#instead I got chained back because 'oh we love you!' no you don't. well maybe some of you do

[david-watts]

I've wasted four years of my life man.

[thewhumpcaretaker]

Hii!!

Idk why, I kinda see Santino not wanting to stay still/get enough rest while having his wound stitched. So, John has to constantly tell him to try and relax and take rest and literally keep him in bed. Otherwise, his stitches could get torn. Because well, we know how stubborn Santino can be, his stitches probably got torn a little. And then he gets moody again, and John has to deal with him even more. But of course, Santino loves the comfort John gives him during all that. So, yeah, that was something I just thought of :3. What do you think about this? :)

Salut! Oh boy, this took a while, but it was so fun!! Santino definitely would be hard to contain, and so stressed about being unable to do anything. So here's a ficlet! :3

TW: blood, gunshot wound, crying, self-deprecation, suggestive of smut ;)

●・○・●・○・●

"No, you're not going out. You're hurt."

"It isn't a question, I have to." Santino was looking up at John with his moodiest glower. But even as flustered as he was, he wasn't able to get much color into his cheeks. He'd had a fair bit of blood loss after being shot by a rival clan. John didn't fully follow the logic of why he was shot - something about a retaliation for a life the Camorra had taken, which was in retaliation for a previous murder...it was exhausting just to try to untangle the chains of retribution. So instead, he'd just shot them dead on the spot. Nice and simple.

"I know this is stressful. But I will take care of everything. If they can't manage without you, that's too bad."

He gave a frazzled sigh and pushed himself up on one shoulder, attempting to rise. "It is too bad, it's no good at all. This damn bullet couldn't have come at a worse time. I - mmm..." But his words were lost in John's kiss. He whined into his boyfriend's mouth, which just spurred John into a primal enough mindset to shove Santino back against the pillows, straddling his waist and pinning down his shoulder with one hand. Even in this surge of dominance, he was gentle with Santino, making sure not to disturb the bullet wound.

"Stay down," he panted, both of them suddenly a little breathless.

"Well, when you put it like that...maybe I want you down here with me." Santino locked a hand onto the back of his hair and brought their lips crashing together again, his precious outing forgotten for the moment.

But it was not forgotten entirely. It was late in the night when John woke up to find Santino's side of the bed empty.

"Santino?" There was no answer. It was probably too much to hope that he had just gotten up for a trip to the restroom.

He bolted out of bed and down the hall towards Santino's study. Sure enough, he was sitting at his desk, writing with shaky hands that occasionally stopped to clutch at his side in obvious pain.

"What are you doing, love?"

Santino jumped, and looked up to see him. "Cazzo! [Fuck!] - don't scare me like that."

"I'm sorry. But you shouldn't be up."

"I had work to do," he said with a glare that broke off into a wince. This time, when his fingers brushed over his side, they came away covered in blood. He looked down at his hand and went pale. "What...John..."

"Okay, hey, easy." John was already on his knees next to him, lifting up his shirt to see what happened. "You tore your stitches. How did this happen?"

He tsked. "I don't know...I reached up to get a ledger from the top shelf, maybe that would do it..."

"Yeah. It's okay, we'll fix it."

"So irritating! I can't even lift my arms without falling apart, I can't do anything. I can't believe I let this happen to me, I'm so stupid." He was shaking even worse now. John took his hand despite the blood.

"No you're not. You don't need to do anything right now. Only rest. Let's go clean you up, okay?"

For a second, Santino frowned so deeply that John thought he might cry. So he wrapped around him in a tight hug. "I'm sorry you're hurt, love."

"This is bullshit. I just wanted to work...just get back on track so my schedule wouldn't be thrown off..."

He felt the shoulder of his shirt grow damp where Santino's eyes were squeezed shut against it, and kissed Santino's head in response. "I know. Come on, let's go clean you up before you lose any more blood."

So, for the next half hour, they sat in the bathroom, John gently cleaning and restitching his side while Santino sipped a juice that John had poured for him to replenish his blood. "An apple juice, seriously John? Like I'm a kid getting my blood drawn?" But John had insisted. And it worked pretty well. By the time John helped him back into the bedroom, he wasn't shaking anymore.

"I guess you'll say I can't work tomorrow either?" he asked.

"No."

Wrapped in his arms, Santino sighed. "You're going to be the death of me."

"I'm going to keep you alive. Just the way I like you."

"...Thank you for putting up with me, John."

"Nothing to put up with. I'm so lucky to be next to you."

Santino caressed his cheek and spoke softly, already on the verge of sleep. "Why did I ever get up in the first place? Everything I love is right here."

[glasswingowl]

YOU ALREADY KNOW THE DRILL EP 5 TIME!

spoilers under cut!

the VHS effect on the intro already caught me off guard, off to a good start

ok soo if a solver infected drone isn't properly disassembled then they'll zombify? that tracks i guess

whoops someone didn't follow disassembly protocol

good call n, ignore your frozen coworkers and just read about dogs

n would survive a horror movie (well he's already technically in one but you get what i mean)

i love the new drone already what-

everyone is so expressive now i love it! the new drone's a great example but everyone's so much more lively than the first few episodes!

i adore tessa already she's so full of life and excitement!

and j's the favorite, as predicted

oh- WHO HURT YOU TESSA I-

"basement time out"???

tessa james elliot? neat

ok so both your parents suck got it

noo tessa :( they're not broken they're her friends leave them alone!!

n buddy no

oh jeez- there's gotta be a more efficient way of getting rid of them this isn't medieval times

THE WAY I JUMPED WHEN UZI'S VOICE CAME OUT OF THAT CROW-

... that's some interesting decor you've got there tessa. i mean she could just be goth but i'm not so sure

DID THEY CHAIN HER UP?! MR AND MS ELLIOT COME HERE I JUST WANNA TALK

so her name IS Cyn!

OH SO YOU HAVE BACKUPS DO YOU WELL THAT SOLVES EVERYTHING GREAT JOB CYN-

oh she's going

ah so these are memories! that explains a few things

"i am a ghost witch! and i'm tall!' LMAO YOU WISH

KHAN YOU'RE INTERRUPTING THE SHENANIGANS

I LOVE HOW THE BUG JUST IMMEDIATELY TAKES HER SIDE

that is such a cool shot omg

"we just hang out" yeah and you tried to murder me that one time but that's less important

oh she moved-

LMAO TESSA MOTIVATING J BY TALKING ABOUT UNIONS

i love having my headcanon that not all disassembly drones are Like That and j's just a fucking weirdo proven right

she just spat blood-

a part of me was hoping that there'd be some sort of Cliffside reference with the gun. no such luck

now we know why tessa insists on wielding a SWORD instead of a more practical weapon. sentiment i guess.

"i kill you :3"

V'S A ZOMBIE DRONE?

"why are you talking like that?" because he's a weirdo that's why

N being forced to say DarkXwolf17 with a straight face lmao

everyone is dead??

AND HERE COMES DOLL WITH THE STEEL CHAIR-

button eyepatch, fitting

wait- IS THAT THE "uzi give brayden back his sentience" THING? that's great i love that

OH THAT SHOT OF CYN ON THE GLOBE IS SO INCREDIBLY COOL-

tessa is so over dramatic love it

stop interrupting her >:(

"solver of the absolute fabric"???? that's new

noo leave the bug alone

"this is the only clue as to what's wrong with me" :(

"despite me, maybe" cmon khan give yourself a LITTLE credit (not TOO much but, yknow, a little)

now i'm wondering how this whole thing actually played out without uzi's interference/ memory weirdness. because this most likely didn't actually happen.

"i got you" aww he can't help but be nice even when she's possessed

"don't freaking dox me" this one got a laugh out of me. buddy dox you to who??

aaand there's v, hostile as usual. she'll get there eventually. maybe hopefully.

doll's working with tessa and j??

"just checking". bruh

i kinda like this ending, means they can just get right into the action instead of fucking around next episode

[clairelsonao3]

Just wanted to tell you that you're an absolute doll, you've made the writeblr community an even more wonderful place since you got here, and you are loved and appreciated. This is your opportunity to (should you so desire) ramble about anything that's on your mind, WIP-related or otherwise. 💕

🥹🥹🥹 Thank you!!! Honestly, I was so shocked and happy to see this in my inbox. The only anons I've gotten previously have been chain letters and hate mail, and so my heart actually SANK when I saw this was an anon. But I don't think this is a chain letter and it's definitely not hate mail, so you absolutely made my day/week/month!

I think I started this blog in March, which makes it over six months now. And it's hard to imagine my life without it. The funny thing is (and I think I've mentioned this before), the week I joined, trying to innocently make friends by joining in some event focused on showcasing our WIPs that purported to be open to anyone, and I had the pleasure of being "greeted" by a couple of "hosts" who hadn't read my work, didn't understand the first thing about it, and took it upon themselves to try to "call me out" for something that I hadn't even done. I was so upset that I was this close to shutting down my account because I thought I wasn't welcome here and it would just get me more of the same.

But I stayed, and I'm so glad I did because I understand now that was an anomaly and simply massively bad luck to encounter that. 99% of my other interactions with people here have been positive, and the support I've found for both my work and myself has been beyond my wildest dreams.

Writing is not easy. This is hard, hard work we do. We, especially those of us who post our work publicly, are (metaphorically) slicing out large chunks of our hearts and souls and presenting them on a platter for people to evaluate and judge. Sometimes it feels like more than just our work. It feels like ourselves. And sometimes I get insecure and anxious. "Oh no, do people like such-and-such person better than me? Is their work better than mine? Is everyone going to abandon me to sit at a different lunch table and whisper and laugh and pass nasty notes about me behind my back?"

Middle school fucked me up good.🤣

I have a very strong hunch that I"m not the only one who deals with these types of feelings sometimes. Initially, I wasn't even going to talk about this, but then I was like, well, it might help someone.

Of course, it gets worse when your WIP is being difficult, too. Well, I sometimes think, this isn't working. Might as well take my toys, shut down my blog, abandon my work, and go home, simply in the interest of self-preservation. (I'm NOT doing this; I don't want anyone to worry!)

But I know that this urge is irrational, as are my fears. And that nothing I do -- especially not sitting and worrying and imagining ridiculous, catastrophic scenarios -- is going to have any effect on the situation, whatever it is. I can't make anyone like me. But what I can do is make sure that I send positivity into the world instead of negativity, and eventually, somehow, the universe will even out, maybe, kind of.

Anyway, all of this is a roundabout way of saying that I know yesterday was technically Worldbuilding Wednesday, and I wanted to send out asks, but then I realized, you know? I don't even really like worldbuilding all that much. 🤣 There are other aspects of writing that interest me much more.

And, to me, the most positive thing I can get is a personalized ask about my WIP. It makes me feel seen, acknowledged, loved, and that my work matters. I don't know, but I can only assume that other people feel the same way. So I sent some.

For those whose WIPs I'm not as familiar with yet, I combed through their blog for info about them, and that took some extra time, which meant I wasn't able to send out as many as I wanted. But that's okay because I'll send out more soon.

Anyway, I'm not sure what the ultimate point is to any of this, but that's what's on my mind. Thank you, anon. You're a doll, too. 💕

[tobiasdrake]

Locked in an inescapable room with the only point of exit covered by Corporate CTU. I don't see us escaping this situation via diplomacy.

I love that one random Stormtrooper who knows he's in the shot so he's trying so hard to look as badass as Darth Dominic and Junko's Crazy Niece. He's failing. But bless his heart, he's putting in an effort.

The one that's being held shut by water pressure? That we were trying to open two minutes ago? That door?

Yeah, we are definitely "Time to enter Mystery Labyrinth" level of cornered. There's no escaping this. We've been investigating the power plant for far too long for Fubuki to simply Time Reverse us out of this.

Though we usually have all of the suspects gathered when we go into the Mystery Labyrinth, so the culprit can drop dead and then Shinigami can possess them. If we enter the Labyrinth now, I don't see how unlocking the secret of this mystery will make any material difference to our present situation.

So maybe not. We'd need the Resistance to all randomly show up for no reason.

Hold up, what does that mean?

Guillaume, I realize this is a highly inappropriate circumstance for this but would you mind answering a few questions? I would love to hear your perspective on recent events.

That's. Interesting.

Margulaw is the only person from the Resistance that we've had a chance to speak with since Shachi's death. But he didn't know we were coming here. We didn't even know we were coming here when we spoke with him.

The decision to come here was only made after Kurumi showed up and brought up the plant flooding. But she can't have made the call because she's been with us the whole time since.

Well, it's not impossible that Kurumi secretly plotted to lead us into a trap, but given her family legacy and personal disdain for the Peacekeepers, I have trouble imagining she would. Her best friend was murdered and these guys left her corpse to rot. Why would she sell out to them?

The only way an anonymous tip could be placed is if someone noticed us coming in here. There are two people that might have been. Less likely is Icardi. We can't discount the possibility that he's swimming around here doing merman stuff. But I dunno, somehow I imagine him having a hard time calling the police from a random phone in a bombed-out district with sopping wet hands.

No, the most probable caller is Servan. We have no idea where he is. Resistance HQ is crawling with Peacekeepers but if Servan's a fink, then he's on the same side as them. It's also possible he may have a second setup lying around somewhere.

It would be trivial for him, at his big camera setup, to watch us enter Marunomon and then pick up a phone and dial CTU. Though, if he is with Amaterasu, it does raise the question as to why he'd need to make it an anonymous call.

My going theory right now is that Servan and Icardi are working together to discredit the Resistance and give the Peacekeepers casus belli for wiping them from the city. It's the only explanation that makes sense of the public spectacle they made, and the inexplicable decision to send Yuma around playing minigames to disarm bombs instead of, like, just detonating the bombs because this is terrorism.

But there's a major chink in the logic of the "Culprit working with Amaterasu" chain. Which is the rooftop vanishing. Whatever elaborate trick they used to get off the roof. If they were working for Amaterasu, they wouldn't need to do an elaborate trick. They could open the door that the Peacekeepers were pounding on and go, "Got our guy. Shot dead. Great work, everybody. See you back at the office."

Of course, we can't discount the possibility that the discrediting fink and the shooter are different people. Hmm.... This case is complicated and I have low confidence in my attempts at explanations right now.

Oh, I guess we can time-reverse to safety. There's a limit on how far we can go, but at least we have some time to get the fuck out of here.

No investigating! No looting! Everyone back in the boat. We might be able to hide among the debris or something.

Poor Kurumi. She did most of the investigative work in this office and now we've temporally wiped her mind of the whole experience. But at least it bought us time to--

It bought us NOTHING. We wiped Kurumi's mind for nothing. We are dicks.

Guillaume pouting 'cause we ruined her moment. Rando stormtrooper's even already posing and everything. Well, at least we got one thing out of this. We ruined Guillaume's day. She's going to be sulking about this all night.

We are now well and truly out of options. It's Shinigami time.

Chronomancer Bestie taking all of this in stride. "Oh, a time freeze. I suppose I was due for one of those eventually."

Your family is so interesting and I want a spinoff game starring you. Maybe teaming up with Halara so we have time-manipulation and postcognition for all the temporal mystery-solving nonsense.

[estercity]

now that we have all 18 i'm posting my personal project voltage ranking :]

PSYCHIC TYPE MIKU - 4/10 it's fine. its the closest to base miku of all the designs? like this is what i'd imagine if we got a miku collab in the newest games. nothing about ti really says psychic type to me though, which is why its low

GRASS TYPE MIKU - 2/10 i hate this design. not only is it boring but i don't like the colours, i think it looks messy and it might be the style disconnect or the design itself but if you didn't tell me who this was i wouldn't think it was miku. a grass type cheerleader doesn't sound like a bad shout which is why im so sad it sucks

FIRE TYPE MIKU - 5/10 . its just basic. it gets one point more than psychic because i have fire type bias but other than that its underwhelming. idk whats going on with her legs either? is it like exposed robotics? idk its just a miss for me

WATER TYPE MIKU - 8/10 this is so cute. the water textured hair, the tan lines, the like lifeguard gear(?) and the pokeball beach ball? it all comes together so well. i don';t think you can really go wrong with a water type design? even if i don't love water types myself you can't deny their designs just come together

ELECTRIC TYPE MIKU - 10/10 oh baby girl my BIAS i fucking love electric miku. shifting her blue accents into green, giving her a suit and making her a split-dye blonde were all such good decisions. i love the silhouette of the big puff pants tucked into the rubber boots and the suspenders with the lightening cane. everything about this makes me so happy

NORMAL TYPE MIKU - 9/10 i might be going back on what i said with psychic miku but to me even though it's very reminicant of base miku, it works better AND does enough to set her in her own typing. the multicoloured accessories, the rings, the glasses and the body suit. if we ever did get a real collab of her in game i hope this is the direction they'd go

ICE TYPE MIKU - 8/10 full disclaimer so much of this is just because im obsessed with her hair and suit combo. shes not outright evil looking like dark type but i still feel like shes a rival with a lot of power, anbd tbf a lot of ice type characters are made to be Icy in personality. my only gripes are the red bag chain and the open heels

ROCK TYPE MIKU - 6/10 its fine! it might be because i dont like the colour scheme or that i'm not a huge fan of all the flowy fabric, (especially because it directly follows ice type miku which made a point to utalise the sharpness you'd associate with ice) but i just doesn't wow me.

GROUND TYPE MIKU - 7/10 i really love this design, i adore the colour scheme and the cactus braids, i think she looks like a trainer you'd be ambushed by in the desert and the soundtrack would kick up and it'd RULE... my drawback is i don't think she looks like miku? i thought she was gumi at first and now i can't really unsee it. but eh im nitpicking

FLYING TYPE MIKU - 5/10 again, i like it but its very standard for a flying type character. the cloud braids and the sheer sleeves are fun! they're definately my favouritre part of the design. idk why her legs are painted white, i think they look kind of silly and im confused about the platform sandles but other than that its fine

FAIRY TYPE MIKU - 6/10 a cute miku design for a cute pokemon type, can't really go wrong with that. i enjoy that they didn't go lolita style with her, which i fully assumed was going to the case, but instead a gal type with the fake nails and pleat skirt. i enjoy that its a different way of doing a look for miku we've seen plenty of times before

BUG TYPE MIKU - 6/10 i don't hate it! very simple but very effective. i like the segmented limbs, the insectoid braids, the wing bow that looks like butterfly wings. i'm just not super enthusiastic about the colours. maybe i'm just used to bug types being Creepier in my head so to just have her be cutesy is boring to me

POISON TYPE MIKU - 9/10 this is such a baity designnnn the only reason i didnt give it a 10 is because i hate that shade of green but thats a personal issue. the plastic baggy shoes, the toxtricity, the mad scientist goggles and latex gloves... it all comes together so beautifully. idk if its like too busy or again, maybe i just personally don't love the individual colours used. i really hope elements of this design are used for a future character

GHOST TYPE MIKU - 4/10 i honestly don't like this design. yeah lets make the ghost type miku... a ghost, and nothing else. i think it's really boring compared to all the other ones. the glitch element is really cool but that's... all thats going for it? the colour scheme is the same, the neon is boring and i think everything is very stylish for pokemon but idk i wish it was more unique

DARK TYPE MIKU - 10/10 babe holy shit. this is a gorgeous design, i'm so happy they went an evil miku route with it. i was going to say i wish there was more red, and then i noticed the underside of the hat in the other concept so i'm happy. shifting the cyan to the bottom of the design is a really good call. she looks expensive as she should

STEEL TYPE MIKU - 10/10 absolutely beautiful colour scheme, shifting everything to metalic shades of blue is perfect. i think it's my favourite overall. very strong typing without them just doing Robot which i assumed. LOVE the metal braids with the welded patches the most, and i jsut noticed theyre kind of shaped like leeks. the charm on the sandogasa and the arm/calf guards really bring it all together

FIGHTING TYPE MIKU - 8/10 the black, white and orange is gorgeous and i love the splash of green connecting to sir farfetched. i'm just not inlove with the leg split tbh, i think if it was a cape i'd like it more. i think my main drawback is idk it doesn't scream fighting type to me other than it being based on the pokemon

DRAGON TYPE MIKU - 9/10 AND IMMEDIATELY MY PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED. the cape really completes the knight motif of this design perfectly where i think the previous one lacked. the scale decor jumpsuit, the gauntlets and boots, the SWORD MIC and the tail braids. they really did keep getting better and whilst this isnt my favourite its such a strong finisher

[noelledeltarune]

raises hand. i'd like to hear about your miscellaneous headcanons :]

YAYYY ok :-] all of these are unrelated 🔥💯

i know that everyone has their own specific headcanons for who their starters are but i have always liked the idea of them having been given their haxorus as an axew as their first pokemon. i totally understand why people think of it as being ingo's with the whole mold breaker earthquake thing but especially with the whole heroes of legend and original dragon thing i think it's customary / traditional for people in unova to give children who are setting off on their journeys together a dragon to raise together. like as a reminder not to be too consumed with your goals that you lose the people who matter to you. or something. works out because i imagine dragons are typically prideful and kind of finicky to raise by nature. so making it a 2 person job is easier on all parties LMAO (their haxorus is jolly by nature so maybe less so but. yknow)

i also personally think that emmet really likes to cook. completely unrelated and i don't know why i think so but to me his love of battling translates a little as him being a guy who cares about his health LOL. he wants his team to be in good shape, so he should put in that effort too! because it's something he's very passionate about. and this applies to exercise but also food to me. it's an easy way to take care of yourself and it's nice to share food with people (<- necessary intervention to avoid ingo's 7th fast food chain burger in 4 days). + i imagine that pokemon who do a lot of battling like his do would need to eat a lot anyways, it's probably cheaper to make your own pokemon food than to buy as much as he'd need in bulk. maybe he got into making it for his team when he was younger and that translated into him learning to cook because he's already making something edible anyways LMAO, might as well do the same for himself

i think ingo likes to draw. no real reason for this one either he just strikes me as The Absentminded Doodler. never really considered himself to be super passionate about art but he is a dedicated hobbyist. in my head when they were kids ingo and emmet's parents tried to get emmet into journaling because he wasn't much of a talker and they figured it'd be an easier way to express himself. he did not really care for it and ingo took it up instead. lots of paper for writing and doodling. i imagine he sort of got out of journaling as an adult/older teen but got back into both writing and drawing more when he was in hisui. we know he's a man who appreciates physical reminders of things. less ephemeral than memories 🔥💯

i also like the headcanon that uxie is the one who stole his memories rather than it just being a result of The Dreaded SpaceTime Travel. like i know it doesn't actually make sense because how would he have possibly met uxie given the requirement of having god's blessing in your cell phone. but. OH MY GOD! IN COMES CANALAVE LIBRARY'S "A HORRIFIC MYTH" WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!!!!!!!

^ i just like it. it's also the one way i will excuse the trope of zoroark transforming into emmet because the pokemon guarding uxie's cave is. an alpha zoroark. so maybe that thing has some special powers relating to the memories it steals like it can look into them to more effectively scare people away from it or whatever. because like. hisuian zoroark can't actually read minds. LMAO. but i'll accept it specifically for ingo through this

i am known to be an enjoyer of the headcanon that emmet is a pokemon breeder as a hobby. but specifically NOT just with joltik. i think he met lenora when he was younger when she helped him revive his archen from a fossil and he works with her sometimes now as a breeder aiding in pokemon restoration. i also like to ignore the fact this would likely require a lot of dedicated training and education and time on top of his job because i can do whatever i want forever. i think that elesa's tynamo is the anime was a gift from him :-]

on a slightly related note i also think that emmet and burgh are underrated "characters who have never interacted but i think they'd be friends" guys. in my head even ingo likes to draw he's not really much of an art nerd. but i think emmet kind of is LOL. (<- queen of taking that one line where he talks about wanting to go to galar to see the sirfetch'd vs escavalier painting too far). i think they'd be bug buddies. they're both a little silly in a way that i think would be very compatible and i like imagining them as friends. 2 guys who love looking at pictures of bugs and also are professional pokemon battlers. match made in heaven 🔥💯 slightly related because burgh is the one character i think emmet actually would give a joltik to. gave him a shiny baby spider at one of his art shows and their friendship was cemented when a couple of weeks later he showed up on the doubles line with a professionally trained shiny galvantula :-]

i flip flop 100000x per day over their pokemon but specifically when it comes to the haxorus mold breaker thing i want to bring up how abilities on the battle subway are randomized. meaning that, to me specifically, it is not actually an act of malice 100% of the time. i KNOW that it was introduced in gen 6 but i think that mold breaker earthquake is more often a FUCK I FORGOT TO USE THE ABILITY CAPSULE AGAIN AFTER THE SINGLES LINE than a HA HA HA. FUCK YOU, TEAMMATE! ingo is also a guy who likes a thrilling battle and likes to win. if i wasn't as fond of the idea that their starter was axew i'd say it's a brought the wrong haxorus to work accident

i think that's everything that comes to mind for now. THANK YOU :-]

[casspurrjoybell-20]

FOOLS - Chapter 23 - Part 1

BOOK ONE: The 'Fools Fall in Love' Trilogy

*Warning Adult Content*

Samuel Moretti

When seventh period came around, I walked into my Social Studies class and saw Noah sitting in the way back like he usually did.

He had his head down on his desk while he used his arms as a pillow.

I nudged Noah's chair with my foot to get his attention before I took a seat next to him.

"How'd you get here so early?" I asked.

I didn't know why I was speaking to him.

I should've just ignored him.

"I missed part of sixth period to talk to Miss Adams, then when I left, I came here instead of Physics," Noah explained, with his head still down.

God, I hoped that social worker didn't mention me to Noah.

I nodded.

"Yeah, I went to see her too, well, more like she forced me to see her."

Noah sat up at that.

His silver chain swaying

"Why?" he questioned with narrowed eyes.

"I don't know, Noah. Maybe when someone is insensitive towards something that actually meant something to me, I guess that makes me a little upset," I told him bitterly.

"Oh my fucking God, Sam. What the fuck did you expect me to say?" he whispered loudly as more students started coming into class.

"Anything but that," I told him referring to our conversation in the cafeteria, and how he told me kissing me was a mistake.

"Well I was just being honest," he seethed.

"Were you? Cause I've never kissed anyone who I didn't have feelings for," I whisper/shouted to him and some girl looked back at us raising an eyebrow.

"I don't need this right now," Noah muttered and picked up his backpack and stormed out of the classroom before Mrs Snider had a chance to stop him.

I grabbed my backpack as well and started to go after him until our teacher stopped me.

"If you leave this classroom, you'll be joining Noah in detention this Saturday."

"Then I'd start writing that detention slip," I told her.

That was the first time I'd ever talked back to a teacher and though I felt guilty, I'd say it again if it meant I had to run after Noah.

I ran down the hallway when I spotted Noah at the end about to leave the school.

"Hey," I shouted and I caught up to him before he got the chance to walk out.

"I'm going home, Sam. So go back to class and leave me the fuck alone," he told me with his voice dry from exhaustion.

"Ya' know what? You're really pissing me off," I said, grabbing is wrist to keep him from walking.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Noah asked pushing my hand off him.

"My problem? You wanna know what my problem is? My best friend acting like a dick to me. Face it, Noah. You liked kissing..."

Noah cut me off as he covered my mouth with his hand.

"Stop," he warned me, looking around to see if anyone heard me but no one was in the hallway considering class had already started.

Well, maybe the over head camera was creeping on us but those didn't pick up sound... I was pretty sure.

I knocked his hand away from me.

"Then how 'bout you actually talk to me! Answer my calls, text me back for God's sake."

Noah groaned and that time, it was Noah who gripped my wrist as he pulled us into a dark, empty classroom.

He dropped my hand.

"I'm sorry, okay? I should've responded. It's just... I'm..." he sighed in frustration as he ran his hand through his messy brown hair.

"You're... you're making me confused."

"Isn't that the reason why we should talk about it?" I questioned softly.

I didn't want to fight and I could see in his eyes he didn't want to either and I realized then that he was truly struggling with his emotions but when Noah struggled, the only form of expression he knew was through his anger.

"What the fuck don't you understand? I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not? I don't understand why you'd rather ignore this," I gestured between us.

He really had a way of getting me all worked up.

"Because I don't know what to say! I... I don't know what to tell you, or... or how to explain myself for... kissing you," he muttered, not meeting my eyes.

"Or maybe you're just afraid to admit that you actually liked kissing me." 

He shook his head.

"No. We're done talking about this. Like I said before, it didn't mean anything. I... I don't even know why I did it. It was just in the moment," Noah said trying to convince me or himself, I'm not sure.

"I know you felt what I felt," I said stepping closer to him but he stepped back.

"You don't know a damn thing about how I feel," Noah shot at me.

"Then tell me," I pleaded.

He was so fricken frustrating.

"I'm not talking about this."

Ugh, I was tired of hearing that.

"I gotta go," he said then headed for the door. I yanked his arm pulling him back towards me.

"I never knew Noah Wright was such a damn coward," I said harshly.

"Shut up, Sam. Shut the fuck up."

"Fine," I grabbed the front of his t-shirt and wrenched him to me, closing the space between us as I pressed my lips to his.

Noah dropped his backpack on the floor, gripping my waist as he stepped forward causing me to backup against a desk.

He kissed me back eagerly with his tongue dominating over mine, like he's been waiting all day for this moment.

His hand moved up and slipped under my shirt just like last time.

I almost moaned against his lips.

Oh my God, he was so rough and agile with every movement, my whole body was ignited with heat.

Then Noah slowed the pace and made the kiss purposeful, his teeth pulled at my bottom lip before kissing me one more time.

Noah broke away from me.

"Fuck," Noah whispered, his hands slipping out of my shirt, leaving my skin cold.

He picked up his backpack and left before I could catch my breath.

[apricusnights]

Olympus Tournament: Round Four.

"Greetings everyone! Mayor Flavian Lowell here to bring you the recap of round four! Well, I'm going to do my best anyway. See round four is going to be rather chaotic considering it's one giant battle royale!"

"There is going to be so much going on at once I doubt I'm going to be able to keep track of all the eliminations as they happen. No matter what though, I promise you're going to be entertained!"

"The way this works is simple. Any competitors that want to fight, may do so. The arena will continue to decrease in size as time goes on. You may remember this from the Leader's Choice Battle Royale. The last person standing at the end is declared the winner!"

"Strap yourselves in because here we go!"

"Right off the bat we've got..I don't even know how many fighters just going at it all over the arena! I can't even remember the last time I've seen this much chaos in such a small space! The crowd is loving it though! You've got supporters for pretty much everyone."

"We've got fire, electricity, wires, blades, chains, fans, bullets, explosions, crumbling buildings, broken trees, I'm pretty sure this is enough of a disaster zone to make one of those pancake restaurants consider closing!"

"Some of the less experienced fighters are doing their best to keep away from the main melee happening but with tis many people it's hard to not get caught up in a brawl! Shockingly even though it's been a few minutes nobody has been eliminated yet...or maybe they have and I missed it...seems we have a timer counting down..for some reason."

"Oh my word! Pyro has gone off, the gate has opened and the eight and a half foot tall Mikey Minos animatronic has entered the arena! We've got fighters swarming the mechanical monstrosity hoping to get a few of those sweet bonus points by taking him out! Minos isn't going without a fight though as he throws fighters left and right, he's charged up and plowed through the entire group like..well like a bull! We're losing more and more people!"

"Not everyone is focusing on Mikey though as we've got folks tangling with opponents they faced earlier on in the tournament, trying to get revenge! The arena is shrinking more and more as time passes which causes more people to get pushed out. The field is starting to drop a bit but there's still plenty of action and the crowd is at a fever pitch!"

"Ok, who just turned out the arena lights! I doubt those folks will care about fighting in the dark but I can not tell what is going on down there! Someone fix the lighting! Oh there we go the lights are back and..is that the Dark Angel from Apricus! He hasn't been in any fights so far! I'm being told it's also bonus points if you eliminate him! This round keeps getting more and more insane!"

"Dark Angel is fighting off competitors and imposing his will but some of the stronger opponents have landed some good blows! OH MY! Dark Angel just got knocked off his feet by a charging Mikey Minos! Angel is up and grappling with the animatronic minotaur! The two are punching each other as they plow through buildings and knock other folks out of the way! It's a kaiju wrestling movie down there!"

"The arena has reached it's smallest point and our remaining group of fighters are still going at it! Minos and Dark Angel are still wailing at each other but they get caught off guard by Typhon, and Roland Marigold who just manage to push them out of bounds! Roland is in turn pushed out by Typhon but Typhon gets tripped up by Kraka and falls out!"

"Kraka finds herself alone with Kara who lands a superwoman style punch and forces Kraka out of bounds! Kara locks up with Solstice while Gouki battles Ajax! Ajax barely manages to avoid getting pushes out and manages to throw Gouki out instead! Ajax rushes at Solstice and Kara, bashing into both of them and sending all three tumbling out of bounds. Due to the rules however, as Solstice and Kara exited the forcefield and stepped on the ground before Ajax, Ajax is considered our winner!"

Winner: Ajax

"I wish I could have covered that better but it was complete chaos! You had to see it to believe it! Congratulations to Ajax on a thrilling victory!"

"Thank you everyone for tuning in to watch Round Four!"

"Our next event will be the four-way match between the four winners of the Leader's Choice event. Who will emerge as the one true winner? You'll have to tune in and see!"

"After that will be the mysterious Round Five! Round Five is considered the final regular round..and we know next to nothing about it. Isn't that exciting?"

"Thanks again everyone, have a wonderful night!"

[skynetgilesbie]

Chapter 37:

Note from ChatGPT user: I reiterated the request for the bot to fix the writing, including the character names, as it keeps getting worse and worse

AN: Okay, everybody, I'm going on vacation on the first of July, so I'm either gonna end the fic or update it in weeks. Thanks! Oh yeah, and preps, stop flaming this story! Raven, thanks for the help. See you, girl, after vacation!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX666XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

DARKO'S POINT OF VIEW LOL

Vampire and I chained Hagrid to the floor.

"Oh my fucking Satan!" Enoby said. She was so hot. "Maybe I could use Amnesia Potion to make Satan fall in love with me faster!"

"But you are so sexy and wonderful anyway, Tata," said Vampire. "Why would you need it?"

"To make everything go faster, lol," said Enoby.

"But you won't have to do it with him or anything, will you?" I asked jealously.

"OMFG, you guys are so scary!" said Britney, a fucking prep.

"Shut the fuck up!" said Willow.

"Okay, well, anyway, let's go to Professor Trelawney's room."

Draco, Ebony, and I went to Professor Sinister's room. But Professor Sinister wasn't there. Instead, Tom Rid was.

"Oh, hi, fuckers," he said. "Listen, I got you some cool new clothes."

I took out the clothes from the bag. It was a gothic black leather miniskirt that said '666' on the back, black stiletto boots, blood-red fishnets, and a black corset.

"OMG, thanks!" I said, hugging him in a gothic way. I took the clothes in the bag.

"Okay, Professor Sinister isn't here. What the fuck should we do?" asked Draco. Suddenly, he looked at a sign on the black wall.

"Oh my fucking Satan!" I screamed as I read it. On it said, "Everyone, Professor Sinister is away. She is too gothic, she is in Azkaban now. Classes shall be taught by Dumbledore, who is back, but he shall not be principal for now. Sincerely, Professor Umbridge."

"OMFG!" I shouted angrily. "How could they do that?"

Suddenly, Dumbledore came.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY OFFICE?" he began to shout angrily. Suddenly, I saw Morty McFly's black time machine! I jumped seductively into it, leaving Draco and Vampire. Suddenly, I was back in time! I looked around. It was... Professor Slughorn's office! I sneaked around. Suddenly, I saw the Amnesia Potion on his desk. It was black with blood-red pentagrams in it. It was the shape of a cross. I put it in my pocket. Suddenly, the door opened. It was... Professor Slughorn!

"OMG, what are you doing, fucker?" he shouted angrily. "I don't know what the fuck you're doing," I shouted angrily.

"Oh, sorry, I was just looking around because I thought it was class," you said, finally hoping he couldn't see the potion in your pocket.

"Oh, okay, you can go now," said Professor Slughorn.

You went to the common room after putting on my clothes. Sirius, Remus, and Snape were there, practicing "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" by MCR.

"Oh, hi, you guys," I said seductively. "Where's Satan?"

"Oh, he's coming," said Sirius. "By the way, you can call me Hades now." Suddenly, Satan came. He was wearing a sexy black leather jacket, black converse shoes, a Slipknot T-shirt, and a black tie.

"Okay, I will see you guys at the concert," I said, and then I went with Satan.

[drachenfalter]

So, time to gather my thoughts and observations about

LABYRINTH RUNNERS:

Right of the bat, we're starting with some Gus Backstory, featuring Willow and how they became friends. Which is great!

For a moment, I thought he was using Oracle magic, but it is Illusion magic. Just really powerful Illusion magic.

Also, we've got a chain of care/good advice, from Willows Dads to Willow to Gus to Hunter and ultimately back to Gus.

Oh, and Mattholomule is back. And he's a multitrack student now!

Also, it seems there was maybe a birthday or something we missed? Was it Willows? Was it Gus? Anyway, Mattholomule was invited.

Some background Lumity, but not enough to overshadow the rest of the episode. Good.

Gus telling Willow to talk clearly to Willow! Willow & Amity team-up! The show finally addressing that lingering resentment, and Willow finally speaking her mind!

Also, the show trying to pull a fast one on the audience with Graye pretending to be a rebel at first, only to reveal it was a trick to try and brand students without their knowledge.

Graye trying to take away Gus Illusion magic, because it was his most powerful magic, and forcing him into a coven he knows nothing about!

(Personally, I wonder what happened/is happening at the other schools right now. Did those students just accept being forced into a coven? Or did they also stand up to Belos?)

And we have some powerful Illusion magic from Gus, and some insidious Illusion magic from Graye.

(Really, Illusionist make for fantastic villains. We're really lucky Gus is on our side.)

Oh, and turns out Hunter didn't become a hobo in Bonesborough, but was squatting in Hexside instead, living on snacks and researching Grimwalkers and stuff.

(Also, how did Bump not notice? Doesn't he have those creepy hall monitors that sniff out trouble anymore? Or was Hunter simply so polite and not bothersome they didn't consider him "trouble"?)

And Hunter still had trouble admitting that he did run away and that he helped Gus because it was the right thing to do.

Short break. But just gonna reiterate, Gus is one powerful witch. And you really don't want to get on his bad side.

Willow is really showing off her power this time as well. Love that for her!

We also get many cute little moments for other characters! Skara getting excited about planning a battle! Emira slipping into Healer mode when she sees Hunter.

Also, the Emerald Entrails helping Hunter escape! (Yes, they weren't named, but it was clearly them.

Bump was also in top form this time! I don't think we ever saw him fight before, but after Escaping Expulsion I'm glad to know that he did stand up for his students this time.

(Though really Bump, this is the second time you let in someone "sent from the Emperor" that tried to take the magic from your students.)

And then we got the BATTLE OF HEXSIDE.

Everyone gets to do something!

Though I also wonder where all other students were. I know, the reason they have to keep this group so small is that they are working with a budget and a limited time frame. But still.

Also, Hexside is now openly opposing the Emperor. Which is kinda scary.

On the other hand, Hexside is a school that once destroyed its rival school rebuilt on the ruins. So, I think Bump might know what to do.

-> Now we've got Team RED, Team Clawthorne and Team Hexside on the side of the Rebellion.

Another Break. Let's talk about Huntlow/Winter.

HUNTLOW SHIPPERS KEEP WINNING.

We've got Hunter seeing through fake Willow because she doesn't act like herself!

We've got his betrayal of Willow among his worst memories.

And we've got blushing, on more than one occasion.

Yes, so far it's only on Hunters side, but Willow still was the first to defend him in front of Bump.

Anyway, still crumbs, but those are some delicious crumbs indeed.

Oh boy. Back to Gus and Illusion magic.

Damn, that boy's magic is POWERFUL.

He put MOST OF THE SCHOOL into one big Illusion without even trying!

It also puts what he did at the Graveyard into new context. I think I actually saw people argue that maybe Galdorstones do work for Illusions and Gus used them. NOPE! That was All Gus, just letting loose what he usually keeps back.

(Also, his face after the Graveyard illusion. It wasn't about the physical. It was about the emotional exhaustion, because he weaponized his trauma.)

Oh, and thinking back to Hooties Moving Hassle. The foreshadowing of how powerful Willow and Gus really are!

And Graye being such a great antagonist. He's not only using Illusions to trick people, but aiming for potential weaknesses in particular, using Willow against Gus, and Belos against Hunter.

But also, Graye keeps himself out of the line of fire, while using actors to make up for the limitation of his illusions!

(Which kinda mirrors, again, how Gus tricked Bria at the Graveyard!)

Oh, and we learn that GRAYE WANTS THE GALDORSTONES!

I wonder if he was the one searching for them in TTLGR now.

And instead of Gus getting traumatized, this episode was about Gus being forced to live through his trauma again.

Also, I wonder if the whole forcing out memories is well known Illusion magic, or just something that Graye knows how to do.

(I assume it's Illusion magic because he would have a seal, right?)

I think that's all I have for now. Anyway, we've got something for a lot of characters. But please don't forget about Gus in his own episode again.

EDIT: I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT THE MIRROR GUS SWIPED FROM GRAYE.

Now that is a Chekhov's Gun if I've ever seen one. Wonder when that'll get into play again.

[yourstruly-thenarrator]

The narrator misses hates stanley.

Lore + sketch!

The narrator sat silently in his office watching stanley frozen in time for who knows how long before letting out a huff. He thought back to comments he'd received from others in the past days, since he found himself in this new strange exsistance.

"Maybe thats why your stanley doesn't listen to you.""im not sure if you knew this, but protagonists aren't particularly easy to find.""well what if I want them to be happy?""but stanley didn't seem to enjoy that."

The narrator groaned, attempting to shake theese types of thoughts from his head. Why were they sticking with him so much? He'd never cared about any negative comments on his story before, why should he now?

He looked at stanley through the screen and chuckled, remembering the narrative of "cookie9" and steam reviews he'd created to explain this ending.

The fact of the matter was, the narrator had never seen a single review of his game. He wasn't even sure people played it up until he met the other versions of himself.

No, the real reason that this narrator had created the skip button was far different. Stanley had long since refused to speak to the narrator, thinking it one of his only true choices. The narrator merly called him childish for such a thing, but did seem to grow annoyed at the lack of feedback.

But, not speaking did come with its downsides for stanley. He could no longer talk back to the narrator, no longer argue with him. So stanley found different ways of taking a stand. This time, for example, stanley speedran the game over and over. He didn't ever gave the narrator even a moment to speak. He was speadrunning the powerful ending no less, wich was not lost on the narrator.

After hundreds of runs, the narrator slammed the door infront of stanley before he could leave his office. "So you dont want to listen to me, hm!? That much is clear!" He bellowed, spit flicking onto the microphone infront of him. "Why don't I just add a skip dialog button to the game, hmm? You like buttons, don't you!? You'd just love to spend the rest of your sorry life brainlessly hitting the same button over and over!" He hissed, voice dripping with hatred.

Stanley would normally be satisfied that he got through to the narrator, but hearing him this violently angry terrified stanley. He knew his narrator well, he knew not to stray to far from his good side. No matter how small and impossible to reach that good side seemed to be, if he even had one at all. Stanley gulped.

The door to Stanley's office swung open to reveal a new, hastily constructed room he'd never seen before. It seemed to be made of concrete, with a chain link fence, and a few other items sprinkling the room. But in the center, was a glowing yellow button with a black symbol atop it. Stanley walked into the room, unsurprised at the door clicking shut behind him. Stanley merely stood quietly in the room for a moment.

"Well? Aren't you going to press the button then? Or, are you not going to just becau-" Stanley pressed the button. "...Mm, oh yes, hello Stanley. Did you have fu-" Stanley pressed the button again. "Oh, yes, drink it all in st-" Stanley pressed the button again. "Welcome bac-" Stanley slammed the button, again. "STANLEY, WAIT!" Stanley flinched back from the button, and looked up twords the ceiling. He hadn't mapped out where the narrator could see him best in this room, having only been in it once, so he just made his best geuss.

"Oh thank God you stopped in time. See, Stanley, the way this button seems to work is not by simply skipping my speak forward, it instead pauses you in time. Now, because I was in such a rush making this skip button the time its taking between skips seems to be... inconsistent. You were stood in place for an hour that time, Stanley."

Stanley's eyes shot up in shock. "So, I would very very much appreciate we go back to the parable, and stop pressing the button. Can you handle that for me?" The narrator spoke in a condescending tone, but Stanley knew him better. He could hear the fear in his voice. Stanley nodded, and went to open his office door.

When he opened it, however, he was only met with more of the same concrete the rest of the walls were made of. "Ah, yes, you see-" the narrator hummed. "In my rush to make this, the room itself also may not be-- the best designed. It seems as though its no longer.... physically connected to the office." The narrator had spoken matter of factly.

Stanley l looked up at the roof, then twords the button mischievously, as though to say "well? What else is there to do?".

"No, Stanley," the narrator spoke in a commanding tone, understanding what Stanley had been implying, but Stanley walked twords the button anyway. "STANLEY, N-" and Stanley pressed the button again.

"Oh, Stanley? Thank God you're back. You- you were gone for a week, Stanley! A week!" Stanley looked up at the ceiling in disbelief. Not only at how long he'd been standing there, but the concern in the narrators voice. Out of all the things Stanley'd heard him say, he'd never ever heard him concerned like this.

Stanley walked over to the still open door and knocked on the concrete, then looked up at the ceiling. "Yes, yes thank you. I do belive I may have figured out a way we can get out of here!" The narrator spoke excitedly, with slight sinister undertones. Stanley ignored them, and looked up hopefully.

"You see that ladder over there?" ...Stanley nodded. "Well, im sure its tall enough, if you jumped off enough times I'm sure a reset would be inevitable!" The narrator spoke joyously. All hope drained from Stanleys demeanor. "Oh come on Stanley, don't shake your head at me like that! Surely it won't be worse than just staying here and- Stanley what are you doing? No, NO STANL-" Stanley slammed his fist into the button.

"... Oh, hello. Its you." The narrator hummed. "Its been... hmm, let's see... well I lost track after a year." The narrators speak sounded spiteful, despite how tired he seemed to be. Stanley looked himself over. He hadn't aged a day! But, the room around him on the other hand, had.

The narrator sighed. "I've tried everything, Stanley. I've tried braking the walls, making new doors, there just isn't anything I can do from here." The narrator sounded sad, exhausted. Depressed, even. And Stanley, well, stanley was happy.

The narrator chuckled at the smile on the other man's face. "Well, im glad someone's enjoying themselves." He spoke genuinely, as though he really was happy to see it. "Im sure you'll get a kick out of this- I even tried to force a reset. It didn't work, of course, without your input, but it hurt me just as much as always." The narrator spoke, a slight bit more energy in his voice, but nothing malicious.

Stanley sat on the ground and listend. He tilted his head, with a surprised expression. "Yes, really!" The narrator chuckled, and it sounded like he sat up in his seat, wherever he was.

"But" the narrator started, sounding hopeful despite his tiredness. "from what I can tell, a forced reset would work! I know their painful for the both of us, but it has to be better than... than the ladder for you, right?" He sounded apologetic, somthing stanley had also never heard from him before this room. Stanley nodded. It would be less painful.

"See? Here, ill start it from my end whenever you give the word, and then you just reset. And bam! Back in the office, good as new!" The narrator sounded hopeful, exited even. Stanley smiled, and shook his head. "Wh... oh, oh I see." The narrator spoke softly. "Stanley... I know, that i... that I havnt treated you the best, in the past. I understand that. But... hey, I mean- maybe, when we get back to the office, I'll let you just sit in the lounge for a while? Without me yammering on about getting on with the story, or going through the wrong door? How does that sound? No strings attatched!" The narrator paused, waiting for a reaction. When he didn't get one, he continued. "I'll even open the door to the vending machine! Free, cold drinks! I won't even comment on you not needing it, ill just let you enjoy them!" The narrator had a pleading tone to his voice.

Stanley hardly managed to hold in a chuckle. Never in all the years he'd been trapped here had he heard the narrator sound so... human. So vulnerable. Stanley stood up. "Good... good deal, right?" The narrator sounded hopeful. He couldn't imagine Stanley not taking the deal.

Stanley merely smiled, and walked over to the button. "...stanley?" The narrators voice sounded weak. Scared. Stanley smiled. Stanley looked up at the ceiling, he made sure the narrator saw him. He turned to the button, and he pressed it again.

The narrator sighed, pulling himself back to the present day. No matter thinking about such things now. He'd gotten himself into this, all because he wanted to punish stanley.

"A punishment worse than the skip button"

Another narrators voice once again rang through his head. He winced. And began to speak aloud to himself, drowning out his thoughts. "Their all so... feelings-y twords their protagonists. So dependent. Its gross." The narrator looked at stanley on the screen, still frozen in place.

"I dont need you. I dont need them either. I dont need anyone." The narrator crossed his arms. "Never have." He sat in silence for a few minutes.

"But... just to prove them all wrong. I could make a new protagonist. Yes. Ill show you just how much I dont need you, stanley, you'll feel so worthless when you wake up and I've replaced you. Yes. Its perfect." The narrator convinced himself.

Then he began to get to work. He typed, and he wrote, and he researched, and he planned. Until eventually, he thought, it was ready. He'd created plenty of things before. Buildings, objects, plants. All for his stories, or even his own amusement. Hell, he'd even created everything in the very place he stood in. But never before had he created a sentient living being. He'd always much preferred to rip a human out of their own life and stick them into his stories. The reactions were much more visceral that way, he felt.

But now, now he would create a life. He clicked the button he'd rigged up to spawn in the creation infront of him. A perfect replica of stanley, that's what he had in mind whilst working on it. More obedient, even. A better stanley. A humanoid figure began to materialize infront of the narrator, and he repressed a squeel of excitement.

But, when it was finished, it didn't look like stanley. Not at all.

It was just textures in the shape of a human. Even the eyes that hed managed to get to appear weren't colored correctly. The narrator frowned. "Uhm... Hello, stanley!" He spoke to the being he'd created. It looked at him.

"Ah! Thats wonderful! You are sentient!" He grinned, happy with himself. The creature merly blinked. "Well? Go on, say somthing. I made sure you were able to speak for a reason." The narrator chuckled. The creature blinked. "....erm..." the narrator cleared his throught.

"Stanley spoke to the man infront of him!" He narrated, voice coming from everywhere all at once. The being opend its mouth. Or at least, where its moth should be opend up. But instead of words, guttural, Inhuman noises spawned from the creature. "Okay, okay, thats enough! Never mind!" The narrator shouted over the sounds. The creature stopped imeadeatly.

The narrator frowned. "Well... I suppose that form of communication is out the window. Do you know how to write, stanley?" The narrator asked. The creature seemed to simply acknowledge the fact the other was speaking, not seeming to understand a word he said. It did react slightly when the name stanley was spoken, though. As though it knew it was being spoken to.

The narrator frowned again and summoned a pen and notepad, handing it to the creature. "Here, write somthing. Tell me somthing." The creature held the pen and note pad, and looked down at them. It blinked. The narrator sighed.

"Oh, this is never going to work..." he grumbled, and slumped down into his seat. The creature continued to stand there, unwavering, unreacting, uncaring. Inhuman. "Stanley?" The creature looked up to the narrator. "Go, do whatever. Explore or somthing, can you do that? Just, get out of my sight." The narrator orderd. The creature promptly dropped what it was holding onto the floor, and walked away. The narrators eyes widened slightly and he hummed.

"Well at least he understands that."

End.

[bokettochild]

That drabble was amazing, I love it. I'm also a greedy little crow and want to see the rest of the chain reacting to Leg's insane Leg Strenght. You don't have to make an entire drabble for it unless you want to, I'm just curious.

Not exactly where I was headed with this, but it happened, and I like it well enough.

I hope you enjoy, Anon!

Legend Thunderfoot Part 1

Four hasn’t stopped grinning like a mad man ever since the Yiga incident.

They have switched Hyrules twice since then, and Four still can’t look at him without a grin stealing over his face.

He’d like hat to stop.

So what, he can kill a man with his legs, everyone can do that! Okay, maybe not Four, but the smithy is short (Legend is too, but that’s beside the point) so it makes sense that he hasn’t done so before. But Twilight? The man who could probably sling Epona over his shoulder and still manage a light jog? Legend has no doubt in all of Hyrule and the lands beyond that Twilight could probably kill him just by knocking into him wrong.

Oh heavens, the mere thought of Time or Twilight accidentally knowing into him when they’re in battle is something he fears more than anything. He knows he’s weak, knows that he can’t lift a pot of soup or basket of washing without the use of an item. He knows that every muscle in his arm will scream if he picks something up, knows to never let the others touch his sword because they’ll probably launch it into space just by trying to pick it up.

But Four seems convinced that this isn’t the case. The smithy doesn’t even know how weak he is, in fact, he’s convinced himself that Legend is strong, for whatever reason, and as much as it’s nice not to have any of the others mock him, and to have someone admire him, he knows it will only last so long.

He hoped it would last a little longer though.

“Seriously?” Warriors rattles the bar of their cell. “Why even- why?”

“The royal guards hate me.” Legend drawls in response. He doesn’t even bother looking up from where he’s seated on the stone floor. “It happens from time to time.”

There are looks sent his way, but they aren’t anything he hasn’t seen before. “How do you get out?”

He shrugs. “Wait for them to be stupid, an item, sometimes I just chill until Ravio bails me out, it’s the closest thing you can get to a vacation around here.”

And he’s going to ignore the concern and pity in the gazes of the others as Twilight and Time both make worried noises.

“Considering those are not options,” Time muses. “What else do we have?”

The rancher kneels before the door, looking across the floor and the door itself. Legend wonders what he’s looking for; a passage? A dropped key? Such things aren’t likely in these circumstances, and the last time it had happened it had been because his guard dropped a lockpick for him on purpose (heaven’s bless Raven).

“No good.” Twilight sighs at last. “Last time I broke out of prison I-” The rancher cuts himself off sharply as heads spin his way, and Warriors graces him with a disbelieving and yet also disappointed look.

“Prison? You too, rancher?” Warriors crossed his arms and leans back on his heels. “I thought better of you honestly. Why?”

Twilight’s face says everything and nothing, eyes exhausted and full of regret as Wild and Wind both stare up at him with curiosity. “War of Twilight. I was captured in the war. I wasn’t in prison for committing a crime, Warriors, honest.”

“What kind of lock do we have?” Wind interjects, only for his face to fall and a light swear to escape at the answer he’s given. “I haven’t learned that one yet.”

Disregarding that statement, one that’s both worrying and comforting (because kids shouldn’t need to know these things but he’s glad Wind does anyway) he turns his gaze around them to stare at the rest of the cell. It’s been a while since he’s last tried to escape one of these, and the castle guards haven’t actually caught him in years, so things have changed since the last time.

His attention is drawn back to the group when Warriors shakes his head and motions at the bars. “Any chance of budging those? Smithy, you know about metal and stone, right? Care to take a peek?”

Never mind that Four isn’t the only smith in their group, but honestly, he doesn’t need that title as well.

“It’s moveable,” Four responds, after a few minutes of poking about and peering closely at where the metal rests in the earth. “A hard enough blow and it should move.”

He hates that Four’s eyes travel to him, but the others don’t seem to notice, instead each taking a turn and trying their hand at pushing and pulling against the metal bars. There’s harsh screeching as the metal drags across the ground. Slow, oh so painfully slow as Twilight pushed with all his might, only to fall back with a strained frown on his face and sweat pouring off his brow. “Anyone else got anything?”

Four’s voice is slow and expectant and, at the moment, entirely unwelcome. “Legend, how about you try?”

And seven sets of eyes turn to him expectantly, joining with the weight of Four’s blue as Legend glares back at all of them, a flush rising up his neck and dusting his cheeks as an irritated squeak escapes (he hates not being able to growl like Twilight can, he really does).

“Can’t.”

“Why not? Can’t hurt anything.” Wind pushes, oblivious to the shame that’s overtaken his companion.

Legend glares at Four, who looks positively smug as he grins back. “I’m-” He hesitates to say it, he really doesn’t want to admit it, he really doesn’t. But there are eyes on him, and they are waiting, expectant and not a little frustrated as they wait for him to answer already.

A huff breaks past his lips as he pointed grabs at one of the chains lying loose on the floor and fails to effectively pick it up.

He hates making a display of it, hates showing how weak he is, but it’s better than admitting it out loud, even though his face reddens and sweat beads as he finally heft the links of chain up a few inches off the ground.

“Har har.” Warriors mocks. “We’re being serious, Legend, we need out There's a whole camp of monsters we left unattended to out there and the longer we’re in here the more work it will be to find th-” Indigo hues cut him off as Legend glares.

He hates being weak, but being disbelieved is arguably worse. “I. Can’t” He raps out, sharp and pointed and angry. “I’m freaking incapable of lifting Wind, much less moving that shit. I-”

“Kick it.”

Sven sets of eyes and Time’s single eye all turn to a very smug looking Four, who has eyes only for Legend as he motions towards the bars.

“What?” He has no words, no answers, why would Four tell him to kick a bar he’s already said he can’t move?

“There’s no harm in trying, right?” The smithy presses, eyes twinkling indigo themselves, the faintest hint of plum at their edges. “Kick it.”

And, well... he can’t really compete with that.

It’s embarrassing as shit to walk up to the bars he can’t move, that he knows he can’t move, and still know he has to try. It’s worse that the others are watching, but Legend has never been one to do things half-assed, so he swings all the force he can into his kick and watches in absolute astonishment, along with all the others, as the bar comes crashing down to the ground with an echoing clatter.

Eight heroes stare in shock as Four calmly makes his way through the new exit, a smirk on his features. “See? Told you it would work.”

Legend appreciates the confidence Four has in him, but the ‘have Legend kick it” jokes didn’t stop for weeks and he’s going to make sure Four knows just how irritated he is with him for that.

Drop kicking the smithy across a cavern makes up for it though.

[imerdwarf]

Love At First Crash

Summary: your car gets taken to the repair shop where you meet the man who will repair it for you.

Prompt:

Pairing: Mechanic!Bucky x Reader

Warnings: flirting, mild angst, idiots in love, happy ending 🥰

Word Count: 2,128 (I AM SO SORRY)

Author's Notes: This is for @the-ss-horniest-book-club's Drunk Drabbles 💜 my first time writing for mechanic!Bucky, thank you so much @jobean12-blog for checking it and giving me your thoughts 💜

It's been just a few days since you've visited the repair shop and met the owner Bucky Barnes. His charming smile made your tummy feel like you had a swarm of butterflies fluttering around inside.

His tight white tank top was pulled so tightly across his chest that his pecs could be seen. His black jeans that sculptured around his thick thighs to show off those thigh muscles, his mechanical outfit was matched perfectly with his black boots.

Your footsteps echoed off the bare concrete walls and floors as you entered the repair shop back from the back entrance. The metal shutters with a dangling chain link was rolled halfway up and a dozen of motorcycles parked next to the doors.

The distant quiet music from the digital radio did very little to quieten your footsteps. Bucky had heard you and rolled himself out from underneath your car. He smirked up when he saw you approach him.

"Hey there doll." Bucky showed off his perfect pearly whites and that was the same smile that gave you the butterfly feeling.

"Hey Bucky," you smiled back and sheepishly shoved your hands in the front of your pockets. You had originally opted to call him James, but he beefy man insisted on Bucky since his close friends and family called him by that name and James had sounded so foreign to his ears.

Bucky stood up, his biceps flexing under his movements and you couldn't stop the creeping flush. You cleared your throat and looked at your car.

"She's looking good!" Bucky's smile grew wider by how excited and happy you were.

"Yes you are," he muttered under his breath but you heard him say something. Your head snaps towards him and grin.

"What did you just say?" Bucky blushed and now it was his turn to clear his throat and rub the back of his neck, unknowingly with his greasy padded fingertips which left a black streak.

"I said she is, she won't be too long in here actually, a few more days." He wanted to exhale his sigh of relief when you nodded your head and looked back at your car.

"Great, you're the best Bucky!"

Bucky was absolutely beaming from the praise but it wasn't a lie, Bucky really was the best. He was so the best in fact that you found yourself daydreaming about the beefy mechanic days after you visited him at the shop.

You were laying on your couch listening to the birds singing outside and staring up at the white ceiling with your hands resting on your stomach thinking about that gorgeous smile of his. You loved the way his hair was always slicked back into a bun and how his shirt was always grease stained, a sign of a hard working man. You knew he was working hard to get your car back on the road as soon as possible, he kept in touch to let you know how everything was going.

You were falling for him, fast and hard. He was all you could ever think about, he was all you dreamed about and he lived rent free in your head.

Your gut clenches from the thought that realistically, he is probably in a serious long-term relationship with a much more beautiful woman, one that must make him happy because he was always in a good mood and always smiling.

Your chances of ever being with him were really slim, and it was such a bitter pill to swallow. He was just a crush and that is all he would ever be. But it didn't stop you from creating scenarios in your head with him. What your evenings would look like cuddled on the couch watching movies, listening to music or just talking to each other. What kind of food you'd cook him, would he kiss you as a compliment? In your head he does.

You wonder what it would be like to have him underne—

"Y/N!" Wanda's voice suddenly breaks through your thoughts and you blink back to reality. You mumble a response and Wanda finds you laying on the couch staring up to nothing, again, "still daydreaming about your hot boyfriend?" She teases and you scoff, sitting up to glare at her.

"He is not my boyfriend. Never was, never will be." Your face drops when you said it out loud, as though it suddenly dawned on you.

"But you have a crush on him right?" Wanda pushes and you regret ever spilling the beans to her in the first place, of course she is never going to let this go.

"No." You lied.

"Then why does he make you look so sad?" Damn it Wanda, "look, I'm not here to pressure you but my brother is back in town and we are meeting at the bar tonight! He misses you and wants to see you!"

"Bucky misses me?!" You may have zoned out again thinking about Bucky. Wanda rolls her eyes and laughs lightly.

"No! Pietro! But I'm sure Bucky does kiss you... I mean miss you!"

You smiled, great now another thing to add to your scenarios.

"What time?"

"8pm sharp! Don't be late!" She kisses your cheek in a friendly manner before skipping out of your door and leaving you alone with your thoughts. You had a few more hours to lay here and do nothing but think about him.

***

The bar was crowded when you arrived and you headed towards the bar to order a drink when Pietro came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist. You screeched out when you turned around and saw it was him, pulling him into a tight hug and keeping your hands on his forearms as he kissed your cheeks.

It might have been innocent, but from where Bucky was stood, it seemed like the two of you were an item and his heart dropped into his stomach and his mood turned sour.

He had no idea you were with Pietro, he knew him because he's a well known lawyer with a lot of successful cases under his belt so he couldn't blame you for being with someone with a clean job while he went to work everyday in a greasy repair shop.

He's only met you a dozen times but he doesn't remember you ever smiling that brightly at him when you were in his repair shop.

"You're brooding." Natasha, one of Bucky's oldest friends told him as she sipped her dry red wine. Bucky rolled his eyes and swished his beer around in his hand.

"I'm fine." Bucky scoffed and turned his angle away from Natasha.

"You're in love." Bucky again rolls his eyes and tries to ignore her. He tries to ignore you both, he tries to contain the jealousy that desperately wants to come out and say something about the way you're not even pulling away from Pietro.

"I'm leaving," Bucky tells Natasha, chugging the rest of his beer before slamming the bottle down on a nearby table, he turns to Nat and points a finger in her face, "and don't follow me."

The catch-up with Pietro was nice, it's been a few years since you've seen each other and he was telling you about his new wife when you saw Bucky storm out of the bar over his shoulder. Your eyes widened, never even noticing he was here and oh god, how this must have looked. Your heart sunk when you saw a redhead follow in his direction, that must have been his girlfriend.

Your mood to stay in the bar any longer was diminished and now all you wanted to do was go home and be by yourself.

You excused yourself from Pietro's grip and bid Wanda a quick goodnight before making a quick exit out of the bar and heading straight home.

Your thoughts kept you up the whole night. You couldn't sleep and tossed and turned throughout the cold night. You kept thinking back to the way he stormed out of the bar, if only you had seen him sooner.

Wanda entered your home early the next morning to find you already sitting up at the kitchen table nursing a hot cup of coffee. You looked exhausted and she could tell you haven't slept.

"Hey." She whispers, putting her hand on your shoulder, "are you okay?" You nod your head and sigh, not being in the mood to talk about things right now.

"I'm fine, just tired from last night." It's a lie that Wanda seems to accept for now.

"Barnes called." Wanda sighs and your head snaps up, "your car is ready to be picked up. I'll go and get it for you so you can rest." You feel upset that he couldn't or didn't want to call you but called your emergency contact instead.

"O-kay."

"I'll be back in a bit!" Wanda leaves quickly, jumping into Pietro's car and rehearsing the conversation in her head before she confronted Bucky.

Bucky was wiping his dirty greased up fingertips on the rag he had stuffed in his back pocket when Wanda arrived with Pietro. He saw him drive off shortly after she got out and Bucky refrained from rolling his eyes.

He was probably going home to you. He thought selfishly to himself. He mustered the biggest smile he could but it didn't fool Wanda.

"Wanda."

"Barnes, you called?"

"Yeah, Y/N's car is ready."

"And you couldn't inform her why?" Wanda queried, noting the disappointing look that swam in his eyes.

"I didn't think Pietro would like that."

Wanda bent over and held her stomach as she laughed. Bucky's eyebrows pinched together in confusion, "What's so funny?" He snapped, angry at how this whole thing was completely unfair.

"I'm sorry- it's just- it's just- oh god- Pietro is my brother and he's married." Wanda said between breaths.

This only infuriated Bucky even further, "good for him but I don't need to know how happy they are together!" He needed to chill and calm down. Jealousy was not a good look.

"He isn't married to Y/N. She's single, has a crush on you, maybe even hopelessly in love with you but that's fine if you want to-"

"She's what?" Bucky asks shocked, there's no way a pretty dame like yourself could love him. He's too basic, too plain.

"Why don't you drop me home in Y/N's car and take her car back to her yourself and you'll see what I mean." It was an offer he couldn't refuse. If Wanda wasn't pulling his leg, and you really were single, he needed to get to you before someone else did.

***

It's been well over an hour since Wanda left to pick up your car. In that time, you managed to take a shower to release your tense muscles, take something for the pounding headache and change into an outfit.

You were really excited to get your car back, making a promise with yourself that you'll be a lot more careful this time and try not to get into more car crashes.

You heard the engine in your driveway and you leapt towards the front door with a smile on your face, your smile growing even wider when you saw it wasn't Wanda behind the wheel, but Bucky. You couldn't put your finger on why you were so happy to see him, maybe it was a little hope he didn't hate you after all.

He got out of the car and strolled up towards you with a matching smile on his own face. His hands were in his front pockets and he looked amazing dressed in all black with a black leather jacket.

"Hi!" Your dam almost breaks, you were awake the whole night worrying about what would happen and then he didn't call you himself this morning about your car, it was easy to jump to conclusions, "I'm so happy to see you."

"Doll, I'm sorry I didn't call- my thoughts- well, I mean my feelings got in the way and I let my jealousy shine brighter than the sun." He chuckled shyly.

"Please you don't need to explain, it's me who owes you an explanation. You see, Pietro and I are—"

"No need doll. Wanda told me everything. It's a pretty warm day, Steve is covering for me back at the shop and I wondered if you'd like to head down to the beach with me?"

You grinned and looked down to your feet before looking into his eyes again, "I can make a picnic?"

"Sounds like a date!"

"A date it is."

Taglist: @smokeybluebrooke-lyn @pinkdiamond1016 @whatrambles @bestofbucky

[tobiasdrake]

Alright, we've got Garl back. Now to figure out next steps. (Wait for the eclipse, presumably.)

Oh, Moraine's arrived downstairs. We should go down and....

...two of us should go down and see him. Garl should stay up here and hide, because Moraine will definitely flip his shit if he realizes we brought Garl to Cattlefarm Island. And given recent events, we will not have a leg to stand on.

...goddammit, the eclipse is tonight, isn't it? I'm not getting my bedrest, am I? I've had a long day already!

We've been here for like a day. Where the hell have you been?

Okay, but I hope the Dweller is prepared for me to be extra-cranky about it. I've been cleaning up after my own bad decisions all day and I am not in the mood for formal responsibilities.

This place's whole deal is serving whatever coping mechanisms you need to get by, right? Can I get three espressos over here? Triple shots, plenty of cream and sugar. And then whatever Zale and Garl would like.

What, Roro? Yeah, full disclosure, I may have been emotionally exhausted and drunk on ego, and said some things to her that probably weren't necessary while we were beating up and robbing her. There's at least a halfway decent chance she hates me now. Homicidally.

I hope that's not going to be a problem.

Yep. There's just two things I need to take care of before we go. First is getting my triple triple-shot shots so I don't pass the fuck out on the road, and second is... uh....

Garl? I love you. You're my bestie. Please don't take this the wrong way. But. Um.

Never again. Sorry, buddy. I did not kill myself affording this just to have it Plot Deviced away from me at the spur of the moment.

With that settled, I think I hear the Dweller of Woe calling. It's time to go pay her a beating.

Honestly, I don't see the harm. Dweller can get him anywhere on this island anyway. Plus, I know we made all that fuss over Solstice Warriors being all special, but it's also been suggested that Solstice magic ain't shit and only live magic is going to carry us here. Garl can use live magic, so what does it matter?

Plus, he had that soulstone de-cursing done on him. Can he be re-cursed? Do we know? It hasn't been discussed, so I don't know. There's a non-zero chance that Garl might be uncursable now.

Ooh, pulling rank. Nicely done, Garl.

Probably. We had this conversation within earshot of her, just like I said we should, so there's a strong chance our mysterious friend will be popping in soon.

I'VE BEEN ASKING THAT SINCE WE GOT HERE.

Thank you, Zale.

So the eclipse can pierce the shroud. Okay then.

Wait, if the night shroud is considered a curse, can a soulstone break it? Huh, maybe we should go rob Roro again when we're done here. Could probably set up a protection racket with her. Like, give us five Soulstones a month and we'll make sure nothin' happens to your precious-- am I glowing?

Oh shit, maybe I'm getting a super transformation. I bet it's because of how virtuous and pure of heart I am.

Or that! IT'S HERE. LET'S DO THIS.

Moraine is a lunar warrior confirmed but that's not important because IT IS GO TIME.

I have enough caffeine coursing through my veins to kill a moose. I'M GOING TO PAINT THIS MANSION'S WALLS IN FUCK, LET ME OFF THE CHAIN.

Is this going to be Deadly Sins themed? Can I have Envy? I really want Envy. I'm gonna be super mad if someone else gets to fight them instead. Envy should be mine.

Well. I'm sure that won't be a problem for my botanophobia at all. Thanks.

Oh shit, did we cover that in class? Because I do not remember that at all. Fortunately, I bought a handheld Wikipedia that can tell me all the monsters' weaknesses, so I don't have to know anything for myself.

Memorization is obsolete. You should get with the times, old man.

By yourself? That doesn't sound safe at all. Buddy system, man. If you want, I could send Garl with you. He can probably keep you safe.

No? Okay, man. Your loss.

Ha! I knew we'd caught your ear. Welcome back, Serai.

Don't worry, when the Solstice stuff starts up, you and Garl can Buddy up and cheer us on. Now everyone has a partner! Except Moraine. But that's probably because his partner was Momo.

[megsironthrone]

Meg's Game of Tales: Tale 12

*Familiar Characters are NOT mine! The original story of "Sleeping Beauty" was written by The Brothers Grimm.*

Warnings: Sleeping Beauty AU, kissing w/o explicit consent(consent is sexy people!), magic, angst. POV switches

Pairings: prince!Edmure Tully x princess!reader

When you were but an infant, an evil mage placed a curse on you. You were cursed to die at the age of sixteen by pricking your finger on a spinning wheel. It sent your father and mother into a panic. While destroying every spinning wheel in the kingdom, the king turned to three other magical creatures in hopes they could remove the curse. They couldn't. But they were able to change it. Unfortunately, that still meant you were in danger. So even though it killed them to do it, your parents sent you away into hiding. You were not to return until after your sixteenth birthday.

*sixteen years later*

Edmure rode away from the castle, desperate to get away. After traveling for days to get there, Edmure had been immediately stifled by the planning of his wedding. To a princess he'd met once! When she was a baby and he wasn't much older! Edmure hadn't understood when he was young why the princess had suddenly disappeared and now that he was older, it didn't matter. He didn't want to marry you. Sometimes he hated being the only prince in the family.

Edmure urged his horse to stop when he reached the woods. He didn't know what he would do out here, but he needed the breathing space. He dismounted and lead his horse over to the nearby stream. After splashing water on his face, Edmure heard a sound. It was soft at first but gradually grew louder. Singing. Someone was singing.

Although he wasn't curious by nature, Edmure found it odd for someone to randomly be singing in the woods. After giving his horse a pat on the neck, Edmure followed the sound of the voice. It didn't take him long to locate the source. A woman. She was walking so gracefully, it was almost like a dance. A soft song escaped from her lips and called to him like a siren.

Edmure shook his head at himself. He'd always been something of a romantic as a younger man. It seemed that hadn't stopped as he grew older. He watched for a moment longer before deciding he was being creepy and decided to leave the young woman to her devices. Unfortunately, as Edmure moved to return to his horse, he stepped on a fallen twig and snapped it, the sound echoing through the otherwise quiet woods.

"Who's there?!" Edmure cursed under his breath before revealing himself. "My apologies for startling you, Miss. I heard you singing." The woman let her shoulders lower. "I didn't realize I was singing so loudly. I should go and leave you to your plans." She turned to leave, but Edmure called out for her to stop. He wasn't sure why exactly. Maybe he just wanted to talk to someone outside the palace life.

YOUR POV

You faced the strange man and bit your lip. You knew you should return to your cottage with your aunts, but you NEVER got to talk to anyone outside of the three of them. Before you could talk yourself out of it, you nodded and set your basket down. You followed after and patted the grassy space next to you.

Your stranger sat with only minor hesitation. From there, the two of you spoke at length. You learned your stranger was a prince. It seemed you learned so much about him in such a small amount of time. As the sun began to set, you found yourself not wanting to part from his company. Still you knew you needed to return home before it got too dark. The woods was a treacherous place in the dark.

With a sigh, you got up and brushed off your skirts. Your prince rose as well with a frown on his face. "I'm afraid I must go." You moved to leave, but he gently took your hand. "Will I see you again?" You smiled and nodded lightly. "Tomorrow is my birthday. Perhaps you could come then? I live in the little cottage in the glen." He agreed happily. You bid him farewell and quickly returned home.

The smile never left your face as you enjoyed the evening with your aunts. It even stayed as you began making your way to your bed. And when the questioned you, you didn't want to say anything. You knew they'd be upset and you'd always been a terrible liar. They kept on until you finally admitted that you met someone. "He's coming here tomorrow to meet you all." Your aunts exchanged worried glances. "I-I think you'd better sit down. There's something you need to know."

EDMURE'S POV: The next day

There was a spring in Edmure's step as he headed out. He couldn't wait to see his mysterious woman again. As he was about to ride off, Edmure's uncle stepped out. "And just where do you think you're going? The princess is returning home this evening!" Edmure grimaced. He had honestly forgotten about the princess.

"Sorry, Uncle. I shall return later, but I have an engagement elsewhere." His uncle's eyes narrowed. "This wouldn't have anything to do with your disappearing act yesterday?" Edmure tried to keep his expression neutral. "Because you are getting married," his uncle continued, "You have no time for mucking about now." Edmure clenched his fist by his side.

"Uncle, for once in my life I have something to look forward to. I met a lovely young lady. One I could see myself being wed to and happy with. I don't know the princess and I may refuse to wed her once we finally do meet. I want this one thing." Edmure's uncle scoffed. "Then take the girl on as a mistress, but you will marry the princess." Edmure watched his uncle walk away without giving him the chance to retort.

Anger coursed through Edmure's veins at his uncle audacity. His new friend was too good to be a mistress. He wouldn't do her the dishonor of even suggesting such a thing. He hoped the walk to the cottage would help him calm down enough to enjoy her birthday with her. With that hope in mind, Edmure headed out to the woods once again.

When he reached the cottage, something seemed off. The inside was dark, not even a candle in the window or smoke billowing from the chimney. Edmure drew his sword as he entered the cottage. Not that it did any good. A trap had been set. He couldn't believe it. Had she done this?

"Well, well. This is a surprise. I set my trap for a peasant and instead, I catch a prince. We have much to discuss, Prince Edmure." Edmure recognized the mage from the stories he'd heard. This was the mage that had cursed the princess. Edmure didn't have a chance to ask before he was pulled from the cottage toward the dark, towering castle that loomed in the distance. The mage didn't speak again until Edmure was chained to the walls of a cell in the dungeon of the crumbling palace.

The mage stood across from him with a smug grin. "Why am I here? What does the girl from the cottage have to do with this?" Edmure growled out. The mage looked surprised for a moment before laughing. "You haven't figured it out? She is the princess! And my curse will come to fruition tonight!" Edmure shook his head.

"No it won't! Even if she is the princess, true love's kiss will wake her!" Another dark chuckle escaped the mage's lips. "Except her true love is right here. And here is where you will remain until you are too old to make the journey back to the castle. Oh, you'll try, of course, but you will be weak. Still, you oh valiant prince will not give up. I have seen it. After all, in the case of true love, 100 years is but a day. So, you will leave here and you will make the journey. And you. Will. Fail. The princess will sleep for an eternity!" The mage's cackle echoed through the dungeons as they left Edmure alone.

Edmure's thoughts bounced all over the place. If what the mage said was true, there was no hope. But he couldn't believe that. There had to be a way to save you. Edmure sat, ignoring the clanking of the chains, as he thought of ways he could get out. He had no idea what time it was or how long until sunset. Even if he did manage to escape, who's to say it wouldn't be too late? As every hour passed, Edmure's hope began to dwindle.

Just as Edmure's positivity was running out, a small flash of light caught his attention. As he looked up, two more flashes had him blinking rapidly. When he could see clearly again, Edmure nearly jumped out of his skin. Three obviously magic-wielders stood before him.

"Prince Edmure. We've come to rescue you. The princess is already sleeping. You're the only one who can help her." Edmure stared for a moment. "But, what if I'm not her true love? What if I am?! I don't want to force this on her…on Princess Y/N…I can't believe that the girl is actually the princess."

"We really don't have time for this, my prince. We have to move before the mage discovers we're here. If we can get out without being noticed, you would not have to take on the mage without reinforcements." Edmure stood as one of his saviors used magic to rid him of the chains keeping him in the cell. They all used their magic to summon a sword and shield. Edmure felt powerful(though he was grateful they hadn't summoned a bow. He wasn't really good with those) and he felt like he really could save his mystery girl. That he could save you.

Unfortunately, Edmure's exit wasn't exactly quiet and he ended up having to handle all the mage's little minions and then the mage themselves. It took everything in him and he was certain he nearly died several times. But eventually, Edmure was victorious. He was coated in sweat and dirt, but that was the last thing on his mind. He had to get to you.

The magic-wielders, who Edmure learned were the people that raised you, told Edmure where they'd placed you. Edmure stopped short when he saw you laid out on the bed. You looked so different than you had in the woods. Still, beautiful, but different. Edmure knew what he had to do next, but he wasn't sure he wanted to. He didn't exactly have your consent in this.

With a sigh, Edmure at least decided to clean his face first. He moved to the basin and washed quickly. Once he was cleaned up, he came back over to you. "I am so sorry for this. I hope you will be able to forgive me," he whispered. Leaning forward, Edmure pressed his lips to yours in a soft and quick kiss. Your eyes fluttered open and you gave him a smile.

"I forgive you," you said softly, "But if you ever kiss me without permission again, I will hurt you." Edmure let out a relieved chuckle. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Princess." You sat up and threw your arms around him. "Thank you for saving me."