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lunarsands · 10 months ago

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ESMP Fanfic: A Garden's Path - Ch 3

Characters: Mythical Sausage, Scott Smajor, Bubbles the Dog, Sir Carlos, appearances by the rest of the cast of Empires SMP S1, featuring blaze-hybrid emperor TangoTek, and introducing: The Children of Mythland (specific characters to be tagged when they appear in each chapter)

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor, LDShadowlady/Smallishbeans, Shubble/Katherine Elizabeth, TangoTek & SolidarityGaming, Joey Graceffa/Xornoth

Tags: Empires SMP S1 AU, scosage, adoption, fluff, wholesome, so much wholesome fluff you would not believe, a bit of angst here and there, Sausage has a few nightmares for Plot reasons, acknowledgement of amputation (not sure how else to tag that but just in case)

WARNINGS: fantasy racism (human v elf), loss of parent (with adoption inevitably comes orphans), minor character death in a later chapter

Chapter Summary: Sausage and Scott set out to add to their family and find quite the boisterous little elven girl to take up that place. Meet the adorable, unstoppable force that is Liana of Mythland.

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Prologue ] [ Chapter One ] [ Chapter Two ]

[A/N: This character sprung fully formed from my head like Athena from Zeus. She was the first to get an official name due to a small one-off scene that eventually led to this whole story.] [To CallMeSausage on Ao3: I see your comment on Chapter Two, and I acknowledge it. XD ]

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Chapter Three – The First Princess

The orphanage looked somewhat similar to the one they had previously visited, if not smaller and with a yellow thatched roof. As before, Scott made introductions in Elvish, and also as before some of the children shied away from Sausage. He took it in stride, and quietly walked around looking at some drawings that had been placed on the walls, hoping to acclimate the children to his presence and show he was harmless. He could hear Scott chatting with someone young but avoided the temptation to glance over, hoping he wouldn’t interrupt a possible candidate. He heard a negative response and tried not to worry. It might be too much to hope for another scenario where a child was more curious than put off by him being a human.

Yet instead, what Sausage heard next was a somewhat brash little voice calling up at him, “I’m having a tea party but no one wants to play tea party with me! You’re not playing with anyone, so do you want to come to my tea party?”

He looked down to see an indigo-eyed girl of perhaps somewhere around six or seven years old, with long, sapphire-colored hair that looped down one side of her pinkish-hued face. She tucked the loop behind her ear as she looked back at him. Sausage smiled gently. Well, maybe this was a good sign. “Yes, I’d love to.”

“Okay.” Without a second’s hesitation she grabbed his right hand and pulled him toward a small table. There were some small chairs already occupied by a few dolls arranged around it, but after she let go of him, she started moving them to make more space. “You’re too big – they always tell the bigger kids not to sit on these chairs or else they’ll break them! So, the dollies go here. You can sit in this spot, an’ I’ll sit over there an’ pour the tea. An’ then we talk about our fav’rite things ‘cause that’s what the growed-ups always do when they come here. Oh, an’ I’m Liana. I’m six an’ a half. We’re s’posed to tell our names an’ how old we are even when we’re just playing.” She gave a big sigh. “They don’t always play tea party, either. Okay, let me get you a cup.”

As he knelt in the indicated spot, Sausage couldn’t help finding her to be quite endearing. “I can get you another guest if you’d like.”

“Okay! I can take a cup from a dollie. They don’t act’lly use them, you know.”

Sausage turned and waved to get Scott’s attention. “Scott! Come have tea with us!” The elf raised an eyebrow, intrigued by where Sausage had ended up, but smiled as he walked over. “Scott, this is our hostess, Liana. Liana, this is my husband, Scott.”

“Hi. You didn’t say your name, you know. Let me move another dollie.” The little girl briefly wrestled one of the chairs to make room for Scott.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot my manners. My name is Sausage.”

She stopped and giggled. “That’s a silly name! But I had a friend named Buttercup, which is also silly, ‘cause a whole cup of butter is a lot! But she was nice, so it wasn’t a bad name. Just kind of silly. She went home last year. Okay, tea time, everybody sit.” Liana bustled back over to her hostess spot.

Scott nudged the chair the rest of the way over so he could kneel, then he sat back. He watched her pick up a small, unglazed clay tea pot that had been roughly painted by obviously childish hands. And was obviously empty. “That’s a nice tea pot, Liana. Did you paint it yourself?”

“No, I gots it from Melne when she went home. She gots it from somebody else, an’ they gots it from somebody else. I’m gonna give it to somebody when I go home so they can play tea party, too.” She poured the pretend-tea into the equally unglazed cups. “It’s hot so be careful!” She poured her own cup then sat and leaned over to blow on the cup. “Okay, now it’s colder.”

Scott and Sausage obliged by picking up their cups and pretending to take sips. Sausage snuck an amused smile over at Scott, then said, “This is very good tea. Thank you, Liana.”

“Yup! Okay, now you tell me some of your fav’rite things, then I’ll tell you more of mine.” She took a dainty pretend-sip from her cup then looked over at them expectantly.

Sausage decided to go ahead and talk about Bubbles, while Scott mentioned magic and cut to the chase by conjuring a small snow flurry over the table. Liana said she thought it was neat, then listed off her favorite dolls from around the table, but especially her bunny plushie that had always been with her and not a hand-me-down from the older kids and that one was on her bed because bunny needed a nap today. Then she asked, “Do you gots any other kids? Sometimes the growed-ups talk about their other kids an’ aren’t act’lly sure they want more.”

“We have two boys,” Sausage replied tentatively. “They’re at home, but we asked them if they would like to have a sister and they said yes.”

“Boys, huh?” Liana looked like she was considering the matter very seriously. “Well, boys don’t always like to play tea party, but that’s okay. ‘Scuse me.” She abruptly stood up and ran over to the caretaker across the room. “Hi, can I has cookies, please? I want to serve my guests. They need cookies with their tea!”

A giggle escaped Sausage. “Oh, she is precious. She doesn’t seem bothered about my arm or the… other thing.” He briefly reached up to touch his ear. “What do you think?”

“I think we have a match” Scott said, watching Liana skip back over clutching a container. She carefully set it down, then fished out one cookie at a time to place on the plates in front of them.

“Okay, wait for me to get back, then we can eat.” She carefully put the cover back on the container then returned it to the caretaker. “I only took one each, so’s not gonna spoil their dinner!” Once she returned, she dunked her cookie into her pretend tea and started munching on it. She then giggled and leaned toward them to whisper conspiratorially, “Sometimes I play tea party so’s I can gets extra cookies.” She giggled again, pleased to have shared her secret, then sat back to finish eating.

Sausage muffled another laugh, covering it up by hastily biting into his cookie. Scott ate his with a little more grace, then said, “We would be happy to get you your own tea set – and cookies – if you’d like to come live with us.”

“Can I gets one with bunnies on it?”

“You could even get one that you can paint yourself and put anything you want on it,” Scott replied. He reckoned they could probably request a specially decorated one from the potter, though.

“Okay. Can I bring my bunny, or do I has to hands-me-down it first?” She looked a little consternated by the choice.

Sausage could see the indecision in her eyes and felt he should encourage her in some way, as the tradition seemed important to her. “You can bring everything that is yours. But we can get you some new things, if you’d like to leave anything as a gift to someone else, like this tea set.”

“I really like my bunny… But I have a dress that Silvilana said she liked. She’s smaller than me but she can wear it when she gets bigger!”

“That’s very nice of you,” Scott said. “Thank you for the tea. We need to talk with the other grown-ups but we’ll see you in a little while.”

“Okay. Thanks for coming to my tea party. You were nice guests. Time to clean up!” Liana stacked the plates and hurriedly began to bring the assortment of items to a set of wooden cubby holes along the wall. She was trying to line up the dolls on top of them – not quite tall enough to reach – when another little girl came over to her. As Scott and Sausage walked toward the caretaker, they heard her call out, “Silvilana! I might gets two daddies! One of ‘em gots a metal arm!”

Scott was now the one to suppress a laugh. “Oh, my gods. She’s perfect. She’s just like you.”

“I don’t remember if I was like that at that age.”

“No, I’m talking about now.”

Sausage gave him a look questioning that observation. Scott gave him a frank look in return. Sausage bobbed his head for a moment as if in debate, then held his hands out in a gesture admitting the elf was right.

Soon paperwork was finalized and once again the royal stamp was eyed by the caretaker. “You’re… absolutely sure about her?” they asked, attempting to be tactful. “She’s not quite, well, princess material.”

Sausage deftly snapped the stamp up into his hand then whisked it away into his pocket. “We’re not looking for a princess. We’re looking for a daughter.” He smiled pleasantly and turned to go help with Liana’s bag, with Scott not far behind.

The little girl sat in a chair near the main door, humming and swinging her feet. She hopped up as they approached. She hugged her bunny plush tightly. “Time to go home! Do we have to go far?”

“It’s a little far,” Sausage admitted. “But we’ll get there before it’s dark out.” He then gave pause and lowered himself to one knee to be closer to her level. “I just want to ask you one thing before we go. You’ve been very nice about my arm. It does come off so it can be fixed, so you’ll see me without it. Is that okay?”

She looked over at his prosthetic thoughtfully, then placed her hand on the transparent crystal in the middle of his forearm. “A dollie’s arm gots pulled off one time but gots sewed back on. I could still play with her without it.”

“I also can’t sleep with it on, so it isn’t just when it needs to be fixed.”

“Well, yeah! Metal can’t be comfy to sleep on!”

Sausage smiled broadly at her. He felt Scott’s hand on his shoulder. “You have a very good point. Are you all ready to go?” He stood up and gave Scott a weaker smile. The elf patted his shoulder in response.

“Umm…” She turned to the door, then looked back toward the playroom. “I put away all the toys like I’m s’posed to. I put all my clothes in there. I have my bunny. I think I’m okay to go now.” She hugged the doll again, then reached up for Sausage’s hand while holding the bunny close with the other. “Let’s go home, um… Sau-sage an’, um…” When she sounded out his name it was the first time she seemed uncertain.

“You can call me Papa,” he offered.

Scott moved to get the door for them. “I’m called ‘Dad’.” Remembering what she had said to the other girl, he added, “Daddy is fine, too.”

“Papa, and Daddy. Okay.” Liana nodded, then quietly walked along out to the carriage. She wasn’t as enamored with it as the boys had been, instead only keeping a tight hold on her bunny as she watched Scott climb in. He took her bag from Sausage then held out his arms to help her in when Sausage lifted her up to reach the step more easily. She sat between them and once the carriage set off, she began humming again.

Scott let a few minutes pass before striking up conversation. “Liana, can I ask what you think about princesses?” Sausage shot him a bit of a worried glance; he had thought they would bring that up closer to home.

“They live in big castles an’ have pretty dresses an’ have pet horsies. They don’t ride the horsies too much, they just sit on them an’ look pretty, an’ a prince walks the horsie around so she doesn’t have to walk after he gives her a special shoe.”

There was clearly a very specific picture book that she associated the word princess with.

“Princesses can actually do all sorts of different things, including ride a horse around,” Scott said. “The big castle part is true, though.”

“Are we going to see a big castle? An’ meet a princess? That would be neat.” Her face fell a little bit. “I don’t gots a dress pretty enough to meet a princess. Everybody looks really pretty when they gets to meet a prince or princess.”

Sausage commented with a smile, “You’ll soon get to meet two princes, and they won’t mind if you have a fancy dress or not. But we can get you one.”

She perked up. “Can it be purple? I like purple. Melne had a purple dress, not as pretty as a princess’, but it was nice.”

“It can definitely be purple,” Scott replied. “If we get back home with enough time, we might be able to find one and you could wear it when you see the princes.”

“Are they your princes?” Liana asked with all the curiosity of the world in her voice, while leaving them stunned that she managed to make such a guess. “You said you gots two boys. So, two princes!”

“Ah, ehm,” Scott stammered. “How did you get that idea?”

She pointed at Sausage. “You’re tall like a king.”

“Me?” Sausage tried to sound innocent. “But he’s taller! I didn’t know height was a requirement for kings.”

“No, it’s ‘cause you’re like this.” Liana stood up and carefully walked toward the other seats, mindful of the motion of the carriage. She squared her shoulders and then sat, poised confidently with her back straight and head held high – a complete change from her own subconscious slouch when she had been sitting between them.

“I – I am??” Sausage asked in confusion, unaware of his apparently ingrained royal posture.

“When you sat at the tea party!” she insisted. “’Cause you were being serious! You were serious about playing pretend!” A grin spread across her face.

Scot failed to not share that grin as he turned to his husband. “She has you, there. Well, Liana, you have us figured out. We’re the rulers of Mythland. We wanted to keep it a secret so no one would think we were super-special.”

Liana’s face scrunched up into an exaggerated ‘thinking mode’. “Hmm. Kings pretending to be reg’lar people but are from a land of myths…” She peered over at them. “Are you also heroes who saved the world from a BIG monster that would’ve eated everything if somebody wasn’t brave enough to stop it?”

Sausage hastily hugged Scott to cover up their mutually shocked reactions, lamenting, “Scott, we have to keep her now! She knows our secret! We have no choice but to make her a princess who will be destined to save the kingdom from an even scarier monster in the future! Thank goodness we found her in time!”

Liana giggled. “No, that’s just pretend! I can be a reg’lar princess just having tea parties! An’ maybe ride a horsie.”

~*~

When the report came from the watchtower that a carriage was approaching, Bubbles and the boys ran out toward the stable yard – with Sir Carlos flapping in their wake, admonishing them to slow down in case one of them tripped.

Due to this, they all arrived after the carriage had parked, although they witnessed Sausage lifting an elven girl who was clutching a plush bunny doll down off the carriage steps. She spotted the boys and dashed over while Sausage was busy taking her bag from Scott. “Hi! You must be the princes! I didn’t have a dress for meeting princes an’ we didn’t have time to stop an’ look for one like Daddy said ‘cause we didn’t want to be late to dinner, so I’ll get one later. I’m Liana, an’ I’m six an’ a half!”

“Hi, Liana. I’m Azahar. I turned twelve last month, but… you don’t have to keep telling everyone your age now that you have a family.”

“Oh.” She looked up at him, baffled. “That’s what I was told I was s’posed to do when I meet new people. You’re my brothers ‘cause you’re Papa and Daddy’s sons, but you’re still new to me!” She then pivoted toward Elowen. “Hi!”

Her gregariousness seemed a bit much for the other boy, who stammered, “H-Hi, Liana. I’m Elowen. It – It’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah! And this doggy is Bubbles, right? Hi, Bubbles! And this is—” Liana paused and peered down at Sir Carlos. “Nobody told me about a pet chicken! ‘Specially a chicken with armor! Papa!” She turned her head to look for Sausage. “Are you a king who has all sorts of knights, too? ‘Cause this chicken looks like a knight!”

Sir Carlos clucked – almost sounding more like a chuckle. “Young mistress Liana, I am Sir Carlos. I am, indeed, a knight.”

The little girl spun back to face him with her eyes wide. “You’re a talking chicken?! This place is like a fairytale story! Bubbles, are you magical, too??”

Elowen tugged on Azahar’s sleeve as the older boy stood stunned by the sheer amount of vivacious energy coming off the girl. Elowen whispered, “And I thought I got excited about cool things. Wait until she hears about the dragon…”

“There’s a pet DRAGON, too?!” Liana exclaimed.

Azahar now turned an amused smile toward his parents. Sausage hefted Liana’s bag over his shoulder and strolled past the children up the steps, trying to give off a casual air. “You, Liana, seem to have exceptional hearing. The story about the dragon will have to wait – I think I can smell dinner from here! Let’s rest up from all that travel and we can all talk more inside.”

“Okay!” Liana followed at his heels. “Is there a special princess chair? I’ve seen pictures of princesses sitting on big, fancy pillows. I don’t need a fancy pillow, but sometimes I need one to reach a table.”

Azahar and Elowen remained where they stood for half a minute longer, just staring after them and listening to their new sister’s voice echo off the stone as she continued to ramble. The older boy looked at Scott as he stepped between them to put a hand behind each’s shoulder, as if to nudge them out of their flummoxed states and start walking. “How—” Azahar flicked a pointing finger between Scott and the direction of Sausage’s back. “How did you—? She’s—??”

“…Just like Papa?” Scott finished for him with a smile. “There is a lot of magic in the world, and maybe fate does happen to be one of them.”

~*~

Liana gazed around as she continued to follow Sausage toward the staircase that led to the upper floors, where he intended to quickly stash her bag and maybe see if she would part with her bunny plush so she could go to dinner unhindered. “Papa, this castle is huge! It’s gonna take weeks an’ weeks to see all of it! How come you only gots two kids? You could fit elebenty hundred in here!”

Sausage laughed. “Well, we only decided we wanted kids last year. It would take a while to find that many! And there aren’t as many bedrooms as it looks like. We would probably run out of space after the first elebenty, er, eleven. Azahar and Elowen share a room right now, but they might decide they each want their own later.”

“Who do I have a room with?” Liana asked curiously.

“Um… your bunny! But your room is right across from the boys if you need anything, and Dad and I are right down the hall.”

“What about these rooms?” She glanced left and right at the other doors they were passing.

“Those are guest rooms! Well, a few have some junk stored in them because I, uh, collect things. But when you or the boys make some friends, they’ll be able to stay over and sleep in one of them! Okay, here we are! See, there’s their room.” Sausage pointed with his foot to the open doorway on the left before finagling with the door across from it.

Liana wandered over to glance inside; she saw the two neatly made beds with Elowen’s teddy bear on the one farthest from the door, then she spotted the books and crowns sitting on the dresser. Her eyes widened with glee, but she kept the feeling reined in to just a broad smile as she turned and walked back over to survey her room. Two new beds and other furniture had been placed in it after the existing items had been moved to accommodate Elowen’s request to share.

Liana scurried over to the second bed and climbed up to lay her bunny against the pillows. “You’re right! Bunny gets a bed, too!” She hopped back to the floor and took a serious look around. “Hmm. I need to gets books. An’… An’ a crown. ‘Cause that’s what’s in Azahar and Elowen’s room.”

Sausage kept quiet for a moment, realizing for the first time as he put her clothes away in the dresser how few possessions Liana had been able to put in her bag… or, what had actually been put in it for her. The clothing seemed threadbare and was, perhaps, reserved for sending off with a child when it could no longer be handed down to another child who wore that size. He made a mental note to send a subsidy to that particular orphanage, and have a talk with Xornoth about checking fund distributions; he then added a note for himself to do the same there in Mythland.

He turned a bright smile toward Liana. “You can put whatever you want in here! It doesn’t have to be just books! Flowers, dollies, a pretty tea pot – even other bunny plushies!” She looked distressed for a second, so he added, “Bunnies that are friends for your bunny! That way yours can have company when you’re busy doing princess things!”

She seemed to think about it, then she nodded enthusiastically and carefully enunciated, “Thank you, Papa, I would like that.”

Sausage chuckled then scooped her up with his left arm, holding her on his hip with support from his right hand. “You’re welcome! Let’s go downstairs to dinner, and we can think about getting dollies and dresses tomorrow. In fact… We’re going to be late for dinner! I just noticed Dad and the boys didn’t follow us! They might eat everything before we get there! Hold on to me!”

Liana giggled and hugged his neck as he ran out of the room and tore down the hall, laughing with her until they reached the staircase, which he navigated more carefully until he neared the bottom. He bunny-hopped down the last few steps, making Liana giggle again. As they neared the dining room, she put her nose up into the air and crinkled it. “I can smell dinner now, too! Dinnertime! Dinnertime! Dinner with my new daddies an’ brothers!”

Sausage entered the room to see heartfelt looks on the faces of Scott and the boys due to having heard Liana’s joyful declaration. They had been making changes to how the table was arranged, with Scott and Elowen seated to the left of the head of the table and an extra chair added on the right next to Azahar that put Liana between him and Sausage. An additional purple cushion had been placed on this chair. Liana uttered a big, delighted gasp when she saw it as Sausage set her down on it. She wiggled a little, then whispered, “So there was a special princess chair…”

Elowen suppressed a giggle, while Azahar smiled gently at Liana. “You said you might need a pillow to reach the table, so we found one for you. Dad said you like purple.”

“I do! Thank you!” Liana crowed. She calmed down and said matter-of-factly, “I only need it for right now, though. I’m gonna grow up to be really tall, then I can reach all the fancy tables!”

Elowen fidgeted as the kitchen staff began to set out bowls of soup and small, individual baskets of warm bread rolls. He appeared as if he wanted to say something to Liana, but he waited while she thanked each person that walked past. After the staff withdrew, he blurted, “D-Do you think you’ll be really tall because your mom or your dad were tall?”

Liana had started munching on a bread roll and calmly spoke around the bite, “I don’t know my mommy or daddy. When I gots old enough an’ asked, the growed-ups told me I was a ‘doorstep baby’, an’ all I had with me was my bunny! So, they didn’t know about them to tell me.”

Azahar, Scott, and Sausage were startled by her candor. Azahar reached over to lightly pat Liana’s arm. “You and I have something in common, then.”

Liana’s eyes widened. “You gots left with just your bunny, too? But I didn’t see one in your room!”

Azahar laughed. “No, I think it was a handspun yarn blanket, and when I outgrew it, it was used for another baby, which I didn’t mind.”

“Oh, that’s a nice hands-me-down,” Liana said, nodding sagely as she took another bite of the roll. She chewed, then announced, “This is yummy bread!” She hummed happily until she finished eating the roll, then she looked across the table. “Elowen, did you hands-me-down anything? Was that your teddy bear I saw? It could be friends with my bunny!”

Elowen smiled weakly, having been poking his spoon at the vegetables in his soup. “I didn’t have anything like that. I got my teddy bear later.”

“Oh, okay,” Liana replied, oblivious to his dulled tone. “That’s a good reason to not hands-me-down! Daddy, Papa, do you have bunnies or teddy bears from when you was kids?”

With a mischievous look – and hoping to lighten Elowen’s mood – Sausage answered, “I only have Bubbles from when I was a kid!”

Liana shook her spoon at him. “Papa, Bubbles is a real doggy! You can’t pretend a real aminal is a toy!” She took a very serious first sip of her soup, as if she was the parent scolding the child, then her eyes lit up and she looked down at the bowl in wonder. “This is really good soup!” She ate two more quick spoonfuls before coughing when she started on a third.

“Slowly, Liana,” Scott gently chided. “It will still taste good if you eat slower. And to answer your question, I had a blue fawn plushie when I was little, although it ended up with the spots turned red because my brother tried to dye it with berry juice. We were never able to wash the stain out. But it was still my favorite.”

Liana gave an angry pout. “Your brother sounds mean! What if you gots another brother or sister after you, an’ you were gonna hands-me-down it to them, but they didn’t like red, an’ it made them cry! An’… An’ if he’s your brother, that makes him my uncle!” Her face fell into a sadder pout. “I don’t want a mean uncle.”

Scott chuckled. “Don’t worry, he wasn’t trying to be mean. He just wanted to do something silly. He thought it would wash out, too.”

Liana stood up on her chair and now shook her spoon at Scott, sending a few droplets of broth flying. “But no one should mess with someone’s fav’rite toy! It’s not nice! He shoulda tried it on his own toy first, so’s he would know how it feels!”

Sausage reached over to pinch the handle of her spoon between two fingers, creating a metallic tink sound. Putting some focus on his magic frequency, he sent a brief surge of energy through his prosthetic to make the gemstone at the wrist twinkle. The shine of this light through the translucent green cover atop his forearm distracted her from her tiny outrage and she watched with fascination, although all he did was gently lower her hand.

Meanwhile, Azahar and Elowen traded looks across the table. The latter stammered, “Y-You’re very energetic, Liana. We were really nervous about becoming princes and were, um, very polite our first days here.”

Liana blinked at him. To Sausage’s relief, she put her spoon down altogether instead of gesturing with it again, so he withdrew his hand. “But it’s just dinnertime,” she replied. “It’s not a big ball with lotsa candles an’ people dancing in a big room with fancy dresses. We’re just being us, aren’t we?”

Sausage began to laugh. “She’s right! We’re just us right now. But you still shouldn’t stand on your chair, Liana, or wave utensils around at the same time – you might fall over into your soup!”

“Oh. Yeah, you’re right – it won’t taste good if I do that,” she agreed. She sat back down on the pillow and ate her soup with perfect manners, although after a point she grabbed another roll and proceeded to gobble it down while again proclaiming how yummy it was.

~*~

After a short lantern-lit tour to try to give Liana a sense of direction if she happened to get up during the night or possibly woke up early and decided to explore on her own – which, honestly, Sausage and Scott wouldn’t put past her but did request that she not do – everyone started getting ready for bed. Sausage tucked her in and asked if she would be alright in a room by herself, and assured her it was fine if she wasn’t, and asked if she would feel better if one of her brothers stayed in the room with her until she got used to it because this place was new to her and it was fine to be nervous, and—

Liana merely hugged her bunny and said she was okay, a big girl princess wouldn’t be scared of a castle and she had bunny to share the room with her, after all, and Azahar and Elowen seemed to like having a room together, so maybe that also meant one of them was scared to be alone at night, so she would be brave so that neither of them would have to be alone, and—

Scott broke up the mutual rambling session, gently pulling Sausage away from the doorway before wishing Liana a goodnight in Elvish to try to make it sound like a finality that everyone would go to sleep now. He elbowed Sausage, who hastily repeated the phrase while still looking worried about this first night in the castle. Yet, this only caused Liana to giggle, because Scott then corrected Sausage’s accent, telling his husband he had just told Liana to ‘have a good sneeze’.

Liana loudly repeated the misspoken phrase with another giggle, drawing laughs from across the hall. Sausage uttered a good-natured grumble about still working on his accent, then wished everyone goodnight again in Common.

The little girl laid down, bunny in her arms, and gazed at the ceiling while processing some of the sounds she was noticing; she was silently glad for the lanternlight coming in from the hallway, since the door had been left open in case she did happen to call for something.

It was only a few minutes later that Azahar came in to check on her. He sat down on the other bed as she sat up to tell him, “I told Papa I was okay. You can sleep in your room.”

“I just wanted to make sure,” Azahar said warmly. “I always tried to help new kids feel welcome in the place where Elowen and I used to live. I thought I could still do the same now.”

“But Daddy an’ Papa took me home! That means I am welcome!”

“Oh, well, yes. Of course it does. But if you have anything you’re, like, worried about or scared of, I can talk with you about it. Elowen was nervous about how big the castle was when we first got here, and we wondered if there might be ghosts.”

“Castles are s’posed to be big! An’… An’ ghosts aren’t scary!” Liana insisted, although she clutched her bunny plushie tightly. “Papa would have said something if there were ghosts!”

From out in the hallway came a high-pitched “OoOoOo~” noise, then Elowen leaned his head into the room. “Maybe Papa doesn’t know there are ghosts. Maybe they only show themselves to certain people. Like little children…”

Azahar shot him a look of warning; Elowen gave a mischievous grin. Liana, meanwhile, protested, “Stop tryin’a scare me! You’re being mean brothers!”

“Shhh,” Azahar tried to quiet her, holding his hands up to calm the situation. “Let’s not worry Dad or Papa. They need to rest from traveling, too. Elowen, that wasn’t nice. We should teach her how to chase away the ghosts first.” He snuck a grin at the other boy.

Liana scowled. “I don’t believe you! There aren’t any ghosts! Kingdoms that have talking chickens an’ dragons don’t have stupid scary things like ghosts! There would be REAL monsters! Now get outta my room, I wanna go to sleep!” She glared mightily at them.

Elowen stood straight upright, incidentally hopping into the middle of the doorway. “Oh, I see – you’re scarier than ghosts would be! Oh, time to run away! I’m gonna hide under my blanket from a scary little sister!” He turned tail to run to the other room.

Azahar stared after him. “This is… not how I meant this to go…”

“Hmph!” Liana put her chin in the air. “That’s what you get for tryin’a scare me! Now go away!” She emphatically turned and pulled the blanket up over herself.

“Okay, well… Um, sorry, Liana. I really do want to help. That was just some silly fun to make your first night here less scary—”

“I don’t care! Time for sleep! Say sorry at breakfast, an’ maybe I won’t be as mad at you!”

“Heh, okay.” Azahar wished her goodnight in Elvish, then left.

Liana hugged her bunny under the covers. “Mean… There’s no ghosts. There can’t be ghosts. My new daddies are secret heroes… Ghosts don’t haunt heroes. Unless they’re good ghosts… I don’t wanna see a ghost floatin’ through the wall, but maybe they’re helpful ghosts… An’… An’ they don’t try to scare little girls who’re tryin’a be brave even though they’re in a big, giant castle for the first time, an’ just met everyone…”

She heard a brief scraping sound; she let out an involuntary whimper, clutching her bunny tighter. Something jumped onto the bed, and then a wet nose came sniffing around the edge of the blanket. There was a very soft, “Arf?” then a weight settled down beside her.

Liana put her hand out and ended up grasping a fistful of short fur. She lightened her grip, then surreptitiously began to pet the furry creature. She whispered, “It’s time for sleep, Bubbles. You can stay in my room, though. You’re a big, brave doggie. Goodnight.”

~*~

Sausage was the first awake the next morning, and he didn’t even wait for Scott to be up to help him don his prosthetic before he padded out of the room without it so he could check on Liana. Things were a little different from Azahar’s and Elowen’s first night in Mythland; they were older, for starters, and had the familiarity of each other for company. Sausage had heard some of the kerfuffle among the three children at bedtime, but it hadn’t seemed too alarming, and everyone quieted down soon after.

He glanced into the boys’ room just to see if Liana had gone to them – either from reassurance during the night, or if she had already woken up and was there to chat. Instead, he saw both boys still in bed, although they were awake. Azahar was doing some arm stretches while Elowen yawned loudly – but he used a quiet tone when he spotted Sausage and said, “Good morning, Papa.”

“Good morning,” Sausage replied, also keeping his voice down. “I’m just checking up on everything. I’ll see you at breakfast in a bit.” He gave a little wave, then crossed to the other side of the hall.

Liana was sleeping soundly, lying on her back with her bunny in range of her right hand, while her left hand rested beside a furry black and tan lump that was curled up next to her. Sausage smiled and whispered, “Good girl, Bubbles.”

The interdimensional Yorkie lifted her head and turned it to peer at him. She wagged her tail and made a silent bark. Then she jumped up, did a one-eighty turn in the air, and licked Liana’s hand. The little girl stirred, mumbling, “Bubbles… stop tryin’a eat me… You’re s’posed to eat the scary ghosts…”

“Bubbles,” Sausage called in an exaggerated whisper, “I thought we chased off the ghosts. Did you find one more and tell our new daughter about it?”

Liana abruptly sat bolt upright, causing Bubbles to jump off the bed and run past Sausage out of the room. He smiled after her, turning so that the cuff covering his stump was visible – due to his nightshirt lacking a sleeve on that side. Liana declared, “I knew there wouldn’t be any real ghosts! Azahar an’ Elowen tried to scare me, but I didn’t believe them! Bubbles was just sleepin’ here ‘cause she wanted company! I wasn’t scared!” She then blinked and stared at Sausage’s right side. “Oh. That’s not like the dollie’s arm. Her whole arm came off.”

Sausage smiled gently and cupped the end of his stump with his left hand as he entered the room. “Yeah, the dragon only ate part of it. I usually put on my metal arm when I get up in the morning, but I really wanted to make sure you slept alright last night. So, the boys tried to scare you, huh?”

Liana’s eyes went wide and, aghast, she yelled, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE DRAGON ATE IT?! I thought it was a pet dragon, or knight dragon, like the chicken!!”

Sausage winced at her volume. “Oh, ha, we didn’t tell you the whole story yesterday.” He sat down on the side of the bed with his left arm toward her, but she crawled over to sit on his right, so he turned, leaving them both sat on the end facing the doorway. “Dad and I, along with our friends – your new Uncle fWhip and Aunt Gem – fought an angry dragon – or, a dragon-like creature.” Sausage’s own eyes brightened with merriment as he thought of a way to embellish the story, because Liana was hanging onto his every word. “We didn’t know what it really was, but it was fierce, and it was hungry! I attacked it with my sword – whap-pow! – but it just opened its big mouth and bit down on not only my sword, but most of my arm! Dad used his magic to freeze it, then rescued me, and Auntie Gem healed me. She did a good job, but the beast had already finished its meal and we couldn’t get it back to stick it back on, so Uncle fWhip made me a new arm!”

Liana fairly vibrated from excitement. “So, you did stop a monster that would have eated everything!”

Sausage uttered a slightly nervous laugh. “Well, sort of. It seemed like it was happy to eat only my arm. But we put a stop to it, just in case.”

Liana went quiet, looking as if she was pondering a very serious matter, then said, “Papa, do you think the dragon-creature’s ghost would haunt the castle?”

“Nope! I think you already know what would happen – Bubbles would eat it!”

“That’s true,” Liana replied in an upbeat tone. She then tilted her head. “Can I see it? Y-Your arm? Um, the part the dragon didn’t eat?” She gestured to the buttoned cuff, her expression the epitome of childlike curiosity. “Oh, wait, ummm… Is it okay to ask that?”

“Sure! I don’t mind! It’s not scary, it just has a scar like my face.” Sausage began to undo the buttons on the side of the cuff.

“Did the monster scratch your face, too??”

“No, that was from an… accident. With a Blood Sheep. You don’t want to mess with the Blood Sheep. They’re powerful, like Bubbles! But as long as they have plenty of grass to graze, they won’t try to eat little girls.”

“What’s a Blood Sheep? There were sheep near where I lived, but no one ever said they were dangerous!”

“Umm… I’ll show you after breakfast!” He rolled the cuff upward and held the remainder of his arm up for Liana to examine. She noted the wide line of scar tissue on the end and began to reach to touch it, but pulled her hand back, murmuring to herself, “Nope, that might be rude, too. You gots to ask first.” She screwed up her face in thought, then pulled up the sleeves of her nightgown and – after a moment of deliberating – held her left arm up next to his stump to give herself an idea of where it might match up.

Sausage smiled, amused by her train of thought. He then caught movement by the door from the corner of his eye. Scott was there with a look of consternation, one of his braids coming loose as if he hadn’t had time to complete it, and he held the prosthetic in his hands. Sausage gave him a little nod, then raised a finger in a ‘one minute’ gesture. Scott shook his head and pointed down at the prosthetic, then off to the side, indicating that Sausage should get moving. “Well, Liana, if you have any more questions about it, I can answer them later. We should get going and have breakfast!”

Scott gestured more insistently. Sausage hopped up and hurried over to ask about the rush, but Scott immediately ushered him back to their room. “There’s a raven waiting for you. It came from the western border. You need to go over there right away.” The raven in question was sitting on the windowsill, an open scroll under one foot.

Sausage quickly pulled off his nightshirt to allow Scott to help him attach the prosthetic. “But we were going to go shopping for Liana after breakfast.” His mouth fell into a little pout.

“It’s urgent. I’ll take her and the boys out, don’t worry.” Not waiting for Sausage to move faster, Scott started dressing his husband shirt-first.

Sausage, meanwhile, gave him a sad-eyed look, his pout intensifying. He did, however, cooperate with getting dressed for travel.

Scott chuckled softly. “I know, I know. You were looking forward to it. You’ve become very fond of her rather quickly.”

“I can’t help it! She’s so charming and… and… we didn’t have a chance to stop yesterday to get her the dress she wanted…” Sausage continued to pout, then tapped the tips of his index fingers against each other while looking aside as he mumbled, “But I guess she can spend time with her new dad, too…”

“Sau-sage,” Scott said, “They think there’s a Warden loose in the caves near the town. If it weren’t for Liana, I would go, too, but I don’t want to leave her on her first day here. And it’s better if you’re the one to meet with the townsfolk, especially if you need to get Tango’s help for Warden wrangling.”

Sausage’s expression changed instantly. He rushed to get his boots on, then grabbed his customized elytra from the armor stand in the corner. He shrugged it on, then went to the window to read the scroll for himself, checking the name of the town. Then he climbed into the window. The raven croaked and flew off ahead of him to let the distressed townsfolk know their king was on his way. “I’ll find breakfast on the way. Tell the kids I love them and I’ll be back soon!”

“Good luck!” Scott called after him as Sausage launched himself out of the window frame. Scott then finished getting himself sorted for the day and went to tell the children of the change in plans. He caught up to the boys as they were heading out of their room, and asked them to wait while he checked if Liana was ready to go downstairs.

He found her fully dressed in one of the patched outfits she had brought home with her, the leggings in decent shape – but no shoes yet, since she was jumping on the second bed trying to look out the high, narrow window. Scott was about to question her but she turned and exclaimed, “I heard a loud bird! An’ I looked up an’ saw Papa flying by the window! He doesn’t have bird wings like elves!” She leapt down from the bed and ran over to Scott, demanding, “Why is he flying? How is he flying?!”

Perhaps startled by her announcement, Azahar and Elowen ran over to the doorway. Scott looked around at the three children, silently wishing Sausage had chosen a different direction to go. “I was just coming to tell all of you: Papa had a sudden, important request for help from a town, and it’s his job as king to go in person, especially because he might need some extra help.” Scott then realized what Sausage’s choice of direction meant. “It sounds like he was going to get that help, actually, because Tango the Blaze Emperor – boys, you might remember him from your gala – is a specialist at wrangling the creature that the townsfolk are having a problem with, and the best place to find him is our neighbor, the Cod Empire.”

Azahar was about to make a humorous comment about Tango being rather memorable for appearing to be on fire, but Liana cut him off. “Our neighbors are fish?! How do fish have an empire?? Don’t fish just swim around in the water all day? Isn’t a blaze like a fire? Wouldn’t that boil the water? Oh! Is he really good at cooking fish?”

Elowen giggled. Scott was once again struck by how similar Liana and Sausage were. As he stifled a laugh of his own, Azahar explained, “There are people who can breathe underwater and have the appearance of different types of sea life. The Cod Empire is ruled by Jimmy, who is a fish-like man. His sister, Lizzie, rules the Ocean Empire, and looks like a giant blue axolotl. Tango, however, is a blazeman-hybrid. He does have a kingdom of his own underground, a little far away from here, but he is good friends with Jimmy, who is teaching him about life on the surface – teaching him about people like us, who are different from what he’s used to.”

Liana seemed to be listening with fascination. “So, there’s lotsa other kingdoms besides Rivendell an’ this land of myths? But those people all sound like they’re myths!”

Scott now openly chuckled. “Our kingdom is literally named Mythland. Sir Carlos can explain the history better than I can, but it has its roots in an even older kingdom with a great – if lost – legacy. You’ll learn all about these things when we have school lessons later. We’ll figure out what type of lessons you need another day, though. After breakfast we’re going to do some shopping in town and find that dress you wanted, and you can show it to Papa when he gets home.”

Liana looked disappointed for a second as she stepped back. She glanced toward the window. Then she gave a decisive nod and ran to the dresser to take out a pair of socks. She sat down on the floor to pull them on. “Okay, Daddy. We’ll… surprise Papa by finding a really pretty one! An’… he’ll see… he’ll see that we could find one, even if not all of us was there to look at ev’rything.” She scooted over to her shoes to put them on next. Afterward, she lifted her chin proudly to show she was being a big girl and not upset that her new papa wasn’t also going with them.

Scott, of course, noticed her lip tremble. “He’ll be with us in spirit. He really wanted you to get that purple dress, and since we don’t know how long it would take to help the townsfolk, I said I would take you out to get one.” Thinking he had cottoned on to the problem, he said, “You know, this can also be a way for you to impress him by telling him about all the things you saw in town! It will be like your own adventure in your new home.”

Elowen piped up, “Y-Yeah, Liana, and we can show you some of the cool things we’ve discovered when we’ve gone out around town.” He gestured to himself and Azahar. “We can show you where the winter market was, and where the regular shops are that sell fun stuff!”

“No,” Liana said in a firm, yet calm, tone. “When Daddy an’ Papa came to my old home, they both played with me. So, they should both be there for other fun!” As if that should settle the matter, she walked past Scott and went between the boys, grabbing Azahar and Elowen by the hand. “Okay, breakfast time! You gots to eat a good breakfast before you go out!”

~*~

“Jimmy!! Tango!!” Sausage’s voice rang out over the sea-facing border of the Cod Empire as he flew over, hoping to get the attention of one of them. “I need help with a Warden problem!!”

The door of the fishing shack flew open – presumably from the force of Tango’s kick, seeing as he came out with one upraised foot leading. “Warden?? Where?! Oh, hi! Hi, neighboring Sausage-king-person.” Tango looked eager for details, but waited for Sausage to circle around to make a non-watery landing.

Jimmy wandered out of the shack a moment later, yawning and rubbing one eye. “Sausage, it’s too early for monster wrangling…”

The King of Mythland didn’t bother closing his elytra. “Not when they wander up to the surface overnight! I’ve got a small town in need, and I don’t have a lot of time today, so I thought I’d call on the expert to get it done faster. Oh, and you can help, too, Jimmy.”

The Codfather gave him a disgruntled look, while Tango straightened up proudly. “Of course! Professional wranglers here, at your service.”

“Great,” Sausage said. “Now grab some elytra and follow me! I need to get back a-sap!”

“I’ll get them!” Tango chirped. “I haven’t flown around much. Some practice will be great! fWhip even made me some fireproof ones.” He scurried back inside the shack.

Jimmy waited outside, taking note of Sausage’s clearly bright mood despite the apparent threat. “You’re in quite the hurry. What is going on that you need to rush back? Do you have something nice planned with the princes?”

“Jimmy…” Sausage clapped his left hand onto the Codfather’s shoulder and feigned a somber attitude, then overrode it with a wide grin. “Scott and I just became the proud fathers of a little girl! We brought her home last night! This is our first full day with her, and I have to go deal with some stupid Warden that couldn’t stay in the Deep Dark.” As he spoke, his fingers tightened, digging into Jimmy’s shoulder; Sausage’s grin turned into a clenched-tooth grimace of aggravation.

Jimmy endured it, then pried Sausage’s hand off. “Well, uh, congratulations, and I’m sorry you have a rogue Warden to deal with, today of all days. What’s her name? What’s she like? Hey, it’s actually kind of nice to find out ahead of time instead of a gala invite out of the blue.”

“Oh, Jimmy, she’s the sweetest little elf. Her name is Liana, she’s six and a half years old – she seems to like insisting on the ‘and a half’ part – she loves to talk and ask things and have tea parties, and I can’t wait to see her running around with Bubbles and the boys and having fun together—!!” Sausage pressed the palms of his hands against his cheeks and all but squeed with joy.

“Oh my gosh, Sausage.” Jimmy’s mouth crinkled up in amusement. “She’s got you wrapped around her finger, and it hasn’t even been a whole day! That’s so sweet, man. I’ll look forward to meeting her. Y’know, before or at her debut gala.” He grinned teasingly.

Tango returned before Sausage could comment. He handed Jimmy his elytra, then shrugged his own on. “Alright, now to take care of this little Warden issue. Lead on, Your Highness!” Tango glanced over to see Sausage still in jubilant father mode. “Uh…what’s with him?” he asked Jimmy.

“He has discovered the joy of having a daughter. Give him a second, then you can try using your Warden roar to snap him out of it.”

~*~

The shopping trip quickly became a spectacle of Liana delighting each and every shopkeeper they passed, between her customary announcement of her name – although she cut back on mentioning her age unless someone asked – and her exuberant curiosity about differences she noticed between elven and Mythlandian culture.

Scott opted for the general and practical clothing shops rather than going straight to the tailor; that would be reserved for a special trip closer to a certain date. He left Liana under the supervision of either Azahar or Elowen depending on which one he was assisting at the time – Elowen’s leggings were starting to come up short on him, and Azahar’s shirts were becoming tight across his chest and arms.

Meanwhile, Liana would babble to the shopkeeper and whichever brother was in attendance at the time of how she wanted to look at anything in purple or that had a picture of a bunny on it. Scott would then look through those offerings with her, and she tried on the ones that looked like they might fit. If anything happened to be slightly too big, like in the case of corduroy overalls with a rabbit embroidered on the front pocket, Scott bought it anyway with the idea that it could be stored for the future.

By the time they were done they had amassed six large parcels, the clothing neatly folded and secured with twine, but a bit much to carry home even when Scott tested out carrying them on a gust of cold air with magic. The final shopkeeper agreed to hold onto the lot until Scott could send someone down with a cart to pick it up.

Liana had actually gotten quiet by that point, watching as the parcels were stashed in the shop’s back room. She fidgeted for a moment, then yelled, “Thank you for watching our stuff! When I’m bigger I’ll come back for more bunny dresses! So please have some more!”

The shopkeeper chuckled on his way back to the floor. He dusted off his hands and nodded to Liana. “Sure thing, little Miss. You just let me know when you start outgrowing those, and I’ll put in a special princess order.”

“Yay! Thank you, mister clothes shop owner! DADDY!” she then yelled to Scott, “Thank you for the nice dresses!! Maybe when I outgrow them, we can send them to Silvilana an’ the others! But maybe by then Silvilana will have nice daddies, too! Or nice mommies! Or a nice daddy and mommy? I don’t know, but I hope she goes home, too! An’ the others, an’ then maybe they won’t need my clothes, but there always seemed to be new kids coming in, an’ they should have nice stuff, too—”

Scott patted her on the head. “We’ll look into it when the time comes. Right now, we have one more stop to make, then we’ll go home for lunch and see if Papa is back to eat with us.”

“Are we getting something for you an’ Papa next?” Liana asked, puzzled, as they walked out and headed down the street. “You haven’t gotten anything yet! Ev’ryone should get something, it’s only fair! You were nice an’ gots us lots!” She looked at Azahar and Elowen, expecting them to agree.

Elowen nodded. Azahar chuckled. “She’s right, Dad. You should get a tunic with a rabbit on it. A blue one.”

Scott laughed. Liana jumped forward with both feet to keep pace with his steps, proclaiming, “Or a blue fawn! Ev’ryone should get a picture of their fav’rite thing!”

“You have a point, Liana,” Scott agreed. “But as King Regnant, I have to wear what other grown-ups consider to be dignified clothes.” When she stopped jumping in order to pout up at him, he added, “Maybe I could get something like that on a night shirt.”

Her face brightened. “Yeah! Then you just put on a kingly robe over it to hide it from boring growed-ups!”

They all laughed at the idea, then Scott proceeded to make up increasingly silly scenarios where someone might find out he had pastel blue fawn pajamas. This continued as they traveled along the streets until another clothing shop came into view. The sign hanging outside depicted a formal ball gown. Liana’s eyes widened when she saw the window display. She whispered, “Dresses for meeting princesses…” She then froze on the spot, realizing that she now was that princess.

Scott went to the door and held it open to allow the children to enter first. “You could say this is something for Papa and I: to keep our promise to you.”

Liana hopped up and down, then once again grabbed her new brothers by their hands. “Look, look! Now we can see what I shoulda been wearing to meet you! Now I can fit in with princes!”

Azahar tried to say, “Liana, you were fine meeting us just as you were—” but the words got lost as she pulled them into the shop.

The shopkeeper hurried over as soon as she noticed who had entered. “Your Highness! Young princes! I see you brought a little friend! How may I help you?”

Surprisingly, Elowen was the one to answer. “We need a fancy dress for our new sister.” Scott felt a surge of pride over the younger boy speaking up, yet realized that – perhaps – it was Liana’s energy rubbing off on him that had encouraged him.

Liana hopped up and down again. “That’s me! I’m the princess! An’ I need to look like one! Daddy gots me some nice new things, but Elowen’s right! Princesses need one really fancy dress!”

The shopkeeper looked toward Scott. “How wonderful! My congratulations to you and Lord Sausage! Your family just keeps growing, doesn’t it? What are you looking for in your fancy dress?”

Together Scott and the boys all chorused, “Purple” at the same time, answering even as Liana was opening her mouth.

The little girl giggled and then smiled up at the shopkeeper. “Please, may I see your finest pretty purple dresses?”

~*~

Sausage glanced around the interior of the cave nervously, then hissed, “When I asked you guys for help, I thought Jimmy would be the bait, not me!”

The Codfather grinned from his hiding place behind the pile of rocks that was closer to the entrance than Sausage’s position. He whispered in reply, “Of course I’m not the bait. I’m a professional wrangler now. Don’t worry, Sausage! We’ll get you home to your kiddos in one piece. Relatively speaking.”

Sausage wanted to glare in Jimmy’s direction, but the clacking of Warden antennae made him return his focus to the device nestled behind his ear that connected him to the magic frequency operating his prosthetic, allowing him to control it remotely. The prosthetic was currently secured above a button that would turn on a noise machine, which was intended to lure the stray Warden toward a web of ropes set up to snare the creature. It had wandered deeper into the cave system for the moment, but that didn’t guarantee it wouldn’t wander back out again. “You know what - You know what? If my arm gets damaged, you get to explain to fWhip why!”

Tango, hidden across from Jimmy, replied in a flat tone, “Better your fake arm than your whole, real body.” He was in a strict focused mode now. The change in his demeanor started slow after they had spoken with the townsfolk, the bravest of whom took the three to the road that ran near the cave system where a farmer making an early delivery to the town had heard the frightening sounds of a Warden stomping around. The farmer fled without confirming it, but a few intrepid townspeople investigated, only to flee as soon as they heard it and the tell-tale heartbeat for themselves.

Tango’s blithe attitude toward a potential adventure disappeared completely once the three of them had scoped out the cave; they all immediately went on alert at the sound of the creature sniffing around, and the way Tango launched into an analysis of the terrain led Sausage to not even question the plan when it was first proposed.

Now he was feeling uncertain, however. Tango was correct to use Sausage’s prosthetic to activate the noise machine, avoiding any of them being too close to the Warden after it became attracted to the sound, but Sausage himself still needed to be within a specific range of his prosthetic for the signal to carry. “Tango, I think I like you better when you’re hyper and slightly weird. ‘Serious-Tango’ scares me. This had better work. I want to be able to hug my kids with both arms when I get back.”

Tango uttered a strange sort of squawk. “Shush your face! I can feel it stomping this way again! … Wait for it… Wait for it… Now!”

Sausage could see the glow of the Warden’s open chest and antennae around the corner. He gulped, then directed his prosthetic’s hand to slam down onto the button. The noise machine started up. The Warden grunted and the glow coming off it shifted directions as it lumbered toward the machine.

Sausage suppressed a squeak of relief as he ducked behind cover. He left the rest to the professionals as they sprang into action. He put his attention on the device again to remain aware of whether or not the Warden happened to smash his prosthetic or not – rather than watch it occur with his own eyes. Out of sight there, he could also keep his dramatic worries to himself, quietly whimpering and theatrically crying as he imagined a scenario of him returning home without the prosthetic because he would have had to drop it off at The Grimlands for fWhip to repair, and then Liana and Elowen might even stare at his right side and the lack of arm, and he would get ten thousand bazillion questions about their own imagined scenarios before he could explain, and surely he should make it sound more amazing than just using it to push a single button, and meanwhile Scott and Azahar would probably stand there looking amused because, well, Scott knew the situation, and Azahar would be quick to catch on although he would still be entertained by the adventurous aspect, but Sausage still wouldn’t be able to hug everyone or pick up Liana and assure her that he was alright, and that they could still have fun the rest of the day, and… [To Be Continued in Chapter Four: The Parties and The First Dreams]

#empires smp #empires smp fanfic #empiresshipping #mythicalsausage #scott smajor #dangthatsalongname #tangotek #jimmy solidarity #champions au: garden path #empires smp s1 #scosage #lunar yarns

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foundtherightwords · 2 years ago

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The Road Forgotten - Chapter 7

Pairing: Arthur Havisham (Dickensian) x OFC

A/N: I made Arthur bisexual and paired him with a female character in this. I know some writers have gotten flack for pairing Arthur with a female character (or reader), so if it's not your cup of tea, please walk away.

This is mostly based on the events of "Dickensian", but I've also incorporated some elements and characters from "Great Expectations". Most notably, Satis House is in Kent (as in the book) instead of in London.

Summary: A few years after his plan to swindle his sister ended in tragedy, Arthur Havisham is a shadow of a man, living in guilt and fear. When Elsie Bradford, a young woman also wronged by Compeyson, enlists Arthur's help to hunt down his former partner-in-crime, Arthur must face his demons and other strange, new feelings, to redeem himself.

Warnings: slow burn, angst, guilt, revenge, psychological trauma, mention of prostitution, mention of suicide/suicide ideations, some violence, a bit of smut

Chapter word count: 4.2k

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Elsie cursed under her breath while she moved through the rooms of the gambling house, hanging on to Markam's arm. Three nights she and Arthur had gone to Staverley's, throwing away money at the hazard and roulette tables (she thought it safer to stick to the simpler games of dice and chances, rather than cards), suffering the dull company of Markham, who was a deadly combination of arrogance and stupidity, and still they were no closer to finding out anything about Compeyson. None of the gamblers even knew his name, let alone where he might be. They were told that Lady Staverley knew every gambler who ever set foot in her club, so if anyone had any information on Compeyson, it would be she, but their hostess remained reclusive and their request for an audience with her was met with shock. "Nobody sees Lady Staverley unless she wants to see them" was the consensus, often followed by "And those that she wants to see better pray." And now she couldn't find Arthur.

Something had changed in Arthur in the past few days, since the night they first went to Staverley's. For one thing, he no longer asked her to share the bed with him; instead, he insisted on her taking the bed for herself while he slept on a pallet, which he bought from the landlord and put on the floor by the fireplace, away from her. She could hear him toss and turn all night, but he didn't seem to be bothered by his usual nightmares, so she didn't press the matter. And she would often catch him staring at her with a curious look, a mix of sadness and longing, only for him to avert his eyes when she returned his gaze. And he was positively beastly to Markham, who thankfully was too much of a simpleton to catch his barbed remarks. If she hadn't known any better, she would've said Arthur was jealous.

But he couldn't be, could he? What would he have to be jealous about? She hadn't given him any encouragement. Of course, she had gladly shared a bed with him, but there was nothing romantic or sexual about it—in fact, that was precisely why she'd gone along with it. It was nice to sleep—or, in her case, lie—in a bed next to someone with no expectation of anything other than a good night's rest. She wasn't sure how she would feel if there was something else between them. It was true that he had endeared himself to her a great deal in the past few weeks, not least because he had willingly put her up, but a more intimate relationship would be... No. It would not happen. It would never happen. It was ridiculous to even entertain the idea, so she refocused on the task at hand: finding Arthur.

The rooms of Staverley's were a maze. They were no less lavish than the entrance hall, with the same dark, rich colors and an overabundance of gilt and glitter, but the lights were much dimmer, so that the longer one spent in them, the more one would lose all sense of time, of space, and eventually, of oneself. It took Elsie forever to find her way past the elaborate card and billiard and smoking rooms and into the buffet room, where she saw Arthur slumped in a chair in a corner, drinking glass after glass of wine, the old bleary look back in his eyes. The buffet was free after midnight—she and Arthur had made use of it by surreptitiously stuffing pasties and pastries into her reticule—but Arthur had been very careful about the wines and liquors. Yet there he was, drinking like there was no tomorrow. The sight made her angry. She extracted her arm from Markham's, made up some excuse to send him away, and approached Arthur.

"What do you think you're doing?" she said, careful to keep her voice low.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"I think you've had enough." She pried the wineglass out of his hand, but he wrenched it away from her grasp.

"Leave me alone," he grumbled. "You don't need my help. You said you needed me to get you into places, but you seem to manage that perfectly well on your own. You have no use of me. So leave me to drink in peace."

Elsie gritted her teeth. So he was feeling useless because their search had reached another dead end, wasn't he? Did he think about how she was feeling? Of course not. How typical of men, always thinking they were the only ones suffering. But she couldn't make a scene, not here. So she swallowed her anger.

"Come, let us go. We're not learning anything tonight anyway."

"What, and deprive yourself of Mr. Markham's company?" he said, mockingly. "Why don't you unleash some more of your charm on him? Perhaps you might learn something then. That's what you do, isn't it, charm men into doing your bidding?"

His words stung. A red haze of anger rose within her, making her itch to reach for the knife in her reticule and show Arthur what kind of "charm" she could unleash on him. But another emotion surfaced, dampening the fire of anger. Hurt. She'd thought he knew her, understood her, but it turned out he only saw her as another whore. It hurt more than she wanted to admit.

"Do you think I enjoyed that?" she hissed, hot tears springing to her eyes. "That I enjoyed having those men... ogle me, like I was a dish they want to devour? I've had seven years of it! But I had to, since you're just a useless, miserable wretch!" The moment those words left her mouth, she regretted them, but not enough to apologize. She wanted to hurt him as much as he'd hurt her. Gathering up her dress, she swept out of the room, ran all the way down the grand staircase, and was halfway down the street when Arthur caught up with her.

"Elsie, wait," he panted, grabbing her arm to stop her. "Wait. I'm sorry. I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me. Please—"

She tried to twist herself away, but his hold was too strong. "If you don't let go of me, I shall scream," she snarled, and he dropped her arm as if it was red hot.

"You were right," he said. "I am a useless wretch." There was no piteous note in his voice, only a resigned, infinite sadness. "I can't do what you're doing. I don't know why a remarkable woman such as yourself would wish to remain with me, so here—" He held something out, and Elsie realized it was her cape, which she had left in the cloakroom of Staverley's in her hurry. She looked at his plaintive face, his trembling lips, and found her heart softening despite herself. He did call her remarkable. And she had remained with him because she was alone and afraid, and because he had reached out for her and held her and kept her from flying to pieces. Because she believed that he needed her. And because she thought she might need him as well.

But she would not let him off that easily.

"Talk is cheap, Havisham." She was trying to sound icy, only for her sniffles to ruin the effect. Arthur rummaged for his handkerchief, but Elsie found her own first and wiped her eyes with it.

"I know that," he said. "I wish I could—"

"Could what?"

He lifted his head, and there it was again, the look of sadness and longing, except this time it was directed straight at her with an intensity that quite took her breath away. "Could what?" she repeated, more softly. She didn't realize she had taken a step toward him until she felt her skirt brush his knees. He was still gazing at her, his lips quivering with words that were fighting to get out, or perhaps with a different ache that she couldn't name but could feel, echoing deep inside her.

Then Arthur broke the gaze and looked down. "I wish I could show you how sorry I really am, for saying those horrible things," he said.

Elsie let out a breath, feeling rather deflated.

"Just stay away from the drinks next time," she grumbled, to hide how flustered she was.

"I will."

She gestured at the cape. He obligingly put it on for her, while she tried not to notice how his hands lingered on her shoulders for a moment longer than necessary.

"Though I don't think there is going to be a next time," she said, resuming her walk down the street. Arthur held his pace next to her. "This has turned into another dead end."

"Ah, about that, I might have learned something," Arthur piped up, excited at a chance to prove his worth. "It appears that Lady Staverley likes to deal with blacklegs and sore losers herself."

"That's all well and good, but we don't know if Compeyson has gotten into trouble at the club. Besides, we're not allowed to see her," Elsie reminded him. "No one is."

"No, I'm thinking that it may provide us with a means to gain an audience with her," Arthur said.

Elsie paused and stared at him. "Are you suggesting that we—"

"Cheat, yes." He nodded, a wild glint in his eyes. "And try to get caught."

***

It took them several days to put their plan into action. First, they had to go back to Staverley's another night so Elsie could make a careful study of the dice at the hazard table, their dimensions and weight and feel. She knew there were places where she could buy loaded dice for the right price, but she didn't want to go out more than she had to—that prickling, nagging sensation of being followed never really went away, though it had been weeks since she last saw Cyclops and the Chimney. So, armed with some clay, some lead shavings, and paint, she made the replica dice herself, with a few more sides containing six dots. Her handiwork was not the most skilled, Elsie had to admit, but the replicas would be passable in the dim light of the club, and when she put them in a wooden bowl and rattled them, they made the correct sound as the real dice would in the dice cup. They weren't trying to win, but they also wanted to make their cheating convincing and serious enough to warrant Lady Staverley's attention.

Even so, Elsie's hands were shaking as they entered Staverley's. "Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked Arthur. "Or are we going to get thrown out, or worse, taken into some cellar and beaten senseless?"

Arthur looked worried as well, but he squeezed her hand. "If anything happens, I shall take the blame," he said. "I won't let you be harmed. I promise."

Elsie wanted to point out that he was in no position to make such a promise, but she was touched by his gallantry and didn't have the heart to dissuade him.

By the time they entered the main room, the hazard table was already quite full. As Elsie steered Arthur toward the crowd surrounding the green baize, she saw Markham from across the room, his moon face lighting up at the sight of her, but she ignored him. She had to concentrate.

They waited for a long time, but eventually, it was Arthur's turn to cast. Elsie gave him an encouraging nod. He placed his stake—a moderate sum Elsie had withdrawn from her bank earlier that day—in the center of the table and picked up the dice cup.

"My dear brother," Elsie exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of not only the croupier but other players as well. "May I blow on them first, for good luck?"

"Of course, sister," Arthur said, suppressing a grin. "You always bring me luck."

He handed her the cup. She brought it to her lips, and then, with a fumble that wasn't quite exaggerated—for her hands were shaking terribly with nerves—she dropped the cup, which tumbled onto the carpet and rolled—with a little nudge of Arthur's foot—under her skirt.

"Oh dear, how clumsy of me!" she said in her silliest voice and dove beneath the table. While groping for the cup and the dice, she reached into the top of her boot, where the replica dice were stashed. "Where on Earth could they have gone?" She made the switch and strengthened up just as a footman approached. "Thank you, everything is perfectly all right," she said and handed the dice cup back to Arthur.

He shook the dice and threw them. Nine points. An excited murmur went up around the table, but the croupier frowned at the dice and raked them back for a closer inspection. Elsie eyed Arthur excitedly. The croupier signaled to the footman standing just behind her, who placed a respectful but firm hand on her arm and said, in a low voice, "Ma'am, would you mind coming with me please?" Another footman arrived to escort Arthur, and they were ushered from the table in front of the bemused eyes of the other players.

The two footmen took them on a circuitous route through the various backrooms and corridors and staircases that left Elsie completely disoriented, until they ended up in front of a door in some recess of the building. One of the footmen knocked, and an imperious "Come" replied from within.

They were led into a smallish chamber, decorated in the same deep red tones as the rest of the house and so filled with dark mahogany furniture that it took a while for them to notice a high-backed chair in front of the fire, turned toward the door at such an angle as to completely conceal the person seated in it. A footman went to the chair and, bending down to it, whispered a few urgent words. A hand wearing a black lace mitt appeared from the depth of the chair, gripping the top of a cane in the shape of a lion's head. "I see," a voice said, the same imperious voice they'd heard from outside the door. Then Lady Staverley turned to face them, and Elsie's mouth fell open.

From the grandeur of the gambling house, the fear in people's voices when they spoke of the proprietress, and the dark mystery of the room, she had expected someone regal or menacing, full of subtle threats, like Mrs. Hill. What she saw was a little old lady in a widow's cap and a simple black gown, with a cat sitting on her lap. Elsie and Arthur exchanged a look. Was this grandmother the fearsome Lady Staverley?

"Who do I have the honor of addressing?" Lady Staverley asked.

They gave their real names.

"Now, may I ask, why were you trying to cheat in my house?" the old lady asked, sounding as if she were offering them tea and sandwiches.

Her friendly tone emboldened Elsie. "My lady, I do apologize for that, but it wasn't our intention to cheat," she said. "Rather, it was the only way for us to get an audience with you."

"And why were you so desperate to speak to me?"

"We are looking for a man named Compeyson," Elsie said. "Meriwether Compeyson. We were told he often frequented your establishment, at least until about six months ago."

At the mention of Compeyson, Lady Staverley's eyes hardened, and Elsie had a brief glimpse of the cold, powerful matriarch underneath her warm exterior. "Mr. Compeyson was, indeed, a member of my club," the proprietress said, stressing the past tense. "Until he suffered a big loss and tried to pay it off with a forged check. Unfortunately, by the time I discovered the forgery, he has vanished. My attempts to discover him have been futile."

Another dead end. All that effort had come to nothing. Elsie could feel helplessness and devastation pooling in her abdomen, weighing her down like lead. But Lady Staverley was not finished with them. "Since you are also looking for him," she said, "perhaps you would care to share your findings with me."

"Ma'am," Elsie replied, "we have found nothing. He is our enemy as much as yours. That is why we came to ask for your help."

"Oh?" Lady Staverley sounded genuinely regretful. "That is too bad. You probably thought 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' and all that, didn't you?" Then her voice changed, the grandmotherly tone replaced by a sharp edge that brought goose pimples to Elsie's skin. "Unfortunately, I do not believe in that. Your business with Compeyson has nothing to do with me. Your attempt to cheat, on the other hand, must be punished."

"But we didn't cheat!" Arthur protested. "We didn't win anything!"

"That is beside the point, young man." Lady Staverley stood up. It seemed to them she was expanding like a dark, terrible cloud. "You were seen trying to cheat. You entered my house under false pretenses. If I do not make an example of you, my reputation and the reputation of my club will be ruined." She nodded to the two footmen.

"No, wait!" Arthur held up a hand, the other reaching for Elsie's. "The cheating was my idea. Leave her out of it."

Elsie's heart thumped. She didn't expect the dear fool to actually keep his promise. He had no idea how ruthless such women as Lady Staverley could be. "Stop trying to be a hero!" she whispered, pulling him toward her.

Lady Staverley's smile was like a knife. "Ah, young love. How touching." She signaled to the footmen again, who stepped forward and seized Elsie and Arthur in their iron-strong grip.

Just then, a bell over the door started clanging, followed by a cacophony of voices. Only one word came to them, ringing loud and clear over the bell's frantic jingling:

"Raid!!!"

Lady Staverley immediately jumped into action. She moved to her desk with a litheness that belied her frail appearance and swept all the checks and promissory notes there into a safe hidden behind a portrait. "Get them out of here!" she shouted at the two footmen. "And thank your lucky stars," she added to Elsie and Arthur before they were dragged out of the room and deposited roughly at the bottom of a back staircase.

The footmen disappeared through a door leading into the main card rooms. Following them, Elsie and Arthur were greeted by a scene of complete pandemonium. Police officers, some uniformed, some in plain clothes, were swarming through the doors. The patrons were running in all directions, ignoring the servants' attempt to guide them toward the exits, while the croupiers hurried to cover up the tables and fought off the opportunistic or desperate players, who were trying to make a grab at the piles of counters. The officers' shouts mingled with terrified screams from the patrons and the sickening, cracking sound made by truncheons connected with bones.

Elsie tried to fight the panic rising to her chest. She had not just escaped from Lady Staverley's threat only to end up in a jail cell. Her eyes spotted several patrons, more sensible or experienced, headed toward a doorway hidden behind some drapery. She found Arthur's hand and dragged him along. "Come on!" They threaded their way through the crowd, dodging fallen furniture, ornaments, and bodies. Something sailed through the air over Elsie's head and crashed into the chandelier. Elsie stumbled as broken crystals rained down on them, but Arthur shielded her from the pieces and pulled her to her feet. Somehow they managed to make it to the door, follow the other patrons down a damp cellar, then up some slippery steps, and finally emerge into the cool night air behind the building.

It was slightly quieter here, though they could still hear the uproar from inside. The other patrons slipped off one by one, some into waiting carriages, some crept down back alleys and side streets. Elsie was ready to follow them, but she suddenly felt faint. Her corset was too tight. She leaned her head against the wall and tried to draw a few breaths as deeply as she could.

"Are you all right?" Arthur asked. She waved at him to say it was nothing.

"I've seen plenty of raids at Mrs. Hill's, and I never thought I'd say this," she gasped. "But thank God for the police."

"I know," he said, leaning against the wall and letting out a breath as well. "I'm sorry for suggesting the cheating. I didn't realize Lady Staverley would be so—"

"No need to apologize," she said. She was only sorry they didn't learn anything new other than why Compeyson disappeared, which was of no help at all. But it was no use mentioning that now. "It was the best idea you had."

"It was, wasn't it?" Arthur said, chuckling. "Though I was half afraid your terrible acting might have ruined it."

Elsie gave him a sideway glance and was met with a grin. He had dimples. She wondered why she never noticed them before, and realized it was because she had never seen a real smile from him until now.

"We were trying to get caught, remember?" she retorted. "I have no ambition of treading the board in the West End." Now that they were away from immediate danger, the whole thing sounded rather absurd. She started laughing.

Arthur put out a hand. "Shhh! The police may hear us!" But that only got Elsie laughing harder, and soon they were laughing together, giggling so hard they almost bent over, holding on to each other to stop themselves from falling down. Then suddenly Elsie became conscious of how close they were standing, their faces barely inches apart, how their hands were entangled, how their laughs had trailed off and they were smiling at each other like two idiots, not quite knowing what they were smiling at except for the fact that they were here, together, and nothing else seemed to matter.

A shout went up from inside Staverley's, and a flock of officers burst out of the cellar door, chasing after the straggling patrons. Elsie only had time to grab Arthur by his coat and pulled him into an alley between two houses. The police ran up and down the street, shouting, dragging anyone they could find out of their hiding places. Any minute now, they would come upon the two of them...

Desperate, barely knowing what she was doing, Elsie took Arthur's face in her hands and pressed her lips to his. Hopefully, anyone passing by would think they were two lovers snatching some alone time together, or perhaps a prostitute and her john conducting their usual business.

But after a moment, all thoughts of the police vanished from her mind, because Arthur's mouth had moved under hers. Slowly, hesitantly, he parted his lips and fitted them to hers, dip for dip, curve for curve, while his arms wrapped around her, bringing her closer. For a breathless, endless moment, she was aware of nothing but the darkness and him, who was both Arthur and not Arthur, not the pathetic creature who shook at a mere suggestion of a shadow, not the man who had tried to protect her, not even the boy who had laughed with her just a moment ago, but transformed into some seductive stranger, ready to sweep her off her feet with his passion.

Then her reflex kicked in. She pulled away. Arthur leaned forward, as if chasing after the kiss, but she put a hand on his chest, keeping him at arm's length so she could look at his face. All she saw was his huge brown eyes staring at her, looking as confused as she felt. His heart thundered beneath her hand, echoing her own. Perhaps that was it. Just the excitement of the night getting to them, nothing else. But surely, she hadn't imagined those lips trembling against hers and his hands on her back, just as she hadn't imagined the look in his eyes when she first emerged from the dressing room, or the way they had held on to each other, again and again and again...

"Are they gone?" he whispered. She put her hand over his mouth to shush him, and the feel of his lips beneath her fingertips almost sent her back into his arms. To distract herself, she edged to the mouth of the alley and risked a look outside. The street was clear.

Or was it? The last of the officers were running down the street, away from the alley, except for two men. And they weren't the police. As Elsie looked again, her heart stopped cold in her chest. Cyclops and the Chimney, one at each end of the street, were converging on the alley where she and Arthur were hiding, and Cyclops's remaining eye was fixed on her.

Chapter 8

#arthur havisham #dickensian #arthur havisham fic #arthur havisham x ofc #joseph quinn fic #joseph quinn

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jiliansky-blog · 2 years ago

Text

Tale as old as time. Day 1. Arrival

Pairing: Morpheus x FairyPrincessReader

Rating: PG

Words: 1800~

Note: I decided that it will be poppy instead of rose, because it symbolize death and dream.

Eveline

When I appeared in Dreaming, it almost felt like home. Colors, butterflies, flowers. Very beautiful landscapes. Maybe I like this place better than I thought. I had thought that this realm would be dark and threatening, like a nightmare. But the opposite was the case. But will anyone meet me there? "Greetings, my lady," I suddenly heard a woman's voice. "I am Lucienne. The right hand and librarian of Lord Morpheus." "Um, hello," I said. "But I can not see you." "Forgive the inconvenience, my lady," Lucienne said. "You may follow my voice. I will lead you to the castle and then to your room." "Will Lord Morpheus receive me?" I said and walked towards the castle. "He will, but later," replied the woman. "He is busy at the moment and apologizes for not being able to meet you himself". I saw the beautiful castle guarded by dragons, griffins and chimeras. The castle was almost as magnificent as my mother's castle. But I was still impressed. "Let us go, my lady," Lucienne said. "You probably want to see your room and the rest of the castle". "I am," I confessed. "I am pretty curious". "You can go anywhere except the desert at the end of the country," she said, "which can be dangerous. And some other spaces. My master will tell you." "How mysterious," I remarked, intrigued. "Please, do not risk it", she sighed, "it can be really dangerous". "All right," I replied. "Here's your room, my lady," she said. We stood in front of the green door. When I opened it, I saw a big room, a huge bedroom, books and a closet. Everything was beautiful and in bright colors, which reminded me a bit of home. "It's wonderful," I sighed. "Thank you." "I am glad, my lady," Lucienne said. "I am sure Lord Morpheus will be pleased to hear that. You can get some rest. Dinner will be served soon. "Very well," I smiled. "Thank you again, Lucienne." "You are welcome, my lady," she replied, closing the door and leaving me alone. At least, that's what I thought.

I've been thinking about what Lord Morpheus looks like. Why he wanted me in his castle and rejected my mother. She said he was arrogant, cold, distant, and sometimes even cruel. That he couldn't really love, and if he did, it would only bring suffering. I wanted so much to help Mother, but now I'm not sure what to do. Suddenly I heard knocking at the window. But of course I didn't see anyone there. But I decided to open the window anyway. "Hello?" I said. "Hi," I heard the man's voice. "I know you can't see me, but I'm the raven. My name is Mathew. Nice to have you here." "Nice to meet you, Mathew," I smiled. "Is it true that you're the Fairy Princess?" he asked. "I'm the Fairy Princess, yes," I smiled. "Have you never met a fairy before?" "No, I was human before I became a raven," he replied. "And I've only ever heard or read stories about fairies".

"Oh, I see," I nodded. "My people stopped visiting the human kingdom a long time ago".

"Too bad, really," Mathew admitted, making me giggle. "You would not like a fairy humor, I can assure you," I said. "So, what are your plans now?" he asked. "This place should be a little different from your world," he said. "Now I am waiting for dinner with Lord Morpheus," I replied. "But then I do not know... it will depend on him". "You should not be afraid of his behavior," he said. "He can be cold, but he's just bad at dealing with emotions. He is not that scary". "Will he be invisible, too?" I asked. "And what happened to you?" "Mathew!" I suddenly heard Lucienne's voice. "Do not disturb our guest. She needs to get ready for dinner." "Okay, okay," Mathew said, flying to the window. "It's nice to meet you, princess. I hope we can talk later." "Absolutely," I smiled and turned to Lucienne, who could probably stand. "My master sent you the dress," and she showed a beautiful pink dress. "She asked me to tell you that it's up to you what you wear," I said. "Thank you, Lucienne," I replied.

“How much time do I have?” “Twenty minutes, my lady”, said the librarian. “Does that mean he is ready?” I asked and took the dress. Why not dress it? It’s not my color, but the dress is good and the gesture also is very sweet. “Almost, my lady”, the woman answered. “Very well”, I answered. “Then I will be ready in five minutes”. “Yes, my lady”, she said and left the room I changed my dress and looked in a big mirror. Is it how he saw me? An innocent maiden? Perhaps, it’s not a bad thing. Good, that he didn’t send the black dress. My mother said, that he always wears black. But she doesn’t say anything about his look. Is he handsome or not? I stepped out of the room and Lucienne coughed. Perhaps, to take my attention. She was clearly waiting for me. “Are you ready, my lady?” she asked. “I am”, I said. “But I am a little bit nervous about the meeting”. “Don’t be, Mathew was right”, Lucienne’s voice sounds softer. “Our lord isn’t so scary”. “Fine”, I sighed. “Show me the way then”. She led me with the sound of her voice to the huge room with a big table and chairs. Though no one was there yet. “I’m first”, I admitted. “Lord Morpheus will join you soon”, she replied. “Meanwhile you can decide what you want to taste for dinner?”

“I want a dandelion wine and also fruits”, I said. “And I like to try whatever you suggest. I like to try new things”. “Very well, my lady”, and there came silence. Invisible servants began to bring food and wine to the table, but still, there was no sign of Lord Morpheus. Why is he being late? Curiosity then changes to annoyance. I was a princess and I shouldn’t tolerate such an attitude. Mother would be angry and leave this place. But I just started my dinner in loneliness. Then I heard the footsteps. I hope it was the King of dreams. But I saw no one and heard Lucienne’s voice. She sounds apologetic. “I’m sorry, my lady”, she said. “But Lord Morpheus couldn’t join you for dinner”. “What? Why?” I was disappointed. “Is that how he treats his guests and his bride-to-be?” “He…doesn’t feel well”, she hesitated and replied. “He is really sorry and asked to say that he will do everything right next time”. “Should I now have all the dinners in solitude?” I asked. “I would like at least talk to him. If it’s possible”. “I will tell your words to my Lord”, she replied. “What else do you wish for tonight, my lady?” “A walk after dinner and a conversation with lord Morpheus later”, I replied. “As you wish, my lady”, Lucienne said. “Do you need company for a walk?” “No, I can do it myself today”, I said. “Very well”, she replied. “Have a good evening, my lady”. I feel frustrated. First, he wanted me here and now he declined his company. What am I? A flower or a statue or just some beautiful object? I was drinking my wine for some time and then decided that a walk will be a nice idea. I need to get acknowledge myself in the castle. The corridors were long and dark. There were many rooms. And soon I appeared in a big throne room. It was beautiful. I see a starry sky in the cellar. And high and long stairs to the throne. It was dark there, so I couldn’t see anything or anyone there. But I felt a presence. “Who is there?” I asked. “Who showed you the way here?” I heard a deep velvet voice. It made me shiver and cause goosebumps on my skin. “No one”, I answered. “I found myself. Lord…Morpheus?’ “You shouldn’t be here”, he said from the darkness. “Not now”. “Excuse me, but you sent for me”, I replied annoyed. “You wanted me to be here. And I wanted for you at the dinner”. “My apologies”, he said calmly. “But I couldn’t attend our rendezvous”. “That you owned an explanation why”, I said. “I don’t owe you anything, princess”, his voice now sounds threatening. “I’m in my own kingdom and don’t owe anything to anyone”. “Is that how you treat your guests and betrothed?” I said annoyed. “Very well!”. And I quickly left the room and I have never wished to find my room quickly. And for some reason, I indeed found it pretty quickly. My eyes prickled with unshed angry tears. Mother was right. He was arrogant and cold. Why was I thinking that this can change because of me? Maybe, tomorrow will be better. Perhaps, he will show up, apologize and say what got into him. Or otherwise, it won’t be another home, but the prison.

Morpheus

I growled from frustration and went to my chambers. The poppy was still there. The magical flower which I didn’t expect to receive. And it was so a deadly gift. And I couldn’t think that I probably ruin everything.

“My lord?” I heard the voice of Lucienne. “May I?”

“You may”, I answered.

“You don’t need to be so rude to the princess”, she noticed. “She is here willingly. And she can help you”.

“I know”, I sighed. “It's just hard due to…all the reasons why I’m like this now”.

“And also you need to remember, my lord, that she is a princess too”, Lucienne continued. “She didn’t use to this treatment. And your absence during the dinner doesn’t help too. You have never thought much of your appearance before”.

“This time is different”, I said.

“And why is that?” she asked. “Do you afraid that she won’t like you? And if you won’t meet her how you will get along together?”

“Oh yeah”, I heard Mathew’s voice also. “Right now you have all the chances that she will escape earlier, that the month ended”.

«Mathew!” Lucienne sighed heavenly.

No matter that Mathew was annoying, he was right. I remembered the angry tears, shining in the princess’s eyes. Even so, she partially was responsible for my condition, she doesn’t know about it. It won’t be better, if I will make her run away.

“You are all right”, I agreed. “I will try to be more patient with her”.

“You need to do something nice to her”, the bird said. “Maybe, something romantic. Some sign of attention, you know”.

“I will think about it”, I nodded. “Now you are all free to go”.

And there came silence. I believe that my subjects left the room and I was alone again.

@ladymoztaza

#morpheus x reader #dream x reader #the sandman x reader #sandman fanfiction #the sandman

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2n2n · 2 years ago

Note

How did you find out about JSHK? I mean it’s not that well-known so I’m curious about it, personally I wanted a peaceful manga *cough cough* but I definitely don’t regret it! It gave me so much emotions… to me it’s a masterpiece

Well. I don't know how to say this. I'm sorry if this isn't the answer you wanted. I'm just... a shotacon... by design.... by nature, so, I've been 'aware' of its existence for a long time, as anything within my interests comes to be known. 'The grapevine', I suppose? I'd seen manga panels just floating around, like this, for years

I actually wrote it off initially because, while Hanako looked great, I don't actually get much out of the BL-bait-y genre haha (sordid past). I thought it was probably of a similar tenor to Black Butler, or even something like Ouran Highschool Host Club. That kind of... genre-referential humor, wackiness nonsense... as it was a shounen, probably interspersed by fighting or something... I didn't really want to bother. If I chased after every manga with some nasty black-haired boy.................. the TOILET themeing KINDOF increased the impression that it would be an onslaught of off-color gags, LOL. This image was really like, "ok, looks like he's putting a condom on his tongue, Like Those Images You Know"-- DIDN'T HELP HIS CASE!

Whenever anyone of my general interests liked it, they also treated it as a nasty manga? I guess I never observed anyone who really stanned it; anyone I knew tangentially even was like, "hot twin stuff" "skanky ghost boy" so I was like, I don't really need that ... *shrugs*

It's kinda interesting, you know, but I feel like almost all chatter misrepresented the manga? Whether it was, "it's a funny peaceful silly comedy" or "it's a dirty fuckfest", neither actually pays dues to the heartfelt, romantic, carefully woven nature of JSHK. The story itself. I agree with you, it's a masterpiece. And reading Iro's other writing, and seeing Aida + Iro's friendship over the many years (they post so many chats and convos... from their old blog to twitter), ah there's this unbelievable charm and charisma, a wonderfully infectious energy....? It's so unique. I guess all the frivolity of the manga, that's also kinda present in AidaIro's entire online presence over years, whether Aida is tattling on Iro for stealing the Bavarian cream off her parfait, or Iro's reporting a nightmare they had about a scary MILF chasing them + Aida, or Iro's mishearing Aida saying 'gingerbread' as 'ginger blood' to a cashier, or the both of them discussing what panties characters of theirs would wear, it's all heartfelt... it comes out in the manga, maybe. I'm more familiar with a typical slightly contentious Mangaka+editor relationship...

There are a ton of images and pages that I think, "I would have read this in a heartbeat if you'd only showed me this first". Aida's art alone is drop-dead gorgeous and I never saw anyone pointing to the background composition, color blocking, expressions, etc, which would have totally sold me instantaneously too... I was either seeing the most salacious caps or panels, or the more plain stuff, something funny maybe, I wasn't being shown like, this stuff.... (I know some things are more recent, just bare with me for what I have saved already to give an IDEA)

I was never given an impression it could be so loving, so careful, so impassioned, so loaded with delicate themes and symbols...

EVEN SPEAKING TO MY MOST CRUUUDE NATURE, you could have forced me to read JSHK instantly by showing me this image...............

I would have said, "I gotta-- gotta get in that," ahaha...

for the record though the nastiness is still... there, and a charm point of it all, it's just kinda fascinating it is threaded with all the heartfelt stuff. I mean Iro will be out there joking that if you tell 100 dirty stories rumor is the Molester Woman will show up. They are. Irreverent and the manga IS loaded with salacious imagery, its actually just... more, interesting, the interplay of all of this, watching it all happen. Feeling like I'm going to cry and also feeling like, baited. I do not think I have ever read anything that did both make me think and feel agony and also make me look at tied up boys. Sometimes at the same time....

#avvy's JSHK

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bradfordchens · 6 years ago

Photo

Shelli Anderson + the pilot pjs

#roadiesedit #shelli anderson #shelliandersonedit #carlaguginoedit #carla gugino #liz's edit tag #gifs: roadies #ch: shelli anderson #tv: roadies #this look truly does so many things for me #in case anyone was curious coloring this show is a nightmare #i'm convinced showtime filmed it with a camcorder covered in cellophane tape

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vanessagillings · 4 years ago

Photo

Some of you may have seen the color rough of this in my instagram stories, but I finally got around to scanning the paintings I created over my winter break. Here’s the first one -- a little bit of Hilda fan art. I love that show so much! The second I saw this scene, I knew I had to paint it.

This painting also served as technique experiment. If you’d like to read the nitty gritty technical details, click below~

Okay, so.

I paint in winsor newton gouache watered down like watercolor. I do this because gouache doesn’t bleed like watercolor does, meaning it’s easier to get crisp, solid shapes. Ever had trouble getting watercolor to not look blotchy? I recommend trying watered-down gouache! The major draw back of gouache is that there are fewer colors available (especially that are lightfast, non-toxic, and permanent) and sometimes you want colors to blend and the paint just isn’t going to do that for you.

But painting thinly in gouache has one other large draw back: unlike opaque gouache, I can’t paint light colors on top of dark. With watercolor-like paints, you must move from light to dark and can’t make corrections. I’ve developed a few tricks over the years to get around this (super clean wet paper towels work like watercolor erasers for one!), but mostly I’ve just gotten really good at painting it right the first time...as time consuming as that is. If you’re curious to see some process shots, I upload them for most of my pieces to my instagram stories, and some are highlighted. But anyway, most of my paintings take around 4-6 hours just to paint, not including all the lead up time of sketching, color-roughing, and transferring. The more complex ones, 12 hours or more.

Lately, however, I’ve learned a cool new technique!

In the past, I’ve tried painting light colors more opaquely in winsor newton gouache on top of my thinner winsor newton dark washes without much success (it just soaks in) -- but it turns out you CAN paint holbein acryla gouache on top of winsor newton without it simply disappearing! The little hexagon-ish shapes up there were painted in holbein after the rest of the piece was completed (the white circles are white gel pen). For best results, I recommend not mixing the holbein acryla gouache with any other gouaches, including winsor newton. I used completely different palettes and brushes for them (it’s a sticky paint and hard to clean!). Instead of using these paints like more colors to add into my usual ones, I instead use them like correction fluid and in moderation. Just like with winsor newton, I recommend checking the lightfastness and permanency of each color, but more of holbein’s range is lightfast (likely because it’s plastic).

With this technique, I’ve been able to not only paint small details in lighter colors after a series of dark washes but have been able to mix matching colors in holbein to make corrections to my winsor newton, too. The best method for making the two paints blend into each other (so it doesn’t look like thick paint is sitting on top of the thinner paint underneath) is to not paint the holbein TOO thickly; instead, paint just opaquely enough to cover what’s below.

Another example of this technique is my new year’s piece, which I actually painted after this one -- the little confettis were painted with holbein, as well as the ribbons. It meant I didn’t have to be TOO perfect with my background washes because I could go back in and correct in a way that wasn’t noticeable...and it meant I didn’t have to try to paint AROUND all those little confettis, I mean talk about a nightmare. And let me tell you, not having to paint around every tiny detail saves a ton of time! I time myself for every painting in hour-long pomodoros, and paintings that would have once taken 12 hours now take around 4. That new year’s piece would have once taken me two work days, but took only one. GAME CHANGER.

So I just had to share, in case anyone wanted to try the technique. I know lots of artists paint opaque gouache on top of watercolor washes, and this is kind of a similar idea to that...but I wanted to avoid the two paints looking different, and wanted it to look like I had painted the entire piece with one technique. Painting in washes is still a perfectionist’s technique and you still have to get almost everything right on the first pass, but so long as you don’t overdo the areas painted in holbein acryla gouache on top, this method will let you paint tiny corrections and tiny details!

Hope someone found this useful! 🦊💛

#hilda season 2 spoilers #hilda season two spoilers #hilda fan art #children's illustration #children's illustrator #gouache #gouache painting

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mousetrap-if · 3 years ago

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Mousetrap is now live on itch.io!

Well folks, it happened. Mousetrap was submitted last night to @interact-if's 2022 ranked game jam and is available to play on itch.io. The game is still a work in progress and, at this point, only a demo for the full story. Hope you enjoy it!

Click Here to Play

You're one of the many overworked interns working at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Imogen, a category three hurricane, would soon hit Orlando, Florida, your employers asked for volunteers to remain in the parks during the storm, promising triple pay for at least 24 hours. You and your friend seized the opportunity. After all, Whimsey wouldn't ask its cast members to stay behind if it was potentially dangerous.

That's what you assumed before you were knocked unconscious. Before you woke up in a costume chained to your friend and three strangers. Before Dickey the Rat informed you and your "team" that you get $250,000 for each person you kill. Before the neurotoxins pumping through the park's air system began to loosen your grip on reality. Before nightmares and the real world bled into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can't wake up from.

If you survive the storm (and the things lurking within it), you'll win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But how far are you willing to go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests and satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play in it?

Twine Word Count: 53,625 with code (maybe like 48-50k without? idk, I write with code so I don't know how to estimate that)

Average Playthrough: 30 minutes (around 12-15k words)

And, is the game finished? Oh, no! Definitely not. This is far from the full story or the finished product (there are literally debug links that I forgot to take out in the very first passage).

Lots of content and features will be coming out in the near future alongside the patching that needs to take place. Details below.

The next update will hopefully be on March 5th (though I'm a university student dealing with midterms so that may change). Further updates will be announced on the Mousetrap blog (linked here).

Truly, from the bottom of my heart. I greatly appreciate all of the interest, support, and feedback that I've received on this project and others. If you're enjoying Mousetrap so far, please consider rating the game or leaving a comment on itch.io, reblogging this post, or sharing the game with a friend (or enemy, coworker, acquaintance, pet, stranger, distant cousin, really anyone/thing who you think might like it).

To read about some of my other projects, check out my personal game dev blog @gamesbyalbie or my project-specific blogs like @hadeskitchen or @zorlok-if.

(PS: The original extremely sleep-deprived version of this post has been preserved under the cut for posterity's sake)

Have a Magical Day!

ORIGINAL POST:

Well, I'm mentally and physically exhausted (literally falling asleep as I'm writing this so, this may be a little loopy too). BUT, Mousetrap was submitted to the game jam and is now live on the Itch.io store.

This is not the finished game (like there are debug links on the very first passage that I forgot to turn off, but I'll be updating this with plenty of fixes and a lot more content as soon as I'm allowed to).

Total word count (with code since I write with code) is over 53k words. Average playtime is about a half hour. For a game that I've conceived and written in just one already busy month, I'm pretty happy with that. (except for the debug links, those are bugging the shit out of me)

BONUS - in case you wanted to know what stress looks like:

Also, color me curious, if you want to and have the time to do so, let me know what choices you made (dream, relationships, role, route, etc.).

Tomorrow I'll be returning to Tumblr and catching up on everything I've missed. Have a great [insert your time here]! I'm falling asleep

asdlkfja kjd

( ^ imagine that was my head hitting the keyboard, that's what it feels like I'm about to do)

Okay, I'm going to sleep.

#mousetrap #mousetrap demo #interactive fiction #interactif game jam #horror #twine game #update #develpoment

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imgoingtohellsofuckit · 4 years ago

Text

Oops

Spencer Reid x Reader

Warnings - criminal minds based mentions of violence (not really), drinking

Summary - When something slips out at the round table things between the Reader and Spencer get really awkward

(i got the idea from notjoselyn on tiktok)

Y/n walks alongside Penelope as they move through the BAU bullpen. Talking about the girls' night plans the girls have been working on for the last couple of weeks. "That club would be so fun," Y/n says brightly, "but did everyone agree? I mean it's a little you know loud and crazy."

"I mean Emily is always down," Penelope says, "especially when I ask her... And JJ needs a minute away from her kids. Even if she won't admit it."

"Little angels my ass," Y/n chuckles as they reach the round table, "oh my I have the cutest dress to wear. It's a little- you know."

"Oh, I do know," Penelope says smirking lightly, "you're gonna look hot!"

"Mmm you just wait and see," Y/n chuckles.

"Wait and see what?" Spencer asks as he joins the two at the table. The girls chuckle lightly as Spencer looks between them. "What?"

"Well, boy wonder we are talking about our upcoming girls' night," Penelope tells him, "specifically about the dress miss Y/n here is going to wear." Y/n chuckles lightly. Spencer nods lightly. "What color is it?"

"Black," Y/n tells her, "a little black dress moment you know?"

"Yes!" Penelope says brightly, "oh I can't wait." Y/n chuckles lightly. "I have this really cute dress picked out- it's purple very sparkly. Very eye-catching."

"Hot," Y/n says playfully. Spencer looks slightly amused with the banter. "I just hope JJ can keep up. I mean with all the mom duties she's been slacking behind on girls' nights... I feel like we are gonna exhaust her."

"Redbull drinks exist for a reason," Penelope says.

"Right," Y/n says.

"What even happens on a girls' night?" Spencer asks.

"Chaos," Y/n tells him, "We all drink until we can't stand. Dance with strangers. Leave the FBI training at home and have fun."

"Sounds dangerous," Spencer says, "do you have a designated driver?"

"Uber," Penelope tells him.

"That's not safe," Spencer says, "do you guys not pay attention to the cases we get? How many of the girls we see started out at some random bar?"

"If you're so worried you be our dd," Y/n offers. He looks between the two girls carefully.

"Fine," He says, "I'll go."

"You can't go," Emily says as she and JJ join them at the round table, "it's girls' night."

"I won't ruin the fun I'll just keep you from dying," Spencer says, "1 in 5 violent victimizations involving perceived alcohol use by the offender."

"That's ruining the fun Spence," JJ says placing her hand on his shoulder, "we are big girls-"

"No no, he wants to be DD then let him," Y/n says, "we save uber money that way. Plus he can't be the one that gets to play wheres, Emily."

"Or Can we keep clothes on Penelope," JJ chuckles. Y/n nods lightly. Spencer raises a brow lightly. "Just remember you signed up for this." Rossi and Hotch join the others in the room. The conversation shifts from reckless drinking to the cases they are supposed to be consulting on. "I'd say, sadist."

"Profiler JJ always comes through," Y/n says smiling lightly. The blonde chuckles lightly. "I mean it profiles relatively simple... This all the cops have?"

"Yes," Hotch answers her, "I think what we have so far is all that we'll be able to give them based on the files they sent." They all nod lightly. Handing the files over to Penelope as they move to the next one. After six or seven more cases the attention starts to shift. Small conversations breaking out around the table. Y/n tries her best to focus but the words were all blurring together.

"So are the girls' night plans always this dangerous?" Spencer asks her. Clearly more curious than he's trying to let on.

"You worried about me?" Y/n teases lightly.

"Well yeah," Spencer says, "I'm worried about all of you... I mean it's really risky going out like that- not that I'm saying you guys can't take care of yourselves but- you know what we see. The statistics show how dangerous it is."

"I understand what you're saying but we watch out for each other," Y/n assures him, "and besides with you babysitting us we will have a knight in shining armor to save us if it goes too far."

"You don't think it'll look weird with me watching a group of girls?" Spencer asks.

"You're right," Y/n says, "we should ask Morgan if he wants to go."

"Go where?" Morgan says looking from his conversation with Hotch.

"To this new club," Y/n tells him, "tonight with the girls and Spencer."

"Spencer?" Morgan asks clearly shocked at the addition of the younger man.

"Don't be so surprised," Emily says, "he offered to make sure us ladies got home alright." Morgan nods lightly.

"Yeah and you can make him feel a little less left out," Y/n offers, "make it seem less like he's babysitting... Rossi, Hotch if you want to come as well we can make it a team thing."

"If it's a team thing then I want everyone to forget what happens when we leave this office," Penelope says, "whatever happens when we drink stays in the safety of the club."

"Jack has a sleepover," Hotch tells them, "maybe another time." They all look to Rossi. The older man chuckles.

"I think my clubbing days are past me," Rossi tells them, "plus its poker night."

"Lame," Emily teases lightly, "Morgan will you at least come?"

"Of course," Morgan says, "I don't wanna leave our boy genius all alone." Y/n looks back to Spencer and smiles lightly. Trying to get back to her work. The boy keeps his eyes on her. She looks up carefully. He smiles to deflect the fact he's been staring at her.

"That necklace looks really nice on you," Spencer tells her. She smirks lightly.

"Thanks," Y/n says, "but your hands would look nicer." The words leave her mouth before she can process what she said. She freezes at once as the table looks around in slight amusement and shock at what just happened. Y/n's eyes widen in horror. Rossi laughs lightly.

"At least let him take you out on a date first," Rossi jokes. Y/n looks up to Spencer who's still frozen. His mouth slightly open as if all words are suddenly lost to him. Morgan just laughs loudly at the situation. Y/n can feel her face go red. She moves covering her mouth lightly.

"Did she really?" Penelope starts.

"Oh she did," Emily says in pure amusement.

Y/n closes the file and moves to stand up.

"I'm gonna walk out the door," She says slowly, "and when I walk back in here we can pretend that it never happened."

"Please," Hotch says. She nods quickly. Walking out the door. She takes a lap around the BAU in an attempt to work through the crippling embarrassment this situation is going to bring her for the next forty years. She can already tell she's gonna see this in her nightmares.

Back at the table, Spencer is still frozen.

"She broke him," Emily chuckles as JJ waves her hand in front of Spencer's eyes. He blinks quickly. He looks over the others.

"Did that actually just happen?" Spencer asks them finally. They nod lightly. His face is bright red. Suddenly that big brain of his is nothing more than a peanut. When Y/n steps back into the room he's still in slight shock. She shuffles nervously back into her seat beside Spencer. Making a point to not make eye contact with anyone.

"I'm never going to live that down am I?" She whispers over to Penelope. The blond chuckles awkwardly.

"Oh no honey," Penelope says, "probably note."

"Oh goddammit," Y/n says softly. She moves the file lifting it to cover her face.

Meanwhile, in Spencer's big brain he's trying to process that the girl he's had a crush on for years said that his hands would look good around her neck. He tries to explain it in any way that makes sense but he's out of luck there. All he can think is what just happened?

Y/n's thankful when Hotch dismisses them back to their desks to work on their reports. She's suddenly very grateful for having the desk furthest away from Spencer. She can't even begin to think about what the hell she'd say to him to clear all this up. And Spencer and Emily laughing lightly don't help at all. She can just imagine all the things he's saying. Not to mention him avoiding her eyes at all cost.

Her face is still bright red when she shuffles into the elevator to head home later. However, life is forever cruel. Instead of giving her an empty elevator to escape to Hotch and Emily jump in beside her. She chuckles nervously.

"I'm not going to say anything," Hotch tells her, "just- try not to say anything like that while we're trying to work."

"Right," Y/n says softly.

"Where did that even come from?" Emily asks leaning forward to get a look at the girl. Y/n chuckles nervously.

"You're gonna have to get me drunk before I answer that," Y/n says carefully, "mostly because that's the only way you're gonna get me to talk about what is probably one of the top ten most embarrassing things that I've ever done." Emily chuckles lightly.

"Well, then the first round is on me."

When she meets back up with Emily the other girl is pretty much shoving a drink into her hand. Y/n takes it without a word. Knocking back the shot eagerly at the thought the others would be meeting them soon. More so that she's going to have to see Spencer... Considering she invited him.

"Oh, you do look hot!" Penelope exclaims as she and the others move to join the two girls. Penelope engulfs Y/n into a hug. Clearly excited to see her outside of the work setting. "Oh and look at you, Emily!" As Y/n's eyes settle on Spencer she starts to panic.

"I'm gonna go get our first round," Y/n says planning her escape route in her mind. Before the others can say anything she's rushing off to the bar. She orders the drinks quickly. Trying to focus on the bartender's movements.

"Hey," A soft voice says. She turns to look at Spencer. She turns back to the bar immediately. Spencer looks at her slightly confused. "You shouldn't walk off alone it's dangerous." The bartender sets the tray down. She takes it eagerly.

"You could see me from the table," Y/n says trying her best to not look at the boy. He follows her carefully as she hurries through the crowd back to the table. She sets the drinks down at once. "To the BAU!" The others grab the shots eagerly. She takes hers knocking it back quickly. Spencer looks over her carefully.

"Oh, I love this song!" Penelope says as she drags Y/n off to the dance floor. Emily follows. The second they get to the floor y/n tries not to focus on the awkwardness. Instead pushing her attention onto dancing with her friends.

"So?" Emily asks, "where did that come from?"

"Deep in my subconscious," Y/n answers, "you know I've always had a thing for Reid but- I can't believe I said that out loud!"

"I thought I was dreaming!" Emily chuckles as she moves her hips to the beat, "but Hotch's face- that was real."

"So was Spencer's heart attack!" Y/n adds, "did you see him? I thought he was going into shock!"

"I think he did," Emily says over the music. The two chuckle lightly. Emily looks over to the boy. Elbowing Y/n to look as well. They see him drinking out of a water bottle as he looks over the crowd carefully. Morgan talking to him about something that seemed serious. Spencer looks like he's turning red again.

"He looks good tonight," Y/n says to Emily, "the whole sweater and tie combo." Y/n bites her lip lightly. Emily chuckles.

"Maybe you can have his hands as a necklace then?" Emily teases. Y/n scoffs lightly. "Go talk to him- now."

"Why?"

"Because I said so," Emily says, "and you trust me with your life." Y/n sighs lightly. "Come on." She doesn't get a chance to argue. Emily yanks the girl along the dance floor before practically shoving her into the booth. Then Emily looks to Morgan. "Let's get another round." The two are gone before Y/n has a chance to process her thoughts. Spencer smiles lightly.

"Hey," He says softly.

"Hey," Y/n says, "how's the- weather?"

"Fine," Spencer says, "about earlier-"

"I know over the line," Y/n starts.

"You think about that often?" He asks. Y/n's eyes widen at his words. Layers of confidence and the slight smirk on his face make her wonder if she blackout and this was a dream.

"Uh- well I," She mumbles lightly. Spencer leans over to her ear.

"Cause we can make it happen," Spencer whispers. Y/n steps back at once. Spencer looks at her carefully. "Shit Morgan said the wouldn't sound creepy. I'm sorry- I just was trying to be flirty." Y/n looks at him carefully. As if she's deciding him if he's real or not.

"Wait so you don't think I'm a freak?" Y/n asks him carefully.

"No no- I was just kinda taken back," Spencer admits, "I mean I'm not exactly used to hearing that." Y/n chuckles lightly. "But you know- we could?"

"Hmm- I don't think they'd notice if we left," Y/n chuckles lightly. Spencer bites his lip lightly.

"Well if you don't think they'd notice," Spencer says. Y/n chuckles grabbing his home to pull him along the bar to get to his car.

They absolutely noticed.

#spencer reid #dr spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid one shot #spencer reid Criminal Minds #criminal minds x reader #Criminal Minds

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tsunonotarou · 4 years ago

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LEONA, JADE, FLOYD, ROOK’s ↷

reaction when S/O gets jealous and protective

notes: I notice us writers mostly write about—usually the canon male/female—being dominant and the other party is timid and shy, while I love that concept and idea since I’m a submissive bitch myself, I feel like we should get more S/O or reader who gets protective and goes grr

: gender-neutral reader!

LEONA KINGSCHOLAR

So there’s this crazy bitch who’s all over Leona ever since he was fucking born

They’re from a neighboring country and have been obsessed with Leona when they first saw him (honestly same) and as much as Leona didn’t want to admit it felt like heaven to attend Night Raven College because they’re AWAY from him

Magift is a nightmare because it’s open for everyone from everywhere to attend so he had already expected them

He planned to ignore them and steers clear of them as usual but they were extra persistent today

If they’re a guy Leona would have no problem scaring them away with a growl and possible threats

If they’re a girl though, it’s not going to be easy for Leona since he was raised to treat females with respect but then again, he knows that she does not deserve it

He also knows that you’re seething with anger

Your crossed arms while shifting your weight from side to side showed your frustration and impatience for them to get off

At this point he’d try harder and uses more of his energy to deal with them (he was a little lazy before) and tell them to go away but they just kept clinging and clinging

Leona’s eyes widened when you shoved them away, hard but not hard enough to make them fall on the ground and scrape their knee, just enough to keep them away

Your own arms wrapped around his and you stuck close, head resting on his shoulder, nuzzling your nose against his neck or trail your fingers a little lower on his waist than usual, anything to send the message across as you stare boredly at the ever persistent troublesome person

“Piss off.”

Normally people would get embarrassed/awkward after this and they’d leave but if they’re still on about it, pull Leona in for a kiss

A long, deep and passionate kiss from you sends him off the edge as he grabs you, smirking slightly at your behavior and also at the outsider staring at the both of you furiously

Will never let you forget this because he teases you almost everyday about this

If you're naturally a timid and shy person it's gonna be hell for you, because Leona is going to tease you ten times more

"Hey remember that time when you-" You smacked his head, hard.

"I don't regret it though, they were too close and I don't like it." Your adorable pout and red blush from his teasings only made his grin wider, and his heart racing faster

Proud of his herbivore, 100/10, would definitely want to see you getting protective again

JADE LEECH

They shamelessly flirted with him in Mostro Lounge, right in front of you

Constantly asking for Jade's assistance, ordering more and more just to have Jade serve them and if he's not available, they'll throw a tantrum

Of course Jade know about boundaries, he'd never want to make his lover upset, but then again, he's also curious as to what you'll do

Will you sit there and watch? Pout and wait for them to finally go away when Mostro Lounge closes? Be extra clingy with him afterwards? Silently cursing them? Or will you choose the popular trope of getting back at him by being physically close to another person?

Whatever you chose, he sure did not expect you to have a smile on your face as you call out to him, you are sitting just two seats away from them on the stool, so it is fairly easy to catch his attention without you trying to desperately cut off the one-sided conversation

You did what they couldn't. Holding his hand loosely as you talked about something semi-private (?)

"Hey, Jade. Where did I put my clothes again? That cream colored one. I know it's in your room but is it on the bed or bathroom? Have you seen it? Gotta go check it later..." To indicate that you've been to his room, countless of times

"Ah! I think you left your jacket in my room. Be sure to take it back before you go back to your dorm, okay?"

While Jade watches you and reply with an amused expression

This got them clenching fists and gritting teeth, and Jade can't exactly ignore them when they call for him since they're a customer, even if he's enjoying this a lot

You'd also pull on your clothes, kind of like flapping them when you're hot—even though it's quite chilly in Mostro Lounge—just to show them the bite marks Jade left the day before

*Thought I'd put this out just in case anyone misunderstands, y'all didn't have sex lmao because Jade is under 18, but he does leave bite marks every now and then ;)

When he does get away from their conversation and goes to you, like with Leona, you'd linger your hands a little lower on his waist than usual, or brush the bite marks you left that escaped the covers of his shirt collar

Nevertheless, expect Jade shaking his head when Mostro Lounge finally closes and them finally gone, though he can't hide the smile on his face

"My, my, I never knew you'd get to this point to drive them away."

He will forever remember this moment and the act you've pulled, truly memorable

FLOYD LEECH

The basketball team is having a friendly match with another school and the other school's team happen to have a manager

And man were they PERSISTENT

Offering to refill NRC's water bottles too when they went to refill for their own school's

Of course you're thankful for their help and thought it was out of pure kindness, but when their fingers brush over Floyd's for a little too long to hand him his water bottle and stays longer with Floyd than with other basketball players you knew something was wrong

Are they hitting on Floyd???

Ace and Jamil picked up on it and glances over you, with Ace shit talking about them and "If they're gonna do it, at least try to do it right." while criticizing their lame flirting skills and Jamil disapproving of their actions when Floyd clearly has a lover

Even if they're from another school, saying you didn't know is a lame excuse, not with how painfully different Floyd is with you than with others, it was obvious you two are together

Floyd, of course, is not dumb and oblivious and he is beyond annoyed at their constant touches and babblings he had no intention to listen to

Before Floyd could threaten to squeeze them to death, you're wrapping arms around his figure and called them out on their antics

"Don't you have your own team to attend to? Stop flirting with my boyfriend, he's not interested, take a sign."

Ace spit out his water and choked (yes he laughed)

Poor student scurried back to their own team's side and stayed there, as they should

Floyd would not care about attention as he picked you up in his arms, hugging you tightly and nuzzling close to you

"Shrimpyyy~! I love this side of you! Why haven't I seen it before?"

He probably already forgot about that student's existence as he only thinks of your jealous gazes and protective arms around him

Expect him to ask you to act like that again randomly, being all brave and calling people out, he loves this side of you!

ROOK HUNT

Rook is a social butterfly and will talk to anyone in anywhere

Much like Jade, he never intended to hurt his lover and upset them, but he's itching to know what you'll do. He has extremely good eyesight and knew you were close by, listening in to their conversation, possibly with a frown

Ah, a frown on your lips. That's not a sight he'd want to see! But the urge to reveal what kind of moves you'd make is stronger, so he refrained from walking away and chatted on

A smile played on his lips as he watches you stomp over, not sparing a glance to the other person as you locked your arms around his waist, tightly, then began to attempt to lift him up

...it didn't work

You didn't have enough strength so instead of lifting him over your shoulder (like what Rook usually do) you grabbed his gloves hand and dragged him away

Rook was certainly surprised, a big grin on his face as he laughed his heart out, bidding goodbye to the random student who had their mouth wide open

This only made you tug on his arm harder as an annoyed grunt and groan escaped you

When you looked back to them and sent a glare, that's when he lost it

He's sure he fell in love with you even more

When the two of you are alone he'd have your cheeks in his hands, staring at you lovingly, your squishy cheeks, furrowed brows and pouting lips are just too cute for him!

He will assure you that he will never do this again not telling you he was doing it on purpose to see what you'll do because you'll probably hate him his sweet words would surely calm you down

If you ever see Rook suddenly having a smile on his lips, you know that he's thinking about this incident again, and it freaks Vil out

#leona kingscholar x reader #jade leech x reader #floyd leech x reader #rook hunt x reader #twst leona x reader #twst floyd x reader #twst rook x reader #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland leona kingscholar x reader #leona twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland jade leech x reader #twisted wonderland floyd leech x reader #twisted wonderland rook hunt x reader #twst jade x reader

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lovedinapastlife · 4 years ago

Text

~anti~

Brace yourselves! Opinion ahead! Skip if uninterested or anxious about cast commentary and ramblings. This is not aimed at anyone who still enjoys this particular cast member unless you’re curious why people don’t like them. I don’t think any less of someone for enjoying this person in the past or present bc they can put up a good front. I get that Hollywood’s weird. I try to avoid that stuff. But in this case, I couldn’t. I hope you can either respect or ignore where I stand with my opinion. I know we’re all human and make mistakes, but one cast member in particular has bounced out of bounds in a professional setting for years now, so that’s the one I’ll be commenting on. If you want to comment on someone else or defend them, make your own post, live your life, love stuff that’s healthy for ya.

For the love of bughead, I’ve kept my mouth shut about problematic behavior of an actor for a while, because they are separate from their character. But in this fandom in particular I feel like people project their love of this character onto this person, whereas for me, I struggle with the opposite problem of finding it harder to support this actor’s work bc of their atrocious behavior. I don’t condone it. I don’t want to appear to condone it. How do I do that and still participate in fandom that may use his image with a clear conscience? My current answer is to make at least one post (this one) denouncing the actor. I’m not sure if a lot of us are THINKING it and not saying it, but I want to make my stance clear between the divide. At one time, I was happy with a character he played - both in the public and on Riverdale. But the rose-colored glasses were smashed and I’m disgusted on a regular basis by the way he treats people. His tumblr “chameleon/cheating” post from years ago came rearing back into my mind as how sick and selfish a person he could be. Look it up if you’re curious and have a strong stomach.

If you still love him, compartmentalize, enjoy whatever hair he has left before his bad habits mess that up, too. Gaze upon the old gifs of him making heart-eyes or wearing sharp suits, tie him to the character he plays, whatever floats your boat. You can ignore my opinions, some of which are based in fact with interviews, others based on speculation grounded in his public and private behavior that we’ve seen on social media. I’ve read the love blogs and the hate blogs and done my own research since joining fandom. Below is a ranty list why I think he’s an unprofessional, controlling nightmare that I’d like to kick to the tundra where the bears will be the supreme predator and only the penguins will pose for his photographs.

- The hill he wanted to die on as an “Archie comics fan” was Hotdog’s breed. He dug his heels in so much that RAS said they literally didn’t talk for three days. And Mr. Showbiz since diapers didn’t realize that certain dog breeds are harder to train? Come on! It was a stupid power move where he aggressively denied the showrunner to test his boundaries, then tried to play it off as nothing.

- Constantly derailed interviews, disrupted or dismissed costars answers. ComicCon was the most obvious and obnoxious but he’s done it forever, even to flirt. He berates journalists for asking normal questions on a regular basis and constantly disrespects them or tries to make people uncomfortable with sex, “integrity”, weird noises, hair poofs, etc. Always wants to be the coolest, funniest, smartest, most interesting person on the panel, though he treats people like they don’t deserve his presence.

- "Couldn’t stay away” from a costar who was much younger and inexperienced in the industry who initially didn’t show interest in him and stayed in while he partied, then kept it fairly under lock and key until he could control the narrative with a high-profile date and “romantic” title attached to him when he was going to be in a romance movie and could use her for promotion. Not saying he didn’t love her, but for someone concerned with being used, he sure knew when to pick his moments to play the relationship to his advantage. Rarely endorsed his gf’s work outside of “bragging” of how he claimed her, but always promoted certain other people, especially as gf got more prolific. He also publicly taunted his gf when she was working and he had time off in bouts of passive-aggressive bad behavior

- Risked cast and crew by gunning the car during setup of scene - now banned from driving anything onset bc the people at the top couldn’t trust him. Anyone else banned from general behaviors bc they can’t be trusted? Mm no. Oh, and didn’t his gf have to do his makeup for a while because he wouldn’t sit still for anyone else? He posted videos of him biting at makeup brushes and made fun of his costar for doing homework onset. Is he a toddler or a nearly thirty year old “professional” who’s been in the business since diapers?

- Did he ever call off his stans when they attacked his coworkers for kissing scenes with him? Every time a costar made a joke about him, he’d snap back that he was more popular than them and start making personal attacks. It’s like no one’s told him he’s mean instead of funny or charming bc they want to like him, what he was, who he plays on TV, or just avoid confrontation with his stans (and maybe him). People have made comments (and not really in jest) about guys who liked Lili should be careful, bc they wouldn’t want to get on C’s bad side. There was some weird social media behavior there, too, like he was trying to intimidate people who showed aesthetic/romantic interest in her by following them. His whole modus operandi of “stealing people’s phones to make ugly selfie photos is immature and invasive, though it may not harm anyone, it’s still unprofessional that he did or does it so regularly

- Generally one of the only cast members who never promotes the show on sm and makes it obvious he thinks it’s beneath him, despite it being the thing that shot him back into the spotlight/casting offices in general. Makes fun of his young fans or people who actually enjoy the madness of the show, then halfheartedly tries to “win” them back with “baby” content so “studio santas” will still cast him.

- Refused to do a scene because it was cold outside! His costars were in their underwear, and if it was that bad, he did not protect any of them. Then, he bragged about his “special exception” for laziness and unprofessionalism in an interview! Wow! What a catch! /s

- Side note: when his girlfriend costar was so cold her words were slurring in a scene with him, he took no such stance, had her stick her head in the snow for his "art," etc-- oh, also did a whole photoshoot in one of the coldest countries known to man, then posted pictures of himself warming his balls and treating a tall model like a sideshow. Super unprofessional, and marketing himself to the same “immature” young audience he claims to be too good for instead of high fashion as he claims.

- Parties with and photographs extremely young, usually scantily clad girls in the industry that any mature person has no business hanging out with, especially in compromising settings. He likes a lot of suggestive or nude female model pics and meets up with these girls/courts them for “networking” and “portfolio building.” Then, the posts rarely go up, he attempts to have sex with them, and dictate what they can say about the experience or their “working relationship” *cough* Then, he tracks down and berates when their friends call him out on it (whether they want to brag about or cancel him). All this while pretending to be an advocate for models in the public eye. He gaslit former girlfriends about his behavior with models -- I won’t go into ALL the abuse his exes have blatantly and subtly accused him of, but it’s bad stuff, and I believe it. He has said that photography is incredibly sexual to him, basically a kink. If he loves landscapes so much, why isn’t he liking those photos all over the place? Or male models? He liked dog pics for a while, but it’s been mainly girls posing “sexy” for a long time. Signs all over social media point to him being a narcissistic, abusive, cheating addict in more ways than one

- Despite his “no nudity” stance bc of how much models get taken advantage of, he photographed a model topless with clothes over everything else, and has since gotten more bold about sexualizing his models (ass shots of them bent over in bikinis, outtakes of a horse shoot where the model looks like she’s turned on, etc)

- don't even get me started on how gross and predatory he is for sliding into a no-name instamodel's dms fora huge power discrepancy, hiring her for "portfolio work," parading her around as a new plaything, then posting photos trying to recreate memories with his ex to hurt her/replace memories/mock the universe/take control/whatever

- Promotes smoking and drinking, even in places it’s banned with precious art!!! Mr. Photographer and former Met intern knows better! He may not value his lungs, of his life, but it’s clear he has no respect for anyone else. Per twitter, he bumped cocaine at the Met Gala, if not other parties. And let's be real, the bloat, the company he keeps, and his manic behavior indicate substance abuse. During a pandemic, either didn’t wear his mask at all or slung it around his neck like a scarf, went to bars, hosted parties at his absent friends’ house until his face was swollen and his eyes lost their light. He even climbed into a washing machine like a 19 y.o. fratboy and risked serious injury, then posted it. For what? A cry for help? He thought it was funny? What does this say to his younger fans? Or studio santas, for that matter? He’s physically aging way out of the only market he had a strong foothold in for a year or so there, but emotionally is regressing or stunted or falling into some seriously troublesome addictions that may be inherited.

- Makes borderline or blatantly racist, sexist, rude comments on social media, then mocks anyone who takes it seriously (wtf was his tumblr experiment btw??? and cameraduels?? c’mon, it’s all control freak nonsense he uses to demean people bc he's an angry, bitter man). Oh, but he also deletes comments and blocks people who call him out for being an egotistical predator? He couldn’t even mute his mic or stop messing around when “lending his channel” to someone during a serious time of social justice. He taunted his ex when she shared that their relationship was abusive. Whether you believe her claims or not, that was incredibly insensitive.

- Only spoke out against harassment when trolls leaked his address with threats. I won’t go into the full rant about his “thoughtful” breakup post, but the timing and phrasing is majorly suspect. It had cover-up written all over it. It appeared he was attempting to control the narrative after his ex’s interview on a book where an ex of hers (probably him) is painted as an emotionally abusive addict.

- Did I mention his clear disregard for other people? Yes? Okay, how about this: the cast and crew are busting their ass, running at least six feet away from any showrunners at any given time so as to limit covid exposure, especially bc one of the cast is PREGNANT, and this jerkbag is disregarding their sacrifice so his ego can get stroked (and yes that’s a pun bc he’s a creepy gross abusive pos in my mind at this point) and he can go to petting zoos and get tea and crumpets and whatever else his former preteen star heart desires. No amount of hugging Mickey Mouse in photoshopped images is going to clean up the mess he made. The boy needs real therapy and a crew that doesn’t enable him.

I would love if they could recast him like they do on soap operas and see how he fares without this show “holding him back” from whatever ridiculous role he wants next, assuming anyone will cast him after this.

In short: that weak-jawed letch lost a fan. I’m sure he can spare me, but I pray he can salvage a few braincells after all this and sober up before he destroys himself and the hard work of others.

Um... yeah. No need to @ me if you disagree. You’re welcome to make your own posts or live your life however is needed via 2020 ^-^

Have a great day!

#long post #rant #anti cs #Riverdale fandom negativity

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bungamawar001 · 3 years ago

Text

Murder Mystery

this is supposed to be for Cubetober day one, but my mind blanked out in the middle of it, so i finished it late. also i wrote this in three different times of day with three different states of mind, so if it's inconsistant that's why.

anyway, this is set in my au that i made when i was 13, so i apologize to anyone reading this if it's scuffed, but it still holds a very special place in my heart, so here it is.

~~~~~~~

Sparklez was talking. Jesse wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying, but it probably wasn’t anything he didn’t already know. What he was more interested in were the rest of the people seated in front of him. Their bubbles (or auras as was the proper term, apparently) to be exact.

Because the ones surrounding these people were strange. They were denser than the average person’s back in his home dimension, which usually meant they were physically stronger, but none of them looked like they could lift more than any other average person. A likely explanation was just that was how people were in this world, and that was all fine and dandy, but the one that concerned him the most was, ironically, the most normal of their group.

Alright, not normal, but her gold blinking aura was familiar, and to top it off, it was dense and had range. The only times he’d ever felt a bubble like this was with the members of the Order of the Stone. And even if they couldn’t lift more than their own body weight in the best of days, they still had their abilities. Which Jesse found out was the reason for the density and range.

This girl, however, (Cassie Rose, his mind supplied for him) was supposedly from this world. And yet, she had the aura of a person with the same sort of abilities as the old Order of the Stone and himself. Which, if that wasn’t suspicious-

He snapped his attention to where Dan’s fizzling started leaning more towards curiosity than anxiety. It could be something Sparklez had said, but no one else’s mood had shifted quite like his… also, he was looking under the table. Interesting.

“-whoever invited us-”

“Whatcha got there, Dan?”

Sparklez started as Jesse abruptly cut him off, and the entire table turned their attention towards him. Jesse nearly staggered at the weight of the scrutiny, but he managed to keep his gaze on the dual-colored aura.

“O-oh, um, it’s just this button, see?” Dan pushed his chair back and stood up to reveal that there was indeed a button under the table. “I was just thinking that it was an odd place to put one…”

“Dan!” Lizzie looked at her friend incredulously, her swirls now had a hint of exasperation, but the anxiety seemed to multiply tenfold, “Don’t tell us you were about to press it!”

“What?” He was quick to defend himself as his fizzling shifted to fear and embarrassment. It was mostly the fear, though. “No! No, of course not-”

A quick glance around the table to the rest of his friends seemed to drain his resolve, “W-well, I-I mean - “

He stumbled around his words for another second before he threw his hands up and covered his face, “You guys know how I am with buttons! Give me a break!”

Surprisingly, despite how wound up they looked, they did stop glaring at him. And yet…

‘They’re all suspicious of him now’, Jesse thinks to himself as he glances around at the rest of the auras around him. ‘Well, all of them. Except for one.’

Cassie’s gold blinked in anticipation, satisfaction, and a hint of regret that kept coming and going. Which, combined with her odd aura was a dead giveaway that she was the culprit, one hundred percent. At least, that’s what Jesse thought, in any case-

“Oh, hey. I have one too.” Everyone turned their heads towards StampyCat just in time to see him press the button on his side of the table.

“Stampy, DON’T-!”

Jesse wasn’t sure who yelled, but it didn’t matter. Because one second, Sparklez was standing right beside him, and then the next his chair tipped backwards towards a gaping hole that had opened up in the floor.

His reflexes had gotten better ever since a year ago, when they were still in that treehouse, but even then, he could do nothing but watch as his fingers brushed against Sparklez’s sleeve before he dropped into the abyss down below. He thought he felt someone whizz by him as he watched Sparklez fall, but there wasn’t any time to think about it before sand fell from the ceiling and filled up the hole.

At this point, everybody’s auras were swirling, fizzing, popping with fear, anxiety, grief. It was getting harder and harder to keep the forigen emotions at bay along with his own. It didn’t help that Cassie Rose (because she was a damn good actor, but she sure as hell can’t mask her inner self), aka White Pumpkin, aka the current literal bane of his existence, decided to put on a show right after the goddamn murder.

So when the lights turned on again, Jesse found himself kneeling on the floor and clutching his head. It took all of his power to not hurl his guts right then and there. Petra and Lukas, the godsends, seemed to be hoarding everyone out of the room, while Ivor had somehow ended up beside him with his hand on his head. He hadn’t been able to sense Gabriel anywhere since the sand fell, and he would’ve been more concerned over it if he were in any better shape.

As it was, he felt his nausea gradually receding as he felt the effects of Regeneration wash over him. Or maybe it was Health. He vaguely remembered Ivor trying to teach him something about that, although he can’t quite remember at the moment.

“Jesse? How do you feel?” Ivor’s voice cut through the fog in his brain, and he mentally thanked the man for keeping his volume down.

“I’m- I think I’m okay now.” He stayed on the floor for a second. Just to try and fill in the gaps in his memory after Sparklez…

He was instantly overcome with guilt at that thought. So much so that Ivor’s hand left his head as he recoiled from the intensity of it. It came back a second later, and Jesse could feel the other’s concern from where Ivor was sitting next to him.

“Jesse?”

“It- the- the sand- Sparklez…”

Ivor’s royal blue aura shimmered with relief, and Jesse looked at him in confusion as the older man lightly shook his head.

“Sparklez is fine, Jesse. I activated Speed and caught him before he fell.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. It’ll be a pain to try and explain that to the newcomers, however.”

Well. That’s a relief. Not the explaining part. But at least no one died this time. He’ll probably still have nightmares about this incident though. Bummer.

~~~~~~~~~

When Jesse and Ivor finally stepped out into the main hall, they took a double take at the scene in front of them.

Stampy was hiding behind Gabriel and Petra; Dan and Lizzie were in an argument against Stacy and Cassie; and Sparklez and Lukas seemed to be stuck in the middle failing to act as mediator between the groups.

“This is Stampy we’re talking about, guys! He didn’t do it on purpose!” Lizzie’s pink was swirling with anxiety and it seemed like her resolve was faltering.

“He still pressed the button! After all the grief we gave Dan for thinking about it, he still pressed it!” Stacy’s navy was the opposite. There was fear there, sure. But her anger and betrayal was burning much stronger and more decisively than Lizzie’s.

It would probably be a smart idea to diffuse this situation sooner rather than later.

“Hey! Hey, guys?” Jesse tried. They seemed to be too caught up in yelling at each other to have noticed the new arrivals.

“I would’ve pressed it! If Jesse hadn’t stopped me I would’ve! I was curious about it, and Stampy was too!” Dan’s blue and white aura was a sight to behold. Not because of the dual colors, Jesse's gotten over that while he’d been questioning him. His anger was making his bubble fizzle and spark, and his desperation was thick in the air.

“What Dan said!” Stampy’s aura was chilly with fear and betrayal. Which was valid, since two of his friends were vehemently against him..

“So you admit to being the White Pumpkin?” Cassie Rose. Her gold aura was bleeding with victory and even more regret. There was also a sort of desperate relief much closer to her core that almost had Jesse wondering why she was doing this..

Almost.

“Guys, I have-”

“Allll right! Let’s not start accusing people with doubtful evidence-”

Stacy whipped around to face her friend, “You were the one who fell because of him, Sparklez!”

“Yes, I know that, just- just hear me out, okay?” CaptainSparklez’ bright red aura had been calm, for the entire time that Jesse had been around him. Even now, after his brush of death, and the layers of anxiousness and fear within him, his aura didn’t send wave after wave of emotions like Jesse expected.

He didn’t know if that was the reason everybody settled, or because Sparklez was the one who nearly died this time, but finally, Stacy’s angry burning mellowed down to a smaller flame, and Dan’s sparks grew less intense, although his anger was still fizzling quickly and quietly in his own bubble.

“I- I know this has been a very stressful evening for all of us, but Stampy’s our friend. I know we haven’t known him as long as Lizzie and Dan have, Stacy, Cassie, but I know him well enough to be positive that he wouldn’t do something like this on purpose.”

“...fine,” With that, Stacy’s anger disappeared, and in its place was a mix of doubt and regret. Maybe she wasn’t really angry at Stampy in the end? There were only so many people to blame, after all. “But if you’re so sure he didn’t do it, then who did?”

Cassie’s bubble started to blink rapidly in desperation, and Jesse rushed to interject before she could say anything, “I know who it is.”

Before anyone could react and without missing a beat, Cassie responded, “Is it you?”

“Wha- No! I’m not going to say names without any further proof, but it’s not me!”

“That sounds like something a suspicious person would say.”

Jesse’s had just about enough of this ginger, honestly, “And how would you know what a suspicious person sounds like?”

“Like you, clearly.”

“I am not-!”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Gabriel grabbed Jesse’s arm and pulled him away. “We have more important things to worry about.”

Right. Finding proof.

~~~~~~~

It was a hassle, trying to get everyone to agree to stay in the same room while Jesse, Ivor, and Petra took a look around. Eventually, they reached a compromise when it was brought up that Ivor was the one who saved Sparklez. Unfortunately, part of that compromise was they had to bring Cassie with them.

He risked a glance at the golden bubble blinking rapidly with determination and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

#if i manage to do the rest of cubetober it's going to be in this au #hopefully #mcsm #cubetober 2021 #day 1

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yukinokuro17 · 4 years ago

Photo

IGOR (& ROSE) BLOOM OC’s LITTLE NIGHTMARES by @yukinokuro17

-Instagram @yukinokuro

WARNING: THIS STORY IS ABOUT TWO CHARACTERS WHO DON'T CANONICALLY EXIST WITHIN THE WORLD OF LN, THEREFORE THEY ARE OC’S. DO NOT TAKE THEIR STORY AS PART OF THE GAME. THE LITTLE NIGHTMARES LORE IS CONFUSE AND STILL IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT, SO THE STORY OF MY OC'S MAY HAVE CHANGES IN THE FUTURE.

Order of the Story:

Story part 1

Story part 2

Phase 1:

Igor and Rose were two aristocratic brothers who lived in a huge mansion away from society with their strange and eccentric parents. His family had always been upper class, so they had never had to work or suffer. That is why they lived in a bubble of false happiness, while the outside world was collapsing because of strange forces. The parents of these two children strictly forbade them to leave the mansion, in order to prevent them from seeing that the world outside had been stained black. His mansion was located in the middle of a forest and near the ocean.

Rose was a very mature girl, with absolute clairvoyance, responsible, quiet and quite stubborn, she did not usually accept anyone's help. Igor, on the other hand, was an enthusiastic, curious and positive child who always avoided bad situations and lived in his own fantasy world. Igor harbored a great hidden power and his entire family already knew it, so they had him overprotected to prevent someone else from discovering his power and taking advantage of him.

Rose had already noticed for some time that her parents' behavior had changed, they acted strange, it seemed that they did not think clearly and on top of that they were clumsy and clueless. At first, the girl thought that it must be because of the new business they were up to and that is why they looked so tired, but it seemed that was unhingeding them. So she started investigating. After spying on her parents' conversations, she discovered that they were engaging in child trafficking. She also heard them say that they would use Igor as bait and that they would exploit his powers to help further the business. Rose was horrified and tried to leave, but she was discovered by her parents. They locked her in her room all day. When leaving her out, Rose went to the playground to try to tell the truth to Igor. Sneakily, she managed to tell him, but poor Igor was confused, she couldn't believe that his parents wanted to use him as a tool. Rose was determined to save her brother from her parents, but once outside the mansion, she couldn't ensure the survival of her or her brother, not to say they had never seen the outside. But anything was better than staying there with those two monsters.

Their parents were less human every day, they reached a point that they neglected even their own children, in addition to the house. Rose had noticed that everything had changed when her parents bought that television, since then they acted weird, like zombies. There came a point where her parents became other viewers more mesmerized by the static. Rose saw that as an opportunity to get away with her brother, but Igor innocently turned off the television. In that moment, the parents attacked the little boy. Rose pushed them away from Igor and then they attacked her. Igor had no choice but to use his powers and assassinate them. Igor's powers were mental (telekinesis, mental manipulation and control, telepathy and molecular immobilization). After that, they escaped into the forest.

Phase 2:

At every moment they felt that they were going to be attacked by something within that forest, it seemed that it was alive in some way. Since they left the mansion zone, everything had turned black and gloomy, unlike them who were colorful and full of life. The world beyond the walls of the Bloom mansion turned out to be worse than the little ones ever thought. It was a world of nightmares where there were no happy endings, not even for them.

After several years, they managed to survive and enter the Pale City due to ignorance. They barely made it to school, where they came across a plump boy crying armed with a lollipop. It did not turn out to be a threat, because the moment he saw them he ran away never to be seen again. Both brothers were about to leave the place, but Igor was caught by the porcelain bullies at the last moment. Rose stayed from the compound and intended to go back inside and get her brother out of there, but then, she was attracted by the sound of the static of an old and allegedly damaged television that was there. Rose approached and was kidnapped by The Thin Man through the screen. Igor ended up escaping thanks to him using his powers to destroy the bullies and psychically manipulating the teacher so that she would not cause him problems.

When Igor escaped from the school, he did not see anyone outside. His sister was not there. Only her pink hat remained. Poor Igor began to cry desperately, he was alone now. Out of nowhere, a static shadow from Rose appeared who gently comforted him. Igor was surprised to see those corporeal remains of her sister and despite knowing that it was not her, for some reason he felt safe next to her. Rose's shadow was acted as a guide for him to leave the Pale City alive and thus find his sister, even if this took him years.

Phase 3:

Rose's Part:

Rose was taken out of town into the woods next to another television. When she woke up, she did not understand why The Thin Man had left her free. It is assumed that no child leaves the clutches of The Thin Man or the Signal Tower alive. Maybe it was just a stroke of luck. The girl was very cold, but she could only think of her little brother, he's still trapped in that evil city. She took strength to go back in and get him out of there, but then she heard a voice that told her not to. That voice was that of a child about Igor's age who was carrying a bag on his head. The boy was up in a tree and he was watching her from there. The boy, Monkey, introduced himself and tried to convince Rose that if she entered the city again alone, she would die. So he offered to help her. Rose denied his help. Mono told her to tell him hers and his brother name in case he ever saw him.

Rose told him their names and left determined to find Igor. Rose walked in again and as Mono had predicted, the second time she wouldn't make it out alive. This time, the girl's stubbornness was her biggest mistake and the trigger to end her life. After a few days of wandering around town, hopping from house to house and running into more strange children, Rose gave up. She was very hungry and the cold had already penetrated her bones. So she sat under a portal while she watched as it didn't stop raining. The last thing she thought of was her brother: surely he wasn't even in that city anymore, he had probably left and would be looking for her outside or maybe he had tried to enter the Signal Tower and in that case he would already be dead. Rose died right there. Soon after, The Butler found her body and carried it to the Nest. There they made a "rag" doll with parts of Rose's body and gave it to the pretender.

Igor's part:

Igor spent a whole year inside the Pale City. He found some other living children, others dead and others eaten, but there came a point that this no longer affected him. Rose's shadow always kept him company and guide him but Igor hardened for him self cause the shadow couldn't speak, touch tangible objects or help him "physically". That was how Igor got used to the city, almost forgetting his true purpose. During that time, he learned to handle his powers well without exhausting himself so much and at the same time he learned to materialize them into a kind of energy. It didn't take much longer for him to get out and return to the forest next to Rose's shadow. Igor spent a few months there, surviving as best he could and enduring the incessant nightmares caused by the Tower.

Mono was quick to introduce himself to him. Igor was defensive and protective of Rose's shadow. Mono showed him his face so that Igor would calm down and then told him that he was like him. After a little chat between the children, Mono told him that he had been observing him for some days and he knew that he was Igor and he was looking for his sister Rose. Mono tells him that he had seen Rose and she denied him his help to re-enter the city. Igor saddened to know that and to think that maybe Rose was dead. Mono absorbed Rose's shadow and this enraged Igor who did not hesitate to attack him. Mono went flying through the air and luckily landed without much damage. Mono tells him that he knows where his sister is but Igor doesn't want to listen to him and attacks him again, but this time Mono defended himself and showed his incredible power. Igor relented and fell to the ground in terror of Mono's overwhelming power. The boy apologized to Igor and helped him up. After that, they spent a weeks together. Mono told him that by absorbing Rose's shadow, he knew perfectly well where the real one was. He told him that he could take him there using televisions as portals. The problem was that he could only send him there so possibly the return trip would have to be done on his own. Igor saw no inconvenience so he accepted without fear. Mono gave him some of his power to make the trip. Then told him that he would be waiting for his return and then they both will destroy the Signal Tower. Igor crossed the television without looking back. The truth was that Mono hadn't been sincere: he hadn't told Igor that his sister was dead or that he wasn't going to wait for him forever. When he find a good chance for accomplishing his goal he would with or without Igor.

Igor arrived at the Nest. He landed in a dark room with strange white gnomes hiding in the shadows. Igor noticed that they were harmless, so he asked them if they had seen his sister. Obviously the gnomes didn't speak, but he felt they understood him perfectly. Igor came out of the dark room and some gnomes started following him. In that mansion there was too much silence, it seemed that there was no one. He came to a disturbing room full of human-like dolls that appeared to be alive. He felt like he was going to be attacked by them at any moment just like the porcelain bullies at school. But luckily they were just dolls. He heard the door to the room open and he hid among the dolls. He noticed that some of the dolls smelled horrible, it was a mix between blood and expensive perfumes. That turned poor Igor's stomach. A tall, stooped man dressed as a butler and levitating came to order the dolls. He looked sad for some reason. It was then that Igor came out from between the dolls to attack him. The second the butler noticed him there was an equal clash of powers. Apparently both had too similar powers. Seeing this, they both stopped attacking each other. Igor looked at the man's face and for some reason it sounded familiar.

The butler approached to the blond boy and urged him to follow. Surprised, Igor followed him into another room. This one looked like a tea room filled wich one increasingly ugly dolls. The butler telepathically grabbed one of the dolls and gave it to the boy. Igor was horrified to see her, he noticed it immediately. That doll was Rose. Her hair, her skin, her blue eyes, even the way she dressed was the same. Igor released the wrist and vomited in great anguish and pain. Igor began to cry and hug his sister's corpse doll-shaped for a few minutes. The butler it seemed that understood his pain. After that I accompany him to the dark room in which he had appeared. Igor thanked him for helping him find his sister but he didn't understand whythat man had helped him. The butler spoke telepathically to the boy and he understood everything instantly. The man smiled and let him go. Igor was able to return for the same television since luckily he retained part of Mono's powers.

There was no one in the forest, Mono had left and had broken his promise to wait for him. But that didn't matter, he had his sister back and everything would be fine from now on. He tied Rose to her back and thus always carried her corpse.

"Don't worry, Rose. Mono is strong, he will be fine" he said smiling as he walked back into the forest.

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mirthful-sonnet · 4 years ago

Text

Rise Above the Ashes

AO3

Chapter 1

There was a ray of sunlight filtering through the tall trees. Jean shielded his face against the brightness, not really knowing how he got there. Before him, there was a road flanked by rocks and thickets leading into the greenery of the forest. He kept on walking in what seemed like an eternal journey into nowhere. His voyage continued until he suddenly heard the burbling noises of water. The more he walked the clearer he heard it.

He finally emerged from the forest into the shore of a large river. The picture before him was breathtaking, and he wished he had brought his drawing book to try to replicate what he was seeing. He stepped closer and took in the pristine surface of the river, the gentle ripples from the water, the bright song of the nearby birds, and the tiny colorful fishes he could make out from above the surface.

In the distance, he noticed a movement. At first, he thought it must have been a tree trunk, or an animal. But the closer it got, the more confused he got trying to make out what it was. He froze suddenly.

The body was lying upwards, its arms stretched wide as if waiting for an embrace. The cadet uniform was barely discernible. Jean didn’t have to look any closer to know who it was.

Marco

There was another movement in his periphery, and despite his frozen state and the overwhelming need to run away, he fixed his eyes onto the next corpse. Brown hair and a bloody smile, even in death.

Sasha

Soon, thousands of bodies were floating down the river, the rippling water slowly being tainted in blood that reached Jean’s bare feet. He could not move from his fixed place at the shore, staying rooted to the spot. He wanted to scream, but no noise would come out. It felt as if he was being bound and strangled by an invisible force.

The last thing he noticed was another body floating near him, the black hair and red scarf standing out amongst the thousands of floating corpses. This time the scream finally tore out of his throat.

Jean shot up in his bed, his breath coming out in short gasps. He finally made out where he was, noticing a plain wall and feeling the rocking motions of the boat. His sweaty shirt clung to him like a second skin as he tried to catch his breath.

“Jean?”

Reiner’s groggy voice came from the other bed. He could not really make out where his friend was as he had his knuckles pressed to his eyes so hard that he could see spots.

“It’s nothing,” he murmured. “Just another nightmare.”

“You were screaming a name,” Reiner said, turning to him in his own bed, “Mikasa’s name to be exact.”

Jean glared at him, though it was barely visible in the scant light of their room.

“Go back to sleep already,” he snapped. “We have an important day ahead of us.” He was referring to their upcoming arrival in Paradis, the home he had not seen in almost three years. Jean only heard a small murmur from Reiner before laying back on his bed, not bothering to pull back the covers.

“Reiner?” He said after a pause.

“Hmm?”

“Don’t tell anyone about this.” he said. “Please.”

He heard a snort and a shuffle on Reiner’s side, “Don’t worry, Jeanboy, I won’t.” Reiner replied before falling asleep.

In truth, Jean did not know why he was thinking of Mikasa now. He was often plagued by nightmares ever since he saw his best friend’s mangled dead body all those years ago, but Mikasa had never appeared in them. He had not really thought much about her in these past years, only having sporadic thoughts on how she was doing and where she was.

Armin had found a way to correspond with her during their time as refugees in Marley and told him that he should write to her at least once. But Jean did not listen ; Armin’s reassurance that she was alive and okay was more than enough for him.

He had to admit a simple fact: that he was anxious about the possibility of meeting Mikasa again. He figured that his nervousness had somehow seeped into his nightmares. The possibility of meeting her again brought up old memories of heartache as well as happiness during their time as soldiers. Right now, he only hoped that she was okay.

He turned in his bed with a groan and tried to fall asleep again, only to stay awake until the calls for all passengers to get up and have breakfast were heard.

-o-

Ever since they arrived in Paradis, time seemed to pass in a blur of meetings, paperwork, arguments, proposals, and unbearable tension. The presence of the military in their sessions at the main headquarters did not make their objective any easier. Their hostility was palpable, especially towards Armin, the self-proclaimed killer of Eren Jaeger. In their eyes, Armin was their ultimate enemy.

Still, the blonde kept his head up, striking up conversations and carrying himself with an ease that was almost enviable. Jean had to act as his second in command, which meant he had to help stir their conversations in the right direction and be Armin’s main support.

They had been in Mitras for almost two weeks when Historia suddenly turned up at their lodgings in the city. The young queen told them that she wanted them to accompany her to her farm so they could meet her family. It had come as a surprise, considering that ever since her former comrades had arrived in Paradis, she had been exceedingly formal with them.

Jean figured that she had to thread very carefully, considering that the government was currently being run by a faction that was already hostile to them. He found himself admiring her resilience. Something about her made her appear more mature now than her young years would reflect. They were in no position to decline her invitation, especially when the queen suddenly mentioned that Mikasa would be there waiting for them as well.

The nervousness he had been feeling during their trip came back. This was stupid. She had been a dear friend to him, so he did not understand why he was feeling this self-conscious. He barely registered Historia leaving and Reiner speaking to him.

“I’m curious about this husband of hers,” Reiner said, an undertone of envy in his voice.

“I told you to stop going after married women. It’s embarrassing.” Jean retorted.

“Hey, I’m not going after anyone,” Reiner said, throwing up his hands in mock surrender. “I’m just curious, that’s all!”

“You’ll get us in serious trouble one day,” Pieck commented from her place in the sofa of the living room before standing up, “I’m going to sleep. You should all probably do the same,” she said while making her way to the apartment’s stairs. Annie and Armin agreed and followed her. Connie was still out, as his family had arrived in the city to reunite with him. Meanwhile, Jean’s mind was still reeling.

“Hey, are you okay?” Pieck murmured to Jean as she passed him by, concern on her sleepy features.

“I’m alright,” he reassured her. “I’ll follow up soon, don’t worry.”

He had formed an unlikely friendship with the former warrior, her weirdness sometimes reminding him of Sasha. His time at the Marleyan shelter during the aftermath of the rumbling was made a lot easier because of her presence. After reassuring her and telling his friends he would wait for Connie to come back, he found himself alone.

Jean sat down and blankly stared up at the ceiling, thinking of everything that had transpired since they arrived. He had been finally able to see his mother some days ago. She was in such an emotional state that she could barely make out words at the sight of her son. She kept sobbing and holding him as if he would escape and not appear for another three years again. Once upon a time, he would have been embarrassed by her reaction, but he wasn’t that proud boy anymore. He could only hold her just as strongly as she did in his large frame, finally feeling some semblance of home and belonging.

Jean’s thoughts moved back to Mikasa, feeling a mix of anticipation and dread at the idea of seeing her again. He had been sure that he got over his unrequited love for a long time, but the prospect of seeing her made him confused. She had been appearing in both his dreams and his nightmares since they came here, and he was even fixing himself up in case they would see her.

He had brushed off Pieck’s curiosity about his sudden concern about his looks with a dumb joke, but in truth he had been hoping to see her again. It was frustrating to still have these conflicting feelings about Mikasa when she had never seen him as anything more than a comrade and friend.

Her heart belonged to Eren in life, as well as in death, and that was a fact he had to accept. The sudden thought of Eren brought a new kind of pain, which he shut away immediately. He finally resolved to stay out of her way once they met her. It was for the best.

-o-

Historia’s little daughter brought an unexpected brightness into their tedious routine. The girl was currently gurgling in Jean’s arms, grabbing at his facial hair which made everyone laugh. The young queen had allowed each of them to hold her daughter, and the toddler had been especially fascinated with Jean and his goatee. He could not wrap his head around the fact that Historia was a mother, and from what little he saw he knew this little creature in his arms was Historia’s entire world. The toddler now attempted to grab his hair, and Historia’s husband immediately moved to grab her.

“Alright little one, that’s enough for now.” the farmer said, grabbing his babbling daughter and moving away while cooing at her.

The man had been more than courteous to each of them, guiding them around the farm and showing them the new changes around it and the orphanage, which he currently administered while his wife was away attending other matters. They made a lovely family despite the unorthodox way they came to be together. Jean wondered if he would ever be able to fit such a picture in his own life one day.

“Ymir is still a little too curious about everything she sees.” The man said, while balancing the little girl on his hip. When the girl’s name was first revealed, Jean was inevitably taken back to the old days when their old comrade was still alive. He couldn’t help but look at Reiner and noticed a hint of shock and melancholy in his face, especially when it was his turn to hold the little girl in his arms.

“Don’t hold out hope that she will ever change, she’s a rascal.” Historia said while moving to grab the girl who was now reaching out to her. A voice suddenly caught their attention.

“Armin…”

They had all been so caught up in touring the place and being introduced to Historia’s family that hearing Mikasa’s voice surprised them all. Jean turned around and saw her standing in the hallway, her eyes wide as she stared at Armin. She looked quite different from the last time he saw her.

Mikasa and Armin stared at each other for a while in disbelief, before moving and crashing together in a tight embrace. Armin raised her up and held her closer against him, and Jean did not have to look any closer to know that they were both crying. Everyone looked away respectfully as their sobs echoed throughout the room. Wanting to give them privacy, Historia quietly guided them all outside of the room and left the two estranged friends alone. Jean looked back at them one last time with a sad smile before heading out of the room and following the rest of the group.

-o-

“You’re being ridiculous,” Jean said to Reiner. Much to his amusement, it turned out that Reiner now had a secret infatuation with Historia’s husband. During their touring he had acted quite flustered around the farmer, but Jean did not pay much attention to it, thinking that it had something to do with Reiner’s jealousy.

“Why are the good ones always married?” Reiner said exasperatedly, “I’m cursed to being forever alone.”

Jean just rolled his eyes. They were staying in a shared room at Historia’s residency. While he was irritated, he was also secretly glad to see Reiner behaving normally again. They all had their physical and emotional wounds from the war, but Reiner was hit harder than anyone. He could recall having conversations with Reiner in their shelter, until the blonde’s eyes would glaze over and stare blankly at nothing.

On some days, his mood would change drastically, from exceedingly cheerful to withdrawn and depressed. And in other occasions he would forget who he even was. Jean knew that Reiner had a disorder, but he did not know how to help his former comrade and felt utterly helpless whenever Reiner had these episodes. He had enough bad memories to last a lifetime, but watching Reiner slowly break down before him was particularly painful. Reiner was eventually taken out of the shelter and checked into a mental facility for a time.

He found some comfort in thinking about Reiner now in comparison to before. Despite the pain that he still felt about Marco, he found space in his heart for forgiveness, and he wanted to see Reiner be the easy going and protective person he had always been. This journey for peace was their chance.

His thoughts were interrupted by Armin entering their shared room. He had been spending most of the days at the farm with Mikasa. The Ackerman had greeted them the day of their arrival once she and Armin had been ready to come out. There was plenty of laughter and tears in their reunion. Jean had given her an embrace and told her they had all missed her, to which she had only smiled and told him she was glad to see him. She looked more beautiful than he remembered.

In the following days, they had been engaging in various activities and there were new meetings to be held in Historia’s residency. Mikasa had accompanied them in some activities around the orphanage, but Jean avoided her or found a way to be involved in something else.

“Where were you?” Jean asked Armin as he sat down in his corner, looking tired.

“I spent the day with Mikasa, we were at the orphanage and then she showed me around the nearby town.” Armin replied.

Jean only nodded, he understood that they wanted to make the most of their time together, especially since they had not seen each other in three years.

“Where were you though?” Reiner asked him with a raised eyebrow, “We were all at the orphanage and you were nowhere to be seen.”

“I was taking care of all the paperwork. Soon enough we’ll be leaving, and we need to make our proposals clear.” Jean replied.

Armin nodded, making a small pause, “Mikasa was wondering where you were too. You’re free to do as you like, but you don’t have to be a stranger. She’s your friend too, you know.”

Jean gulped and kept silent, feeling a little bad. He was probably exaggerating and some quality time with Mikasa wouldn’t hurt. He still felt uneasy around her for some reason, but if the chance came, he would try to talk to her more. Still, he wasn’t planning on letting anything distract him too much.

-o-

Jean looked at the trail before him, knowing that this was the right way. Armin had revealed to him that Eren’s grave was not too far away from their location, and he told him where it was. He had tried to avoid any intrusive thoughts about Eren but being here at the farm had brought on a barrage of memories. The pain was still fresh, and it felt as if his friend had left them just yesterday.

He tightened his coat around his body since the day was quite windy. As he walked, he took in the rolling hills and rustling fields of wheat. If one looked hard enough to the distance, the slight shape of the now ruined walls could be seen.

Jean kept on walking, holding down his hat when the wind got stronger. The shape of the tree could be seen now, its branches swaying slightly in the wind. Jean finally reached the bottom of the small hill where the tree was, taking in the sight of Eren’s final resting place. He took a deep breath, processing everything that he was seeing.

He climbed up the hill slowly, facing the small headstone at the root of the tree. He felt a sudden rush of indescribable feelings tearing at him as he knelt in front of the grave. There were so many things he wanted to say even if no one could hear him. He truly missed the bastard. But the sudden noise of footsteps interrupted him from his revelry, making him turn around.

In a way, he was simultaneously surprised and not at all surprised at seeing Mikasa standing there, staring at him curiously.

“M-Mikasa,” he stuttered, mortified at the realization that there were tears on his face. He frustratingly wiped them away, avoiding eye contact.

“I’m sorry I startled you-” she started but Jean did not let her finish her apology.

“No, please don’t apologize Mikasa,” he rushed to say, still not looking at her. An uncomfortable silence followed. He had no idea what to do.

“So...” They both spoke in unison after a while. It made them laugh, the air around them easing considerably.

“I can leave if you want.” she offered, to which he shook his head.

“No, you can stay, I wasn’t planning on staying for long anyway.”

Mikasa moved, setting a hand on Jean’s shoulder as if to keep him from getting up. She sat down beside him.

“You are more than welcome here,” she said. “I think he would be happy.”

“I hope so,” Jean murmured and there was another silence, this time more comfortable.

“You know,” Mikasa broke the silence, “If you weren’t so busy, I would say you’ve been avoiding me.”

Jean looked down, feeling guilty. “I’m sorry Mikasa, I don’t know where my head’s been at lately.”

Mikasa only hummed in response, wrapping her arms around her knees. “You don’t have to apologize; I’m not entitled to your time. I was simply curious.”

“It has nothing to do with you personally, I just…” Jean trailed off, not knowing how to explain it to her. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” He finally said, putting it in the simplest way possible.

Mikasa frowned. “Why would you make me uncomfortable? You’ve been a dear friend to me through the years. If anything, your presence would make me very happy.”

Jean flushed at that, avoiding her stare. “That’s-that’s good,” he muttered lamely. He felt like such an idiot.

A strong gust of wind caught their attention, making the small flowers growing of the branches fall in a flutter around them. They stared in wonder at the scene, falling into another comfortable silence.

His thoughts had somehow turned back to Eren, and he felt like he had to say something. He was sure she would understand.

“I miss Eren,” he said.

She stared at him in sympathy, “I miss him too.”

His throat was closing up, and he felt a surge of boldness. “There were so many things I wanted to tell him, so many memories that I feel like I didn’t appreciate enough. Even though he drove me insane, I did love him. And now he’s gone.” Jean’s voice broke, but at this point he didn’t care. He knew Mikasa would never ridicule him for it.

It was true, despite their constant fights Eren had been dear to him too, and he had not taken his death well. His bottled-up feelings were spilling forth, and he was happy that if anyone got to see it, it was Mikasa. Though he still felt slightly embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, this is stupid.” he said, wiping away fresh tears, and putting his hand on top of the headstone.

“There’s nothing stupid or wrong about this.” Mikasa replied, and he felt her hand suddenly resting on top of his. “You know I’m here for you, right?”

Her words only made him want to cry harder. He nodded, and they sat there for long minutes as the sun began to set. Their hands remained joined together on top of the headstone, and they knew that even though they were both hurting, they were also not alone. They had each other.

-0-

Just me coping with the ending and the leaks. There is more to come. Huge thanks to @deans-ch-ch-cherrypie for beta reading this! You’re the best around <3 <3

#attack on titan #snk #jeankasa #jean kirstein #mikasa ackerman

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angelicamerlinbarnes · 3 years ago

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TUA ENTERTAINER AU

(friendly reminder to remember that celebrities are people too! be respectful of and kind to them, both online and in person! ^-^)

(Talk Show Host) Vanya Blues is the host of a late night talk show called The Sleepy Show with Vanya Blues. She does what typical talk show hosts do - talks to her guests, makes up fun games, and brings attention to social issues. The staple of her show is that she plays violin for the last seven minutes, lulling her audience to sleep. Beyond her own show, she’s hosted events like the Emmys and the Oscars throughout the years, and often works with mental health support services, as her traumatic past of childhood isolation and abuse is well-known. She’s had a couple bouts of scandals, as her anger getting the best of her often leads to violence, but while these scandals tend to put her on hiatus for awhile, she always comes back stronger than ever. Though she’s not known to have many friends in the celebrity world, her favorite guests have her personal number: Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben. As for her personal life, she keeps it intensely private - it’s known that she has a wife and a son, but nothing else. At least, not until Leonard, one of Vanya’s abusive ex-boyfriends and a paparazzi nut, manages to get some photos of Vanya with her kindergarten teacher wife Sissy and their son Harlan, whom they won in a court case against Sissy’s abusive ex-husband Carl. It would’ve been fine, if he hadn’t released them to the entire world - but he did, and now no one in Vanya’s family is safe.

(Rockstar) Diego Towblaerman is professionally known as “Batman”, a rockstar and teenage heartthrob beloved by the media. (He’s not a teenager, but all the people who wanna sleep with him are.) He always wears leather and black, except around pride month, when he can commonly be seen wearing shirts, jackets, pins, and other materials sporting his bisexual pride, as he’s been out since the beginning of his career. He’s rebellious and intense, but also pretty laid back and incredibly kind, known for conversing easily with any fans he comes across and helping out in the small places where he can. He plays guitar, plenty of different types and models, and also the drums and piano, though those spots in his band are filled by other people. Eudora is his pianist and second guitarist, and his adopted sister. She helps produce his music and manage his behavior, and their relationship and dynamic is well-loved by the public, especially as Diego often brings Eudora as his plus-one to award shows. Also in his family is his mother, Grace, who he often has lunch with and shouts out on social media, mostly about the orphanage she runs that he grew up in. (Unbeknownst to him or most of the others, all of the other six passed through that orphanage at some point in their tumultuous childhoods.) There’s also Lila, his girlfriend of a few years and his band’s awesome drummer. She’s as badass as Diego - she rides a motorcycle, can pack a punch, and heads a lot of organizations against sexual assault, since she grew up in a bad home in a bad neighborhood. (What people don’t know is that their relationship is a PR thing for both their benefits, and that Lila and Eudora have been together for nine years and Diego is married with two children. Best be keeping that out of the media, me thinks.) Lastly, though, is the mystery member of Diego’s posse - someone they only know as “Séance”, from the countless number of songs Diego has written about him. Love songs. All happy ones, too, and listed as tracks two and four on his albums. Now, there are only two clues as to who this person might be. One: Diego is rather impatient when it comes to assholes, and there are plenty of videos out there of him punching and cussing out people who harass him or his friends - but most notably is the viral, dark and blurry video of him having to be pulled off a guy by a bunch of shouting people, only one of whom’s voice is clear: a soft, sweet, scared, Gogo. No one saw who it was he was defending - Diego made sure to drape them in his own scarves and jackets and go out the back way, but there’s a soundbite from the same night of what sounds like two people sharing a kiss, Diego’s voice smiling around the words I’ll see you at home, baby, and the sound of a car door slamming. Lila, when asked, only smirked and answered that she was probably too wasted to remember this. The second clue, and perhaps the most interesting, is the sheer number of quote tattoos Diego has, none of which he will explain. Only a few people in the entire world know what the quotes are from - a shipping cult of fans on tumblr, only about a hundred of them, who all found and liked a post that pointed out that all of the quotes only have one thing in common, besides being forever embedded in Diego’s skin: they’re all the words of beloved comedian Klaus Hellbyes.

(Actress) Allison Charmors is known for being so kind and charming that no one has ever said no to her. She’s also a bit of media darling and nightmare simultaneously: they adore her, and all of her work with human rights organizations, but they’ve also had to deal with more of her troubles than anyone else they document. She’s often labelled a “maneater”, as her on-and-off relationship with Luther Monkman still follows her around, she and her first husband Patrick divorced and he got full custody of their daughter, and then she bounced around with a couple of other men. (And women too, but nobody else knows that. She wears pan pride colors sometimes, but has never outright stated or implied it beyond a couple of unfiltered jokes in interviews. She dated Natalie Portman once, if anyone cares.) Allison never settled down with anyone until Ray Chestnut came along - a BLM leader and proud LGBTQIA+ and Me Too ally. They met when Allison helped out at one of his demonstrations, and they’ve been inseparable ever since. The media is fascinated with their easy-going relationship and relentless work and support for and of minority groups, their most recent project being a protest against Islamaphobia. Everyone keeps waiting for them to fall apart, but it’s been five years and they haven’t yet. Also in Allison’s lane are Klaus and Vanya, the latter of whom she had a huge falling out with a couple years ago, though nobody knows what about. The two of them often cameo in the films she helps direct, most of them winning a multitude of awards. They’ve also been caught on video with her a couple hundred times, especially in all the scandals she’s been involved with where she’s assaulted someone for their racist and sexist behavior. But even with her history of assault, serial dating, and bribery, the public still adores Allison beyond belief - and so does her family, even if nobody really knows who that is. Most curious, though, is her history of film - she’ll only ever participate in trilogies.

(Comedian) Klaus Hellbyes is the comedian of his generation, and probably of the generation below his too. He’s famous for his dark morbid humor and NSFW improv jokes, and also for swearing consistently in live interviews on shows where you’re not allowed to swear. He has an odd fashion sense and rejects any and all gender roles, mouthing off at anyone who dares to comment on it. (He only ever paints four out of his ten nails, for some reason?) He’s known for his witty comebacks and scathing sarcasm on social media, and for being incredibly protective of others, especially teenagers who are targeted by trolls on online platforms. He runs a staggering number of pride organizations and does anti-racist work, often organizing pride events across the country for people who can’t be out to their families or communities. Beyond his social justice work, Klaus works to bring attention to mental disorders and trauma, especially in youth. He’s open about his own childhood, running from foster home to foster home and never being adopted, though he makes it clear that he made himself a family with a few very special kids along the way. He speaks publicly and often about his own struggles with anxiety, depression, anorexia, self-harm, PTSD, and suicidal ideation, always addressing any videos or accounts of him having panic attacks onstage, going out in short sleeves with fresh bandages on his wrists, and his ribs showing through his skin when he goes swimming. He’s taken hiatuses and spoken out in support and defense of other celebrities and people going through the same sorts of things, and makes it clear that his self-healing comedy has never been about the fame for him. He’s a good friend of Taylor Swift’s and once got drunk with Ed Sheeran, and he often goes on Vanya’s show to discuss mental health with her. While he often makes fun of the other six, he’s incredibly respectful in his comedy, as it’s never about his hatred of a person but rather his love for them. Whenever he speaks about social justice issues, he makes it clear that he speaks for his love of humanity as a whole rather than his hatred of any one individual. He’s admitted to being a huge fan of Diego, and has disclosed that they’ve met a few times, but is frustratingly vague about the circumstances of their friendship. Most people suspect they became friends at one of the many foster homes each is known to have been in. As well as his well-known friendships with Allison and Vanya, Klaus is known to hang around with Luther and Five, usually by getting ice cream and riding trains. Klaus’ two most famous relationships are complicated - there’s Ben, and there’s Dave. Ben is who Klaus has mostly lived with for the past eight or something years, the two of them open about being queerplatonic partners, though Klaus keeps having to explain what exactly that means to them and to the community as a whole, knowing that it differs for everybody. Dave, however, is who brought him into the public eye - Klaus met him in the army, and they were married in between tours. On one of those tours Dave was shot and killed, and Klaus has been open about his struggle with grief ever since, using Youtube as a platform for coping with his pain. He wrote a book about two characters based on them falling in love during the Vietnam War, which became a bestseller, and, on the third anniversary of Dave’s death, released the special that launched him to fame, an in-depth look at grief through a lens of comedy and appreciation for all the good moments shared between them. It’s become a staple of pop culture, and is still often quoted and referenced today, making Klaus one of the media’s most frequent topics of conversation.

(Author / Artist) Five di Sappears is known for his work across multiple genres, and the mystery that is everything about him as a person. His family, including his parents, is an incredibly well-kept secret, the only person known to be related to him being his sister Aidy, who Five has proven he will protect with violence if necessary. As a thirteen-year-old genius psychopath (not ACTUALLY), he’s a controversial figure, though his talent will never be denied. While he’s violent and aggressive, his horror and thriller novels have never failed to top the charts. While his sanity is questionable, his art is beautifully crazy and nonsensical without a single metaphor within it. While he’s proudly asexual aromantic and has gotten into physical and verbal altercations defending that, his romance novels published under the pseudonym Evipha Murdress are hailed as some of the most honest portrayals of love that literature has to offer. He can sing like fucking hell too, and is considered a trans icon, though he keeps his chosen name as much of a secret as his dead one, offering only the explanation that he fears for the safety and privacy of his family should it be released to the public. (His name is Aidan Alone, off the record.) Agnes is his kind and well-loved publisher (owner and founder of Donut Publishings! Books guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s face!), and Dolores is his best friend/partner/comfort mannequin, which greatly confuses the public but doesn’t concern Five. She travels everywhere with him, and often cameos in the movies made off his books, and he’s gotten into plenty of fistfights over her. He doesn’t care if you don’t understand her importance, you don’t touch her. Hazel is his bodyguard and Cha-Cha is the main actress in his horror and thriller films, all of which are directed by the Handler, who produces his movies and likes to change the details behind his back no matter how hard he tries to make her adhere to what he’s written. Unfortunately, he can’t report or remove her, because she’s offered Hazel and Cha-Cha handsome salaries to hand over whatever information they know, including photos they’ve taken of when Five’s parents come to see how his projects are coming along. They blackmail him into silent fuming, but that all backfires soon enough - Five gets into a car accident in which he takes the brunt of the impact for Aidy, alerting the world to Klaus and Diego’s relationship and Five’s parentage when they come screaming from their cancelled events and into his hospital room, without concern for the millions of photos taken and only worry for their beloved son. No matter. Five will just kill anyone who dares to say a word. After all - those rumors that he writes his novels based on his own murders are not exactly unfounded.

(Influencer) Ben Deadengon is one of the most subscribed-to Youtubers out there, famous for his videos about human rights, kindess, and positivity. He often features Klaus as a guest, since they’ve lived together for a long, long time and are committed partners who like to help each other out, but those videos usually dissolve into them dressing up as pirates and princesses and improving stupid skits. (Not that anybody has any complaints.) He runs a lot of charities, which means that he has indeed met the President, and he’s one of the most beloved and scandal-free people on the Internet, though he’s often involved himself in Klaus’ controversial shit in defense of his partner. He’s been on Broadway and travelled the world, but his main claim to fame is that he was in an accident in which he died for six minutes before coming back to life, therefore earning him the moniker Six. Curiously, the moment he gasped out his second first breath happened exactly as Klaus touched him, prompting a lot of conversations and theories about them being soulmates or some shit, despite soulmates not actually existing (as far as they know…). But Ben’s happy with his life, as it is - he has an at-home butterfly garden (seriously, his windows are all screens and there’s plants and butterflies fucking everywhere, I’m not kidding) and a lovely(?) niece and nephew he gets to babysit when his beloved partner is out. That’s the good life, baby. Plus, ya know - he’s not dead. So that’s automatically awesome.

(Athlete) Luther Monkman is one of the largest men in existence, all of his muscle earned in his rigorous training for the Olympics. He’s won one gold medal every time the tournament comes around, and he plans to keep on doing so. So does Reginald - his abusive trainer and professional cheater. Luther also works with Pogo, a kinder coach who tells him to always believe in himself, but is also frustratingly defensive of Reginald’s horrifying practices. But Luther himself is well-loved - he’s awkward and handsome enough to be a teenage heartthrob, and he’s been single since Allison left him for the last time, though they’re still good friends. He’s known as a gentle giant, having lunch with Klaus and Vanya often and enjoying a bickering and competitive yet loving relationship with Diego. He’s completely free of media scandals, a complete sweetheart - until he’s caught on video choking a guy against the wall, and shit hits the fan. (Nobody cares about Five in the background of the video, standing behind Luther with his fists clenched and his Adam’s apple bobbing under bruises.)

Welcome to my world, bitches.

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deanswaywardgirl · 4 years ago

Text

A Darker Reality

chevyA?N: This is the origin of my OC, Faith Delaney, in case any of you are curious. I don’t remember posting this, but if I did, lemme know. You know, if anyone runs across it or whatever. If not, well, here you go.

Warnings: Protective Dean (yes that’s a warning because the protective part of him melts me), mentions of abuse, depression, anxiety

"Slut! Get the hell out of my sight!" Faith's father yelled, raising the frying pan to hit her. The edges of her visions darkened as the pan met the top of her head, causing her to cry out before forcing herself to her feet and fleeing to her bedroom, closing the door behind her and leaning against it. Tears blurred her vision as she raised her eyes to her Supernatural poster. Moving to sit underneath it, Faith curled up against the wall and closed her eyes, sobbing. She dreamed of either dying, or being a hunter like Dean and Sam. Free, safe...ish.

No parents hitting you every chance they get. At this point in her life, Faith would rather be thrown around a room by a demon. But then, she was sure everybody would disagree and say she was being overdramatic, which only pissed Faith off. 'How the hell would they know what I prefer, or what I go through every hour of every day?' she thought to herself. Raising her eyes to the mirror, she looked like a horror movie reject. Her shirt was torn by cigarette burns. Her face, arms, and legs were black, blue, purple, and red from the blood running from multiple wounds. She knew her "parents" wouldn't kill her; they wouldn't have anyone to beat anymore. "I'm a real Max Miller," she told her reflection as she stitched herself up. That was when she caught sight of the scars on her wrists from self-abuse. "Without the powers, obviously." Her voice cracked, recalling how Max Miller's story in season 1 of Supernatural had ended, it sending a chill down her spine. It was then she thought about how close she's come to ending her life the same way. Faith put the stitch kit away and lifted a floorboard and pulled out her laptop a friend from highschool had given to her before she'd graduated. She turned on Nightmare from said show, and laid down, thinking of everything Supernatural had done for her. The comfort and feeling of safety it brought her as, everytime she watched it, she felt like the boys were in the room with her, protecting her. It was crazy, but it helped ease her fear of being attacked every second of every day. Licking her lips, she was soon fast asleep, listening to Sam and Dean talk. The volume was up high enough that it sounded like they were in the room with her.

****************

Gasping awake, Faith shot up from her spot on the floor and breathed heavily, waiting for the blow that would never come. She sat up and looked around, growing confused. Her laptop, her 'bed, which consisted of several secretly acquired blankets piled on top of each other, her movies, her poster, even her mirror were all gone. "What the hell?" she asked nobody in particular. She knew, without a doubt, her father would've beaten her senseless if he'd found her carefully hidden treasures. Getting to her feet, Faith could feel she was the only person in the house. Opening her door, she crept down the stairs and around the house until she was comfortably satisfied with her findings. Opening the front door, Faith went to take a step outside before she was violently thrown back into the house, sliding across the wood floors into the dining room. Shakily, she stood, rubbing her head and her back. Faith slowly approached the door, wondering if anyone outside the house had seen what had happened. It had felt like she had bounced off something. "I think you hit your head pretty hard, Faith, don't start losing it now." Sticking her hands up, she felt something like the outside of a tight bubble, something that was locking her inside. Faith rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Okay, okay, let's try this again." Going to take a step outside, Faith squealed as she was once again thrown back into the house, grunting as she stood up. "This can't be good." As if on cue, the door slammed shut and locked itself. "That damn Stay Puft Marshmellow Man," Faith growled before going back upstairs, done for the day. ******************* Days passed, but Faith never could find a way out of the house. She felt like a ghost in her own house, except she could touch everything in the house. Her sadness and depression soon became her only unwelcome companions, and soon, she was building the guts to take her own life. Tears fell down her cheeks as she put Dean's Samulet around her neck. "Who knows, Faith, maybe your version of Heaven is watching Supernatural with no interruptions, no beatings, no pain and no tears," she told herself as she loaded the gun in her hand. "You'll be safe, you'll be happy." Placing the gun against her chin, she aimed it toward her brain. Just then, the purr of a very familiar engine caught her attention and caused her to put the gun down and crawl over to the window, and gaze down in shock at a car she'd loved the minute she'd seen it, the one car she could see herself riding in every day. A car that was home for her two favorite men in the world. "Baby," she whispered and watched as two men stepped out, both familiar tell-tale men. "Oh my god," Faith gasped, the color draining from her face as she watched them approach the front door. "Oh god," she cried, and backed away from the window. "Okay, Faith, get a grip. This is obviously a dream. Take advantage of it, don't scare them off. Just be cool," she advised herself. As if on cue, the doorbell rang and Faith smiled as she took a deep breath descending the stairs, and another heading to the door. Opening the door, but standing as far inside as she could, she moved her eyes to both of the Winchesters' faces. "Hi, can I help you guys?" she asked. "Hey, I'm Agent Angus. This is my partner, Agent Young. We've been getting noise complaints from your neighbors. Complaints of screaming. Are you alright?" Sam asked. Faith smiled and licked her lips before shaking her head. "I'm fine, Sam," she replied before raising her hands, backing up into the houses, facing down their firearms. "Easy, guys, l'm no demon or shapeshifter or vampire, I promise. Let me prove it," she said and turned to Dean. "Silver blade and flask," she said and arched a brow at him. Dean glanced at Sam before lowering his gun and taking both out. Faith first took the flask and poured a little on her arm before touching the silver blade, handing the flask back. She then pulled up her upper lip so they could see she wasn't a vampire. "Guys, sit down, and I'll explain everything." She gestured to the couch and folded her hands in front of her. "Before I sit, would you guys like a coffee or anything?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck. Dean looked at Sam and shrugged. "Coffee, please," he replied and gave her a tightened smile, placing his elbows on his knees. Faith nodded and went to the kitchen, soon coming back with two mugs of coffee before sitting across from them in a recliner. "Thank you, um..." Dean arched a brow, and Faith realized he wanted her name. "Oh, Faith. Faith Delaney. You can just call me Faith." "Faith, great. So, go ahead. How do you know Dean and I?" Sam asked, calmly. Faith licked her lips. "I'm Faith Delaney. I was born December 2, 1988 in Dallas, Texas and I've lived...er, existed, to regret that day ever since...until today." Rubbing her thighs, she sighed and rubbed her hands together. "But, I wasn't born a part of this world," she said, raising her blue eyes to theirs, watching as they glanced at each other in confusion, and turned back to her. "Did you really think that was gonna clear anything up?" Dean asked, one brow arching as he pursed his lips. Faith sighed and licked her lips. "Right, okay. Well, there's no easy way to put this, so I'm just gonna come right out and say it. Boys, I know you both because, where I'm from, you're television characters." Dean scoffed and stood up, shaking his head as he turned away from her. Faith swallowed hard and bowed her head, slightly flinching, expecting him to hit her, something Sam caught sight of. His brow furrowed as he filed that away for later. "I can prove it. Sam, what's the date today?" she asked, forcing her eyes to the younger Winchester.

"September 24, 2008. Why?" Sam countered. Faith's eyes moved to Dean, sympathy apparent in her features as she could tell how jumpy he was, his whole body tense and alert. "You just got back from Hell six days ago," she said, gently, and turned back to Sam, who was looking at Dean, Dean looking back at him, shock on both their faces. Sam then turned back to Faith. "Okay, here goes. Sam Winchester, you were born May 2, 1983 in Lawrence, Kansas to John and Mary Winchester. Dean, here, you were born the twenty-fourth of January in '79. Sam, you were six months old, Dean four years old, when Mary was killed by Azazel, the yellow eyed demon. He cursed you with visions of death, but we'll get to that later. John was distraught, completely broken-hearted. And angry. So angry, he became a hunter to get revenge, and so, you and Dean were raised into it. Something your mother never wanted, by the way. Dean, you embraced the hunter life when you were sixteen years old after killing a vampire, well, some kind of monster with your dad. Got the impala on your nineteenth birthday. But Sam," she turned her eyes back to the younger Winchester, "you didn't want any part of it, so you took off when you could and went to Stanford. Wanting to get into law school. There, you met Jessica Moore. From what I could tell, a strong and intelligent blond that ended up stealing that beautiful heart inside of you," she told him with a warm smile and a wink. "Two years or so later, your brother broke into your apartment and convinced you to go look for John, and you both ended up hunting A Woman in White. You never found John. Dean took you back home, and that same night, you lost Jessica. Same way you lost your mother." She swallowed hard and licked her lips. "Both of you hit the road after that, hunting wendigoes, shapeshifters, faced your first demon on an airplane. Phantom traveler. You guys even faced an Indian curse that had to do with bugs. I hated that episode, by the way. You went back home to Lawrence to face a poltergeist in your old house, two of them and one of them being your mother. She saved you both. Skip down the road, you lost your father to Yellow Eyes as well, after he made a deal to save Dean, who ended up in a coma after a terrible car accident. Dean, going crazy with guilt, made a deal to bring you back from the dead a year later. A year after that, you lost Dean to hellhounds. And now, you're back, and here we all are." She sighed and watched the two of them, both uncomfortable about a complete stranger telling them their whole life story. "And boys, that's just seasons one through three. We're just starting season four." Sam sighed and glanced up at Dean, who was obviously not buying any of it. Faith swallowed hard as she watched him, and stood up, her eyes full of sympathy. "Dean, I'm promising you this now, on my soul, I'm not lying to you. I have nothing to gain from lying, and I wouldn't lie to you. Not after everything the two of you have done for me....you two were there when I had no one. Hell, if you guys hadn't shown up when you did, I'd have shot myself upstairs. So, once again, you two have saved my life." Dean felt in his gut, despite what she was telling them being impossible, that she was telling the truth. Licking his lips, he sighed. "Okay," he finally spoke, "let's pretend you're telling us the truth. How are you here now? I mean, I assume that magic doesn't exist on the other side, so how'd you get here?" Faith shook her head. "I dunno. I went to sleep last night watching Nightmare, and woke up to a house that was completely void of people. My laptop, all of my stuff was gone." Both boys' brows furrowed. "Nightmare?" Sam asked. "The case involving Max Miller, Sammy--er, Sam, I'm sorry." she said and shook her head with an apologetic smile. "Wait,you keep saying things like we saved your life, that you were alone without us, and you'd be a doornail upstairs if we hadn't shown up." Faith turned pained blue eyes up to him. "Were you depressed?" Dean asked, his brow furrowed. "That happens when you have a crappy home life. No disrespect to your parents, guys, but at least you two are free. But really, its all in the eyes of the beholder." "What do you mean?" Dean asked, his eyes moved over her. He saw the stitches, the scars, the bruises. "You were abused." Faith swallowed, pulling her sleeves down past her hands before wrapping her arms around herself, giving him a stiff nod without looking up at him. "He wasn't the only one doing the abusing, he just did most of it," she muttered, her thumb rubbing at her wrist. Dean clenched his jaw and closed his eyes before wiping his hand over his face.

"Guys, there's something else. I can't leave the house, like, at all. When I first woke up, back in August, I tried walking outside just to get some fresh air and got thrown back in. It felt like I'd bounced off something. There's something wrong with this house, like its possessed or something. And before you suggest it, I'm not a ghost. I have a heartbeat." Faith took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead, exhausted. "I'm tired, stressed, and emotional. I'm all alone, and I'm on the verge of going stir crazy." She looked between the brothers, and watched as they exchanged soulful looks. "Go ahead and talk, guys, just please..." her voice cracked as she moved her eyes to Dean. "Please, Dean...don't leave me here alone. I don't wanna be alone anymore. Just help me leave this place. You don't trust me, I get it. I'm nobody to you, but I'm begging you here...I'm at your mercy," she whispered. Dean swallowed hard as he listened to her, feeling for this girl.

"Okay. Okay, Faith, look at me," he called to her, earning a teary look. "We'll help you, sweetheart." Sam stood and went to place his hand on her shoulder when she jumped back and crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "I'm sorry, Sam, its a habit." "No, I'm sorry, Faith." The girl shook her head with a warm smile. "You have nothing to apologize for. It'll just take some getting used to. Trusting people, that is." "Well, we won't hurt you, that's for sure, and we'll set you free. You'll be okay," Dean told her and winked, earning a smile from the girl. ******************* "Okay. So, we think a demon brought you here with a spell, but didn't finish it. And that's why you can't leave this place." "Slacker idjit," she said, and rolled her eyes, then glanced up at Dean who was slightly smirking down at her, then licked his lips. "Anyway, we asked a friend to help us out," he said and opened the door. "Faith, say hello to our little friend," he said with an attempt at an Italian accent. She chuckled and heard the sound of fluttering wings, then turned around to see Castiel standing there. "Hello, Faith," the angel said, simply. "Hey Cas. Good to meet the angel who pulled Dean out of the pit. Nice job with that," she said, her arms crossed over her chest. She noticed the angel give her a curious look before he circled her. "Now, I see why they attempted to bring her here." "What do you mean, Cas?" Dean asked, watching the angel. "Killing a Nephilim is one of the sixty-six seals. And with Faith, you're killing two birds with one stone. If they kill Faith, then not only is Lilith breaking another seal, but she's taking away Michael's second in command in the battle between Heaven and Hell." Faith's brow furrowed as she turned confused and slightly afraid blue eyes to Dean.

"What is he talking about?" she asked and turned to Castiel. "What do you mean by Nephilim? I'm human, Castiel!" she panicked. The angel moved up to her and stared deeply into her eyes, making Faith incredibly uncomfortable. "You have no memory of this? The angel that conceived you must've erased any memories you had. Faith, you're half arch-angel, half human. You're a Nephilim." The color drained from the girl's face as she felt like her lungs had stopped working and her legs had turned to jello. Gasping for breath, Faith searched for something to sit on. "No wonder we could never find her, the Heavenly Hosts erased her memories and put her in a different realm," Castiel continued, not paying attention to the hyperventilating girl in front of him. Dean turned to his friend, who now stood at the window.

"Castiel, what do you mean you couldn't find her? You've known about her this whole time? Look, we're supposed to be helping this girl, not giving her a heartattack," Dean scolded the angel before kneeling down in front of Faith and took her hand. "Faith, look at me, and breathe. There you go," he said when her breathing started to slow and even out, "That's it, good girl." Faith relaxed in her chair, and forced her eyes from Dean to Castiel who was now staring at her. "If you're sure, then that means I've been from this world the entire time." Faith said and rubbed her forehead. "But why send me to that side of the fence? And why hand me over to those abusive..." Her eyes glowed a bright blue as lights blew out around her, her angel wings speading out behind her, the shadow of them on the wall behind her, her fists clenched tightly at her sides.

"Faith! Calm down!" Castiel called to her, and saw no choice as he placed two fingers to her forehead, watching as she fell to the floor, fast asleep. "What the hell was that?" Dean growled at Cas before looking down at the sleeping girl at his feet. "Dean, this girl...it all makes sense now. Years ago, there was a rumor that a Nephilim had come into being, but we could never find it. Michael never comes to Earth, so we had no reason to suspect him of such treason. This girl dead will achieve three victories for the demons. One broken seal, she won't play her pivotal part in the apocalypse, and she's the Nephilim child of the highest archangel on the scale, Michael." Dean's eyes widened before they fell back down to the sleeping girl at his feet. Swallowing hard, he gently scooped her up into his arms and laid her on the bed, then turned back to Castiel. "You're sure about this?" he asked. "Yes." "How?" "Dean, I can see Michael's mark on her heart. Its how we tell who the angel father is. Almost like a brand. Nephilim are forbidden by the highest laws of Heaven which explains why he put her somewhere nobody would ever look. But still, I can't believe he'd do this."

"What's gonna happen to her?" Dean asked, glancing down at the sleeping girl. "I don't know." Dean's attention snapped to Castiel. "You're not gonna help her? Why? Cas, she's an innocent girl. She didn't ask for any of this, man, and that includes being created, or to be brought here by the damn demons that want her dead. She doesn't deserve to be killed like a common monster." He sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose. "We'll fix this, then we'll get her out of here, and take her to Bobby's, and go from there. I'm not leaving an innocent girl, who's not even a hunter, to fend for herself against Heaven and Hell, and everything else in between. Especially after everything she's already been through. As far as I can tell, she deserves better than both Michael and that son of a bitch on the other side," Dean said, shaking his head. *******************

Faith awoke to the purr of an engine that sounded like it was coming from beneath her. Blinking her eyes open, she glanced around the interior of the impala and couldn't help but smile. "You didn't leave me behind," she said, softly, earning Dean's attention. "I made you a promise, didn't I?" he asked her, and handed her a brown bag. "Bacon cheeseburger, no onions. You don't seem like a chick that likes onions," he told her, not taking his eyes off the road. "Good call," she said, glad he couldn't see the red tint in her cheeks, taking the burger out and biting into it, moaning. "Oh god, Dean, that's awesome." Dean smirked. "I have a feeling we're gonna be good friends." Faith smiled brightly and ate her burger quietly, not pushing her limits.

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