#i've had the book sitting around but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. but now i'm thinking i should

[aphelea]

i finally watched good omens and am now a little bit obsessed with it holy shit

[amostimprobabledream]

When blood runs warm (Law x Reader)

Okay okay so I've only been watching One Piece for a few months, I don't know WHY I'm writing for a character I haven't even properly met in the anime yet but unfortunately Law is very much my type, sooo...here this is, excuse me. Also available on Ao3! https://archiveofourown.org/works/63259555

There had always been something about the ocean that comforted you. The way the waves roll in and out like breaths, the call of gulls overhead, the smell of it. It’s hard to describe, but you’ve always associated it with relaxation.

But that was before.

You sat on a deckchair, holding a book up to your face. You can’t really say that you’re ‘reading’ because you’re not. None of the words on the paperback clenched in your hands are sinking into your brain.

Partly it’s to do with the noise.

You know the group, you’re closest to Nami since she’s your co-worker, but her friends have dropped into your office to pick her up for after work drinks or meet her for lunch that you were familiar with their faces long before she started inviting you to join her. But even with being well aware of Luffy’s eating habits or Zoro and Sanji’s passionate dislike of one another and so on, but on the beach it’s like somebody took the dial of their volume and turned it all the way up. Right now they’re busy trying to set up a volleyball game and arguing about who is on what time and if the net is secured and whatever else people can possibly find to disagree about volleyball before you even start playing it.

But the other reason?

Is also sitting on a deckchair a few feet away.

You’ve met more people thanks to Nami – as much as she has a bit of a temper on her, you can’t deny she’s also a very sociable person and friends of her friends are also friends. Apparently, the guy sitting near you is called Law and he’s a “friend” (though he insisted otherwise) of Luffy’s, which caused some raised eyebrows since Luffy is goofy and happy-go-lucky and Law is…not.

He's also fucking gorgeous. Dark ruffled hair with some scruff on his chin and he’s well-built – apparently, he’s a doctor but he has to spend some time in the gym to have a torso like that. Even more intriguing is the tattoo spanning across his pecs, some kind of symbol in the middle though you’re not quite sure what it is. He has some on the backs of his hands too but you’re too far away to read the words.

He also seems completely disinterested in everyone around him running around in skimpy bathing suits, instead frowning down at some thick-looking book in his hands that could well be a medical textbook. You don’t know anybody who would sit reading a medical textbook at the beach, but since Law is acting like he was dragged here at gunpoint, you wouldn’t put it past him.

You turn a page, shifting in your deckchair. You should be enjoying yourself more than you are, but you feel a little self-conscious. Though you’ve gotten to know Nami’s friends, you’re still not one of them and you don’t want to make a total ass out of yourself by barging in on what they’re doing. Plus, jiggling around trying to smack a ball sounds like a recipe for disaster.

You want to say something to Law, strike up some kind of conversation. But he looks both irritable, hot and also engrossed in whatever it is he’s reading. Wait, no, that’s three things. Still, you know there’s nothing more annoying than someone interrupting you when you’ve gotten to the good part of a book with “What are you reading?!”

So you sit there in the shade, wavering in indecision, watching Zoro spike a volleyball directly into Sanji’s face and the blonde spit a truly impressive stream of vitriolic swearing back. A smirk tugs at your lips. Some things stay constant, which is reassuring.

Luffy has much less compunction with bothering Law than you do, and approaches with a grin.

“Hey, Traffy! We need another player! Come and play!” he demands, like a kid on the playground.

“You don’t need me.” Law counters, not even looking up from his book. “You have enough people.”

“Yeah but Usopp said he thinks he’s got sun stroke or whatever so he’s sitting the next one out.” Luffy pouts. “C’moooon, don’t be so boring!”

Both of you know he won’t drop this until Law agrees, so he heaves himself to his feet with a sigh, like it’s costing him a great amount of energy to do so. Though you’re disappointed he’s walking away, you take a moment to enjoy the sight of his muscular back and narrow, grabbable little waist as he follows after a bouncing Luffy.

Maybe now you can actually concentrate on this novel now you’re no longer being distracted. But no sooner do you settle onto your side and flick the page again, still not particularly taking what’s happening in, when you heard footsteps scuffing the sand and glance up.

“Hey, are you done tanning?” you ask Nami with amusement.

“Not quite, but I’m taking a break. You’re not going to hide in the shade all day, are you?” Nami teases. “C’mon, let’s go check out some of those tide pools.”

You smile. That does sound kind of fun, and you know she likes her gemstones.

“Sure, why not?”

You toss the book back onto the lounger and follow after Nami. You were starting to get a little chilly sitting in the shade anyway. You follow her across the soft white sands, taking in the expanse of sea, the clear blue of the skies, and feel a surge of invigoration rush through you. So what if you can’t bring yourself to talk to Nami’s hot acquaintance? You’re not working and hanging out with a bunch of people at the beach on a beautiful day. It could be worse.

The tide is starting to come back in, slowly but surely, and you make sure to keep an eye on it as you and Nami scramble over the rocks, peering into the little tidepools, though there’s not much in them besides some confused fish or the occasional crab.

“Oh, look! I think I see a starfish!” Nami says.

“Really? Show me!”

Nami’s enthusiasm is infectious and it’s nice to be doing something other than just sitting there. It's only a bit later that you realise you’ve both wandered away from the shore considerably, and now the tide is starting to return – it’s crept past the rocky outcrops and is sloshing around knee-height where you are.

“Hey, come on, let’s head back, the tide’s getting further in!” Nami calls to you from where she is, scrambling nimbly down the rock.

You descend more slowly and follow her, wading through a tangle of seaweed that brushes over your skin.

“I’m coming, hang on a second!” you say. “Nobody can run through water, y’know!”

Your feet keep sinking into the soft, wet sand beneath you as you follow after Nami back towards the shore, where the volleyball game is still going on with ferocity-

Pain.

Pain lances through your body like a shock of electricity. Right at the bottom of your foot, something sharp had pierced the flesh and you let out an involuntary cry, the saltwater stinging where the pain had bloomed, which stings like a bastard. Tears well in your eyes and you freeze, not wanting to aggravate whatever had just happened.

“Why are you just standing there? Hellooo?”

Oh fuck, you hadn’t accidentally stepped on something poisonous sea creature that had been struggling against the waves, had you? Nausea grips you at the thought. It couldn’t be a jellyfish, they don’t usually just sit at the bottom of the sea waiting to be trod on…

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Nami’s voice comes to you, urgency and concern blending together as she waded closer. Her eyes flick down and she flinches. “Oh my god!”

Blood has blossomed from the cut around where your leg disappears into the choppy waters, unable to see your foot thanks to the sediment stirred up by the lapping waves and your own footsteps. Your heel is throbbing, tremours of pain snaking up your body from your leg upwards. Your other leg wobbles as you shift most of your weight to it, you’d lift your foot but you don’t want to spill any more blood into the sea if you can help it.

“Shit,” says Zoro from his spot, eloquently.

By now everyone who was playing the game has stopped too, much to your dismay, but the red circling you isn’t exactly something you can hide.

“Quick, we need to get her a first aid kit!” Sanji says, beginning to shrug off his little short-sleeved hoodie.

But before he can heroically rescue you from the cruel ocean, he’s almost literally pushed aside by another figure, swirled in dark ink and with an equally dark scowl on his face.

All you can do is stare up at him like a deer in headlights as Law stalks towards you, the waves sloshing around his legs. His eyes flick down to the redness swirling about you and you’re grateful he’s able to maintain a poker face, you don’t want to see how bad it is reflected clearly in his expression.

“What happened?” he asks, and in a different situation you might have taken the opportunity to admire the thick, dark tattoos writ large across his muscular chest. His voice is urgent but controlled – you instinctively recognise it as his “doctor voice”.

“I don’t know, I was walking and suddenly there was a sharp pain and then my foot was bleeding.” You say, goosebumps breaking out across your flesh and you have the peculiar urge to cover yourself up, now feeling vulnerable in just a bikini. “It probably looks worse than it is.”

You have no idea if that’s the case, but it’s something you’ve heard people say about injuries before, and it sounds good, business-like and professional. You’ve got this, you’re not freaking out and panicking and causing a scene and-

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Law says, shortly.

Just as you’re about to rue the fact you’ve already managed to annoy him and you’ve barely even spoken to him, suddenly Law is right beside you. Without a word, he bends and wraps one arm around your back and the other hooks behind your knees. With a squeak, he suddenly just casually lifts you up out of the water. With your foot previously buried in the sand, it stings anew as it makes contact with the salt water, and you hiss between your teeth. Blood drips into the ocean, the bottom of your foot coated in it. You see a droplet of it, vivid red as a ruby, fall from the ball of your foot, flashing maliciously for a split second in the dying sunset. Your body shudders, both from suddenly being pulled from the water and the pain.

“You’re alright,” Law says to you in a far more soothing tone than before – you feel it rumbling through his chest. “I’ve got you.”

He's just saying it so you don’t freak out and struggle, you know that, it’s probably a part of medical training to keep patients as calm as possible, but even with that logical explanation in your mind, you can’t stop the pulse of pleasure him saying that to you in his smooth, deep voice.

“Shit, that looks bad.” Sanji says. You notice he looks a little irritated at the sight of Law carrying you out of the sea like some kind of bodice-ripped novel cover – no doubt he’d have liked to do it himself.

“Sanji!” Nami scolds him.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t even hurt much.” You lie – it hurts a lot, but Luffy, Zoro and the others are also staring at you and you’d probably tell them you were fine if your leg was falling off it meant you could stop being the centre of attention, because this is so embarrassing.

Law scoffs, as if he knows you’re lying, and strides down the beach with you, like you weigh nothing at all and he does this sort of thing all the time. If it wasn’t for the bolts of pain lancing up your leg every second, you’d be appreciating how nice being carried by him is – he’s a natural.

“Oi, make yourself useful,” he calls over his shoulder. “Someone go to my car and get the first aid kit. My keys are in my jacket pocket.”

He sets you down on a vacant deckchair, sitting and propping your foot in his lap so it doesn’t get any sand in the cut. You grimace as blood mixed with water drips onto both the lounger and the fabric of his board shorts, but Law doesn’t bat an eyelid. You suppose he must be used to this kind of thing.

Luffy brings him the medical kit, peering curiously at your foot.

“Didja see anything when you got hurt?” he asked, tilting his head.

“No, the water was too murky.” You reply, watching as Law flips open the box and begins rooting around for bandages.

“Huh. I’m gonna go see if I can find anything!”

Luffy runs off, like a dog chasing a frisbee, and you’re relieved everyone else seem to have decided it best to let Law do his thing and resume what they were doing. It was making you uneasy having so many eyes on you, over something as annoying and inconvenient as this.

Law inspects the cut before he begins cleaning the blood off the bottom of your foot. His touch is surprisingly gentle, and you watch him quietly, aware of how warm his hands are on you, his fingers strong against the smaller bones of your feet. He sprays the area of the cut with disinfectant, which stings but you don’t even flinch – cutting it hurt far worse.

“Lie back and stick your foot up.” He instructs. “It’ll lessen the blood flow.”

“Do you think I’ll need stitches?” you ask as you do as he says, unable to keep a tinge of misery out of your tone. You don’t want the last part of what was otherwise a fun day to be ruined by being whisked to the emergency room.

“We’ll see if the bleeding stops,” Law replies, and his voice is so sure and confident that you immediately feel slightly better. “If it doesn’t, then yes. But hopefully it won’t come to that. Let’s get you bandaged.”

“At least it wasn’t a jellyfish.” You say dryly.

He gives a soft huff that might have been a laugh, and you can’t stop the bubble of pleasure that you said something that amused him, it feels like a victory. Law reaches into his first aid kit and plucks out a roll of bandages, before he gently takes your foot. His hands feel warm, and you can’t help but notice how nice they are. Strong fingers, tattoos on the backs of them. You can’t properly make out what they are with the light in your face, but they look pleasing whatever it is.

He starts bandaging up your foot and you can’t help but hiss a bit at the pressure on your feet, the bandages quickly staining red, throwing your mind to blood on snow. You realise belatedly that you were holding your breath.

“Just hold still a bit longer, there’s a good girl.” Law says, not looking at you but his eyes on his hands as he makes sure the bandages are secured.

Once again, your body seems to have other priorities, and a spike of arousal hits you like a punch to the gut. You’re very much glad that any twitch or odd reaction to that can easily be attributed to being in pain or simply responding to having someone you don’t know well touching your feet. Still, the words roll around inside your head, good girl, good girl.

“Sorry, this is probably the last thing you wanted to be doing at the beach.” You say.

“I’m not exactly a beach kind of guy, so this is hardly some great loss.” Law grunts as he works. “Anyway, I’m glad I was here, it’s always better to have someone around who has proper medical knowledge.”

“Still, that must be kind of inconvenient.” You muse. “Always having to be on alert in case someone gets hurt and needs help, even if you’re supposed to be on your own time. It’s not like if somebody steals a handbag, suddenly an off-duty lawyer is called to prosecute. Or if someone faints from hunger, if you’re a chef standing nearby, you’re not meant to just whip out a grill and serve him lobster or something.”

Law looks at you like you’re a complete idiot and you instantly shut up, blushing. God, you must either sound stupid or completely ungrateful at his help. You’d like to go bury yourself in the sand somewhere, but good luck doing that on your fucked up foot.

Once he’s done bandaging you, he gives your foot a little squeeze.

“How does it feel now?” he asks and you really wish he’d stop talking to you like that, in that smooth, deep voice. “Any numbness? Tingling?”

Oh I’m tingling alright, but not on my foot.

“No, nothing like that.” You reply, wiggling your toes. “It aches a bit but it’s not so bad now.”

“Good. Hopefully it should stop bleeding within a few hours or so.” He says. “But for now you’ll just have to stay off it as much as possible.”

“Why, you going to carry me to the car when it’s time to pack up and leave?” you ask in a teasing voice.

He glances over at you and raises his eyebrows.

“If necessary, yes.”

Why does he keeps saying things that throw you off balance? Is he doing it on purpose? You bit your lip, then glance over at your stuff.

“Well, thanks for keeping me a little company. I was getting bored with the book I was reading anyway.” You say.

“Oh yeah? What is it?”

“It’s the third in this series I’m reading, it’s a fantasy series about a boy who enters other worlds through a drawing, but I’m finding this one kind of boring.”

“Wait, you know that series?” Law sounds surprised. “I picked up the first book a while back, but I haven’t found the time to finish it yet.”

“Oh, I loved the first one! The way they set up the whole quest was so much fun.” You say, unable to stop yourself from gushing about it. “Have you read the author’s other series about the princess?”

“No, but I’ve heard it’s good.”

“So good!”

Before you know it you and Law are busy geeking out over various novels and comics you’ve read, with Law even recommending you some of the latter and you recommending him the former. You’re so into talking about it that you stop worrying about getting blood on everything or if you look okay in your bikini or if you’re annoying him by talking too much. It all sort of just fades away as you lament how you have to wait until next year for the new series of an anime you like to come out.

“Hey you two, we’d better get out of here, the tide’s getting closer.” Nami approaches, holding both her bag on one shoulder and yours as well, and tosses you your hoodie. “Last thing I want is to end up stranded.”

“Right, yeah.” You say, pulling it on and zipping it up, now the sun is slinking off over the horizon, a chilly breeze is creeping in. “Be right there!”

Nami nods, then turns and yells for Luffy and Zoro to dig Usopp out of the sand before the water reaches him first, and a smirk tugs at your lips.

“You rode here with Nami, yeah?” Law asks you, rolling his eyes at the racket going on behind you.

“Yeah, she picked me up on her way.” You ask. “Why- ah!”

Law stands and gives you a wry look.

“Don’t wriggle, I’ve already carried you before, it’s not a big deal.”

“Just warn me next time.” You reply, but you’re glad you don’t have to hop up the steps to get to Nami’s car and risk your bandages getting all soggy and sand-encrusted.

Law smirks at you and your stomach twists as he carries you up to Nami’s car, depositing you in the back as if you’re made of something fragile. You fight back the urge to grab his arm or something.

“Thanks,” you say, which is only a fraction of what you actually want to say, but now you’re not alone with him in your little nerd bubble, your previous enthusiasm has vanished.

He just nods at you before he shuts the door, which feels like full stop to your unfinished sentence. You try to keep your expression casual as you buckle yourself in, and Nami slides into the driver’s seat with a groan.

“Man. The beach is fun, but I’m beat.” She says. “Want to stop for drive through somewhere?”

“Sounds good,” you nod, as the car sets off. Nami side-eyes you as you switch on some music and sit back without saying anything.

“Okay, what? Why that kicked puppy face?”

“Nothing, I just realised I left my flipflops on the beach.” You reply with an embarrassed smile. “Oh well, they didn’t exactly cost much.”

“Uh-uh, try again.” She demands and you huff. She knows you too well. “Does this, by any chance, have something to do with a certain doctor?”

“Just…I feel like I annoyed him.” You reply, fiddling with the zipper of your hoodie, dragging it up inch by inch and listening to the satisfying rasp of teeth. “You know, ruining his day off and talking too much.”

Nami snorts, but her expression is not unkind.

“Trust me, if you were annoying Traffy, he’d let you know.” She says, shooting you a playful, teasing smile. “And he definitely didn’t seem to mind whatever it is you were talking about.”

You lean back in your seat with a little smile. Maybe you’ll hear from him again – both your numbers are in the group chat Nami set up for today’s trip. Perhaps he’ll be curious to know how his ‘patient’ is getting on, or he’ll update you on if he decided to take you up on the book you told him to read. Maybe.

A pop song both of you love comes on shuffle, and Nami grins and begins joining in, the wind whipping through your hair as her car shoots down the road. With a small smile on your face, a strange feeling of possibility rising in your chest as you think of Law and wonder what he’s listening to, if his mind is wandering to you like yours is to him, you find yourself singing along.

[willalove75]

Heya! Hope you and your family have been doing alright!!

Okay so Lady D request bc honestly, that woman has me in a chokehold. So I was thinking something along the lines of reader has been dating Alcina for years and one day when her and the girls are out Mother Miranda kinda just takes them for cadou experiments. They survive ofc but the mutation caused them to have a type of angelic appearance (aka wings everywhere. I was also thinking like more red tailed hawk like wings instead of crow like ones) but was deemed an unfit vessel for Eva for some reason or another and basically just kinda hands them back to Alcina after weeks of her and her daughters not fucking knowing where reader went at all??? Basically a reunion that’s super emotional. Angst/comfort with some tooth rotting fluff somewhere would be great, please and thank you

super sorry for the big request though— I just had a pretty good idea for the request I wanted to ask. Anywho, I hope you have an amazing rest of your day/night ^^

Thank you SO MUCH for this awesome request!!

I've been going through my inbox wanting to get some requests done since I've horrifically neglected all of my asks for so long and loved this one! I'm so sorry for taking FOREVER to answer this! (And sincere apologies to everyone else who dropped a request in my inbox that I haven't gotten to yet!)

Hope you enjoy!

Warnings: reader is kidnapped, murder, blood drinking.

"Do you guys have to go?" You ask Alcina with a hint of a whine in your voice.

Alcina clicks her tongue as she finishes applying her signature red lipstick.

"Unfortunately, we do, draga mea. Mother Miranda's orders." She says as she caps the lipstick and sets it down on her vanity.

Alcina turns towards you and scoops you into her arms, sitting you in her lap. You try and give her your best pout, but she gently kisses it away. Her lips travel down your jaw and you all but melt into her.

"I wish I could go with you. I hate when you all have to leave me all by myself here."

"I know, draga." Alcina says between kisses. "But we'll be back before you know it." You let out a low groan and Alcina chuckles into you. "Besides, I have a present for you that should keep you preoccupied while we're gone."

With your interest peaked, you pull back from Alcina and look up at her with curiosity in your eyes.

"You got me a present?"

"Of course I did, draga." Alcina says as she wipes the lipstick marks from your face and neck.

She adjusts the pendant of the necklace she gave you when you first started dating, admiring the Dimitrescu crest that sits proudly on your chest. You haven't taken the necklace off once since she gifted it to you and it warms Alcina's heart knowing how much you cherish something so important to her.

Alcina places you on the floor and stands up to make her way to her wardrobe. In the top drawer, she pulls out a book and hands it to you.

In your hands is a special edition of a new book series you've been eager to read. You trace the gorgeous patterns along the cover and look up at Alcina with wide eyes.

"Alcina, this is beautiful!" You say as your smile grows wide. "I thought Duke wasn't coming back for a few more weeks!"

"Well, I know how excited you were to start this book, so as soon as Mother Miranda informed me of the trip she wanted the girls and I to take today, I had the Duke make a special delivery."

Her thoughtfulness touches your heart and you wrap your arms around her long legs and bury your face into her dress.

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

Alcina lifts you into her arms so you can give her a proper hug and you quickly wrap your arms around her neck.

"I love you so much, draga mea." She whispers.

"I love you so much too, Alci. Thank you."

"Anything for you, my love."

The two of you hold each other in your arms for a few more moments before Alcina sets you down and you escort her downstairs. The girls meet you at the front door.

"Ready, girls?" Alcina asks.

"Yes, mother!" They reply in unison.

"Then we shall be off. Goodbye, draga. We should be back in time for supper. I hope you enjoy your novel." Alcina says as she bends down to your level.

"Bye Alci, I'll miss you guys. I love you." You say as you kiss her goodbye.

"Și eu te iubesc." Alcina whispers against your lips before she stands back up. (I love you too).

"Bye, y/n." Bela says as she gives you a hug goodbye.

"Bye, Bela. I hope you guys have a good time."

"We probably won't." Cassandra says as she gives you a hug.

"Oh stop." You say with a laugh, hugging her back.

"Bye bye!" Daniela says before pulling you in for a hug that's just a little too tight.

"Bye Dani." You say as you try and squeeze her back, even though you know the little strength you have doesn't affect her at all.

Alcina and the girls get into the carriage and you close the front doors. Stopping by the kitchen, you grab yourself a cup of tea before heading into the library.

The library has always been one of your favorite rooms in the entire castle. Before coming to the castle, you only owned a few books that were in rough shape before you started reading them. By the time you got here, they were being held together with nothing but tape and hope.

When Alcina started to court you a few years ago, she learned of your love of books and started gifting you gorgeous copies of both your favorites and hers. Ever since then you've been obsessed with keeping your books as pristine as possible. Going as far as not cracking the spines and god-forbid bending the corner of a page to keep your place. You've accumulated a small collection of bookmarks as well over the years.

Making yourself comfortable in one of the couches near the fireplace, you take a sip of tea before opening your book. The book sucked you in quickly and time seemed to pass quickly as you read the captivating story.

Just as you go to take a sip of your now cold tea, something out of the corner of your eye catches your attention. Looking over, you're startled when you see Mother Miranda walking out from behind one of the bookshelves.

"Oh! M-Mother Miranda, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were here." You say nervously.

Mother Miranda knew about your relationship with Alcina and wasn't thrilled, but also didn't forbid it. Everything about her unsettled you and both you and Alcina agreed it was best to keep you as far away from her as possible.

"Alcina isn't here, is there something I can help you with?" You ask, trying to keep your voice from shaking.

Her crystal blue eyes pierce through her golden mask as she slowly steps closer to you. The hairs on your arms stand on end and a chill goes down your spine.

"Mother -"

"Hush, child." She commands and you snap your mouth shut. "I am aware Alcina is not here. There's a reason I sent her and the girls away for the day." She says as her eyes narrow at you.

"What - what do you mean?" You ask as you back yourself further into the corner of the couch.

"I had to get them to leave, of course. Alcina would never let me take her precious little pet without a fight."

Your heart starts to beat erratically in your chest and you spill some of your tea on the table as you shakily put your cup down.

"Mother Miranda -"

"SILENCE!" She shouts, causing you to jump. "I have tried everything, failed experiment after failed experiment. Desperately trying to find the perfect vessel for my Eva. Failure after failure. But you. There's something special about you." Fear seeps into your bones as she steps closer. "You very well may be my perfect vessel, and I will not let a failed experiment stop me from getting my Eva back!"

Mother Miranda grabs at you and you try and push her away, your book falling face down onto the floor.

"NO!" You scream as you try and fight back.

Mother Miranda grabs at you, her talons scratching your chest as she grabs ahold of your necklace. The chain snaps in the fight, causing the necklace to fall onto the couch.

The fight between you two doesn't last long, Mother Miranda is way stronger than you and is able to grab the hair on the back of your head and turn your face up to look into her icy eyes.

"You are coming with me." She says moments before crows surround you both and you feel yourself flying through the air.

Suddenly your knees hit a dirty stone floor and you're kneeling before Mother Miranda. Looking around, you realize you must be in her laboratory and tears stream down your cheeks.

"Please, please Mother Miranda, don't do this!" You plead. "Please, let me just talk to her. Please let me see Alcina!"

"That's enough!" She says as she grabs you by your throat and lifts you in the air. "Not another word out of you. You are mine now. Understand?"

Gasping for air with tears streaming down your face, you can only try and nod before Mother Miranda drops you to the ground. She walks around her lab, gathering items before standing in front of you once more.

"Get on the table." She says, gesturing to the surgical table nearby. As you stand, you see various medical instruments, saws, needles, and a large jar with a hideous looking creature floating in the liquid inside of it. The cadou.

Mother Miranda pushes you towards the table and you lay down on it as you tremble. Miranda moves around you and you see her lift a mask and put it over your face. Tears stream down your temples into your hair as she flips a switch and air blows into the mask.

You watch as Miranda picks up a large needle and your eyes begin to lose focus. The last thing you feel is a painful, sharp pinch in your arm before everything goes black.

-

Alcina and the girls step out of the carriage just as the sun begins to set. Once inside, the girls fly off and Alcina makes her way upstairs.

"Draga, we're home!" She calls out as she makes her way towards the bedroom.

She opens the doors to your shared chambers, expecting to find you napping, and is surprised when she finds the bed still made and untouched.

Alcina makes her way to the atelier, thinking you could be in there and once again finds the room empty.

"Draga?" She calls out as she walks through the winding halls of her castle.

"What's wrong, mama?" Daniela asks as she forms in front of her mother.

"Nothing, draga. I just can't seem to find Y/N."

"Oh, weird. I haven't seen her either, actually. You think she's still in the library?"

"Perhaps. Lets go look." Alcina replies.

Daniela and Alcina walk into the library and Alcina starts to worry when she doesn't find you there either.

"Where on Earth is she?" Alcina says as she paces around the library.

"Mother, look!" Daniela says as she finds your book on the floor and spilled tea.

"What, what happened here?" Alcina says as she sees the book open, face down on the floor. Some of the pages of your brand new book are bent, which immediately concerns Alcina.

"This is so weird." Daniela says as she picks up the book. "She would never leave a book like that, no less let the pages of her books get bent."

Daniela hands the book to Alcina and the look of concern grows on Alcina's face.

"Girls!" Alcina calls.

Bela and Cassandra swarm into the room a moment later.

"Yes mother?" Bela asks.

"Girls, have you seen Y/N?"

"I haven't." Bela responds.

"No, why?" Asks Cassandra.

"We can't find her." Alcina responds.

Daniela lets out a small gasp which pulls Alcina's attention away from her other daughters.

"Mom." Daniela says as she pulls out your necklace from between the couch cushions.

Alcina's heart breaks when she sees your broken necklace. Something happened, something horrible, she feels it in her soul.

"Girls, I need you to search the castle, including the dungeons. Something's happened to her." Alcina says as she clutches the necklace.

The girls nod and swarm off. Alcina paces in the library, desperately trying to find a clue as to what happened or where you went. After speaking to the head maid, she lets Alcina know that the last time she had seen you was when you got your tea after her and the girls had left. No one has been in or out of the castle since then.

The girls come back to Alcina and let her know that there's no sign of you. She hasn't been able to hear your heartbeat and panic starts to set in.

"We'll find her, mother." Bela tries to reassure Alcina.

"We have to." Daniela says as tears well in her eyes.

Alcina pulls Daniela into a hug and kisses her on top of her head.

"We will, girls." She says, desperately trying to keep her voice steady.

After searching the castle for an entire day, Alcina caves in and calls Heisenberg to ask for his help. He sends his lycans out in the village to try and find her, but they come back empty handed.

The more days that pass, the less hopeful Alcina becomes that she'll find you. Ever since that day, she's clutched your necklace and cried herself to sleep, confused, angry, and scared.

A week later, Alcina has nearly lost all hope. One morning she can't bring herself to get out of bed and just lays there with tears streaming down her cheeks. When she doesn't show for breakfast, the girls go to her bedroom and find her.

They tried being strong for their mother, but the truth was that they were all scared for you as well. Seeing their mother so upset broke their hearts and they all climbed into bed with her and cried for you.

"She couldn't have just left, right?" Cassandra asks.

"Cass." Bela scolds.

"I'm serious! There's no way she just left us. She wouldn't have, right, mom? She couldn't have."

"I don't think so, draga. I don't know what happened or where she is, but I don't think she decided to leave." Alcina says.

"When we find out who took her, I'm going to gut them." Cassandra says.

Daniela bursts into tears after trying to hold back and Alcina pulls her closer to her.

"It's alright, draga. It's alright." Alcina says, trying to comfort her youngest.

"She must be so scared." Daniela cries. "Who would have taken her?"

"I don't know, draga mea, I don't know. But when we find out who took her, they are going to pay. I promise."

"I hope she comes back. I miss her, she was like a second mother to us. I wanted to call her 'mama' but I wasn't sure if she'd like it. Now I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to." Daniela says as she cries harder and Alcina can't help but feel her heart shatter in her chest.

"You'll get the chance, darling."

"You don't know that! What is she's dead?! What are we going to do?!"

"Dani don't say that!" Bela scolds.

"It's alright, draga." Alcina says to Bela. "I don't know what we will do, my love." She says to Daniela as she kisses her head. "I don't know."

-

You emerge from darkness and all you feel is pain. From the top of your head to the tips of your toes, everything is in excruciating pain. A pained whimper escapes from your dried, chapped lips and your eyes start to flutter open. A bright white light blinds you and the pain in your head explodes. You open your mouth to try and cry out but your throat is so dry barely any sound comes out.

Consciousness comes and goes for some time, but you have no idea how much time passes. Unsure if it's minutes, hours or days in between.

Opening your eyes again, the bright light isn't as painful and you feel more aware of your surroundings. The pain is still there, but not as horrific as it first was. Hearing a sound, you turn your head to see Mother Miranda looking at liquids in a test tube at her desk.

"You're finally awake." She says with zero hint of emotion.

You open your mouth to speak but still can't.

"Ah, yes. One moment." She says.

Walking over to you, Mother Miranda unclips the bindings that kept you tied to the table and helps you sit up. The world spins and you feel like you're going to be sick but nothing comes up. Miranda hands you a glass of water and you gulp it down. Your throat feels a little soothed but there's still a thirst it didn't quench.

"How are you feelings?"

"I - I don't know." You say with a hoarse voice.

"Any pain?" She asks as she takes a clipboard off of her desk.

"Yes, everything."

"What, specifically?"

Taking a moment to gauge how you feel, you feel an intense pain in your head and move to touch your head. Miranda grabs your hand and stops you.

"Don't touch that. It's still healing." She says.

"What?"

"Your cadou incision."

"You, you put it in my head?"

"Of course I did, that's where I implant it on all of my experiments." She says matter-of-factly. "Now, where else are you in pain?"

There's a strange feeling in your shoulder blades. It's almost like an itch but something feels like it's poking you from the inside. You relay how you're feeling to Mother Miranda and she hums and writes on her clipboard.

"Can I have more water?" You ask, hoping to relieve the thirst you feel.

Mother Miranda glances at you before pouring another glass and handing it to you.

Chugging the glass, you notice the thirst doesn't go away and you groan in frustration.

"What's the matter?" She asks. You can tell she doesn't actually care about your wellbeing and is asking for more information regarding her experiment.

"I'm so thirsty and the water isn't helping."

Mother Miranda clicks her tongue and sighs.

"Very well. Let me see what I can do." She says nothing else and leaves the room.

Confused, you try and stand but your legs are weak so you just lay back down on the table.

You must have dozed off because the next thing you're aware of is the thirst growing even more and extreme pain in your shoulder blades. Groaning, you squeeze your eyes shut and try to breathe through the pain. It begins to subside and the moment you're able to take a breath, you feel something shift under your skin and rip through. A scream rips through your lungs as you uncontrollably twitch and you fall off of the table.

Something pushes it way out of your shoulder blade and you continue to scream. You hear something hit the ground next to you and feel the same thing on your other shoulder blade. More screams rip through you and you pray you pass out from the pain.

But luck is not on your side and you feel something else push through your shoulder blade and hit the ground on the other side of you. Opening your eyes, you see gigantic wings on the ground and this time you let out a scream of fear instead of pain.

Mother Miranda walks in and sees you laying on the floor with gigantic wings splayed out.

"What did you do to me?!" You scream.

"How interesting." She says to herself, ignoring you.

"What did you do?!"

"I gave you a gift. Something you should be grateful for." She snaps.

"Grateful?! Look at what you've done to me!"

"You are magnificent!" She yells.

"You're a monster!"

"SILENCE! That is enough from you. Be quiet and let me examine you."

The pain and screaming starts to catch up with you and you don't have the energy to keep fighting her so you let her conduct her exam.

She holds out one of your wings and you whimper from the soreness. Unlike Miranda's wings that are black as night, your wings are brown down near your shoulders and turn to a stark white. The tips of your feathers are also brown and Mother Miranda notes the pattern on her clipboard.

When she's done with her exam, she helps you up and back onto the table. She conducts a full-body exam and notes no other changes. The thirst you felt earlier is even stronger and you ask her for more water.

Downing the glass she hands you, you slam the glass down on the table and claw at your throat, frustrated that the feeling still hasn't gone away.

"You still feel thirsty?" Mother Miranda asks.

"Yes! No amount of water has been helping. What's wrong with me?" You cry.

Mother Miranda mutters to herself something you don't catch and she leaves the room.

Carefully, you lay on your side on the table and cry.

Some times passes and Mother Miranda comes back in. Looking up, you see she has a terrified villager with her, a young woman. Mother Miranda pushes her to the ground and you see the fear in her eyes.

Scared, you look at Mother Miranda who is looking at you with nothing but cold indifference.

"Who is that? Why is she here?" You ask.

The girl begins to pray.

"Great ones, hear our voice, together as one in reverence. We call on thee within the endless dark to deliver us into fate’s hands." Her voice trembles. "As the midnight moon rises on black wings, so we make our sacrifice and await the light at the end. In life and in death, we give glory, Mother Miranda."

Without saying a word, Mother Miranda grabs the back of the girl's hair and yanks her head backwards, bearing her neck. As the girl continues to repeat the prayer, you watch in horror as Mother Miranda raises her hand, and with her talon-sharp fingers, slices open the girl's neck.

The girl gurgles as she chokes on her own blood and you let out a scream of terror. The moment the scent of blood hits you, an instinct you can't control begins to take over. You try and fight it with all your might but in the end it wins and you leap off the table and onto the girl. Short but lethally sharp talons extend from your fingertips and you dig them into the girl and latch on to her neck wound.

At first the coppery taste of her blood makes you feel sick, but a second later that predatory instinct takes over and you finally start to feel relief from the insatiable thirst you were feeling.

You don't know when the girl stopped breathing or how long you were attached to her for, the only thing you know is that the blood flow begins to slow and then there's nothing left.

Backing away, you become aware of what you've done and you stare at her body in shock. Trembling, you look up at Mother Miranda and she looks at you with a cold indifference. She writes something down on the clipboard, places it on her desk and walks out of the room.

Making your way over to the clipboard, you see your name at the top and notes she's taken of your transformation written down. At the bottom it reads "an unfit vessel for Eva." and you collapse onto the floor in tears. Whether it was from relief or fear, you weren't sure.

Miranda keeps you for what feels like another week, continuing to experiment on you. What she does is borderline torture. Like Alcina, you also have rapid regeneration so you heal from everything she puts you through.

One morning after a grueling session of torture the night before, she walks into the lab and wakes you up.

"Get up. We're leaving."

"What, where are we going?"

"Move."

Miranda says nothing else and you make your way to her. She's clearly irritated at how slowly you are moving, but even your rapid regeneration had a tough time keeping up with what she's been putting you through for the last week. That and the thirst is back. You haven't had blood since the woman from the village and it's starting to affect your ability to regenerate.

Miranda grabs hold of you and in a split second you're whisked away once again.

-

Alcina is seated in her chair in her bedroom, staring into the fire as she nurses a glass of blood wine. She hasn't eaten much, or done much for that matter, since your disappearance. A sense of depression has fallen over House Dimitrescu and the matriarch can't seem to pull herself out of it.

She hears a voice call out for her.

"Alcina!" Miranda calls out.

Alcina rushes to her feet and down to the foyer.

"Mother Miranda, I wasn't expecting -" Alcina stops when she sees something - someone - in Miranda's grasp.

"Here, take her." Miranda says as the throws you to the ground. "Absolutely useless."

Alcina freezes in place as she watches Miranda throw what's in her grasp onto the floor. Beautiful white and brown wings are sprawled out across the floor.

It can't be. Alcina thinks to herself. She's terrified of getting her hopes up for even a second that it could be you, that you could be back home.

Lifting your head, you see Alcina and tears stream down your face.

"Alci." You whisper.

"Draga?" Alcina whispers back. Her eyes shift from you to Mother Miranda in complete confusion. "You - you had her? This whole time?"

"I did. I was hoping she would be the perfect vessel but unfortunately, she is just as unfit as you are."

The dig would normally crush Alcina, but her heart is filled with such relief it doesn't even phase her.

Alcina kneels down in front of you and cups your face in her hand as you try to sit up.

"Draga mea." She whispers. "I thought I lost you." Tears fill her eyes but she does her best to keep them at bay in front of Miranda.

Alcina sees the pain in your eyes - and the relief. Anger bubbles up in her chest and she looks up at Miranda.

"How could you?"

"How could I what? You know how important finding the perfect vessel is. Don't tell me you've lost sight of that, have you?" Miranda says.

Sensing the veiled threat, Alcina looks back down at you.

"No, Mother Miranda."

"Very well. I must be going."

Miranda disappears leaving the two of you in the foyer.

"Alci." You say as your voice cracks. Alcina leans down and carefully arranges you in her arms, mindful of your wings.

"Oh, draga mea." She says as she nuzzles you. "You're here. I can't believe you're here." Alcina says through tears.

You cling to Alcina like a lifeline, as if you'd disappear if you ever let go of her and you sob. Everything that happened the last few weeks comes crashing down on you and you can't help but let it all out right there in the foyer in her arms.

"It's alright, my love. It's alright. You're safe now, okay? No one will ever hurt you again." Alcina says as she continues to cry as well.

"Mother?" Bela asks as she comes into the foyer. "What's going - oh my god!" She shouts.

Bela rushes over and wraps her arms around you as Alcina holds you tight.

"You're back!" She says as tears fall. "Dani, Cassie, she's back!"

Daniela and Cassandra appear and Daniela screams before barreling towards you. Cassandra is right behind her and both girls also try and wrap their arms around you.

"Mama!" Daniela cries. "I missed you so much."

"Are you okay? Who did this to you?" Cassandra asks as she takes in your new wings.

"Miranda." Alcina growls and the girls look up in shock.

"Wait, Mother Miranda took her?" Bela asks.

"Yes. That's why she was gone without a trace. She took her and implanted the cadou into her." Alcina replies.

"The cadou?! But she could have died, or worse!" Daniela says.

"Trust me, draga, I know." Alcina says. "This was not something either of us wanted to happen."

"So Miranda kidnapped her and implanted the cadou into her without her consent?" Cassandra asks, enraged.

"Yes."

"How dare she -"

"That's enough, Cassandra." Alcina reprimands.

"But -"

"Cassandra, please. These last few weeks have been difficult for everyone, especially for her. Lets discuss this at a different time."

Cassandra nods in agreement and Alcina stands with you in her arms and carries you into your shared bedroom. The girls agreed to give you a little space while you recover and they fly off to take their anger out on unsuspecting maids.

Alcina lays you on the bed and immediately crawls up next to you and pulls you tightly into her. Her chest heaves as she sobs, her hands roaming over every inch of you, still in disbelief that you're real.

"My darling," Alcina cries. "I missed you so much. We tried so hard to find you. I'm so, so sorry. I didn't know, I never would have thought -" She breaks down into tears and you cup her face in your hands.

"It's alright, Alcina. It's not your fault. It's Miranda's fault. She sent you and the girls away so she could take me."

"Is, is that why she insisted I take the girls with me? I thought it was strange but who am I to question her?"

"It is. She said you wouldn't let me go without a fight. So she made sure all of you were gone."

"Oh, my love, I'm so sorry." She says. "What did she do to you?"

"She gave me the cadou. Alcina it was terrible. I've never been in so much pain in my life. I wanted to die when my wings came out."

Alcina coos and wipes the tears from your cheeks.

"And then I had this thirst that would not go away no matter what I drank and then Miranda brought a girl from the village into the lab." You say as you cry harder. "Alcina she slit her throat right there in front of me. And I couldn't control myself and I lunged at her. I drank her blood, I drank her dry. I killed her!" You sob.

"Oh draga, it's alright." Alcina says as she comforts you. "You didn't kill her, Miranda did. None of this was your fault."

"I was so scared, I was completely out of control. I'm so afraid of being like that again. Alcina I can't live like that."

"You won't have to. There are ways you can manage it without losing control. I'll teach you, the girls will teach you. We're here for you, draga."

You and Alcina cry into each others arms for what felt like hours until she finally ran you a bath. The wings on your back were still there so Alcina gently washed them as she cleaned the rest of you. Using her claws, she cut holes in one of your pajama shirts to accommodate your wings and helped you dress.

As the two of you spoke, you mentioned that you haven't had any blood since the girl from the village and Alcina shook her head at Miranda's lack of care. She had a maid bring up a fresh bottle of Sanguis Virginis. As soon as she popped the cork and the smell reached your nostrils you were practically drooling. Skipping the glass, Alcina handed you the bottle and you drank straight from it, downing the entire bottle in just a few minutes.

Alcina got herself ready for bed and pulled you into her arms. You felt satiated from the wine, but still cried yourself to sleep. Alcina held you in her protective arms, whispering praises and running her nails through your head until you fell asleep.

"I will never let anyone else ever hurt you, my love." She whispers to you. "Miranda will pay for what she's done."

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 山河令/Word of Honor.

Word of Honor is a 2021 adaptation of a novel by priest that tells the story of two beautiful murderers, their three kids, and their collective attempts to ignore the fetchquest madness that has taken over the rest of the jianghu.

Look, you know what Word of Honor is. Doing a rec for this is like doing my rec for Nirvana in Fire -- I am not introducing you to a new concept. Even if you haven't watched it, you've probably osmosed enough through the rest of Tumblr to have an opinion on it. At this point, if you haven't seen Word of Honor, I'm assuming it's for one of two reasons: either you haven't gotten around to it yet, or you haven't been sufficiently moved by what you've seen fandom do with it.

So I'm going to give you five reasons to watch the show, and they're probably not going to be the reasons you've seen already. Not to say that the other reasons are bad, but you've heard them already, right? What I've got for you are five somewhat more unexpected reasons that may just convince the fence-sitters that this nut-flavored morass of toxic relationships is worth your time.

1. No matter how gay you think it is, it's gayer

Okay, sure, you've probably been given the impression that this show is real gay. But I don't know if you know how gay it is. This show is so gay that we still haven't seen many of the other BL-flavored shows filmed around the same time period or since, because Chinese censorship gay-panicked and locked them all away before they could air, because Word of Honor was just too gay.

Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing (L-R above) are in love. The story does not make sense if they're not. There is no story if they're not. Everything else in the show is set dressing to this incredible adventure story of two horrible people who fall for one another.

Oh yeah, did I mention that they're both bad guys? One's a fascist toddler-murderer and the other's a cannibal mob boss. These two deserve one another, in every possible sense of that phrase. In any other property, they'd be the villains -- and even here, they're still kind of the villains! It's just that the heroes are worse.

What's more, their two actors absolutely understood the assignment. They got the memo. They read the book. No one ever had to sit them down midway through shooting and explain their dynamic. They had it from the table read. When given creative freedom, they chose to double down and make the gay shit even gayer.

But the actors weren't the only ones who knew what they were doing! Everybody working on the production was pretty much in full-on Let's Make A BL mode. There are no gay accidents here. It's so gay that it's actually gayer than the version that aired. If you can do a little lip-reading (though beware of spoilers in those links), you can get at the original filmed version, which had a number of lines that were too homo and/or sexual for Chinese television.

No, they don't kiss. They don't have to. This is the TV version of the tweet about, what's gayer, gay sex or whatever these two have going on? The answer is, whatever these two have going on.

It's so gay that they're not the only gays. No, I'm not going to tell you who the other gays are, in part because spoilers. But trust me, they're there. Lesbians too! And a bisexual elderly polycule! And one pair of hets that we love love love, and most other heterosexuals are creepy and gross. And if that's not an accurate representation of how the world looks to queer people, I don't know what to tell you.

2. Go nuts!

You are not prepared for the product placement.

Word of Honor started off having a budget, so they went ahead and started spending that budget in the way you do when you're making a TV show. Unfortunately, circumstances changed, and their budget became much less, which meant they couldn't keep making that TV show unless they got more dollars. But where to get a sponsor for a fairly low-profile wuxia BL property?

Enter our hero: Wolong Nuts.

I have seen actors do bumper ads in costume for products from their various sponsors, and I have seen actors do bumper ads in character for the same. But the feeling of seeing a modern product diegetically hawked mid-scene by ancient fantasy characters is like none other.

Something like 40% of Word of Honor's total budget came from this nut sponsorship. And here the thing: It worked! It sold nuts! Hell, I’d buy them if they were sold anywhere near me; I like nuts in general, and nuts that support the queers in particular.

I'm including this as a selling point because, come on, it's funny as hell. But it's also a good place to warn you that Word of Honor has what we're politely going to call a spotty use of its funds. Some things, like everyone's outfits and the score, are lavish and beautiful. Other things, like some of the sets and a lot of the CG, are janky and sad. Crowd scenes are thirty humans and a bunch of Blender assets. I've never seen so many fake plastic trees together in one place before. There's a lot of visible hairnets. Like, a lot.

The show was originally planned as being 45 episodes long. It wound up being 36 + a tiny epilogue. That's a huge cut! I’ll say to its credit that you mostly can’t feel the seams; the production team did a heroic job killing their darlings (in many senses) while keeping the narrative coherent. If you know about the original vision, though, you can identify pretty quickly where the excised material should have been. Don’t be surprised when the last two episodes in particular smack you like a hit-and-run.

They blew a truly unwise amount of the budget on costumes in general, and Wen Kexing's costumes in particular, and thank goodness. (@canary3d-obsessed has done a noble job of cataloging everyone's wardrobes, and some of the details are just stunning.) See that red outfit he's wearing there, with the elaborate, delicate embroidery? That apparently took two people literal months to hand-sew. It's a terrible use of limited funds, and I am living for it. Even when Wen Kexing looks awful, he looks stunning -- especially when you put him side by side with Zhou Zishu, who is wearing the jianghu equivalent of slutty yoga pants and a thrift-store dollar-bin t-shirt that says IT'S WINE O'CLOCK SOMEWHERE.

So if, while you’re watching, you’re ever disappointed by the quality of the production in front of you, just console yourself by thinking: That’s nut money, baby.

3. The ghosts (and everyone else) doing the mosts

This is a show that somehow managed to accumulate a tremendous supporting cast of actual grown-ass adults, then had the wisdom to make them play a wide variety of balls-to-the-wall bonkers roles.

You can't throw a rock in a crowd scene without hitting a dozen actors with resumes as long as their arms, who have been acting since before you were born. Apparently they poached a couple veteran film and stage actors from other contemporaneous productions and had them come over to film bit parts on their days off. If you see a character played by an older actor who's getting more lines and face time than you think their character strictly deserves relative to their importance to the plot, and you're like, hm, I wonder if this older actor has a career that includes roles in several dozen other shows and/or stage productions, the answer is yes.

I've seen the tone of the show described as melodramatic, but I don't think that's quite it -- it's more operatic. People speak to the middle distance and play to the back row. Several actors have the body language and line delivery that makes it seem like they're always about three words away from breaking into song. Several of my favorites are downright camp. It's magnificent.

Statistically, everyone in this show is a bad guy. There are the respectable people who don't mean to be bad guys, but wind up being bad guys anyway because they support bullshit systems. There are the morally grey folk who are willing to become bad guys because they think they'll be the good guys when all is said and done. And there are the bad guys who know they're bad guys and are going to chew every piece of scenery in the vicinity about it, so watch out.

My favorite collection of scene-stealing weirdos is probably the clutch of freaks that make up the ghosts of Ghost Valley. They're not actual ghosts -- this is not a supernatural show. They are instead living people who call themselves ghosts because they've found themselves on the margins of society for one reason or another, and have created their own little society! With hookers! And blackjack! And also a little murder, as a treat!

These ghosts are so extra that they actually have a Top Ten List, where all the ones that have code names and specific costumes hang out. How do you get on the Top Ten List? By killing one or more of the people already on it, of course! I told you these guys are villains! They're not even the only villains! They're not even the only villain organization! It's wall-to-wall bad guys around here! And oh my goodness, the actors are clearly having a ball with it.

When the screenwriter came to adapt Faraway Wanderers (the novel) into Word of Honor, she realized that there weren't a whole lot of ladies in the book -- so she invented/adapted some for the show and made most of them sinister! (In fact, if you watch Legend of Fei -- and you should watch Legend of Fei -- you can see a lot of the inspiration for said ladies.) Some of the female characters in the show were men in the book, while others weren't even in the book at all. They all feel organic, though, and not like someone was trying to get Strong Female Character Points. It's the good representation you get when there's a lot of representation, so nobody has to be The Girl, and all the girls can just be people.

...Alas that another casualty of the budget cuts is that several of the lady characters did not get to live up to their full ass-kicking potential. But that potential is still there! The badassery may be implicit instead of explicit, but you don't doubt that many of these women would eat your heart at the slightest provocation, and you would thank them while they were doing it.

This show is perfect food if you're the kind of viewer liable to get sucked up into the worlds of villains, NPCs, bit parts, optional side characters, and other narratives going on outside the main storyline. Because there's a lot going on outside the main storyline. I mean, that's kind of the running joke of the whole novel, that there's this whole complicated political plot happening, and yet our dudes are over here studiously trying to not know what the hell is going on. Obviously that's harder to preserve in a show, but it's still a key feature of the narrative. Most of the Big Power Play What-Not is always happening a few towns over from where the main party is at any given moment. I know people who've watched the drama several times and still can't explain whatever's happening with all that. That's fine. You roll with it for the sake of everything else.

So! Do you like gazing upon delightful character actors and having imagination adventures about the unexplored workings of a bunch of tantalizingly mysterious and often very sexy weirdos? Great! This will keep you busy for a good long while.

4. The juciest pining in the jianghu

I said I wasn't going to tell you about all the gay shit going on here, and I'm not. What I do want to cover, however, is how much gay shit isn't going on here -- and by that I mean just how much of the show's gay longing is unrequited. If you like it when the boy yearns for the other boy, friend, you will feast well tonight.

You have likely already, through fandom, been alerted to the existence of the biggest gremlin in the land and an understandable number of people's favorite character, immortal grandpa Ye Baiyi. What may not have been conveyed, however, is just how tragically gay this bitch is. The ultra-condensed, scrubbed-for-spoilers version of his backstory is that he was in love with a guy who got injured because of him, so he decided to stay and live on a mountain with that guy and the guy's wife and coparent their son with them, all the while never once telling the guy how he felt.

This is not me with slash goggles on. This is canon. Well, okay, the "in love with" part is only confirmed in the book, but Huang Youming, Ye Baiyi's equally gremlin-like actor, has also clearly done the reading and understands how to break your heart with it. Ugh, it's so good.

Shidifuckers, rejoice! Zhou Zishu has Han Ying, his devoted little dumpling who would -- and does -- do anything for him. Back in Zhou Zishu's regrettable (but very fashionable) fascist days, he had a bunch of little underlings; one of them was Han Ying, who still works for the same evil empire. Problem is, Han Ying isn't evil. He was never loyal to his job; he was always just loyal to Zhou Zishu. It's cute the way Wen Kexing hisses like a cat upon meeting Han Ying and immediately identifying him as a rival for Zhou Zishu's affections. If you like OTPs that occasionally roll in a service-top third, please consider that adorable muffin boy up there.

And speaking of quitting your job, have you ever had the problem where you had to orchestrate your own death to get away from your toxic boss who won't stop sexually harassing you, and that motherfucker still expects you to show up for your shift next weekend? Meet Prince Jin, who has refused to accept Zhou Zishu's resignation letter with extreme prejudice.

Zhou Zishu isn't even the only ex he's mad he drove off! But that's just a namedrop in the show; see my bonus selling point for instructions on how to get into that whole gay-ass story. [insert obligatory "Prince Jin is not Helian Yi" disclaimer here]

...Nope, uh-uh, we're not going to get into what's going on with Scorpy. Suffice it to say, this is one of those cases where the show can't outright call a thing gay (though uhhhh it sure can imply a lot of it!), but it can set up an unspoken Gay Bad Idea as a direct, textual parallel with a canon Straight Bad Idea and be like, see? see? Anyway, daddy's boy there has deliciously terrible taste. This is the one that'll have you screaming crying throwing up etc.

And then there's this handsome jackass, who isn't doing the pining, but is the unfortunately heterosexual object of the often confused and misdirected longings of his friends. About the first thing you know about Rong Xuan is that he died before the series begins, so you only see him in a few flashbacks. The precious few times you do, though, you're treated to scenes of him holding court among his besties (many of whom are the spectacularly cast younger versions of major older male characters) while they all wrestle with varying degrees of homo longing for his cocky dreamboat self. You ever wanted to fuck a straight guy so bad you got both him and his wife killed about it? Because somebody in this drama sure has!

I sense you think I'm making this all up, that I'm just a fujoshi looking at the world through rainbow-colored glasses and telling you about her favorite slash pairings. Friend, I am not. Okay, I am being a little cheeky about the last one, but I swear that everything else I have listed in this selling point is about as textual as the show could make it, if not outright straight (ha ha) from the books.

(I have a whole separate theory about how priest herself is a real-life queer, based on how basically everyone in her works is either queer-coded or a token straight who's on thin ice, but that's a subject for a completely different Tumblr post no one's ever going to read, so save us both the time and imagine I already wrote it.)

I cannot stress to you enough how much this show knew what it was doing with the queer stuff. I love how amazingly toxic so much of it is, too, because one of the big themes of the show is that secrets will destroy you and everyone you love. If you have gay longing in a society that forces you to hide that gay longing, yeah, you're going to be extra-vulnerable to making some shitty decisions because of it! You're either going to suffocate yourself by keeping silent, or you're going to open yourself to intimate partner abuse you can't reveal to anyone else, or you're going to do some murders about it! Or some combination of the three! Either way, it's not good!

Also, tell your partner about your chronic health conditions, whether they be Can't Remember My Past, Would Eat A Guy If I Had The Opportunity, Stuck Some Nails In My Chest And Am Now Dying And Also Can't Get A Boner, or Whoops Took The Nails Out Of My Chest And Still Can't Get A Boner. Oh, and tell your partner if you're about to run off and go confront your dangerous ex. And absolutely tell your partner if you're about to fake your own death. Just ... learn to have conversations with the people who love you, okay? Avoid huge amounts of narrative suffering with this one weird trick!

5. Putting his whole Zhang Zhehussy into it

See, Gong Jun (playing Wen Kexing) is not what I'd call a great actor. This is more of a case where you take a guy, you cast him as a character whose motivation can be summed up as "I want to fuck that man in half," and then you cast opposite him a man that the guy in question clearly actually wants to fuck in half. And you let the magic work.

Zhang Zhehan (playing Zhou Zishu), however, legitimately knocks it entirely out of the park. Whenever the camera's on him, it's hard to take your eyes off him. He holds his own in a sea of veteran actors. He can do comedy and tragedy with equal panache. It's lucky he's such a beautiful crier, because Zhou Zishu cries so much. I have never seen someone more perfectly portray the mood of "in love and absolutely furious about it."

As the story goes, when he auditioned, he actually wanted to play Wen Kexing -- but the director told him, look, while you'd be great at that, I can find another Wen Kexing, but I'm never going to find another Zhou Zishu.

Zhou Zishu is bad man who has done terrible things and resigned himself to suffering to atone for his crimes, and he is so mad to find himself at the end of his life suddenly having a reason to keep living. Zhang Zhehan does a pitch-perfect tsundere right up to the point where he breaks. I'm not going to call it an understated performance, because nothing in this show is understated, but it is often times subtle and always complex, and fuck does he have a good crazy grin.

One of the first things you find out about Zhou Zishu is that he's got just a couple years left to live, over which time all his senses are going to deteriorate. In fact, they've already started going. And as the show goes on, you can watch Zhang Zhehan play it so you can tell when he's missed something he should otherwise have picked up on, reacting to noises and touches a split-second late. It's a testament to what a thoughtful job Zhang Zhehan's doing, keeping track of how much of Zhou Zishu has already slipped away.

There are, if you've read the book, legitimate complaints to be made about the adaptation's interpretation of Zhou Zishu's character, and I get that. But you can't say that Zhang Zhehan isn't pulling off exactly what he means to here. I say this too as someone who loves the novel: I think it works. Given the constraints of Chinese television in particular and cinematic adaptations in general, the show made the right choices when it came to figuring out what were the more filmable, actable options, and Zhang Zhehan plays every one of those choices within an inch of his life.

Also did I mention he's like the most beautiful man to ever exist? Holy crap. You're going to be so mad about what they do to his face for the first several episodes.

Don't worry, it washes off eventually.

caveat: Kind of a bummer!

You may have been warned that this one's got a sad ending. Well ... yes and no. On the "no" side of things, there's a "secret" mini-episode 37 that rolls back one of the major points of tragedy. (It's also clearly the first version that got shot, and then they shuffled around and redubbed some material to make the aired end of episode 36.)

But oh man, not all of them. Plenty of characters we love do not make it to the end. Like ... kind of a shockingly large number. Some are dispatched offscreen, some have tragic onscreen deaths, some are probably dead given the circumstances we last see them in, and a couple aren't dead yet but are almost certainly going to be soon.

(It's also kind of a meta-bummer! I mean, I don't recommend falling down the rabbit hole of what happened with Zhang Zhehan's career after the show aired, but tl;dr, it's not great.)

So yeah, it's not an outright pain simulator, and if you've got the mettle for Nirvana in Fire or Guardian, you should be okay here. But hoo boy, don't just blunder on in expecting a cheerful romp from start to finish, because ... yeah. I said it before: This is a story about a bunch of bad guys. Bad guys don't live long lives, nor do the good people who get tangled up in their shit. Just be prepared!

bonus selling point: black and white husbands

Okay, I will tell you who one of the other pairs of gays is. You'll see the two of them show up near the tail end of the show, and then you'll decide you want to know more about what their whole deal is, and then you'll read Qi Ye, which is a novel entirely about gay pining, and then it'll be all over for you.

Ready to wander this way?

There's a number of ways to watch this one! Viki, Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Prime all have you covered -- but Viki's the only one that has the epilogue at the ready, so I'd go there if you can.

And I get it, if you're enough of an aging hipster that you don't want to play in the same sandbox everybody else is playing in. Believe me, I understand that impulse on a visceral level. After all, this is not a small fandom -- 7718 works on AO3 (at time of writing) isn't Untamed levels of content, but it's nothing to sneeze at. Maybe you want to leave this one for a little while longer, until the hubbub dies down a bit more and people's attention is redirected by a different gay and shiny thing. That's valid. I get it.

But if you do, I still encourage you to get around to it someday. For all its flaws -- and yeah, it's got flaws -- it's a good, solid story that makes you feel lots of feelings about some fascinating characters in some beautiful costumes, running around being real queer (and okay, occasionally straight) to beautiful music. This, to me, is television.

Fun fact! There is also a Japanese dub, if you feel like taking it at that speed, and the guy who voices Zhou Zishu is the voice of Kaworu from Evangelion, and the guy who voices Wen Kexing is the voice of Victor Nikiforov from Yuri on Ice. See what I mean???

I'm telling you, everybody ships it.

[cephalog0d]

Tagged by @dizaryswrites for 9 books on my 2025 TBR list! Most of these I've had sitting around for an embarrassingly long time but haven't gotten to yet... I don't tend to plan my reading much except for book club, so this will probably change wildly by the end of the year, especially once we do book club picks in April and I add a bunch of new stuff to my ever-growing list. XD

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell*

Ascender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

System Collapse by Martha Wells

The Hub Series by James H. Schmitz**

Monarchs of the Sea by Danna Staaf

Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill Heinerth

Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

*My book club leader asked us if we wanted to do a romantasy type book since we're SFF but haven't done that, and I said it probably wasn't my thing but I'd give it a shot, and she found me a monster one. So I'm very excited to see how that goes.

**This one is like my third reread of the series but I'm excited because I have actual physical copies now, so I'm counting it anyway.

I'll tag @dangerousdan-dan as my book buddy, and I know @raan-miir-tah has talked about books before! (and specifically books I also like XD)(@outtoshatter I don't know that you have stuff planned out like this, but if you have anything!)

[v171]

9 Books to read in 2025

I was tagged by @mikerickson to share 9 books I want to read in 2025, and as impossible as this list is to put together because I'm very much a mood reader, I think this is realistic.

The Will of the Many I have heard this is great and I want in on the conversation.

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law I have had this book for years now and still haven't gotten around to reading it, so I am finally holding myself to it.

Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet: Same Sex Couples in Mississippi I have actually already started reading this, but I want to read more southern fiction and nonfiction this year, and this is already shaping up to be excellent.

Salvage the Bones I was triggered recently by reading a fiction book about devastating hurricanes, but also that book was bad. This is a book about Hurricane Katrina from a Mississippi point of view which you don't see too often in media about Katrina.

As I Lay Dying I also want to read more classics this year, and this fits the southern gothic theme well.

Hyperion Always wanted to finally pick this up, I already own it, I just need to sit down and read it.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation I cannot believe I haven't read this book yet, I have read and adored every single book by Otessa Moshfegh and this is her most popular one.

Rhythm of War It's about time I finally get around to this. I enjoy Stormlight Archive, but I wouldn't say I'm a rabid fan. I've just been putting this off so much.

The Bad Beginning Mike convinced me to re-read A Series of Unfortunate Events series, which I adore and own every copy of, so I'll start off with the first.

I don't know enough of you who read so I'm not going to tag anyone in particular, but if you're reading this consider yourself tagged.

[intimacyequalsdeath]

Bubz's Slasher Fictober Day 5 : (Caramel Apple) Otis Driftwood

Day 5 of Fictober! I don't have much to say that isn't just a repeat of previous days so I hope you all enjoy! Notes: Minors DNI, Canon typical anything to do with the character, their movie or game. Swearing. There's also no real plot to this one either, just domestic esc stuff. Support me: KO-FI

"God! That stupid Bitch! This was my favorite goddamn shirt."

"Oh boo hoo, the baby's shirt is ruined." Otis remarks.

"Hey if it wasn't for your shifty fucking tie-up job that chick wouldn't of gotten out."

"Fuck you, That was Baby's tie up job and you know it."

"Yeah sure, blame it on Baby"

You flop down onto the bed next to him. Your back against the mattress as you stare up at the ceiling.

"If you're really that fucked up over it, I'm sure mama would fix it for you."

"Careful Otis, I'll think you're turning soft."

"Oh fuck you! I'm trying to help your crybaby ass."

You grin up at him with your back still planted on the bed. He flicks his eyes off whatever he's reading and flick them over your face with a roll of them. He snorts at your grin and shakes his head before tossing the book to the side.

"You love me"

"Fuck you"

"Youuuuuu loveeee meeee" You say dramatically.

"Fuck. you."

You laugh loudly as Otis rolls on top of you. His hands on either side of your head caging you in.

"Softie"

"I should've killed you when you first rolled in"

"Oh please, I'm the life of the party around here"

"This ain't no party"

His brings his hand up to cup your face, moving it from side to side as if inspecting you. It reminded you of what he did when you first showed up. It was only you and your broken down car, for some reason Baby felt inclined to help you instead of luring you back home to be killed and turned into some macabre project and it didn't take long after that for Otis to lay his claim to you.

After that you were easily accepted into the firefly family, just another one of mama's ducklings as if you had been there the entire time.

"You're such a goddamn stick in the mud."

"One of us has to be serious or nothing would ever get fucking done around here."

"Yeah like that girl escaping-"

"Don't"

"You can't make nots for shit."

"You need to learn how to shut your goddamn mouth sometimes."

"I've been running my mouth since I got here and you haven't done anything to me yet."

"The night is still young."

Now it's your turn to roll your eyes. Your bliss is interrupted by mama calling you all down for dinner as you shove Otis off of you.

"Last one there has to sit between Baby and RJ!"

"Hey now that ain't fair!"

Otis calls after you, but by then your already halfway down the stairs. He rolls his eyes and huffs as he gets off the bed to follow you, asking himself the same question he has for years, why didn't he kill you ? but answering it himself as he's also done for years. Maybe you really are the life of the party.

[ajalholland]

Zack Fair x pregnant reader

Zack watched as (Y/n) waddled into the living room, rubbing her very pregnant belly. It seemed to taunt him, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of panic rise within him. She was due any day now, and the thought of her going into labor right here, right now, sent a shiver down his spine. He had read all the books, taken all the classes, but nothing could prepare him for the reality of becoming a father. He felt his heart race as he imagined the scene: the hospital, the blood, the chaos. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but his eyes kept darting to the clock, the phone, the door. He was ready, or so he told himself, but he couldn't shake the feeling. He just wanted this part to be over, the part where he was just waiting, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

(Y/n) was also nervous of course, but she was a natural at hiding it. She had her hand on her lower back as she slowly walked over to the couch.

"Mmm..." She grumbled as she sat down on the couch, closing her eyes as finally the weight came off her feet.

Zack couldn't help but worry as he saw (Y/n) wince in pain. He moved over to her quickly, sitting down next to her. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. He started rubbing her lower back, trying to ease the pain he knew she was feeling. "You look exhausted," he added, gently.

(Y/n) let out a sigh as his hand went to her lower back. She loved his massages, he was really good at it. "Well you try carrying around the weight of a bowling ball and you'll see how tired I am." She teased jokingly, cracking a small smile.

Zack stifled a laugh, but it was followed immediately by a pang of guilt. He knew that she was carrying their child, and that it wasn't easy on her body. "I'm sorry," he said, pausing his hand momentarily. "I know this is tough on you. But you're doing great, babe. You're almost at the finish line."

(Y/n) chuckled lightly, grabbing his hand to keep him from stopping. "No, no keep rubbing." She said, putting his hand back on her back. "And yeah, I know I'm almost done, but when you think your going to pop at any second it feels like forever till you actually do pop."

Zack obeyed, resuming the massage, his strong hands working the muscles on her lower back with practiced ease. "I can't even imagine how you feel," he said, his voice sincere. "But I'm here for you, every step of the way. And trust me, I'm just as impatient as you are. I can't wait to meet our little one."

(Y/n) leaned back into the couch as Zack's fingers worked her muscles. She let out a small moan as the pain in her lower back started to lessen. "Mmm...I know you can't wait... you talk and dream more about the baby then I do." She said with a laugh.

Zack chuckled, his voice soft and affectionate. "Well, can you blame me?" He continued the massage, his hands working out any remaining knots. "I'm just so excited to finally be a dad. It's like a dream come true." He paused for a moment, his eyes tracing the contour of her belly. "And you're so beautiful like this, babe. I know it's hard on you, but damn, you're glowing."

(Y/n) smiled at his words, feeling her chest flutter with a warm feeling. "Mmm... you flatterer... I know I look like a whale right now, I'm surprised you can even find any beauty in that."

Zack chuckled, his eyes meeting hers warmly. "Are you kidding? You don't look like a whale, babe. You look like a goddess. You're carrying our baby, and that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Seriously, you're gorgeous. I hope our baby gets your looks."

(Y/n) chuckled again, rolling her eyes playfully. "Mmm... you are so full of crap." She said jokingly. "I bet you're already planning the next baby even though you haven't gotten this one yet... aren't you?"

Zack smirked, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Well, can you blame me?" He teased, his hands moving from her back. "You're so good at this baby-making thing I might just have to keep you pregnant forever." He winked at her, his hand trailing along her belly, feeling the gentle curves.

(Y/n) snorted, playfully swatting at his hand. "Hey, I can't be pregnant forever... that's not healthy for me... but I guess I was asking for it when I married a horny man who wants kids." She said with a lighthearted sigh.

Zack chuckled again, his smile widening. "Guilty as charged," he admitted. "But can you blame me? You're the most gorgeous woman I know. Even more beautiful now, if that's possible." His hand moved to her thigh, tracing light circles on her skin. "I can't help myself."

(Y/n) smirked, a hum of pleasure escaping her lips as his hand went to her thigh. "Mmm... you are a hopeless little puppy." She teased.

A small pout formed on Zack's face at the nickname, but he couldn't help but laugh at her teasing. "Hey, I'm not a puppy," he protested jokingly, his hand continuing its caresses on her thigh. "I'm a strong, manly EX-SOLDIER, the toughest around."

(Y/n) laughed again, rolling her eyes. "Mmm... and a big tough EX-SOLDIER like you can't handle a little nickname?" She teased, jokingly booping his nose.

Zack pretended to be offended for a moment, huffing in mock indignation. But soon his pout turned into a cheeky grin as he leaned in closer to her. "I can handle nicknames just fine," he said, his voice taking on a huskier tone. "But be careful or you might start something you can't finish."

(Y/n) was about to throw in another quip, when suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her side, like a strong force pushing down from the inside. She let out a gasp, her hand flying to her stomach.

"Mm..." She winced, the pain coming in waves.

Zack's playful demeanor immediately vanished, replaced by concern. "Babe? Are you okay?" He moved closer to her, one hand reaching up to her face, the other moving to her belly. "What's going on? Is it the baby?" He tried to keep the panic out of his voice, but his heart was hammering in his chest.

(Y/n) gritted her teeth, another wave of pain going through her stomach. She nodded, letting out another gasp. "I think I'm going into labor..." She managed to say through the pain.

Zack's heart raced faster at her words. This was it. It was finally happening. "Okay, okay," he said, trying to stay calm, despite the fear coursing through him. "We've got this. We've practiced for this moment." He took a deep breath, then stood up, offering his hand to her. "Time to go to the hospital. Can you stand up?"

(Y/n) took his hand, using his help in pulling herself up from the couch. With his help, she managed to get to her feet, breathing deeply as she tried to ignore the pain. "You... you go get the bags in the closet..." She said, grabbing onto his arm. "I'll wait here."

Zack nodded, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Okay, babe. I'll be right back." He quickly hurried to the closet, grabbing their bags that were already packed and waiting. They had prepared for this, but still, Zack couldn't help the flutter of nerves in his stomach. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that it would be alright. (Y/n) was strong, and she had him by her side.

(Y/n) leaned against the back of the couch, waiting patiently for Zack to come back with the bags. Every moment or so another wave of pain rocked through her stomach, making her gasp. She knew she was in labor, she had studied all this in a medical book, but it didn't make it any more pleasant.

"Mmm.... I hope it all goes well." She said to herself.

Zack dashed back into the room, bags in hand. He froze for a moment when he saw (Y/n) leaning against the couch, wincing in pain. "Hey, you okay?" he asked as he approached her, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

(Y/n) gave him a glare. "Do I look like I'm okay? I'm in labor here." She said through clenched teeth.

Another wave came through, and she gasped, doubling over and grabbing Zack's arm to steady herself. The pain was getting worse.

Zack quickly put the bags down and moved closer to (Y/n), wrapping an arm around her as she gripped his arm tightly. "Okay, okay. Just breathe, babe. It's going to be alright," he said in a soothing voice, even though he wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure more - her or himself.

(Y/n) nodded, taking a few deep shaky breaths, trying to steady her heart rate. She managed to straighten back up, though she was gripping Zack's arm pretty tight. "Alright... I-I'm ready. Let's go."

Zack squeezed her tight, trying to give her as much support as he could. "You're doing great, babe. Let's get you to the car." He picked up their bags and grabbed the car keys off the table.

When they finally reached the car, (Y/n) leaned against the side of the car. "Mm.... I need a moment...." She said in between her shaky breathing.

Zack nodded, putting the bags in the back of the car. "Okay, take your time. Just breathe, in and out. Focus on your breathing." He tried to keep his voice calm, even though his heart was racing. He wanted to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible, but he knew that rushing her would only make things worse.

(Y/n) gasped as she felt a sudden wetness between her legs. She looked down, seeing a puddle on the ground, and quickly realized what had happened. She groaned, the situation suddenly hitting her. She was REALLY giving birth.

Zack noticed the puddle on the ground and the realization dawned on him as well. "Babe, did your water break?" he asked, glancing between her face and the puddle.

(Y/n) nodded, a pained look on her face. "Y-Yes.... I think so..." She groaned, leaning into Zack. "Please... help me into the car... these contractions are coming closer together."

Zack quickly moved to her side, wrapping an arm around her waist to support her. "Okay, lean on me. We'll get you into the car and get you to the hospital." He helped her into the passenger seat, making sure she was comfortable before jogging around to the driver's side.

(Y/n) settled into the seat, a grimace on her face. The contractions in her stomach were getting closer together, and they were becoming more painful. As Zack got into the car, she reached over and grabbed his hand, gripping it tightly.

Zack started the car and put his hand over hers, squeezing it gently. "Just hang in there, babe. We're almost there. You're doing great." He could see the pain on her face and it filled him with a mix of worry and admiration. He couldn't imagine how much pain she was going through, but she was doing it with such strength.

"I-It really fricking hurts..." (Y/n) gasped, shutting her eyes tightly as another contraction went through her stomach. "F-Feels like I'm being ripped in two..."

Zack's heart ached seeing her in pain. "I know, babe. I know it hurts, but just breathe through it. You can do this," he reassured, his voice soothing even as his own anxiety sky-rocketed. He wanted to do anything, anything to ease her pain but all he could do was squeeze her hand and drive.

(Y/n) nodded, panting heavily in between contractions. Sweat was beginning to form on her face from the pain. Her grip on Zack's hand was so tight her knuckles were turning white, but she didn't loosen it, holding onto his hand like a lifeline.

Zack pulled into the hospital parking lot and quickly got (Y/n) out of the car, not even bothering to park in a parking space. He half-carried her into the emergency room, the bags forgotten in the car. "Hey, we need some help here!" Zack yelled to the nearest nurse, his voice filled with urgency.

A couple of nurses quickly rushed to them, their eyes going straight to (Y/n), who was doubled over with pain. "Are you in labor dear?" One of them asked, taking notice of the state (Y/n) was in. (Y/n) nodded, letting out a gasp mid-contraction. "Y-Yes... water broke... contractions... close together... p-please..." She managed to get out the words between breaths.

The nurses immediately got to work, taking charge. "Alright, let's get you into a room." They quickly wheeled a wheelchair over and helped (Y/n) onto it, all the while bombarding her with questions. Zack followed closely behind, his heart racing.

(Y/n) was quickly ushered into a room, the nurses helping her onto a bed. They started to hook her up to various monitors, checking her vitals. Each time a contraction came, (Y/n) would gasp and wince, gripping the bed sheets tightly, the pain becoming more and more intense.

Zack hovered nearby, feeling helpless. He hated seeing her in so much pain, but he stayed by her side, holding her hand and whispering words of reassurance. The medical team was bustling around them, talking in hushed tones, but Zack was focused solely on (Y/n).

The nurses finally finished hooking (Y/n) up to the monitors and checked her vitals. After a few moments the primary nurse spoke up. "You're already dilated 8 cm and your contractions are regular. I'll let the doctor know and they'll be in to see you shortly."

Zack nodded, trying not to show how overwhelmed he felt. 8 cm, already? The words sounded far-away and foreign in his head. He squeezed (Y/n)'s hand, trying to comfort her. "You're doing amazing, babe," he whispered. "Almost there. Just breathe."

(Y/n) groaned, the pain of the contractions becoming almost unbearable. She nodded at Zack's words, gasping for breath. "I... I need something for the pain..." She said to the nurse.

The nurse nodded, saying, "Let me check with the doctor, and we can get you an epidural."

The nurse left the room, leaving (Y/n) and Zack alone for a moment. (Y/n)'s grip on Zack's hand was so tight it hurt, but he didn't complain. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "I... I don't know if I can do this... it hurts so bad..."

Zack's heart ached at her words. He wanted to take away all her pain, to make it all go away. But he knew he couldn't. The only thing he could do was be there for her.

"You can do this," he whispered, his voice firm. "You're the strongest person I know. You're strong for me, and you're strong for our baby." He reached up with his free hand to wipe some sweat off her forehead. "You're almost there."

(Y/n) nodded, taking a few more deep breaths to steady herself. "Y-You're right...." She managed to say between gasps. "I can... I can do this for us... for our baby..." The pain of the contractions was intense, but the thought of their child kept her going. The nurse returned a few moments later with a doctor in tow.

"Alright," the doctor said with a smile. "We can administer the epidural now."

(Y/n) sighed a breath of relief, glad that she would be getting some pain relief soon. The nurse got everything set up and the doctor quickly administered the epidural. The relief was almost instant, a wave of numbness spreading through (Y/n)'s lower body. She slumped in the bed, feeling the contractions were much more bearable now.

Zack watched as the doctor administered the epidural, the relief on (Y/n)'s face making his heart feel like it was going to burst. He ran a hand through her hair, caressing her forehead gently. "How are you feeling? Any better?" he asked, feeling the slightest bit of tension leave his shoulders.

(Y/n) nodded, her grip on his hand relaxing as the pain medication took effect. "Much better... I can actually think now." She let out a sigh of relief, feeling the numbness spread through her body. The contractions were still occurring, but they felt almost bearable now.

The doctor checked her vitals once more before stepping back. "Everything looks good. You're fully dilated now. Let's get ready to welcome this little one into the world."

Zack felt a wave of relief wash over him at the doctor's words. They were finally almost there. Their baby was going to be born any minute now. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

"Alright, babe. It's time," he said, a mix of excitement and nervousness in his voice. He grabbed her hand again, holding on tight.

(Y/n) nodded, a determined look on her face. "Okay... I'm ready." She squeezed Zack's hand tightly, steeling herself. A moment later, the doctor began to direct her on when to push.

(Y/n) did her best to follow the doctor's instructions, pushing with all her might during each contraction. Sweat rolled down her face, beads of liquid rolling down her forehead. The pain was still there, but the epidural helped her focus and breathe through the sensations.

Zack watched in awe as (Y/n) pushed, amazed at her strength and determination. Even in immense pain, she was fighting with every fiber of her being to bring their baby into the world. He held her hand tightly, whispering words of encouragement to her.

"You're doing great, babe. You can do this. Just a few more pushes."

(Y/n) gritted her teeth as another contraction hit. She squeezed her eyes shut, pushing with all her might. The pain was intense, but the thought of their child kept her going. Each push was a step closer to bringing their baby into the world.

After several more minutes of pushing, the doctor announced, "Almost there! One more big push!"

Zack's heart was racing as he watched the doctor encourage (Y/n) to push again. He squeezed her hand, his own hands feeling slick with sweat. "You're so close, babe," he whispered. "Just one more. You can do it."

(Y/n) took a deep breath, summoning the last of her strength. She pushed with all her might, crying out with the effort. Zack's words echoed in her ears, giving her the mental push she needed.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, (Y/n) heard a cry fill the room. "You've done it," the doctor proclaimed, holding up a tiny, writhing form.

Zack's heart leapt in his chest at the sound of their baby's first cry. He let out a shaky breath, a mix of relief and overwhelming emotion welling up inside him. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he looked towards the doctor, who was now holding their child.

"You did it, (Y/n).." he whispered, his voice choked by emotion.

(Y/n) sagged against the bed, her energy spent. But when she heard her child's cry, a wave of relief washed over her. "I-Is it a boy or a girl?" she managed to ask, her voice weak.

The doctor smiled, holding up the newborn. "It's a girl." The doctor carefully placed the baby on (Y/n)'s chest, wrapping her in a blanket.

Tears streamed down Zack's face as he watched the moment unfold. A daughter. They had a daughter. He squeezed (Y/n)'s hand, a smile stretching across his face.

"She's beautiful," he whispered, reaching out to touch the baby's tiny, fragile body.

(Y/n) looked down at the little girl on her chest, her heart overflowing with emotions. The newborn let out a soft cry, tiny arms and legs flailing. She was pink and wrinkled, but the most beautiful thing (Y/n) had ever seen.

Tears filled her eyes as she caressed the baby's head. "She's perfect..." She whispered, her voice trembling.

Zack couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of his family, his heart full to bursting. He reached out, slowly brushing a finger against the baby's cheek. The moment was surreal, like a dream. And yet, it was real. They had created this beautiful little girl.

He leaned down to press a kiss to (Y/n)'s temple. "You did amazing, babe. She's perfect just like you."

(Y/n) looked up at Zack, her eyes shining with tears of joy. "We have a daughter," she breathed, still in awe. The baby let out a soft cry, her tiny hand grasping at (Y/n)'s finger.

"She's so small..." (Y/n) whispered, marveling at the fragile life in her arms. "What should we name her?"

Zack took a deep breath, his mind momentarily wandering to consider potential names. They had talked about it a few times, but in the moment, none seemed quite right. But then, as he looked down at their daughter, her tiny hand wrapped around (Y/n)'s finger, the perfect name came to him.

"How about Bernadette?" he suggested, looking to (Y/n) for her opinion.

(Y/n) repeated the name, rolling it over her tongue. "Bernadette..." She looked down at the baby in her arms, a soft smile playing on her lips. "It's beautiful."

The little newborn let out a tiny sound, as if responding to her name. "Bernadette..." (Y/n) whispered once more, a feeling of connection and love overwhelming her.

Zack felt a warm sense of contentment as (Y/n) agreed with the name. He watched as she repeated the name to their daughter, feeling a connection forming between mother and child.

"Bernadette it is then." He smiled gently stroking Bernadette's soft hair. "Welcome to the world, baby girl."

(Y/n) looked up at Zack, her gaze soft and warm. "Where did you come up with the name Bernadette?"

Zack chuckled, realizing he might have to explain his reasoning. "Well..." he began, a hint of a smile on his lips. "I was thinking... I wanted a name to call her something cute..I thought Bernadette would work... so i could call her Beanie... or Bee for short.." he admitted sheepishly.

(Y/n)'s lips curled into a soft smile, her heart fluttering at his explanation. "Beanie and Bee," she echoed, the diminutives rolling off her tongue with a sweetness. "That's adorable."

Zack's smile widened at her reaction, feeling a small sense of relief that she liked the name and the affectionate nicknames that came with it."I'm glad you like it," he said softly, looking down at Bernadette, who was nuzzling (Y/n)'s chest. "It just feels right, you know? Like it fits her."

(Y/n) nodded in agreement, her gaze fixed on the baby in her arms. "Yes, it does feel right. Bernadette... our Beanie..." She chuckled softly, the name bringing warmth to her heart.

Bernadette let out a small cry, her tiny hand opening and closing in an attempt to grasp something. "She's so feisty," (Y/n) observed.

Zack chuckled at (Y/n)'s observation, his gaze fixed on their daughter. "Yeah, she's definitely got some fighting spirit," he said, his tone filled with pride.He reached out a finger, letting Bernadette grasp it with her tiny, fragile hand, her grip surprisingly strong. "She's already got a grip on us," he joked.

(Y/n) smiled, watching as Bernadette clasped her tiny fingers around Zack's finger. She let out a soft sigh, feeling exhausted but incredibly happy.

"She's going to be trouble, I can tell," she said with a tired laugh. She cradled Bernadette closer, gently rocking her back and forth.

Zack chuckled, watching as Bernadette continued to grip his finger, her tiny hand holding on tightly. "She definitely seems like she's going to keep us on our toes," he agreed, a sense of exhaustion settling in as well. He reached over to wrap an arm around (Y/n), gently pulling her closer. "We did good, babe. We made something amazing."

The sounds of the bustling hospital faded away as they focused on their new family.

[disasterbuck]

Hi!!! Ooooh There is so much to choose 🤪🥰💕❓️💻💖🤝🤖🌎🥵

omg just go ahead and make me write everything lol (affectionate) I couldn't keep myself to strictly 3 sentences for all of these, so they vary a bit 🥰

🤪 - clumsy

first time in MONTHS I've written anything for this wip 🥰

This lasted for approximately five minutes before the bell went off and he found himself piling into the truck next to Eddie. He'd tried to slip into another seat, but Chimney had gotten there first and shot him a curious glance. After that, Buck had resigned himself to his fate and sat down beside the love and torturer of his life.

🥰 - confession / surprise date

this one ran away with me a little, how exciting!!

Eddie's lips parted in surprise as Buck began ladling the stew into their bowls. Buck was nervous, accidentally moving a bit too quick and splashing some sauce out of the bowl onto Eddie's shirt.

"Shit! Sorry," he said, moving the dish back to the island bench and taking a step to go and fetch a wash cloth.

Before he could get far, Eddie grabbed his arm and gently reeled him in until he was standing right beside Eddie's chair, looking down at him.

"Relax," Eddie said softly.

"I just want it to be perfect," Buck said. "But now I've already gotten food on you and we haven't even eaten anything yet and–"

Pushing his chair back to stand up, Eddie silenced him with a kiss.

💕 - first kiss

Eddie wasn't sure what to say to that. The truth was he was scared, but he knew he needed to face this no matter what. If Buck had picked up on enough to think they were dancing around each other, that had to mean something.

❓ - is this a date?

It turned out that there was only one table left, which Buck accepted eagerly.

"Alright, up you get," Buck said once the booking was finalised and he'd hung up the phone. "There was only one slot left and it's for 6:45, so we've gotta hustle."

Eddie let out an exaggerated groan as he got to his feet.

💻 - eddie's online friend

this is a goldmine that I completely forgot about lol. I might have to share more snippets at some point.

Stranded: so?

Stranded: are you gonna ask him if he's into men?

GI: stop asking me that

💖 - sorry but I fell in love tonight

Buck watched in delight as the fear drained out of Eddie's face, replaced with wonder.

that's all I've got in me for this one atm

🤝 - touches

The next escalation comes one evening as they're curled up on Eddie's couch together. Eddie sits between Buck's legs, his back to Buck's chest, when Buck takes a risk and slides his hands up the man's thighs. Eddie hums, happy, and tips his head back.

After that, they kiss whenever they can.

🤖 - who's got a crush

a few extra lines for this one as well 🥰

Had Buck really just said what he thought he'd said? No, he couldn't have. Eddie must have misheard.

"Sorry, what?" he asked, giving his head a slight shake.

"Oh my god, Dad!" Chris exclaimed, rolling his eyes dramatically. "He wants to have your babies!"

"Christopher!" Buck wheezed.

🌎 - alternate universe

How could he be right about when Christopher was coming back, but wrong about so many other things? Why didn't he have any memory whatsoever of getting married to Eddie? It couldn't be amnesia, because he had too many other memories all packed into his brain.

🥵 - that's hot

A moment later he heard footsteps and turned to see Bobby and Eddie walking towards him. Bobby looked extremely proud, and Eddie looked…

"Marry me," Eddie said, eyes fixed on Buck's face.

Make Me Write ✨

taglist:

(I hope it's okay that I'm adding you all here! Just thought you might like to read some snippets, and figured this was a good post for it since there's such a variety. If you're interested in even MORE, go to my blog and search 'make me write'. I've tagged all of these asks with that tag.)

@dluoser @taketheplanspinitsideways @loudenthusiastic @wallywise @mxrcjqckspnchqsc

@i-am-married-to-my-fandom @therosesaredying @stillfuckingtired @classtrialguru @speggle

@awesome-igi @natnuszsstuff @olliesrants @crazyfangirlallert @delirium1995

@brah3280 @meanceclosetohell @anythingeverythingallofthetime @izzysbeans @sunflower-eddiediaz

@darkrose6578 @veronae-buddie @steadfastsaturnsrings @loveyouanyway @inell

@spicyrottingbrains @gnoeltop @idealuk @donationwayne @lemotmo

@smilingbuckley @realpersonwithrealfeelings @superlock-in-the-tardis @mjthe14thdoctor @strxwbereee

@idontknowwhatimdoing777 @ashleigh2658 @mari-lwyd-fannibal-blog @mineyneedsmoney @faithhopeandmisery

@spotsandsocks @unlifeira @tofanasmuse @pirrusstuff @buddiedaydreamer911

@littlevampireprincessuniverse @misshiss727 @i-put-the-star-in-bastard @hermioneindisguise @dangerpronebuddie

Let me know if you'd like to be added or removed 💕

[kamisama1kiss]

Words counted: 1,000 ish

My first ever story posted here :D request should be open and I'm also up for criticism as for inproving my writing. I am also dyslexic, sorry beforhand. Enjoy ♡

Kai Smith Princess Au

It was warm and lit from the fire place being only a few feet away from where she sat, reading yet another romance novelle. She had placed herself with a small table in the corner of the castle library, the smell of burning pine wood lingerd in the air giving a home like feeling. There stood no other lights, relying on the fire place for lights making writing a tad bit eyestrining.

A semi loud creek screamed through the quiet library, snapping the princesses gaze to where the door is. Behold there stood the knight in shining armor that her father the King assigned her, clearly not trusting her. Seeing who it was her eyes want back to the page she previuslly was looking at.

"Good evening, Princess." A low, husky voice spoke up sitting down in the chair opposite of my own. "What is the book worm reading this time? A comedy? Or..." pousing as he leaned his elbow on the wooden rounded table, pointing at the red leather coverd book in my hands. Looking up at him with a small smile resting on my face, watching him guess. "..Most likely a romance?" He crooked his eyebrow at me.

"Hm yeah, it is another Romance book." Closing the book in the process, laying it down on the table. The knights face beams with joy, pleased with the achivments, his world known grin spread across his lips. "I knew that" leaning back in the chair crossing his arms. "It's not like I read them all the time, no no. Not at all." Scoffing with my answer not making him loose any pride.

"Whatever you say Princess. Anyways, I'm here because the King wanted to tell you some informasjon about the upcoming ball." He informed me as his gaze jumped around the room before landing on me, staying as such. "Okay, I will talk to him soon. It's not that urdgent of a topic anyhow." Shurgging my shoulders as my eyes look at the red leather book, carressing the spine of the book with my one hand. Shifting my view up to the spikey brown haired knight.

The fire place brighten his features I hadn't truly noticed before now, soft lights brown freckles skatterd on the bridge of his nose only a few but enough to be noticable. Half a eyebrow slit on his left side followed with it going under his eye, a decent long scar being the reasoning behind it. He is an attractive man. I won't fool myself.

Nodding to what I had said "Well, how about you explain what happens in the little book of yours than? As you said the topic wasn't that urdgent" Soinding intreged with the book, leaning forwards again resting both his arms on the table while still looking at me. "I haven't gotten far but I can tell what I've been able to catch so far." Admitting the book was new from not long before he arrived.

"Go ahead, I have all day" Dragning the word 'all' a few seconds, a small little chuckle escaped my lips. "The book is about a Girl who wishes to find her true lover, but her family tries to stop her at every chance they've got. She goes through blood and mud to let alone escape her so called family..." stopping myself for a second seeing as the knights eyes were watching me, as if every word from my mouth was analysed by him. "...And that's what has happened so far. I've only gotten to about chapter 4"

"Seems brutal, very brutal. How did you even find this book?" Questioning me as leaning back into the wooden chair. "One of maids recommended it to me actually, so far I like it. It drags me into the book, making it difficult for me to stop reading. It hadn't been for you i would have gotten further" Jokingly speaking.

A heartfelt laugh came from him, it was short but at the same time sweet to listen to. "I'm sure you'll be able to read it just fine later this evening after I've left you alone. Just my duties your highness" Tauntingly speaking as he winked at me, a grin smakked on his lips. "I am very thankful for that time." Coming back with a what I think is a comeback, only Seeing as it made him laugh again. His eyes squinted and his dimples became even more visible. In this very moment it felt as time almost slowed, he was natrually apealing for my eyes to look at.

Snapping out as fast as I started "Well, it has been a nice talk but I should get going. My father would get worried if I would go to him." I told him, standing up from my chair before pushing it into the table again. Moving some hair/braids/hijab from my face, it moved forwards a bit and annoyed me greatly. A small sulk bade it's way to his lips "Really? You will be missed Princess." He spoke almost with a hint of admiration lacing in his tone fall, it squeezed my heart a little. He stood up, taller than me.

Looking down at me from his hight, grabbing my hand as he placed a small kiss on my knuckles, his warm breath fanned my skin leaving goosebumps up my spine. "Until later, your highness." Looking back at me with a smirk. My face became warm from the affection he showed, trying to push it down but it was difficult as my heart was about to burst out of my chest. "Until later, Kai"

We're the last words we exchange before I left the library to continue my Princess responsibilities, my heart was aching as I walked, softly touching the spot he had kissed on my hand feeling my face warming up again. Little did I know if I had turned around again a faint red would be visible on his face as well companyed with a genuine smile. "Until later, (Name)"

[newtabfics]

IDK if you've done this but can you do a fluffy Ganondorf x f!reader where the reader is sick? Thank you ^-^

TOTALLY ADDING THIS TO MY REDEEMED GANONDORF SERIES which btw will have a master list up at some point. I've got them marked in my own document but like...i haven't organized it yet and I have an order in my head so far.

"Let me help her," he said simply. Upon the exchanged looks between the princess, hero, and village leader, he added, "She and I are close and she'll be more responsive to my presence."

"I don't know," Paya sighed. "You two are often around each other but..."

"Let him," The hero stated, grabbing the room's attention. With a shrug he said, "Her system is likely out of sorts after teleporting between here and the desert and back. She did collapse from the heat and he helped her. We can trust him when she's involved."

"No denying that," Zelda nodded before looking to Paya. The leader needed to make this decision.

After a long moment of weighing this, she too nodded. "Alright, but there'll be a guard at the doorway and you're not to leave until she is in good health."

"Understood. That in mind, Link," He said, turning to him. The swordsman glanced at him, body tense as he listened. "Would you mind getting some things once we've assessed her symptoms?"

That was how the former Gerudo King found himself in Y/N's home, forcing her to sit in the bed.

"It's just a cold, Ganny," Her voice croaked out, throat raw from coughing. "I just need to finish my research."

"It'll be there when you've healed up," He said before grabbing the book she'd been attached to. "You can still read in bed."

She sighed and nodded, smiling softly before letting out a startled yelp when the door slammed open, revealing the swordsman with an armful of filled baskets.

"Link," she asked, making him smile in greeting before he set it down. "What--What's all this?"

"Ingredients," He answered before looking to the large Gerudo. "Ready?"

Y/N blinked as she watched Link teach the man how to cook a stew that was rather popular for colds among Hylians. A little spicy pepper, some chicken, Hyrule Herbs, and rock salt mixed with carrots and Hylian Mushrooms.

More improtantly, something about the man's hulking frame in her small home was amusing, as well as heartwarming when he finally offered the stew to her.

Ganondorf's chest swelled with pride as she drained a second bowl. "You eat too," Link said as he headed for the door. "Don't let anything go to waste."

At the man's blink, Y/N chuckled quietly. "he's a big food guy. He gets upset if food has to be wasted," She said slowly.

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Understandable," he muttered as he turned to pour a cup of water. As he turned, he said, "Y/N, drink up. Hydration is good af–"

Ganondorf stopped, seeing Y/N rubbing her eye tiredly. He took the bowl as he set the glass down. "You need sleep."

"But–" She only surrendered when a hefty yawn broke through her defenses.

The man paused for a moment before holding up the book. "I could read this to you."

She stared at him a long moment before nodding with a smile. She listened to him happily as he read over the research text on Zonai devices. Everything from constructs to devices to charges to Zonaite! All of it felt like a soothing spell with his voice melded in. His deep voice rumbled lowly as he read over it, squinting a few times at words that she helped him pronounce.

"In my defense, this is in your Hylian," he had said after struggling through another word before a soft snore snapped him out. Looking over, she was out cold, scooted closer to the edge of the bed to be nearer to him. He bit back his quip about how the text would put anyone to sleep as he closed the book quietly.

Carefully, he fixed the blanket over her shoulder, blinking when she cuddled into a sand seal plush she'd gotten for herself at the racing event. Her peaceful expression made his chest warm as a familiar tug of desire coursed through him. His jaw clenched at the thought.

The thought of her looking up at him with a smile. The thought of her coming to him for anything, even little things. The thought of her leaning into his touch and–

He silenced the thoughts. His penance in serving Hyrule didn't allow for the thought or even the humor of romance.

Instead, he sat in the chair by her bed, only allowing himself the pleasure of her soft snores and peacefully sleeping face.

[gingerlegacy07]

Writer Interview Game

Thank you @morelikeravenbore for the tag! Everyone please check out her blog! She's a great writer with a beautiful MC!

When did you start writing? I was around 12/13 when I first wrote an actual little story. I loved doing it once for an assignment at school and from there on I kept writing. Mostly it was little love stories I made up, but when I was 15 I really got into Cinema Bizarre and wrote a (very bad, very cringey) chaptered story about them. I also wrote a pretty big Supernatural story in Dutch, but I never continued it after about 30 chapters. I stopped writing for a few years after that. I always loved reading fanfiction though and once I got into Kpop when I was 20, I started writing a little bit again. Mostly oneshots and all. After that I didn't write in over 8 years. Well, at one point I did try my hand on an orginal story, but I'm not even two chapters in so... Anyway, when HL came out I really got obsessed with it. And I started reading fanfiction about it. Before I knew it I was writing again and this time actually finished every story I started haha. Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write? The only trope rather than genre that I enjoy reading, but haven't written (yet lol) is enemies-to-lovers. I absolutely love that trope, but only if it's done well. And I have not yet dared to try it because I feel like I wouldn't make it good. But one day I do really want to try writing it. Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often? No. I'd rather have my own style and so far I haven't been compared to someone. Though I do admit that since I read most books in English, I've gotten some ideas of describing certain scenes or use certain wording in my writing. Can you tell me a bit about your writing space? Simple; on my bed, on my couch or sitting at my dinner table haha. I'll admit I've even wrote a bit at work lol. I don't really care for the space around me. All I need is my laptop and the inspiration/want to write and the words will come to me.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse? Listening to music, reading or watching a movie. Basically seeing or hearing anything that tells a story. A lot of times it either brings me ideas on how to proceed or it creates a vague outline for me which I want to expand and write a oneshot. I have a few stories written that are heavily based on a song. But sometimes I want to progress my WIP and want something to happen, just that I don't know what. Music, video's or book can help with that. Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you? Absolutely. Heartbreak, fluffiness, happy family life. With nsfw fics it's the aftercare scene and there's almost always some form of trauma. It doesn't surprise me as those themes are the ones I love to write and feel comfortable writing. Happy family life and aftercare is something I enjoy writing a lot and fluff is something I write because I'm a huge empath and need some fluff (especially after writing a very angsty scene or oneshot) to heal me. Heartbreak can make for the most delicious and soulcrushing angst and trauma does that too. They also help with character development; your character goes through something terrible and you'll need to write them dealing with it and moving on (or not) from it in their own way. What is your reason for writing? Because I want to read something that I haven't seen before or is hard to find and then I decide, well I can just write it myself. For example: with HL, I stuck to reading fanfiction until I started shipping Ominis and Poppy together. There were hardly any fics out there and the very few that were, only had them as a minor side couple. So I decided I wanted to write something with them, where they develop a friendship that turns into a relationship overtime. Very slowburn. At the same time I wanted people to read it or at least get interested and since I was sure just writing them as a main couple might not work (and honestly, I do love me some good SebastianxMC), I decided to make the main characters SebastianxReader (so whoever read it could insert either themselves, their own MC or someone they made up on the spot) with Ominis and Poppy as a pretty big side couple. So yeah, my main reason for writing is because I always got ideas in my head that I would love to read, but is hard to find. Thus I try writing it myself. Is their any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating? Honestly, any kind of positive comment is already motivating to me. But whenever someone takes their time to give a bit more details to their thoughts about my writing, it is extremely motivating for me to write more. It always helps to know someone likes it enough to leave a long comment and with giving their thoughts, I can get a bit of perspective on what my readers like/do not like. How do you want to be thought about by your readers? Good question. I don't necessarily want them to have a particular opinion about me, but I'd be flattered if, whenever they see my name besides a title, they think along the lines of: Oh I do like her stories. I dunno. It's always nice to know people enjoy your work, but as far as having an opinion about me, it doesn't matter really. What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer? I think understanding the characters I write and sticking to that while I develop their growth in my stories. How do you feel about your own writing? Not gonna lie, I always thought it was trash, but ever since I started writing for HL I actually like it now. Still, the first few chapters of my trilogy are a bit... icky to me, but overall I think I do a decent job at writing and it's pretty good. Most importantly; I love it!

That was fun! Thank you for whoever made this :D NP tags: @writingannyred @polarisgreenley @zetadraconis11 @sallowslove @mspegasus17

[loveroftoomanyfandoms]

Angel of God, My Guardian Dear Chapter 17: Matt

Pairing: Matt Murdock x F!Reader

Rating: Explicit (18+, MINORS DNI)

Story Summary: While speaking at a local school for visually impaired youth, Matt runs into his childhood best friend, with whom he lost touch almost 20 years prior.

Warning/Tags: Phone sex 🔥

Word Count: ~2k of pure porn

A/N: Enjoy some smut, y'all.

Matt sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he sat on his sofa listening to an audiobook he had gotten from the library the previous week. Y/N was out of town at a library conference and he was waiting for her to call.

His book automatically paused as his phone began to ring.

Matt smiled as he swiped to answer. "Hi, angel."

"Hi, Matty," Y/N replied. "How's it going?"

"It's going good. How's the conference?"

"It's fine, just the usual library stuff -- how to deal with difficult patrons, the depressing increase in book banning attempts by morons who've probably never read a book in their life, what to do when you're stuck at a library conference away from your very sexy boyfriend for 5 days…"

Matt grinned. "Learn anything interesting in that last session?"

Y/N huffed out a light laugh. "Actually, yeah, the presenter suggested calling him and telling him how much you miss him."

Matt chuckled, his heart warming. "I miss you too, angel."

He paused, listening for signs of anyone in Y/N's vicinity. "Are you settled in for the night?"

"Yeah, some of the others decided to go out for drinks but I wasn't feeling up to it. It's been a long conference and I haven't been sleeping too well."

Matt hummed. "Well maybe I can help you with that."

"Oh?" Y/N's voice piqued with interest. "How so, Mr. Murdock?"

Matt licked his lips. There had been something else he had been wanting to try with Y/N but the opportunity hadn't presented itself until now. "Remember how I helped you out the last time you couldn't sleep?"

Y/N let out a breathy laugh. "You mean how you made me come so hard my brain went completely blank for a moment? Yeah, I definitely remember that."

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could do something like that… just over the phone."

Y/N gasped playfully. "Matthew, are you suggesting that we have phone sex?"

Matt hummed. "Maybe… if you're interested."

"Oh, I'm very interested. Give me just a second to get situated though?"

Matt moved from the sofa to his bedroom. "Sure, angel."

"Are you in bed?"

"I will be in a minute. I was sitting on the sofa."

"Oh, okay." Y/N paused. "Just for the record… I, uh, I've never done this before, so… apologies if I'm awkward."

Matt shook his head even though he knew Y/N couldn't see him. "Hey, no, it's okay. To be honest, I haven't actually done this either, but it's just like our sexy talk at home, right? Except we'll just have to also tell each other what we'd like to be doing instead of actually doing it."

He grinned and dropped his voice down a register. "Plus you know how much I love the sound of your voice, angel. Can't wait to hear you while you're touching yourself for me."

Y/N sucked in a breath. "Okay."

"Are you settled into bed yet?"

"Uh huh. Oh wait, what are you wearing?"

Matt could feel Y/N cringe over the phone. While yes, that was typically a pretty stereotypical lead-in to phone sex, it actually was a pretty important question since they couldn't see each other. 

"Actually I just got out of the shower about 20 minutes ago, so I'm wearing a pair of boxers. What about you? What are you wearing?"

"Oh, um…" Y/N paused as she pulled the covers over her. "A black tank top and black and red plaid pajama pants."

Matt settled in his bed. "Those soft cotton ones you like to lounge around in?"

"Uh huh."

"Mmm, good to know. I like those on you." Matt grinned. "I like them even better on my bedroom floor."

Y/N huffed out a laugh. "Smooth, Murdock."

"Just telling the truth, angel." Matt sighed. "I wish you were here in my bed right now, because you know what I would do?"

Y/N's breath hitched. "Uh-uh, what?"

"I'd cup your face in my hands and kiss you. Love kissing you, angel, thought about it for years before I got the chance."

Y/N let out a breathy sigh. "Mmm, me too, Matty, used to stare at your mouth all the time when we were kids, wanted to know what your lips would feel like pressed to mine."

Matt groaned softly. "God, Y/N, had I known how you actually felt about me back then I probably wouldn't have been able to help myself, would've had to find out what your lips tasted like, both with and without that coconut lip balm on them."

"Good thing you can kiss me all you want now, hmm?"

Matt smiled. "Mmhmm. I'd kiss you breathless then tangle my fingers in your hair and tilt your head to the side so I could move down to your neck. Love to feel your pulse flutter under my lips, angel, have to hold back from marking you and feeling the blood rise to the surface of your delicate skin." 

Y/N's breath hitched. "No, baby, don't hold back. Want you to mark me, Matty."

Matt closed his eyes, picturing Y/N whimpering underneath him in pleasure as he tattooed his name in Braille on her skin, soothing each mark his lips left with his tongue before moving on to the next one. "Fuck -- don't tempt me, angel."

"Love to wear your marks on me, sweetheart, know that it's you who put them there." Y/N giggled. "My sexy vampire."

Matt grinned. "Mmm, definitely going to have to mark you up when you get home then, remind you who you belong to."

"Mmmhmm. So what else would you do?"

"I'd slide the hand that wasn't buried in your hair underneath your tank top so I could feel your soft skin." Matt let out a quiet groan. "Used to dream about it when we were younger, sweetheart, what your body would feel like under my hands and mouth if I ever got you in my bed other than to sleep."

"Mmm, and?"

Matt groaned. "The real thing is even better than I imagined. You feel so fucking incredible, Y/N, want you all the time."

He licked his lips as he heard the shuffle of clothing. "Touch yourself for me, angel."

Y/N sighed. "Mmm, Matty, love to feel your hands on my skin, baby, whether you're being gentle and caressing me while we're making love or gripping my hips tight while you fuck me into oblivion."

Matt hissed, his cock starting to stir. "Take your top off for me, sweetheart, want to hear your hand caressing that soft, smooth skin of yours."

He could hear Y/N pulling her shirt up and over her head. "That's my good girl."

Y/N hummed. "What would you do once you got my top off?"

"I'd move down to those perfect tits of yours. First I'd start with the left one, tease it to a peak with my tongue before getting my mouth properly on it." Matt groaned as Y/N gasped out a breath. "That's right, angel, touch yourself for me, imagine those are my hands caressing you."

Y/N's breath hitched. "Mmm, Matty, your hands feel so good on my skin, love the way you touch me."

Matt groaned. "By now I'd be able to smell just how fucking wet you were for me, angel. God, your scent is intoxicating."

"Mmhmm, just for you, Matty. Only you make me feel this way, God , you turn me on so much." Y/N let out a soft moan. "Want your mouth on me, sweetheart, need you."

Matt pulled his boxers down, freeing his cock. "Need my mouth on that beautiful cunt of yours, angel?"

"Uh huh. Feels so fucking good, Matt, God , that mouth of yours is magical."

Matt wrapped a hand around himself. "Mmm, well since you asked so sweetly I'd kiss my way down your stomach while I slowly slid your pajamas down, then when I finally had you naked I'd have to kiss and feel my way down your body one more time before I got to taste your sweetness."

Y/N whimpered. "God yes, please , Matty, want you to make me come on your mouth."

"Go ahead, angel, let me hear how wet you are for me." Matt groaned at the slick slide of Y/N inserting two fingers into herself. "You taste so fucking good, Y/N, could spend hours eating out that beautiful cunt of yours, see how many times I can make you come on my tongue alone."

Y/N gasped. "Fuck, Matt ."

Matt spit in his hand before taking himself once again, the dryness of his hand alone uncomfortable in its friction. "As good as you taste, it's nothing compared to the feeling of being buried deep inside your tight cunt, so once I had drunk my fill of your juices I'd slide my cock through your folds getting myself nice and slick, then I'd ease myself inside you. Gotta start out nice and slow, angel, don't want to hurt you."

Y/N bit back a moan. "Mmph -- fuck. You're so big, Matt, always make me feel so full, baby, stretch me out so good."

Matt sped his hand up. "Your pussy feels amazing, Y/N, like it was made perfectly to fit my cock."

"Feel so good inside me every time, Matt." Y/N sucked in a breath. "Love to feel your cock in me, sweetheart, fucking me so deep, filling me up."

Matt groaned. "Can't wait until you get home, sweetness, miss you so much."

"Fuck, Matty, miss you too, baby, hate not being able to see you, to touch you. Need you inside me, Matt, wanna feel you." Y/N gasped. "Want you to grip my hips tight while you pound into me, make me feel you deeper than ever before."

"Oh, don't worry, angel, gonna stuff you nice and full when you get home, come so deep in that tight wet cunt of yours that you feel my cum inside you for days ." Matt hissed, his orgasm edging closer. "Gonna come for me, angel?"

"Uh huh. Close, Matty."

Matt tightened his grip on himself. "Me too, Y/N. Fuck, you always take me so well, sweetheart, such a good girl for me."

"God -- yes, yours , Matty, always." Y/N's breath hitched. "I'm so close, baby."

Matt pitched his voice lower. "Want you to let go for me, angel, let me hear those pretty sounds you make for me while I'm filling your pussy up with my cum."

Y/N gasped. "Yes , Matt , sweetheart, want to feel it, want to -- Ah !"

Matt jerked himself roughly a few more times, the sound of Y/N crying out his name in ecstasy making him groan as ropes of hot cum shot out onto his stomach. 

He could hear Y/N panting on the other end as she came down from her high. "Fuck, Y/N ."

Y/N hummed. "Mmm, love you."

"Love you too." Matt grabbed a few tissues and wiped the quickly cooling cum off of himself. "Feel better?"

"Mmhmm." Y/N sighed. "Still miss you, baby, but luckily I'm just gone for a few more days."

Matt grinned. "I miss you too, and whenever you get home I'm going to show you just how much I'm missing you."

Y/N huffed out a light laugh. "Mmm. Is that a promise?"

"Oh, definitely. You're not leaving my bed for at least 24 hours."

"Deal." Y/N yawned. "I'll call you tomorrow?"

Matt nodded. "Okay, angel. I love you."

"Love you too."

"Sweet dreams."

"Mmm, you too, Matty. 'Bye, baby."

"Bye."

Matt hung up and pulled his boxers up, then lay in bed for a moment silently contemplating before getting up and going to his Daredevil trunk.

He pulled out the small square box he had hidden the day before and ran his hand over the contents, smiling softly before setting it back in his trunk.

He went back into his bedroom as his phone rang once again. "Hello, this is Matthew Murdock."

He grinned. "Yes, hi, thank you for getting back to me. I'm sorry for bothering you, but I need a favor…"

[thezolblade]

rl and fandom update

Fatigue's been getting better in the last year or so, with at least one cause identified. Since I've gone from a few years of barely managing much, to gradually starting to get a bit more energy to walk around for a few hours per day, I keep trying to do things and tiring myself out, and then napping and zoning out rather than getting other things done too.

Switched my laptop and the old family computer over to linux, to avoid forced copilot on one, and make the other usable again after windows 8 end of life. I may have lost some files despite my best efforts. Backing things up and following the process took a lot of time despite the process being as straightforward as it could be, and I love linux but I'm still picking it up. I wish I'd had that time for other things when there was so much else going on. Hate windows so much for forcing all that bullshit, but at least I've gotten rid of it now.

Goal next year is to retain more energy until the evenings so I can really get back to fun things that require focus. Fandom's been partly on the backburner; on good weeks I've managed to focus on short projects, but I haven't been able to maintain a focus on long projects. The list of games/books/shows/writing that I want to get back to feels motivating, like I'm reminding myself that whenever I have any time, there are still lots of things where I can feel some enthusiasm, even if I can't get through them all quickly like a to-do list. Gathering thoughts on the main ones:

Disco Elysium

When I played it in 2019, it was really good, but parts of it were slightly too much in a grim way, like the death notice; I remember thinking that I wanted to replay, but I needed a gap first.

Heard about the Sacred and Terrible Air fantranslation this year and took that as a cue to replay, and this time it's been fantastic. Knowing what's coming takes some of the bite out of the rough parts, along with getting invested enough to want to explore all the dialogue options to see the characters from all angles. Kim gets so sassy and creative when Harry fucks up. The playthroughs are going slowly but I've seen almost everything that I kept getting spoiled on when I slipped into reading fic earlier in the year. I've made it through a few chapters of the book pdf, it's heavy going though. To be continued.

FFVII

Picked up the reboot, it feels odd to be so late to the party with my fave game. To play when I have the energy for sitting up with the steam deck, rather than resting with something turn-based open on a laptop.

TMA

So so many wips that I want to finish, but I'm still reeling from getting put off from season 4 onwards. That got pretty tangled with pandemic stress, at the same time it was getting unfun and I couldn't get another interest to catch alight the same way to take my mind off things. The wip files are long enough I need a bit of focus back to tackle them.

Now the TMP sequel's out too, and I lost all interest when I found out that Jonah Magnus is still a character, despite the show sounding at first like a universe where he was killed off for real and other characters actually, finally, get to drive the plot with their own character arcs in a cathartic way, instead of everyone just rattling around where they're trapped the whole time. I'll probably read a summary at some point, as it does stuff with characters from TMA, and falling out of date with the canon really shows in fanworks. Don't feel like it yet.

Golden Sun

Every few years I've gone back the to longfic WIP that's still on fanfic.net and spent a few weeks trying to reread/edit/get past the block point, before getting tired out and taking a break from it again.

Lately I'm thinking, I always had point A at the start and point C at the end planned out, but getting there with the long detour through point B, well, that's the part where I'm stuck, and where a lot of the old writing that makes me wince is, which I keep changing without quite being happy with it, and which I can't cut for the way the plot hangs together. So maybe I should just cut out the side plot that takes up most of point B, even though what's posted is all setup so far and it was going to be the payoff next, and there are parts I really like. It'd make the fic much shorter, to go straight from points A to C; chapter 4 or 5 would move on to one or two chapters of wrapping things up, in a relatively quick and easy way for the characters. No big parts for Sheba and Ivan, no flashbasks to the heroes' history from Sheba's pov. I probably won't manage to finish it otherwise, so it's worth a try. Need to wait until I have some time off work to take a run at it.

PMMM

I still need to watch magia record, and read some of the comics... It's been too long since I've rewatched my fave show.

Harvest Moon / Rune Factory / Stardew Valley / Pokemon / indie relaxing games

Relaxation. Gotta pick them up again before I forget where I was up to.

Slay the Pricess

Play the Pristine Cut, and try the Disco Elysium crossover mod.

Fallen London

Nice to have a browser game on my phone. I keep putting off progress with the stories that'll shed some light on the lore, for a better day. Intriguing world anyway.

Omori, Deltarune, Dredge

Play more when my sister visits, and when she's not tired out from work too. Good to have some shared activities.

Fire Emblem 3 Houses

Finish the last route... I don't have to replay the shared chapters again at this point, just finish the blue route...

Saiyuki

See how many more of the comics are out in English than, uh, more than 10 years ago.

Avatar last airbender & korra

Catch up with the comics.

Arcane

Almost through season 2, TV evenings with my parents. Pretty effects. Kinda makes me want to know more, but I don't think I'll ever play league of legends. Maybe something to expore via youtube someday.

Star Trek

I watched ToS with my parents last year. Next, time to watch all the next gen episodes that I somehow never caught when it was on TV growing up, even though watching whatever was on meant I saw some episodes 2 or 3 times. And there's that new short film going around.

[ritualofcirice]

Hello to one of my favorite internet sheeps! I just wanted to pop in and say that you are a nice writer. Your blog is also so organized and fancy.

What were the top three stories you've had fun writing? Give us a shameless self promo... 👀💕

Hello to one of my favourite internet anons! Thank you so much for your kind words ♡

I would give approximate stats for how long I spend piecing together banners and keeping my blog neat, but it's actually shocking ;; I'm glad to hear people are liking the aesthetic! Those sleepless nights haven't gone to waste...

SHAMELESS PROMO TIME THOUGH - with a lot of waffling ♡

If I had to give my current top three I've had fun writing it'd be these:

Moth and Rust. OKAY. So I don't have a lot I can say about this one yet because there is only one chapter out. Let me tell you though the amount of time I've spent detailing OCs, plot, and development is insane. I haven't gotten around to posting more due to how large the encompassing story is, and I don't want to 'rush' it. As such I've been writing chapters but not releasing them to ensure everything is flowing the way I want it to. I'm using it as a guinea pig to get better at editing, descriptions, and handling longer plotlines too, which has been exceedingly fun for me so far. In other words, I love reading grammar books.

Fragile - Handle With Care. I had a bit of a love hate relationship with this one to start off with, but after I started editing it things kind of just fell into place in a fulfilling way. Fluffy stories rock!

The entirety of the Love Letters series to date (I can't pick a favourite out of these). Like, they are just so fun. I started it for character practice, but it's turned into a fun little project I adore. It's super nice to sit and think about what each character would write. That's not even considering what their letters would look like. The whole Valentino rhinestone rabbit hole I went down was wild. Plus, I'm looking at being more hands on crafty with that series once it's 'done' - money and time permitting ♡

REALLY APPRECIATE THE ASK, AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE SUPPORT ♡♡♡ I'm always down to talk stories anyday!

[b3anieperson]

THE LETTER - An Epilouge To Fourth Wing - Part 1 - Part 2

Story Summary-

Twenty year old Sloane Mairi, sister to Liam Mairi, and daughter of Colonel Mairi and Isaac Mairi, Awaits her brothers first letter of his second year, before she can leave for the Riders Quadrant and see him again.

I sit in my room that I share with four other, younger girls, along the window seat where I have just received a new book from the market in Alrysben. I should be packing what I can in a rucksack, but I'm reading, because if I don't read what I have now, I never will.

Xaden sent a letter telling me to pack light, no books, whatever knives I still have from my mother, as well as my Tyrrish Stone that my mother gave all the marked children before the execution, because of course Xaden knows I still have it, both Liam and I do, it's the only thing we still have from our mother.

All of my other possessions consist of things Xaden, Liam and my fostered sisters have gotten me for my birthdays over the years, as well as my letter book-  it consists of every letter I've received since I was six- and the few things Lady Burnam has gotten us.

Though Lady Burnam is a temperamental woman- when Eya was here, she had had more than a few screaming matches with her - she is kind to all of the younger girls and boys that live with us.

At least I can see Liam in a few days. I think as Kahla and Bryn run through the room, playing what appears to be pretend dragon riders, Helena sits down next to me, her bobbed red hair bouncing as she slumps, then places a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, have you finished packing yet?" She's two years younger than me, and the only other I share the room with. I shake my head and close my book.

"I still have a few days," I pause, then look up to the door, where the mail carrier sits, divying up who's mail is whose, "I'm trying to read what I can of this book before I leave."

She scoffs, "Read, read, read, that's all you ever do, Dear Dunne, you won't last in the Quadrant." Her gaze shifts, "If only they'd let you become a scribe."

I shrug my shoulders and breathe through the impending fear that seems to stay in my chests these days.

Fynn opens the door, his hand over his eyes, "Are you guys dressed?" He asks. When Bryn shouts yes, he picks her up from behind the door, "Good!" He spins his little sister around. He'll be leaving with me for the Quadrant, and hopefully, I pray, he will cross the Parapet safely.

I clear my throat and gesture my hand to the open door, and Fynn sets down his sister, his skin is dark, like Bodhi or Xaden, but a tad bit lighter, "Right, sorry, Lady Burnam wants all of us that are leaving to come down to her office." He answers. I nod and dust off my stuffy uniform from home-study as I set down my book.

I glance back to Helena, and nod with a smile, then call out to the girls before I exit, "Don't be too much trouble for Helena while I'm gone! I'll be back you know!" I call out, and the girls giggle.

We walk the long halls in silence, I don't know Fynn well, but I know he fought like hell to make sure he got here with Bryn. The last six years haven't been easy, I know I miss Liam every day, but at least Fynn and Bryn weren't apart.

"Are you ready?" He asks, trying to fill the voided silence.

I let out a self-deprecating laugh, "Me? The five-foot-six, skinny, blonde daughter of Colonel Deriana Mairi, who sucks at doing anything but swinging with a sword, ready?" His pace slows and he worrys with his hands.

"You're good at stuff, like a lot of stuff, and you're great at battle practice, well not Emek great, but you're good!" He tries to comfort. He continues walking, the asks another question, "Are you excited to see Liam?" I nod eagerly.

"It's going to be great, Xaden wrote me a few months ago saying that he bonded a red daggertail named Deigh."

"Xaden still writes?" He asks with a slight laugh.

"Well he writes me for Liam, to make sure that we are both doing okay, and also because we grew up in Aretia together, so we're kind of close." I respond.

"Ah, I can't even remember the last letter I got from him, it was before he left, but after his first check in letter." When we had all been separated, Xaden, Garrick, Liam, and Bodhi had all sent every marked child of the Apostate, a letter to check in, ask how we were settling in, and if we were sleeping good.

We reach the end of the hallway, where Lady Burnam's office sits, filled with the three other boys who will leave with me for the Riders Quadrant.

Lady Burnam turns in the chair that she sits in for all but six hours of the day. "Good Evening dears!" She clasps her hands together, and smiles, "Have you all finished packing?" I am really tired of getting asked this question today.

Everyone else nods in murmered agreements besides me. Lady Burnam turns her hand in a gesture, "Sloane? Is that right? Did you finish packing?" I shake my head, and answer.

"No ma'am, I'm going to pack tonight."

She nods, her green gaze catching mine, "Good, good. Well that's all I really wanted to check in with, well, that, and to wish you all good luck, I'll be praying to Zihnal for all of you."

We all give quick thanks before we are dismissed. Dinner starts in an hour, and it might as well be our goodbye dinner, despite that being in three days, when we board a cart for Basgaith.

When I renter our room, the girls are sitting reading through their history textbook, and Helena is sharpening a Tyrrish dagger.

I fall back onto my bed, and let out an exasperated sigh. Helena looks up from sharpening, and twists her head like an animal; "Are you okay?" I nod, my arms splayed out above my head.

Bryn and Kahla squirm up on either side and hug me tight. "We're gonna miss you Sloane." They whimper into my sides. I reach down and stroke their long, braided hair. Bryn's is a long fishtail, and Kahla has a short two strand.

"I'm going to miss you too." I whisper. One of the servants walks in and smiles, it's Dahlia, and she urges the girls upright.

"Come on you two! It's bath night! I've got bubbles, and-" She rattles a box, "wood incense!" The girls sit up and rush to follow her out of the door.

Helena sits down on the bed, and something slides on my night stand. "You got mail, it's from Garrick Tavis, Imogen Cardulo, Eya and Xaden." She says quietly, "They're all marked urgent." She runs a hand through my long blonde hair, then stands to walk out for a shower.

Yes! They're probably all telling me about what to expect after I cross the Parapet. I sit upright and reach for Xaden's letter, and break the seal.