#its also two am i'm going to sleep it's been a long few hours

[lvvcian]

hello!! :D this is my first request ever so im sorry if i worded it or did it wrong. also english is not my first language so im sorry if this makes no sense.

i have a request for The disastrous life of saiki k with a romantic saiki x reader(gender neutral) pairing.

Heres my idea! so aiura and toritsuka start seeing some girl constantly following saiki during school and aiura and toritsuka are like “😨⁉️ lets help him get away from this stalker!” so aiura and toritsuka start doing dumb goofy stuff to sabotage the reader from following saiki and in the end it is revealed that saiki and the reader are dating so reader and saiki have been talking telepathically so it just LOOKS like the reader has been tailing saiki. so yea basically crack fic💀

maybe as a little bonus you could include some fluff between saiki and reader<3

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☆ aaah the famous trio <3 also first Saiki fic, very happy about it c:

☆ I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG :'C it's 1:33am here, so I'm sorry if the ending is shitty , no energy fr but wanted to finish this today ":/

☆ (tw! slight bulling and not cool jokes ; swearing) ; gender neutral reader , fluff, crack fic ; Saiki has longer hair in here! Just a lil bit :)

☆ saiki talking normally ; saiki speaking in your mind ; your thoughts

☆ enjoy <3

"Do you think we should tell some people about... y'know" You looked up at Saiki. It was a normal sunday and you two were supposed to have a so called 'date' (which was sitting in comfortable silence at some cafe and enjoying each others company). But the weather had some other plans and once you stepped outside it started to rain. Of course Saiki could've change it in matter of seconds but he suggested to stay at home. They were too many people from his school on the mainstreet anyway.

"And draw attention to ourselves? Definitly not. We just have to keep the distance between us for school time ..." Saiki looked down at you. Who would've thought that Saiki out of all people would be the first to have a partner. "Enjoy while you can... I'll teleport you on the roof if you hug me at school..." you just giggled and snuggled up closer into his chest.

It couldn't be that bad... right?

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Monday mornings weren't your favourite, at all. Shitty weather, cold shower and not so great breakfast. It was all making you fell even worse then you felt already.

It wasn't something natural for you to wake up in the middle of the night, but today your body felt extremely stressed. Something didn't let you sleep, your thoughts were going miles per hour and you could feel your whole body getting colder with every second (which was weird 'cause the temperature in the room was pretty high).

So you got up, rolled yourself in a blanket and went to close your window hoping it would get at least warmer, but as you walked up to it and started opening it...

"Holy shit..!" You backed away from the wall and fell on your back. There's was something standing right outside your window. It was horrible, like a ghost or a monster. It didn't matter at that time, you quickly run up to to window again and looked around your backyard.

There wasn't a single soul, just a stray cat walking around. You sat down on the floor and hold your face trying to calm yourself down.

After few minutes you were finally feeling better and decided to go back to sleep. At least try.

You were near PK Academy when you saw your lovely psychic and two other people. If you remember correctly one was a medium and the other... fortune teller?

"Its... Aiura and Toritsuka if I'm not mistaken. Should I say hi? Or just-"

"Don't do anything. They're already being very suspicious of you. Just walk past us as normal as you can. I'll meet with you at lunch." It wasn't something new for you to hear Saiki in your head. You didn't know why he was communicating like that, but you accepted it after a while.

"Sure, see you later then. I love you!" you saw Saiki close his eyes and shake his head a little, but you could see a faint smile forming on his lips

Giggling you walked past the trio with a small smile and went inside the building. Quickly you changed your shoes for school ones and headed to your classroom. You greeted some people on the way, saying 'hi' or just nodding at them.

Soon you saw Saiki entering the room too with Aiura. He looked at you, gave you a soft and quick smile and sat not far away from you.

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Around 2pm lunch break started. Saiki immediatly left the classroom, avoiding his friends and went to your meeting spot, which was next to vending machines near the caffeteria.

As he got there, you were nowhere to be seen. He saw you packing your things and leaving right after him so he thought you would be there in few seconds.

Few seconds turned into few minutes and then into half of the break.

"Where are they... they couldn't forget about it, right?" Saiki checked his phone for second time, scrolling through your messages and refreshing them. Even if you'd be late he would got a text about it, but there was nothing.

He tried to focus on your thoughts, but it was immposible with so many people around. He sighed at went to bathroom, locked himself in one of the cabins and used his 'crossed eye thingy' as you called it.

"What...?" He got up and teleported to you, making sure no one was around. You were sitting on the ground, all wet and cold, in one of the hallways. Your clothes were all soaked which made you shiver and Saiki knew you'd be sick in few days.

"What happened? Why are you sitting here all wet?" He said and kneeled next to you as he took your face in his hands, holding it gently. "Are you... crying?" He asked, but your lack of answer told him everything. He took your hand, helped you get up and brushed off some of wet hair from your face.

He held you tightly as he teleported you to your room. Saiki went to your wardrobe, grabbed some dry clothes and a towel and then went back to you. He started to gently dry your hair and your cheeks from tears. You were looking everywhere but not him, which made him worried.

"y/n, what is it? What happened, please tell me." He kneeled down and looked at you with soft gaze. You looked away and closed your eyes.

"I went to get some documents for teacher... I forgot to tell you about it. I-I don't know how... some stupid bucket of water was on the door to the class." Saiki noded and rubbed your back as he sat next to you. He thought for a second and shook his head.

"Just... stay here, ok? I'll go make you some tea" Saiki got up and went to the kitchen. He didn't care about school right now, he would deal with that later.

Day passed with sometimes even worse 'jokes' and incidents. Sometimes it was missing shoes, sometimes weird notes. At night you felt this weird feeling of being watched as cold air got into your house. You woke up with cold sweat on your face from nightmares and night terrors.

Saiki heard about everything, comforting you day after day. He didn't know why it happened, weirdly he couldn't find any person with thoughts of making another prank to you. It pissed him off a lot.

"I'm staying at home for few days... you can come meet me after classes." You said to Saiki as you covered yourself under the blankets. The temperature in your house was incredibly low which made you wear your warmest hoodie and cuddle into the softest and thickest blanket at your place.

"I'll be there soon..." Saiki answered. His voice was cold , but you could swear you heard some concern in it. You chuckled and buried yourself in the blanket.

Saiki was getting closer to the bathroom, making sure no one followed him or saw him. He could become invisible, but that would take too much time.

As he went inside one of the cabins, he took out his phone and checked his messages. There were few of yours, he could tell you were really bored, one from his mom and one from Aiura.

"Aiura? What does she want now...?" Saiki opened the chat, read the message and sighed. She wanted him to help out with something. "Good grief, right now?" He grumbled while texting you that he would be later.

Future teller told him to come behind the school. He got there and looked at her with bored eyes. It was a really pain in the neck to help with some irrelevant things...

"What is it?" He said with neutral and cold tone.

"Oh! Finally you're here! We need some help to... hang something." She said as she looked up.

"We?" Pink haired boy asked, quickly realising who was the other person. He rolled his eyes annoyed. He should be there with you by now... but no, he's stuck with two idiots behind the school. "Nevermind... I don't care, it's your problem."

He started walking away, not listening to Aiuras pleading and some offers (although they did grab his interests for a second or two). He shook his head and was already next to school corner.

"Saiki it's for your good! We're doing this to help you!" Kusuo heard another, not really pleasant, voice from above. "We've seen someone smiling and looking at you all the time! It's giving a creep vibe, you know?"

Toritsuka looked at Saiki from the top of the rooftop. Psychic stopped walking and looked at them both with confused look. "Stalking? What are you talking about..?"

"You didn't see it? There's this one creep whose staring at you in every class! They smile randomly when looking at you and sometimes even blushing! It's just... Ew!" auira said as she got closer to saiki. He frowned a little.

"Me and Mikoto have been making some pranks from time to time. One time we've scared them at night! I asked some ghost for help and spooked them!" Toritsuka chuckled, remembering the look on your scared face.

Saiki didn't say anything, he only grabbed his friends by the shoulders harshly and teleported them to your place.

"O-Oi Saiki! What are you doing man?" He didn't answer, only knocked gently on your door. He could've teleported directly to your room, but he didn't want to scare you with... his nuisances.

You jumped a little as you heard soft knocking.

"Probably saiki." You got up, still cuddled up in a blanket and went to the door. "Finally you-" You cut your sentence as you saw your boyfriend holding his two friends by their shoulders tightly. " Kusuo why are your friends with you?"

He didn't say anything, just got inside your place and leading his friends to the living room. You didn't know what was going on at.all. Saiki never brought his friends. Even Kaidou or Nendou which were much closer to saiki then Aiura.

you walked behind the three of them. Saiki dropped them near the couch and looked at it. You sat down and started asking questions.

"What's going on? Is everything alright? You could've told me you were bringing your friends, I would prep-"

"They're here to apologize to you." His friends looked at him surprised. Saiki sounded like it was an obvious intention.

"Apologize? Saiki, this person was-"

"They're my partner. We've been together for... some time now." Saiki said, looking away. He thought this 'announcement' would look different. Well he didn't thought about those two..

"Partner? Saiki actually pulled someone?" Toritsuka said, but he got quiet right after his head was hit with one of the cans from the table. "What?! You never told us about having someone! How could we know!" Toritsuka said rubbing his head.

"R-Right! We thought it was some kind of stalker or a creep...!" Aiura wad explaining their motives to Saiki and you thought about all the stuff that happened 'cause of them.

"Saiki it's alright, they didn't know. Maybe you should let go." Even tho you wanted to see what kind of punishment those two would get, you couldn't bring yourself to. Damn your good nature and big heart.

Your boyfriend looked at you and sighed. He loosened his grip and let his friends go. Saiki didn't expect that to happen. He really wanted to send Aiura and Toritsuka on deserted island and leave them for few days. But that would be against his principals... unfortunately.

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"I told you we should have said something..."

It was pretty late when you and Saiki cuddled together on his bed. The night was peaceful with clear sky and bright moon. It was nice and warm, even if it was middle of February.

You had your head on saikis chest as he played with your hair. He had his eye closed, resting them a little. His pink bangs fell on his glasses covering his nose and tickling his cheeks. He looked peaceful and relaxed. Finally after a week he wore his ring so there was no thought in his head. No annoying ideas, thoughts or questions. Only silence.

"Yeah... sorry I didn't know sooner.." Saiki looked at you with soft look. His eyes were half closed and his face was decorated with gentle smile. Kusuo being the 'tusndere' he is doesn't really smile often, but when he does toy cherish those few seconds. "Could've stopped them and prevent this whole thing..."

"Don't be, at least they know now." You looked up and placed few kisses on his jaw and face. He hummed in response, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. "Thank you for looking out for me.." You said as you finally planted last kiss on his lips.

"Always..." he smiled and cuddled you closer to him. He made the lights turn off and closed the curtains. You were finally able to have a peaceful and good night sleep and he would be damned if Saiki didn't try making it even better for you.

"I love you.."

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reblogs are very much appreciated<33 thank you for reading ☆

[valeria-garza-enjoyer]

Miķelis

Now Playing: Alkaline by Sleep Token

Length: 4,558 words, ~20-25 minute read

Summary: It'd be such a shame if I just left my terrace window open on a hot night to let the breeze in and some big, half human-half tentacle monster comes in through the window, clearly aroused, and sees my wet and loose hole and breeds me in my sleep. Noooo, I'd hate for that to happen!

kinda like doc ock but its natural//part of his body and he's more alien-like 😊

CW: vaginal fingering, masturbation, somnophilia, somno breeding, breeding, tentacle monster/monster sex, cervix penetration, oviposition, rapid pregnancy?, uhhhh idk I’m doing this in order of appearance lolz, egg laying I guess? Idk what you'd call it. also lactation? But it's not really milk, but I guess it's still lactation.

It'd be such a shame if I just left my terrace window open on a hot night to let the breeze in and some big, half human-half tentacle monster comes in through the window, clearly aroused, and sees my wet and loose hole and breeds me in my sleep. Noooo, I'd hate for that to happen!

It's really hot out here in the woodlands of Texas, and my little cottage on the edge of the woods just can't keep up and everything is hot. I don't live particularly close to anyone, so I can go around all day in scantily short dresses or just my lingerie and not worry about anyone seeing me. Some days I just put a little skirt on and skip the panties, just a skirt and a light top you can see my nipples through.

But anyway, it's that time of the summer where it's not even cold at night - you're lucky if it gets down to 80 now. So I go to bed with most of my windows open, hoping it'll bring more air through.

But I don't just go to bed that night, no no no. It was a hot day, I had a few stressful work calls, I need to relax. I've had a few glasses of wine with my dinner, and I have a little left to sip on, so I pull out a small bottle of lube and my rabbit vibrator, my favorite at the moment.

I sigh out a little in relief. I've needed this for far too long at this point. I lube up my fingers and push two in at first. It feels almost foreign with how long it's been since I've been able to give my pussy a little love.

I add a third finger and start trying to loosely separate them, stretching myself open slowly. The slight burn from being out of practice makes this all the more worth it.

I'm getting a little wetter at the provocation, I can't help but smile at the wetness growing between my legs. I think I can use my rabbit now.

I grab my little rabbit and get it in position, slowly thrusting it into myself for the first time in probably a month. I moan out for a man that isn’t there.

I turn up the speed on my vibrator, letting it sit in me for a second, I’m too sensitive to thrust it in yet. Even then, it still feels so good. I needed this. I move it around a little, gasping at the pleasure it brings. God, if only someone else were doing this to me.

I thrust it in faster, panting at the relief it brings. I’m almost at the edge, it’s almost there, I can feel it pooling in my stomach, oh god, oh god oh god oh-

I’m squirting on my fingers and my rabbit before I know it. It was all too much, but I still want more.

I should stop before I’m too sore to work in my garden tomorrow. I turn off and slowly pull my rabbit out, sighing as I get up to clean it. If someone else were here, I wouldn’t have to lift a finger for my aftercare. But here I am, I just fucked my own brains out with a toy and I have administer my own aftercare. How fun.

I wash it of my juices and leave it in the bathroom, I can deal with it tomorrow. For now, though, I lay back down and dim my flower lamp, dusting the room in a pink hue.

I must’ve been sleeping for a few hours when the looming creature creeps in through my wide open bedroom window. He’s tall, at least six-foot-five, dark green in color that fades to a light green at the end of his extremities, and he carries this musk with him; we’re miles from the ocean but I smell the salt and the sand when he enters my room.

But the big thing, though, is that it’s mating season for his kind. He’s been looking for a human to mate with for weeks, and the longer he waits, the more desperate and deranged he becomes. He needs someone to carry his clutch. Now.

And I guess I’m the first easy womb he’s found to harbor his clutch in.

He creeps over, silent and imposing, and looks down at my stretched hole. She played with herself, he thinks absentmindedly. He doesn’t care if I was stretched or not, his slick tentacles would open me up well enough for his eggs.

He growls as his need increases. He needs this now. He grows out two tentacles to wrap around and spread each leg by the ankles, leaving no room for a fight if I wake up. Two more grow from him and stretch out my arms. He gets closer, letting some smaller tentacles trail up my thighs and caress my love handles.

After mapping out my body, he wraps one large tentacle around my waist, keeping me in place as he moves to insert one questioning tendril into my loose cunt.

He makes a lewd sound at the feeling of my walls, excited to have finally found a mate. He thrusts in further, curling round and mapping my womb.

I think this is when I wake up - a rather slimy tentacle all the way in my pussy, pushing against my cervix, and all my limbs and waist being held down by these larger tentacles with suction cups rather than little pores that drip slick. I open my eyes, hoping this is just a dream. I scream when I see his shadowy figure above me, multiple eyes staring at me. A tentacle, small at the tip but quite large at the base - almost as large as the one around my waist - comes straight for my open mouth and shoves itself down my throat. It immediately starts secreting the same fluid that’s being pushed around in my womb, calming and clouding my mind, maybe this is okay. Maybe I do want this.

I have no say when the slick starts leaking from the corners of my mouth, and I have no other choice but to swallow. It’s warm - I think it warms to my body - and it’s sweet, like strawberries and chocolates sweet. Once those first drops are down my throat I can’t help but suckle on the tentacle in my mouth. It just tastes so sweet!

He slides a second, smaller tentacle into my wet pussy - is the liquid an aphrodisiac? I don’t remember going to bed or waking up this wet, I think to myself. This one gushes more of the liquid and helps to stretch my hole open with the other one to let more tentacles in. God, how many is he gonna put in me?

He slowly slides two or three small tentacles in at a time, I don’t know how many, but when he stops, I’m completely full and can barely move. Just as I think he’s finished with the tentacles, he slides one more in, but this one is different from the other ones in and on my body. This one’s cold, large, equipped with both pores and suction cups, and is rather round and larger at the tip, not tapered off like the others. I whimper at the fullness.

And then he starts moving them around, in and out, thrusting in at different speeds.

He finally makes a sound, he shushes me as the tendril in my mouth pumps out more liquid than before. I sigh at getting the sweet aphrodisiac in a larger amount.

I’m getting close, so so close. All of his tendrils are hitting each and every nerve I have, setting my entire body on fire with pleasure. I start moaning a little louder around the tentacle in my mouth, maybe he’ll like the vibrations.

He does. He love it. He starts excreting more of the fluid into my mouth and my womb, making everything hotter and my mind a little more absent. He thrusts all the tendrils in my womb a little harder, a little faster.

Just as I think it couldn’t get any better, I feel a small, completely slick tentacle prodding at my ass. It’s looking for entrance elsewhere. He prods in slowly, hesitantly, making sure he doesn’t hurt his brooder too much.

Once the tentacle is nicely and comfortably moving around in my ass, I come from it all. I’m moaning and shaking, taking in more of the aphrodisiac. Within minutes of me cumming it’s almost like it never happened, I want more from him.

I feel a few more tentacles slowly make way to be with the one in my ass, pumping me with more of his slick. God it feels so good.

He leaves one small tentacle out to play with my clit, he lets it circle and suck on my nub. Two more slither up my body, leaving a trail of slick as they move, up to my breasts. They lightly touch around and move to suction onto my nipples, and I moan loudly at the feeling.

Apparently, once all of his tentacles are where they should be, I’m too loud for him. He stuffs the tentacle down my throat a little farther and starts pumping more of his liquid out.

“Shhh, shhh, I got you, shhhh, shhh. You’ll look so nice brooding my clutch” he whispers. He’s got a heavy accent, but it’s not one I’ve ever heard. Almost like it’s from a language most don’t speak. I try to look into his eyes, but as he looms over me - blocking out most light - I can barely make out his dark sets of orbs. I hope I’m looking at him, I want him to know I want more.

The limbs in my ass and my womb start moving faster, dripping more and more slick into me as he grunts a little louder. The oddly shaped one starts prodding at my cervix - it wants entry.

Everything becomes too much again, and as I feel his tentacle breach my cervix, I cum a second time from him, moaning loudly at the feeling. I slightly push the tendril out of my throat with my sounds, and it recedes back out to his back.

I mewl at the emptiness, I didn’t want him to leave! He swoops in and crashes our lips together, his slick and our saliva mixing. His tongue - much like his tentacles - slithers it’s way into my mouth - feeling what his tendril was just seconds ago. Can he not feel with his tentacles? I’m sure he can, he grunts when I squeeze my walls around him, he acted in tandem with me. Maybe it feels different.

Just as he’s about to pull away, I feel the tentacle that breached my cervix start to expand, like it’s hollowing around something. And sure enough, a few seconds go by and I feel something plop into my womb, followed by another, and another and another and another-

There’s got to be at least 20 small plops that go by before I zone out, totally in love with the feeling. I look down at my stomach, watching it inflate. His hand reaches out to cup my womb, slowly caressing it and cooing at me. I smile at the feeling of truly being full for the first time in my life.

I zone back in when I feel the tentacles in my ass start to pull out, slowly and one by one as to not hurt me. He starts pulling out the ones in my cunt, too. I whine at being empty.

“Shhh, pretty girl, you won't be empty for long” he whispers against my ear, the only tentacle left in me is the one in my womb now. It’s still pumping, my stomachs still swelling.

When it stops swelling, he goes to tear it off.

“What, what what do you think you’re doing? Why are you cutting it off?” I ask. They’re the first words out of my mouth to him, my voice shot from the tentacle that was down my throat.

“It’s customary. So you don’t worry about the clutch inside of you, and they also have both parents with them.” He grunts out as he finally tears it off. He doesn’t bleed from it, I guess it is customary for breeding.

“Sleep, grow my clutch dear brooder. I’ll be back tomorrow.” He whispers as he gets up to leave. He uncurls the tendrils from my body and stands up from where he was on my bed. I whimper at being cold and alone now.

He circles around to the side and puts a tentacle back in my throat. I accept it immediately, letting it settle heavy on my tongue. It starts pumping out a different tasting liquid, this one tastes like how honeysuckle smells. I start nodding off to the taste of it.

I wake up hours later than usual, the sun is almost right above me when I wake up. It’s got to be at least 10:30 now.

The tentacle is gone from my mouth, but the one he cut off is still sitting in my cunt, fully extended to my womb. My womb is completely filled and extended, the skin taught from how many eggs are inside me. I see a small note, a pair of scissors, and a glass of water on my bedside table as I swerve to the side to stand up.

Don’t take the tentacle out, just cut it so it doesn’t impede your movement. I'll take it out when I get there. See you tonight.

-Miķelis

I smile, rubbing my large belly. I wonder what’ll happen tonight. I cut the excess off, leaving maybe an inch to grab it with, and throw it in the trash can by bed.

I stand up, hearing my knees pop and my back moan in pain from the sudden added weight. I guess I can't work in the garden today. There goes my Saturday.

I waddle to my kitchen to make breakfast, but I honestly don't have much energy to do that. All I want to do is get back in bed and snuggle up until Miķelis gets here tonight.

After breakfast, I go freshen up (get all the slick off of my body) and lay back down. I find a small little cup and a second note on my other bedside table.

Drink this about an hour before sundown, it'll make tonight easier.

-Miķelis

It smells nice, almost exactly like the first liquid he pumped into me last night. Maybe it is that liquid? Who knows, but I want to listen to him, so I turn on my other side and settle down.

I wake up again a few hours later, it's about two in the afternoon now. My stomach is larger, its moving a little, and I feel an insatiable heat in my cunt. I can't even reach my clit to play with myself. I whine in frustration, getting up to get my small bullet vibrator from the drawer. That'll do the trick.

"Ohhh, Oh my god! Miķelis!!!" I moan out when i squat down to the lower drawer where my vibrator is. Everything just moved inside me and everything hurts. The tentacle almost starts sliding out. I quickly grab my bullet vibrator waddle to go grab some panties to keep the tentacle and vibrator in place for when I lay back down.

Putting on panties is harder than it seems when you can't reach your cunt or see most of your legs for that matter, but once I get them on, I waddle quickly back to bed. I need this more than I needed it last night.

I push the tendril back in, sighing at the comfort it brings to have something so stable in me. I slide the bullet into my panties and turn it on, mewling at the pleasure it brings. Nowhere near what Miķelis gave me last night, but it'll do until he gets here.

As the bullet buzzes away, I go to play with my breasts. When my hands cup them, though, I notice they're a little larger than they were last night. They seem, I don't know, heavier? Like they're filled with something? Oh my god, oh!! What if they're filled with milk for our clutch? Do his eggs even need milk? Ooooh is that what's going to happen tonight? Is that why he's coming back?

I cum quickly when I pinch my nipples. They're so tender right now! I sigh and turn down the bullet, letting it go at a small hum on my clit. I go back to sleep.

When I wake up again, it's about 30 minutes before sundown, a little later than when he said I should drink whatever's in the small cup. The bullet turned off, so I turn it back on at the low hum it was at. It feels nice to have a small distraction.

I quickly swallow down whatever he gave me, it tastes like a mix of the strawberries and chocolate aphrodisiac with something else, not the honeysuckle, but something equally sweet. Raspberry? Jasmine. It think it's jasm-

My cunt starts spasming out of nowhere, and I've noticed a few things:

My stomach is at least twice it's size that was earlier.

my bedsheets have become extremely wet - as if I poured the entire ocean on them wet.

My breasts are leaking something that looks like milk

I think I'm contracting?

Do I start pushing? Do I take the tentacle out? He said not to take the tentacle out until he got here, what do I do what do I do?? Damn Miķelis, giving me the best night of my life just to leave me alone. But he's coming, he's just not here right now! That's all!

I'm writhing on the bed for what feels like days before I see that it's completely dark outside now. Miķelis should be here soon. Please show up. I don't think I can do this alone.

I whimper a little louder and feel the tentacle slowly start moving outward, something's pushing it out from the inside. I push it back in, I can't not do one of the two things Miķelis asked of me, I can't upset this man.

Just as I start crying, I see him in the corner of my doorway. He rushes in when he hears me in full.

"Shhhh, shhh shhh, dolly, it's okay, I'm here now. Let's move you to the bathroom dear, my eggs need to be hatched in water." He whispers as he holds me. He picks me up and coos silently on the way to my bathroom. How does he know the layout to my house?

He sets me down in the bathtub and starts the water. He lets it get to a warm temperature before closing the stopper and letting it fill. As it nears my breasts, he stops the water and helps me onto the large ledge.

"Oops, sorry dear, I didn't see you had panties on" he chuckles softly as he pulls them off. The vibrator falls into the tub -thank god it's meant to be submerged - and he turns it off and chucks it onto the bathroom counter. He does the same with my panties.

"I'm so happy you listened to my directions, dear, both for the tentacle and the drink. Women have tried to take it out before, it never does end well." he whispers as he rubs my belly. I whimper at his words.

The lights are on in the bathroom, and I finally get a good look at him. He is indeed tall, and only his tentacles - which I only see eight right now - are the dark to light green ombré. He's got dark brown hair, olive skin, and his eyes match his tentacles - one's dark green and the other's light green. He doesn't have a plethora of eyes like I thought, only two. Why did I think he had multiple sets of eyes?

The contractions start at a heavier pace now, and he pulls the tentacle out. He places it in the tub.

He coos at me and rubs my belly a little more, telling me it'll be okay. I hope it will be.

He tells me to start pushing, and I can't not listen to him. A tentacle wraps around my chest, just above my nipples to keep me upright.

I push, I feel them moving closer to my entrance.

A few more pushes, and the first small egg makes it's way to crowning. He slips a tentacle into my mouth and tells me to suck. A second one makes it's way to my clit and circles around it. I moan at the comfort his tentacles bring me.

The liquid starts pouring out into my mouth, and I feel myself loosening up as I drink up more of it. I hear the first egg plop out, followed quickly by the second, and the third, fourth fifth sixth seven-

At least 20 small eggs have slipped out of my loose hole before I start crying a little louder. How many are there? How many did he put in me?

It finally stops at 36, and I slump into his tentacles, letting him do what he pleases with my body.

By now, it's at least an hour after sundown, probably around nine or a little after. He carries me back to bed and lays me down, letting me catch my breath.

When I've finally caught my breath, I feel a slew of tentacles prodding at my loose cunt, not forcing themselves in yet, but asking for entrance.

I sigh around the tendril in my mouth. I try to say yes around it, he can shove them in me and make me his brooder again. He smiles, he got the memo.

I'm loose from last night and just giving birth to his clutch, so he easily slides three or more in at once. I feel the ovipositor tendril come in with a second bulk of them this time. It's already regrown? This one feels larger though?

"It regrows quickly during mating season. And you can take a larger clutch this time dear, you can take a larger tentacle for it. It grows with each mating session." He explains. I guess I looked a little confused.

A few tentacles ask for entrance at my ass again, and again, I let him in. There's still some entering my loose pussy, but not as many as there were earlier.

The remaining go up to cup my still leaking breasts, the tentacles immediately go to suckle on my nipples. Two more go to cup the underside of them.

I guess he doesn't feel the need to tie me up this time. I like that. I move my arms to wrap around his neck to get closer to him, I want to breathe his ocean scent in.

He smiles and puts a hand on my back to bring me in closer, the other on my neck to keep a good hold of me. He leans in to whisper.

"You are meant to be a breeder, dear. You'll take every single clutch I give you and won't let a single egg spoil. You make such a good brooder, sweetie. You're the best brooder I've ever had. You're my only brooder for this season, I swear to you. You'll be my only brooder for every other season.

What a good slut, deary. Taking all I give you and still begging for more. I couldn't help myself when I smelled your sex last night. You just had to keep your windows open, just had to tempt me. Now look at you, begging for a second clutch to take care of."

I whimper as I cum around his tentacles again, he just makes me feel so good. I can't stop myself this time, I feel myself adding to the wetness around us. I'm gushing around his multiple cocks. I hide my face in his neck as best I can with the tentacle in my mouth when he speeds up. I think the aphrodisiac numbs pain, too.

The tentacles in my ass move at a different pace than the ones in my cunt, and I whimper a little louder at the sensation. The tendril in my mouth pumps more liquid to calm me. God do I love the taste of it. Can't that be the only thing I drink for the rest of my life?

The tentacles in my cunt speed up, and I feel the ovipositor tendril make its way for my cervix again. Already? I can't complain, but it feels like no time has passed at all. But he doesn't move to breach yet, he simply straddles it there.

More and more of the liquid is pumping into all of my holes, he's pounding my cunt and my ass, and my mouth is full. It feels like I didn't just cum and I'm already cumming again. I'm gushing against him and I feel his smile even with my eyes closed. I whimper a little louder, everything alive with fire but dull at the same time.

He pulls out the tentacle from my mouth and moves to kiss me as the ovipositor breaches my cervix. I cry out loudly as it happens and he smothers me with the kiss. I feel the all the other tentacles still and the ovipositor start pumping eggs into me again. I sigh quietly, it already feels comforting and constant even if it's the second time. I smile into his lips at the thought.

The clutch he pumps into me is larger than the last ones, if only by a little bit. It still feels jarring, though. I don't think 36 will fit this time if they're larger.

I whimper at being full once again, happy at being at this point again. He pulls away from my lips and smiles at me, moving us back down onto the bed flat, letting a had move to my stomach and leaving the other to still rest at my neck. It moves to cup my jaw.

He stops pumping me to take his other tentacles out, slowly, knowing even though I like this, my body still isn't fully acclimated to it. Once they're all out, he again cuts off his ovipositor. I whimper at being empty again.

This time, though, instead of getting up and putting me to sleep, he shushes me and tells me he'll be right back. He comes back with a glass of water and lays down with me. Is he staying this time? Oh I hope he stays this time!

He holds the glass for me as I take small gulps, smiling down at my large belly. It's a little larger than it started at last time, god it's gonna be a bad night tomorrow if they're that big. But it's only gonna get bigger and more painful from here. Who cares, hopefully I'll acclimate.

He moves us around to spoon, moving his arms to be wrapped around my full belly. I smile at the gesture.

I really hope he does this all mating season.

I have wanted to write tentacle sex for so long, and this one could go on forever, but I mean it'd just repeat after this.

Not super edited, sorry for any mistakes

Again, if you actually got to the end of this, why don't you stay for a while? I got some other works in the making at the moment and chances are if you've found my posts you'll like the stuff i repost. Just a thought :)

Creds to @/cafekitsune for the dividers ♡

[prettygirl-gabi]

Rainy Streams

Rating: General Audiences

Warning:Fluffy fluff, even more fluff

Category:F/M

Fandom: Vinnie hacker (streamer,  tiktoker)

Relationships: !boyfriend Vinnie x !f reader

Summary: You and Vinnie do a late night 24 hour stream

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Vinnie has become a household name in the online world, especially with the teen girls and gamers. However, what many people don't know is that behind his charismatic persona lies a soft-hearted and affectionate person who loves nothing more than spending time with you, his girlfriend.

One rainy night, you and Vinnie were cuddled up on the couch in the cozy apartment watching your all time favorite anime. As you snuggled closer together under a warm blanket, Vinnie turned his head to rest on yours and said, "I have an idea. How about we do a 24-hour stream together?"

You looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure? That's going to be a lot of work, plus its like 3 am right now."

Vinnie grinned mischievously. "Come on Y/n, it'll be fun! We can play games, chat with the fans, and just hang out all night long. Please baby."

You couldn't resist Vinnie's infectious enthusiasm and agreed to the idea. You and Hera watched as Vinnie quickly set up the equipment and started streaming.

"Hey guys I wanted to do a 24-hour stream at 3 am how smart of me right, but I'm gonna have help form my lovely girl to keep me up with you all!" Vinnies stated as he pulled you onto his lap.

As the hours ticked by, you and Vinnie played games together while chatting with the fans who had tuned in from all over the world. The rain continued to pour outside as you laughed and joked around like old friends with chat. The both of you kept taking turns plaing a few rounds with some of the fans from chat just to keep this interesting.

At one point during the stream, You leaned on head on Vinnie's shoulder with Hera in your arms as he wrapped his arm around your waist. "I'm so glad we're doing this," he whispered.

"Me too," you replied softly as you kissed his neck without squashing Hera.

You were about 12 hours into the stream

As the both of you played game after game. Exhausted but happy from how early you both decide to start streaming together, you both had ended up in the pull out bed from the couch in each other's arms.

But the stream was still going and you could tell that some of the fans we just rolling in or just lurking the stream.

"That was the most amazing sleep ever," you said with a yawn.

Vinnie smiled sleepily at you as he rubbed his eyes."Yeah, it was. But you know what's even better?"

"What?" You asked while yawning once again.

Vinnie leaned in and kissed you gently on the lips. "Spending time with you."

The cause you to blush and snuggle closer to him. "I love you," you whispered.

"I love you too," Vinnie replied as they took turns keeping the stream interesting while they each got ready and freshend to finish out the stream.

"So Vinnie they said we should cook dinner to end the stream, watcha think." You asked us you look up with the most purest doe eyes ever. "Yeah, yeah let's do it."

Buy the time the both of you were done the kitchen was a mess, the food had long been devoured and stream was ticking closer to the 24 hour mark.

"Alright chat, we're done with our food and it's almost 3 am. I just wanna say thanks for watching and staying the whole stream, and also if we don't post for two days we're sleeping." You chuckled at his statement but nod in agreement.

"Yeah even though we took at 4 hour nap it didn't help much, but we will do another 24-hour stream in a few weeks and we shall be better prepared." You stated as you yawned once more for the 10th time

"Yes but for now everyone, everywhere, I hope you all have a good morning, day, or night, we shall be going to sleep now."

After you both said your final farewells you both crashed and you crashed hard. "Sleep well baby, you deserve it." You said in a low tone as you drift into a deep sleep.

[cloudyeventss]

I thought I try my hand at writing a little story about being 141's assistant. I'm not sure where I'm taking this or even if I should continue. Let me knoww but be sweet. This is literally my first attempt at writing anything

Warnings~ cussing, slightly anxious ? Idk

Y/n pov

He's staring right at me. Slouching slightly to his left, strands of blue dyed hair peeking out underneath his hat. He clearly hasn't been sleeping, I can see the dark circles under his eyes. I don't think I’ve seen him blink once. This is too much. Too fucking much I'm starting to fidget with the belt of my purse, shifting back n forth trying to ease my nerves. I'm overwhelmed and overestimated. This bus smells worse than a gas station bathroom, it doesn't help it’s hotter than the damn desert in here, my sweater is starting to itch and the constant sound of the buses bell going off is enough to make my head explode. GOD why did my car have to break down today? sweat is beading my forehead I feel nauseous. GOD DOES THIS MAN EVER BLINK?!? *ding* fuck finally my stop. I've never been more relieved in my life to leave somewhere... stepping outside I feel like I can breathe again not by much though, last night, laying in bed i got a call from my father's friend Laswell telling me to meet her at a Cafe not too far from my home. Usually, I wouldn't be so nervous to see her, being Laswell and my father worked together for the past 10 years. She’s been around quite a few times but this time She spoke about a potential job opportunity as an assistant overseas. I'm not even sure I heard her right, i was a bottle deep into Apothic red wine. Nothing special but drink enough it’ll knock you on your ass. I've been anxious ever since. After finishing my associates degree in mind and body psychology, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue with school. Maybe I just need a break, but I also need a job. I take one final deep breath to attempt to calm my nerves as I wipe my sweaty palms down my jeans. Okay now’s the time to be confident y/n don't freak out .....

There she is sitting with her back against the wall right in between both exits like always. I'd say she's paranoid but with the work she does it's more justifiable. Laswell stands to greet me "Y/n , it's great to see you!" She moves to sit, and I follow. " it's good to see you too Kate, it's been awhile" . Lunch goes by smoothly; it always was easy falling into conversation with her. A red headed waitress with long legs and black trim glasses drops us our check before walking off to tend to her other tables. My eyes follow her as she passes, she's one of those girls who are effortlessly beautiful. Laswell gains my attention again " so your father tells me you are looking for work"

" I am"

"I could use someone I trust"

"Tell me more"

.....

It'd been two weeks since I met with Laswell, and I accepted the job offer. She explained it mainly consist of filing paperwork and doing whatever task ask of me, running errands, and so on. Kate didn't really give me any details of who I'd work for, just that it was four men she trusted with her life and assured me I'd be in good hands. Today's the day I get on a plane and uproot my whole life. I spent every bit of yesterday taking care of last-minute arrangements. I sold my piece of shit Honda to some high school kid . I almost felt bad for taking his money, but I told him of its issues. In a way I'ma miss Johnny. I named my car after a porn star, Johnny Sins. Ha. It still makes me chuckle . My honda wasn't much, but it always got me where I needed to be hints the name. After taking care of my car I went to see my father. He graciously agreed to look after my apartment for me while I was gone. We spent the rest of the evening watching old westerns on TV and saying our goodbyes.

.....

It's only four hours into the flight, and I'm already regretting my decision. I've spent most of the time in the bathroom emptying my stomach while avoiding angry knocks on the door. The taste of bile in my mouth makes me a little less caring about the people outside. Deciding I can't spend the rest of the flight in the bathroom, I pick myself off the floor and do my best to rinse my mouth. Flying has never sat right with me. I like my feet on the ground instead of tempting God. Regardless, I have to tough it out, its not like I can get them to land now. I walk out the restroom, mumbling hushed, apologizes, and take my seat. Just six more hours.. you got this y/n.

[mariposa-writes]

Good Sleep - LaMelo Ball

Summary: hate writing these, so just read and find out.

A/N: This man is the love of my life (and his brothers).

It was hard, dating an NBA player. Not that it was Melo's fault. He tried to make things as easy as possible. He called whenever he could, making sure to at least check in on me once a day.

It wasn't like I made things any easier. I took a lot of pride in my job and it felt like a lot of the time when he was home, I was busy working.

Which is what I am currently doing. Its around midnight, when I hear the garage open, I know it's Melo. His team was supposed to get back earlier tonight, but their flight got delayed due to weather.

After a few minutes he enters our room. I moved in with him a 6 months ago, since I practically lived there full time anyways. We both also thought it would be a good way to spend more time together.

"Hey, babe." He says walking over to me and giving me a quick kiss on the lips. He heads into our bathroom, getting ready to shower. He hates how he feels after plane rides, always complaining about being dirty. "What are you working on?" He calls from the bathroom.

"Just work stuff." I respond, not having the time to explain. I have to have these reports ready by Monday. I'm a CFO for a major clothing company in the US. We are currently working on expanding to European countries.

Melo showers while I work and before I know it he's climbing into bed. "Babe," He whines, "when are you going to bed?"

"I don't know, soon." I answer, dismissively. He frowns, looking up at me from where he's laying.

"You work to hard. Your not even 22 and your the CFO for a major company. I worry you're gonna work yourself to death." Melo's always hated how hard I work. We've been dating since we were both 19.

I was getting ready to graduate college, when he was getting drafted into the NBA. Being born a genius helped me fast track my schooling and career.

I started interning with the company I currently work at when I was 17, the summer after my junior year. I started working with them when they were just a start up, but in the past four years they have rapidly grown and I've been a part of the process the whole way.

This company is like my baby and I'm the one that has to track everything to make sure we are achieving our goals. I never intended on working here this long, but I love the people I work with (the pay isn't bad either).

They promoted me to CFO when their old one left to work for a bigger company. What an idiot, they didn't have believe in the company and soon ours will be bigger than the one they are working for.

Three hours later and I'm still working, Melo's passed out. After he fell asleep I headed to the office he set up for me, not wanting to wake him.

I have a blanket wrapped around me, with my headphones in and a cup of hot chocolate sitting on the desk. Once I get this done, I'll be on Monday and present to our investors I will be on vacation for the next 9 days.

I haven't told Melo yet, wanting to surprise him since our schedules rarely line up.

I look up from my computer, when I see the hallway light turn on. I take my headphones out, knowing it's Melo. He walks into my office, frowning. "Babe, go to bed." He groans.

"Ok, just give me a few minutes."

"Nope, you always say that and then a few minutes turn into another hour or two and then you're only getting like 2 hours of sleep before you head into the office." He walks over and shuts my laptop, before pulling me out of the chair.

I whine and protest the whole way back to our bed, but he doesn't seem to care. He makes me lay down and tucks me in like I'm a little kid, before climbing in bed next to me.

Once he's in bed his, arm wraps around my waist as he pulls me closer resting his head on my stomach. "Finally, I can sleep now."

"You've been asleep this whole time." I argue.

"Yea, but now I'll get good sleep. I only get good sleep when you're with me." I smile, even though he can't see me. I continue playing with his hair, before we both drift of to sleep in each other's arms.

[especiallythewomenandthechildren]

As If Destiny (part three)🌹

Part Two 🌹🌹

Summary: You've always been kind hearted yet admirably defiant. Or that is at least one of the ways Coriolanus Snow would describe you. Ever since grade school, you have always been on the same level as him in academics and one of his few competitors for the Plinth Prize. But as tragedy struck your family, Coriolanus thought you would fall away from his life, but instead, you got even more intertwined (not to mention the complicated past knots tying your families together).

Warnings: Terminal illness, parent death, death and brutality (it is the hunger games after all) characters may be ooc. I read the book a while ago but don't really remember much of Snows way of thinking (I mean I know its toxic and insane but yk the other things) so I will mostly be basing off the film and my own thoughts. Also I can't spell for the life of me so be prepared for bad spelling and grammar. Enjoy loves!

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what is happening. why am i doing this. why am i doing this. Coriolanus couldn't stop the parade of panicked thoughts going through his head. Each step he took was possibly another step closer to the ruin of his name and family for good. But you wouldn't tell anyone. No you wouldn't. You wouldn't right?

You weren't really in the best of states before they made it to your home, but now you seemed far to awake for his preference. If you were still in your slightly delusional state, you may not notice the cracks in his walls, the mold seeping through the ceilings, and the ever permanent stench of poverty.

You and Coriolanus have long let go hands as he let go once the realization that he was taking you to his rugged home. His hand began profusely sweating and he began walking at an increased pace due to his nerves. You were lagging behind, having to run every few meters to catch up to his long strides.

You could tell he was immensely bothered and uncomfortable with the current situation and you simply couldn't take it anymore. "It's okay Coryo, I will be fine. I really appreciate your invitation but there is no need." You say to him in the slightly chilly night air. He turns around at your words and noticed you stopped and are a bit of a ways behind him. He quickly shakes his head in disagreement and sticks his hand you toward you.

You give him a gentle smile paired with a gentle shake of your head and begin to turn around and walk home. Seeing your movement, Snow quickly rushes to your side and puts his hands on your forearms to stop you. "Really it's not that bad, I'm sure that's the worst of it and -" "I said you are coming home with me and I meant it y/n. You need one night of proper sleep." His hands still on your forearms as he turned you around in the direction of the streets leading to the Snow home.

"Will you be able to sleep?" You say quietly, barely audible. He turns to you, his handsome face confused. You take his expression as an invitation to elaborate. "This entire time you haven't said a word and seem paranoid and worried. You are fidgeting and seem to be in a battle with yourself in that head of yours. I don't wish to be a burden to you Coryo or your family. Whatever the reason may be that is worrying you, you don't need to tell me or show me. I'm going home, your gestures of kindness have been enough. You've taken care of me enough for tonight."

He stared at you for a few moments, seeming to gather his thoughts and convert them into words. No, he hasn't taken care of you enough. If he had, you wouldn't be out in the cold at who knows what hour at this point, with deep bags and a hollowed face. He wished to take care of you more now than he wished to keep his wealth (or lack there of) a secret. But then again, Coriolanus Snow couldn't just risk everything for you. He had his family and future to take care of.

But as you were waiting for him to respond, your waves of sleep deprivation hit you as you began swaying, nearly losing your balance. The boy was quick to notice and held you to steady yourself for what felt like the millionth time that night. But he wasn't complaining. He liked the feeling that he was stabilizing you. Protecting you. Saving you. And in that moment, he decided that you were worth the risk.

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The streets were empty as you and the curly blonde haired boy walked in comfortable silence. He had his arm around your waist, in fear of you falling, of course. Or that is what he would say if you objected, which you didn't. You once again were lost in your head but thinking about the moment you were in with Coriolanus made you break the silence.

"It was rebels." If Coryo was willing to trust you with whatever was waiting ahead in his home, you were willing to trust him with the truth about your mother. You felt his eyes on you but you kept your forward as you continued. "My mother's condition. The war destroyed our home so we moved with little money left. It wasn't a very big or lavish apartment but it was enough for me qnd my mom and the few staff we had left. My father was out in the districts, rebuilding his empire and wealth so we didn't see him very much. One day, my mother was moving a few objects around and the floor broke by "accidnet".

The scoff and hollowness of your voice was harshly apparent. "The floor exposed a water well, something we needed as you remember how hard it was to find clean water even years after the dark days. Everyone in the house claimed a miracle. A second one in those days." You stopped your story to gulp back emotion. Coriolanus took note as your eyes became glossy but you pushed the tears back. He wanted to stop your story if it made you uncomfortable but then again, he was trusting you with factors that made him uncomfortable, why shouldn't you do the same?

You continued "She was pregnant. I dont know if it was going to be a boy or girl, it was too early. But because of her state, we all agreed that she would have the water exclusively from the well. How they knew of her pregnancy and infiltratied our home I don't know. But about three weeks of drinking the water, she woke up in pools of blood. One from her mouth as she choked blood up but she didn't care once she saw the blood between her legs. The scream she had that day is what I hear every time she opens her mouth now in pain. That's why I threw myself into that project. I don't care about the Plinth Prize if that's what you were thinking. We all know you deserve it the most."

You wrapped up your story at the same time you both reached his home. He let go of your waist and stepped right infront of you. Both pairs of eyes looked deep into one another's. "I'm so sorry y/n. For everything and for not helping earlier. But maybe it will give you some relief that not all of us are without scars and suffering." He looked up at his once magnificent family home in shame. You followed his eyes and for the first time, took in his home. The place he ate, slept, and lived.

You noticed the deep cracks in the walls, the broken windows, and flickering lights. But even with all that, it brought a small genuine smile to your face. He trusted you. You were going to be in his home. He trusted you to be in his home. You turned your head and met his eyes with a look that made your smile vanish. He seemed upset and slightly harsh, translating to his next words.

"Why are you smiling" oh. He must think that you smiling because you were going to expose him. Once the realization hit you, you were rushing to explain. Mumbling and cutting yourself off, you explained to him that his trust brought the smile to your face. "I would never betray you Coryo. It just feels nice knowing that you trust me, I know there aren't many people on that list." You were right. The only people he truly trusted were in the shambled and barely hanging on apartment above. And you clearly trusted him with explaining the story of your mother.

He began moving towards the door, opening it up for you but you stopped infront of it and turned to him. "I know my words won't mean much and won't replace your situation, but for what it's worth, you have something most of our peers don't. Most of us had to move or renovated our apartments so much they look like a completely different one. You however, have your ancestral home. All the Snow generations have lived in the very place you do and you get to keep the tradition going. I think that's a wealth none of us can reach." You give him a shy smile with the notorious duck of your head and walked in.

He stood there for a little while, stunned. He had never thought of his breaking apartment like that before and your sincerity made his shame dissipate a slight bit. With a satisfied smile, he lead you up to his house.

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A/N: hey guys! Hope you all liked this new part!! I meant to extend into scenes into the apartment but I think I will leave it for part 4 and get this out there sooner. I hope was close enough to Croyos thought process. I know he isn't a great guy but I think in the beginning he wasn't really evil, just morally gray. So I tried to do some sort of balance idk. Anyways I'm just ranting at this point, have a great day loves❤️

@fantasylovestoryme 🌹@nekee-lilac02 🌹 @notyourwildestdream 🌹@darktrashsoulbear 🌹

[vvintwrs]

" leave the scent of your cologne.. "

civilian reader x pro hero bakugo

got a steady idea from a fic I read, awhile ago!! not a og idea, obviously this is actually really messy, in my opinion, and it is all over the place but I'm not that unhappy with how it turned out, There were a few ways I wanted to end it BUT I chose this.. Um, I'm aware it actually isn't THAT great at all! but i'd love feedback from you guys try to enjoy this! i'd also like to take requests!!!

warnings: messy as fuck, emotions everywhere, cheating bakugo, talk of sexual acts (like once), supposed to be angsty? I think that's all please let me know if I missed any lol.

"am I seductive? Call me back in an hour.."

You are almost sure you could run a marathon, the burst of energy springing throughout your tummy to the rest of your joints is what makes you believe that a 100 times more.

it's the first time in a while you feel so active especially, after having done your house duties for the day, so with nothing else to do you want to go outside, you want to feel the almost harsh breeze against your smooth skin.

You haven't walked these streets in so long, that you almost don't recognize the very neighborhood you reside in, one moment you feel free, and euphoric, and then suddenly you reminisce.

reminisce that you and katsuki have walked here hand in hand. hand in hand talking about everything and nothing. Everything you hold dear to you, and nothingness that leads into a comfortable ambiance you didn't mind and maybe hope that he didn't mind either.

"If you wanna come back home.. Oh babe at least leave the scent of your cologne.."

you miss the comfortable silence shared between the two of you, you miss the spontaneous walks he'd take you on to make sure you definitely get some fitness in, you miss the smell of his cooking, you miss the smell of his hair products, you miss the everlasting caramel scent of him, the scent of him and his cologne.

His cologne, that you just haven't got a whiff of, in so long. Him that you haven't gotten to see.. in so long. It's not that anything happened, definitely not, it's just as of lately it seems he's been picking up too many shifts too many shifts in which you can't even remember how long it's been since you've been able to sleep in a comfortable silence, knowing he's okay.

You know he is okay, Katsuki is strong. You wouldn't doubt that for the world.

But the more you wait and wait, and try to fill up your boring days with nothingness a sour feeling blossoms deep inside your chest, your not even sure where it came from, but it came and it's been picking you apart from the inside

How long has it been since you ate lunch with him? let alone a dinner.

"Leave the scent of your cologne"

The lack of his scent, his rough loud stupid comments, his cooking, The lack of him as a whole is eating at you, you miss him.

And you feel dumb

You know you are dumb, but your not dumb enough to know Agency work, Patrols and crime-fighting doesn't take up as much time as it has.

Can you say your nerves are settled when his texts grow shorter and drier? and the phone calls became less and less until they just stopped?

Your home as a whole doesn't feel complete, the liveliness drained from its core, it's sad, it's sad and it sings its sad lullabies to lull you to bed more often than not

"I'm not done yet Please, kiss my neck"

Of course with his absence, The hunger for him back grows with your will to seek him in crowds, anywhere you deem possible

It's stupid, you're aware but you're sure anyone in your position would look for the face of their beloved whenever they get the chance, that's uncommon, no?

You know you can check his agency, you're aware but a feeling gnaws at you in your stomach you shouldn't.. and you don't know why.

Maybe you don't want to anger him

Maybe he'd be displeased to see you, alas showing up at his workplace

Maybe he'd view you a clingy baby, useless on their own

Maybe.. that's what's stopping you from searching at the very place you know he'd more so likely be.

"Let's go for another round"

Little do you know, you'd reel at the reasoning of your boyfriend's disappearance, and you'd become ill learning why he's ashamed to show his face.

Little do you know, your sweet Katsu is balls deep most nights he hasn't returned home, in his ex.

He's stuffing his sin and shame into her, He knows he's unforgivable, he's dirty and unpure. He can't find in himself to ever confess his sins, not to you and not to anyone.

He feels gross

But he doesn't feel gross enough to stop and come home to you, come back home to be an honest loving boyfriend

"I hate what this song is about"

You want to ask his friends of his whereabouts because you are sure they'd have more of an idea than you would in this matter

But you are afraid to ask, searching for and receiving an answer you're not ready to hear is a possibility you know is possible

Fuck it.

"Am I attractive? Tell me, am I good enough? Lately, I've been on and off I think I've hurt too much My wrists are numb Hurt too much, my limbs are numb"

You've become tired, you have become tired your waiting for someone that won't come back to you. You can't stand the feeling of your heart being ripped apart like this. Fuck, just make it fast. make it quick. hurt me now so I can live later, please.

You know what your searching for, and you are not scared to search it out anymore, You can't be, you need to grasp your bearings.

grasp them, and realize this house was never a home, this neighborhood has served its purpose In times where and when you didn't think it could

You've now got to come to the realization what he felt for you wasn't love, it never was love.

He couldn't love you.

He tugged on your heartstrings harshly, and all while you let him, just because your eyes had been covered in rose-tinted lenses.

You come to the realization it had been one-sided ever since his U.A days, You want to remember when it had been him pouring his heart out to you, him who rambled on and on about his interests, his favorite movies, shows, foods, drinks

but, you don't think you can remember a time you both shared a meal where it was the two of you talking and smiling to your heart's content.

you can't remember him. You can't remember who you thought was your katsu.

"I'm not done yet Please, kiss my neck Let's go for another round I hate what this song is about"

it was only when your teardrop hit the ground had you realised you'd been shedding tears, you don't know for how long and your not sure how but it seems your feet had found their way to the very first place he'd brought you after you moved in with him,

He brought you here to celebrate the two of you, your current achievements and the ones you both, or maybe just you thought were yet to come.

And you are surprised to see the overgrown vines, half dead half alive flowers, a Scene so miserable that you think it might just be your heart.

You look around the place, noting it's the same even after all these years, the only difference being that the environment was now praying to be taken care of

Much like you, you fear.

"I'm so attractive Think I'm goin' to еxplode"

You take in the sight, thinking of what you need to do from here. It's time you find your own way in this life, instead of continuously clinging to the hope he can find his way back home, back to you.

You wipe your tears

It's time for you to walk home dinner time, you think.. as you ponder what'll be for tonight's meal. and how you'll leave this home once and for all.

It's time for you to grow up & let go of a man that was never truly yours, A man who's heart you didn't have the key too.

"Baby, I've been home alone. Won't you just drop your shit and pick up the phone?"

[littlelesbinonny]

The Devil's Den

Chapter 47: In Which Pieces Get Set For Motion

You can read this also on Ao3 at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46831621/chapters/150347506

You stood looking at the entrance to Alcina's city from the steps of the church's hall that lead to its underbelly. 

You knew the way. Sort of. You had your cell phone for a flashlight and figured there were really only so many ways you could get lost. At least until another vampire or lycan found you. Though you didn't know if that would be a good thing, either. But, it was also only 3 in the afternoon; shouldn't they all be sleeping?

"I've never been there myself," Father Sullivan said, now beside you with his hands folded neatly, "but you're welcome to stay here as long as you like if you're wary of the trek."

A soft sigh escaped your lungs and you glanced over at him, "this if my first venture by myself," you admitted, "I'm not really needed down there until tomorrow, but."

"Your nerves are getting the better of you?" He offered at your hesitance.

"Little bit."

Father Sullivan smiled and straightened his sturdy back, "Lady Dimitrescu does that for all of us here," he grinned wider, "though I don't think it's her you're so nervous about."

Your blush was muted but you felt the warmth, "no, not her... but she definitely has that immobilizing intimidation thing going for her though, huh?"

"Indeed!" He laughed, "though I am grateful for her potency. Effective should be her middle name."

"You know, I think it actually is."

"It would not surprise me in the slightest."

The two of you shared a laugh and then you took a big breath, releasing it with an even more embellished sigh.

"Good luck, miss," he nodded at you, "give the Matriarch my regards."

Welp, if you were looking for a nudge or a send off, that was good enough.

Goddamn it was dark. And eerily quiet.

It became progressively cooler as you made your way further and further down and you were glad you were wearing what you were. You could recall that it was chilly the last time you were here, but at the time you had enough adrenaline pumping through your veins it didn't bother you in the slightest. If Alcina wanted you to move down here, there'd be some serious accommodation issues to be addressed.

A hint of firelight from the torches you remember from your walk with Alcina finally leaked into the darkness, a bigger smile coming to your lips as you rounded the corner to this lit area that reminded you the entrance to the city was only 3 more turns away. 

As you stepped carefully through the tunnel mouth, placing your hand carefully on the intricately carved stone banister of the large stairwell down into the city, you took a good moment to really look at it.

It really was beautiful. In its haunting, quiet, and macabre sort of way.

Hundreds of years of hard work went into creating this. Uncountable hours making everything as beautiful and mysterious as the inhabitants therein. Humans used to make living art like this, but now everything was boxes and boring. It gave you nostalgia you'd never felt before. This place could almost feel like home.

Taking silent steps, you descended the many stairs and realized only when you set foot onto the familiar cobblestone streets that the bite of cold in the air was now very comfortable. You sighed pleasantly.

With no real rush to get to Alcina's manor, you took advantage of the empty streets and admired the many structures as you went.

Most of them seemed to be made of the same stone that made up the underground itself; dark and shiny, almost coal or obsidian like in the right light. While others were made of a lighter stone; a type of granite perhaps. And others, though very few it appeared, were made of wood that had been either stained or painted over with darker colors like forest green, ocean blue, and you spotted one or two further off that looked merlot in tone. 

Some homes, and what you assumed were gathering places like what would akin to a bar for the human world above, were 2 to 3 stories high. The architecture of many of them felt very much like the French Quarters one would find in Louisiana, others were very gothic-cathedral like, and some were as ornate and beautiful as a Victorian mansion you'd seen pictures of. 

There were only 3 buildings that stuck out apart from the rest in height; one you knew as City Hall which could be seen from every corner with its massive imposing, sharp domed peak, the Matriarch manor that was far to the left, and one in the far back that you hadn't noticed before. It stood taller and wider than everything else, had hundreds of tall glass windows, and had a most beautiful amber glow emanating from each of them. Another council hall maybe? A hotel? Your brain chuckled a little at that thought, but it really didn't seem so far fetched; while these beings were undead, they were still human, they still traveled, did most of the normal things you did, didn't they?

As your train of thought continued down the tracks, it was derailed quite loudly as you approached a very large familiar gate.

Fuck.

How exactly were you going to get in? You knew this thing was damn well locked, and you didn't have a key, nor any way to alert Alcina you were there.

Your hands carefully pressed to the thick heavy metal but all you got was defiant resistance in return.

Fuuuuuck times two.

Perhaps your wild hair to show up early could have used a little flat-ironing.

Dropping your gaze to your feet in a bit of sheepishness, the idea of sitting like a lost child in front of Alcina's gate until someone noticed felt pretty embarrassing. But, suddenly there was a disturbance in the air and a soft whoosh as you looked up to find a brilliantly smiling Cassandra right in your face on the other side of the bars.

"Hi," she grinned, "you're early."

"Uh - yeah, a bit, sorry - I hope that's -"

"You're eagerly awaited!" Cassandra smiled even wider as she opened the gate and waved you in.

Well she definitely seemed eager and you weren't sure how exactly to receive it, but you nodded shortly and stepped through, "oh, ok, well, thank you for let -"

"Of course." She cut you off, latching the gate and ushering you towards the manor, "mother hasn't returned yet, but my sisters and I are up so you can relax with us until she's back," Cassandra continued, a more devilish smile gracing her lovely face as you entered the house, "let me take your coat, and you can put your bag right here," she more or less instructed as the front door shut and she reached for your article before you'd even began removing it.

You were still registering the pace in which you got in here by the time two more bodies showed up behind you.

Bela, the blonde, was smiling much more warmly and comfortably than her brunette sister, and the redhead who was almost right in your face had the same devilish, although slightly more chaotic, grin slathered on her facade. She looked far too pleased to see you than you had anticipated and you swallowed.

"I hope you weren't waiting at the gate long," Bela chimed in trying to inch Daniela back a little, "we weren't expecting you for a while, but we're glad you're here."

You nodded through a short smile, "yeah, sorry, I guess I -"

"No need to apologize," the redhead beamed, "we can show you the rest of the manor and hang out until mother is back!" She bounced.

Cassandra snorted as she walked around the side of you to walk past her sisters with a wicked smirk, "I think I smell a little guilt in that excitement there, Dani," looking back and eying you pleasingly, "she's the one who found you and drug you to the club that night, you know."

Well that was one hell of a revelation. You'd not really considered how you'd ended up at the club for the longest time, and now you were half mortified and curious as all hell.

Daniela's entire demeanor plummeted into the ground, her face blank, eyes wide as she looked at you then shot her sight at Cassandra, "why would you tell her that?!" She blurted breathlessly, her hands now on her face in embarrassment, "I - We - I'm -"

"Jesus Christ, Cassandra," Bela stated starkly, moving in and wrapping her arm around Daniela, exasperatedly shaking her head as her sister disappeared down the hall then looking to you regretfully, "I'm sorry... and welcome to our home where that one," she motioned her head down the hall, "has no filter or any couth AT ALL, and the other three of us live in utter madness at all times when Cassandra's in a mood."

Ah. So Cassandra was ruthless. Duly noted. 

Daniela was still quite beside herself and unsure where to look and you felt so badly. Even if it was true, that was a sharp way to throw that information at everyone's feet. You'd never had siblings but you had heard plenty of stories of how brutal the relationships could be. Being undead probably allowed for a whole new level of brutality to ensue.

You reached your hand out to Daniela and touched her arm briefly but reassuringly, "it's all good," you offered with a warm smirk, "I guess by technicality I should be thanking you, really, for the new life I've got and whatnot."

Her eyes were flipped from upset to beaming hope in a split second as she stared at you, "r-really?"

You shrugged with a bigger smile, "pretty much. I'd never have met Alcina or had any of this happen if you hadn't... ya know. So, yeah. Thanks."

The haphazard hug you received from Dani was just tallying up the unexpected event points you'd had in the last 10 minutes and you just chuckled, hugged her back, and decided everything from this moment on was likely going to be just as unpredictable and giving into that would just be easier than not.

"Ok, good," Dani huffed, grabbing the sides of your arms hastily after releasing you, "if you hated me because of that I would be so upset, I mean, you have every right to be, but it wasn't intentional, I mean none of the choices are intentional for the most part so you were just more or less collateral, which sounds insensitive, but I don't mean it to be! You just -"

"Dani," Bela stopped her barrage of blurting thoughts, "maybe go find our guest a human drink, like one of those bottles of wine mother likes that doesn't have blood in it?"

The redhead looked at her sister briefly, then to you, flashed a humble smile, nodded and then dashed off in the same direction Cassandra had gone.

You, still processing, took a deep breath.

"I am so sorry," Bela offered once more, "she's not used to interacting with humans. Or any type of normal interaction, really."

You chuckled, "it's ok. But I sure do have questions, although I think I'll just save them for much later."

Bela smiled warmly and waved her hand down the hall, "that might be best... We really are happy you're here, though. But please take Cassandra with the most miniscule grain of salt. And Dani will calm down eventually, but until then, I'll play mediator as much as possible."

You had been given a glass or normal wine as the showcase of the manor began. Cassandra was mostly reserved through the adventure but added in quips as she saw fit while the tour went on. Daniela was the main storyteller and Bela was the stability you leaned on when those two got into it over whatever happened to come up at any given moment. You loved the banter and couldn't help but imagine what it was like for Alcina raising them back into the women they were today from where Mother Miranda had left them. You could see her strength, resilience, tenacity, and spunk in each of the girls, even though they were all uniquely themselves. It was warming. 

The 4 of you were now in the turret, your second favorite room in the manor, as the conversation and interactions had gotten much more smooth and comfortable.

Settling into one of the couches, Bela sat adjacent you on a plush leather sofa, Cassandra perched directly across from you on what you assumed was her chez lounge, and Daniela had hopped off to grab you another glass of wine. You really didn't need another one but she was so happy to be of service so you couldn't say no.

"So," you began tentatively, "have any of you ever been part of a grand council like what's coming up?"

Cassandra ran a hand through her long hair with a scoff, "god no," she chuckled, "and thank fuck, because to hear how mother tells it, they're fucking awful."

"They're not awful," Bela stated with a look thrown at her sister, "but taxing would be a better word. These councils are strictly for those in charge; leaders of clans; sometimes the heads of military, but never anyone else, so no, luckily we haven't. I bet you're not looking forward to it."

"I'm going into all of this completely blind, so I'm pretty hesitant and nervous."

"Ah, just zap 'em with your fae powers if they give you any shit," Cassandra grinned, "and believe me, there are several who will."

Bela rubbed her forehead, "stop trying to freak her out."

"I'm not! It's true," Cassandra rebutted, flinging her hand to her sister dramatically, "how many times has mother returned from the yearly meeting talking about how annoyingly confrontational that French bitch, oh what's her face - Margery, Margaret - "

"Marguerite?"

"That bitch!" Cassandra slapped the arm of the lounge, grinning at Bela, "she's always starting shit with mother - the biggest gossiper outside of Pablo - although Pablo is hilarious. He's the head of the coven in Spain," she went on, looking at you, "he's incredibly handsome, very vain, and so snotty, but he has comedic timing like you wouldn't believe."

Daniela had returned with your other glass of wine and handed it to you with a glimmer in her eye, "what'd I miss? Who's so funny?"

"Pablo," the other sisters answered in tandem.

"Ohhh, yeah. He's awfully self centered though." Daniela added, plopping next to you, "but god is he cute."

You couldn't help but chuckle, but as you were going to ask another question your phone dinged in your pocket. Pulling it out there was a text from Malka on the screen but you'd ignore it for now. At least, you could. There was a redhead within breath range of you as you looked over and you watched her gaze as it fixated on your phone.

Daniela's eyes snapped up to you, "oh my god, that's a nice phone," she smiled, "do you have any cool games on there?"

"Uh, yeah I've got a merging game on there I play from time to time." You replied unable to hide your amusement.

"Oooo, what's a merging game?"

You had to remind yourself they didn't have cell phones and games like you had at your fingertips everyday, so her childlike curiosity made your smile grow even wider, "want me to show you?"

"YES!" Daniela squeaked.

Cassandra rolled her head back on her headrest and groaned, "my god she's unbearable."

"It's no big deal," you said as you opened the app and leaned into Daniela's space, "here, it's called Merge Dragons."

You let her watch the load screen with awe at the colorful, cuter than necessary dragons and scenery unfold, and when the game started you just handed the phone over to her, "so, see these?" You pointed to a couple squares that had identical items, "find another one of those and place it in one of these squares - " Dani did just as you instructed and the 3 merged into a new upgraded item, "and that's basically the jist of it."

Daniela's eyes were even bigger as she pulled your phone screen closer to her face with utter glee, "THIS IS SO COOL!"

Her fingers started tapping and dragging away and you just chuckled, "well play away, I haven't been on that in weeks."

"Thank you!!" She squeaked one more time before huddling into the other side of the couch, continuing to play.

Bela smiled at you warmly, "she's obsessed with technology."

"But mother won't let us have any." Cassandra whinged.

"Yeah, so I've heard. Why is that?" You asked.

"Hell if we know; you'd think for her ancient ass she'd have kept up with times a little better, but no, apparently cell phones are the devil."

Bela rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time tonight, "mother is old fashioned, and it's not like we're hurting for it."

"She's boring."

"You just want a cell phone so you can hunt the easy way and be lazy," Daniela chimed in slyly, glancing over at you only briefly to resume the game, "dating apps, you know?"

You raised your eyebrows high at her comment but quickly regained your composure.

"Oh piss off Dani," Cassandra spat, "it's not being lazy, it is literally broadening my horizons in the vastest way possible! I have expensive tastes but sometimes I like fast food."

Cassandra winked at you and you so wanted to understand what the hell that meant but you also were pretty sure you didn't at the same time.

"ANYWAY," Bela cut off the conversation, setting her sight back to you, "the council meeting - I think you have little to worry about, really."

You took in a deep breath and nodded, "thanks, I've not heard much else from Alcina about what I need to do or who all these people are so... my overactive mind has been pretty occupied with it."

"Well, if my memory serves me, now that Miranda is dead, there's only eight clans with leaders, so... that leaves mother with ours, the Shadowed Dominion. Then there is Marguerite, from France, her division is called Les Chevaliers des Ténèbres, or the Knights of Dark. And then there's Pablo's faction; La Bella Damned. The Dutch lady, uhm, Belinda, with the Eternal Dominion. Escamillo and the Kiss of Shadows clan. Verona Giordano, whom you will love! She's from Italy, such a wild woman with a feisty personality, and her clan is called the Nightfall Legion. Then there's Ishaan, he's over the Moonlight Bearers - and lastly, Auguste with the Fallen Devil's clan... at least, I think that's all of them."

Cassandra leaned over languidly, "you got the Escamillo wrong, it's Emiliano with the Kiss of Shadows."

"Oh... yeah that sounds right; Emiliano."

"But yes, Bela is right; you'll love Verona. She's like our honorary aunt. Very loud. Very in-your-face. Love that woman."

"She sounds fun," you replied, "her I'm looking forward to."

"For real though, steer clear of that French bitch," Cassandra added, "she's a nightmare."

You'd take her advice and do just that, but likely with most of them, just for safety sake.

~

Karl stumbled into his shop with several full oversized bags slung over his shoulders, though he was met with the light already on and a figure in the shadows of the corner where his best comfy chair resided. Dropping the bags with a thud he flipped the rest of the light switches on aggressively to see who had invaded his space.

The person in question was certainly not who he'd expected.

"The fuck you doin' in my shop, murder mittens?"

Alcina dropped the book in her hands to her lap with a flump and arched her brow fiercely, "you want the truth?" She asked flatly.

"No. I love being lied to - the fuck you mean; do I want the truth - DUH."

She sighed heavily as the burly, disheveled lycan made his way over to her and uncrossed her leg, eyeing him with less scrutiny and more calculation, "this is the only place the clan leaders won't think to look for me."

Karl stopped dead in his tracks and looked blankly at Alcina. Then he started to laugh. Guffawing would be the better word.

"For god sake would you keep it down," she scolded, "this is why I hesitated to even tell you!"

He regained himself slowly, then plopped next to her on the neighboring stool and shoved his hands under his suspender straps, "oh damn Alci, you could not have hit me with a funnier mental image; big tall scary vampire hides from much smaller less fierce vampires in the lycans shop to avoid responsibility - I love it! You can hide here all you like, shnookie-ookums!"

"Oh dear Christ, Heisenberg, you're mental alright."

"Ah, c'mon, we rebels look out for each other, so don't get your titties in a twist - I got your back."

He was so crude, Alcina just rolled her eyes and closed her book, "you can leave my tits out of all of our conversations, if you please... have you had the pleasure of running into any of them yet?" She asked, referring to the leaders and changing the subject as fast as she could.

"Nah. Heard a gaggle of commotion as I passed around the back of City Hall so I assume Donna's got them all wrangled like the heard of gobbling geese they are. This week should be interesting, eh?" He nudged, "but I swear to god if they find out you're here and they start snooping 'round here all the time we're gunna have words."

Alcina blinked, "for both our sakes, I promise they won't find out." She leaned back and huffed once more, "and yes, this week, and likely many more will prove to be incredibly eventful. Dmitri, my men, and yours, are still pilfering through Miranda's labyrinth of chaos and uncovering more and more each night... I'd rather not deal with it at all, but alas, duty prevails."

Karl nodded and took off his hat, tossed it onto the nearby counter and shrugged, "I say burn the whole thing down, all of it. We already know she was psychotic, why keep any trace of it."

He had a point, but as much as she didn't want to admit it, she wanted answers just like everyone else.

"If it were up to you and I, I'd actually let you," the look of pure surprise and a cocky esteem boost made her choose her next words carefully, "however, it's not as simple as we both want, so cool your jets. But if burning it down comes to the surface, you'll be the first to know."

Karl smiled, "now that I like to hear." He reached for a beat-up metal box and opened it, plucked a cigar, lit it, and eyed the book on Alcina's lap, "whatcha readin', toots?"

"Twilight." 

His brows shot for his hairline, "don't make me have you committed."

Alcina actually snickered, "please, I'd rather gouge my eyes out with red-hot pokers," she smirked wickedly, "it's one of your machining books I found on the shelf in the back..." Peering down at the cover she sighed, "almost as eventful as Twilight - "

"Now hear hear," he grumbled, reaching for the book and grabbing it up, "them's fightin' words." He tossed it onto the counter and took a long puff, offering it in Alcina's direction, but after she softly declined he tilted his head, "hey, when's your better half coming back down here? Seems weird not having the spicy little fairy running around."

Once more Alcina's brow arched, "tomorrow night."

"Did you give her a prep talk for what's she's getting into?"

"Well, I suppose you could call it that. But I don't foresee her 'getting into' much. If someone decides to pick a fight, they will be sorely displeased at their choice..." she smiled broadly, "now that I've got blood on my hands, I'm not opposed to doing it again."

Karl just grinned, "feral you is so satisfying," he cackled, "it's always been my favorite version."

"I'm so pleased," Alcina mused, "but, I do suppose I should get home to my daughters. It's nearly nightfall and I'm sure they'll be readying to go out. Lucky shits get to roam freely while their mother is strapped to responsibility."

"Yeh, definitely not the funnest thing to be strapped to. Personally I prefer a four-poster bed with - "

"Well that's enough of this conversation!" Alcina said hastily, cutting him off none too soon, rising off the chair eying him stoutly, "good night."

He waved amusedly at her as she walked her way out and chuckled under his breath, "night, night! Get fae-bae to strap you down instead!"

Alcina's grumble was barely audible to him as she quickly made her escape but he continued to laugh as he began to go back about his business in his shop.

Getting through the city undetected was more difficult that she had anticipated, and having to act like she wasn't trying to go unnoticed by the passerby's was just as aggravating. But after her best calculated detours, she finally was far enough away from the hot spots of the city to move freely and get home.

The lights were on in the turret and she smiled warmly to herself as she slipped in through the gates quietly as possible. She was certainly tired, but knowing her girls were awake and she'd get to see them before a few hours of shut-eye gave her a much needed mood boost.

Alcina halted for a split second as she stepped through the threshold of her home; the undeniable smell and feel of you permeated her senses and she almost audibly sighed at the relief that you were here. And then a pang of anxiety thudded against her; dear god please let my daughters be behaving.

With silent swiftness and agility Alcina scaled the stairs to the turret, and with great relief found the 4 of you lounging in the middle of the room talking, laughing even. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned on the archway, admiring a scene she wasn't sure she'd ever see in all her years. You. Her daughters. Together. A whole new tidal wave of emotions she hadn't prepared for about bowled her over, but it was such a comforting sight she could barely breath, unwilling to shake the image in front of her.

Cassandra, whom she was most worried about, was doing most of the talking with you, and Bela was smiling from ear to ear, and Daniela... Daniela was... playing on a phone? Alcina narrowed her eyes at the girl and the intensity of the focus seemed to beckon her awareness.

Daniela's eyes shot up, and at the sight of her mother in the doorway unshuffled herself from the huddled ball in the nook of the couch with phone in hand and gasped; "mother!"

All eyes turned to the smiling matriarch and everyone rose to greet her.

"Well, isn't this a nice surprise," she cooed gently as her girls came to kiss her cheek, those silvery slate-colored eyes looking you over so fondly, "I hope the three of you have been nothing but hospitable to our guest?"

"Yes, mother," Cassandra drawled, "although Dani stole her phone and hasn't given it back since she got here."

"That's not true!" Daniela argued, warily handing your phone back to you, "she let me play on it, I didn't steal anything."

Alcina looked to you for confirmation, or something of that sort, and you obliged with a nod, "yeah, no it's fine. She leveled me up like 5 times, hell of a gamer that one." You smiled at Dani. She beamed.

"Mmm, I see," Alcina mused softly, "well she and I have quite a bit to discuss now that she's here... are the three of you headed out soon?"

Bela shrugged, "I'm in for the night I think."

Cassandra, in a less than obvious fashion, nudged her sister in the ribs with her elbow. Hard.

"U-Uh, uhm, actually, yes, yes I think we're all headed to the park tonight," Bela recovered, snagging Dani by the arm, "so, we'll see you two later."

Cassandra joined the link and pulled her sisters with her down the stairs, a jumble of 'byes' drowning out as the girls took off.

You were still shaking your head with a chuckle as you looked up at Alcina, feeling very out of place still, but happy and relieved to be with your vampire feeling less and less vulnerable as the seconds passed.

"You came early," she cooed as she stepped forward, grabbing the sides of your face gently, planting a tender, needful kiss to your lips.

Instinctually, your arms slipped around her waist and you sighed into her kiss, "yeah," you muttered, "was getting antsy up there above ground without you."

Alcina could feel the weight of her weariness pressing down on her now, having you here, the worries of you being away, gave her reprieve that she didn't know she was needing so badly until now. She sighed, pressing her forehead to yours, "did you have any trouble getting into the city?"

"No, it was pretty empty when I got here."

"Good. And the girls? They were nice to you?"

You giggled, "yeah, they were great. Cassandra is very feisty, Dani is adorable, and Bela is definitely the diplomat between the two."

Alcina laughed low and warmly, pulling back to smile at you, "there is rarely a dull night in this house."

"I can absolutely see why."

"Come," Alcina smiled through her sigh, reaching for your hand, "I want to change into something comfortable."

With Alcina now dressed down to a simple yet elegant white slip of a night gown, and matching robe to drape over her bare shoulders, you admired her from a far as you unpacked your bag and placed your things in the drawers next to 'your side' of the bed, as Alcina had pointedly told you. It was weird. But it was wonderful. Feeling like you had an actual spot for your own things here with hers; in her home; your heart swelled a little with how permanent this was all starting to feel.

The two of you had spoken about your afternoon with her girls, Alcina's busy day with Dmitri, Donna, and Gerard, all while successfully not interacting with any of the leaders that had made their way into her city, and how tomorrow would, hopefully, pan out.

"... everyone will be accounted for tomorrow, now when the meeting itself begins, will be another story," she explained, sipping on a glass of blood wine you'd silently escaped to grab her as she was changing, "but it will be simple; you will accompany me to City Hall, sit at the table beside me, introductions will be had, and depending on how the council converses, next steps will be had according to vote. I know the lot of them will demand to see Miranda's lair here, and likely her abode in Connecticut, which while I'm curious of myself, would rather not have to babysit these imbeciles without knowing what I'm also getting into."

Her sigh was heavy and you scooted closer to her on the lounge, running your fingers over her arm you could see how tired she was. She'd gone almost a full 20 hours without sleep and you could already tell she wasn't intaking blood wine in a manageable fashion to keep up her strength. You had a feeling you'd be babysitting her just as much as she'd be doing for them if this is how she was taking care of herself this far in.

"Well, I don't know how much real help I'll be, but whatever you need me to do, just tell me." You reassured her with a smile.

"Ah, draga mea," Alcina cooed, "you being here is the best help I could ask for already."

Taking initiative to act on your offer to help, you took her empty glass from her, placed it on the glass table in front of the chez lounge, and carefully straddled her lap, peering down into her eyes.

"You're wiped, I can tell," you said, stroking the sides of her face, "and if you've got to be at the ready here in about 6 hours, I think you should drink from me, and then we should cuddle and sleep while we can... then tackle those pesky leaders, hm?"

Alcina's hands grasped to your hips as she hummed over your suggestion, feeling her desire for you and your blood rising in her bosom, "just cuddle and sleep? I do believe I enticed you here early with my promise to ravish you in my bedchamber, dragoste... Did I not?"

Her wink made your cheeks blush, "ok, mmmaybe a little, but - " you tilted your chin up, "your wellbeing comes far higher on the importance scale than getting fucked silly... besides... I don't plan on going anywhere too soon, so... we have plenty of time."

Your smile made her absolutely weak, just as much as your admission did, "really?" Alcina asked airily, "you're not rushing above ground as soon as you get the chance?"

Shaking your head you leaned down and kissed her bare lips, plush and still as soft as ever even though they were missing their crimson paint, "my plants are watered; my crows know where I am; I'm here for a while, if you'll have me."

Alcina hummed low in her chest as her hands mapped their way further up your sides, pulling you into her as she peppered kisses along your collarbone, "I would like that very, very much."

Her lips crept further and further up your neck until your lips were pressed together again, breathy 'I love you's' exchanged as she wrapped her hands under your thighs, rising with you off the chez to drop you into the bed with her, languid, passionate, truly comfortable kissing commencing as clothes were removed and naked flesh pressed close as the two of you settled into a perfect fitting mess of tangled limbs. Not shortly after you felt the nip of her sharp teeth nibbling at your wrist, the icy prick of her bite causing your eyelids to flutter shut as she drank, the fueling sensations it bestowed both of you satiating the hungers within you. And then within the darkness, she wrapped you up in her arms and in such rhythmic perfection, the two of you fell fast asleep. The worries of what came in 6 hours shoved to the wayside.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

No one should ever go to Kasilof. It is a terrible place with terrible weather and overflowing porta potties and overstuffed dumpsters with child snatching and dogfighting and some crazy guy swinging a sword that got shot by the cops. Awful stuff really. Best avoided. Just not worth the bother.

That was the gist of the news stories leading up to the kasilof sockeye runs this year it was no issue at all to find a camping spot and it wasn't nearly as crowded so I totally agree with the mainstream media on this one. It's a den of vice and iniquity. Stay away. The rent lowering gunshots clipped a reporter.

So this year we went down with a largish caravan of 4 family's worth of people and junk and a limit of 170 fish to catch. We're soo good at planning and logistics that this went off with no hitch and no arguments (lying). Since we also had a very pregnant lady and excited 2 year old who would not be fishing but were still counted towards the limit we planned on being there for a while, at least 3 days if not more. We also had the damn dog.

So at least I was planning on a few days of chill fishing and a long slog. My brother in law left an hour or so early with his girlfriend and had one job, to find us a good spot to descend upon and set up our camp. They did not do this. One job. The fishing was hot so they didn't even really bother to park, we pulled up on his truck kinda packed off to the side of the road and he was down in the water with a pile of fish on the beach because he didn't even have a cooler ready.

So by the time we bitched him out, found a campsite, set up camp and squared everything away, it was approaching midnight. This is normal, you fish the tides as they come and its not like it gets dark so wandering the beach all night long is expected so long as you're considerate of those trying to sleep.

But then.

My Sunshineman brought his boat. I knew he brought his boat, I was in fact the one arguing that he needed to do things like park and set up camp rather than do exactly what his brother did and throw himself into the river as soon as he saw fish coming in, while neglecting those little things like, food and sleep. But since we were done setting up, he wanted to go fishing from his boat. At midnight.

I had been up early that morning to do terrible things in the bilge of a different, much larger boat that resulted in fun colored bruises on my ribs and sore shoulders, so I wasn't particularly feeling the vibe on this one. I helped launch the boat and then bowed out to go pass out in a pile of blankies in the sand.

In the time it took two set up camp and launch the boat Adak, the dog, managed to get into a fight and have his face ripped up. He is huge and he is stupid but he doesn't take shit but he was on leash while the other dog was running loose, so the impulse was to pull him back, if he had been left to his own we probably would have gotten away with out anyone getting bit.

He's fine and chicks dig scars but its indicative that I had no idea this happened 25 yards away from me until adak came up to me and smeared his face all over my pants. My pants already had engine grease, bilge slime, grass stains, fish guts, coffee, mud, sand and a few baby boogers on them so what's a little dog blood too?

So yea, not my circus, not my monkeys, in tent, pants off, pjs on, cozy bitch in the blankies, out like a light, nothing better than sleeping on the beach.

Except for the fact that your husband wakes you up at 2 AM asking for help.

I'm convinced he kept it vague on purpose.

I'm up. I'm out of the tent. I'm still in my pj's. I have my drysuit on over top. My waders have a hole in them. It is, I cannot stress this enough, 2 AM.

The boat is a 16 foot mil surplus zodiac with a 40 horse Johnson, if you care about that sort of thing. It gets nice comments from people who do care. We usually run one person to drive, 2 to work the nets, and one optional person to handle fish as they come in. Sunshine went out with our 2 friends who AFAIK crawled off the boat and directly into bed after 2 solid hours of midnight deathmatch fishing, because I watched them stumble out of the boat and didn't see them again until breakfast. The boat was entirely full of fish. THEY CAUGHT 49 FISH IN LESS THAN 2 HOURS. Kasilof reds are usually smaller than Kenai reds but there must have been a secondary run because half were the average 6 or 7 pound fish and the rest were something like 10 lbs each.

At some point sunshine must have woken up his brother because he materialized from somewhere and we got the fish out of the boat into a cooler so we could drag them up to clean them. Then came the thing that we're all still more than a smidge irritated about. Sunshine went back out in the boat, by himself, to go get more fish while BIL and I cleaned the ones he had just brought back. We couldn't even yell at him because a good chunk of the beach was asleep.

So at about 4 am the sky has decided to shift from twilight to morning and I am sitting on a cooler of gutted fish in a superbly uncomfortable drysuit having a moment of perfect communication with the bald eagle sitting on the light pole at the end of the dock. We would both enjoy breakfast, preferably of fish. But it is four fucking am in the morning. And we should both be alseep. Breakfast is not a meal best enjoyed at 4 am. A nap sounds best.

Sunshine comes back with 3 more fish. I honestly do not remember what happened to those fish. Either I gutted them or he gutted them or maybe they got raptured into fishy heaven, (which looks suspiciously like the inside of a cooler) I legitimately do not know, because I think my REM cycle was starting up again.

I get a hand to haul the cooler back to camp. I peel out of the dry suit and was asleep back in my cozy sleeping bag blanket pile before Sunshine even made it to the tent.

At something like, idk, 6am, someone started splitting wood. loudly. I was awake enough to identify that it was near, and probably not a problem and I distinctly remember making the semi conscious decision to sleep through it. At about this point my phone died and for the rest of this trip I had no idea what time it was. I intended to take pictures and document things and whatnot and that just did not happen. The phone stayed dead and my hands stayed busy.

I woke up last, presumably because the demon that compels my mother-in-law to get up at 5 AM every morning had already woken everyone up with the wood splitting. She was toasting breakfast burritos, and it wasn't as if I had slept through the whole morning because I wasn't even the last to get a burrito.

My FIL made a joke that at least one of us got a full 8 hours and BIL earned back all his brownie points by jumping in to defend me unprompted. She was indeed up at ungodly hours playing with knives and dead fish. How dare you impune her honor simply because she looks so dewy fresh after sleeping in the dirt?

I did at least get the chance to put a net in the water from the beach but we were limited out by 1pm. That's enough fish fast enough that we were dumping out food and drinks coolers because we planned on freeing up space as we went. So I had our camp that we had intended to stay in for as long as a week broken down and hundreds of pounds of fish gutted and iced in a few hours. While drinking, because we had several days worth of food and drinks and beers that had been displaced by fish. The solstice vodka lemonade from matanuska brewing is great btw.

We had planned to overlap the end of our trip with the beginning of my mom and sister coming down so we could fish together, so I called mom as were were leaving the beach. From Sunshineman's phone of course, mine being dead at the bottom of a bag somewhere. As the current time was something like 16 hours from when we arrived, she assumed I forgot something or was just calling to tell her about the nice weather, or terrible weather, or confirming the news report's porta potty horror story. She didn't expect us to pull in a years worth of food in a single tide cycle.

So we get home without incident, and get to cleaning and fileting and packing and labeling at, some, late, evening time, maybe? I'm time blind on a good day and if I had a watch it would be covered in fish slime.

So yeah, this year's fish camp was condensed into a single solid slug of dense firey whatthefuckFISHfishFISHcleanpackgutgohome. Niece creature didn't want to change our of pj's so she wore the same outfit for her entire trip which is spectacular from a laundry standpoint because a toddler given free reign to a muddy fishy beach goes about as well as expected. She had a ball and then napped through almost the entire cleaning and packing process when we got home, which is what I wanted to do but instead I fileted triple digits worth of fish.

Mom went down later for the weekend and she got rained on for 3 days and caught 7 fish and a flounder. We caught the hot run and came home with fish but at what cost?

[cobaltcarbonpotassium420]

skin to skin - shidou ryusei

tags / warnings: kinda fluffy, shidou is a little confused about his feelings but that's okay, gn! reader, moderately suggestive content but nothing actually happens, not proofread

author's note: first actual fic??? i'm a lil bit bored so why not. i think shidou might be a little ooc in this perhaps but i tried my best! i'm also a little worried that i implied anything too much about the reader's appearance, so i am very very sorry if i did. constructive criticism is appreciated, though i might cry tbh. exams have me fucked up. enjoy!

his hands roam. they don't have any particular goal. he only glides his fingers gently over your skin, exploring the terrain while you sleep. the warm summer air is oppressive, so the duvet has long since been replaced for a much thinner, almost useless blanket. its use is less for warmth than modesty, not that such a thing was really necessary when shidou had already seen everything there was to be seen about you.

his hands traverse over your thighs, still hovering over with a touch so soft he might as well have been dragging a feather along your sleeping form. sure he might have seen everything, but had he ever truly indulged his other senses in you? perhaps he had tasted you, even some hours later you still lingered on his tongue. it's a bitter, salty taste that sent his nerves into overdrive when the first pang hit. he can recreate the moment in his mind, but it never gets him going quite as much as experiencing it does. thoughts are just thoughts, they're never true to the experience.

that's two senses shidou could tick off of his list of ways he knows you, and now he was about to tick off a third. he had felt you before. he held you tight and close, but the sensation was never what he was focused on. he was familiar with how light and malleable you felt in his hands, but truthfully he never indulged in the details of your body. why would he? at the end of the day, your relationship was largely transactional, with very few feelings atttached besides pure, unadulterated lust and passion. he knew your body the way a student might know a book for a class they had to take - they read the summary half an hour before the lesson, and have a vague grasp of the concept, but the details elude them. shidou decided for once to be a good student and learn those details for no reason in particular other than the fact that he was stuck in your apartment with you on account of him having been evicted for threatening other tenants in his old building, and the warm july night kept him awake.

so he goes about slowly studying you, trying not to rouse you from your sleep. his hand starts on your thigh, and slowly travels its circumference. you're laying on your side, back facing shidou, hair carefully tucked under your head (shidou had complained about it getting in his face while he slept before, and threatened to cut it off himself if you didn't do something about it), soft breaths escaping past your lips, and completely unaware of shidou's touch on you. he hopes you don't wake up and then misinterpret it for something more romantic and intimate than it is. he's just indulging his curiosity and trying to stave off the boredom from struggling to fall asleep.

he feels how soft you are, a fact he already knew, but never like this. he feels a slight dryness to your skin too, and thinks that perhaps you should invest in a good lotion, not that it mattered much to him. he doesn't care about something as menial as whether you're moisturising properly, but he knows you might. people less confident than him often look for silly insecurities that no one else could give a single shit about. he won't point out your dry skin. he doesn't care enough, he thinks.

his hands travel up further, and on the sides of your legs he can feel the evidence of the tight grip he held you in just hours earlier. he scowls slightly, thinking that something so unsightly and vulgar shouldn't be on you. it grosses him out a little, though he couldn't pin point why. he assumes its because someone like you doesn't deserve to have a reminder of someone like him on their body. shidou isn't completely satisfied with that answer, but he leaves it as it is, he's not a fan of overthinking things.

his hands now reach your hips. as his fingertips skate over the landscape, he feels stretch marks that go down your thighs and around to your back. he could follow these trusty guides to the back but chooses not to, he's too tired for that. instead, he follows them up to your hipbone, and he feels you stir. he retracts his hand, afraid you'll wake up and wonder what he was doing. any misinterpretation of his actions on your part could have devastating repercussions on the relationship between the two of you, and shidou makes an instant decision to lie and say he accidentally grazed his hand over you while turning in his sleep, should you interrogate him about what he was doing.

but you don't. you're still asleep, you just moved your leg a little, perhaps feeling his ticklish touch in your sleep, and assuming it was some annoying mosquito that came to feed from you while you slept. shidou waits a moment before resuming his late-night study session, listening to the occasional car drive by late in the night. light from the streetlamps and moon float into your open window, and the music from the corner shop across the road accompany it. the sound is tinny, and shidou is surprised it can even be heard all the way over in your apartment. the cashier is probably blasting it from the radio to stop the warmth from coaxing them to sleep.

a minute passes, and shidou gingerly places his hand back on your hip. with the way you've moved, he can slightly feel your hip bone poking out, and the change strikes him as a slight surprise. your soft body and his mindless journey have both been interrupted by the feeling of the hard, smooth bone of your hips. it's just a small intrusion though, and he traces it up and down with his ring finger a few times, suddenly conscious of how unpleasant his skin is compared to yours. callouses line his hands from long and difficult workouts; a figure like his came at a price. he's not insecure of them, but sometimes he picks at his callouses when he's bored and needs something to do with his hands, which in turn makes his skin raw, and lifting weights immediately becomes a much more painful activity.

amid his little sidetrack in thoughts, shidou's hand slips off of your hip bone, and ends up on your stomach. he knows for a fact that if you were awake you'd try to slap his hand off, saying that you feel fat when he places his hands on your pillowy tummy. its another insecurity that he doesn't see the value of. another pointless thought wasting space in your mind. he stretches his hand out over your lower belly, and gently tucks his fingers in on the far side, under where gravity has pulled your skin and organs to create a natural pouch. it radiates heat, and ordinarily shidou would retract his hand. he doesn't need something else to make him uncomfortably warm, not when he's already sweating slightly in the middle of the night from the hellish heatwave that feels like its attacking your apartment relentlessly. he decides this spot was made for his hand by the gods though, its the perfect size to provide him with a little grip on you, and the softness just makes it all the more perfect to hold.

the thought crosses his mind that if you were to wake up, you'd definitely misinterpret his actions. your presence is so soft and pleasant though, and your body is so perfectly moulded to fit into his grip that he decides just this one time to enjoy the feeling. he tentatively moves closer to you, yet again trying not to wake you, and decides he'll explain himself in the morning.

[livsspecialinterests]

hi lads quick question are there any coping strategies for when it's too warm at night and the sound of the fan you use sometimes dowsnt bother you but sometimes cant be drowned out, and your partner snores (sometimes right fucking next to your head!!) and every single strategy people try to suggest is already something you do?? if one more person tries to "just use earplugs, they really work!" me I'm going to lose it.

basically it's 4:50 AM I've been awake since 3 and have to be up anyway in less than an hour so I've just got up to do my skincare stuff and might try to write for half an hour.

I've been on the whole sleeping better since starting ADHD meds, maybe that's why I react so strongly to having a shit nights sleep now. Like I work weird hours and have a decent number of days off between shifts for the next few weeks but just because I can sleep in some days doesn't mean its okay that I spend half of the night awake??

and my husband doesn't mean to snore, obviously, and he sleeps downstairs on the sofa if it's been a few nights where he's been snoring badly so I'm not even directly complaining about him but I know the shit effect that long term sleep deprivation has on people's health, let alone how fucking annoying it is in general to lie there listening to someone REALLY LOUDLY sleeping for hours on end and then needing to get up at 5:45 AM for work

I know it's partially an issue of my mood regulation but jesus fucking christ if lying awake for hours/drifting in and out of sleep/dragging myself downstairs to sleep on the sofa doesnt make me want to kill myself literally nothing does (and don't get me fucking STARTED on the process I have to follow in getting changed, moving my pillows downstairs etc because the sofa is "dirty" and my pillows are supposed to be "clean", yes I probably have OCD but I've never managed to get anyone to take it seriously so I just deal with it)

like my poor husband if he wakes up while I'm on my way downstairs says I'm really mean and like... yeah? my tone is a mixture of being pissed off that I've not slept AGAIN, trying to not cry because insomnia is something I've been dealing with since I've been a literal child, and also trying to not just flat out tell him that I want to die because I know he knows its hyperbole/something that I say in the moment to try to express my distress but I know it worries him when I talk like that so I don't want to do that

(though he will now check with me before saying he's had a bad night's sleep, since for him a bad night means he maybe woke up a few times before going right back to sleep ie he slept for like 7 hours but it wasn't great quality sleep, whereas for me a bad night is getting maybe an hour or two, interspersed with rage/sadness/loneliness/anxiety)

[pebblysand]

Hey there. Just wanted to say thank you for sharing Castles with us. I was 16 when I stumbled upon this masterpiece. I turned 18 a couple of months ago. I came of age with this fic. Whenever things got too much, Castles was what I'd find an escape in. It has taught me so much, taught me how the world's never just black & white and how life can be messy yet worth living. Castles has been a safe place, really. I cried, laughed, mourned and loved along with the characters. Your writing has made me feel so much so deeply, and I'd feel those heartaches all over again in a heartbeat. The female characters especially are so strong, so nuanced, their beauty lies in their imperfections which you've portrayed with so much care . As we reach the end of this road, I hope you are proud of yourself. I hope you know that this fic of yours has left a lasting impact on me.

Oh and I've been meaning to ask, how are you feeling now that it's all out?

thank you so much. that means more to me than you can imagine. ❤️

as to your question... how am i? pfew. i don't know. as i write this, i am now in france, enjoying the riviera's setting sun on my mum's terrace, with my thirteen-year-old four-legged baby sleeping underneath the table. there are palm trees and bougainvilleas. she's just woken up to bark at the airbnb neighbours next door.

how am i? exhausted. like, bone-deep. i don't know how to explain. the exhaustion of having published 82,000 words in two months. of having written 403,000 words in four years. of having made a thing. i made a thing. i could sleep for ten years, i feel, but i'm also wired. from the excitement and the adrenaline. i woke up every hour last night. i woke up at four o'clock this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. i now have two weeks of holidays and beach days to hopefully let my brain recuperate.

i am... terribly unfit lol. i'm the heaviest i've ever been, but it's not really about that, it's about the fact that i've been eating absolute shite for the past four/five months (with the above-mentioned exhaustion, i couldn't be bothered to cook), and honestly don't feel i could walk 10,000 steps without being out of breath. let me tell you that spending your days working in front of a laptop for your big girl job and all your evenings and weekends writing makes your life very sedentary. but that is easily fixable. my mum's building has a pool, so we'll be going every day and doing laps and going for walks and exploring the world again and recharging, and hopefully we'll feel better in a few weeks.

i am also... in absolute disbelief. i think it will take a while to truly sink in. i am incredibly proud of myself, proud of this story. proud of having told it. proud of not giving up on it. i came so close, this time last year. but i hung on. i owed it to myself. and, frankly, i owed it to lily, to tell her story. how lovely that i can finally say that without spoiling. she deserved someone else to hear.

i am... immensely honoured. beyond belief. i think for a long time, i blocked out and minimised the kind comments and the things people would say about how much this story meant to them, not out of rudeness but more to preserve myself from the pressure. it can be difficult - petrifying - to write a story that means a lot to people. but now, i have seventy-two comments (and counting) in my inbox and i am slowly realising that maybe, people weren't just being nice when they said these things. maybe it was true. and that means more to me than words could ever express.

i am... grieving. a little bit. i think, reading all of your messages and comments, a lot of you seem to feel that too. a bittersweetness of a four-year adventure ending. i think this emotion is already a bit on its way out for me, because i've been grieving castles for a while now, and have slowly come to terms with it ending. but, still. i would be remiss if i did not mention that the immense sense of pride and satisfaction and fulfilment that i feel ending this project, also didn't come with a bit of grief.

and, finally, i am very much looking forward to the future. i am excited for a lot of travel plans i have set up in the autumn. i am excited for my birthday in six days. i am excited for what the future will bring in terms of the stories i will inevitably tell again. fanfic or original.

and, i am immensely grateful to all of you. so thank you ❤️

[joes-sha-la-la-la-girl]

Support

Def Leppard x Reader

Masterlist

For @steveperrysorgasmicpipes

A/N: So as requested this is a fic where the guys look after the reader. I incorporated a condition which I have and the symptoms which relate to me. Obviously each person with Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder is different, and not all symptoms relate to everyone. I am happy to answer any question about the condition as I am trying to be more open about it whilst I come to terms with my diagnosis. Writing this fic has helped a lot and I hope you enjoy it. Also thank you to @elliotts-personal-property, @bring-on-the-heartbreak-joe and @i-love-def-leppard as well as all my lovely mutuals who have been there for me recently, I appreciate you all 💖💖

---

Groaning, I sit up as carefully as I can and climb off of the hotel bed. From experience, I knew it was better to move around rather than sit still and let all my joints stiffen up even worse. I also knew that I had to go to work, hence the reason I was in a hotel room in the first place. 

Being Def Leppard’s assistant definitely had its perks. First of all, although the hours were long, the entire band was understanding if I couldn’t make it into work one day. Not that I had ever told them about my condition and had instead made up excuses as to why I couldn’t work on my bad days.

I was hoping it would remain that way. Unfortunately after hearing all the cracks of my joints as I stood up, I knew that it would take more than a hot shower and some painkillers to help me today. Taking a deep breath, I got ready for the day as quickly as my body would let me. I was hoping that I would be able to hide the pain but as I walked out of my hotel room, I felt myself walk with the familiar limp from the pain in my hip. 

Def Leppard were on tour with Mötley Crüe and whilst I didn’t have too much interaction with the other band, I was really hoping that today of all days would be one where I could avoid them altogether. However, that was not meant to be as both bands were sitting down ready for breakfast. Plastering a smile on my face I went over and joined them. 

The only good thing was at the moment it was just the two bands there and that their wives were not on this leg of the tour. This meant that there were less people I had to hide my pain from. 

“Morning guys.” I grinned at them all, hoping to disguise the wince I made as I took the seat between Joe and Phil that had been saved for me.

There was a round of ‘mornings’ coming from the group, most of them almost incoherent as they struggled to wake up for the morning.

Despite feeling unwell, I knew I had to eat on my painkillers so I decided to grab a few pieces of fruit and just nibble on them whilst trying to engage in the conversations around me. As much as I tried to hide my discomfort, I knew I had failed when I saw Sav looking at me concerned over the table. As I looked into his blue eyes, which had not faded with time, I saw the question that was lingering in his mind.

I subtly nodded my head at him and gave a small smile, trying to convey that I was alright. However, much to my dismay, this had only attracted the attention of Joe who was seated to my right.

“You okay Y/N/N? You don’t look right.” 

Quietly I took a deep breath yet again and looked towards him, knowing that if I didn’t he wouldn’t believe the lie that was about to escape my mouth.

“Of course, I'm just tired. Didn’t get enough sleep s’all.”

It was very obvious on his face that he did not believe me but he did not press the matter any further in front of the others. Instead, he just looked at Sav and then the rest of his own band, all of them talking silently, something they had mastered over the years. The only upside was that the guys of Mötley Crüe hadn’t noticed that something was up. Whether it was deliberate because it didn’t concern them or they were really that oblivious didn’t matter. I was just grateful I didn’t have another group of eyes trained on me. 

When we finished breakfast, the bands had a day off so all I had to focus on was making sure everything was ready for them when they next perform. This meant that I should be running around all day between the hotel and the venue. I was dreading the day ahead of me, knowing roughly how it would go. I knew I would have to keep myself hydrated and well fed to try and prevent the dizzy spells as well as carrying my joint braces and supports just in case. 

I carefully made the trek back up to my hotel room, vaguely aware of the eyes that are on me as I leave. I carefully pack my bag for the day, making a mental note of everything that I have to get done. Just as I am about to leave I hear a knock at my hotel room door. Gently padding over to the door, I try to ignore the limp in my step. When I get there and open the door I am shocked to find all five members of Def Leppard standing there.

With a sigh I move out of the way, allowing them all to enter the room. They quickly made themselves at home with Rick, Vivian and Phil sat on the sofa and Joe and Sav perched on the foot of my bed. The two men on the bed allowed me room to sit in between them. Reluctantly I made my way over. Usually, I wouldn’t mind sitting and talking to the band, but right now, when I knew all they wanted to talk about was me, I would rather be anywhere else.

“So are you gonna tell us what’s going on or are we all gonna have to guess.” Joe started though his voice was soft and filled with concern. As I looked around, all I saw was five sets of eyes staring back at me waiting for a reply. 

“Honestly I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired.” I told them wanting them off of my case.

“Don’t lie to us Y/N.” Phil spoke, his tone the same as Joe’s. “What is really going on?”

I sighed as I looked around again. It was obvious they were not going to leave me alone until I told them what was going on. 

“I have a condition called Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder.” I started as I looked down at my lap. It wasn’t that I was ashamed of my condition but it was hard for me to talk about. 

“I was diagnosed a few years ago but I have been having problems since I was about nine. There are multiple symptoms but the main ones that affect me are chronic pain, fatigue and dislocations. It is incurable but there are things I can do to lower the pain. Some mornings though I just wake up and I know that it is going to be a bad day.”

“How come you’re only telling us this now?” Sav questioned with worry flooding his face.

“I didn’t want to be a bother to anyone. There's not much anyone can do anyway.”

“You still should've told someone Y/N/N.” Viv spoke up. “How many times have you gone through the day in pain and we haven’t noticed.”

“I don’t know. Look I appreciate the concern and everything but I really have to get to work.”

“Are you joking?” Joe scoffed, his eyes wide.

“Umm no, I can’t just stop everything…” I was interrupted by Sav. 

“Yes you can. You’re in pain Y/N. You can’t possibly work like this.”

“I have done in the past.”

“Only because we didn’t know then.” Rick interrupted this time with a pointed look on his face.

Realising this was a battle I was going to lose, I gave in.

“Fine. But I can’t stay in bed all day, if I don’t keep moving then my joints will seize up and I’ll end up in more pain.”

“Whatever you need Y/N. I’m just going to make a few calls so that you can have as long as you need off.” Joe told me before going to leave the room.

When Joe came back the entire day was spent with the five of them looking after me, despite my insistence that I could do it myself. A few times we went for a walk around the hotel corridors so that I could move around a little bit. Overall the whole day was a lot more comfortable than I originally planned. They had made sure that I was taking my pain meds and eating and drinking enough. 

The only time there was trouble was when I had a subluxation in my knee, which is where my knee had a partial dislocation. Whilst painful it was something I could deal with myself. Luckily I had my knee support on hand to strap my knee back up. By the evening time, all of them apart from Joe and Sav had left.

“So Y/N/N, are you going to tell us the real reason as to why you didn’t tell us about your condition?” Joe asked. I looked between him and Sav and I could tell that just like earlier, I wasn’t going to be able to avoid the question.

“When I tell people about my condition they always look at me differently. Whilst I knew that all of you would be the last people to judge me, I’ve gotten used to not talking about it.” I told them, hardly being able to look them in the eye.

“We get that Y/N/N but don’t let yourself be in pain again, alright?” Sav smiled at me.

“Yeah okay. And thank you for today.”

“It’s no problem at all.” Joe smiled as he patted me gently on the shoulder.

Sav did the same and the both of them smiled at me one final time before they left me alone for the evening to get ready for bed.

*

Over the next few weeks I continued to work with only a few problems but I noticed that all of them looked out for me. Things like offering to carry a heavy bag or walking slightly slower so that I could keep up and if I was honest it was making my life so much easier. Part of me wished that I had told them sooner but at least now they were all aware and I didn't have to struggle on my own anymore.

[wonderlandhour]

How Curious

Curiously, she looks around the room, sinking all her senses into. The place reeked of magic on so many layers. It was also full of men, boys really, human males rarely ever seemed to actually mature into men. But she was still feeling more feminine, and the male portion of her was likely still lingering within her own realm or where she last fell asleep. Flexing her fingers as she looked around, the furious presence of something approached. A cat of some kind with blue flames within its ears bolted into the room. She did not have much magic, oddly enough, but she had enough to hide from its senses. it saw the open door and yowled in cheer. "one of them is out! i just gotta find em and take their uniform!" it ran off, searching for an invisible trail.

It's not long after when some adults and a few other boys enter, pausing when they spot her. "I don't believe I'm supposed to be here." she smiles at them, arms folded under her boobs."

"of cour- oh dear." the man at their head goes pale, seeing her. "ah. the dark mirror has never chosen a woman before. but I- ah. I welcome all students."

"You're not thinking this through at all Crowley." the man who looks and has the aura of a lion sneers. "a woman? here? These kids don't have the self control to leave her alone. 'Specially when she's the one fucking one on campus if you keep her." How interesting. It comes off disliking of her womanhood, but he gives off the aura of agitation. For her. How endearing, none of these boys could ever lay a finger on her.

"Well she was chosen, and the Dark Mirror has never been wrong! Now, you were impatient-"

"Magic induced sleep does not exactly work on me. It was by no means my fault that I awoke earlier. Now move along so that you may send me back to where I belong."

"We shall discuss this later!" Crowley declares. the next hours or two are massively odd, but she picks up on this. Crowley seems to have no intention of sending her back. that's fine in her mind, Dionysus is always urging her to be a bit more exploratory. She should have some fun while she's here. But this seems to mean she requires a name to tell this 'Dark Mirror'.

"Now, now, you, go on up." Crowley handles her last, some people who haven't noticed her gasp and whisper seeing her go up the steps to the mirror.

"State your name." the Mirror declared.

"Somnus."

"your first and last name, please!" Crowley declares.

"I have only one name I am needed to be known by. You may call me Somnus." her latin name shall suffice for now.

The mirror remains silent for a moment "The nature of your soul cannot be judged." These gasps are far more emotional.

"Dark Mirror, how is that possible?!"

"The nature of this ones soul has no one singular nature to name them a dorm. Therefore they have no dorm."

"How is this possible? All souls have a nature."

"What can I say?" She gives a small smile down at the bewildered man. "I am a being of multitudes."

[tree0frog]

The way you kiss me

Lockwood and co-masterlist

main master list

george x reader

i fixed the fic littel since i didn't like it

warning-kissing not smut by its kinda of suggestive so you have been warned,reader is shorter than George swearing friends to lovers also my first time writing for him or anything like this sorry if it's bad lol

It was 3 am when you had decided to wake up not by choice just because your body had decided to say fuck you and wake you up too early,

putting your slippers on you made your way downstairs not expecting the lights to be nor.

"George?" you stiffed a yawn not even bothered by the lack of clothing on his legs.

"couldn't sleep do you want tea?" he asked already pulling down your mug and placing the tea bag in it for you.

"if that ok" a weak smile made its way onto his face, he always wondered how you looked in the morning normally by the time he was awake you were fully ready for the day but here you were your hair a mess and your eyes laced with sleep and your lips oh how he wanted to kis-.

"George are you ok?" your hand waved in front of his face.

"hmm, what oh yeah yeah I'm fine"he quickly turned to finish making the two cups of tea, before handing you one.

The two of you stood in silence for an as both your minds raced about a few nights ago.

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

The two of you were walking back from a case Lucy and Lockwood were already back home when some guys started to follow you.

"i em i'm going to do something and well you just going to need to trust me ok" his voice was a whisper as you nodded.

He was quick to move your body, your back now prest agent some cold stone wall his body acting as some form of shield to yours, one had rested above your head the other was brought to tilt your chin up making the two of you meet eyes.

his lips moved closer to yours they were softer than you thought they would be and tasted of the tea and sugar that he had drank a few hours prior. The kiss was deepened and even though you were both sure the men where gone none of you could stop, not until you needed air.

"looks like they're gone let get you home yeah," George said as he started walking back to Portland Row.

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

"about the other night." he stared but you were quick to cut him off"its alright and well i kind of liked it" A blush covered the tips of your ears as you moved closer to him placing your now empty mug in the sink as you began to wash it.

George didn't know where this newfound confidence was coming from but he was quick to place his mug on the table and wrap his arms around your waist his breath ghosting your neck, a smirk crept up onto his face as he felt your body stiffen by his touch, your breath hitched as he whispered into your ear.

"Can I kiss you again?" all you could manage was a nod before you pulled your neck backward to meet his lips.

A shakey moan left your lips as he moved to kiss down your neck leaving dark marks as he went.

"fuck Georgie" Your arms moved to his hair keeping him in place as he worked on adding another hickey to your neck.

"i love you so much, you don't know half of the things i want to do with you love" he mutters as he moves you round to fully face him the mug long forgotten.

"then do it," you said against his lips.

~~~

Lockwood was confused, to say the least, as he watched you and Lucy talk in the kitchen, your jumper moving down enough to see the dark bruise left in the early hours of the morning.

"What happened to your neck, "he asked as he watched a blush creep up onto your face.

"Holy shit you shagged someone and didn't tell me"Lucy laughed,

"i well i didn't shag anyone and even if i did i don't think my first thought would be to tell you Lucy" you laughed as you watched George walk into the kitchen making his was right to you.

"god morning love,"he said kissing your forehead before going to make himself a cup of tea.

Lucy looked like she could die from excitement.

"you two better not of had sex in my house" he looked horrified.

"Does this also apply to you two locky cos you're not as quiet as you both think"George quipped back making you let out a laugh as Lucy and Lockwood's faces burned crimson?

[scribblestatic]

Ding Ding Ding new COTL sads for the masses

I've been up all night with a migraine so it's time to make it y'all's problem by writing some angst I thought up.

I call this shit the Forsaken AU, because why not.

I may go into summary-drabble partway through this, but I'll probably fix it up or something when my brain stops trying to kill me via headache.

(Note: I wrote this stuff several hours ago. Finally went to sleep, so now I am Rested. Also, omg hit tweet. I'm glad y'all like the soft fluff! It's very good and I'm glad I thought of it and shared it so we could gush over the idea as a collective!

Time to show you sadness now uwu)

Warning for canon-typical violence.

-- -- --

The Lamb has done their duty. They have gathered an entire flock of followers, just for The One Who Waits. 30 souls—some found and indoctrinated, some born into the cult—all caged and waiting as the Lamb stands before their god. The One Who Waits grins down at their most successful vessel, freedom on the tip of his tongue.

And the Lamb, ever devoted, goes down on their knees without hesitation.

They take the crown off their head and look down at it solemnly. Of course the little one has grown attached to the power, Narinder thinks. He wonders, briefly, if he will have to wrestle the crown that is rightfully his back from the creature he only temporarily loaned it to.

But no.

After a few brief tears, and even thanks to the crown, the lamb lifts their hooved hands to their god, willingly relinquishing the crown's power back to its owner. Narinder can't help but smile. Now, the most successful vessel has become the nearly perfect one.

Narinder lifts the crown back onto his own head and feels its energy flow into his body. The already rotted chains fall away with a clattering shatter, and the cuffs that rubbed his skin raw fall to the ground with loud clunks.

The One Who Waits feels it all: the devotion, the power, the energy that flows through him once again. It has been so long since he felt so powerful. And now, without his wretched siblings in the way, he can truly enjoy the full extent of his godhood.

Yet, at the same time, he feels resentment.

Anger.

Because, for as much as the Lamb preached to the cult about his righteousness, about his return, the devotion he feels comes attached to the Lamb. The Lamb slayed not a single follower they indoctrinated. When food became scarce, they granted all the ability to enjoy the grass like they could—not that they needed to eat any longer anyway. Instead of fasting, they called for feasting. Instead of taking gold, they had rituals in which they gave it freely.

Even if it ran the Lamb ragged to provide everything the followers desired, they did so with the smile of a fool on their face. They decorated the crypts and mausoleums with camellias and candles, curtains and statues. They allowed their followers to indulge in drink and sex, spending time raising their offspring while the parents themselves worked to provide for the cult.

It was all soft. All unrestrained kindness. All sugar on which the followers glutted themselves until their teeth rotted. And now, the cult worships death with a face of fleece, not fur.

Moreover, his siblings. Not that he ever wanted even the slightest bit of mercy for those treacherous heathens. The Lamb slayed them in his name, and they got exactly what they deserved.

But Narinder could not slay them himself. He couldn't be the one to truly rend their hearts from their flesh. Although he was the one to land the first blows on them, he was not the one to land the last. And that bothers him immensely.

These two sins the Lamb has committed against him. And for these two sins, Narinder shall use them as an example.

The Lamb floats into the air with Narinder's restored power. They have their hooves laced, palms touching in what Narinder can now hear and see as prayer. Hopeful, tearful eyes gaze up at him, much like they had each time the Lamb died and each time they went back to continue their crusade.

Having seen each other so often, the Lamb must notice something in his expression. Their gaze shifts from hope to wariness, glancing between his three eyes.

A wide smile spreads on Narinder's face.

"You've done me a great service. You've fulfilled the prophecy that has called for my return. For that, one could praise you for doing as expected..."

His hand curve, squeezing on air as the Lamb's limbs begin pushing in closer under the pressure. They look around worriedly, like they can't understand.

"...But. You coveted what was not yours, little lamb. I saw what was in your heart, in your mind. You wished for more than you were to be given. You wanted not your due position, but to take my own."

The Lamb quickly gazes at him, eyes wide with shock. They try to speak, but their voice cuts off with a gurgle. Narinder doesn't want to hear anything the Lamb has to say. He knows what was true and what isn't. Tears build up in the Lamb's eyes once more as their head slides to the side just slightly, enough loosening to prevent them from speaking.

"For that, my sacrifice, you must suffer."

And suffer, he makes sure.

The Lamb's mouth opens in a silent scream, unable to bleat, as their arms and legs begin twisting, snapping, as Narinder pleases. He revels in the horrified gasps and cries from the caged followers as they watch the lamb's body contort and break, red blood falling from their body and onto the pale ground below. They choke deeper as their head slips further, tears turning pink with blood.

And, with a final crack, a final squelch, Narinder drops the Lamb's body in a wretched heap. Their head, once loosely attached to their neck, rolls away, stopping on its side.

Narinder takes a moment to stand there, looking down at the result of his anger. And oh, it was such a small bit of reprieve, but it would have to do. Once he was back out in the world, he could do so much more.

He steps forward then, raised to his full height, and he walks over the lamb's body.

"You all have faithfully worshiped Death. I am Death. If you remain faithful to me and not the false prophet which brought you here, I can assure you—thou shalt live under my protection. What say you?"

He gazes to the left, then to the right, quietly waiting.

Eventually, one of the followers, a fox, shakily bends down onto their knees and bows to him. He wears more ornate clothing than some of the others, so he is clearly an important figure. With the fox's supplication, the others stiltedly follow, until all 30 of the followers bow before him.

He feels the devotion to the crown shift, becoming thicker and rugged. Rough, indeed, but it is devotion to him, and not to the fuzzy usurper broken below him.

With a smile, he snaps his fingers, releasing them from their cages. They disappear from Limbo, the cage that held him for hundreds of years. Now, the only thing that will be left would be the corpse of a traitorous martyr.

Aym and Baal stand in awe of him, finally witnessing the true extent of his powers after having grown at his side for so long. As they follow him out of the place they too had known for so long, they do not spare a second glance at the ruined corpse. Eager to stretch their legs, they leave the space together, where only a pathetic lamb's body remains.

And that was exactly how Narinder intended it to be from the very start.

--- ---

The world outside was...incredibly vibrant.

Although Narinder had seen it all through the crown, it was quite different experiencing it. The grass felt strange against his fur, arms once again covered under flesh, though the markings from the cuffs would perhaps forever scar him. The stars twinkle brightly at night, creating kaleidoscope colors across the sky. Sand feels terrible between his toes, but he would stand in it for hours if it meant catching the delicious fish that hid within the depths of the salty water near it.

Nature was all-encompassing. Full of life that he could, in theory, make eternal. But everything was so teeming with it, at times, it could become overwhelming.

It didn't help that, despite having his grandiose form, he changed into something smaller—still larger than his closest disciples, but certainly not as towering as he was just a bit before. He temporarily feared that the crown was not in its best shape, his powers altered irrevocably by whatever strangeness the Lamb polluted it with. However, he could still feel the devotion from his followers, shaken, but constant.

The Lamb had, indeed, prepared the "flock" for their death. They made it clear that they were to die for the sake of Death's resurgence to the mortal realm. Perhaps he could've toned down the Lamb's punishment if they were all so attached to them...hah.

Not at all. The Lamb was treacherous and deserved what they received in return. It just startled the congregation, that was all, and their wavering and fear caused him to perhaps unconsciously attempt to assuage their worries. After all, their lives were his do do with as he pleased, but he knew that there was meaning and purpose in having a cult. Their belief and dedication to him was his power. So, he needed to cement it.

Narinder spent the next few hundred years doing just that—undoing all the hogwash nonsense that the Lamb instilled into them and replacing it with what he knew was right.

And goodness, wasn't that an entire chore? You change the rituals around a little bit, and despite being their god, they have it up in their heads to dissent! Oh boy, do they love to dissent! Over the smallest things, even!

You don't go get some measly flowers from the Darkwood for some rabbit to decorate her hut in remembrance of some sibling of hers? Suddenly, she's whispering about how he's the false god and the Lamb had been fooled!

You change the feasting ritual to fasting, and the next thing you know, seven followers are destroying buildings around the cult and cursing your name as though you couldn't kill them! And him forbid you actually do, then the entire cult has the audacity to threaten to disperse!

And they can't seem to do a damn thing for themselves either.

"My Lord, the stone mine has run out of stone. What else should I do for you?"

Find another mine. Shouldn't that be obvious?

"My Lord, we did not put any more fertilizer on the plants because we did not find any."

Then make fertilizer, fool.

"My Lord, I would like to eat a bowl of poop. Would you make it for me?"

Wh... Do I look like a personal chef to you?! And what the hell is wrong with you? Why would you even ask for that?!

Even after decades of teaching them the new rituals and practices around the cult, their demands were never-ending. They never understood that he was their god, and their lives were his to do with as he wished...

...At the same time, he would not have the same power he does without them.

Their belief and devotion fed his energy and ensured it never ran dry. Such was the curse of a god's existence—they were nothing powerful without their followers.

The previous 30 had since lowered over the years, dropping to a more reasonable 14. All were descendants of the Lamb's "flock," save for one that Narinder saw fit to resurrect as he pleased and needed.

The fox, Maon, who had bowed to him first upon his release.

Narinder had laughed about it many, many years back. To think! The first to bow to his power was the Lamb's husband of all things! He watched his spouse die in terrible fashion, and immediately bowed to the one who did it! Hilarious!

Narinder had praised him upon finding out, saying that he really was as wise and crafty as his species were known to be.

From the broken look on the fox's face, he hadn't taken his words as a compliment, but thanked his god for them all the same.

Through ups and downs, Maon served him well. Although not to the same level as his enforcers, Aym and Baal, he was efficient at his job, helping maintain order in the cult. The first generation, the one who knew the Lamb, called him a traitor, which carried over into the second generation as well. By the sixth generation, he was merely one who witnessed the great sacrifice that led to Death's release.

Maon's emotional state also shifted with time. He grew apathetic toward mentions of the Lamb and no longer seemed bothered when Narinder ribbed him about betraying the one he married. Eventually, he also took off the ring the Lamb gave him, his hands now bare.

He once considered that Maon would attempt to betray him, especially when three of the followers went missing under his watchful eye. But it came to nothing in the end, and the loyalty and devotion he felt coming from Maon was trumped only by Aym and Baal.

Old fox as he was now, he wore pale robes, living his remaining years until his next resurrection. That was, if Narinder decided it would be worth doing so.

While the fox helped keep things in order, the blood of the cult was growing stagnant. He did not rely on incestuous practices to keep a steady flow of new followers, but one could only pair the increasingly smaller amount of them so many times before you risk disease. Several of the remaining 14, save for Maon, were siblings or cousins. In some cases, Maon was somewhere in their bloodline.

Though he was loathe to admit it, traveling to the old lands of his "dearly" departed siblings would likely be necessary to spark new, positive change in the cult. However, going to the lands of the Old Faith would likely trigger an encounter with that loathsome seller.

After he had calmed his cult and reinstated his position of power, he had tried going to the old lands to acquire more resources, only for the Mystic Seller to appear before him. Back then, it spoke in that strange language he could not decipher before referring to him.

"I seek the god restored to his throne, the final of the five, forsaker of his chosen vessel. Confer with me."

Narinder growled at the titles forced upon him, but became even more enraged when the stranger had the audacity to demand he release his siblings from their torment. He knew very well that the Lamb did not have the full authority of the God of Death when they slayed them. No, that was Narinder's domain. And he refused to let their souls rest, forcing them to stay in a limbo so similar to the one they forced him into.

Release them? Absolutely not! They would suffer the consequences of their actions until he saw fit!

So, he sent his followers out to gather what the cult needed, with them returning with varying success. Food? Fine. Supplies, Occasionally successful. Yet, for some reason, even when he sent one of his most faithful as a missionary to any of his siblings' lands, they failed to return alive, if at all.

It had to be done by himself. It would be necessary for him to go to the land of the Old Faith and find new followers to indoctrinate. He would, at most, allow their numbers to swell to 20, but no more than that. Having made his decision, he left Aym and Baal to watch over the cult as he went to enter its gates.

For some reason, they gates to their realms were closed, unlike before. He began to read the inscriptions etched into them as he felt a shift in the energy near him.

As expected, the Mystic Seller appeared, eyes narrowed at him.

"We meet again, God of Death. How do you fare, neglecting your duties?"

Narinder sneered at the merchant. "I've neglected nothing of import. Their continued existence just happens to be a minor inconvenience. I've seen fit to relieve them of it."

"Is that so?" The Mystic Seller seemed strangely blasé despite how insistent it had been decades before. "You still think yourself of such importance despite your artless negligence. All you desire is to maintain your small circle of influence."

"Death's influence is not small," Narinder hissed, transcribing the text in the door and not liking what he was reading. "Perhaps you've forgotten that, lifeless as you are."

"Death's influence includes rest, which you have denied them. But in your absence, it only makes sense for someone else to fill the void."

The God of Death paused, then turned toward it.

"What do you mean by that? I am the one and only Ruler of the Red Crown."

The seller floated behind him, almost seeming to pace.

"I have dealt with Gods, and often pondered; does the Bearer wear the Crown, or the Crown the Bearer? In these last centuries, witnessing the wavering flow of the ether of this realm, I believe a conclusion has revealed itself. Its answer was novel."

"You speak without saying anything. Leave me be."

"...A fool once sought knowledge, and knowledge he obtained. Now the knowing one returns to foolishness willingly. But tell this merchant—was it not his pursuit of wisdom that made him so dangerous?"

Irritated by its continued bothering, Narinder whipped around, prepared to tell the Mystic Seller to leave again. However, it had already left, the cavern behind him empty save for the elements of the entrance. The statue of the red crown glowed with an eerie, never-ending light.

"...Hmmh."

Whatever. He would figure things out himself.

But first, he had to go back to the cult and find a suitable sacrifice. The door to Darkwood would not open without one.