#if anyone remembers when I mentioned loving like a dragon . yeah .

[snufflepup]

You can be the princess, and I can be the dragon that keeps you safe and locked away in my castle !

[silent-stories]

𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐀𝐅𝐀𝐑 - 𝟏

Pairing: Eddie x F!Reader

Summary: Dustin convinces Eddie, who is always watching you from a distance, to talk to you.

Eddie hated the way his gaze was always looking for you in the school parking lot, hoping you'd arrived a few minutes early so he could watch you from afar.

He couldn't stop it, he could try to hold back but it was useless, he always found himself looking around hoping to hear your laugh at something stupid that Buckley, who you usually drove to school in your car, had said.

Eddie wasn't the shy type: he walked the cafeteria tables making speeches and always said what he thought. But with you?

All he could do was watch you from afar.

"Dude, you're doing it again." Dustin's voice distracted Eddie from his usual search.

"Doing what?" he asked, sounding a lot more guilty than he intended.

He had been caught.

"You are looking for Y/N." The boy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Why would I?" Eddie shrugged as if to dismiss the conversation before leaning back against his van.

"Because you like her."

"What? No, absolutely not. We're…I don't even know if she considers me a friend. We're acquaintances. We just know each other. We only have one class together and we've only talked a few times so-"

Three times.

It had been exactly three times you had spoken to Eddie, he remembered them all very well, as well as the way his heart started beating so much faster than usual.

The first time you bumped into him in the hallway. Eddie had initially thought it was someone who did it on purpose, as it usually happened with jogs, but when he heard your immediate apology and from the way you said it was your fault, he understood that you would never do it on purpose.

He quickly realized that you weren't like most of the others at school and that you didn't see him as someone to stay away from and that had only made Eddie fall for you even more.

The second time was during history class, the only one Eddie had with you, that day you arrived five minutes late, having to sit in the only seat left free: the one next to Eddie.

After a few minutes that he had spent sketching in his only notebook trying not to go crazy because of your proximity, you spoke, or rather, whispered.

"I like dragons."

Eddie raised his head as a shy smile appeared on his lips to find your gaze on the dragon he had drawn in his notebook.

He mumbled a "yeah, I like them too" before the teacher turned to you and glared at him.

He didn't say anything for the rest of the lesson but since that day he had always hoped you'd be a few minutes late so you would sit next to him.

It had never happened.

The third time was the only time you really had a conversation with him. You picked up Dustin after a D&D campaign and you spent ten minutes talking to Eddie before you left.

To Eddie's amazement, you two started talking about Metallica. You mentioned that your dad occasionally listened to them and you started the conversation by talking about which songs you knew and which ones you liked more.

Before you left, you talked about how boring math was and how much you enjoyed art class and during all the time you had spent talking a faint smile was permanent on Eddie's lips.

That was all. Only ten minutes.

It had been the shortest ten minutes of his life and Eddie wished you'd stay there and talk to him for hours.

Dustin laughed at the way his friend seemed to lose the ability to form meaningful sentences whenever you were involved.

"Holy shit, you're in love with her."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

Eddie sighed, he couldn't deny it anymore. "Henderson, if you tell anyone, consider yourself expelled from the Hellfire Club for the rest of your life."

Dustin adjusted the cap on his head. "Your secret is safe with me. Anyway, Y/N is cool. You should tell her."

Eddie let out a bitter laugh. "For what? To hear her say she wouldn't be with Eddie "the freak" Munson even if I were the last person on the face of the earth? No thanks, I'd rather keep watching her from afar."

"You know she's not like that." Dustin said. "She doesn't judge. Trust me, she was my babysitter for almost three years when I was in middle school, I know her well enough to know that she's a good person, she would never laugh at you and she's a completely badass."

And Eddie knew it. He knew you were kind and funny and so fucking pretty. And that was why the chances he had with you were almost inexistent.

Just as he was about to answer, he saw you.

You walked in his direction, wearing a leather jacket that was a few sizes larger but still looked perfectly on and Eddie nearly felt his heart leap out of his chest.

"Uuh... do you want me to leave you two alone?" Dustin asked with a smirk.

"Don't even try." He retorted, nudging the boy before you reached them.

"Hi" You smiled. "Have you seen Mike by any chance?"

Eddie shook his head. Why were you looking for Wheeler?

"He got into class early, he had to get something." Dustin said.

You rummaged in your bag and pulled out a book. "Nancy was at my house yesterday and she forgot this, could you give it to Mike so he can give it back to her?"

Dustin grabbed the book. "Sure."

"Great. Thank you." You said before a voice called you from behind.

"Y/N, we'll be late for art class!"

Art, right. It was your favorite subject, Eddie remembered that.

But it wasn't Robin who had spoken.

He was a tall boy, with dark blond hair long enough to show his soft curls. His eyes were green and glittered in the morning sun and he was wearing a clean, light blue jacket. His boy-next-door face annoyed Eddie, or maybe it was just the way he was interrupting a moment when he would have a chance to talk to you.

"See you guys." You said before walking towards him.

He put his arm around your shoulders as you walked side by side.

He was your boyfriend.

You had a boyfriend.

Suddenly Eddie was finding it hard to breathe. Of course you had a boyfriend, he'd been a stupid not to think of it before: a girl like you had to have a boyfriend.

And that guy seemed to be the complete opposite of Eddie.

He was also probably rich and had great grades in school. Because those were the kind of guys you liked, right? Certainly not the ones like Eddie. Those who were lucky if they didn't find the words "freak" or "devil" engraved on their locker. Those who had to park further away from school hoping that no one punctured their wheels. The ones who lived in a trailer and had to sell drugs to make ends meet.

"No." Dustin said.

"No what?" He raised his eyebrows, trying to hide his hurt expression.

"He's not her boyfriend, if that's what you're thinking."

"I wasn't thinking about anything at all."

Thank God.

"His name is Aaron Turner. He just moved to Hawkings and he's not Y/N's boyfriend. But he could soon be if you don't talk to her."

"What fool moves to Hawkings?" Eddie asked as his gaze followed your figure walking to school.

You were laughing.

You seemed happy with him.

"What fool doesn't ask the girl he likes out?" Dustin retorted.

Eddie glared at him.

"You said it yourself. 86, your year. Then make it your fucking year and ask her out. Or at least start talking to her and stop looking at her from afar. And try to say things that make sense when she's around."

"I say things that make sense."

Dustin raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, okay."

Since when did he take advice from a fourteen-year-old boy?

But he was going to talk to you.

He had to do it without looking like a complete idiot but he felt he could do it.

Eddie could feel it: 1986 was going to be his year.

Part 2

Tags: @jacklesdeanvessel @morning-sky7 @pipsqueakkitten @navs-bhat

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

EWAN MITCHELL INTERVIEWED BY DECIDER MAGAZINE.

SO KNOWING HOW HE'S SO STUDIOUS AND THOUGHTFUL, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE CHANCES ARE, IF HE STILL HAS THE DANGER, HE CAN FIGURE OUT THERE'S A HIDDEN MESSAGE THERE?

"Yeah, I think I could imagine that."

"I could imagine Aemond reading a book by the fire and he just puts it over the fireplace and then he’s privy to the information of Aegon’s dream."

"But I can’t confirm nor deny it."

ALICENT MENTIONS TO RHAENYRA IN THE FINALE THAT AEMOND PLANS TO FLY TO HARRENHAL. DAEMON HAS HAD QUITE THE SEASON THERE, BEING AFFECTED BY THE MAGIC THERE. DO YOU HAVE A SENSE OF HOW THAT MAGIC COULD AFFECT AEMOND?

"I think that’s a good question."

"I think if he was to go to Harrenhal, I think, I don’t know."

"It’s similar to what we were saying with Helaena."

"Like, if there was some sort of way that he would be able to harness that power and to use it to his advantage, he could be quite dangerous."

SO, ARE YOU EXCITED TO SORT OF DELVE INTO WHAT COULD POTENTIALLY MOTIVATE AEMONE TO OPEN UP TO SOMEONE? WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD MAKE HIM SO VULNERABLE?

"I think just finding all of that multifaceted nuance in Aemond, and really exploring that shadow side even more…"

"You know, just constantly keeping the audience on their toes and presenting an angle of Aemond that we hadn’t really seen before."

"He always kind of looked for surrogates for his mother."

"He found it in Vhagar, so to speak."

"An old she-dragon parallel."

"And he found it in the madame."

"But is that enough? So he’s always looking for his match, so to speak."

"Whether or not he finds it is another thing."

"Maybe there’s no one good enough for Aemond."

"Maybe he’s not good enough for anyone either."

HE'S SO RUTHLESS IN TERMS OF THE WAY HE WANTS TO APPROACH THE BATTLES AHEAD. IS HIS MINDSET FOR HIS OWN GLORY AND POWER, OR IS HE ACTUALLY JUST TRYING TO SAVE HIS FAMILY AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE AND SECURE TEAM GREEN'S CLAIM?

"I think it’s interesting."

I think when he approaches Alicent and Helaena in Episode 8, he kind of says, 'Like, look, it’s either them or us and I’m choosing. It’s gonna be them.'

"We can’t go down without a fight."

"Because if the Blacks were to come into power, it would be the Greens heads who would be on the chopping block."

"And Aemond especially."

"So it is a fight for self preservation."

"But whether or not he has his family’s interests at heart or whether or not he’s just thinking for himself?"

"I want to leave that out there."

"I want to let people make their own judgment on that."

"I think he definitely loves his mum and he wants his mum at the end."

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES IS THE ONE WHERE YOU BASICALLY DRESS DOWN AEGON IN HIGH VALYRIAN. WHAT WAS IT LIKE PREPARING FOR THAT? WAS IT AS DELICIOUS TO DO AS IT LOOKED OR WAS IT JUST ANOTHER EXTRA CHALLENGE THAT YOU JUST DID NOT WANT TO FACE IN TERMS OF MASTERING A FOREIGN LENGUAJE?

"I mean I remember doing it a few different ways, but I always kind of settled on the idea that Aemond, throughout those first four episodes, he’s just so composed."

"We see other players around the council table and they raise their voices, and Aemond is the kid who’s just acting from the peripheries."

"He’s waiting for his moment."

"He never raises his voice too much."

So in that moment, when he very much seizes a chance to attack Rook’s Rest and work with Criston Cole, he very much says, 'I’m taking over now.'

"It is a public humiliation, but he does it in such a way that Aegon is able to save face because only him and Aegon can understand it (and maybe Grand Maester Orwyle can, as well)."

"It’s something quite merciful in a way.

BEFORE THE SEASON STARTED, I TALKED TO YOU ABOUT HOW YOU STAYED AWAY FROM MATT SMITH ON SET IN SEASON 1 SO THAT WHEN THEY STARE EACH OTHER DOWN DURING DINNER, IT WOULD BE MORE IMPACTFUL. SO I'M CURIOUS, HAVE YOU MET GAYLE RANKIN YET?

"I – I have not."

OH, OKAY. IS THAT INTENTIONAL OR?

"I mean, I’ve obviously seen Gayle Rankin’s phenomenal performance in the show, but also like the Harrenhal set itself is in a different studio to the studio of the Red Keep."

"So I never really brushed shoulders with Gayle Rankin or Matt Smith this season, other than that moment when Daemon sees the vision of Aemond in Harrenal."

"I think — I think I briefly [met Gayle] at the read through."

"Briefly."

OK, COOL. I WAS JUST CURIOUS, BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT AND I'M REALLY EXCITED TO SEE ALYS AND AEMOND MEET BECAUSE THAT IS A RELATIONSHIP I HAVE SO MUCH CURIOSITY ABOUT.

"No comment."

[ai-megurine]

HOTD S2 trailer – Reaction

"They are a protector of the realm" oh shut up you're married to Daemon War Crimes Targaryen

"I find myself in an impossible situation:((((" you put yourself in it bestie

Did they really put Dany's 3 eggs before a shot of Rhaenyra? These eggs were from Dreamfyre, HELAENA'S dragon.

Aegon looks so good!!!! And his friend is best hype man

Green council!!

"proceed with caution" THEY KILLED JAEHAERYS WOMAN. Do they want me to hate Alicent or something?

"Fuck dignity, I want revenge!" MY KING.

"I didn't think they'd be so eager to die" yeah about that.

I genuinely cannot even begin to care about Corlys to save my life

Daemyra breakup, YES.

SUNFYYYYYYYYYYYYRE THE GOLDEEEEEEEEN

MY BESTEST BOI

Aemond is right to call Alicent out, she's being unbearable and lord knows I love book!Alicent

Aegon looks haunted by B&C, I'm breaking, I can't.

Cargyll bowl!

So huh, anyone going to mention how Criston's horse outran a dragon? Real MVP of the war right here!!!!

I think Aemond is with the brothel madame. Other theory is Alys, maybe in a dream of something

Why the random Valyrian sex worker? Is it where Daemon goes when he's tired of the niece he groomed?

So Meleys looks nice

Helaena in the riot????? LEAVE HER ALONE. STAY AWAY FROM HER.

AKZLDOAKWNSLAPSKAKDIZ

I'm glad to know she'll still have a role in the show post B&C, though

Which dragon is it behind Rhaenyra? If I remember correctly, that's not what Vermithor look like. The Cannibal maybe? It doesn't make sense, but it's a cool shot.

Conclusion: WHERE IS DREAMFYRE. WHERE. IS. SHE.

[lokisprettygirl]

Rain to his Fire (Modern! Daemon Targaryen x Female Reader) (Non Canon 80s Au) (18+)

Read Chapter 5 here// Series Masterlist

Chapter 6

Summary: Your anger gets Daemon in a bit of a trouble. Something really awful is going on at the king's landing wellness center.

Warning: 18+, smutty scenarios, crude language, boring chapter, description of Statutory rape, discussion of mental health (it's a fic based in a mental health facility), mention of physical assault, the fic would contain several mentions of several disorders like mpd, did etc, if something triggers you don't read, smoking.

You found yourself idly picking at your cuticles as you waited for Dr. Vis to enter his office. You had been called in for a discussion and your gut told you that it was about Daemon. Despite working at the center for two years now, you couldn't even remember the last time the two of you had shared a full sentence but since Daemon had arrived you were on his radar for some reason.

As you heard him entering the office, you stood up to greet him. However, Dr. Vis gestured for you to sit back down,

"You are Y/m/n's daughter, correct?" Dr. Vis asked you as you sat down. You nodded, feeling a rush of emotions at the mention of your mother “She was a lovely lady, always so polite and warm” he commented but you couldn't really tell whether he was genuine with his compliment or not. You didn't think of him as a person who'd remember a custodian of all people.

“Yeah” you smiled as you didn't really know what else to say.

"There's something I'd like to discuss with you about Daemon" Dr. Vis said, and your heartbeat quickened at the mention of his name.

“Daemon-?” You questioned, much to your surprise your voice came out really firm.

“He's been under my care for years now, but I have never seen him so violent as he was with those guards” you gulped as he said that “I visited them and they confessed to me why Daemon attacked them” he continued,

“Why?” You asked him, pretending as if you didn't know the reason already.

“Because of you” he paused for a moment before continuing “those men perhaps said something nasty about you, which i assure that there will be repercussions for such a behavior but that is the reason Daemon attacked them, now if there's one thing i am certain of is that Daemon doesn't do anything that would not serve him in return” he continued

“I'm sorry i don't understand what you mean” you responded as you tried to keep your voice neutral.

“I'll be plain with you y/n, are you offering him services beyond your duty as a custodian?” Your eyes widened in shock as he questioned you plainly. The implication of the question left you feeling embarrassed and angry at the same time.

“Absolutely not, I take my work seriously and always treat patients as such” you mumbled confidently, the confidence came from the anger you felt at his insinuation, even though he wasn't completely wrong.

There have been touching and inappropriate conversations between you and Daemon but it was all over last night, you didn't want to get involved with him again especially if he was entertaining the likes of Shyla as well.

“Daemon is a borderline psychopath y/n, you must know what that means right? He's charming and highly manipulative but everything he does is for his own gain” Dr. Vis said with utmost conviction. Daemon might have been an arse but a part of you knew he was far from being a psychopath with no empathy for others.

“Why does he call himself a dragon?” You asked him so Vis let out a laugh but it wasn't the sort of laughter that could bring anyone any comfort or understanding, on the contrary it chilled you to the bone.

“Because he's sick, why did you ask?” he mumbled, his tone was dismissive.

“It's just I found feathers in his room and when I questioned him he told me that they belonged to him”

The smile on Viserys's face disappeared as you mentioned that, a part of you knew you shouldn't have said anything to him, what if he hurts Daemon more? You felt the sinking feeling in your gut for letting the words slip out of you in nervousness.

“Feathers you said?” He looked at you confused so you nodded “He must have hidden those in his belongings when he came here," Vis repeated, watching you closely. “Guards must not have checked his bag properly. It's just a part of the act, y/n.”

You gave him a nod as he said that.

“Is there anything else you want from me?” he smiled and looked at you intensely as you said that

“Keep me informed if you find other suspicious things in there”

“Sure” you stepped out of his office, rolling your eyes throughout the way. What did he think of himself? And Why did you tell him about the feathers? The guilt was only going to get worse as the day goes on.

As you made your way to room 393, you found the guards doing the thorough search of his belongings. Great job y/n.

Daemon was already tied up to a chair and handcuffed in the corner of the room.

“Ummm can I proceed?” You asked John so he nodded.

“We are almost done, do you want us to leave him like that? For the sake of your safety?” John asked you so you looked at Daemon, there was a definite smirk on his face that most instantly vanished at your response.

“I'd like that, thank you” you glared at Daemon and you could tell he was confused by the sudden change in your demeanor.

As the guards left you quickly went on to do your work, ignoring Daemon altogether. You were acting like a scorned ex-girlfriend and it took you a minute to realize that.

You heard him sniffing as he looked at you up and down before he spoke to you.

“You're upset..why?” He asked you but you ignored him again and that was enough to rile him up.

“Heyy talk to me alright?” He raised his voice a little bit so you glared at him

“i don't want to talk to you, I don't want to look at you and i don't want anything to do with you” Your words were harsh and your tone was cold, making it clear that you wanted nothing to do with him and that was your plan but then his eyes flickered and you could see that he was hurt by your response.

“Why? I apologized yesterday, you forgave me-” you cut him off mid sentence before he could go on,

“And then you decided to fuck Shyla”

As your words sunk in he snickered at first, went quite for a moment, and then cracked his neck in disbelief.

“Bravo..I was wondering why I was being raided first thing in the morning. What did you say to Vis , hmm?” he asked, voice full of hurt and confusion. You knew he felt betrayed about you going behind his back.

“It was a slip of the tongue. I didn't mean it” you defended yourself and though it was true that you didn't share the information just to hurt him, you knew he'd feel hurt anyways.

“Oh why don't you accept it that you did it on purpose?” he asked you, his tone remained loud and snarky.

“Perhaps I did, now we are even” you retorted so he chuckled again.

“Oh are we? You can't hurt me because you're hurting, isn't that what you said yesterday”

“Don't turn this around on me alright? You don't get to be upset with me” your eyes welled up as you felt the surge of emotions coursing through you.

“I share those things with youuu, I choose to do so, because I believe in you or I did at least”

You didn't answer him as he said that. What were you supposed to say? You shouldn't have told Dr Vis about the feathers, you regretted doing it as soon as you had opened your mouth but you felt on the spot in that moment, what you had seen last night coupled with the nervousness you felt under Dr Vis’s suspicion made you feel so angry and you took it out on him. These days you were doing things you never thought you'd do. He really was driving you insane.

“You know what your problem is?” He asked as he suddenly rose up from the chair, breaking the rope and the handcuffs in one quick motion as if it didn't take a single ounce of strength.

He stepped closer, until you felt like he was practically looming over you so you crossed your arms defensively,

“Tell me, what do you think my problem is?” you challenged him

“Your problem is that you don't listen or ask for explanations, you just assume things.. you're so fucking judgemental..you saw her visiting me and just assumed that we were fucking in here” He spoke angrily, his jaw clenching, teeth gritting, face contorted with rage.

“I don't care if you're fucking her”

Now that was purely a lie which even you couldn't deny.

“Huh then why are you acting as if I have broken your heart?” he asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I am-” you didn't even know how to justify your behavior. What was it to you if he was sleeping with other women? He wasn't your boyfriend.

“I don't want to be a part of this ..i can't..I can't.. feel this way that I am feeling, I don't like it ..it's hurting me and I don't like it” you trailed off, barely able to form a sentence that would actually make sense to him.

“I didn't ask you to come to me, to tend to me, to steal for me, i didn't ask for those things” his eyes welled up as he spoke, he felt as if he was losing you forever and it didn't feel right at all but if he was hurting you so badly then he didn't want to add to your misery either. If he was becoming too much to deal with he would not force you to be his friend or more.

“Right”

You looked at the shredded ropes and the broken handcuffs as you reached for them to clean it up. How did he have such marvelous strength? A part of you really wanted to believe that he was something extraordinary, but then he was also not well, he was a patient.

“We didn't fuck..i didn't touch her like that” he mumbled suddenly and your heart skipped a beat, you couldn't tell whether he was lying or not but then he really didn't have any reason to lie to you.

“Why else would she come to see a man who had supposedly harmed her?” You asked him as you grabbed your cart so he chuckled.

“She wanted to confirm a rumor she had heard at the hospital and she told me why she had lied that day”

“Why did she lie?”

“Why do you care? You didn't want to be a part of this right?” he mumbled sarcastically so you bit on your cheek and nodded.

“Right”

With a heavy heart, you silently turned around and left his room. You had made such a big fuss, and for what? You couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for how you had behaved. Not only had you made the entire situation worse by telling Dr. Vis about the feathers, but you had also acted like a terrible friend and betrayed Daemon's trust in the process.

During Lunch hour he caught you staring at him, he knew you wanted to talk to him, it's not as if you had many friends here, he was starting to think that he was the only person you had genuinely befriended in a long time, your aversion to men wasn't just limited to sex but the whole idea of intimacy in general.

Later that night when you went to bed you felt extremely upset about the whole situation and you really missed him, perhaps you shouldn't have jumped to conclusions so easily, eyes can be deceiving and a part of you trusted him when he said that he didn't sleep with her..

As you heard the knock on the door, you quickly leaped out of your bed and ran towards the door but composed yourself before opening the door.

“You know if you apologize I will forgive you” he mumbled as he walked past you and pulled down his hood. You knew you owed him a genuine apology for how you had acted this morning.

"Daemon, what are you doing?" you asked, shocked as you watched him frantically open every drawer in your room, rummaging through your possessions. You didn't see what he had taken, but you knew he had taken something and tucked it away in his pocket.

“Apologize darling” he mumbled as he turned around to look at you so you crossed your arms.

“Im sorry, I didn't mean to rat you out..that's not the kind of person I am .. usually” you looked down as you spoke, your heart felt heavy and he could sense your discomfort so he walked towards you.

“Why did you go into his office?” he asked, his tone now gentle.

“He called me in, Darryl and Jacob had told him that you attacked them because they had made a joke about me” Daemon was silent for a moment as he processed your words.

“You know about that?”

“I heard last night, that's why I wanted to see you, and then I saw Shyla and assumed -”

“That I was fucking her.. and that made you upset” he was smiling as he finished his sentence so you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah whatever, he asked me if I was offering you uhhh bed services or something for you to get so upset about a stupid joke-”

“Joke? They were insulting you..these people that you work with and trust so blindly”

“I don't trust them..I don't trust men ..i know how ugly they can be..but you can't attack people-” you responded as you felt a sense of frustration.

“I can and I will again if I hear anyone talking filth about you”

His words were bold and confident, and they didn't fail to have an impact on your already budding feelings. As he spoke, you found yourself staring at him, unable to look away. Despite everything that had happened this morning, there was still a connection between the two of you that you couldn't ignore.

“And why is that?” you asked him so he grabbed you by the shoulders as he pulled you even closer.

“Because you're my friend sweetheart..I care about you, is that enough?”

“You can't attack people Daemon” as he attempted to pull away from you you reached for the collar of his hoodie and for a moment he was taken aback,

“I appreciate that you did..that you care enough about me but I don't want you to get hurt again, okay?” he couldn't help but smile as you said that. You worried about him, that much he knew.

“Alright, next time I'd hurt them less enough that they're not hospitalized” he said as a matter of fact so you let go of him, not knowing whether to reprimand him for being so stubborn or kiss his stupid face for being so protective of you.

“What did you steal from my drawer?” you asked to cut the tension so he stepped away from you.

“I'll show you woman..calm your gorgeous tits” he mumbled with a grin evident on his face, his words making you feel flushed instantly.

“Other men can't make a joke but you can talk to me this way?” you mumbled to hide your giddiness.

“I only do it because you allow me to, the day you'd ask me to keep my mouth shut for real, I'd never go against your words”

He always knew how to warm his way into your heart again, didn't he?

“If it's a scissor or a knife you better give it to me right now” you mumbled to steer the conversation again so he smiled and pulled out the scissors from his pocket, his hand wrapped around the handle, a part of you feared for his safety, he definitely was unpredictable and unstable at times.

“Daemon give me that please?” You mumbled softly as you stepped closer to him so he chuckled lightly.

“Ohh you beg so sweetly darling..but don't bother I'm not going to hurt myself i promise or you for that matter” he assured you and it did make you feel better but you still wanted to snatch that scissor away from him.

“Then why do you have it?” you questioned him softly so he smiled again.

“Trying to prove a point”

You couldn't even understand what he was trying to do so the shock and fear you felt was unimaginable when he started to chop away those beautiful locks of hair on his head.

“Daemon– “

“Calm down darling I can hear your heartbeat it's so loud…it's just hair …they grow back”

“Why are you doing this Daemon?” your eyes teared up as you questioned, a part of you felt awful seeing him chop those silver locks so carelessly.

“Just told you, I'm trying to prove a point”

“What point?”

“You wanted me to show you, that night you asked me to open your eyes so that's what I'm going to do”

“Cutting your hair is going to accomplish what?”

“You'll see”

Once he was done cutting his hair in a haphazard manner he walked towards you and grabbed your hand as he went down on his knees.

“Touch them” he spoke firmly but his tone was demanding and soothing at the same time.

“Why?”

“So you'd know they're real, that I'm not fooling you with a wig”

You hesitated for a moment but eventually wrapped your fingers around his scalp. He closed his eyes as you ran your fingers through his locks, and you heard him purr softly when you pulled on the roots lightly to confirm that they were indeed real.

“What now?”

You asked him softly so he chuckled, as his eyes raked over your inflamed cuticles he brought each finger to his lips and kissed on them one by one as if his kisses would soothe the burning sensation.

“Now you wait” you sighed deeply as he said that.

“Why don't you just come and see me when you're turned into a dragon?” you asked him softly so he sighed.

“It doesn't work that way, sometimes I can only grow my wings, the other times my hair is the only thing to transform, at times I'm able to build fire with my fingers but I lack the control, it comes and goes instantly, the reason why I have been so confused all my life is because everyone around me made me believe that I was losing my mind and at times i thought so too but not anymore” he mumbled, his voice laced with frustration but you could tell that he was choosing to trust you again with his secrets and mysteries. Or his delusions.

“You can..build fire?” you asked him so he nodded again as if it wasn't the craziest thing in the world.

Could that be the reason why he was burning like a furnace all the time?

“Okay, then I wait” you mumbled softly so he rose up slowly and hugged you tightly before he left that night.

However two days passed and his hair still looked the same, it looked really awful and you could tell that he was getting antsy about it as well. He clearly felt embarrassed and frustrated but dragon baby or not, you were going to help him get through this thing. Perhaps this was a coping mechanism for him , something he had developed as a child to cope with the loneliness he had surrounding him..

Three days later you finally dragged him out of his room and took him to the groomer in the facility to get his hair fixed. You liked how the longer hair looked on him, it made him stand out and if you were being honest with yourself it gave him a distinct aura but as he said it was just hair and it would grow back, at least he wasn't hurting himself.

As you assisted him back to his room he seemed a bit gloomy so you stepped inside and closed the door to offer him some comfort.

“Why are you sad?” You asked him so he sighed.

“Now you think I'm full of crap” he muttered, as if he was expecting you to judge him and call him a lunatic.

“I don't think that way” you responded.

“You certainly don't think very highly of me” he mumbled, his eyes seeming as if he was close to tearing up.

“That's not for you to decide” you told him confidently so he snickered at first but as you walked towards him and wrapped your arms around his waist to embrace him, you could see his defenses breaking down. “Besides, I don't care whether you're a dragon or not, I don't care whether or not you can turn into an otherworldly creature. I just care about you and I don't want you to get hurt” you mumbled as you looked up at him and you could tell he wasn't really expecting that, he was expecting you to make fun of his delusions and not be such an angel about it.

“So it's not a problem for you if I am lying about it?” he asked curiously so you gave him a smile.

“I'm sure you think you're not lying, it's real in your head and i believe that”

As you laid down in your bed that night, your mind was filled with mixed emotions. You couldn't stop thinking about the situation, and you found yourself feeling guilty about what you had done by telling Vis about Daemon's supposed feathers. You knew that you had made a huge mistake, and you really wished that you were capable of taking it back somehow but it wasn't possible.

The next morning as you dragged your cart into his room, you quickly beelined towards the bedside lamp, it was dark in his room and you heard the shower running already, which was a surprise as he often slept until late..

As he came out of the bathroom you had your back turned towards him so he smiled,

“I want to show you something” he mumbled in his “I'm sexy first thing in the morning voice” so you shrugged in response.

“Put your clothes on first..or just a cloth would do” you requested him so he grabbed a trousers from the closet and put it on.

As you turned around, you were greeted by a shocking sight - there he stood with a long, wet, silver mane cascading down his shoulders, almost reaching his waist.

As he approached, you took involuntary steps behind but there wasn't much room for you to hide. Was that a wig? How did he find it if it was? It can't be real right? What would you do if it was real? What would that even mean? You found yourself going through an existential crisis at the moment.

As you hit the wall, he placed his arms around you to entrap you between him and the wall, and he smelled divine, which wasn't really fair to you, you must smell like cleaning chemical products all the time, you thought..

You finally dared yourself to look up at his head, particularly at those long luscious thick hair.

“Touch it” he asked you as he let out a whispering voice so you shook your head, your eyes already teary so he grabbed your hand and brought it closer to his head before he leaned down and pressed his nose into your neck like always.

“Touch them please” your fingers eventually clutched around the roots of his hair and you sighed, from the relief but also the weirdness of the situation.

“Pull” he whispered in your ear so you closed your eyes and pulled on his strands slightly to confirm that his hair was actually real. It was all real.

“How?” You asked him a stupid question so he pressed his head up and looked at you intently.

“You know how, you just don't want to believe it”

“You turned into a dragon last night?”

“For a moment, it was enough”’

“What if I'm crazy.. and this is a hallucination? Just my mind playing tricks on me? What if this is not even real? What if you're not real” you looked up at him with your teary eyes and trembling lips so he tilted his head. He didn't expect you to understand this, not yet, nobody did, but at least you didn't run away from him at the first sign of trouble, last night you were in here telling him that you'd care for him no matter what, even if he was crazy and delusional you showed him that you'd stand by him.

His hands dragged up from the side of your waist and your breaths picked up immediately, his fingers then trailed the side of your curves, making your knees feel weak at the touch.

“Would this feel so hot if you were hallucinating darling?” he asked you as he opened the buttons of your cardigan, your fingers clutched around the waistband of his trousers.

“Daemon-” you whispered his name as his fingers glided over your chest, your nipples became erect quickly, the thin bra you had on did nothing to hide your shame. As he finally touched the aroused clothed nubs you almost combusted.

“It's all real, I'm real and I'm trying to show you who I am” he whispered in your ear as he cupped your breasts in his palms and rubbed his fingers over your bosom.

“How? Why? It can't be real Daemon” you asked him, not in the sense of judgment but disbelief. You found yourself annoyed by your own questions but he smiled instead.

“I don't really know, i wish to know why I am this way and I'll figure it out, that's why I'm here” he told you as he brought his palms up to cup your cheeks, thumb grazing over your lips tenderly.

“I'm sorry I am trying to make sense of it, I don't want to hurt you, I'm sorry if I still seem doubtful but I'm trying” you mumbled almost quietly so he nuzzled his nose against yours to calm you down.

“I know, i know sweet girl, thank you, nobody has tried before, nobody cared enough, just you being here is important for me”

You got on your tiptoes to wrap your arms around his neck to hug him, the scent of your hair calmed him for a moment but then he heard something and he immediately had you pressed against the wall with his hand wrapped around your throat, a moment later the door flung open.

“What's going on over here?” Dr. Vis asked so and you felt Daemon's grip around your neck tighten for a moment before he let you go.

“Your stupid fucking maid can't even do her job properly” he stormed towards Vis so he glared at him, a moment later two guards entered and handcuffed Daemon, you knew if he wanted to get out of their clutches he could have done so easily but he didn't even try.

“Are you alright dear?” Vis asked so you nodded, you knew Daemon pretended to attack you in order to protect your job and your image in front of Vis but you didn't think Dr. Vis was a man fooled so easily.

“Yes, I just need a moment” you mumbled as you caressed your neck and fixed your cardigan as you moved towards your cart to get the fuck out of there.

“What is this hmm?” Vis asked Daemon as he flicked his long hair to mock him.

“For a doctor you surely are dense”

The remark earned Daemon a slap on the cheek and then he was dragged out of the room for his therapy session.

The possibility of Daemon being an otherworldly creature was becoming more probable day by day and you didn't know how to accept it. How was it even possible? Did his mother sleep with a dragon? Or she was a dragon? Dragons existed? There were other human dragon hybrids in the world or he was the only one? Your brain was running a mile per second with all those thoughts in there.

Later that night you somehow were able to sneak into his room, there was a mark on his cheek and it made your heart clench for him,

“This is not right daemon..he can't treat you like this all the time, you're a patient here, not a prisoner” you mumbled softly as you caressed his cheek so he sighed,

“We need to stop seeing each other like this” he mumbled suddenly but it didn't really surprise you, you knew it was becoming dangerous for you both.

“Mmmm I'll stop tomorrow..did he not question the hair?” You asked him so he shook his head.

“He blames it on generalized hypertrichosis, claims that i have had it since birth”

“Even with the condition you can't grow 12 inches in a night-” you said to him and you could see the grin forming over his face “Shut up”

“I didn't say anything”

“You're doing it in your head”

“Head is definitely involved darling”

“Shut uppppp ..” you mumbled again so he grabbed your chin and leaned into you to kiss your forehead.

“They're beautiful” you mumbled softly as you grabbed a lock of his hair between your fingers, they were silky and so shiny as if he had just returned from a hair salon.

“Would you cut them a little bit shorter for me?” he asked you so you hummed in response before you spoke.

“Mmmm I definitely can but you should keep them for a night, I can braid them for you”

He was definitely happier about the prospect of getting his hair tended to so he excitedly sat down on the floor after passing you the brush. You carefully brushed the tangles and braided it from the sides before you tied those ends together in the center, he looked beautiful, you couldn't really take your eyes off him.

For some reason you just knew that this particular memory was going to stick with you for a long time to come.

The next morning, as you went about your morning routine, you couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity wash over you. When you saw two policemen in the corridor with Viserys, it piqued your curiosity more than ever before. The police had been around the center quite a few times, usually when a patient would run away. You decided to investigate, and made your way towards the cafeteria, hoping to find answers. As you entered the room, you saw Shyla crying, and Dina trying to comfort her so you approached them as well.

“What's wrong?” You asked her so Dina sighed, her response wasn't what you could have expected even in your worst nightmare.

“That previous patient Tanya from 393? Her body was found in the woods nearby last night”

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Taglist

@anukulee @ammo23 @littledark11 @stupidthoughtsinwriting

@daenny-t

[angstywaifu]

The Lost Sister - Part 14

Synopsis: Xaden is known as an only child due to his sister who 'died' during the Rebellion. Little do they know she didn't die and has been so close this entire time.

Garrick Tavis x OC A/N: Thank you all for the lovely feedback and support on the last part. For those that did miss it, I would recommend going and reading part 13. I know it didn't show for a few people initially. Now Ophelia has her dragon, what are your guys thoughts on what her signet will be? Also requests are open and I do have a prompt list linked in my masterlist now. Please send in any requests! The Lost Sister Masterlist | Masterlist

A loud thud echoes around my room, Garrick’s arms tightening protectively around me.

”Ophelia hav-” A loud sigh and a dull thud as if someone has rested their head on the door meets me ears.

I feel Garrick chuckle underneath me and I look up to see Xaden resting his forehead on the half closed door, pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes screwed shut. Shit.

”Least you two finally sorted your shit out I guess.” He says sarcastically.

I let out the breath I had been holding. He’s not angry. Which given how he just found Garrick and I still very naked in my bed, I’m very glad.

“Hey Xaden did you fin-” I hear someone ask.

”Don’t come in here!” Xaden nearly yells. Feet skidding to a halt outside my door.

”Why what’s wr- Oh.” I see Bodhi’s head appear in the small gap between Xaden and the door. “About damn time.”

Xaden growls and angrily shoves Bodhi out of the way before following and shutting the door behind him, leaving Garrick and I alone. Garrick’s booming laugh echoes around my room as he pulls me to lie on top of him.

”Well that’s one way to tell your brother we sorted it out.” He tells me with a kiss to the top of my head as he brushes some stray strands of hair from my face.

”I’m surprised he didn’t kill you or throw you out in the hallway.” I joke.

”Trust me, if there’s anyone your brother wouldn’t do that to. It’s me.” He assures me.

Something in his tone tells me something had been said between the two and I knew not to pry any further. I feel Garrick’s fingers tracing up and down my side. Almost as if tracing a pattern. I look up at him to see him looking down at my side to. And that’s when I realise he’s seen my dragon relic. The white relic started just below my shoulder, and weaved its way down the side of my torso and wrapped itself all the way down to my thigh. It was quite large. And just like my dragon, the wings, tails and horns were all tipped with dark red. It was a stark contrast to the dark rebellion relic on my other side.

“That has to be the largest relic I’ve ever seen.” Mimicking my thoughts.

”Yeah Mealladh didn’t hold back.” I say remembering how she had engulfed me in heat yesterday while giving me the mark.

At the mention of her name I feel her presence in the back of my mind. But I slam the shield up between us. Another thing Melgren had taught me how to do even though I would have no way to till I bonded a dragon.

”Interesting name for an interesting looking dragon.” He mutters as his eyes move back to mine. “You two have definitely caused some commotion in the quadrant along with Violet and Tairn.”

He wasn’t wrong. Violet had bonded no one but two dragons yesterday. One of them the unbonded black dragon we were told was not bonding this years. And the golden feathertail. Also not to mention Tairn was Sgaeyl’s mate. Meaning Xaden and Violet were now connected for the rest of their lives. Despite how displeased he tried to look over it, I had not missed the furious look and shadows he had conjured to hold his feet down while Dain had kissed Violet. Something I knew Garrick had noticed to from what I had seen.

”Seems my year is full of surprises.”

He rolls his eyes. “You could say that again. Probably the most exciting year I’ve had since I started here.” He sits up, pulling me with him into his lap as he sits on the edge of the bed. “And as much as I would love to escape it for a little bit longer and stay here with you, I think your brother actually needs me.”

I narrow his eyes at him, his laugh yet again echoing around the room. This was the most I had heard him laugh since I’d been here. And I’d missed it. He sets me down on his feet as he starts to gather his clothes. He catches me staring and decides to throw some of my stuff at me, signalling to stop and do the same.

We walk out my door and run into Violet and Rhiannon whose rooms are next to mine. Both of their heads whip towards us and there’s no way to hide what definitely happened last night. The way they both look at me and smirk, they know.

”Have fun.” Garrick teases before walking away, leaving me with Rhiannon and Violet.

Both raise their eyebrows at me as I slowly approach them.

”So that’s who you dragged into your room last night when I came into the corridor.” Rhiannon says with a smirk.

”Oh shut up.” I say with a soft laugh.

”Well we’re happy for you.” Violet adds with a soft smile. “I can tell you have known him for a while, and seems its been a long time coming.”

It’s the one thing I will always give Violet credit for. She was observant. Most of the time at least.

“Do I dare ask about you and Dain?” I ask as we start walking towards breakfast.

Rhiannon laughs and shakes her head. “She felt nothing.”

“Nothing?” My head snapping towards Violet who gives a hesitant nod.

I almost felt sorry for Dain. I’d always thought those two were a done deal like Garrick and I. Just waiting for the right time for it to happen. Clearly I had been wrong. And judging by Rhiannon’s look at me, she had thought the same.

“Good morning, ladies.” Ridoc forces his way through the crowd to us, putting an arm around Violet and I as we walk into the rotunda. “Or should I say, riders?”

”I like the sound of riders.” Rhiannon replies with a smile at him.

“It has a certain wring to it.” Ridoc agrees.

”It’s definitely better than dead.” I add sarcastically earning a laugh from them all.

“Where’s your relic?” Violet asks Ridoc as we pass into the commons.

”Right here.” He removes his arm from around Violets shoulders, moving the sleeve of his tunic up to reveal the brown mark of a dragon silhouette on his arm. It was way smaller than the mark Mealladh had given me. “You?” He asks directing his question to Violet.

She points to the middle of her back. “Can’t see it. It’s on my back.

”That will keep you safer if you’re ever separated from that massive dragon of yours. His eyes dance. “I swear, I thought I was going to shit myself when I saw him on the field. Oh and yours to Ophelia. Cool colouring for a red dragon. What about yours, Rhi and Ophelia?”

”Somewhere you’ll never see.” She responds.

”Garrick might have to kill you if I show you mine.” I joke.

”You two wound me.” He slap his hand over his heart. “But about time with you and Garrick.”

We move through the commons and into the dining hall to join the line for food. The other’s are too caught up in something else to notice the shift in dynamic in the room as we enter. The volume in the room doesn’t change, the conversation still going. But I can see all eyes on our group. On Violet and I. Violet who now has a target on her back for bonding the most powerful dragon in the quadrant and one not even meant to be up this year, as well as a second dragon. Not to mention her name. Then there’s me. The lost sister of the rebellion reader bonding a dragon no ones ever seen or heard of till yesterday. We would both be targets for the unbonded from our year.

I grab my food and follow the others to a table. Ridoc goes to ask a table if we can take their spare seats, they agree but end up giving us the whole table as they run off elsewhere. Not only did Violet and I have targets on our backs from the unbonded, we’d just become two of the most powerful riders in our year and in the quadrant behind Xaden.

“Well that was really fucking weird.” Rhiannon says as she walks to the other side of the table sitting across from Ridoc and I.

“Even weirder? Ridoc remarks as he gestures to the other side of the room.

I follow his gaze and watch as Jack Barlow is being squeezed out of his table. Being forced to stand while others take his seat. He hadn’t tried anything with me, probably due to Xaden and Garrick. But he had made it clear he wanted Violet dead.

”What the hell is going on?” Rhiannon adds.

I continue to watch Jack as he tries to go to another table with no success. Eventually he finds a spot a few more tables down. My thoughts echo Ridoc’s words. How the mighty had fallen. Another girl who I remember Violet beating in her second challenge walks by and says hello happily. Then a boy I had knocked out in mere seconds congratulates me on bonding Mealladh.

“It’s because you two bonded the biggest and most powerful dragons.” Imogen adds as he blows her pink hair out of her face and takes the empty spot next to me. Her usual spot now.

Ever since our conversation after we’d beaten each other up in challenges, she frequently sat next to me at meals. She even trained with me if we were both in the gym. An unspoken friendship over a man that had picked one of us.

“The morning after Threshing is always a clusterfuck. Power balance shifts, and you, little Sorrengail and Riorson, are now about to be the most powerful riders in the quadrant. Anyone with common sense is going to be scared of you two.” She adds.

Imogen was right. There had definitely been a shift now us first years had bonded dragons. Those who had shown dominance in classes, but had bonded smaller or weaker dragons were now sitting elsewhere in the hall.

”Which is why you’re now sitting with us?” Rhiannon asks as she arches an eye brow at Imogen. “Because I can count on one hand the number of nice words you’ve said to any of us.” I smirk at the fist she holds up towards Imogen with zero fingers raised.

Quinn and Sawyer join our group, taking the spots next to Imogen and Rhiannon.

”You weren’t interesting enough to sit with before.” Imogen says casually as she bites into a muffin.

”I usually sit with my girlfriend in Claw Section,. Besides, no use getting to know you when most of you die, no offence.” Adds Quinn.

She had a very valid point. A lot of us had died in the past few months. Though even with dragons there was still a chance we would die. It wasn’t as common, but here and there second and third years would be on the death roll in the morning.

It had become clear we were the squad on top now. With Violet and I with the biggest dragons in the quadrant now. Some third years I had only seen in passing and at formation every morning came and joined us. We were now worth their time. The only ones missing were our leaders and they were sat over with leadership.

My squad launch into talks about Barlowe and his smaller dragon, Violet not wanting to eat the food and Imogen offering to train Violet. I can tell by the way Imogen talks it is not her choice. I look over at the leadership table on the dais and catch Garrick looking at Violet with worry. He’s concerned. With Violet and Xaden’s fates now tethered together, their lives depend on each other. Xaden is going to do anything he can to make sure she stays alive. And as Xaden looks up from peeling his apple to look at Violet, I know that is what he intends.

I look back to see the others getting up to make their way to our first ever flight lesson. Something I was quite excited for. Yesterdays small taste of flying was not enough. I wanted more. I go to follow but a hand on my arm stops me, and I look over to see Imogen looking at me with a smirk.

”So how was it?” Part 15 Taglist:

@riorgail @going-through-shit @fw-gt @bbkissme99 @xceafh @leptitlu

[kckt88]

Cruel Intentions.

Summary:

Two brothers who attend an elite university make a bet: to deflower the new dean's daughter before the start of the new semester.

Warning(s): Language, Drug Taking, Slight Homophobic Language, Bet Making, Maniplulation, Kissing, Loss of Virginity, Smut – Fingering, Oral Sex (M Recieving), P in V, Major Character Death.

MODERN AEMOND x O.C & AEGON x ALYS. - (HINTED AEMOND x ALYS & MINOR AEMOND x FLORIS BARATHEON)

HEAVILY INSPIRED BY THE MOVIE - CRUEL INTENTIONS

Word Count: 8124

Taglist - @immyowndefender, @mrsbarnes314, @dixie-elocin, @targaryenbarbie, @ammo23

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the House of The Dragon or Fire & Blood characters nor do I claim to own them. I do not own any of the images used.

Comments, likes, and reblogs are very much appreciated.

“What are we betting for?” asked Aemond.

“Money of course” quipped Aegon stubbing out his cigarette.

“Seriously-how boring, let’s put something really worthwhile on the line” said Aemond.

“Ok-If I win, I get your car”.

“And if I win?” asked Aemond pursing his lips.

“I’ll let you fuck my girlfriend” replied Aegon.

“Not even remotely worth it” quipped Aemond.

“Oh please-I see the way you look at Alys”.

“Again-Not interested” retorted Aemond.

“Not even if I tell you that Alys will let you put your cock anywhere-she’s into all sorts of freaky shit” said Aegon smirking.

Aemond paused as he thought over his brother’s proposition, he wasn’t wrong when he pointed out his fixation with Alys, she was a little older and she was so fucking beautiful, and she had a spectacular set of breasts that he just wanted to bury his face between and worship.

Of course, there were other parameters of the bet that needed to be discussed but a chance to stick his cock into Alys was more than enough to gain his acceptance and the fact that she was allegedly into freaky shit intrigued him thoroughly.

He was sick of bedding insipid debutants who’s shoe size was higher than their I.Q, he wanted someone different.

“I accept-now what are the actual terms of the bet?” asked Aemond.

“You know the new dean’s daughter-“

“-Reese Hargrove?” asked Aemond.

“Yeah, that one-little miss prim and proper thinks she too good for anyone, so I say we knock her down a peg or two” replied Aegon.

“-And how do we do that?”

“You will seduce her and then discard her” said Aegon.

“Seriously? That’s too easy-not even remotely enough of a challenge” laughed Aemond.

“Did I mention that she’s a proper daddy’s little princess-“

“Again boring” said Aemond yawning.

“-And a virgin” replied Aegon smirking.

“How’d you know that?” asked Aemond curiously.

“I take it you didn’t read her manifesto in the University magazine” asked Aegon as he threw a copy onto the glass table.

“Menstrual cramps?” asked Aemond as he glanced at the front cover.

“Shut up and turn to page sixty four” snapped Aegon.

Aemond rolled his eye and picked up the magazine, he flicked through the pages until he found the one, he wanted.

“Why I plan to wait by Reese Hargrove-Jesus christ is she for real?” asked Aemond.

“Oh, she’s daddy’s little angel-a paradigm of chastity and virtue”.

“Hm” muttered Aemond as Aegon ripped the magazine from his grasp.

“Let’s see-boring, boring, boring-I love my parents, boring, boring, boring-making a mature decision-oh here, she has a boyfriend named Trevor, been going out for a year and he understands” said Aegon mockingly.

“What a loser” snarked Aemond rolling his eye.

“My point is-you and I have fucked our way through most of the girls at university, which is hardly a challenge anymore”.

“So, all I have to do is fuck her and I win the bet?” asked Aemond.

“Pretty much-but if you’re thinking it’ll be easy then your wrong-” muttered Aegon.

“How do you even know that?

“Remember that chick I told you about over Easter?” said Aegon.

“The one who broke your nose after you tried to finger-wait that was her?” asked Aemond trying to stifle his laughter.

A girl with some bite to her-this could be interesting.

“Yes, it was her, humiliated me in front of everyone so now it’s payback time”.

“So, this bet is just your desperate attempt at getting revenge against a girl who wasn’t interested in you-for fuck sake Aegon” muttered Aemond running a hand through his sandy blonde hair.

“Oh, cut the moral high ground shit brother it doesn’t suit you-or do I need to remind you of the time you fucked your way through all of the Baratheon sisters in the space of a week”.

“Far point-so I fuck Hargrove and then what?” asked Aemond.

“Providing you have proof of the deed being done, then I’ll let you fuck Alys” replied Aegon.

“What does Alys say about all this-” mused Aemond.

“Well of course I asked her before I discussed things with you, and she agreed-“

“-Just like that?” asked Aemond disbelief.

“We have a semi open relationship remember-as long we tell each other that we want to fuck someone else, then it’s ok. Sometimes we even share” shrugged Aegon.

“Well, I’m not into sharing” growled Aemond.

“Do you seriously think I want to see your bare arse-no thanks. I just meant that me and Alys are open to many forms of expressing ourselves and our love” said Aegon.

“-And you’re ok with her potentially fucking your own brother?”

“You have to win the bet first” laughed Aegon.

“-And if I fail?”

“I get your car which I will make sure to fuck Alys in” quipped Aegon smirking.

“Fine-you’re on” said Aemond holding out his hand.

“There was me thinking you’d need a little more convincing”.

“Thing is, can you imagine what this would do for my reputation? Screwing the new deans daughter before the semester starts” mused Aemond.

“Would be one of your greatest victories-aside from the school nurse that you fucked last year, I’m still surprised they didn’t kick you out for that” said Aegon reaching for his silver cross necklace and pulling away the end.

The white power lingering on the small scoop spilled over the edge as Aegon lifted it to his nose and inhaled it in one sharp breath.

“Speaking of getting kicked out-if mum and dad see you doing that, they will go crazy, they told you last time that there were no more chances” said Aemond.

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them-besides you need to start making nice with Reese”.

“I suppose this would make an interesting chapter”.

“Oh, gee your journal, could you be any more queer?” said Aegon.

“Could you be more desperate to read it” smirked Aemond.

“I would say good luck brother-you’re going to need it-besides it might be worth mentioning that you only have a limited time in which to get Hargrove into bed” replied Aegon.

“What do you mean?”

“Her father’s preoccupied with getting ready for the new semester, so Reese is staying at our aunt’s place for a few weeks, but I also know that she’ll be spending the last two weeks of summer break at her grandmothers place-so that means you’ve only got four weeks to win the bet” said Aegon.

“FUCK” exclaimed Aemond as he turned on his heel and left the room.

“Your home is so beautiful Mrs Hightower” exclaimed Reese, her grip tightening on the reins of the horse she was riding.

“Oh, thank you-It’s been in my family for over a hundred years”.

“I’ve never seen anything like it” replied Reese.

“Does your family ride much?”

“My grandfather used to breed horses on his farm-“ said Reese softly.

“Really how-“

Suddenly the sound of a distant bang echoed through the air.

“What was that?” asked Reese looking around in alarm.

“Oh, Aemond must be here”.

Reese smiled at Mrs Hightower and directed her horse to follow as they entered a small clearing.

“Pull” shouted Aemond and he aimed the shotgun he was holding towards the sky.

The accompanying attendant pressed a button, and a small clay disk was launched into the air, and without skipping a beat, Aemond pulled the trigger and shot the clay out of the sky.

“Aemond”

“Ahh fuck me” muttered Aemond as he handed the attendant the shot gun and plastered a fake smile on his face before he raced over to his aunt.

“Sweetpea”.

“Aunt Ellen-god I’ve missed you” exclaimed Aemond as he wrapped his arms around her.

“I miss you too”.

“I’ve been looking all over for you” replied Aemond sweetly.

“Now, I want you to meet Reese-and be nice”.

“Well-well-“ muttered Aemond as he slowly walked towards Reese who was still sat upon the chestnut mare.

“Reese Hargrove-this is my nephew Aemond Targaryen”.

“I do believe you’ve already met my older brother Aegon” said Aemond as he reached forward and helped Reese climb down from the saddle.

“Briefly” replied Reese clapping her hands together slowly to dispel the dirt.

“Reese will be staying with me for a few weeks”.

“Interesting-that makes two of us” muttered Aemond as he folded his arms behind his back.

“Thank you for helping” muttered Reese.

“Aunt Ellen, why don’t you go a whip us up some of that iced tea of yours and I’ll tend to Reese” said Aemond smiling.

“Alright-you two don’t get into any trouble”.

“We won’t” said Reese and Aemond in unison.

Aemond waited until his aunt had disappeared inside before he took Reese’s hand and led her towards the manor.

“Come on-quickly, lots to see” urged Aemond.

“Ok” muttered Reese.

“I read your manifesto” said Aemond.

“Oh, you did” replied Reese smiling.

“Hm-I must say I found it rather appalling”.

“That’s a first, most people praise me for it,” said Reese.

“Most people are sheep-who are you to criticise something you’ve never experienced”.

“I wasn’t criticising anything-it’s just my belief that people shouldn’t experience the act of love, until they are in love. I just don’t think people our age are mature enough to experience those kinds of emotions”.

“Are you a lesbian?” asked Aemond smirking.

“No”

“I didn’t mean to offend you-I just picked up on a little bit of that lesbian vibe”.

“Look-I wouldn’t expect a man of your experience to understand my beliefs”.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Aemond.

“I’m well aware of your reputation and that of your older brother,” said Reese.

“What have you heard?”

“That you promise girls the world to get them in bed with you, but then again I suppose that’s a better approach than your brother who thinks he can just take whatever he wants”.

“I heard about that-Aegon shouldn’t have done it, but I heard you were pretty adept at defending yourself” said Aemond.

“You almost sound impressed” muttered Reese raising her eyebrow.

“Oh, believe me I am” replied Aemond smiling as he walked away.

Later that night after her shower, Reese was sitting alone in her bedroom reading a book, when the sound of loud opera music broke her concentration.

“What the-“ muttered Reese as she put the book down and looked around bewildered.

A few minutes later she let her bedroom and wen in search of someone who could tell her what was going on, gods the music was so loud.

Noticing the lights on in the pool house, Reese slowly opened the door and went inside.

“Hello-Excuse me” said Reese loudly.

Just when she was about to give up and look elsewhere, Reese spotted Aemond sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, his hand absentmindedly swirling in the air as he reclined against the cushions.

“Excuse me” said Reese as she slowly approached Aemond.

“What a pleasant surprise” replied Aemond as he paused the music.

“Are you aware that this music is playing in every room of the house?”

“It’s not-just yours, I thought you’d like it” said Aemond.

Reese scoffed and turned around full intent on walking back to her room, until Aemond pressed the remote again and ‘Lovefool by the Cardigans’ began blasting through the speakers.

“So, what were you doing in your room?” asked Aemond smirking as Reese turned back to face him.

“Reading-“

“-Anything interesting?” asked Aemond as he levered himself off his chair.

“Yes actually-it was quite intriguing” replied Reese.

“I got you a gift” said Aemond as he reached behind one of the ornate stone pillars and handed Reese a leather bag, embossed with her name.

“What-“ exclaimed Reese.

“Something to start the new semester with”.

“You didn’t have to do this” muttered Reese softly.

“I get it -you hate it” snapped Aemond as he pulled the bag out of Reese’s hand only for her to snatch it back.

“No-I love it, you just didn’t have to, that’s all” retorted Reese.

“Do you think you can pry yourself away from your reading and join me for a swim?”

“Ok-just give me a minute” muttered Reese and she turned away from Aemond and left the pool house.

Aemond nodded and then proceeded to get undressed, having no qualms at all about being completely naked. Reese’s reaction to his nudity would be very interesting.

Suddenly his mobile rang, Aemond grimaced when he saw the name highlighted on the screen, but he answered, nonetheless.

“Alys”

“Fuck her yet?” asked Alys.

“I’m working on it”

“Loser” replied Alys.

“Blow me”

“Call me later? Aegon wants to go for a drink” mused Alys.

“Ok” said Aemond as he hung up the call and threw his phone onto the chair.

With the music now playing softly in the background, Aemond placed a towel around his neck and turned his back to the door.

Sure, enough the door opened, and a soft gasp of surprise echoed around the tiled room, Aemond smiled before he slowly turned giving Reese a complete view of his naked body.

“Do you mind turning around so I could put on my bathing suit?” asked Aemond thoroughly delighted by Reese’s reaction.

“I-I’m sorry” muttered Reese and she placed a hand over her eyes and turned away.

It was only when she heard the splash of water that turned back to face Aemond who was now in the pool.

Reese took a deep breath before she untied her robe and descended into the warm pool.

“Your right you know” muttered Aemond.

“About what?” asked Reese.

“What you said today-I’ve done something I’m not proud of”

“Look I wasn’t trying to give you a hard time-“

“-No, it’s ok, I mean look at you with all your morals and values, you seem to be happy in your choices, I envy you. No bullshit”

“Really” asked Reese curiously.

“Seriously-you’ve got everything going for you-your smart, beautiful, determined. Everything I’d want in a girlfriend” said Aemond.

“You know I’m seeing someone-“

“-Oh yes, the infamous Trevor, it’s funny you haven’t mentioned him until now”

“He’s backpacking through Europe-He’s great, I really miss him,” said Reese.

“I’m here” whispered Aemond as he reached out and slowly ran his hand down Reese’s arm.

“I’m sorry but you are not my type”.

“Honestly?” wondered Aemond.

“Yeah-your smart, your beautiful, listing my qualities on your fingers is not going to get you anywhere with me, the best you can hope for is my friendship and your really walking a fine line at that” replied Reese as she moved away from Aemond and climbed out of the pool.

Aemond watched aghast as the wet swimsuit clung to every one of Reese’s curves, her body swaying slightly as she picked up a towel and left the room.

“Night sweet pea” snarked Aemond as he lowered himself into the water.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

“Oh no what am I going to do”.

“Is something wrong?” asked Aemond as he sat at the breakfast table.

“That was Mrs Collins-their short of volunteers over at the retirement home, but I have theatre tickets for this afternoon”.

“Oh no that’s terrible” said Aemond softly.

“I have a thought why don’t you two fill in for me”.

“I’d love to” said Reese smiling.

“You two are the best-thank you, so sweet of you”.

“Can’t help it” said Aemond pulling a face as his aunt kissed him on the head and hugged him.

Gods, how he found himself in such a predicament Aemond would never know, for the love of all that was holy why did he have to open his big mouth.

He supposed it was another opportunity to spend time with Reese, but the car ride on the way to the retirement home had been rather awkward with neither one of them not knowing what to say to the other.

The retirement home itself had a funny smell to it and just as Aemond hoped to be paired with Reese, he was shoved into a room with an old lady called Mrs Sugarman.

Turns out she was quite senile, so he could work that to his advantage, he supposed sitting in a chair and doing the crossword puzzle was the only semblance of entertainment he would have for the next few hours.

“Oh, did I ever tell you the time, when my late husband sent me-“

“Yes, you already did, Mrs. Sugarman” replied Aemond.

“Oh, I did?”

“Right after we played backgammon, Mrs. Sugarman” muttered Aemond.

“Oh! We played backgammon”,

“Uh huh. You beat me three times” exclaimed Aemond.

“I did?”

“Yeah, and I fucked your daughter-“ said Aemond.

“What?”

“I said would you care for some water?” asked Aemond smiling sweetly.

“No thank you dear”.

Aemond rolled his eye and resumed his crossword puzzle.

Suddenly a knock at the door, had Aemond springing into action as he put down the newspaper and sat behind Mrs Sugarman, smiling.

“How’s going in here?” asked the nurse.

“We played backgammon, and I won three times” exclaimed Mrs Sugarman excitedly.

“Oh well done” said the nurse brightly.

“Isn’t it wonderful” gasped Mrs Sugarman.

“See I told you she was special” said the nurse as she hugged Reese who smiled widely at Aemond.

As they got in the car for the drive home, Reese reached into her pocket and pulled out a beaded bracelet.

“What’s that?” asked Aemond.

“A friendship bracelet-I made it with Mr Gottlieb” replied Reese.

“Sounds like you had a productive day” mused Aemond as he watched Reese tie the mismatched beaded bracelet round his wrist.

It was positively ghastly, the colours were wrong, it made a weird clicking sound when he moved his hand and it clashed terribly with his outfit, but he found himself unwilling to tell Reese any of those things, so he kept quiet and decided to wear the damn thing if it made her happy, as making her sad invoked a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“You know I actually feel good about myself-Mrs Sugarman was cool” said Aemond.

“Oh, come on your trying to tell me that you had a good time with that old lady”.

“I did, we played three games of backgammon and-oh alright I was bored out of my mind” said Aemond frowning.

“It’s ok-it doesn’t make you a bad person”

“It does-“ muttered Aemond.

“No, it doesn’t” replied Reese softly.

“I can’t win with you” quipped Aemond.

“It’s not about winning Aemond-you know what you take yourself far too seriously”.

“I do not” snapped Aemond.

“Yes, you do-you should lighten up” laughed Reese.

“I am lightened up can we just drop this”.

“Ok-fine” replied Reese shrugging, but as Aemond huffed, she turned to him and began pulling faces.

“What are you doing?” asked Aemond.

Reese ignored him and continued to pull faces.

“Cut it out-it’s distracting, I said stop that” exclaimed Aemond smiling.

“Are you smiling?” asked Reese.

“No”.

“It’s ok, you can laugh-I won’t tell anyone” replied Reese softly.

Aemond looked over at Reese briefly before he returned his attention to driving, but his heart skipped a beat when he felt her take his hand and entwine their fingers.

Gods the music was loud, it was almost hurting his eardrums.

Why in the fuck had he let Aegon talk him into coming here was beyond him. The place was cheap and smelled like rancid shit, but it served its purpose.

He needed a distraction, his days were being consumed by Reese and it was driving him insane, the more time he spent around her the more he wanted her, but she didn’t give any inclination that she was interested. Sure, she’d held his hand in the car but that was it, nothing had happened in the days since.

Probably wasn’t the best idea to come here and get shit faced, as his frustrations surrounding Reese and the copious amounts of alcohol that he’d consumed did not make for a good combination, and it led to some pretty bad decision making on his part when he happened upon Floris Baratheon and allowed her to suck his cock in one of the toilet cubicles.

If he squinted his eyes enough, he could almost imagine that he was Reese, that it was her lips stretched around his cock, that it was her hands grasping at his thighs as he ruthlessly fucked her mouth.

But it wasn’t-it was Floris, and he knew he would end up regretting this later, but he needed to come, he was desperate. In his pursuit of Reese, he’d gone from regularly indulging in depraved and debauched sex to nothing and he needed this, to clear his mind if anything.

He just wished Floris would shut the fuck up, her little moans were distracting him, he screwed his eyes shut and he saw Reese smiling at him, her blue eyes twinkling in the-

“FUCK” moaned Aemond as his spilt rope after rope of come into Floris’ mouth.

He probably should have lingered a while longer, but as soon as he tucked his softened cock back into his trousers, he couldn’t wait to get out of there, he didn’t want Floris getting the wrong idea-again.

He placed a quick kiss on her forehead and practically vaulted himself out of the cubicle and made a hasty exit from the shithole that Aegon had dragged him too, he did consider looking for his brother, but he was more than likely piss drunk and cock deep in Alys or some bimbo they’d found.

So, he hailed a taxi and went back to his aunts manor, hoping that tomorrow would be brighter day.

Aemond sighed deeply as he watched Reese through a pair of binoculars, upon hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, he and turns to find Alys standing behind him.

“Aegon’s looking for you”.

“Hm”.

“Who are you spying on?” asked Alys as she snatched the binoculars from Aemond’s hand.

“No one” muttered Aemond.

“Is that her?”

“Yeah”

“Oh no she’s crying-little baby seems upset by the big bad book” mocked Alys.

“Shut up” snapped Aemond.

“What’s up your arse?”

“Nothing”

“She’s really getting to you isn’t she” quipped Alys.

“If you must know yes-I don’t know what to do. I can’t stand that holier than thou bullshit, yet I’m completely infatuated with her, she made me laugh”.

“So that’s why you’re going to lose the bet with Aegon?” mused Alys as she examined her red painted nails.

“I’m not losing the bet-it’s just taking a little longer than I expected”.

“Mind if I take Aegon’s new car for a ride?” asked Alys as she leaned forward and kissed Aemond on the corner of his mouth.

“Alys-the only thing you’re going to be riding is me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do” replied Aemond quietly.

Reese looked up from her book and smiled as she saw Aemond approaching.

“Bonjour Mademoiselle” whispered Aemond as he knelt down and slowly pressed a kiss to her left cheek then her right.

“Bonjour Monsieur Targaryen” replied Reese as Aemond’s lips met hers.

He leaned forward slightly, trying to manoeuvre her onto her back as they kissed, his tongue sliding against hers.

“Aemond. No” said Reese as she sat up and pushed him away.

“I’m sorry about that” muttered Aemond as he stood up.

“I am too” whispered Reese.

“You know what-I’m not sorry. I don’t take it back”.

“I thought we were just going to be friends?” asked Reese.

“I-I can’t handle it. I can’t keep my feelings all bottled up like you. Can you honestly tell me that you feel nothing for me?”

“Yes, I have feelings for you Aemond”.

“T-Then what’s wrong. It’s not like you have a husband. Unless your married to Jesus”

“That’s not fair” snapped Reese.

“Do you really want to know why?”

“Yes, I want to know why” retorted Aemond.

“Because I don’t trust myself with you” snapped Reese as she stood up and left Aemond alone.

Later that night as she sat brushing her blonde hair, Reese was startled by a sharp knock at the door.

“Come in”.

The door opened slowly and Aemond walked in, his expression giving nothing away as he stood in front of her.

“I just came to say goodbye”.

“Where are you going?” asked Reese.

“Back to the city-I might go to the south of France until the end of summer. I just can’t take your games anymore” said Aemond shrugging.

“What games?”

“Oh, come off it, your hot one minute, cold the next. You make me feel inadequate” said Aemond bluntly.

“Well, I guess if that’s how I’m making you feel then it’s for the best that your leaving”.

“Good for you” muttered Aemond as he turned around and went to open the door.

“Aemond-I don’t want us to part on bad terms” muttered Reese.

“Well, I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter-you’re a hypocrite and I don’t associate with hypocrites”.

“How am I a hypocrite?” asked Reese.

“Oh, please Reese. You spend all your time preaching about waiting for love. Well, here it is. Right in front of you, and you're going to turn your back on it. So, I guess we're just fucked. I'll move on. But you are going to have to live the rest of your life knowing that you've turned your back on love. And that makes you a hypocrite. Have a nice life”.

“Wait” gasped Reese.

There was a beat of silence before Reese slowly walked towards Aemond, placed her hands in his face and kissed him.

Their tongues moved together as they slowly walked backwards towards the bed.

“Aemond” moaned Reese as she began to undo the buttons on his trousers.

For a brief moment Aemond was stunned to silence, as he watched Reese climb onto the bed and undo the buttons on her silken p.j top, his chest becoming more exposed with every undone button.

This was happening, she was giving herself to him. She was soft and sweet, like a ripe peach ready for the taking.

But he couldn’t do it, something was stopping him, he didn’t know what it was, but the feeling of uncertainty swirled within him almost to the point of making him feel sick.

“I-I’m sorry I can’t” spluttered Aemond as he turned around and left the room.

The tears rolled down Reese’s cheeks as she quickly buttoned her p.j top back up, she had offered herself to him and in turn he had rejected her.

She couldn’t stay here now, not after this.

“Morning” said Aegon brightly as he handed Aemond a coffee.

“Morning” replied Aemond through gritted teeth.

“So, how’d it go last night with Reese?”

“If your asking if a nailed her then the answer is no-“

“She shot you down” asked Aegon smirking.

“Exactly the opposite” admitted Aemond.

“So, what went wrong”.

“I don’t know-she was laying on the bed ready to do it and I was-I just didn’t feel right about it” said Aemond.

“Your telling me you had the chance to fuck her, and you didn’t-god are you pathetic”.

“Fuck off” snapped Aemond leaping off the bed.

“Oh, if your heading towards her room, you won’t find her”.

“Where is she?”

“You don’t know-she left thirty minutes ago” retorted Aegon smirking.

“Where did she go?” demanded Aemond.

“She apologised to our aunt and then told her she was going to stay with some friends in the city-you blew it Aemond, that girls come to her senses, and she’ll never go near you again”.

Aemond let out a growl of frustration before he stormed out of the room, he had to go after her, tell her he’s sorry.

She’d obviously left because of him and what happened last night, and the thought that he wouldn’t see her everyday had left him feeling hollow.

After speaking to his aunt, who told him that Reese had taken a taxi to the train station, Aemond got in his car and put his foot down in the hopes that he could beat the train and arrive at the station in the city before she did.

After the train pulled into the station, Reese grabbed her things and stepped onto the platform, she felt guilty about her hasty departure from Mrs HighTower’s manor, but she couldn’t stay not after last night-she’d fallen in love with Aemond, and it hurt when he rejected her. His reputation of bedding copious amounts of women seemed a little exaggerated in that moment.

As she stepped onto the escalator, Reese couldn’t help but think about Aemond, she wondered if he was ok, and she hoped he wasn’t too upset when he’d discovered that she’d gone.

As the escalator ascended, there he was standing there, looking at her as if she was the only person the world.

“I’m impressed”

“Well, I’m in love” said Aemond he cupped her cheeks and kissed her, not caring if they were in the middle of a packed train station.

She had fled and he had chased her, this was their moment, and no one was going to take it from them.

“I-I’m ready. Make me yours” whispered Reese as she pulled off her clothes.

Reese laid down and smiled shyly as Aemond gazed at her naked body.

"So beautiful” whispered Aemond as he slowly reached out and ran his fingers over Reese’s breasts.

Goosebumps erupted over Reese’s skin as Aemonds hand began to move lower.

“I-I need to prepare you” whispered Aemond.

“P-prepare me?” whispered Reese.

“I don’t want to hurt you” replied Aemond as he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Reese’s lips.

Reese gasped when she felt Aemond’s fingers rubbing her folds.

“O-Oh Aemond” exclaimed Reese as he slipped a finger inside her.

Aemond buried his face in Reese’s neck as he added another finger to prepare her as best he could.

Aemond removed his fingers and then laid between Reese’s open legs, supporting his weight on his left arm as he reached down and took his hard cock in his hand and placed the tip of it against his cock her now slick entrance.

Reese shut her eyes tight and took a deep breath as Aemond sheathed himself within her.

Reese’s cunny choked his cock so tight that he needed a few seconds to adjust, making him terribly aware that he was not going to last for too long.

Aemond’s cock twitched and throbbed with need, and he released a shuddered breath while Reese sighed in relief. 

“The pain will ease,” rasped Aemond.

Aemond was generous enough to start with a slow, deep grinding that soon enough turned the stinging pain into pleasure.

“Gods be good,” panted Reese, gripping Aemond’s shoulders.

“Fuck. You were made for me. You were made to fit my cock in this sweet cunt of yours.” breathed Aemond as he increased the pace of this thrusts.

“A-Aemond. Please.” exclaimed Reese her nails digging into his shoulders.

“Tell me you want me” moaned Aemond his hips slapping against hers.

“I-I want you, Please Aemond” gasped Reese.

“I love you-I love you so much” exclaimed Aemond as his thrusts beginning to stagger. He was close. So close.

“Love you too” gasped Reese as she felt Aemond’s fingers encircling her pearl in tandem with his thrusts.

It felt like lightning had shot across her stomach. Gods it felt so good.

“I want you to come-come for me” moaned Aemond, he needed her to come before him, he would not disgrace himself.

“AEMOND” screamed Reese.

Aemond pushed into the hilt for one last time and let out a long loud groan as he painted her insides with his white hot spend.

Later that night as he escorted Reese to her waiting taxi, Aemond couldn’t contain his happiness, for the first time in a long time, he felt like he was worth something. That he wasn’t totally soulless, and he’d found the capacity to love and in turn be loved, and it was all down to Reese.

As he watched the taxi drive away, he thought that nothing in this world could ruin his happiness, but of course he was completely oblivious to the looming figures of Aegon and Alys silently watching him from the balcony.

The next morning, Aemond had left the apartment bright and early, he’d gone for a run and stopped by a flower shop on the way home, buying flowers for a girl was a completely new experience for him but Reese was worth it.

He arrived back home, clutching the bouquet of flowers but was stopped in his tracks when he spotted Alys sitting on the edge of his bed, in only her underwear.

“A-Alys” gasped Aemond as he placed the flowers on his desk.

“I hear that you succeeded in your task”.

“Hm” replied Aemond.

“So, I thought that we could make the necessary arrangements” mused Alys as she reached out towards Aemond’s groin, only for him to push her away.

“Some other time” replied Aemond as he walked away, ignoring the look of fury on Alys’ face.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not in the mood” said Aemond slamming the door shut.

He needed to get out of here, he needed to get away from Alys and Aegon, so he did the only thing he could think of and rang Reese, she spoke softly to him and whispered words of love, it calmed him down immensely and making plans to see her later that day made his heart skip a beat, he was too engrossed in the phone call to even notice Aegon entering the room.

“I love you too” muttered Aemond before he ended the phone call.

“I love you too-my god you’re completely pussy whipped” said Aegon flatly.

“Stop it” ordered Aemond.

“Oh, come on Aemond it’s just a bet” replied Aegon as he looked over at Alys as she shut the wooden sliding doors.

Alys walked over to Aemond and kissed him, her hands gripped the fabric of his shirt, until her pushed her away.

“This is ridiculous” laughed Aemond.

“What’s ridiculous dear brother is you-look at what you’ve been reduced too, have you given any thought to what’s going to happen once the semester starts-not only are you dating miss manifesto but she’s also the new deans daughter” said Aegon.

“Stop it”

“Before you know it, you’ll be giving campus tours with her-oh wait her father doesn’t know about your past, does he? I doubt he’ll let his little princess be seen with the likes of you. Quite disappointing to see that Reese’s manifesto was a total sham, I think he has a right to know” said Aegon picking up the phone.

“Put the phone down” ordered Aemond.

“Oh, this will only take a second” replied Aegon.

Aemond lurched forward and snatched the phone out of his brother’s hand, before slamming down on the desk.

“Quite the predicament you’re in” mused Aegon.

“I don’t care what either of you say, the fact of the matter is that I was planning on telling her everything this afternoon” said Aemond pulling on his long black coat.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot, your so in love” mocked Alys.

“Do you honestly think that you’ve changed in the few weeks you’ve known her. Let me tell you something little brother-people don’t change overnight. You and I are two of a kind, at least I have the guts to admit it-you were going to leave University and legend, now all you’ll be is a joke”.

“I-I’m willing to take my chances” said Aemond reaching for the door.

“Don’t do it Aemond, you’ll not only ruin your reputation, but you’ll destroy hers”.

Aemond didn’t respond, he gave Alys and his brother one last look before leaving the room.

Aemond walked around the city for hours, thinking about Reese, the bet and what he should do, his brother’s words playing on a loop in his mind.

He seemed to walk aimlessly, without any sense of direction, letting his feet carry him wherever they desired, until he found himself standing in front of the apartment complex where Reese was staying with her friends.

After taking a deep breath, Aemond entered the building and knocked on the door.

“Hi” breathed Reese as she opened the door.

“Hey” replied Aemond solemnly as Reese pulled him in for a kiss.

After a few minutes Reese, pulled away and then gave him a quick tour of the apartment, she smiled sweetly as she took his hand and pulled him into a well-lit bedroom.

“This is my room”.

“It’s nice-“ mumbled Aemond.

“Do you think we can be quiet? asked Reese suggestively.

“There’s something I have to tell you”.

“Ok-tell me” replied Reese.

“This isn’t working out for me anymore”.

“Yeah, me neither-what’s wrong?” said Reese.

“It’s not you-it’s me. I’m completely fucked up”.

“What are you saying?” asked Reese.

“I thought I was in love with you, but it was just a lie-I wanted it to work but unfortunately. I feel nothing”.

“Why you are you doing this?”

“I just wanted to see what you were like in bed” muttered Aemond his shoulders slumping.

“I know you don’t mean that” gasped Reese.

“You know nothing-you don’t even know me; the fact of the matter is there is someone I want and you don’t even compare to her”

“I don’t believe you”.

“I don’t know how to make this any clearer-you mean nothing to me; you were just a conquest” snapped Aemond.

“Your such a coward-look at yourself, your shaking. Is that what you came to tell me”.

“Listen I’m sorry I’m completely-“

“-Yeah, your completely fucked up-get out”

“Reese-“ said Aemond reaching towards her.

“Don’t touch me”.

“Please-“ whispered Aemond.

“DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME AEMOND-GET OUT” screamed Reese as she slapped him across the face.

Aemond stood stunned for a moment, watching the tears roll down Reese’s cheeks. His heart pounding in his chest.

“Just leave” begged Reese as she turned away from him.

Aemond bowed his head and then left the room, furiously wiping at his own tears as they fell.

“Jesus-a little melodramatic don’t you think” said Aegon as he spotted Aemond sitting in a darkened corner of the room.

“I thought you’d like to know what happened between me and Reese-It’s over”.

“Really?” asked Aegon.

“You were right-I can’t change, you and I are two of a kind, I thought we should celebrate” replied Aemond as he pulled out a bottle of champagne.

“I’d love to-but unfortunately I’m expecting Alys” said Aegon examining his nails.

“Great-As I’ve won the bet, I guess it makes sense for Alys to be here. We we’ll need to make arrangements after all”.

“We do” nodded Aegon as he took the half-filled glass from Aemond.

“What shall we toast too?” asked Aemond as he lifted the glass of champagne in the air.

“To my triumph” said Aegon smugly.

“Not my choice of toasts, but it’s your call-to your triumph over Reese” retorted Aemond as he downed the contents of his glass.

Aegon however let out a melodious giggle.

“What’ so funny?” asked Aemond.

“Silly rabbit-my triumph isn’t over her, it’s over you”.

“Come again?” asked Aemond confused.

“You were very much in love with her, and your still in love with her-but it amused me to make you ashamed of it-you gave up on the first person you ever loved, because I threatened your reputation, don’t you get it your just a toy Aemond, a little toy I like to play with and now you’ve completely blown it with her, I think it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard-cheers” said Aegon as he lifted the glass of champagne to his lips.

Aemond stood their stunned to silence at his brother’s revelation.

“Hmmm tastes good” exclaimed Aegon.

“Aegon-“

“I also feel I have to tell you that, no arrangement will be made for you to have your way with Alys-you see she doesn’t fuck losers” said Aegon smirking.

Aemond nodded his head solemnly before he left the room.

“Will you please just tell her that I called?” asked Aemond desperately before he slammed the phone down.

Slumping in his seat, Aemond reached for his leather bound journal and ripped it open.

He had to speak to Reese, he had to make things right with her.

After spending hours furiously writing page after page, Aemond wrapped up his journal and began walking to the apartment where Reese was staying, of course Mrs Michalak refused to allow him entry into the apartment or even tell Aemond where Reese was, but he was desperate.

“Please-will you just give her this” begged Aemond.

“Of course,” replied Mrs Michalak as she took the journal.

“T-Tell her I’m sorry please-Reese if you’re in there. I’m sorry” said Aemond loudly.

“Mr Targaryen, that is enough-Now I need you to leave” urged Mrs Michalak.

“Tell her, that I’m not going anywhere-I will wait for as long as it takes”.

“Goodbye Mr Targaryen” snapped Mrs Michalak before she slammed the door.

“Fucking bitch” muttered Aemond under his breath before he walked away.

-Later that night-

Reese stared at the envelop gripped between her fingers and for the briefest of moments she considered throwing it in the bin, before curiosity got the better of her and she opened it.

Dear Reese, I don’t know what I could possibly say that would rectify the harm I’ve caused you. The truth of the matter is that being with you was the only time I have ever been happy. My whole life has been a joke. I prided myself on taking joy in others’ misery. Well, it finally backfired. I succeed in hurting the first person I ever loved.

Enclosed is my most prized possession. My journal. For a long time, I considered it my trophy. A sordid collection of my conquests. If you really want to know the truth than please read it. No more lies. Please give me another chance. I’m a wreck without you.

Your, Aemond.

Reese tore the brown paper that was wrapped around the leather bound journal and opened it.

Completely unprepared for what she was about to read.

All night he waited, sitting opposite the apartment building hoping and praying that he would catch a glimpse of Reese as she passed by her window.

But he didn’t, he’d made a massive mistake, and he had no idea how to fix it, Reese was the first girl that he’d ever loved, and he had broken her heart.

He’d allowed himself to become entangled in one of his brother’s sick twisted games and it was Reese that had paid the price, she didn’t deserve any of this. Maybe it was for the best that he left her alone, as much as it hurt to think of never seeing or speaking to her again, it wasn’t about him, it was about her.

So, with a breath of determination, Aemond decided it was for the best that he went home.

Casting one last baleful look at the apartment building, Aemond walked down the street, completely oblivious to Reese looking out of the window, and watching as he walked away.

It must be madness the drove her, but she couldn’t let him leave like that, so she decided to follow him, she had no idea what she was going to say once she caught up with him but that was a plan for later.

“Son of a bitch-Targaryen”

“Who-oh hey Roland” said Aemond.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?” snapped Roland.

“What else am I meant to say”.

“You know Floris told me what you did”.

“Floris-I haven’t seen her in months” replied Aemond.

“What about your little escapade in the club toilets not to long ago”

“Oh-shit” muttered Aemond, he knew that was going to come back and haunt him.

“You think it’s appropriate to do that to my little sister” snarled Roland as he shoved Aemond backwards.

“Oh, get over it Roly she willingly got on her knees and sucked my cock-I didn’t force her”

“You smug piece of shit-“ snarled Roland reeling his fist back and punching Aemond in the face, sending him flying towards the ground.

Aemond quickly rose from the ground and tackled Roland, both of them falling the floor with a heavy thud.

“You-fucking-cunt” breathed Roland as one of Aemond’s punched connected with his nose.

“If anyone is the cunt here, it’s you” wheezed Aemond as Roland managed to knee him in the stomach.

“AEMOND” shouted Reese as she ran towards him.

He didn’t seem to hear her, too lost to his rage as he repeatedly punched every bit of Roland he could reach.

Reese reached forward and pulled on Roland’s coat, suddenly he reared backwards, and she was propelled away from the fight.

At the sound of Reese hitting the floor, Aemond quickly came back to his senses, his eye widening at the sight of her laying haphazardly on her side.

Aemond levered himself off Roland and immediately went to Reese, crouching slowly beside her.

“Reese-are you ok?” asked Aemond nervously.

“I-I’m ok-AEMOND LOOK OUT” screamed Reese as Roland came up behind Aemond and tackled him into the road.

After shoving Roland away from him, Aemond hunched over trying to catch his breath, he’d hit his head on the concrete and was momentarily dazed, the blood dripping from the cut on his forehead.

“AEMOND” shrieked Reese.

Squinting his eyes, Aemond looked up and saw the car hurtling towards him.

Then all of a sudden, a pair of hands seized the back of his coat, and he was propelled out of the way.

“REESE”

Everything after that happened so fast.

Reese didn’t even hear the sound of the car honking or the screech of tyres, she didn’t even feel the impact of the car as it hit her.

She slid up the bonnet and crashed into the windshield before she slipped over the roof and over the back of the car, before landing heavily on the road in a heap.

“Someone call an ambulance”.

“Reese-can you hear me” urged Aemond.

“I-I tried to stop in time” said the driver panicking.

“CALL A FUCKING AMBULANCE” yelled Aemond.

“I-Is she going to be ok?”

“Reese, my love” said Aemond.

“A-Aemond-hurts” muttered Reese.

“It’s ok, an ambulance is on its way-you’re going to be fine” urged Aemond.

“D-Do y-you love me?”

“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I’m sorry for what I said-none of it was true. Please Reese, forgive me. I’m sorry-I’m so sorry” exclaimed Aemond as he reached out and took her hand.

She wanted to say more, to move-but she couldn’t. Her legs wouldn’t work, and she felt so cold all she could do was squeeze Aemond’s hand.

“Please-Reese hold on” begged Aemond a tear slipping down his cheek.

“L-Lo-ov-e y-you-“ rasped Reese.

“Don’t do that-don’t say goodbye. Don’t leave me” cried Aemond.

The birds, she could hear the birds, the light it was bright-so bright. Perhaps she could close her eyes just-

“Reese-please, just hold on” begged Aemond. The sounds of sirens echoing in the distance.

The funeral was a complete blur, he didn’t want to say goodbye. But he had no choice. She was gone.

It was a beautiful service, complete with flowers, poems and hymns.

Aemond stared at the picture of Reese and he felt his heart constrict painfully.

He didn’t want to hear from anyone, not his parents, not Aegon or Alys. They were remnants of a life that he no longer wanted.

Reese had shown him there was more, her love had opened his heart to a whole realm of possibilities, and he was determined to live. For her.

So, after the funeral he packed up all of his belongings and watched with mild curiosity as Aegon and Alys were being hauled out of their apartment bound in handcuffs and surrounded by police officers.

The drug trafficking and distribution charges that Aemond had reported them for should earn them both quite a lofty custodial sentence. Although it wouldn’t see them incarcerated forever, it would see them face the consequences of their actions.

Casting one more look at the place that never really felt like home, Aemond climbed into his car and drove away.

He owed it to Reese; she had given her life to save his and he was determined to make something of himself.

He wanted to make her proud.

As he clutched the steering wheel, the beaded bracelet she’d made him jingled on his wrist and he smiled, he had once scorned her gift but now when he looked at it, he remembered they day she had tied it to his wrist, and he smiled.

Reese taught him everything. About life, hope and the long journey ahead. He would always miss her.

But their love was like the wind. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it.

She would always be with him, a guiding light in the darkness.

The End.

[words-of-wolf]

Content warning: this post contains mentions of wolves hunting other animals, and some thoughts on the subject. Nothing I'd consider graphic, but I know it can be sensitive for some folks so I thought I'd warn beforehand!

Hhh, it's a bit hard to know where to start with getting back into writing about my experiences.

It's not that I don't have anything to say - it's the opposite! There's so much I'd like to share. I've always loved talking about my experiences... maybe a bit self-indulgent, but I like to think it can help other folks too, and I've gotten many interesting conversations out of it in the past, so no regrets!

Can't imagine I'll be posting big things like this frequently, but I'll happily answer questions and chat too. ^u^

So... right now, what I've decided I'd like to write about is some of the, I guess kinda fundamental aspects of my identity as a wolf therian.

It's interesting in a way, because there are so many wolves around - there's a lot of people to compare experiences against! I guess, if you have a rare kintype, or a kintype that's varied enough that your individual variation of it is rare (like dragons) - it might be hard to imagine that a wolf would struggle to find other people they relate to. But then, well: there's me.

I don't think anyone's nonhuman experiences are wrong. I don't think anyones' are "superior" either; it's just about who you are as an individual, what feels right and comfortable to you. I just wanted to get that across! Cause what I'd like to talk about does involve some comparison between my feelings and the things I've seen expressed by other wolf therians, and I wouldn't want it to be read as me saying my way of being as any better than anyone elses' (it's not).

During my time in the kin and therian communities (which, I first encountered over ten years ago now, but my activity has been very on-and-off since I reached adulthood) I've met so, so many wolf therians. It's... hmm, complicated for me, in a way? Because I felt very isolated, especially when I was younger, and I felt like wolf therians were supposed to be "my people". But really, I could count on both hands how many wolves I've met that I really related to on any level.

And the reason for that is the same now as it's always been: for a lot of wolf therians, being a wolf seems to be a kind of violent, bloodthirsty identity. The "predator" feeling is strong; there's some affinity for the thrill of the kill, the violence of it all.

That's not a bad thing. It's not wrong! But my experience has been... very different from that.

My perception of wolfhood isn't really "red in tooth and claw" like that. It's more... simple. Not peaceful really - life as a wolf is full of trials and strife - but the violence never felt defining for me. In terms of personal importance, the feelings of wanting to hunt, to fight, to bite and maim... I'd be lying if I said they were entirely absent, but they were always tertiary to things that seemed far more present and central.

I think a big part of that is... well, for context, I believe my wolf identity is linked to a past life. Yeah, stereotypical, I know! But it's genuinely what I experience; I do remember that life, or at least aspects of it. And those memories influence a lot of my experiences in my current life as a wolf-person.

The thing that strikes me most when I compare my own perspective on wolfhood to the ideas often expressed by other wolf therians, is that to me, hunting wasn't violence. It couldn't be violence.

Why? Because I just plain didn't realise that the deer and other animals we killed were living things.

There was no... room to even consider that idea. I didn't know that the deer I drove to exhaustion felt pain and terror, same as I did. I just knew I was hungry and it was food.

It's a strange thing to consider, isn't it? People talk a lot about "what makes us human". I don't think there's any one thing that does. But if I were to point to one of the most jarring, and one of the most utterly sacred parts of being human to me, it would be the ability to connect emotionally with other species.

Humans are not unique for doing that. And maybe there's some animals a wolf could come to see as an individual, in the way I would've seen another wolf. But a deer would never be that. Which contrasts strangely with me, now, as a human: where I can love pigs, and care about their welfare and treatment, but still enjoy some bacon or a porkchop. That can conflict, sometimes, yeah - but from a wolf perspective, that would be incomprehensible. At least, from my experiences it would be.

And if you remove the idea of violence from hunting, suddenly a wolf's life doesn't seem very violent at all. The act of hunting and killing prey animals felt no more violent to me, than when I cook up a steak for myself now. To someone, that would be violent, but to me it's just a steak - y'know? I know the steak comes from a cow, but that fact brings me neither grief nor pleasure. It's just kinda how the world is and I'm mostly okay with that.

The act of hunting was, I'd say, something I enjoyed as a wolf. I loved the chase. It was fun. Taking down prey could be scary; even a deer is dangerous when cornered and desperate. But the thing with nature is that it makes what you have to do to survive feel desirable: so risking my life for a meal felt thrilling, in a way, and a full belly afterwards was satisfying, and comforting, and a relief from the usual gnaw of hunger.

Hunting's only a small part of being a wolf, though. Even setting aside all the attempted hunts that fall through before you even get into a full sprint.

A lot of wolf life focuses on territory. In some places, it's a very intense, almost war-like conflict; constant, bloody, often fatal. Not always, though. It depends a lot on the intensity of the ecosystem you live in: a place with lots of prey attracts lots of wolves, who then compete for access. If the prey's more spread out, the wolves are more spread out too... and an area of land feels less worth dying for when you've got so many others to search.

Me and my pack were one of the latter varieties. Territorial conflicts were rare, for us; I don't recall any specifically. We patrolled, we marked our space. Territorial disputes were something I was aware of, I think - if I saw a trespasser I certainly would've acted with aggression - but it just wasn't a common occurrence.

So my experience of being a wolf didn't feel like it was defined by violence much. It didn't feel bloody and raw. I could see myself in the image of a wolf that snarls, maybe, but moreso I see myself in the image of the wolf that sleeps, or - perhaps most of all - the wolf that wanders.

And that's what existence as a wolf was, and is for me! It's wandering. It is the neverending search. Even when you find what you need, the relief can't last long - you need to move on soon, you need to seek again soon, because it won't be long before your empty belly's gnawing at your insides again. It wasn't ever a life of violence, it was a life of travel, for the good and the bad of it: for the new sights and new smells and new opportunities; for the exhaustion, the uncertainty, the sore paws and aching muscles.

And the restlessness. The need to keep moving. Keep going. Keep searching, always searching.

But, of course, that's still not the centre piece of the puzzle. Because that could only ever, of course, be the pack.

This is something I'll probably dedicate time to writing about all on its own, because I have such deep feelings about "the pack" as a concept, and also about my pack, who I lived for in my last life.

But I will say that all of my deepest, most vivid, and most impactful memories... they're not of the hunt, they're not about territory or conflict or hunger. What I remember most richly is the love I felt for my pack. It's a feeling I can't quite find it in me to explain; sometimes I wonder if the reason I identify as loveless in this life, is simply because no love I've ever felt as a human could compare to what I felt as a wolf.

I think there's a kind of synergy between the simple mind of a wolf, and the feelings a wolf experiences: in the quiet of an animal's mind, emotions seem so much stronger, so much more vivid somehow. I feel that even now, when I have a mental shift, and the logic and reason falls away - all that's left is emotion and physical senses, and they paint a picture so, so bright.

And those past life memories that I hold dearest, they have a similar quality to them... to curl up with my family after a long day of travel. Or listen to their happy snores as we all sleep off a full belly. And playing with the pups... I was a very fun wolf-uncle. And those pups were my joy, light of my whole life! <3

So... yeah. That's what being a wolf is to me.

It's not the only way to be a wolf. It's not the "right" was vs anyone else's "wrong". This is just what wolfhood is to me personally. Maybe other wolves will see something of themselves in this, maybe not! Either way, I appreciate the time you took to read my rambling. It feels nice to carve out a place in my life again where I can really talk about this stuff. c:

[dragons-library]

Another fourth wing rant:

Damn hearing Violet learn of the Venin for the first time hurts😫

I get them both and it breaks my heart.

Because deciding to tell Violet, damn even figuring out how to tell her or when to tell her, that basically her entire life has been a lie, that her mother is complicit, specially since she was gonna be a scribe, everything she thinks is absolute fact it’s actually a horrible lie. That has to be hard as fuck. Would she have believed him at first without proof?? And if she had, Not only would she have had to be able to completely shield from Dain (which yeah she can have great shields for a first year but they would be risking the entire revolution) but also if anyone suspected she knew anything she would’ve been in risk of being tortured and questioned as a first year without any training on that front. He should’ve told her, I absolutely agree with violet that he should’ve told her, I just don’t even know when he could’ve or how, because talking about that within the walls of the college is also so risky and it’s not even just his secret to tell. Not to mention Xaden has a very hard time trusting people and he was learning to trust Violet, damn it he just decided to try to be with her when they were called for war games and thrown into all this shit.

Telling her everything would’ve involved telling her about her brother, (which is not even his secret to tell at all) also about the deal with her mother, which is a whole other can of worms, and he couldn’t have known how she would react to all of it.

And Violet, my girl's entire world just shattered, she feels alone because even her dragons hid the truth from her. She’s completely alone and the foundations of everything she believes in just evaporated. Of course she’s upset, she has every right to be angry at everyone. At that point she also believes her brother died in the name of a lie and the deaths of innocent people outside the borders. Damn right she’s absolutely livid at everyone, and feels like everything has been a lie. And yet she decides to help. I can’t put into words how much I love violet, she’s strong and wise in a way that goes beyond her powers.

And I also remember that they are just barely out of their teens, and honestly I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing 100% of the time, can you imagine dealing with all that shit before your frontal lobe develops??😭

[ghirahimbo]

i started replaying totk recently, i say replaying bc i did buy and play it when it was first released but dropped it after a couple days bc i was busy w stuff. and so i'm doing a lot of things now for the first time and obv i can't help comparing it to botw and it's genuinely got me so upset how link has been forgotten by so many people, all the people he helped in botw all the quests he did are just meaningless, all my registered horses were carried over but they couldn't keep the character interactions? all the champions are mentioned once with the exception of mipha there's no memories or divine beasts. the zora who had remembered link for 100 years had forgotten him since botw how is that possible. i had to make an ugly house near tarrey town to hang my weapons bc the hateno house was no longer mine 😭😭😭 somehow it made the game feel lonelier, even though botw was more empty there was much emotion in it.

it's not that i hated totk i liked exploring and finding new outfits, the dragons, rediscovering my favourite places etc but idk i was genuinely tearing up thinking about the champions being forgotten and all of link's previous sacrifices meaning nothing. sorry to send these random messages i don't follow anyone else who still blogs about zelda 😭😭

No, I know exactly what you mean! 😢 Honestly (lol can't remember if I've already said this before or not, so maybe I'm re-ranting here, but) my personal take is that totk shouldn't have been a sequel game, especially because Nintendo doesn't like to concern themselves with the continuity between games that a direct sequel like this just needs. With some tweaking/set up/rewriting, totk could have worked as a stand-alone story, and then they wouldn't have had to take away from what botw achieved in the name of making it more approachable to new players.

And yeah, I didn't hate it either! I liked the gameplay and the weapons system and the feeling of stakes whenever you entered a new town and saw how things had all gone to shit. Loved the wells. I just think it was too eager to pretend botw didn't exist while at the same time leaning on it so heavily that it would fall to pieces if you tried to extract the botw out of it :P

[turian]

beloved gamer mutual & comrade @rhubarbspring tagged me to do a video game about me ( tysm for tagging !! truly loved reading all ur game thoughts. <3 ) explanations behind my choices under the cut.

(also, i had to cheat a little bit in the "you love, everyone hates" category, because i don't think people on tumblr hate da2, but one of my best friends despises it because of reused assets and combat designed more for consoles than pcs. and i can't remember any other controversial beloved games right now. the best i can do is games i love that i'm not sure anyone remembers? imagine ubisoft ballet? which, like. do people hate that. i don't think so).

tagging @cowsquirrel @malcriada @sakraya @ansburg @anoramactir + literally anyone i might have missed who wants to do this

favourite game of all time: so, look, i hate her as much as i love her. i always go back to new vegas even though i have a lot of criticisms of it - i had a realization recently after the release of the fallout show that while maybe i was projecting intergenerational trauma onto the game and using it to process some things, there is a lot in the game that is extremely imperialistic, even as it dabbles in anti imperialism. i can't get into all that here - better essays than i'm capable of have already been written on new vegas - but i also have to admit that new vegas taught me to see game writing differently, and helped me a great deal in improving my own writing. it's also just really entertaining playing later games by obsidian and picking out the new vegas elements. i think that new vegas gets praised too readily for being progressive when in reality it's only the most progressive game in the fallout franchise, and i think every time i return to it i'm noticing one more thing that'll kind of be making my eye twitch. but, yeah, i think it would also be dishonest to not include it here, regardless of my mixed feelings, because i keep going back, and because there are so many angles to it, and because i keep catching myself comparing other games to it.

i think a lot about like........... how so many themes i can relate to exist within the narrative of new vegas, but that doesn't feel entirely intentional. like, benny is so real to me because ! he was forced to assimilate into this culture that was not his to survive. and ulysses as well. and like!!!! yeah idk. going insane. i feel very similarly about dragon age elves tbh i'm like okay i feel seen but also this game is racist! kms :') will be projecting hard and taking so much psychic damage

many such cases tho </3 baldur's gate 3 and their treatment of the gur is always going to be a mix of relatable and uncomfortable to me

favourite series: soulsborne! i like how bleak it is, love the theme of death and rebirth, love how thankless the games can be, and i also love how the combat reminds me of muay thai. had a coach explain something to me using dark souls combat as an example once. i didn't really get these games at first, until i saw my best friend playing - she is ridiculously good at them - and then i sort of realized that they're just combat puzzles, and that like... they're kind of about honing patience, i guess? and after that they really became my favourite.

best soundtrack: honorary mentions: mass effect and dark souls both have some individual tracks i revisit on the daily, and skyrim's secunda is beautiful. but hollow knight doesn't miss, and i love how every track matches its environment.

favourite protagonist: i grew up in a really dysfunctional somewhat criminal family so like... lol. i feel seen when i look at arthur morgan <3 him and charles are both close to my heart. john can stay too ig

favourite villain: SO okay, maybe this is cheating a little, but. the reapers from mass effect. went into that game with zero spoilers, and finding out that they were in fact cosmic horror games was so <3

this would probably have gone to new vegas except benny (and also ulysses + i think he's more narrative foil than antagonist, as is benny) literally did nothing wrong in my eyes and after that point it's like... who is the main antagonist? the ncr and legion both? like yeah they're interesting but...

best story: i haven't actually finished pathologic on my own yet. kind of obsessed, though. just feels responsible to put it here. honorary mentions to new vegas, some fromsoft titles, twd, imagine ubisoft ballet........ (i love her and i miss her).

i feel like a lot of story games i've played actually have garbage stories with good characters, which is why they're not here. baldur's gate 3 and ME, for example. or like... ME has a great story at first but they fuck up the ending so badly that a popular theory i've heard passed around essentially boils down to "it was all a dream!"

have not played but want to: i was actually supposed to apply for a job with the team that made these games !! i didn't because it would have required relocation to the US, but. idk i feel like they keep showing up, always highly recommended, and i think i own one? so yeah, i should really get around to that.

you love, everyone hates: again, i cheated on this one. i don't think people on here hate dragon age 2.

you hate, everyone loves: skyrim, detroit: become human, stardew valley (because it's a weird little cottagecore colonialism game but also because i don't really vibe with the art style and i get stressed as fuck in it because nothing is happening... it is simply not for me), and fallout 3 and 4 (because they're masquerading as games with choices but they fully aren't, they suffer from bethesda writing, and they are super unapologetically racist and imperialist). i mean like... not mad at any of my friends who like these games i just cannot play them. i don't really think any of the games on my list are unimpeachable, tbf.

favourite art style: disco elysium !! it's so <3 like, i also love it for other reasons!! but every time i play it i end up wanting to draw.

favourite ending: new vegas has four endings. i feel differently about them all, but the independent ending is very much shaped by the infrastructure the player assembles during a playthrough, and while it is maybe imperfect and very open ended in some ways i like how it doesn't really reassure the player. also, i really like certain elden ring endings and the dark souls 1 ending. and pathologic.

favourite boss fight: hollow knight has a lot i've really enjoyed (particularly hornet's). for elden ring, malenia is the fave, tho <3 when i defeat her i tend to feel really disappointed. like, get up. let's go again. parrying her is extremely satisfying.

childhood game: we like... found out we had some cousins which is wild because this has been a tiny family since Certain Incidents A Long Time Ago and they also had nintendo ds access and they were not into this game. and like... look, i'm not saying it's great, but it had dark souls ish combat? like, you could lock on? you could roll? and i ended up replaying it as an adult and being like. huh. not that bad.

+ imagine ubisoft ballet ily

relaxing games: distance, injustice 2 (i main red hood & black canary but i like playing robin too. it's super imbalanced and they still haven't nerfed starfire !! and it's incredibly funny like good for her), dark souls 1, and elden ring.

stressful games: again stardew valley because i would play with friends and it was like oh god i need to leave. i do not know what to do, i am useless, i am understimulated

+ red dead online is not a good game to play without substantial backup . so glad i had horse insurance because if i hadn't my only friend in that world would be dead. that said, i did like to hunt in that game + play the fps levels with groups

games you always come back to: new vegas but maybe she'll release me someday. idk. also unfortunately i didn't include it earlier but i keep going back to the sims 4 and baldur's gate 3. and fromsoft titles because i sometimes just crave that combat.

guilty pleasure: new vegas again!!! i guess i kind of talked about my extremely complicated feelings when i first spoke about it, but yeah. there's just so much to unpack and i'm never going to forgive it for a lot of things. the horrors and the joys are both numerous but the joys will never not be tainted by the horrors

tons of hours played: elden ring + bg3 + new vegas + mass effect. i don't have the hours of new vegas and mass effect available tho as they are confined to a now dead xbox 360

[ubtendo]

Top 10 childhood videogames?

Wait, that's such a fun question, but I'm blanking on games I played in my childhood because I played so many😭

This list could have been a lot more obscure, but I tried to keep it more basic

Uhh and if anyone wants the reasoning for any game, I'm talking a bit about them under the cut

1. Tomodachi Life

One of my first actual games that I got to choose for my self and I still love it to this day. I mean if you haven't been struggling with the question "who in this ship could be a woman" because you made your favourite ship into miis with the plan on them marrying , but they are both guys and there is no option for a gay relationship, than have you even lived. I remember I got this game on my 10th birthday and I keept running back inside our house to charge my nintendo because I wouldn't stop playing for one second. Even now I still boot it up on my birthday first thing in the morning to see the mii version of my friends, family and favourite characters sing happy birthday to me.

2. Dragon Quest Monsters Joker

Hands down, if tomodachi life didn't exist, then this would have been my all time favourite game. I'm so surprised that I never see people talk about this game. If you like pokemon, then you will also like this. I watched my mom play it when I was really little, then we lost the game and my brother re-bought it a few years back, but decided he doesn't want to play it anymore pretty early on, so he gave the game to me. I only beat the final boss this year and my main complaint about this game is that lvl. grinding is PAINFULLY SLOW but I'm nothing if not patient so I got through the fight eventually.

3. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire

My first pokemon game and the one I replayed the most. If they never made a new pokemon game you would still find me playing this. I made so many memories in this game, I can't even begin to tell you any because I wouldn't stop. This holds a very special place in my heart.

4. Miitopia

Well when I first heard that there was a sort of successor / spin of of tomodachi life, I was set. I got it as soon as our store had it, and after losing all my games (story for an other day, sort of embarrassing, don't ask) I bought it again and I got my friends to play it as well and I was so happy. I remember that I was sitting in our garden and fighting the final boss only fo find out that that wasn't the final boss, I was so devastated but also so happy that the game wasn't over yet. What can I say, I'm just a simple RPG lover.

5. Animal Crossing New Leaf

In my opinion, a way better game than new horizon. I mean yeah, horizon got a lot of great features but it doesn't hold the candle to new leaf. This game just has such a sommer night vibe to me, but that might be because I keep staying up late to catch beatles all night on the island. Also THE MUSIC DON'T EVEN LET ME GET STARTED

6. New Style Boutique

I'm pretty sure I didn't buy this game myself, and it would feel weird for my parents to have bought it for me because I was a sort of tomboy-ish girl back then, but I played this game so much, and honestly I sometimes so today as well. Ok, maybe I only ever wore the bunny handbag and got the space buns hairstyle but I lived for that. I have the other 2 3ds games and the original ds game as well, but I haven't played much of them.

7. Go Vacation

Ok now we get a bit more obscure. Specially the wii version. I mentioned this before, but I loved the diving minigame and I spent hours underwater just doing that. Mainly I just loved running around the resorts and doing whatever. Me and my brother also sometimes raced down from the peak of the mountain in the snow resort and we placed bets on who would win. Fun game even tho I don't remember any other minigame except diving.

8. Cooking Academy

So my mom gave me her old laptop when I was idk seven? And she still had this game so she gave that to me as well. And I might or might have not burnt every dish that went into the oven. Honestly my cooking skills haven't improved since then, so I guess I'm just very consistent.

9. GTA 2

Ok so I actually never really played that game myself and I only watched my brother play on our uncle's old windows 98 PC. The funny thing is tho is, we were really young, like REALLY YOUNG. I'm pretty sure we never played the story and we just drove with the cars and tried to steal the police cars everytime and hunt down the hot dog car. Real nostalgic to me even tho I wouldn't play it myself even nowadays.

10. Sims 2

Again, my mom gave it to me with her PC. Sims 3 was already long out and I played that as well, but I remember this one much more. Maybe because my version had some weird graphic glitches where all the walls and the whole overworld looked like a red and black checkers board that would make your eyes bleed. Sims in general I remember very fondly because of my mama

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch 1x8: the eye of the world

I made it before the new season started! <3

spoilers for the first season of WoT and for most of the s2 teasers that we've gotten. For the books... um... honestly mostly stuff from Eye of the World that didn't end up in the show, lol. Oh, and for New Spring, I guess.

@apocalypticavolition mentioned that Perrin's original plot was probably helping Lan track Moiraine - that makes a lot of sense! It would have given Perrin a chance to flex his heightened senses and it might have even given Lan a chance to name-drop Elyas.

Okay, wow, yay! Our Completely Old Tongue scene from Age of Legends. When this first opened and they were just... talking in the Old Tongue... I was so blown away. I was not expecting it. I think they've hinted that we might get more Old Tongue scenes in s2 as well, which would be fantastic.

I'm glad that I read The Strike on Shayol Ghul short story -- they really did pull a lot of the info from that story for this scene, so that was very cool to see.

There is definitely a lot more focus on "Dragon as father" here than in the books (and I wonder if the tragedy of him murdering his family is going to focus more on killing his kids and not solely about killing his wife, once we get into that)

And the reveal at the end that '3000 years ago' was actually futuristic and we're living in a post-apocalyptic landscape, which is a great reframing for anyone who didn't already know.

Love all our Moiraine & Rand ~bonding time~ here (for various values of bonding time, lol). Definitely curious about where that relationship is going to go over the course of s2.

Egwene and Perrin checking in with each other is a sweet moment. Yeah, things Got Weird last episode due to stress and Nynaeve accidentally telling a secret that wasn't hers, but it hasn't wrecked their friendship.

And if Perrin is the one helping Lan here (supernaturally), then Lan and Nynaeve's scene would have just been the romantic goodbye.

Ishamael notes here that he didn't think that Rand was the Dragon Reborn. It sounds like he was expecting Rand to look more like LTT did. I really do love him calling Rand "Lews Therin", poor Rand. The identity issues are only going to get worse, bb. Love that Rand starts their conversation with an arrow to the face.

"Ever since the day I channeled, I hear nothing [from the wind]" is our first allusion to Nynaeve's block, I believe.

Moiraine tapdancing around the truth as hard as possible so that she doesn't have to admit that she physically can't teach Rand channeling. She's even willing to share one of her traumas with Rand in order to avoid admitting it! Also, I do think that Elaida's willingness to turn to violence is going to stand out a lot more in a world where teaching isn't always accompanied by brutality, as it is in the books.

haha, I totally forgot about this scene with Min and the others. Maybe because it doesn't really tell us anything we aren't going to learn immediately even without her (a nod to how pointless Min's viewings mostly are in the books? lol) but it does prompt Min to get out of the city on the wagons, I'm guessing.

Apologies to all the people who worked hard on the battle scenes but I don't ever have much to say about things like that.

Rand already getting memories (and Moiraine seeing him remember) plus Rand trying to protect people from getting hurt because they're standing next to him. (and Rand trying to give an order that Moiraine immediately ignores lol)

yeah if Lan had a companion (like Perrin) then his scenes here would have actually had some dialogue - they may have even given Rand the line about Malkier because they wanted to get the info out but it was originally supposed to come out in dialogue between Lan and Perrin.

Aww, family moment between the Agelmars. It's sweet. I honestly barely remember the Agelmars from the books, so this was an improvement. "Buy enough time to stand a chance" is going to be a big theme, too.

We also kinda get confirmation here that Darkfriends have been more effective in the show-verse than they were in the books-verse (it seems like more knowledge has been destroyed).

18. So, given what we've seen in the teasers of Ishy getting Lanfear from a seal, it seems like this specific spot is where LTT sealed Ishamael in particular (half-sealed?) and he released Ishamael fully when he cracked the seal. Before this, we only see Ishy working in people's dreams and then, in s2, he gets to actually exist in the waking world.

19. While I do see the effects of the covid shutdown and new rules in the battle scenes (and am looking forward to seeing them pop off without those setbacks in s2!); the scenes with Rand in the dream and Rand against Ishamael are perfect and I will hear no arguments against them. Rand is, ultimately, a philosophical hero and not a battle hero. He gets that wrong a lot in the books! But things tend to backfire on him when he tries to force himself into the battle hero position.

20. And we have ~the temptation~ here, with Egwene and little Joiya (and the mention of Mat, which was fascinating at the time and remains utterly fascinating; that fake!Egwene makes a point of mentioning Mat in Rand's temptation dreamworld).

21. The imagery for what Ishamael does to Moiraine is pretty much exactly like the shielding on Logain and not anything like when Logain was severed later in the episode, so I will (one last time before the new season lol) put my bet in that she was shielded. Ishamael is just able to do a lot faster than the Aes Sedai. Also when Moiraine is right behind Rand like this, you can really see how similar their shirts really are in color.

22. Min is jetting out of Fal Dara as fast as she can -- show!Min actually seems aware that she's not a fighter. #goodforher

23. But they did use needing to have Perrin in Fal Dara to give him a nice little scene with Loial that fed into the violence vs peace conflict.

24. Ishy really put in the work here (I'm assuming that it must have all been drawn from Rand's memories which, again, makes Egwene mentioning that Mat is saying he's going to make Joiya a lantern just incredibly fascinating). Ishamael waits until Rand falls for the trap to reveal to Rand what's going on (sorta). And both Ishy and Rand are working the angles here -- Ishy pretends that he wants Rand to pick the dream world and... you know, that would be useful but... he still wins if Rand fights him because that surge of Power will break his seal. And Rand pretends that he's falling for the temptation but actually is looking for Ishy to give him some clues on how to access the Power on purpose.

25. Ah, s2 setup is happening: Perrin learns that the Dragon needs the Horn at the Last Battle; and Fain was given the password to get into the fortress, which means there's a Darkfriend who knows the passwords.

26. I 100% approve of the show making joining a circle dangerous. In the books, circles are so completely underused and it feels silly because they are very low risk. People should be in circles all the time; especially when things get dangerous.

27. Lots of emphasis on fatherhood this season -- Rand's struggle about Tam being his father; Rand's desire to be a father (expressed both in ep1 and here with Joiya). We also had Siuan's relationship with her father being a key element of her character.

28. Rand loves Egwene enough to know that their paths have diverged and it would be wrong to try to force her onto the same path as him just because he loves her.

29. Very cute that Rand thinks he just defeated the Dark One. I want to give him a pet on his fluffy (currently sweaty lol) head).

30. Perrin gets the infodump from Fain instead of it being Mat. It's a good infodump, from someone who definitely, obviously has an agenda.

31. Rand thinks he's succeeded, so he leaves on his own so that he won't hurt the ones he loved. Baby. Off he goes, into the big world of Making Bad Life Choices, bless him.

32. And the poor little girl who, at least, probably died quickly? The show did such a good job with the Seanchan. Both here and in what we've seen so far in the teasers for s2. They are gonna be extremely creepy and heartbreaking and scary. You can definitely see tear-tracks on the face of one of the damane here.

[deeptrashwitch]

A Haunting Past (pt.8)

Tw: mention and allusion to kidnap, mention and allusion to death, mention and allusion to torture, mention and allusion to severe wounds, allusion to SA

Alyssa Price, referred as Aly in the first part of this part, is an OC who belongs to @alypink ! Please go and give her love, she's amazing!

Taglist: @alypink @stuffireadandenjoy @snootlestheangel @tapioca-milktea1978 @islandtarochips

@justasmolbard @mutantthedark @mctvsh @welldonekhushi @midnight193

"What are you thinking about?" Wraith quietly asked her with a raised eyebrow

"I'm confused about what happened, because...why kill the biggest weaponry supplier of the goddamned web? It doesn't make sense" she murmured

"Yeah, it's weird, do you think they'll try to do the same with the rest? I mean, we take Green Chameleon and Black Swan out of the game, and they killed White Tiger" Dominique murmured now frowning "they only are three now, it's good for us, but I don't understand..."

"Me neither, but we need to continue...I don't think we can go one by one, we have to take the two apart of Red Dragon all down at the same time"

"Do you wanna use the second squad?"

"...No, we need teams like us"

"So?"

"Let's call Aly, she knows what teams can fit better in each mission. We can give her all the intel that we have, and you can coordinate with her about the time, day and team that'll help us"

"Well, Alyssa is certanly someone I can trust about this, but it worries me what Red Dragon can do if he knows we have allies like her"

"Include her into our back up plan, we can protect Lily and anyone who needs protection. Also, Price is Price, he'll be damned if he let's something to Aly"

"Don't be so sure, something changed"

"What?"

"Soap MacTavish was shot in England trying to stop Makarov and a bomb used for an attempted attack, he's stills alive...but Price and his people are erratic because of it" Wraith explained with a sigh "I can't predict what will they do, even if he will protect Aly and Lily as usual...I'm afraid I don't know the reach of his consecuenses now"

"...Then let's bring them to Black Tomb, we're a high security base and we can protect them better"

"I like that plan better, I'll call her as soon we finish here"

"Thanks Dominique"

"Don't mention it" she said while she went to prepare everything for the explanation

Alicia sighed when Wraith proyected part of the archives of Firewall, trying to wrap her head to tell them about it. She stood in front of the table just waiting, then looking at Jackson and Edward in silence, wondering what their reaction will be. Dominique nodded towards her at the same time that the old emblem of the operation appeared in the screen.

"Alright, before I start telling you about Broken Statue...you need to learn about the operation before. During many years the USSOCOM chased after a trafficant with connections all over the world, and in 2016 we prepared an operation to get him and get information about a nuclear weapon cache" Alicia said with serious voice "I was sent and Wraith was assigned as intelligence there as well"

"We talked with many superiors of the different branches, retired and in active service, to know which teams should go to the locations. There were six, and so were six places where we could find Anwar Carabalí, well...Orisha" Dominique intervened to explain the technical part "two from the Army, two from the MC, a SEAL Team and a team from the USAAF. Alicia, I hope you remember the places...?"

"I do, and the teams. SEAL 3 was sent to Casa Blanca, the 101th was sent to Yamena, the 4th from Raiders went to Cairo, the 720th went to Brazzaville, the USSOCOM sent the 8th from the Rangers to Beirut...and the 267 was sent to Luanda" she muttered while she looked away "by that moment, I was the command officer of the Task Force, and that same year they died"

"You were there...?" Edward whispered, getting pale as he shared a look with Jackson

"Yes, I was there as well as you were" she answered with tired voice "I continue, SEAL 3, the 4th, the 101st and the 720th didn't find much information, some things about some other sites, useful...but not what we were looking for. Instead, the 8th found about the cache and we found Carabalí, but it wasn't good, we got the worst part"

Dominique showed ten archives under the name "Burning Heaven", all of them were soldiers, and half of them were marked as dead.

"This is the case from Lebanon, they called it Burning Heaven after the trap was known. Their Captain, Taylor Smith, talked with me once I came back to the US...we were in the same hospital ward" Alicia admitted with a long sigh "they were locked into the room with the information, none of them were meant to leave that place, but they had charges prepared for any case, so they escaped. From ten soldiers three of them died for chemical exposition, chlorine gas especifically, two died days later because of their injuries during the withdrawal and exposition to the gas...the rest of them were hospitalized during more than two months because of the gas and the Captain was discharged of the Army for permanent damages to his lungs and throat"

"What I'm about to show you, is a recording of that day recovered from the body cameras of the three first soldiers" Wraith said with a stone face "you need to understand, everything that you see here, our enemies are replicating it. So be aware of the danger you'll be exposed from now"

"I'll be outside, I can't bear watch that, call me when that finish" Alicia said, walking outside without being able to look at anyone

"Alicia" Wraith called, looking outside "it's time"

"On my way" she answered, walking towards the conference room

"Are you sure about this?"

"No, but I need them to know, I won't let the story repeat"

Dominique nodded with sadness, but followed her inside, where the ten Specters and the Colonel were silent, thinking. Then as Alicia took the pictures from the envelope and Wraith started to desclasify the archives, everyone looked at her.

"What you will see might change the whole perspective you have about me, and probably will stain all memories we have together" she said in a whisper that was well heard by everyone "I won't blame you if after this you decide to hate me or fear me, that would be understandable"

"All ready" Wraith said, making Alicia sigh

"At first se were supposed to raid the places at the same time, but for logistic reasons it wasn't the case. Instead, the 267 started the mission first and the other teams folowed, and that day was when we were declared MIA" she said with steady voice and shaking hands, making her cross her arms "someone betrayed us and we were ambushed by Orisha, once he captured us, we were jailed into one of his sutes in the middle of the angolan jungle. During two weeks and four days we were there, and...I was the only one who came back"

"Cap, but the inscription on the memorial-" Marcus tried to say, shutting up when he noticed the shineless eyes of his Captain

"I know, a helo crash...that was the excuse the CIA put for it, but the reality was other"

"What happened there?" Jackson asked, having a bad feeling

"Hell on earth" she muttered with pain "Carabalí wanted everything, the future raids, the members, the back ups and the equipments. As the officer in command, I was the only one with the complete information, and he tried to get it. At first he attempted with bribes and threats, when he didn't get anything about it, he started to use all kind of torture to make me talk"

It left everyone frozen, and instinctively they looked at Alicia's scarred arms and face.

"I never said anything despite what he did, for...a complete week I was cut, burnt, beaten, psycologically tortured and electrified in an attempt to make me tell them everything. And after that week, they learned about how loyal I am to my people and my ideals, so they started to use my team against me"

"What does that mean?" Luke murmured, thinking about the archive he accidentally found

"...During some days, after especially horrible times on that room, Carabalí's men took one of my soldiers and also started to torture them. I heard all their screams, and I couldn't do anything about it" she whispered while her grip over her arms became stronger, almost making little wounds "all of them had it worst, most of them didn't have the information they needed...those bastards just wanted to break me with them"

Alicia sighed, closing her eyes for a second, but shook her head before taking the envelope again. When she opened it she stared at them for a second, then took the pictures and walked towards the table, yet not looking at anyone.

"These are pictures that came to the light after the rescue mission, whoever betrayed us that time got this...this was us during that second week, our worst days"

The first picture was of a man, with his eye inflamed and his jaw in a weird position, also filled with little cuts.

"The Lieutenant, Richard Porter...he went as Blade"

The next one was a woman, her face was covered with dirt and bruises, her eyes filled with absolute fear and pain...and with bruises on her neck.

"Kate Petrova, Sergeant and the only other woman...she suffered the most, they did the unthinkable to her" Alicia whispered, letting a tear fall "she went as Hope"

While she whipped her tear, she left the third picture. Another man, muzzled, with blood running down from his forehead, frowning with anger.

"He was Leo Jameson, used to go as Tiger, our second Sergeant" she clarified looking away

When the fourth picture was left on the table, almost everyone was feeling sick, but they said nothing. It was a man too, with a long cut over the place where his eye should have been, but the eye wasn't there...and that was just one of his wounds.

"Sean Walker, Private, went as Marble..."

The fifth picture was a man, tired and filled of sadness, with part of his cheek gone and with his nose broken.

"Arthur Greenhill, Private, went as Lotus" she said, tapping at the picture with one finger "he...saved my life"

And the last picture left everyone frozen with horror, and Alicia was shaking as she put the picture over the table, trying not to see it. It was maybe as young as Francis if not more, with red eyes because of the crying, bruises all over his face, cuts and burns.

"...Jason, his name was Jason King. The kid went as Runner, a young one just sent to the 267 by that time"

As everyone tried to process everything, Alicia left one more over the table, calling everyone's attention. Every single soldier had to hold their breath and their desire to puke, because they now were staring at Alicia's picture during that time. She was staring at the camera with emotionless eyes, with all the cuts around her mouth open, with bruises all over her face and little burns going down her neck...the only thing missing was the huge burn scar on the side of her neck.

"They died because I was stubborn, because I didn't say anything, mostly after the Lebanon raid. And a day before the rescue team found me...I had to see them die" she said as she gathered the pictures inside the envelope and gave it again to Wraith

"Alicia" Dominique murmured, worried

"If I don't do it now, I never will"

"...Okay"

"Blade was first, they promised him our freedom if he killed himself and so he did in front of me. Hope was forced to drink machinery antifreeze, she...she begged me to help her, to make it stop" she muttered with broken voice, at the same time that her eyes filled with tears "Tiger was shot in the head, Marble...they left him to bleed out. Lotus had an option, or he used a red hot iron to burn me, or they'll bury it in my eye...he chose the burn and once he did it, he was shot. And Runner, he was alredy insane by that time, he just wanted to go home and once he looked at me and begged to take him home...they shot him as well"

"W-what did you do after that?" Noah asked, pale and scared

"Nothing, for hours I did nothing, I couldn't move for the shock...until I heard that Carabalí would be there the next day" she hissed while her eyes filled with anger again "I waited to the next day, and then I snapped. When I went to the old comms office, I digited a code that only US troops knows and that gave the sign to the rescue team"

"How many were...?" Elliot asked, having goosebumps

"There were 12 mercenaries inside" Wraith intervened, with obscured eyes "none of them survived. The causes of death were slit throats, broken necks, smashed traqueas and one with bullet wounds...but that last one wasn't Alicia's doing"

Alicia sighed, looking at her boys and at Alejandro, but they said nothing. She put her hands in front of her, for a second seeing in a flash how they were dirty and covered in blood.

"I know I'm a monster, I won't deny it, I was consumed by rage" she admitted, looking away in shame "I don't have any justification, but you needed to know"

"What happened with Carabalí?" Alejandro questioned, dead serious

Alicia and Wraith shared a look, and the Captain nodded towards the agent, who just sighed and went to look for a video.

"It's better to see it yourself"

[Video]

[The camera moved with the person wearing it, getting near to the entrance of the prison site, which was pitch black inside. But some sounds alerted them, and all the rifles pointed towards the entrance, everyone expecting an army going outside to fight them. Instead of it, it was just a person who walked (rather limp) towards them.

It was Alicia Marchant, who just limped towards them with a metal box on her right hand and...a head on her left hand, Carabalí's head, dripping blood yet. She looked at them with a stone face, throwing the severed head to the ground in front of them, looking at all the soldiers.

"Orisha is dead, and there is the rest of my team" she said, pointing to a pyre "maybe even more soldiers under the soil"

After saying that, she limped towards the helicopter, with everyone getting out of her way because of fear. The camera noticed how she hugged the box against her chest, with a tight grip, and with a little tear running down her dirty cheek.]

The short video finished, while Alicia leaned against the wall, with her eyes closed and with a frown, don't wanting to remember.

"You okay?" Wraith asked quietly, walking towards her

"...Kind of" she admitted, feeling chills "it isn't the best thing to remember"

"I bet, I still remember those first nights when I visited you"

"Mmm"

"What do you think they'll say?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is...I won't blame them"

"But what about Alejandro?"

"I'm scared of loosing him" she admitted with a vulnerable voice "but I can't tie him to me without knowing my dirty secret, it wouldn't feel right"

"We can always go to drink if anything happens"

"Hmm"

"And about the boys?"

"I won't force them to stay, they're free to go if they want to"

For a second nothing happened, with Alicia already preparing herself for the hate, the screams, the scolding, while Wraith was ready to take her out of there. But when Luke hit the table, with enough strenght to make it sound like a thunder, they both jumped out of fear as Alicia reached instantly for her karambit. The red-haired Lieutenant was furious, cursing down his breath before standing up and start walking like a caged animal.

"If he wasn't dead, I would kill him myself!" he roared, passing a hand over his hair "that son of a bitch! He should've suffered as much as they did!"

"Calm down" Jackson hissed, livid as well "he's gone, but there's still a traitor. That's the one we need to hunt"

"We don't even know who is it" Alexander pointed, angrier than they ever saw him, but controlling himself "even if we investigate, how we will be sure that they won't have more power than us?"

"Oh, fuck that" Elijah snarled, furious as well "if we have to fight the goddamned president. We. Fucking. Will"

Alicia was seriously surprised just as Wraith, and they were equally confused when they shared a look, shrugging without knowing what to do. Then Alejandro also stood up, leaving everything in silence as the team glared at him, and walked towards Alicia while Wraith took some steps aside. The Captain looked to the floor, expecting the worst, but was dragged into a desperate hug on Alejandro's part.

"I'm sorry" he whispered, hugging her tightly, trembling "I should've gone there, I...I should've helped with the rescue. God, maybe if I didn't listened to my superiors and went anyway-"

"It's not your fault, Alejo" she whispered too, hugging him back "there was nothing you could've done, and I'm glad you didn't have to see me like that"

The man didn't say anything else, just kept the hug going, until he broke it and smiled sadly.

"Can you give me some time? I...need to think some things, before I do a stupid decision"

"All the time you need"

"Thanks, amor"

Alejandro kissed her cheek and walked outside, mumbling something down his breath with a worried expression, under Alicia's sad stare. Then Edward sighed and walked towards the screen that had that last frame frozen, turning it off before walking towards Wraith, who just nodded in silence. Soon the pilot looked at his friend, and he put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it a bit.

"I'm happy you're alive" he said, with his eyes also filled with tears "sorry, I never noticed"

"Never say sorry to me, I didn't want any of you knowing this"

"Still, rely on us too. We prefer you alive, so don't overwork yourself and let us help"

Everything was in silence again, but slowly Alicia noticed how none of her boys was hating her, instead they were furious on her behalf. Even Francis, always the happier one, was spitting with rage as he learned everything, and let's not talk about the short-tempered ones. She couldn't stop a giggle, that called everyone's attention, and soon she was laughing.

"Cap?" Nicholas asked, confused and worried "are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just...that's been a long time since someone was like this. Usually people wish I died there" she answered, looking at them with a touched smile as she cried "I'm just overwhelmed and happy that you want me alive! Sorry"

Everyone looked at her with surprise, even Wraith this time, and felt bad for the woman while she continued crying. Then Marcus took out a handckerchief, walking towards the Captain, offering it to her with a soft smile.

"Well, you've always been there for us and treat us like your family, Cap. And you're part of our family too, of course we want you alive! We'll stay by your side every time, doesn't matter what will happen" he said while she took the handckerchief "also, you're the only one who can control our craziness..."

Alicia laughed again, this time with joy, and then she looked at her team. They all were smiling at her, even Jackson was, and it felt...good.

"Well then, we still have work to do" she said, back with her usual steady voice, cleaning her tears "the traitor stills out there and even if I wish we can hunt them, Six Aces still are the biggest threat for us right now. Let's go for them, then we go for the traitor, you copy?"

"YES CAPTAIN!" they answered at unison, determined

"Then I'll talk with Aly, I'll bring news soon" Wraith said with a little smile "let's finish here as soon as we can"

[hircines-hunter]

I'll answer the ask you sent me in the morning, but let me ask the same thing back about Sifkni and Roar of a Wolfborn-!!! I remember you've mentioned it has been years so I'd love to know how it began ☺️

Take your time!!!! No rush!!!!

If anyone wants to read the actual fic! Here’s the link!

It’s 46 chapters long. 202k on gdoc and word but 201k on AO3! It is finished! It’s Farkas/OC and there’s some Skjor/OC and mentions of another pairing. :3c

It all started a month after Skyrim came out. And I made Sifkni officially. I was gonna do the Companions and Main Quest like normal. Originally she was to become a werewolf through companions quest. Via Farkas instead of Aela bc she asked him.

But then the Dragonborn DLC came out and there was that werewolf pack. I changed everything. It mostly lived in my head. Her. Her pack. Her and Farkas.

I didn’t start writing about her until 2014 (I may rewrite the thing?) it’s a short 6 chapter fic from when her mother passed to the final attack on her pack before canon events. (I may be willing to share but it’s poorly written and 10 years old.)

And the roar of a wolfborn that has been finished is technically the 3rd draft! I started to write Roaw at the same time as her other fic in 2014 as well.

Because of the pack I made her born a wolf. And the first draft Sifkni and Farkas take it a lot slower than the 3rd draft. Like a lot slower. Lol. Sifkni mourned her husband. More. She had more… moments where she would talk super fondly and then start crying.

Farkas was down bad. Like worse than the latest draft. Trust me. He had it so bad. Vilkas had to be like dude calm tf down my brother.

Sifkni also was Asexual af in the original. I’m not sure what happened btwn then and now. But yeah.

I started the 2nd draft in 2023 going thru editing and tweaking and fixing and writing newer chapters. Before I finally jumped the gun , deleted the old version and started the new one. This time I decided to add the past events into the main fic (I found most people didn’t want to read the prequel). I added more nightmares. More mourning. More crying and changed a Lot! From what happened in the pack to how she reacts and remembers . To how the actual plot goes. I never intended for a lot of what happened to happen. The dragon attack that had her stuck in jorrvaskr for 2 months. Thats where a lot of her bonding with Farkas happens. Btwn ustengrav and the dragon. I never intended for them to ever get married. But… that happened. I never intended for later events to happen.

And saving skjor!?? Man that’s probably the biggest change I still have the old draft with Skjor’s death and the aftermath lol 😂

I never imagined I would ever finish it too I am so very proud of what I wrote! And that’s it’s finished!

But, yeah….. Sifkni has been through a lot from day 1 up til 13 years later….. and I am

But yeah… that is Sifkni. Her origins. And the journey to the ending.

And now I get to work on the Sequel. Which is all new. I’ve never planned or plotted this. It is mostly going to be a lot shorter than roaw. But it’s also the means for Sifkni to peacefully pass onto the Hunting Grounds! >:3c there will be a lot of reopening of old wounds. We get to meet her pack again! And Hircine will be there!

[sorensolsikke]

Am i a therian? A furry?

People of tumblr, i am gently asking you to help figuring out what the hell is going on

So yeah well

The desire to look non-human accompanies me since such deep from the past that this feeling became the very home, the shelter of my identity.

Yes, of course, i am autistic, i have a paper on it, yes i have ptsd and untreated adhd and i am queer, so i guess wanting to get away from the difficulties of being part of the human society is logical, but like.

Understanding where the feeling comes from shouldn't erase the experience itself.

I recall wanting to growl and purr, moving tail and ears since i was at least two and a half. Of course, i had grown up along many animals, my parents had worked with service dogs, and in one hand, small children learn languages so easily, why would be animals' body language so different? I just got fluent in it– And in the other hand, wanting to have ways for easier self-expression is such a common autistic experience.

But these thoughts lingered, transformed, grew as years passed. Of course i always played with animal toys, or roleplayed the animal company in games with (my very few) friends, but that's not very dramatic, not like other memories linked to the topic, for example.

The very first time i got penalty in school was in the second semester of first grade, when i growled at a girl who bullied me, and then i bit her. That's very strange of a memory, because it made me feel so guilty, so childish, that i didn't let it happen ever again. But that doesn't mean i didn't think about it anymore. When i moved schools and other bullies came and i just couldn't defend myself because of extreme empathy i think, i always imagined myself as a blue dragon, growling and roaring at people. It was, and still is, the easiest way for me to understand my own anger.

What i really feel alone with is that how these fantasies, images became the very pillars of my self-image.

I remember having the idea of wanting to be a dog first, when i was the smallest. I said goodbye to that imaginery when we had to sell my first and only puppy whom i loved dearly, because he was aggressive. I got obsessed with cats instead, then horses, and finally, the perfect mixture of every kind of animal: dragons. Anyone who walks into my room mentions how many dragon related things i have in there. I emphasize that i am 17.

But the reason i started to talk about this all how it forms the way i want to look.

For instance, lately, i've got a long mullett, which i style with a hair straightener in a way it looks like i've got animal ears. While it makes me somehow relieved, at the same time it leaves me with the longing for more.

I want hoop snakebite piercings, so to give the impression of long canines. I cannot stop thinking about this, even though i know very well that my father wouldn't approve it. I just found a really small thing that would make me feel better about myself, and i want to achieve it, quickly, because yk, there are so many things i cannot change.

There are some grotesque ideas in my head how'd i want to look like since i was very little. I've always stepped on tippie toes so to raise my ankle long, up towards my knee, like it is with dogs, cats, horses. I wanted my ears to be pointy, and i crave the black line connecting the eyes with the mouth, what the cheetah's have – therefore i absolutely loved face painting from a very young age. I've always wanted wings and tail, long tongue, and defined muscles; a bunch of these are somehow managable, but others are so distant. It doesn't usually hurt me, like not having a dick hurts me on some masculine days, but the cravings are there, and i think about them a lot.

What i want to ask is: what does it make me be? Am i a furry with a dragon fursona? Am i a therian, am i experiencing some kind of species dysphoria? I know labels aren't quite needed, but is there anyone sharing my experience? Where are my people? Dunno i guess i just don't really want to be alone.