours Earlier: 

Milena sat in her Father’s office chair holding the photograph of him and her that graced the desk. This evening her thoughts had been on a multitude of things. Her father. Her life. But especially on tomorrow night. Everything she had worked for had led to this moment. If things went according to plan her goal would be within reach. Only a few months ago she thought her dream would never be a possibility, now it was nearly reality. She glanced from the photo to the gun and knife strapped to her hip. Her life, who she had become, in some weird way, captured in a single frame. Before such a sight would have frightened her. But now her heart did not even race slightly at the image. If she was honest to herself this was not how she imagined her life but the one thing it gave her, that she wanted more than anything, was control. Growing up she never had any. Over her mother dying. Over her sister leaving. Over her father being taken from her. But now she did. She was the one who dealt out the cards. Who held the fate of not only herself but for others as well. 

Milena heard a knock come from the front door. She sat up and made her way to the entrance of her family home. She opened the door and found Elias standing there. “Well, this is a surprise. Not sure which type though.” She sassed.

“Nice to see you’re in a good mood” he responded sarcastically. 

She held the door open for him. “Come in.” Elias walked into the house into the parlor and Milena shut the door behind him. She turned to him and crossed her arms “What’s up?”

Elias feigned confusion. “What’s up?” He repeated.

“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re forgetting how much we’ve worked together over the past couple of months. I know that look you get when you want to talk. So get to it.”

He sighed. “I've been thinking about this plan and I don’t know if we should go through with it. I recognize the opportunity that this is but in my experience I’ve found it best to carefully consider every step I take.”

“I have thought about this. Many times in fact. And every time I come back to the same conclusion. Our entire plan hinges on making sure our targets are brought in. We do that, we’re home free.”

Elias held up his hand. “I agree. But perhaps this isn’t the best way to go about it. This whole deal with the Avagyan brothers. I just feel the fewer people involved in this whole thing the better.”

“Fine.” Milena stretched out her arms exasperatedly. “You want to grab some NSA agents off the street, go right ahead. Be my guest.” She pointed at herself. “I for one am sure not going to do something so stupid! Especially after all the time and effort, I’ve put into getting here. This is what the last months have been about. Getting right here. Taking Dalmar down. Carrying on where my father left off.” 

“I know. This is why I strongly believe you should reconsider this. You said it yourself, we know who the actual players are in this game—”

“Exactly! This is why I’m not going to let Dalmar slip through my fingers or do something to screw it up. Now I’m almost certain we could take them ourselves but what if something were to happen? What if word got around about those responsible? I’m sure as heck am not getting charged for attempting to kidnap two agents. The less they have on us, the better. Besides, your ledger is already full enough.”

“You know one could say the same about yours soon enough.”

She stared intently at him and swallowed hard. “Believe me. I know.”

…..

15 years earlier:

Liana lay on the foam of the black interlocking mat, struggling to escape the forearm held to her neck. She locked her legs behind the girl’s back and strained to lift her hips. Inch by inch she struggled to raise herself off the ground. She was utterly exhausted and felt as if her entire body was on fire. Try as she might to push her assailant off she knew she didn’t have enough strength left. Finally, her body gave way and she collapsed to the floor. The other girl pushed more firmly against Liana forcing her into submission. After a few seconds, Milena lifted her foreman and stood up. 

The Krav Maga instructor walked towards the two girls and spoke. “Alright. That’s enough for today. Great job girls! You're getting better every single lesson. I can clearly see your impro—”

Norvan walked towards the instructor and interjected, “Let them go another round. Liana needs the practice.”

“They already have. Six more in fact by your insistence. You can see they’re exhausted. I'm sure I don’t need to explain how the more tired you are, the greater your chances are for injury.”

“Fine.” He relented, “We’ll see you on Tuesday.”

“Until Tuesday then.”

He looked at his daughters, “Grab your things. Let’s go.”

Liana and Milena walked to the side of the room to grab their backpacks. “Are you okay?” Milena asked as she slid her backpack on.

“I’m fine. Nowhere near as good as you though.” She responded without looking at her older sister.

“Hey.” Milena lightly touched her little sister’s arm. Liana looked up at her. “You did great…besides, I've been practicing longer than you have. A few more lessons and I’m sure you’ll catch me in no time.”

“Thanks.” She smiled.

“Best get over to Dad. You know how much he hates it when we’re late.” She said as she began walking towards him. 

“Yeah…I know how much he hates…” Liana sadly whispered to herself. She quickly picked up her bag and made her way over to her Dad and sister. The three of them exited the martial arts school. 

“Milena, do you mind taking your and your sister’s bags to the car?” Norvan asked. “We’ll be there soon.” 

“Sure,” Milena responded. Milena took the bag from her sister and started walking towards the car. Once Milena had rounded the corner of the building Norvan slapped Liana across her face. 

Liana didn’t even wince or cry. She didn’t even take a step back from him. For her, her Father’s abuse and beratement were as normal as breathing. They simply were a constant part of her life, a part her father took great effort to conceal from others.

“What the heck was that?! Every time we come here you look more pathetic!”

“I’m sorry. I tried my be—”

“Your best.” He spat “You know what the difference is between you and your sister?!!!”

Liana stood there silently, wondering whether or not to answer. She felt her father’s hand once again strike her across the face.

“I…I don’t…” she stammered. 

“She’s not an imbecile” he leaned down and stared directly into her eyes. “Like you.”

Liana shuddered and bit her lip to keep a sob from escaping. Norvan straightened up and grabbed her hand. “Come on.” He yanked her hand and pulled her alongside him down the sidewalk. Liana glanced to the right and saw an ice cream shop across the street. She saw a father and daughter sitting at a table outside the shop, laughing and giggling together as they ate their ice cream cones. Smiling. Giggling. With Dad. That life, that picture, couldn’t be further from her world. She looked back up at her father as he tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her towards the car.  

…..

Present-day: 

Liana sat on the edge of her couch, an old photo album placed on the table in front of her. Her eyes intently looked at each one of the photos, thinking back to the moment each image was taken, moments forever frozen in time. She turned the page of the photo album and saw two pages filled with photos of her and her sister. She ran her fingers over the images. In some ways, those times seemed like yesterday and at the same time like a lifetime ago. One was an image of them having one of their “famous” tea parties. One was of them dressed as princesses. And another captured the two of them holding on to each, laughing hysterically. They hadn’t had much to laugh about back then yet strangely enough she couldn’t recall what had resulted in such a display of laughter from her and Milena.

Liana snapped out of her reverie as she heard a knock at the door. She stood up from the couch, made her way to the front door, and opened it. 

“Hi, Mrs. Agassi.”

“Hello, Ms. Vardyan. I brought over some of your mail.”

“Thank you. You can set it on the kitchen table.” She held the door open wider for Mrs. Agassi.

Mrs. Agassi entered the apartment. “I was over in the mailroom and saw your box. My, it was overflowing.” She set the letters and packages down on the tabletop. “Thought it best to come over and give it to you before someone leaves another one-star review because of the property’s ‘lack of neatness or cleanliness.’”

“Thank you. I have been rather busy lately.”

“Think nothing of it doll. I saw you get back in a little bit ago. I just got back myself from one of Dalmar’s rallies.”

“Really? What was it like?” Liana feigned ignorance. 

“It was quite something. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. The hall was full of his avid supporters.”

As Mrs. Agassi spoke images of the rally earlier that night, Dalmar on stage, the throngs of people, the cheers echoing from the crowd, flashed in Liana’s mind. She crossed her arms. “And what do you make of him?”

“When it comes to my judgment of men, you should know I’m no expert. Just look at my relationship history.” Mrs. Agassi laughed. “But in my experience, these up-start politicians are usually in it for their own gain. The only one who seemed to actually care for the people of Krudia was Erik.”

Liana swallowed hard as she heard his name. “Erik…Erik Davtyan?”

“Yes.” Mrs. Agassi sighed. “He seemed so genuine and real. He was so bright. So charismatic. A natural-born leader. It was a dark day when he….” She trailed off. “I along with many others believed he was this country’s hope. Its future. It’s a shame that we couldn’t see what he’d become.”

“Yeah. It is.” Liana willed herself to keep her composure.

Mrs. Agassi noticed the old photo album laid across the coffee table. “Reminiscing?” she smiled.

“Something like that.”

Mrs. Agassi walked over to the table and picked up the photo album that lay on top. “I don’t believe I've seen these photos of you.”

“I found the album in a box with some of my old things.”

“You never know when you will stumble on something from your past. Heck, I still find some of my ex-husband's argyle socks all the time. And we’ve been divorced for ten years now.” She laughed. 

Liana forced a light chuckle. 

“So who’s the girl in these pictures with you? She looks a lot like you.” Mrs. Agassi asked as she looked down at the photos again.

“My sister.”

“Your sister huh? I don’t believe you’ve mentioned her before.”

“I guess it just never came up,” Liana replied coolly. 

Mrs. Agassi placed the photo album back on the coffee table. “Are you two close? Do you keep in touch often?”

Liana tried to find the words. “Um..we…” she sighed. “It’s one of those things. You know.”

Mrs. Agassi, sensing that Liana did not want to speak further on the subject, decided not to press her anymore. Something that she was not inclined to do as she was a very curious woman.

“Well, I best be going. Apparently, Mr. Balian is having more trouble with his plumbing. I keep telling him it’s that cookie dough his wife makes but hey what do I know.”

Liana gave a slight smile. Mrs. Agassi then made her way to the door and left the apartment. After closing the door behind her landlady Liana went back to sit on the couch. Her eyes once again drifted downward to look at the old photographs. 

It was the first time in years she had mentioned her sister to anyone. Truth be told she tried her best not to even think of her, let alone mention her. They had been close at first growing up, but over time had drifted apart. Try as she might, it was impossible to forget that because of her, she was never good enough for their father. After all, how could anyone, let alone a girl like her, ever compare and live up to Milena - the epitome of what a daughter should be. Everything she did she excelled at. She was just like their father as he would so often remind the both of them. While she was the complete opposite. Never excelling in anything she did no matter how hard she tried, always the object of her Father’s disappointment and rejection. Worst of all her mother had died while giving birth to her - something which her dad had never forgiven her for. She couldn’t recall how many times he told her to her face that it was her fault her mother was dead. That she had killed her. Due to this, she had been forced to endure her father’s anger and abuse for years. Suffering silently. Praying that it would end. But it never did. Out of all the hurt and pain her father had inflicted on her, nothing could ever compare to him cruelly taking Erik from her life. Only when she left home, and in doing so also Milena, did her torment at his hands finally end. But still, she was left with the trauma and emotional scars he had caused and consuming anger towards him for all that he had done. No matter how hard she tried not to be she was also angry and bitter at her sister for being the perfect daughter. For being an unattainable standard she was forced to measure up to and become. Still, she didn’t wish upon or take any pleasure in causing Milena pain or grief. Deep down she still loved Milena and shared a bond with her that would never fully be broken. She wished, with all her heart, that things didn’t have to be this way between them but they did. Their father had decided that a long time ago. 

[lothiriel84]

Can’t Fight This Feeling

What started out as friendship, has grown stronger I only wish I had the strength to let it show

A Cabin Pressure ficlet. Set in my These words are all we have (We'll be talking) universe. Aromantic!Tiffy.

They meet at a horse dressage event; she’s the friend of a friend of Minty’s, and he takes a shine to her right from the start. She doesn’t talk much, until he lets it slip that he’s an airline steward – or airdot, as it happens – and her face lights up all of a sudden. He tells her everything about G-ERTI – well, minus the bit about his Dad, actually – and she tells him about going plane-spotting on the riverbank south of Fitton Airfield sometimes.

In the end, he writes down his phone number on a scrap of paper he finds in his pocket, and she promises she will text next time she’s in the area. She doesn’t give him her number, but that’s okay, he thinks; still, he looks her up on Facebook that night, and he almost sends her a friend request, but in the end decides against it. If she wants to text him, that’s up to her, and he’s fine with it, honestly.

(He scrolls past the relationship status, trying really hard not to think about what ‘it’s complicated’ means, and closes the page.)

Tiffy texts him a week and a half later, but he doesn’t get the text until they land in New Delhi, and they won’t be back in Fitton for another four days, anyway. Pushing away at his sudden disappointment, he sends a photo of G-ERTI all locked up in her hangar, and Tiffy immediately texts back to say she’s a beauty, which brings a huge grin to Arthur’s face.

When he sprints to catch up with Skip and the others, Mum eyes him suspiciously, as if she’s wondering what he’s been up to; he slips his phone back into his pocket and tries to act as if nothing happened, which he suspects he’s not entirely successful at.

A week later, he’s doing the hoovering when his phone pings with a new text from Tiffy; he tells her he’ll join her in twenty minutes, very nearly forgets to lock everything up in his haste to leave the Portakabin. By the time he gets to the top of the riverbank, Tiffy’s already there, camera in hand, snapping away at the small Piper that just took off. For a moment there, he wishes he were like Skip, but Tiffy doesn’t seem to mind his questions about all the different types of plane she’s managed to photograph so far.

He tells her about Karl, how great it is to have his familiar voice welcome them home; she tells him about taking photography lessons, and when it gets too dark for plane-spotting, they go to a nearby café where Arthur buys her the most extravagant hot chocolate he can think of. Tiffy smiles, thanks him for a lovely afternoon, and promises to call soon.

She does, two days later, and he doesn’t care that Douglas is glancing at him across the Portakabin as if he knows exactly what’s going on; he’s just happy to hear from her, and no amount of teasing can change that, not even Douglas’. They arrange to go for a walk together next Friday; Tiffy said she absolutely loves dogs, and he can’t wait for her to meet Snoopadoop in person – or, well, in animal, he supposes, but it doesn’t matter.

It takes all of five minutes for Snoopadoop to decide she likes Arthur’s new friend; they spend a lovely day in the park, playing with Snoopadoop and wandering aimlessly through the trees. Tiffy is smiling a lot, and it makes his heart beat a little faster every time; he’s pretty sure he’s grinning like an idiot now, but she doesn’t seem to mind, so that’s all right, too.

When it’s time to say goodbye, Arthur impulsively leans in to press a little peck on her cheek; he means it as a friendly kiss, mostly, as he’s still not entirely clear what their little outings are all about, and he’s not at all prepared for the way she recoils, as if burned.

“I’m – sorry,” he hastens to apologise, feeling like he just did something unspeakably horrible. “I won’t do it again, I promise.”

Tiffy’s face is carefully blank now, and Arthur has to fight the urge to step closer in his desperate need to comfort her. “I – have to go now,” she speaks stiltedly, almost trips in her haste to get away from him. Arthur stands there for a long time, ignoring Snoopadoop’s repeated attempts at getting his attention, mentally calling himself all the worst names he can think of.

Back home, he leaves a note explaining he’s not coming down for dinner tonight, locks himself in his room, and spends the next two hours writing and deleting several texts in rapid succession. In the end, he settles for a simple I’m terribly sorry for making you uncomfortable, and I understand if you don’t want to see me again.

He presses send, turns off his phone, and spends the rest of the night tossing and turning until he eventually falls asleep sometime around dawn. When he switches his phone on in the morning, there is no text waiting for him, so naturally he assumes she’s still angry for what he did, and he honestly can’t say he blames her.

Mum’s waiting for him at the office, so he downs a cup of lukewarm coffee, and settles for nibbling at a couple of biscuits as he forgoes his car in favour of a brisk walk to the airfield. He pauses in front of the door to the Portakabin, makes an effort to summon a smile so that the others won’t notice – much.

“There you are,” Mum sighs, reaching for her bag on her way out. “Drivers are already out there doing whatever it is they like to do when we’re on standby. I’m going down to the canteen, please don’t do anything stupid in my absence.”

“Right-o,” he shrugs, and very nearly trips on his own two feet when he finally notices there is someone sitting behind Douglas’ desk, and it most definitely isn’t Douglas.

“Tiffy,” he says, idiotically – yes, that’s her name, do keep up Arthur – finding it surprisingly hard to swallow around the sudden lump in his throat. “Hi.”

She stands up, arms wrapped protectively around her front, which doesn’t seem terribly promising. “Sorry I didn’t text you back. I owe you a proper explanation, and didn’t know how to fit it all into a text.”

“It’s okay,” he blurts out from where he’s still rooted to the spot, not daring to come any closer. “I know it’s all my fault.”

“No,” she counters quickly, and way more forcefully than he’s expecting. “That’s the whole point. You were absolutely lovely, Arthur, and I shouldn’t have run away like that.”

He glances down, absently notices there’s a smudge of dirt on his right shoe. “I know I should always ask before kissing or hugging someone, I just – forgot.”

“Oh, Arthur,” she sounds like she’s about to cry now, and he can almost feel his stomach drop somewhere in the vicinity of his shoes.

“I don’t suppose we could still be friends, can we?” he pleads softly, even against his better judgement – which is not that good, admittedly. “It’s just, I really like you, and it’s okay if you’d rather not, but,” he trails off, wishing for Douglas’ eloquence to descend upon him, somehow.

Tiffy shakes her head, her fingers worrying at the thin white gold ring he’s always seen her wearing on her left middle finger. “I like you too. More than just as a friend, I mean. Only, I don’t – I’m aromantic, actually,” she finish in a rush, as if anticipating her statement will invariably get challenged, for some reason.

“Oh! Okay then,” he nods, brain working overtime to slot all the pieces together.

“It’s all right if you don’t know what that means,” she adds, sounding a bit like she’s been through this a lot.

“But I do, I think?” he frowns in concentration. “It’s sort of like being asexual, but with romantic attraction, right?”

She looks at him as if he just offered her a lift on his own charter plane, pilots and everything. “That’s – yes, that’s pretty much spot on. Most people haven’t even heard of either of those words, you know.”

“Oh, you see, Mum sent me on a course on understanding people in Ipswich,” he explains, heart leaping in his throat when the beginnings of a smile play out across Tiffy’s face. “In fact, I know what we could do – if you still want to spend time with me, that is.”

“Believe me, I do – I’m just not sure it’s a good idea, that’s all.”

He’s almost afraid to ask, but he finds he absolutely needs to know. “Because of what I did yesterday?”

“Because I think you’re romantically attracted to me, and as much as I wish I were attracted to you, it’s simply not going to happen.”

“I don’t mind,” Arthur says with absolute conviction. “We can just be whatever you want us to be. In fact, what I was trying to tell you is, we should make a list. Well, could – it’s up to you really.”

Tiffy blinks, slowly. “A list?”

“That’s another thing they taught us in Ipswich! We should write down all the things you’re okay with, and then all the things you’re not, so that I won’t get those two mixed up ever again.”

“That’s – really quite thoughtful, Arthur. It’s not really fair on you, though, is it?”

He tilts his head to the side, considering. “Actually, what is really not fair is you having to put up with stuff you’re not comfortable with, just because someone else assumes it’s fine.”

“Two lists,” she agrees at last, taking a step closer and extending her hand for Arthur to take. He does so with a smile, cradles her fingers ever so gently. “One for you, one for me.”

“Oh, that’s easy. I’m fine with pretty much anything, except shouting – well, and fighting, too.”

They stand there holding hands and smiling tentatively at one another, until Arthur remembers Mum is probably hovering outside, waiting for the two of them to be done talking. “Listen, I need to be here for the rest of the day if the client decides to show up after all, but I’m free tomorrow. Do you think you’d mind joining Snoopadoop and me for another walk?”

Tiffy squeezes his hand, a soft smile tugging at her lips. “I’d love to. And I believe I owe Snoopadoop an apology as well.”

“Well, she’s a dog, so she probably won’t know what aromatic means.”

“Aromantic,” she corrects him, but she looks at least a little bit amused. “See you tomorrow, then.”

Arthur gets the brief urge to kiss her goodbye again, like he was used to with his previous girlfriends, but he clamps down on it straight away. And she’s not your girlfriend, Arthur, not unless she agrees to put that on her list.

He walks her to the parking lot, and she gives his hand another squeeze, before finally letting him go; he waves her off as she drives away, then slowly heads back to the Portakabin. There he finds Carolyn back at her desk, looking for all the world as if she never left the office – if it weren’t for the tall cup of canteen coffee sitting in front of her, and the faintest trace of maternal worry clouding her expression – and on a sudden impulse, he sidles up to her and throws his arms around her neck in the closest thing to a bear hug he knows she will tolerate.

“Not that I’m not touched by this sudden display of affection, dear heart, but if I may, what brought this on, exactly?”

“Just happy,” he mumbles, mindful of not mussing up her hair. “That’s all.”

She ostensibly shakes her head and rolls her eyes, but he can feel her posture relax fractionally. “Yes, well. Why don’t you go and make yourself useful, then? I believe our useless pilots will soon require their teas and coffees, and I’m not splurging out on any more fancy hot drinks from the canteen.”

“Righto, Mum,” he grins, and all but waltzes into the kitchenette.

[kats-randomology]

A little drabble I had to write after the idea popped in my head while writing the other drabble

::::

He’d managed to sneak his way into Liu Hai’s personal room/office. If there was a way to break the chain, it had to be in here where most folks wouldn’t be lucky enough to get to. He had to move fast though, Liu Hai would notice his absence.

 Surely there had to be something in here. Some book or scroll that explained things, that would be nice. He quickly made his way toward a large bookshelf, and skimmed over the titles until he found exactly what he'd hoped for: 'Magical Imprisonments and More: A How To for the Inexperienced'.

 He flipped through the yellowed pages, until stopping on one that caught his eye. A chapter on breaking supernatural bonds, that had to be it. This was it, finally Luck was on his side again--

 The door slammed open, making him flinch as he glanced over his shoulder.

 Liu Hai towered in the doorway, fury in his eyes and shark-like teeth bared in a snarl. Gladstone stood frozen for a moment, fear quickly taking over, before he hastily tried to lighten the mood.

 "H-hey, Hopper, buddy! Was just lookin' for you; you know, you have got a really nice den here,"

 The spirit's fury didn't lessen as he stormed towards the babbling goose.

 "A-and I am really diggin' the jade curtains, really brings the whole atmosphere together in here, very classy, and I can see you aren't buying a-word-of-this-so-I'm-just-gonna-go--!"

 His speech dissolved into a jumble of words as he dodged around the advancing toad, and made a break for the door. A hand caught him by the arm though, and jerked him back to face Liu Hai's anger. He snatched the book from his grasp, and eyed the cover for a moment before fixing his furious eyes back on the panicking goose in hand.

 "Clever, Mr. Gander, but not clever enough," he growled, warping the book back to its place on the shelf, "admirable as it is that you got this far, my patience is wearing thin with your antics."

 "Well my patience is wearing thin with your....EVERYTHING!" Gladstone snapped back, pulling at his arm. 

 "You think I like being stuck here?! You think I'm just gonna roll with it?!"

 "I think if you want to continue having the niceties you have, you'll start behaving--!"

 "I'm NOT a freaking toddler!"

 "THEN STOP ACTING LIKE ONE!"

 "THEN STOP HOLDING ME HOSTAGE!"

 They both fell silent to catch their breath, glowering at one another; finally, Liu Hai took a long breath, before releasing it slowly.

 "You're going to go back to the game floor, and at least pretend to enjoy yourself, and maybe I'll forget about this grievance."

 "No."

 "....no?"

 "No, I'm not going back out there! I'm not playing anymore; I'm not doing anything!"

 "Tread carefully, Gander..."

 "Or what?! What're you gonna do?! Lock me in my penthouse?! Oh no how terrible, I'll be stuck in a luxury suite for the rest of my life-- oh, wait, I ALREADY AM! You need me so it's not like you're gonna actually DO anything worse than this!"

 Another tense silence descended. Liu Hai's narrowed eyes studied him for a minute or two, before he finally turned to the wall beside them. Waving his free hand, a square opening appeared, revealing a small room. Gladstone found himself rudely shoved into it, stumbling to catch himself, and turned back questioningly.

 "I think you need some time to reflect and consider how you'd like for your stay to go from here on out."

 And with that, the doorway was gone as suddenly as it appeared, leaving him alone.

 He scowled at the bare wall, before turning to take in the rest of the room. Well, not a room so much as a glorified box; no windows or doors, or furniture, or anything that would make it a room. There was no sound either, must be soundproofed with magic or something. So his big plan was to just take away his luxury? 

 Granted it was boring and uncomfortable, but if it meant he got to stick it to Toad, then he'd take it.

 Shrugging, he took a seat on the floor, stretching out with a sigh.

 He could use a good nap.

 :

:

:

 The wall opened some time later, and he looked up with an agitated scowl as Liu Hai entered.

 "I trust you've had enough time to think things over?" He asked, face set in a stern frown. Gladstone rolled his eyes as he pushed himself off the floor. 

 "You mean have I decided that you're still a jerk? Because I never considered otherwise; or, was I supposed to be thinking about how busting into your office room whatever to find an escape was bad? Because again, I don't consider myself the villain in this case."

 "I see," Liu Hai clicked his tongue, "stubborn as ever then? Perhaps I haven't made it clear how lucky you have it here."

 "I'm an expert in luck, so I think i have a pretty clear idea--"

 "And I'm a immortal spirit of luck, which of us truly knows better?"

 He only scoffed, and Liu Hai's passive face finally broke into anger. 

 "There is much you don't know, Gladstone; for example, I have many ways of draining the luck of mortals, but you've been fortunate enough to only experience the nicer methods."

 "Uh huh, very interesting..."

 "Harvesting through acts such as gambling, prolonged physical contact,"

 Gladstone did briefly pause at that; was that why he was so hands-y? Well he certainly wasn't going to be letting him continue his 'friendly' breaching of space bubbles...

 "But, then we get to the more...brutal and direct methods."

 "Look I was never big into educational speeches-- hey!"

 Gladstone yelped as the toad suddenly snatched his arm in a tight grip, and yanked him closer; he was quickly trapped in a headlock, and he yelled angrily as he attempted to slip free.

 "Dude what are you doing?! Let go...!"

 "You see, luck is tied to your qi, and as a spirit of luck, I can tap into it and drain you directly. It provides a larger amount with less effort on my part. But, unfortunately for you, it's quite painful."

 "I literally cannot care any less about your dietary methods, now let go of me!"

 Liu Hai gave a light chuckle, and something about it rubbed Gladstone the wrong way. It was just unsettling, somehow...

 "But you probably should, if you want to continue living peacefully here,"

 "What are you going on about?!"

 Another laugh, and he felt him pressing closer.

 "There's a reason some legends refer to me as a luck vampire, Gladstone..."

 It was a minute or two before he processed the statement, he was too focused on trying to squirm his way out of the hold; once it did, though, his movements ceased, as he turned his head slightly to meet the spirit's humored gaze. 

 And behind the humor was the growing spark of hunger. 

 His grin was full of now very sharp teeth that were evidently more than just for show. 

 Gladstone's struggling returned with vigor, pulling at the arm keeping his head in place, kicking behind him, pulling at his outstretched arm currently being held in the toad's other hand. All of this did nothing to loosen the hold, only drive Liu Hai to hold him tighter as he pulled the coat and shirt down to reveal the skin and feathers underneath.

 "Let go, don't you even dare! Let go of me...!"

 "Are we beginning to see just how nice we have it?"

 "Yes, yes, I get it! W-we can stop now, I get it, just let me go and we can get back to that..!"

 "Mmm, but see, with you, it seems demonstrations are far more effective in getting my point across."

 "No," his voice was verging on hysterical as he clawed at the arm, "nonono I'm good! No demonstration needed, point made! You don't have to do that no...!"

 Knife-like teeth grazed his neck, forcing his desperate ramblings into a shriek as he tried in vain to pull his arm free.

 "Don't, don't, please...! Just let me go back to the casino, I-I can play games! Any game, you name it! As many as you want, I can play along, I'll play along, Toad please...!"

 His head was forced to the side, leaving his throat and collar bone exposed. Terror finally brought his wild yells and flailing down to a meek and desperate sob.

 "I'll do whatever you want..."

 A soft laugh, and hands tightening their hold as if in preparation. Liu Hai finally responded, hissing in his ear.

 "I know you will."

 Several sharp teeth sunk in, and fiery, agonizing pain exploded in his shoulder and traveled down his arm.

 A ragged scream went unheard by the world outside. 

 :

:

:

 He was dropped to the floor with little care, pressing a hand to his screaming shoulder. There was no blood, he noted with some bewilderment, but it wasn't his top concern. 

 No, that was reserved for the luck leeching demon now standing over him. Liu Hai gave a satisfied sigh, and crouched down before him and tilted his head back. He sneered at the wide eyes, panicked and afraid and exhausted all at once as they found his. 

 "I hope you've learned something from this," he murmured, leaning closer as his eyes took on a terrifying glow, "otherwise we're going to repeat this lesson until you get it through that pretty little head of yours."

 Gladstone flinched, and gave a timid nod, too afraid and in pain to respond otherwise. Liu Hai stood back up, smile and demeanor now pleasant and reminiscent of his hotel persona.

 "Very good, then; shall we return to your room?"

 He didn't wait for answer; a snap warped them to the far brighter and much friendlier suite that had become his home away from home.

 "I suggest you get a good night's sleep; I expect to see you downstairs tomorrow. I'll be generous and let you stay in until noon,"

 The smile fell away into a snarl.

 "Don't make me have to come get you."

 And with that he was gone. 

 It took a good chunk of time for Gladstone to start moving, forcing himself to stand. He dragged himself over to the bed, and sunk into it with a moan. He burrowed under the blankets, desperate to hide from the lights. He didn’t have the energy to turn them off at this point.

 His head was throbbing, coupled with the pain in his arm, it was enough to leave him in tears.

 He had to go along with this. For a while, at least; play games, keep Liu Hai happy, don't make him mad again or else...

[shellbilee]

Classic - A Henry Cavill Fan Fiction

Here it is guys! Sorry for making you all wait for so long, I ended up changing the ending a few times because I just couldn’t get it to sound the way I wanted! It’s longer than I wanted because I’ve now added in Henry’s POV, since you guys mentioned that you like hearing both views of the main characters.

@michelehansel @tumblnewby @crazy4thewinbros @thislittlediary @hamianderson Thank you for all of your patience and I hope you enjoy chapter 3!

Chapter 3

"Namaste". "Namaste" the class responded in unison as we all sat in lotus pose, hands pressed together in prayer position against our chests. The dimmed room lights returned to full strength and I lifted my arms above my head in a stretch, soft chatter rippling throughout the room as people started to stand and pack up their yoga mats. "Oh I needed that" my sister in law Mel sighed beside me, rolling her head around and stretching out her neck muscles. "Are you talking about the yoga or time away from the pack?" I asked with a chuckle, using the nickname I'd affectionately given to my brother Edward and their two kids Jake and Lola. "Ha Ha B" she answered sarcastically, whacking me with her sweat towel and rolling her eyes, "Obviously I'm talking about the yoga". I laughed as she stood up beside me, "I promise I won't say anything if it really is them. I'm good at keeping secrets" I added with a cheeky wink, dodging when she tried to hit me with her towel again. "Okay okay, it's the yoga" I laughed, putting my hands up in an 'I surrender' gesture and grinning as she shook her head.

I stood up on my mat and rolled out my shoulders, an irritated sigh from Mel making me glance over at her. "What is it?". "Emma Blake is on her way over" Mel answered without moving her mouth, her lips suddenly glued into a wide, fake smile. "Melissa sweetheart!". I mashed my lips together at the sound of the shrill voice behind me, immediately bending over and stretching out my hamstrings in an effort to stop myself from laughing out loud. Emma Blake was the mother of one of Lola's reception class mates. She only wore designer brands and constantly sported perfectly manicured nails, always talking about how 'unbelievably busy'' she was, despite the fact that she was a stay at home mother - a yoga mum, as I liked to call her. She was one of those mothers that thought her child was 'gifted' and a prodigy at absolutely everything, always saying that her daughter Arianna should get 'every opportunity possible'. Every opportunity possible apparently, meant ballet, piano, swimming and horse riding lessons on almost every night of the week, as well as extended tutoring for her 'gifted abilities'. Arianna, the poor girl, was only five years old. 

"Hi Emma!" I heard Mel exclaim happily, her voice dripping with fake sweetness as Emma kissed her hello twice. I rolled my eyes, please. Stop acting like you're some fancy European woman that kisses people on both cheeks. "How are you darling? I didn't know you came to this yoga class! Chantelle and I just started in this group, we usually come on Mondays and Thursdays because they are the only times I have available with Ari. But we had just to change because darling Ari's horse riding lessons shifted to Thursdays!". A chuckle immediately threatened to escape my lips as I listened to Emma ramble - I knew Mel seriously disliked Emma, just the mention of her name made Mel roll her eyes in annoyance. Though I didn't know exactly why Mel disliked her so much, I did know that Emma's frequent conceited gushing of Arianna was a big part of the reason. Despite Mel's obvious dislike though, Emma was forever trying to organise play dates and catch ups for the two girls. Conveniently, Mel always seemed to magically have 'something on on that day'. I chuckled silently as I stood back up from my stretch, wondering if Emma would ever take the hint. 

I turned around to face Emma and Mel, Emma grinning and immediately pulling me in to kiss me hello on both cheeks. "Belle, sweetheart! What a surprise to see you here too! Do you two come to yoga together?". I nodded, my fake smile even bigger than Mel's. "Every Wednesday night at 7" I exclaimed happily, instantly kicking myself for telling Emma our routine. Oh God. She was probably going to try and organise after-yoga dinners or something. "Oh how sweet! Some sister in law bonding time!" Emma gushed, my relaxed post-yoga mood starting to slip away. "Anyway Emma I'm afraid we need to get going, I have to get to the kids and Belle has an early start tomorrow" Mel exclaimed as she picked up both her and my things, gesturing for me to start walking. "Oh, oh okay darling. I wanted to ask if you were free on the weekend at all? Perhaps we could get the little angels together for a play date". Oh here we go. "It can be at my house if you like, they can use the cinema room or---". I pressed my lips together to stop myself from laughing again, Mel subtly trying to push me towards the door. "Actually Emma, Ed and I are flat out this weekend" Mel interjected, cutting off Emma, "Let's talk about it at school and we can pencil something in then" Mel added with a cheesy smile, waving as we got further away. "Darling are you sure we can't schedule something no---?" Emma asked, practically having to shout across the room as she pulled her diary out of her very expensive looking Chanel handbag. Mel shook her head, "Sorry Emma, we have to run!". I smiled and Mel and l gave our final waves, stepping out the door and leaving Emma standing in the middle of the yoga room with her play date-less diary open in her hands.

---

Henry's POV:

I flopped down on the couch and lifted my feet onto the coffee table, letting out an exhausted sigh as I felt my whole body sink into the plush material. I ran my fingers through my damp post-shower hair and looked down at the mass gainer protein shake on the table with disdain. Ugh. I really didn't feel like stomaching the one-thousand calorie shake, especially after the massive dinner I'd just eaten. I let out another heavy sigh, ah the perks of being Superman. I reached for the shake and flipped open the cap, taking a long sip of the sweet, chocolate liquid. I swallowed noisily. At least it didn't taste too bad. I picked up the TV remote and flicked on my huge TV, Kal's face suddenly appearing in the lounge room entrance to my left. My bear. "Come here boy" I said patting the empty space beside me, watching as he wandered over and jumped up onto the couch.  He circled a few times before lying down in a tight ball next to me, letting out a heavy sigh as he rested his head on his paws. I chuckled and reached out to stroke his fluffy head. It had apparently been a tough day for the bear. 

I flicked through the channels and stopped on an old episode of Luther, dropping the TV remote and picking up my phone instead. I scrolled through Instagram for a minute or two, all of a sudden remembering the video I'd taken this morning of Kal playing with Kyah, the dog we'd met on our morning walk. Flicking back and opening the video, I smiled as the two dogs chased and nipped each other playfully on the screen, both of their big, fluffy tails wagging happily as they ran. I watched as Kyah barked and dropped down to play, Kal returning her bark and chasing her down the end of the field. A soft, musical laugh could be heard just before the video ended, my mind instantly filling with thoughts of her. Belle.

The moment I'd looked up at her face after running to catch Kal, I'd had to immediately fight the urge to stare. The first thing I noticed were her eyes - they were a brilliant pale green, the colour made even sharper by the anger that had been so clearly evident on her face. I'd been positive that she was going to yell at me, scold me for being so irresponsible with Kal, and then it happened, the recognition. I'd seen it on her face, just like I had with so many before. The anger had melted away and the sharp green of her eyes had faded, leaving behind a soft, pale jade that seemed even brighter than before. I'd braced myself for the inevitable screams - "You're Superman!", "It's you!, "Oh my God!, but they never came. Instead came a smile that made me stop in my tracks, a smile that lit up her entire face and made her beautiful green eyes crinkle at the sides. It was a sight that in that moment, I could have sworn I could have looked at forever.

I shook my head. It wasn't often that I saw a woman who made me stop and stare like that, but when I did, it was like getting hit by a freight train. I'd since found myself thinking about her ever since I'd watched her walk away in the park this morning, the image of her wide green eyes and gorgeous smile invading my thoughts at random moments throughout the day. The look on her face when she'd told me all about her job had been nothing short of stunning, the love and passion that she had for her work more than evident in the way that she spoke. If there was one thing that I found attractive in a woman, it was passion. She'd spoken so animatedly and even though I knew she knew exactly who I was, she'd acted almost completely indifferent to it. Yet another thing that I found completely endearing.

Though I'd wanted to, I'd stopped myself from asking her out for a drink before she'd left this morning, not wanting to come across as too forward. I'd misread situations like that before - not realising how overwhelming it must be be to asked out on a date by a famous person, and instead often wound up scaring them off inadvertently. Then there was also the flip side - a woman could act completely indifferent to my fame but as soon as I'd ask them out they would turn into die-hard, squealing fan girls. Something I was definitely not attracted to. If there was one thing that I disliked about my job and the status that came with it, it was this. Creating meaningful, fulfilling relationships - real relationships, was inconceivably difficult . And love? I was beginning to believe that that was almost  impossible. As hard and as frustrating as it was, I knew I had to take things slow and get to know Belle a little more first. Apart from being a vet and owning an adorable Alaskan Malamute named Kyah, I really knew nothing about her. I had however noted that she hadn't been wearing a ring, though I had no idea if she was even single - highly unlikely given how smart and utterly gorgeous she was. I sighed, the more I thought about her, the more I realised just how much I wanted to see her again. 

I'd even gone out and bought a travel mug on my way home from a meeting today, wanting to replace the one that she'd broken because of Kal. I could only hope that she'd be at the park tomorrow - after all she did say that she was going to start going there more often. But what if she wasn't? I let out a heavy breath, wondering if maybe I should have just asked her out for a drink. Regret began to cloud my mind and I shook my head, frustrated. What if I really had missed my opportunity because I was too focused on trying to take it slow? You're an idiot Henry! 

I looked back down at my phone in an effort to clear my head, pressing play on the video again and watching the two dogs run across the screen. Kal's ears pricked at the sound of the barking on my phone and I smiled, reaching over to ruffle his furry head. I decided to upload the video to Instagram, my manager Dany's constant nagging to 'show the fans more Henry' suddenly running through my head. She'd been badgering me for months, relentlessly reminding me that I had to create more of an online presence on social media. Here, I thought as I tapped the upload button, this should keep her quiet for at least a week or two. She did always seem to mention that posts of Kal quite well. The video finishing uploading and I watched as the first likes and comments appeared less than a second later, the 'I love you's' and 'Kal is so adorable' comments already filling the feed. Not wanting to deal with them right now, I locked my phone and dropped it on the couch, picking up the TV remote and flicking over to the Sports channel. I'd reply to a few comments later - yet another thing that Dany was constantly nagging me to do. 

I let out another sigh and chuckled when Kal did the same a moment later, watching as he shifted on the couch and rested his head on my legs. My face softened, my bear. I smiled and turned back to the TV to watch the rugby highlights from the weekend, my mind once again filling with thoughts of Belle. I found myself wondering what she was doing and what she was thinking about, and more importantly, if she was thinking about me as much as I had been thinking about her. I shook my head knowing I was being ridiculous - I was pining over a girl that I'd met for all of twenty-five minutes. Get yourself together man. I ran my fingers through my hair again, frustrated, silently hoping that she'd meant what she'd said and would be at the park at the park tomorrow. All I could do, I decided as I shifted on the couch and looked down at Kal, was wait and see.

---

Belle's POV:

"Cup of tea Belle?" Mel called out loudly, poking her head around the kitchen wall and looking down at me as I sat on the couch with Lola in my lap. Lola had just finished telling me all about her day at school today, about how someone had brought in their pet rabbit and how they'd all gotten to pat it. "Yeah sure. Just the usual please!" I replied with a shout, turning back to Lola and smiling as I watched her take silly pictures of herself with my phone. I chuckled silently, she was always adding to the ever-growing collection of Lola-selfies that  plagued my phone - and even though it meant that I was forever running out of space, I could never bring myself to delete any of them. With her big blue eyes, porcelain skin and mousey blonde hair, Lola was absolutely gorgeous.

"You too Aunty B! You make a face too!" she exclaimed happily, holding up my phone so that the two of our faces were now in the screen. I stuck out my tongue and Lola pouted adorably, the two of us taking a handful of photos each with different expressions. I crossed my eyes over and grinned when Lola let out a shriek of laughter at my face, shaking my head at her when she doubled over into a fit of giggles moments later, unable to control her laughs.

"Can you shutup!?" Jake yelled suddenly, turning around to glare at Lola and I behind him. Apparently we were laughing too loud and interrupting his favourite TV show. My eyebrows shot up in shock, "Excuse me! Do not use that tone or those words with me Jakey boy" I shot back at my 9-going-on-18 year old nephew. Lola was still giggling away beside me, completely oblivious to her brother. Jake squished his face up into a frown, clearly unhappy about being told off. "But i'm trying to watch TV!". "Okay, well next time, how about you say, 'Lola can you please be quiet' instead of 'can you shutup!?" I exclaimed, imitating his words and looking at him pointedly. 

"Jake mate, don't speak to your Aunty or your sister like that" Edward interjected suddenly, walking into the lounge room and placing my tea down on the coffee table in front of me, "Your show is over now anyway, so it's bed time. You too Lolly" he added turning around and looking at Lola who was now engrossed in a game on my phone. "Thanks Ed" I said as I looked over at Lola, shaking my head as I watched her - five years old and could navigate my phone with absolutely no issues. Kids these days. "C'mon, say goodnight to Aunty Belle" Ed said, switching the TV channel and waiting for Jake to get up from his spot on the floor, "Lola you too. Off the phone. Now". Lola let out a heavy sigh and looked up at me with wide blue eyes, my phone still in her hands. I laughed and shook my head "Nah uh, don't look at me like that miss. Listen to your dad". She handed over my phone with painstaking slowness - like it was the most difficult thing in the world, and stood up from the couch, standing on her tip toes and kissing my cheek. "Goodnight Aunty B". I smiled, "Goodnight sweetheart". Jake trudged over and gave me a quick, reluctant hug, letting out a loud whine when I pulled him in for a tickle and forced a noisy kiss onto his cheek . I laughed and let him go, a wide smile plastered to his face despite desperately trying to wipe his cheek with the back of his hand. "Goodnight buddy. Love you" I whispered with a wink, watching as his smile grew even bigger than before. I knew that deep down, I was his favourite Aunty - he was just going through one of those 'I'm a big boy phases' and wanted to act tough. He grinned cheekily, "Goodnight Aunty Belle. Love you too".

---

I pulled back the duvet and crawled into bed, raising a disapproving eyebrow when Kyah jumped up on the bed after me. "Should you be there miss?". She paced in a circle before lying down at my feet, looking up at me with wide, liquid eyes. She was quite literally giving me the puppy dog eyes. I sighed, defeated. There was no winning when she brought out the puppy eyes. "This is not going to become a regular thing okay?" I said to her as I leaned back against my pillows, raising an eyebrow when she let out a heavy sigh in response. I shook my head and picked up my phone, realising that I was once again talking to my dog like a crazy person, as if she could actually understand the words coming out of my mouth. Okay, it's official, I have issues. 

I opened Instagram and began to scroll through my feed, pictures and videos of friends from uni, people from back home in Australia and some of my favourite celebrities flicking past my eyes. I double tapped a photo that Ash, one of my best friends from my Thursday night netball team had just posted - a picture of her and her twin brother Jamie hugging before he left for the army. Ash had been talking about it for weeks. She and Jamie were almost inseparable and I knew she'd been absolutely dreading his departure. I was having dinner with her and Jayde, another friend from netball tomorrow night after our game. Knowing how down Ash would be about her brother leaving, Jayde and I had organised a girls night dinner at Ash's favourite dumpling restaurant hoping to take her mind off her Jamie. My face softened as I thought about my friend, knowing that at this very moment she was more than likely curled up in bed and crying profusely.  

I continued to scroll mindlessly through my feed, finding nothing particularly interesting until a picture caught my eye and I had to flick back up to see it properly. Wait a second, what? Did I see that right? I realised that the picture was a video when it suddenly began to move, the feeling of deja vu instantly settling over me as I watched the very familiar scene play on the screen in front of me. It was...Kyah! My eyes widened as I looked up at her and back at the phone, my mind struggling to believe what I was seeing as I watched her run across the screen. I looked down at the caption and felt my stomach flip flop, every thought from my early morning celebrity encounter instantly flooding my brain. Henry.

'Just the bear being social on his morning walk. Already missing his new friend Kyah #AmericanAkita #Kal #AlaskanMalamute' the caption read. I shook my head incredulously. Henry Cavill had posted a video of our dogs together. My eighteen year old inner fan girl was throwing her arms up with glee, grinning ecstatically and dancing around on the spot. I took a breath in and exhaled loudly, forcing myself to remain calm. You're 29 years old B. Get a grip. The post had over a million likes and more than twenty thousand comments, despite being posted less than an hour ago. Curious, I tapped the 'read all' button and scrolled through the comments, wanting to know what his fans were saying.

Most of the comments said how adorable Kal was or how much they loved Henry, a small smile growing on my face when I saw that some of them even mentioned Kyah. "You're famous girl" I whispered softly, Kyah opening one lazy brown eye and glancing up at me briefly. I wondered idly if I should comment myself - after all he'd posted a video of my dog, my fingers hovering above the screen as I thought about what I should say. 'Kyah's missing her new friend too!'. No, that sucks. 'Can't wait for more play dates!'. I snorted, absolutely not. I needed to write something that wasn't so cringe worthy. Something sweet and casual. C'mon B. Think! I closed my eyes and exhaled loudly, deciding to type the first thing that popped into my head  'Kyah loved playing with Kal! It was a pleasure to meet you both'. 

I added a smiley face at the end of my comment and tapped the post button, wondering if Henry would even see it as I exited out of the app and swiped across to turn on my alarm for the morning. Unlike yesterday, the thought of getting up at the crack of dawn didn't make me groan with disdain. The thought of seeing Henry again filled me with excitement, my mind flooding with the memory of his beautiful blue eyes and perfectly chiselled jaw. Mmm. Though he'd alluded that he'd be at the park in the morning, I had no idea if he'd even be there. I mean, he probably said that to all the random girls he met - why would I be the exception? The man was Superman after all, and one of the most attractive men in the world. I shook my head as I picked up my charger cord and plugged it into my phone, knowing that I'd have to lower my expectations. There was a high chance that he wouldn't be at the park tomorrow, and an even higher chance that I'd never see him again. Though I'd be disappointed, I knew I couldn't let it get to me. 

I put my phone down on my bedside table and flicked off my side lamp, lying back down on my pillow and settling into bed. I couldn't stop thinking about Henry and his unbelievably handsome smile, all of a sudden feeling like I was sixteen years old again with a high school crush. I smiled to myself in the dark - it had been a long time since I'd had a crush on someone. My thoughts were interrupted when my phone suddenly vibrated loudly on the side table, my eyes slowly opening as I debated whether I should see what it was. Unable to help myself I reached over and picked up my phone, squinting as my eyes adjusted to the bright light and the words on the screen finally came into focus. 'henrycavill has requested to follow you'.

-

Chapter 4

[classicdaisycalico]

"We'll figure this out" for luigi/Daisy

Angst/fluff Prompt List

Okay so some brief Italian lessons before we begin:

Castello di Flora = translates to “Flora’s Castle” (lit. “Castle of Flora”)Un colpo di fulmine = colloquialism for “love at first sight” (lit. “a lightning bolt”)

Luigi and Daisy, “We’ll Figure This Out”

***

Between fleeing the country in the aftermath of Tatanga’s invasion and staying in the Mushroom Kingdom during her citizens’ recovery efforts, Princess Daisy was initially very homesick. She missed the scorching western desert heat of Birabuto, the peaceful southern beaches of Muda, the rolling hills and rocky cliffs of Easton, and the blistering northern mountain winds of Chai. She missed her parents, and she missed their home, which ended up being destroyed during the attacks.

Now, after a fair amount of time, she had been arranged to meet them at their new residence, the historic Castello di Flora. As its name implied, the castle was once the residence of Daisy’s distant ancestor from several centuries ago, a queen named Flora who reigned over a newly unified Easton.

For Daisy, returning to Sarasaland should have been exciting. Now, there was a new issue: she hadn’t counted on how much it would hurt leaving the Mushroom Kingdom.

She hadn’t been back in years, and wanted to explore every inch of how much Toad Town and its surrounding neighborhoods had changed since her last visit. It had been Peach’s idea first, and Mario was more than happy to bring her there, the latter of whom she ended up striking a very good friendship with. Peach, in the meantime, was ecstatic to host her sister-in-arms again, and Daisy was just as thrilled to stay with her during that time.

Then, of course, there was Luigi, a completely unexpected surprise. She hadn’t arrived to the Mushroom Kingdom looking for love, but a chance encounter with the young plumber outside of Peach’s castle was all it took. That encounter early in the afternoon turned into an unofficial first date, followed up by an official second the day after. Following that came a bouquet of flowers at her doorstep and a dance in the rain that subsequently lead to their first kiss. They were exclusive ever since.

It was now the evening before Daisy was scheduled to leave. The two of them were sitting at the top of a hill providing a beautiful view of the Mushroom City skyline, a callback to the end of their aforementioned first date. That evening, they stayed out to watch the sun set and for the first of the stars to appear before returning home. Sitting next to him, hand in hand, gave her plenty of time for reflection as the hours ticked away.

Truth be told, the princess was not one to dwell on the notion of love at first sight, she hadn’t expected that sort of thing to happen to her. In fact, she was almost repulsed by the idea, given her history with Tatanga and several other self-centered sons of prominent government officials vying for her affections in the past. Now that she had experienced it for herself, however, the thought nearly frightened her.

Suddenly she understood why love at first sight was so rare to come by: whenever it happened, everything surrounding love was far more intense than normal. Sparks didn’t fly, but fireworks did. First dates, which were usually planned at least a day in advance, were now completely rushed and on-the-fly, often operating on a wing and a prayer. And forget about pre-kiss tension; it didn’t exist in the event of, as Luigi described it in his native Italian, a lightning bolt.

Un colpo di fulmine, it was called. At least that saying was a little bit more reassuring. It meant that love could be found from looking at somebody either one time or one thousand times. Conversely, “love at first sight” was just that: the first sight, and there was so much pressure for everything else after that to be just as perfect.

But that was the problem. Nothing was ever truly perfect.

She sighed sadly, earning the attention of the green-clad young man next to her. “Is something wrong?”

How could she answer with so much running through her mind all at once? The princess instead looked out into the horizon. “...There’s just so much to unpack,” she said, hesitantly.

A corner of his mouth ticked upward in a faint smile. “Unpack? I thought that was for AFTER you get home, not before.”

The princess couldn’t help but giggle. Leave it to Luigi to make her laugh, no matter how corny the joke. Still, it wasn’t enough to diffuse her sour mood, and the plumber was quick to catch on. “I’m serious. What is it?”

Again, she let out a melancholy sigh, unable to ignore the elephant in the room any longer. “It’s the fact that I’m literally leaving tomorrow morning,” she answered. “I never had any real friends in Sarasaland. Coming here and being with Peach and everybody else made me the happiest I’ve been in a long time.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “Now that I’m going back home, it’s gonna feel like everything I’ve ever built up in the Mushroom Kingdom will disappear in the blink of an eye.”

He tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to forget this.” She gestured outward with her free hand. “The memories, the friendships...everything. I guess I’m just afraid everybody else will, eventually.”

It really hurt Luigi to see the princess like this. Still, seeing this normally cheerful and optimistic lady in such a somber mood brought to mind similar fears of his own, fears of being left alone or forgotten, left in the dust.

Thankfully, Mario always gave him some good advice to curb these doubts. “You’ve known Peach for...how long?”

“Since before I could even remember. The both of us were probably still teething when we first met.”

“Well, she wouldn’t forget you, would she? Not after the two of you have been such good friends your whole lives.”

“I know Peach would remember. But what about Mario?”

“He’ll remember Sarasaland for days to come,” the plumber replied. “I hear him say every day that he wants to go back again...when there’s been enough recovery, obviously.”

“Well...” she began, “it would definitely explain all the questions he had about the provinces. And their history. And their cultures. And their people. And their creatures...”

“The list goes on. There’s no way he’ll forget. Not for a long time.”

“Yeah.”

Her eyebrows suddenly furrowed in thought. “And then, of course...there’s one more person.”

“Oh?”

“Someone special...” Daisy mused. “He’s really quiet before you get to know him. And shy. PAINFULLY shy. But underneath it all is a guy who’s as kind, honest, and sweet as anyone could ever be.”

She laced his fingers through his. “He’s not afraid to be sensitive or emotional. And in my opinion, that’s the bravest thing any guy can do.”

The princess saw Luigi nervously scratching the back of his head, knowing full well he was catching on to what she was saying. “He’s also extremely handsome, especially in green.”

And there it was, a twinge of red in his cheeks. “Stop that,” he laughed, trying not to stutter over his words. “I’ve heard enough.”

“But YOU won’t forget, will you?”

He sat there for a moment, looking at her, eventually letting his hand brush away a stubborn strand of hair threatening to obscure his view of her bright green eyes. “Why would I ever want to?”

He let his fingers lightly trace over the outline of her face before letting his hand rest over her cheek. “You’re my lightning bolt.”

Her own hand reached up and held on to his. In moments like these, rather than say anything back, she let the words linger, so she could take in their meaning. In the time she had known Luigi, she knew he was not much of a talker, but when he was, he never minced his words. Everything he said carried depth, and lots of it. This was no exception.

She closed the gap between them and kissed him. It was nothing like their first kiss on that rainy evening; there was no desperation, no awkwardness, no bottled-up feelings to resolve. It was simply a small show of affection she knew he’d appreciate.

The way he slowly found the courage to kiss her back let her know she was right.

After letting it linger for a few seconds, they pulled back, his hand still cupping her face gently. “Will you write, at least?”

“I don’t know how often...”

She wrapped an arm around him and drew him in for a hug, her head now resting snugly against his chest. “We’ll figure this out. Together.”

[enderrosa]

Rival

((Another one from @oc-growth-and-development‘s prompts~ This is probably the first time I’ve ever used Ederich’s POV. He’s such a pure soul ^.^;;) 

Sir Ederich did not expect an herbalist to hit so hard. But then, he had never met an herbalist quite like Sandaine d’Arce. He had spotted the man watching his recruits, sharp yellow eyes following the movements far more clearly than any novice, and had called him up with the intent of letting the recruits have outside insight. Sir Ederich was proud of his ability to read skill, after all. But he wondered if even the goddess Andara herself could have forseen how this would turn out. 

“Clearly you have muscle under those sleeves after all,” he said, grinning wide as Sandaine parried his thrust. “Ah, well played, sir.” 

Sandaine mirrored his smile far more sharply, teeth gleaming as white as Ederich’s parade armor as he danced back out of reach. “You may recall I never actually claimed otherwise,” he replied. “Just that they were far outshone by yours.” 

“Quite so, so you did.” Sir Ederich ducked a sweeping slash. Sandaine moved faster than he expected as well. He was learning a good deal today. “I do apologize if this is interrupting your plans for the afternoon.” 

Sandaine deflected the next slash one-handed and spared a dismissive wave with his free hand as Ederich’s sword slithered past. “Never fear, my lord. I can always spare a little time and bruises.”

“Ha! Well said. Ach!” Sir Ederich stumbled back a step as Sandaine caught him in the elbow with the flat of his blade. “I see my recruits could learn a lot from you.” 

The smile would have looked quite wolfish in a less clean-shaven face. “At your word, sir. My point?”

He had preferred real swords over the wooden practice sticks as well, and spent a good few minutes weighing and testing the selection before taking one apparently at random. Full of surprises, this one. 

“Your flat, thankfully,” Sir Ederich replied, earning an obliging chuckle from his opponent and a groan from one of the bolder and less spellbound recruits. Alright, his wordplay was terrible. No matter, he could work on it. “One to one?” 

“One to one,” Sandaine agreed. His cheekbone was beginning to show a startlingly red-black bruise where Ederich had caught him in the first exchange. (He insisted it was fine--nothing broken had been his exact words. Sir Ederich was beginning to learn that he had to pay very close attention to this man’s exact words.)

Ederich took a ready stance again. Sandaine mirrored it. He had done much mirroring so far. Not a single movement had been something unfamiliar, something the recruits had not drilled this very morning. The realization struck hard, and surprised Sir Ederich more than anything. Sandaine was performing, he realized. It was all a lesson. 

“Your stance is slipping,” Sandaine pointed out politely with a light gesture at Sir Ederich’s arm. 

Ederich laughed ruefully and shook his head. “A good deal is slipping. Will you humor me?” he asked. When Sandaine raised an eyebrow, he continued, “It might be good for the recruits to broaden their horizons.” 

“Ah. As you like.” Sandaine’s stance shifted completely. The formality dropped, as did his sword point. 

The recruits murmured. Had he given up? Was that hit against Sir Ederich just luck? What’s wrong with him, he’s leaving himself wide open. 

Sir Ederich frowned. A ploy, perhaps. Sandaine’s faint smile held no answers. He had seen more readable statues. But he was ready enough. Sir Ederich stepped forward. 

Sandaine ducked the first swing, flicked his free hand forward to catch the corner of Ederich’s eye and make him pause for just a blink, stepped back from the backswing--clearly Ederich expected him to have upped his game. Good for him. Some of the recruits began to jeer, though the drill captains quickly silenced them. They hadn’t gathered to watch a dance, though, and Sandaine looked like he was trying to mimic the court jester, ducking and bobbing, feinting but never truly striking. Ah, let them. 

I am likely too old for this, Sandaine mused as he stepped aside again. Too old for playing with children. Another feint, but Ederich was wise to that one now and Sandaine had to skip back far faster than he liked. Too tired, too, he admitted to himself, bringing his own sword up. 

The yard went silent as Sandaine stopped, echo of a metal crash ringing off the castle stones. He showed almost no effort, braced under his taller opponent’s sword, flat of his blade supported by the back of his free arm. No one had ever stopped Sir Ederich in a contest of strength. 

Just to make his point, Sandaine shifted a little, indicating how easily he could send Sir Ederich’s sword sliding off and away from himself, how his free hand could produce a spare dagger and aim there or there, or engage in a sweet variety of other nasty little tricks to ruin the knight commander’s day. 

And he did it subtly, so that to the recruits, it just looked like a simple disengagement. 

Sir Ederich actually smiled. “A fine parry,” he said, offering Sandaine his hand in acceptance. “I may have to ask you in another day to teach that to my recruits.” 

“Thank you, sir,” Sandaine said. He accepted the handshake and winced just a little theatrically in the knight’s firm grip. “I may have to decline if they also insist on rattling my poor bones.” 

Ederich chuckled. “Do not worry. I will remind them to be gentle. And,” he added more quietly, looking at the ground, where only his boots had left skids in the dust from the strain of that parry, and Sandaine’s had not moved at all. “I think you would not be too bothered if they did.” 

Sandaine’s smile returned, showing his teeth again and setting his eyes glinting in the midmorning sun. “Who can say?” 

“Well, I will not keep you.” Sir Ederich clapped him on the shoulder, and there were no theatrics in the wince this time. His hand was heavy. “You must be tired, no?” 

“Perhaps a little.” Sandaine dusted himself off and bowed, returning his sword to a nervous page. 

Ederich watched the boy hurry over to return the blade to its owner, then looked back at the dark and scarlet bruise on Sandaine’s face. Almost like a burn. A burn from Ederich’s cold iron sword… “We can use wood next time,” he offered softly, words almost lost under the bustle of recruits resuming their training. “I will have a pair made to suit the strength and balance as you like.” 

Sandaine stiffened, and touched the bruise. Ah. Yes. But… “Next time?” He looked up, and was surprised by the sheer force, humor, and good will in Ederich’s smile. 

“If you’ll have it,” the knight said. He kept his voice quiet. “I would relish another chance to cross swords with you.” 

Sandaine felt his tired body relax, tension fading as cold from his fingertips sank into his cheek. “I’ll play fair next time,” he promised. Mischief turned his eyes young and ancient. “But I promise nothing for the time after that.” 

Ederich laughed. “I would have nothing less.” He turned back toward the recruits, then called back over his shoulder, “We practice here every morning, dawn to noon, should your path carry you this way.” 

Sandaine bowed again and collected his empty basket from the edge of the field. Back to the shop, he’d need cream for his face, and Doctor Regulus wanted more myrtle before dusk… So much to do today. But he could not quite take the excitement out of his smile. Tomorrow was another story. Too old for playing with children, yes. But no one said I cannot have a little fun. 

[raywritesthings]

WIP game

Hi everyone! So as part of my effort to better update readers on my ongoing writing projects as well as a sort of gift to you all (just had my own birthday this last week), I thought I’d do a WIP game. The only problem is, most WIP games are for one or two WIPs, which I have...more than that.

So, I’ve decided to post the first snippet of every single one of my WIPs (multichapter-wise anyway) and let you, my readers/followers, decide what to ask based on what you read! Each snippet will be numbered, so just send the number and whatever you want to ask about it. Hopefully this will be fun. Here goes:

1. On the island, split second decisions had been the difference between life and death, and there had never been time to worry about the moral implications. That had always come later. But Oliver already hated himself for what he was about to do. There was only one way off this roof that would ensure his safety and his identity. One way to survive.

2.  Laurel tried not to pace behind Curtis’ back as she watched him work on the device Cisco had made her only a year ago. Since that initial model, it had undergone various updates, but this was to be the most experimental. It also counted the most; Oliver continued to writhe on the exam table in unimaginable pain. If this didn’t work, they’d lose him for good, and Laurel was never going to be ready for that to happen.

3.  The city was as quiet as it ever was when they exited out the back of the base to where Oliver had parked his car. It was large and black with a pair of shovels thrown in the trunk still caked in dirt. The dirt over her grave. Laurel shivered.

4. After five long years away and all the time he had had for regrets and thinking about how he wanted to make amends, Oliver knew exactly where he needed to be when he returned to Starling City. He didn’t get the chance to act on that plan until Tommy asked him what he had missed most on their driving tour of the city. “Laurel.” His best friend barked a laugh and scratched at his ear. “Yeah, uh, problem with that plan. Laurel’s not here anymore.”

5. “I’ll be heading out early tomorrow to meet with Oliver and the others, so I should get some sleep. Goodnight, mom.” Laurel Lance did not know it, but those were to be the last words she would say on her Earth for a long time.

6. She woke up. That was the easy part. Tired and sore, a little weak, but alive. She woke up. Oliver was there just as he had been when she’d started to feel herself slip away. He had tears in his eyes. Laurel tried to reach out a hand, but the best she could do was sort of turn her arm over palm-up. “Hey.” He smiled, just a stretch of the lips, and he echoed her with a soft, “Hey. How are you feeling?” “Tired. I’m not out of the woods yet, I guess.” “Well, the doctors think that we’re past the worst of it. You’re stable.” His eyes were still sad. Something was wrong.

7. 1994 She wondered some nights where the time went. It seemed like only an eye blink had passed from the day she’d first arrived in Starling City to the day she co-owned a home; three bed, two bath, and a husband and two children that filled it. It felt like a dream sometimes, a not quite real thing.

8. It was an otherwise unremarkable day. The Doctor and Martha had ended up a few years into her personal future, which he ordinarily tried to avoid. But lizards were notoriously difficult to schedule, particularly when it came to their hatchlings. They’d been on the chase all afternoon, on foot for most of it. As time had quickly begun to run out, however, he’d flagged down a taxi.

9.  Donna Noble was going to die. Not even forty, jobless, unmarried. Exactly the failure her mum had said she was going to be. She wasn’t single, but of course she doubted her mum would count an alien boyfriend as a success. At least she was going down in the TARDIS. She’d decided to spend the rest of her life traveling in this box, but she hadn’t thought that would come true so soon.

10. It took quite a bit of convincing to get Donna’s mother to let them all in the house. Even just to open the door a crack so they could try to convince her. “I mean, what even are they?” She hissed through the gap. “They’re the Ood, and they’re nice,” Donna said. “Seriously, that can feel a bit hard to find sometimes. Might as well appreciate it.” “Hold on, what do you mean hard to find?” The Doctor turned to regard Donna now instead. “I’m the first alien you ever met, and I’m nice.”

11. Jenny saw the gun and didn’t even think twice. It wasn’t the soldier’s instinct that overtook her in that moment, but something stronger. “No!” She pushed herself in front of her dad just as the shot rang out, and something impacted her chest. Jenny staggered, her mouth falling open. All that training and conditioning in her head since the minute she’d been born, and none of it had prepared her for this. She felt herself fall, but never hit the ground. Someone had caught her. It was her dad.

12.  When Donna found herself alive again in the proper universe, she was more than a little disoriented. Some bug was on the ground that she both did and didn’t recognize, and the fortune teller woman who had started this whole mess fled before Donna could do much more than demand, “What the hell is that?”

13. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw third years sat nervous and excited at their desks, waiting for the start of class. Their latest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had told them today was to be a practical lesson unlike any they’d ever had before. “It’s no good just knowing what the Unforgivables are,” the grizzled ex-Auror had stated, pacing the aisles with a wooden thump to every step. “You need to be ready for what you’ll be up against. You need to feel just how hard of a fight it will be. And no curse is harder to fight than the Imperius.”

14.  It was fast approaching Christmas at Grimmauld Place, and Harry was only belatedly taking the time to notice. While the first portion of the holidays had been consumed by fear and guilt after the attack on Mr. Weasley, and then fear and guilt for his own possible possession, he could now finally start to relax thanks to his friends knocking some sense back into him. Well, it was Ginny who had really done most of the work on that; he’d been both surprised at how easily she’d managed to allay his worries, yet also ashamed that he’d completely disregarded her ability to do so until she’d forcibly reminded him.

15. Harry wasn’t even aware of climbing the stairs to the seventh floor. All he could concentrate on was the pounding in his skull courtesy of yet another useless Occlumency lesson. He grunted the password at the Fat Lady’s portrait and stumbled into Gryffindor common room. The fire was already burning low, and the room appeared empty. He’d been hoping to find Hermione downstairs in order to beg to take a look at her Charms essay that was due tomorrow which he hadn’t even started yet. Picturing her scandalized look at the idea, however, Harry thought it was probably good she wasn’t here. He dragged his feet over to the armchairs near the fire. Ron was likely waiting to see he got back from Snape’s dungeon, but Harry knew if he went up to his bed he wouldn’t be able to force himself to do his homework in time for class. He was about to drop into his favorite armchair when a quiet, “Hey, Harry,” had him jumping and whirling around.

So that’s it (that’s a lie, actually, but some of my WIPs are only tiny, incoherent and out of order snippets so there wasn’t enough to scrape together for this post). Hopefully one or multiple catch your interest, and feel free to ask any and all questions because my ask box is wide open!

[dicebox]

Paying it Forward (Fic)

Brawdr raised his shield in plenty of time to catch his attacker’s blow, hardly even needing to think about it. There was potential there, sure, but his opponent had a lot more to learn. “Your every swing screams louder than you do, short-stack!”

His opponent, a twelve-year-old girl with messy black hair and a stern expression, looked even more stern when she frowned. Brawdr stifled a laugh. It was rare that he could call a human short, even a young human, but he had a good six inches on the child. Brawdr was on the tall end of dwarven height, and he wasn’t sure this Crestwind girl was ever going to be that much taller than him. Still, for all she still telegraphed her weightier strikes, she was coming along well for someone Brawdr had first seen hitting a lamp post with a stick. 

Brawdr shook his head and raised his practice sword, a gesture that indicated an end to their bout. “You got that swat and riposte move down, anyway. Let’s see how well you retain it after a day’s running about. Off with you; I’m sure your folks got chores for you.”

Young Crestwind looked disappointed, but she raised her own practice blade to acknowledge the end of combat. She slid the blade into her belt, slung her practice shield across her back, and gave Brawdr one of her rare smiles – a flash of small, solid teeth with awkward warmth at the edges. “See you tomorrow, Brawdr,” she said, before heading off to the more residential parts of town; to her family, their bakery, and her tiny fluffball of a dog. To a life she was making every preparation to leave behind her for more exciting things as soon as she could get away with it. 

Brawdr watched her go, shaking his head. “Kid’s got no notion of what she’s getting herself into.”

“So why teach her?” Kallad, a weather-beaten dwarf with a voice as grizzled and rough as his beard, spoke up from the hay wagon he was using as a makeshift day bed. “Didn’t think you went for them that young.”

Brawdr gave Kallad a flat, ice-cold look. “Not like that, you pile of cloaker shit. Kid wanted some lessons. Call it paying it forward. It’d surprise you how much potential teenage human girls can have, if you bring it out of them.”

Kallad frowned at Brawdr over the edge of the hay wagon. “This something to do with what happened to the rest of your Shield-Splitters? ‘Cos you been sitting on that one for two months now.”

“I’m not getting out of this one, am I?” If Brawdr was honest, he didn’t entirely want to. He was going to have to tell that one eventually. The wound in his heart caused by the loss of his squad would fester if he didn’t let the pain flow free.

Still, it was hard. So when Kallad simply fixed Brawdr with a steady expectant look, Brawdr had to take a moment to collect himself with closed eyes and a deep, slightly ragged breath before he could begin.

It was as much shock as anything else that got Brawdr to open his eyes. He hadn’t had another breath in him, and he knew it – some things even a dwarven constitution couldn’t handle, and whatever he’d just drunk was clearly one of those things on top of the rest of his injuries. But there had been another breath, dragged out of him by a feeling of light and cleansing healing that he recognised from the few times he’d had cleric healing. Of course, if we’d had a cleric on this run, when the harpies attacked, we wouldn’t be in this mess.

With an effort to focus his mind back on the present danger, Brawdr turned his attention to what his eyes were telling him. The power that pulled him back from the edge of death, however slightly, was divine, and so was the face in front of him – young, hair that looked like someone spun it from winter sunlight and white gold, eyes the same pale clear blue as a Damyl winter sky. Those eyes started worried but shaded through relief at his breathing to a combination of rage, grief and betrayal at the situation. Brawdr, staggered and almost dead, didn’t understand that expression at all. If he was honest, he didn’t want to.

A voice came from behind her, then: male, gravelly, with the inflections marking a resident of the less prosperous districts of Belarys. “Step away from them, girl. We’ve got looting to do, and a throat to cut. Then we’re going to talk about what you did just then.”

Brawdr, still staggered by the poison, could only watch as the girl – who, he realized when he got a better look at her, couldn’t be more than thirteen – grabbed Trey’s axe and staggered to her feet with it clutched in her hands, a thin human shield between Brawdr and the mid-height portly human and the somewhat pinch-faced woman who was probably his wife, neither of whom seemed to share much in the way of family resemblance to their self-confessed daughter. Brawdr spent little time on that bit of trivia, so shaken was he by the sure and certain knowledge that Trey was dead. He would never have let his axe fall if he lived. Apparently even a half-orc’s ability to bounce back from certain death got trumped by a good solid poison.

Then the girl said something that froze Brawdr’s blood. “Leave them alone, Dad! You don’t get to reward yourself for this! Anyway, we saw your workbench, me and Edrik. He’s taking all the evidence to the guard right now. Run, and maybe you won’t have to go to jail forever.”

The pinch-faced woman grumbled a particularly nasty string of profanities while the man lunged forward too fast for the girl to so much as raise the axe in self-defense. Her father slapped the axe out of her hands with one hand and grabbed her wrist with the other. For all the girl dragged her heels on the boards of the airship docking tower, it wasn’t enough, and Brawdr could only watch as the man flung his own daughter off the edge of the tower, towards the ocean-side cliff face and its jagged rocks hundreds of feet below.

The man turned away from the murder of his daughter, producing a knife from seemingly nowhere … and then the sky lit up behind him and the teenage girl with the faintly celestial look rose to the platform, borne away from her death by a pair of ephemeral white-gold wings. The three still-living people on the dock stared as she landed next to the axe, picked it up again and stood, wings bent in an unconscious mantling gesture of protection. “Leave. Them. Alone, Dad.”

The man backed away in the general direction of his wife. With a snarl at the winged little girl he’d apparently fathered, he said, “We’ll be back. And you’d better not be here when we are because if I see you again, I finish it with blades, not a fall. I’ll make it stick next time, abomination. I—”

That broke the girl’s badly-fraying calm and left a spark of purest rage, and she bellowed “LEAVE!” at him.

Her parents – her presumed parents – ran. Because apparently they had enough sense to retreat when something that looked so close to divine was that angry at them.

The rage abated quickly after that, and left only a thin, too-blonde girl who turned back to Brawdr on trembling legs. “I’m sorry. About them, and that I couldn’t do more. I … didn’t want Edrik to lose you.” With that, she offered Brawdr a hand. Brawdr took it, noting with amusement that she managed to hold a two-handed battle-axe with one hand while pulling a good-sized dwarf in full armour to his feet with the other. Strong kid, he thought. And I’ve never seen a weapon attune to someone that fast.

The amusement was faint and short-lived, though; it died when he turned around to look at what had become of his team. They all lay sprawled at the foot of the boarding ramp, where the criminal pair had set up their impromptu ‘mercy stall’. Trey, their dim-witted but kind-hearted barbarian whose axe had saved the last of the Shield-splitters even when he himself could not. Ardren, a gnome thief who could vanish surprisingly well for a man with beacon-bright red hair and more freckles than stars in the sky. Jerhen, Brawdr’s shield-brother since they were toddling. Even the newest addition to their band, a lilac-skinned tiefling bard called Mockery, who had been hurt so badly in their fight with the harpies that all they could do was stabilise her until they could get her to a healer … or a potion. Mockery was the only reason they’d bought the potions in the first place. No matter how much Trey wanted to be in fighting shape for a good carouse, they wouldn’t have bought from an untried source if Mockery’s life hadn’t been on the line. Brawdr was the leader. He’d given it the go-ahead. In trying to save Mockery’s life, he’d doomed them all … or almost all.

The girl followed Brawdr’s look and then looked away, disgusted. “This is what my parents do when they need to lie low after a big break-in,” she told him. “Usually it’s just water and some herbs to give it colour and stuff – won’t heal you, but won’t hurt you either. This time … I want to say they used the wrong herbs, but…”

Brawdr shook his head. “This isn’t your fault any more than it is mine, kid. We both just get the consequences. I look for a new crew. You, though … word gets around, and no one in those circles likes a snitch. What’ll you do now?”

The girl shrugged, still not looking at Brawdr – not even when the effort of shrugging reminded her of the weight of two-handed great axe in her hand. She offered it to Brawdr. “Sorry. You should have this back.”

“No. It’s yours now.” Then, watching the ice magic play along the blade of the axe, he smiled a little. “And I think I’ve got an idea of where you can go.”

__________

“North’s not a bad bet, for a kid.” Kallad conceded the wisdom of Brawdr’s eventual decision in a thoughtful sort of way. “The People give everyone who wants one a shot, and clan’s almost like family. Better than the one she had, anyway.”

Brawdr nodded. “Good weapon, a general direction, and all of Trey’s part of the pay. Least I could do. Pretty much literally.” He sighed. “I owe her my life, and I couldn’t take her in. Hell, I had to send Edrik to my in-laws, and they’re racist pricks when it comes to humans.”

After a long moment of silence, Kallad pointed out, “You do know the kid probably wasn’t human, yeah?”

Brawdr pondered the wisdom of flagging up that if his in-laws were pricks about human, they were hardly going to be more accepting of a faintly celestial-looking humanoid with occasional wings. He decided against it, and stuck with, “Not my business what she was, except kind and brave and … well, timely.”

Kallad chewed on his bit of straw for another long, quiet moment before he nodded, conceding the wisdom in that point of view as well. Then he changed the subject, largely out of tact. “So what does this have to do with you teaching the Crestwind girl? Totally different situation there. You hear stories – the Crestwinds are the most stable, balanced parents in the province. Maybe the country. The day they fling their precious little girl off an airship tower is the day I sprout wings and fly.”

“I sent a little girl out with a weapon she was lucky to lift, a bag of gold, and courage for three.” Brawdr heaved himself into the hay wagon at Kallad’s feet. “I think about her sometimes. If she managed. If she even got to the People. Guess you could say it haunts me. The Crestwind girl’s got big plans to shake the dust of her district off her boots soon as she can. So that’s two girls of an age on their own in the world; one by necessity, one by choice. If I couldn’t give the first one the tools she needs to survive out there, I can the second. Paying it forward, maybe.” Then he chuckled. “Besides, bet those two’d run in similar circles, one day. Maybe what I teach Crestwind’ll help that other one, too.”

Kallad, cleric of Istus the Fateweaver, gave a non-committal sort of smile, and said nothing.

[sassycassie-s-writing]

Seal the Promise

By: SassyShoulderAngel319

Fandom/Character(s): DC, Young Justice - Kaldur’ahm/Aqualad

Rating: PG/K+ (for le very minor smoochy-smoochy)

Original Idea: IDK I read this thing and realized I needed to give Kaldur a little love on this blog because he’s a great character.

Notes: (Masterlist)(By Character)(About Me) I literally wrote this in a few hours because it just came to me (the shower is a great place for stimulating creativity). It takes place between S1 and S2 (like maybe 3 years after S1?) because I haven’t seen S3 yet. I feel like this one has the potential for one or two more parts. Any thoughts? @welovegroot (I know it’s not BatFam but we both like YJ so I’m tagging you)

^^^^^

“Psst!” I could have sworn I heard someone whispering my name.

I turned, looking around for the noise. I was alone in the Atlantis magic school courtyard. No one else was there. It was late and I’d been studying for hours, leaving me completely by myself. “He-hello?” I called quietly. “Is someone there?” Slowly I swam over to inspect behind the pillars.

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember this from our childhood,” said a deep voice as a hand closed over my mouth to stop my scream. The arm that belonged to it brushed the gills on my neck.

I gasped through my open gills and whirled around. “Kaldur?!” I hissed. “What—How—why—?!”

Kaldur put his hand over my mouth again. “Shh! No one can know I’m here.”

I pulled away from his hand. “Kaldur what are you doing here? If anyone sees you here you’ll be arrested—”

“I need you to listen to me very carefully. I’m not what Atlantis believes me to be. I’m not actually a traitor. I’m a double agent in order to learn more about Black Manta. No one can know. You cannot tell anyone. Do you understand?”

I nodded. “I got it.”

“Good. Because I need your help. The team on the surface needs your help.”

“Uh… Kaldur… I don’t know if you’ve noticed but… I’m… me. I can’t go to the surface.” I gestured to my long blue fish tail. “I don’t have legs.”

“No, but you’re advanced enough in magic to give yourself legs.”

“Kaldur, I… I don’t know.” I shook my head.

“Please. For me. All you need to do is go to Happy Harbor in New England. It has a massive mountain on the north end of the bay. Tell the one called Nightwing that I sent you. He will immediately know what to do.” He held my forearm and shoulder urgently. “Please.”

I sighed and looked down at his chest. He was dressed almost the way he used to be before he betrayed Atlantis—or rather, “betrayed”—to join Black Manta. But just different enough that no one would initially realize it was him. “I’ll… I’ll try, Kaldur. Because you’re one of my best friends. But… I can’t make any guarantees about how well it may go. Or that I’ll even be… be able to… to give myself legs. What if I can’t get my tail back?”

“I have faith in you,” Kaldur said.

“That makes one of us,” I muttered.

Kaldur reached up and picked up the pearl on my necklace between his forefinger and thumb, twisting it back and forth on its chain before letting it fall on the webbing between his fingers so he could examine it. “I’ve thought of you often since Tula’s death,” he said. I looked away, blinking the sting of sorrow at the memory of loss out of my eyes. He pinched my chin and turned my head to face him again. “I know she was one of your best friends.”

“I’ve thought of you often as well,” I agreed. “And... I know how much you loved her.”

Kaldur’ahm smiled forlornly. “This is where you tell me that my love for her was childish.”

I shook my head. “Not anymore. When we were younger my words on the subject were born of a jaded cynicism my parents imposed on me that I’ve spent years trying to unlearn since I’m naturally more of an optimist. Those words were also, at the time, born of a jealous, selfish desire to have you for my own. A desire that I grew out of.” I met his eyes with honesty. The only lie was that I’d grown out of that desire. I most certainly had not.

My words earned me a gentle grin. “It pleases me to see you so grown-up. Though it saddens me that I’ve not been here to witness it.” He brushed some of my hair out of the way as it drifted through the water.

“Yeah. I… I really missed you, Kaldur,” I said. “It devastated me to hear you betrayed Atlantis.”

“I suspected as much. Hence why I’m telling you the truth now,” he said.

Movement caught my eye. “Oh shrimp,” I hissed.

Campus security.

I pulled my hair and swirled it up to cover my head—and Kaldur’s. I slid my fingers around the back of his neck and pulled him closer to me. “Kiss me,” I whispered.

“I beg your par—“

“Just do it,” I replied. “Trust me.”

He did, letting his lips meet mine. I could feel his fingers tangle in some of my hair. I yanked him and pressed his back against one of the pillars where it would be harder for the guards to see who he was. His bare feet brushed against the scales of my tail as I pushed him firmer against the pillar. With my tail, he and I were the same length. However my torso was much shorter than his so I imagined that if I got legs—which I was fairly certain weren’t as long as my tail and fluke—I would be quite a bit shorter than him.

“You there!” a guard called. “Campus is closed.”

I pretended to be embarrassed at getting caught, pulling away from the kiss with a bubbly sigh out my nose, but keeping my hair upward to block Kaldur’s face from view. “We just, uh, finished studying for our exam that’s tomorrow. We were just… heading home,” I said.

“Well, get a move on,” the other guard said.

“Yes sir!” I said with a bit of a squeak. Both guards kept swimming and disappeared. “C’mon, Kaldur. It’s not safe here for you.”

“It’s not safe for me anywhere in Poseidonis,” Kaldur pointed out as I checked to make sure the coast was clear before pulling him along by the wrist away from the magic school. It could have been the bad night lighting, but I could have sworn he was blushing. I should have given him more warning before ordering him to kiss me.

“There is one place you’re safe here,” I said.

“Is that right? Where?”

“My place.” I swam through the city cautiously before we made it back to the small grotto apartment where I lived after I moved out of my parents’ place. I pushed Kaldur in ahead of me and then shut the door. “It’s not much, but no one ever visits so no one would find you here.”

“Always so kind to me,” Kaldur said. I glanced at him over my shoulder.

“You’re one of my best friends, Kal,” I muttered. If anyone else called him Kal they’d get a water-hammer to the gut. But I’d known him long enough that he begrudgingly let me call him Kal rather than Kaldur.

I opened a storage cupboard and held out some food. “Care to take a meal with me?”

He accepted it. “I would consider it an honor.”

I smiled and floated against the ceiling, letting my back brush it while I ate. Kaldur was used to me being weird and eating on the ceiling so he didn’t comment on it. I preferred the ceiling because I could relax and just float without putting forth any effort to keep me in one place underwater.

“How is Garth?” Kaldur asked quietly after swallowing a bite.

“Still hurting,” I said. “He and Tula were pretty happy together. Losing her cut deep.”

“I understand.”

“You really think I can help your old team on the surface?” I wondered.

“I have no doubt of it. You are a skilled magic-wielder and an incredibly intelligent young woman regardless of your magical prowess. Nightwing will understand why I’ve sent you.”

“What am I supposed to tell the queen when I say I’m not going to show up for lessons? And Garth? And the king? And my parents?”

“I’m sure you will come up with something cleverer than anything I could imagine, but I would recommend you say you wish to do some soul-searching. You could say that you want to broaden your horizons on the surface team for a while if you don’t want to lie too many times. I suppose you could say nothing and just disappear for a while.”

“I could but… if I can’t give myself legs on my own I might need the queen’s help.”

“Indeed,” Kaldur said quietly. I finished my meal and pushed off the ceiling to float near him. I wrapped my arms around his torso and rested my head on his chest.

“I miss you, Kaldur,” I said quietly. I love you, I added silently.

“And I you,” he agreed. His free hand rested on the back of my head. “When all this is over, I promise you and I will take the time to catch up.”

I kissed his cheek. “That seals the promise. We better.”

That earned me an amused chuckle. “We will. I’ve already missed out on too much of your life since I’ve been away.” He kissed my cheek as well. “That seals the promise.” He glanced at the singular glass window in the open living area of my apartment. “I should go before the sun rises. Escape in the cover of darkness.”

“Want me to lead you to the edge of the city?”

“No. I want you to stay safe, here.”

I sighed. “Okay. Just promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I promise.” A kiss of promise was pressed to my forehead. “And when all this is over, I will return to you.”

“You better. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Kaldur. My friends are my everything.”

“I completely understand.” He took my hand in both of his as he swam to the door of my grotto apartment. “I’ll be careful. And I’ll see you again when all this is over.”

“I’ll see you when this is over,” I agreed.

“Thank you for the meal and the company.”

“No problem. Thank... thank you for coming back to see me. And telling me the truth. Oh, and by the way, you’re a really good kisser.”

A faint dusting of pink darkened his skin. “I, uh… thank you.”

“Sure thing,” I said, squeezing his hand.

He smiled, released my hand, and slid out.

I blinked the sting of sorrow at losing him again out of my eyes, sobbing without tears and curling up on the floor of my grotto to release my emotions into the sea around me. Exhaustion after hours of studying didn’t help me either. After a few minutes I swam to my sleeping quarters and passed out. I had my exam tomorrow and then… I guessed I was heading for the surface.

“I won’t let you down, Kal. I promise,” I said, blowing a kiss toward the edge of the city to seal the promise.