#i will check on my hellspawn of an account

[miguel-owhora]

Don’t forget about your other account Mr Owhora!

I haven't forgotten about it, I just get lazy switching between the two 😭

[kkeidawrites]

Ice and Steel

A forewarning: Mentions of child abuse, violence, cruelty towards a child, and familial dispute. If this bothers you please do not read ahead. Thank you on behalf of p3achyheartz and blackreaderstation.

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Chapter 7: A Bruised Heart; Hazel’s Estranged Upbringing

Flashback..

Hazel’s knees met the harsh ground below her and the feeling of blood beginning to seep through the scrape on her once healed scabs surfaced once more.

The taunting laughter from her older brothers made the young girl glare at the ground below her.

“We told you you wouldn’t be able keep up with us! Now look at you!” Akito teased as Daiki laughed.

“You should just stay down like a good little girl!” Daiki chimes in. Hazel’s small fists grip the rocks that laid dormant below her. She made sure that her hands hid the grey stones as she looked up at her brothers defiantly.

“Good little girl?” She clumsily returned to her feet as she continued to glare at her brothers. Her sudden question made them give her a confused look as Hazel gritted her snaggle tooth teeth.

“I’ll show you what ‘a good little girl’ can do!”

Her arms began turning like a wheel as she threw the stones at their intended targets: Daiki and Akito. The boys grunted from the pain of the stones and one ended up hitting Akito in the eye.

He grunts from the pain and falls to his knees clutching his right eye.

“Akito!” Daiki cries out as he kneeled to his brothers side. Blood was falling from the right side of his head and Daiki turned a murderous glare to their younger sibling. Hazel panted from her onslaught and straightened her back for a fight.

“You little!” Daiki storms over to Hazel and grabs the scruff of her pink kimono, bringing her face close to his.

“You’re going to pay for that!” He threatened and Hazel turns her head away.

“If it’s to get away from smell coming from your rancid upper lip, I’ll take anything.” Hazel says back, sassily. Daiki blushes in embarrassment and grits his teeth as he throws Hazel into a tree. Her back hit the rough bark harshly and she grunted as her body slid down to the grass below her.

She grunted in pain rubbing her back, then two shadows crept up in front of her and she looked up to see Daiki and Akito who was holding his bleeding forehead, glare down at her.

“You want to be a boy so bad? We’ll teach you why boys are always fighting then.” Akito spoke up as he cracked his knuckles. Was that supposed to scare her?

“Well what are you waiting for? An invitation?” She got back to her feet and into a fighting stance.

“I’m ready when you are.” She says.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, Hazel had got the short end of the stick after her fight with her brothers. It took maybe five or six guards to break all three children and Hazel escaped in time to avoid any questions from them. Albeit, she served enough punches and kicks in to break a couple of ribs on each brother and Akito’s head was going to be ringing a bit more than normal. However, it didn’t help the fact that she was limping terribly on her way back to her room.

She held the wall as she hobbles to her room and just when her day couldn’t get any worse, the wicked witch and her devil spawn were walking the same halls as she was.

Rei’s face scrunched up in displeasure as she noticed Hazel’s limping form pass her. Rei gave her a look and then noticed a bit of blood on the younger girl’s hands.

“Fighting again, brat?” Rei asked. Hazel ignored her as she continued her limp. Her hellspawn stomped her right foot at the disrespect.

“My mother is talking to you!”

“And?” Hazel glared at the girl and her step sister hid behind her mother from the scary look.

“It’s quite alright, dear. The little brat can continue limping. I’ll make sure she doesn’t receive any medical assistance from anyone. Let the animal heal on her own.” Rei smirked evilly. Her hellspawn smirked and stuck her tongue out at Hazel but the red haired girl grinned sinisterly.

“That’s fine. But, you should see your sons, they probably need the entire medical ward after what I laid on them today. I’m pretty sure Akito has a concussion right now.” Hazel says and Rei’s eyes widened then she frowns angrily.

“What did you do to my sons, you little wretch!”

“They couldn’t handle what I had and paid the price.” Hazel limped the rest of the way to her room as Rei and her brat rushed away to see to their other relatives.

That night, Hazel applied the gauze to the wounds on her arms then wrapped it up in the bandages. She had to steal these things from the medical ward because, she was forbidden by her father to have any of her wounds tended to as punishment for approaching him about wanting to learn to fight with her brothers.

Hazel grunts from the pain as she uses her teeth to cut off the bandage. Her brow furrows in concentration as she wraps her very swollen ankle up. It was no doubt sprained and it looks like she’ll need a crutch. Again.

“Just they wait,” she mutters as she stashed her medical supplies in a secret compartment by her bed.

“I’ll show them who their messing with and then they’ll be bowing at my feet!” She vowed.

End of Flashback

“Miss Hazel? Miss Hazel?” Hazel’s eyes refocused on her sake cup on her lap then shifted her gaze to Sanjiro who was sitting next to her with a concerned look.

“Are you alright, Miss Hazel?” He asked.

Hazel smiled to him and nods, rising to her feet and chugging her sake. With a pleased sigh, she placed a hand on Sanjiro’s shoulder and motioned him into their new room.

“I’m just fine, Sanjiro. Let’s go get something to eat, I know you’re still hungry, right?”

“Well, yes but-”

“Come on, come on! I want more stuffed dumplings!” Hazel pushes him inside and closes the shoji door behind them.

The kotatsu was larger than the last and this allowed more food to be piled on top of it. Toru and the twins were downing more food in their stomachs as Hazel snagged a pork dumpling, taking a huge bite. She moans in delight but, Sanjiro noticed how distracted she was when they were sitting on the balcony.

“Come on Sanjiro,” Hazel bit into her dumpling again as she spoke with a mouthful.

“The food will be gone and I’m not having any kids in my care go hungry!” She tells him, then picks up a bowl of ramen and pushes it into his chest. Sanjiro hesitantly grabbed the bowl and slowly began eating.

However, their dinner was interrupted when the shoji door opened and everyone but Hazel turned around to see who had entered the suite. Takuna gave his brothers a once over then silently made his way over to Sanjiro’s side, sitting down cross legged.

“Glad you finally decided to join us, Takuna. Steamed bean bun?” Hazel asked as she slurped up some udon while holding out a bean bun to the boy. Takuna takes the bun from her hands and quietly begins eating.

“Where have you been?” Sanjiro asked his younger brother.

“Nowhere.” The buzz cut boy replies, bored.

“Well, I’m glad your back big brother! We have more food here than the last place and the best part is, this hotel has a never ending food staff. So it’s an all you can eat.” Toru says as he bites into a chicken leg.

“Hm.” Was Takuna’s bored response. Toru deflated slightly and Hazel raised an eyebrow. She then felt a strange presence outside and turned her gaze back to the brothers.

“You guys continue eating. I’m going to enjoy the rest of my sake.” Hazel picks up her jug of sake and heads back to the balcony.

She closed the shoji door behind her and sat down in the same spot once more, pouring another cup of liquor.

“You’ve got some nerve showing your face here.” Hazel throws back her drink and sighs softly.

The clacking of sandals sound to her left and her side eye catches that of the infamous Surgeon of Death. A pirate from North Blue and the captain and doctor of the Heart Pirates: Trafalgar D. Water Law.

His nervous gaze keep up with Hazel’s deadly one and he puts his hand in his kimono, trying to act cool.

“Long time no see…Red Angel.

End of Chapter

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Heyyy everyone, I know it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written a story but, I’ve been doing some things on the side but, as a way to start off a new month I decided to give you all a chapter from Ice and Steel.

Also, some good news is in order! I have finally made an account on Archive of Our Own! It’s the same name as my tumblr so be sure to check that out and subscribe to my account! And you may find something new there as well. -wink- -wink- Also, I don’t remember if I told y’all before but, my inbox is open if you want a request just head over to Masterlist 1 or 2, follow the rules stated and ask away in my inbox! I will get to your request as soon as I can!

However with good news there is bad news as well. I am currently taking new classes for this summer and will have almost little to no time to write for a couple of months, but! That will not stop me from giving you guys a chapter or two here and there! So, just bear with me and know that no matter what SCHOOL WILL COME FIRST OVER EVERYTHING! Periodt.

Also if you see that the other chapters are not posted from either this story or the others, it is because I’m so lazy to put them all on the chapters but, I promise if you search in the search bar on my account you will find the other chapters.

But, that is all I have for you guys, I want to thank @p3achyheartz, @demigoddessqueens, @smol-bluberri and many others I have not listed for supporting me this far in the game, and be sure to show some love to their tumblrs as well!

[thespiralgrimoire]

Would you consider posting your thoughts on the Twilight series? Because the bits and pieces I catch on your main are HILARIOUS though maybe it’s just because I find salt hysterical LOL

Oh good grief

Under a read more for my sake if not anyone else’s

The year was 2007. I was 11 year old, in 6th grade, nursing a substantial superiority complex over my classmates, and idolizing the 7th grade girls. This is where my story begins.

Now I won’t get into all the semantics as to why I was such an insufferable little garbage person in middle school, but I will tell you that I was convinced that I was not like other girls. While this proved true, my reasons as to why were completely off the mark in my tweens. Back then, I thought it was because I was smarter, wiser, and more mature than any of the other 6th grade girls in my class.

But not the 7th grade girls. The 7th grade girls were it, man. Nobody was cooler or smarter or more creative than the handful of ladies who were blessed with the patience to put up with my nonsense in middle school. So naturally, when they read Twilight, I read Twilight.

Twilight, if you have the good fortune to not be intimately aware of it by now, is about the Bella Swan, blandest girl in the entire world, moving to a small town to live with her emotionally awkward father, where she meets the Cullens, a clan of vampires who don’t drink human blood, because they’re trying to be morally upright. Her scent is irresistible to one of the vampires, (the only single one among them because the rest are dating each other) named Edward. Edward has the ability to read minds, and Bella is the only person he’s ever met who is immune to this power. I must stress again that she smells so good that he has to physically restrain himself from eating her, and murdering all witnesses. For reasons I can’t really remember now except “because that’s what the books are about”, they fall in love.

Here’s the thing about these books: Even as I was reading them, they gave me the creeps. Something in my little baby mind was vaguely aware that Edward was a messed up motherfucker, and Bella was a one-dimensional stand-in for the reader, and everything interesting in this story was happening on the fringes, facilitated by the far more interesting side characters. There were parts of these books that were uncomfortable to read. There were parts that made me seriously question why these books were so popular. There were parts that made it physically difficult to keep reading. About 3 things happen in the entirety of this series that feels good and satisfying, and none of them are things that the author, who I will derogatorily refer to as Smeyer, meant to be satisfying.

Two things kept me reading these books. The first was, obviously, the 7th grade girls, and my other friends in other grades who quickly caught the hype wave.

The second. Was the fact. That the writing style of these books, despite being the modem for a story that is absurd at best and a giant, flaming, stinking dumpster fire of bad takes, racism, and sexism at worst, is HYPNOTIC. A lot of my opinions about this series have changed drastically over the years, but this is one that I was acutely aware of even as I was reading these books. No matter how stupid or frustrating or repulsive the things that Smeyer is writing are, her writing style will not let you put the story down once you’re invested. And since I was reading these for social clout, I was invested on page 1. I want to believe that this was a trick played on my young mind, but after reading the first chapter of Midnight Sun (the newly released book that is literally just Twilight from Edward’s POV instead of Bella’s), I can confirm that this woman’s style is genuinely Like That. I enjoyed maybe 6 sentences of the 15-page chapter and I am still frothing at the mouth to read more.

So now that I’ve justified why I subjected myself to this shit in the first place, let’s get to some feelings about it.

Edward is a CREEP. He knows this. His family knows this. His love rival knows this. The only person who does not know this, rendering the fact completely inconsequential to the events of the story, is Bella. I’m not really willing to talk about how Edward is such a disgusting model for what young girls should expect out of a partner that there was discourse for MONTHS over Fifty Shades of Grey, but.... Edward is such a disgusting model for what young girls should expect out of a partner that Fifty Shades of Grey exists. It’s literally Twilight fanfiction. Fact check me. I wish I was making this up.

Bella is, as I said before, a cardboard cutout of a human being. The book is from her point of view, and includes copious amounts of her thoughts, and yet it’s still clear that she has absolutely no personality. She is supposed to be your Jane Everywoman, and yet there is not a single relatable thing about her. Her three personality traits are Brown Eyes, Clumsy (but not in a way that matters often), and Likes Edward. That’s it. This girl has nothing going on, which only draws more attenton to the fact that literally everyone else in the story has a rich and interesting backstory. But they’re side characters and this is about Stale White Bread Bella over here, so go fuck yourself if you want more information on Rosalie using her vampire abilities to get revenge on her fiance and his buddies, who assaulted her to the point of near death, or Alice, who sees the future and spent a good chunk of her life in an asylum, or Jasper, who was a Union soldier fighting the Civil War which was ALSO the vampire war???? Fuck off with that shit, this is about Bella.

But you know who the best characters are? The werewolves. But not REAL werewolves. These are Native Americans whose initial transformation is triggered by the proximity of the vampires, because vampires once terrorized their people and now this ability to turn to wolves is hereditary to protect themselves. The fact that these fellas are not REAL werewolves, and that there are real lycanthropes of lore, is mentioned in passing in the last book and never mentioned by anyone ever again.

One of these wolves is Jacob, Bella’s childhood friend and, for the first two books, an absolute sweetheart. Just a big goofball who’s a couple years younger than Bella, and all he wants is the best for her. Real wholesome shit. When Edward leaves her because he thinks that she’s too attached (SHE IS),  Jacob literally talks Bella back from the brink. The wolf pack, and the Native American tribe, welcome her as one of them. They’re adorable. I can’t stress enough that they would have also been an excellent candidate for the focal point of this shitshow.

But it doesn’t last. Edward does some real dumb shit in Italy and Bella has to go rescue him, which tips off the Vampire Illuminati that Edward was trying to get killed by (i.e. the real dumb shit). They don’t like that Bella, a human, knows about them, and demands that she be turned. Edward’s family is divided on this. Eventually they decide that they got time because the Vampire Illuminati are ancient and don’t have a good enough sense of time to hold them accountable immediately.

So Bella is fine and Edward is fine and everybody is back in the same town and they’re dating again and literally everyone in the town is like Bella what the FUCK. Nobody likes Edward because they think he’s no good for Bella. They are written like the bad buys. Jacob especially, becomes a huge asshole. Because he decides that he’s in love with Bella now. Because werewolves can imprint on people, which is just a sloppy soul mate mechanic used for absolute evil in this story. He wants to fight Edward over her. Edward is chomping at the bit to throw down, but pretends to be the bigger person even though he’s just as big an asshole about all this as Jacob is. This is as misogynist as it sounds. From this point on Jacob is now also a creep.

Oh, but it gets worse!

I gotta talk about the last book in the series now, Breaking Dawn. Because this shit was so awful that it made me regret, instantaneously, ever second I spent enjoying Twilight.

Bella and Edward get married after they graduate high school because Edward is a religious virgin and Bella is HORNY. They go on their honeymoon. Bella gets pregnant. This is Not Something That Is Supposed To Happen.

Smeyer tells us WHY this happened post-canon. Edward, the virgin, has never nutted. Because of this, he still has living sperm in his balls. So when he boffed Bella, his 80-year-old sperm made it count. I wish I was making this up, y’all. I’m tearing up thinking about it.

Bella is now pregnant with a half-vampire baby that is destroying her body from the inside out. It is growing at an exponential rate. She’s eight months along after three weeks. Edward can hear its thoughts. It loves Bella. Bella has to drink blood or die. Jacob is like What the Fuck. I am also, pretty thoroughly like What the Fuck. A couple members of the Cullen family are, very quietly, like What the Fuck.

Queue the most forced and ineffectual pro-life discourse you’ve ever read in your life.

All is well and good until it’s not. Baby suddenly wants to get out of Bella RIGHT NOW IMMEDIATELY and thrashes so violently that it shatters every bone in her body between her ribs and her femurs. Edward has to rip her uterus open with his teeth. Baby is out. It has a full mouth of teeth. It bites Bella. Edward whips out several syringes full of his own saliva and injects them into Bella all over to make her change into a vampire. This is all written in disgusting graphic detail that still makes my skin crawl to think about. I cannot fathom why Smeyer was not made to tone this scene down.

So it takes a few days for Bella to change into a vampire, during which time the Cullens (and Jacob) have to look after her hellspawn of a daughter. Jacob decides that he must kill her, because she basically killed Bella. But--- surprise! He wasn’t in love with Bella! He was in love with the eggs in her womb-- particularly this one egg that is now a baby! No more crush on Bella! No more beef with Edward! He’s just in love with a newborn infant. I am, at this point, wondering in my little 12 year old mind, how this was allowed to be published.

Bella wakes up a vampire, and in her first display of rational thought through the entire series, does not like this. Don’t worry though, that’s quickly cancelled out by her naming her baby daughter Renesmee.

Renesmee is clearly supposed to be a sweet and gifted little angel that you’re meant to love, but frankly, all I can picture is the Chucky doll but quieter. She does not talk much, because she has the ability to share thoughts by touching people’s faces. She also grows super fast. In a few days she’s toddler age. Nobody knows what the fuck is going on and nobody has time to worry about it because the vampire Illuminati found out about this (a vampire friend of the family snitched) and they’re coming to fuck up the whole family.

There is a reason why they want to do this but it’s stupid and frankly I’m not going to explain it.

So the vampires mobilize. They call all their vampire friends because their plan is just to fight the thousands-years-old vampire Illuminati over this horrible child. For some reason dozens of vampires agree to this. They’re all smitten by Resume I guess.

So the illuminati comes, the family tells them that Ramune isn’t the problem that they think she is, and they leave.

That’s it. That’s the climax.

And then everyone gets their off-putting happily ever after: Bella and Edward can now fuck as much as they want because neither of them can die. Bella abandons her human life without so much as a second glance. Resonate will physically be an adult by the time she’s 7, which means that Jacob can start fucking her then. Bella’s dad sort of knows what’s going on, but doesn’t. For some ungodly reason I don’t make a bonfire out of these books.

You may notice, if you have any knowledge of Twilight, that there are whole plots that I didn’t talk about. That’s because I’ve surely forgotten things. While I read these books with what I can only describe as a manic fervor in my youth, I could never bring myself to reread them. On God, I tried. Multiple times in the last decade I have pulled my box set, hard covered Twilight books off my shelf, and opened them up. But I never even make it through the first chapter before I am so put off that I have to put them back. The plots are flimsy. The main characters are made of sand. The secondary characters are treated like garbage. The lore is disturbing.

And yet as soon as I heard that Midnight Sun was coming out, I knew that I must read it. I’ve made it through the first chapter. I do not know when and how I will make it through the next, but I know, for little middle schooler Theo’s sake, that I must.

Twilight? Horrible. Twilight Fandom? Geniuses.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[whumpqhs]

Shadows

“I need to see you for a second.”

“M-me, ma’am?”

“Yes. You.”

“Y-yes, ma’am.”

If she’d been another healer, like the humans working under Pera, then she would have followed the imposing, grey-haired woman back into a private room for this discussion. But she wasn’t a healer. She was little better than a slave. And she didn’t merit privacy. So they moved a little ways away from the row of beds that she’d been minding, but they were still in full view of the patients and the healers, who kept working seamlessly. Kiriniss was a goddess of healing and ethics, but not necessarily compassion. Well, that wasn’t quite right. Her compassion was just... all directed outward, at the suffering and the sick. For those who served her, compassion was less important than being “accountable”...

“I’ve been watching you work. You let these people go over an hour without being turned. Why?”

She could feel her jaw beginning to lock up. Pera asked you why, made you explain yourself, but then she bit back later and said you were arguing, and added on extra punishment for doing so. Lily had been down that road, more than once, but she’d also been down the rougher one--the one where you tried not to explain, so you wouldn’t get punished for arguing, only to be punished even more severely for being “defiant” and not speaking when spoken to. She tried to explain with a closing throat, her voice already soft and starting to quiver as her body desperately tried to shut down.

“It, um, it was m-my understanding th-that um, ma’am, that th-they needed to be turned every, um, t-two hours, ma’am.”

“According to who? You know better than that. You know it’s one hour.”

“I, um, I know now, ma’am, and going forward--” 

“I know you understand what I’m saying to you! You know! You’ve always known--don’t contradict me!!”

She could feel her mind being taken over by panic as the woman’s voice jumped into a yelling tone. She just wanted it over with. Why couldn’t she just start hitting her and get it over with? But that wasn’t Pera’s way. She liked to play with you first. Lily had never really understood why. She generally tried to stay out of her way, but the temple of Kiriniss was small. The infirmary, although often lauded as the largest hospital in the area, was even smaller, everything and everyone crammed together, and constantly in each other’s way. 

Besides, if Pera wanted to correct her, she could find her.

“I-I-I’m s-sorry---I’m---” her voice was trying to fail her. She forced the words out, terrified of what would happen if her mute terror was misread as being obstinate on purpose. “I’m so sorry, I’m, I’m…”

“You are beyond worthless.” Nearby, a few of the patients and other healers were not-so-discreetly listening in. One of them twitched a little at the verbal blow, but no one said a word. They were all just as scared of Pera as she was, or almost. 

Lily just nodded this time. She nodded over and over. Yes. Yes. Worthless. Whatever you say. Pera moved back and forth in front of her a little. Pacing. Her shoes were soundless on the worn stone floor of the temple, lined with rushes to keep everything clean and provide some grip. Lily had laid them out herself, this morning, long before dawn. She’d been up most of the night, but she couldn’t even feel the bone-deep exhaustion through her own fear.

“When I first saw you brought in from the slave pens, I thought you were just worthless. I told Silia that she was making a mistake, bringing in slaves to use as nursemaids. But I thought the worst you’d ever be was dead weight. I was wrong.” Her voice was venom, hot and stabbing. Lily felt her eyes sting. No, no, no crying. That would make it worse. “You are worse than worthless--you’re a danger to our patients. Well? What do you have to say for yourself?!”

There was a lump in her throat that made speaking hard. Almost impossible. She struggled, trying to force her breath to move, words to form--

“Are you ignoring me?!!”

“N-no ma’am, no, no ma’am, I-I’m not, I’m, I swear, I-- I just--”

“Why does it take you so long to turn the patients?! You only have fifteen! That’s barely any.” She gestured to the row of beds, an entire wing. The actual healers, magical and otherwise, got four apiece. But they provided “skilled” care and she was just “labor”. Pera was right. She was wrong, like always. Fifteen was nothing. She was lazy, and stupid... “Fifteen is too small a number for it to take you so long. Explain yourself. Immediately.”

“I, I, um, s-so--”

“Well?” Pera folded her arms and glared down at the comparatively tiny Drow. She was visibly angry, her eyes kindled and burning, mouth a hard line. She was terrifying, even without raising a hand… although she knew how to do that, as well.

“I, I, um,” she stammered, mind running a mile a minute but unable to get anywhere. “Wh-when, when I… t-turn a patient, ma’am, um, it takes me… it… it t-takes a while…”

“Why?”

“B-because I d-don’t just turn them… I, um, I c-check on th-them, m-make sure they’re... getting better… s-sometimes they need water or need cleaning up, or th-they’re in pain, a-and so--”

“Oh, so you try to do everyone else’s job instead of yours? Hm? Is that it? You know better than that!” Her voice rose, again; yelling, again. Lily flinched. “You’re just sneaking around--serves us right for hiring a hellspawn--!” The word was spit out as if she were Asmodeus himself. “You think you’re better than us? Hm? Try to do our jobs? Or just being defiant--you just have to do everything you’re not supposed to, just like always!”

Lily tried to cobble the words together but her mind was blank with panic. Her gaze was fixed on the stone floor in front of her, submissive, afraid. She wondered, as she tried desperately not to fidget with her apron strings, how much trouble she would get in if she just broke down and started crying, right now, this second. 

Pera hated it when she cried. She called it disgusting, unprofessional. You’re even uglier than usual when you fake cry like that, she had said, more than once. Manipulative little whore. They should’ve turned you over to the Iron Priests when they had the chance, instead of letting your evil into our temple of healing. She’d slung a backhand at her more than once for crying, too. Don’t pretend you’re sad! I know you don’t care! Everyone can see you don’t care about these patients!

But usually once she was done hurting her, she’d leave.

Maybe that would be better?

“I, I, I’m sorry ma’am, I really didn’t know, I don’t know how else t-to tell you--please--please… I th-thought we were supposed t-to help them…”

“Lily, if you’re going to argue with me then I can add extra correction. I’ve already talked to Silia before I even came in here, about your poor time management, how lazy you are, how we just can’t seem to get work out of you. She’s seriously considering selling you back--did you know that? Hm?”

She could feel her hands and feet turning to ice. Her voice shook even more than usual, thick with unshed tears. “N-n-no ma’am. I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t--” Lily tried to swallow the words but they wouldn’t stop. Babbling, Pera called it, and she hated that, too. “I’m so sorry, I-I’m sorry, please, please don’t--”

“Oh, stop. Stop all that.” She sneered. “I don’t need your lying dramatics or your crocodile tears. If you’re going to keep arguing and debating with me, we can just escalate this. You can go back to where you came from, in the same shackles, even. I knew keeping that collar on you was a good idea.”

Right now, the collar seemed to grow tighter and tighter with each passing second. It wasn’t magic, just plain leather and steel, thick but not terribly constricting. But it felt like a fist squeezing and squeezing around her throat. She could barely get the air in to babble.

“P-please, please--I’m sorry, I’ll do better, I’ll--I’ll do anything, please give me another chance--”

“You’ve had so many other chances. How long until your excuses and laziness kill someone, hm? How long until a patient dies because of your neglect, Lily? Do you know we can execute a slave if it’s ruled to have been on purpose? Is that why you’re so lazy? Do you want all your patients to die? Is that why you won’t take care of them, Lily? Answer me!”

“N-no! No--please--I--”

“No? And now we’ve added lying to the reasons you clearly need further discipline.” Her expression wasn’t even disappointment, or anger, anymore. It was unshielded revulsion, pure disgust. Her nose was wrinkled and her upper lip was drawn back as if Lily were a rotting bedsore. 

“B-but y-you asked--”

The slap should have been expected, but it when it caught her across the face, she dropped, eyes watering, frozen in shock.

“Get. Up! You will not sit there and play the victim! I forbid it! Get up, Lily--now!!”

She scrambled to her feet. Holding her throbbing cheek and jaw was out of the question. So was shedding the tears gathering in her eyes--oh, Pera hated it when she cried. She always said, I’ll give you a good reason for all those crocodile tears. And she always kept her word. Lily fought to freeze everything over, keep it locked inside, safe. Her heart was pounding and her breath was only stable because she’d learned long ago to control it; the little panicked gasps that she used to make when hit were more manipulation on her part, calculated to gain sympathy. Drow, as everyone knows, are cold, calculating, manipulative, evil…

“...and never to be trusted. Go. I’ll be along shortly. And I expect to see you back at work immediately after I’m done with you! You aren’t some healer or doctor who can be expected to rest--you. Are. A slave. And you will serve Kiriniss with every. Waking. Moment. Am I clear?”

She managed the last couple words through her closing throat, eyes downcast. 

“Y-y-y-e-es ma’am. Thank y-you, ma’am.”

[sublimeperfectionland]

New Moon of the Dark Kingdom Chapter Hundred and Sixteen - Children’s Crusade

Zoisite and Kunzite have found true love, but when some old friends, a vengeful god, and a pair of evil twins are gunning for the Shitennou all at once, life is not going to be easy

[Scene: Neffy's mansion during a divination with the Celestial Seeress Astraea.]

Astraea: They have made frequent references to someone they refer to as "Big Daddy", but he has yet to make any contact with them.

Neffy: "Big Daddy?" What is he? Their pimp?

Astraea: Unknown. I see no evidence that he actually exists within this dimension. From the way they speak of him, it appears he is something of a father figure, who adopted them with the intention of grooming them to assassinate The Greater Goddess Metalia. But again, their word is unreliable since it is impossible to sift the truth from their many falsehood.

Beryl: What do they say about him in private? When they are certain they aren't being overhead?

Astraea: They spoke of him protecting them from a youma sent by Metalia to murder them when they were too young to use magic, but I see no evidence that she did any such thing.

Neffy: Likely because it happened in a different dimension. One that the light from our stars does not penetrate.

Beryl: Show us every reference they've ever made to this "Big Daddy" of theirs. And anything else that might provide a clue to their origins, for that matter.

[The ceiling shows a montage of clips-Dev and El standing outside the school agreeing on cover story that they are British transfer student raised by their father, with their mother dying in childbearing, since what do they know about growing up in the bosom of a happy family? Dev and El talking about the consequences of failing their mission. Dev insisting he wasn't related to Fiore, since he knew all his relative and he was certain Fiore wasn't one of them. Dev pointing out to El how they were taught combat and magic and fed tales of Metalia and the Silver Crystal to encourage them to plot her demise? Dev and El recounting the story of how Big Daddy saved them from a youma, even though they were certain he could never love them. The portions of Dev and El's dates with their differing accounts of their childhood...]

Jeddy: [ponders thoughtfully] You know...I'm really starting to agree with Kunzite...

Kunzite: About what?

Jeddy: About that sassy little redhead...she is kinda hot...I didn't see it at first, but she's really starting to grow on me...

[Kunzite chuckles and Beryl's jaw drops]

Beryl: What! That skinny little thing! She has no curves!

Jeddy: You're not looking in the same places I'm looking...check out that itty-bitty waist and those long shapely legs...and that sexy shimmy of hers...[sways his hips and shoulders in an exaggerated hula]..."Hey, baby hey,baby"...Man, I could spend a week's vacation in that thigh-gap of hers...

[Beryl looks like she's tasting bile]

Kunzite: Personally, I find this pair far more fetching as blondes.

Jeddy: Yes, well we all know what your type is! I like my women more flame-haired and even sassier...[watches El berate her brother] ...man oh man, that is one hot little firecracker... I'm sure she could teach me a few fun games involving some handcuffs, a riding crop, whipped cream and a female nazi prison guard uniform.

[Beryl shakes her head from side to side]

Neffy: Could we stop ogling our enemies for a moment and focus on the true purpose of this divination? This scrying does take a toll on the caster.

Jeddy: Oh, right. Sorry.

Kunzite: Yes. Of course.

Beryl: Thank you!

[They continue to watch, laughing maliciously as they watch the twins destroy Mamoru Chiba's car with a baseball bat.]

Kunzite: I really do think it would be a shame not to at least try to coax them into joining us.

Neffy: I really doubt that is going to work.

Beryl: I agree. Their repeated goal is to murder Metalia. Even if they manage to earn our trust, they would likely to so as a pretense to get closer to killing her.

Kunzite: But we don't yet know their motives, and therefore we don't know the likelihood of a truce.

Jeddy: But they've said-

Kunzite: It doesn't matter what they've said. They lie constantly. Even to each other. They use their aliases, even in private.

Jeddy: Maybe those aren't aliases? Maybe those are their real names.

Kunzite: "Dev" and "El"? Those are aliases. They must know there is a chance they are being spied upon so they are watching what they say.

Neffy: The best lies contain a grain of truth. I've spent the most time of all us studying humans, and although these two are not humans, they are far more human-like than us in our behavior. The boy seems coldblooded, but the girl's face is as good as a polygraph. There are common themes that make her emotional- a mother giving up her life to save her children. A father adopting them when they were tiny and pretending to love them, while training them into becoming the ultimate assassins. Add in the remarks about them being the only two of their kind, and being adopted after the boy had his skull crushed trying to protect his sister from their "father" and I think it's pretty easy to connect the dots here...some white lighter found this pair of orphaned hellspawn in some far off demon dimension, and rather than exterminate them, he raised them as his own, while brainwashed them into taking on a suicide mission against Metalia.

Jeddy: Except brainwashing little kids and sending them on suicide missions isn't the sort of thing White Lighters do. Didn't the boy say their father would take a belt to their bottoms if they failed to kill Metalia?

Beryl: Yes, but the girl confirmed he's never used corporal punishment in the past, which certainly does make him sound like a White Lighter. I think Nephrite might be onto something.

Jeddy: I'm telling you, Children's Crusades are not really the White Light style. I should know. I used to do things like that in my religious fanatic days, when I used to think I was a White Lighter, but I've come to realize that that sort of thing is its own special kind of evil.

Beryl: Not necessarily. These two are a totally alien race, so there might be something inherent in their nature that makes their eventual extermination inevitable. A White Lighter might exploit that as a justification to get some good out of them. At the very least.