#kinda hoping for future trunks

[damn-stark]

Chapter 18 A little high, a little low

Chapter 18 of Moonlight

A/N- Cregan would’ve danced with you

Warning- Swearing, talks of pregnancy, hunting, ANGST!!, FLUFF!!, SPOILERS FOR FUTURE EVENTS OF HOTD, USING FIRE AND BLOOD, LONG CHAPTER.

Pairing- Aemond Targaryen x Velaryon!fem-reader, Cregan Stark x Velaryon!fem-reader

Episode & or Chapters- 438-440 (kinda hopping around pages in the book for this chapter)

(If you want to be tagged let me know)

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*2 YEARS AGO. WINTERFELL*

Deep breath. Steady aim, and shoot!

The arrow shot from your bow whizzes between trees, and skids under hanging greenery that threatens to knock the wooden arrow down, but the speed carries the arrow toward a dark brown stag unaware of the threat hurling his way as it feeds on twigs on the ground.

Yet just as the arrow comes close to piercing the dark eye, the stag moves his head and the arrow instead crashes on a trunk behind it, causing the stag to go stiff and become wary of your looming threat with such an impressive survival instinct that he seems to find you hidden amongst the drooping branches.

His brown eye caught under the beams of sunlight reflects your menacing figure, study the way puffs of your breath are drawn in the chilly air, the way your eye closes before a soft glimmering sunbeam catches the color of your eye, and sends him running off for its life when he realizes you're after him.

“Damn it!” You hiss and quickly throw the bow around you before you run off after the stag in hopes you will win the bigger trophy and beat Lady Arra, and Cregan in your makeshift hunting game.

They do have the advantage of knowing the woods like the back of their hand, but thanks to Cregan bringing you to teach you how to hunt or escape where no one would see you, you do have some knowledge, but not enough compared to their years of experience. The only advantage you have is the fact that you found the stag first and that you have him in your sights.

No matter how tactical the stag is by prancing through the wild woods and avoiding obstacles with his sharp eyes, you are not far behind, and speed is not a problem; you’re fast because of the blood pumping through your veins and unsettling your heart. The snow on the ground does make things harder for your human vulnerability, but you try hard to run over the marked trail the stag is leaving behind while also shoving aside long and drooping branches. You barely miss large rocks the stag has no problem hopping over, but you are never far behind.

Actually, there comes a point where you get near the stag, causing you to be hit with a spark of courage that makes you yank the bow off your body and pull an arrow out of the satchel. When you sloppily align the arrow you slide down on your feet and let the arrow fly toward the stag.

Nevertheless, you miss your target and the stag decides to make a sharp turn.

“Great,” you grumble and return to your given height before you continue your hurried chase. When it comes to making the sharp turn you almost run into a large fallen-over trunk, but luckily your mind manages to work out a quick plan and makes you hop over the large trunk, letting you spot a frozen lake in the distance once your feet hit the ground.

Is that where the stag went? You look at the ground and see tracks directing down toward the frozen lake.

It could use the lake to its advantage, you won’t run over the ice without skates, but you can’t imagine he’d have an easy time either.

Still, you proceed to slow down in your pace and stalk after the stag with sharp eyes, and open ears to be wary of any sound that could lead you toward the stag you now lost sight of. You also slowly pull out another arrow in case you find it resting in one place.

However, in your silence where your footsteps quietly crunch through soft snow, a splash breaks through the air before a sharp cry from the stag follows suit, setting you after it at a much faster pace than the one you used before as if the helpless cry of your trophy broke away any sort of hostility you held for it.

And once you reach the edge of the small hill you see why the stag’s cries sound so broken and desperate, he fell through the ice and is barely managing to keep afloat with the large piece of ice pushing him down to the depths of the icy water.

Now you could shoot an arrow from here to put it out of its misery and let the lake claim the trophy for itself, however, his cries hit your heart and a small twinge spreads to full-on concern for its life.

“Cregan!” You call out, knowing he’ll hear your call in the silence of the forest and come in search of you thinking you're in peril, or you want to gloat. Either or, he won’t hesitate coming after you, nor will Arra hesitate to let your call bring her towards the lake, so with that in mind you slide down the hill and land on the bank.

The stag hears the sound of your feet hitting the earth and his eyes dart your way, but unlike the fear it felt before, now he finds solace in your presence and fills with desperation to be helped. And luckily, it didn’t fall too far into the lake so he’s easy to reach, but you can’t lift the piece of ice off him alone. You have to wait, and while you do you leave your bow and satchel on the ground to lose additional weight that could weigh you down when you walk on the ice.

Meanwhile, the stag keeps crying out whilst never losing sight of you as if calling out to you specifically.

“Just hold on buddy,” you whisper and wait and wait until finally Cregan appears out of the line of the forest.

“What?” He asks between heavy breaths. “You found it!”

You don’t match his enthusiasm and as you get closer to each other he finally sees the dullness in your eyes made by your own desperation.

“We have to help it,” you say and don’t actually surprise him, but his eyebrows still knit together as his eyes dart between the stag and you. “Come on, we can't let it drown.”

“The ice is thin,” he points out and stares at the helpless stag. “That’s why it fell, and we could fall in the same situation.”

You snap your gaze to the stag and when you do you lock eyes and that call for help only heightens, aching your heart that much further.

“But,” you argue and return your gaze to grab his arm and plead softer, knowing he has a hard time resisting you. “It could be quick, we just lift the piece of ice and let it crawl out.”

Cregan’s grey eyes fall on you with a heavy look, making your stomach knot.

“Darling,” he sighs.

“Cregan,” you mock him and press your pleading look that makes him draw out a deep breath. “We’re the reason it fell in the lake because we were after it, and now that his life is in danger why should we let the lake take him?”

Cregan parts his gaze from you and steals a glance at the drowning stag before he lifts his hands to pull off his sheath and then unclip his cloak, making you flash him a tender smile.

“Tread slowly,” he warns you. “And if the ice cracks under our feet we’re turning back and letting the lake swallow it up.”

You nod eagerly and then face the lake, before you can take a step on it though, Arra finally walks out of the forest and joins you.

“Look at that, you found it!” She mirrors Cregan’s initial excitement, and like him when she takes a closer look she’s left confused. “What are you doing?”

“We’re going to help it,” you answer for Cregan and take your first step on the frozen lake. “Stay there, you’re with child, I don’t want to put you and the babe at risk.”

Arra scoffs. “Neither of you should put your lives at risk either. Stags getting caught in a frozen lake happens.”

You ignore her and slowly make your way toward the stag along with Cregan. Arra tries to follow regardless of her previous arguments, but the moment Cregan hears her foot hit the ice he whips his head back and presses strictly.

“Arra, stay there.”

You take a peek back and see her huff before she steps back on the bank of the lake. However, she doesn’t stay quietly. “Why not have your dragon melt the ice?”

You scoff in amusement. “Astraea’s blast is too wide. She will burn us all the moment she tries. If she had been smaller then it would work, but alas, she’s too big now.”

Arra hums and watches you and Cregan reach the stag with a nail in between her teeth.

“Careful,” Cregan warns you as he slowly makes his way across from you to hold the piece of ice from the other side. “Use your legs when you lift the ice.”

You meet his gaze and nod in comprehension before you look at the stag and speak to it like you speak to your dragon. “It’s okay, we’re gonna help you.”

Unlike your dragon, the stag has minimal understanding of your language so he keeps crying out sharply and squirming, splashing cold water over your legs, and making the piece of ice on him hard to grab, but you take a daring step toward the edge of the broken ice and reach out.

“Careful,” Cregan warns you again and this time you snap your gaze to him and shoot him an annoyed look.

“I know.”

He holds your gaze for a moment longer before he reaches out and grabs the ice cap. You slowly do the same and want to start lifting, but as the stag feels the cold cap brush over him he jolts, making the ice cap shift down under your grip, and causing the icy edge to cut through your glove and leave your palm exposed to the bitter surface.

Luckily, the edge didn’t cut your palm, but instead of sharp pain, you’re greeted with stinging pain as the cold ice bites at your skin. Not nips, bites. It’s fucking cold.

“Ready,” Cregan announces. “1. 2, 3!”

You both strain your muscles to lift the cap off the stag. It doesn’t manage to move up too far, but the stag finds some relief as some weight is lifted off him, and takes this to his advantage to try and push himself up shakily.

Albeit, since the ice is slippery and his feet are wet he slips in his attempts, making the stinging pain now burn your skin to the point your face twists with pain, and your breaths turn heavy.

“Are you okay?” Cregan asks as he’s quick to notice your breathing pick up.

You lie and nod before pressing your exposed palm harder on the ice to lift the cap just an inch higher, giving the stag more freedom to find a good grip, and finally yank himself out of the water.

Once he throws himself on the ice you let your side of the ice cap go and clench your hand in reaction to the burning pain torturing your palm. Cregan proceeds to drop his side of the cap and immediately focuses on you, whilst your gaze drifts to the stag walking out of the frozen lake. When he finally finds himself on solid ground he finds it himself to turn around and face you. Not Cregan making his way to you as you cradle your wounded hand, the stag looks at you.

His large brown eyes forget the panic he just felt, the fear he had for you just chasing him, and instead a twinkle glimmers in his eye as you alone are reflected in his eye. All while you are completely washed over with awe and relief that he’s standing there so perfectly calm. And before he disappears into the thickness of the forest he almost seems to bow his head.

You like to think that’s what he was doing before he left anyway.

“Let me see,” Cregan pulls you from your stupor, turning your attention away from the spot the stag left empty to find him before you now with his grey eyes worried over the wound that is now visible to him.

“It hurts,” you don’t hide your pain and groan as he brushes his thumb over the wound.

And rather than consoling you, the corner of Cregan’s lips tug to an amused smile before he looks at you and shares a much more charming smile with just his eyes.

“It’s not funny,” you grumble. “It hurts, and it’s red!”

“Come, Arra has bandages to treat your wound, Princess,” he teases and tries to grab your wrist to pull you off the ice with him, but you snatch your arm away and take a large step away from him, making him share a breathless chuckle that gets lost in the bitter wind.

The moment you’re back on stable ground Cregan grabs what he needs and takes you to the tree trunk that you had jumped over earlier ago. At first, you try to take your own torn glove off your hand, but he places his hand over it to stop you and instead pulls the glove off himself, finger by finger; ever so slowly as if trying not to add more pain to your throbbing hand, or as if trying to seduce you. Maybe both.

Either way, he’s careful with your hand, and when it comes to returning your gaze, he’s precise. After feeling your gaze burn into him as you watch every detail of his face rather than the glove he was pulling off, he looks back at you.

Albeit, you don’t hold his gaze, you beat down your skipping heart, and instead watch him dip his finger in some strong-smelling ointment. Not because you feel flustered, well you do feel flustered under his heavy gaze, but that’s not what makes you look away. You look away because your heart is racing madly and your five years are coming to an end soon, you’ll return to King’s Landing where you’ll marry your estranged uncle Aemond, who was once your best friend.

You can’t return home still getting hot when Cregan steals gentle touches, you can’t face Aemond when the mere thought of Cregan makes your heart pound like crazy. You perhaps don’t owe Aemond anything; he stopped returning your letters and made you feel alone for a long time, but you can’t think of another man when you’re with him, so that’s why you try to stop dwelling on these passionate interactions so they’ll sizzle to simple nostalgia when you return to King’s Landing.

Yet…fucking Cregan makes it hard. His silence is deafening, but there’s no need to speak what he feels when you look between your lashes and see his lips pulled to a faint sweet smile. He especially doesn’t need to say anything to make your heart skip a beat when you catch him stealing glances, or letting his gaze linger on the simple way your lashes kiss your skin when you blink.

You try not to give into his yearning, but your heart is hopeless and it moves your mouth before you have the chance to intervene. “What?” You probe and bat your lashes as if fanning the passionate flames, and meet his gaze.

Cregan parts his lips, but a single breath escapes before he focuses on his finger rubbing the ointment on your wound.

“Is it stupid that I was just burnt by ice?” You mutter and watch what he’s doing. “Out of all people, of course, it’s me.” You scoff and the corner of his lips tug a smirk.

“Was it stupid? No,” he assures you and lets his eyes flicker to you before he grabs the cloth bandages. “It happens. We’re in the North where it snows in the summer, ice burns are common, but is it amusing that it happened to you? Yes. Very much.”

You roll your eyes and nudge him away, making him share one of those rare chuckles.

“But I will say,” he continues and sways his body back to his previous spot. “It’s admirable that you chose to save that stag.”

Gods.

“You did not have to risk your life, stuff like that happens. It’s not nature, but you saved him anyway.”

You draw out a deep breath and fight hard with yourself to not look at him, to keep looking at your hand that he starts to wrap.

And you do manage to not give in to your most wanting desire, but your breaths grow heavy at the strain of your refusal, and your face burns hotter than the sun as you feel his eyes taking you in with hot desire and a need to express what his heart is bombarded with every single time he looks at you, and every time he sees you get flustered.

You know he's not one to hold back what he wants to say, you know him well, so as you feel his actions come to a halt, and feel his breath brushing over your cheek shudder, you warn him. “Don’t. Don't say it.”

A smile flickers on his lips as he’s left impressed by your senses, and regardless of what you told him he parts his lips to say something less daring but with the same meaning behind each word.

“Did you know, darling, that you…are like the morning and evening star?”

“That…” you trail off and let yourself look at his charming face that's decorated with a faint but smug smirk. “Is from my book.”

“Perhaps.” He shrugs. “But it applies doesn’t it?”

You can’t help but flash him a giddy smile before you look back at the wound that is getting covered.

“Will it scar?” You swiftly change the subject.

Cregan nods. “Aye, but it will not look terrible. Do not worry.”

You hum and now steal a longing glance at him as he’s looking down.

——

*NOW.*

It's gone. The ice scar that once marked your palm is now replaced by a new scar that's raw and red, and reminding you of the assassins who almost took your life and that of your children.

Instead of thinking of Cregan and the North when looking at the scar now, you’ll forever think of that traumatizing day.

“Who…hm,” you go quiet and shift your hand to play with the sunbeam cast on your scar, making it look more raw than it really is. “Who do you think sent those assassins?”

Aemond shifts his face down against your exposed back and groggily mumbles his response. “Well they entered through the secret tunnel, and Larys left with Aegon the same day those assassins tried killing you. Who else would it be?”

Even Aemond knows your own mother wouldn’t be capable of such a malicious act. You…well…deep down you know she would never be capable of it, but your anger keeps insisting she had something to do with it. But that’s all it is. Anger.

“He’s a traitor,” Aemond grumbles.

You close your hand and drop it back on the thin bed before finding comfort by cradling Aemond’s empty hand and pressing it against your chest.

“It feels weird,” you point out and take a glance at your bland new beige perimeters. “Not waking up to Aerion. I miss him.”

“We will not be gone long,” Aemond tries to assure you. “We’ll return to the Red Keep with Daemon’s head on a spike before he even notices that we’re gone.”

That doesn’t actually heal any longing you feel to be close to your son, but can any words really help?

No. No matter how long or how short you’re gone, nothing will ever help you miss Aerion any less. Especially after someone tried to kill him.

“I do not understand why you brought Ser Jason along though.”

And there it is, he ruined a sweet morning by finally getting his jealous complaint across after itching to talk about it since you left yesterday evening with Ser Jason to join Ser Criston and Ser Gwayne.

“<Did you go to sleep thinking of Ser Jason?>” You tease him in High Valyrian just in case the knight is outside the tent.

Aemond groans and pulls his hand away from your grasp before he peels his face away from your back, making you eagerly flip around to face him. “Is there something you wish to tell me, darling?”

Aemond pouts in annoyance and flips around to give you his back, so you quickly rebuttal by leaning over and looking at the side of his face with a teasing smile. “Do not pout,” you speak to him in a sweet voice as you reach for his chin and tilt his head your way.

Aemond’s eye flutters open and his gaze pierces on you, so you quickly reassure him. “<I just prefer Ser Cane to be watching over Aerion while we’re gone, but you’re not worried about that, are you?>” You mock his pout and press a light feathered kiss on his lips before you pull back, making him slowly turn back around to face you.

You take advantage of his attention, of the fact that no one has disrupted your quiet morning with calls to meetings, or beckoned his attention, and press your hand on his cheek with the gentlest touch to feel the warmth of his face on your palm. You then trail his cheekbone with the soft pad of your thumb before you slowly bring your thumb over to his nose and trail it over that aquiline nose you love so much.

Aemond’s breath shudders, and his gaze stops following your gentle touches as his gaze is now solely drawn to the depths of your soul that he can see through your eyes; whilst his pink lips move with a mind of their own as they mirror the faint smile that decorates your delicate features, as if your bliss was contagious.

“Perhaps,” you fill the silence and drift your thumb back to his cheek. “I do miss sharing our mornings alone,” you say above a whisper because he lay so close that you could practically share each other's breaths that your bodies expose. “When we weren’t needed at early war meetings. Before all this shit unfolded and it was just you and me. And Aerion in my belly.”

Aemond lets out a soft huff and his gaze flickers down to your lips. “You would sleep a lot then,” he brings up, brightening that smile that you held. “Perhaps that’s why it was calm.”

You giggle and his lips spread to a wider smile.

“Do you,” you see between laughs before you sigh and your lips twitch to a frown. “Do you think we’ll go back to those calm mornings?”

Aemond’s smile slowly falls and his gaze remains focused on your lips. You expect him to assure you in some way but his lashes flutter, even the ones over the sapphire, and then when he finally has the courage to meet your waiting gaze he lifts his hand and cups your cheek to press your forehead against his.

He doesn’t share his grim fate Helaena foresaw, he keeps denying it as a scare tactic for what he did to Aegon, so what would be the point of telling you something that won’t happen and only worry you?

That should mean that it should be easy to come up with words to comfort your yearning heart, but still, that fate leaves him unable to form any comforting words he badly wants to share. That’s why he just presses his forehead against yours; that’s his way of showing his comfort in ways his words can’t. And you don’t complain or question him, you lean in to his gentle touch and close your eyes to cherish your moment in the depths of your mind, making that ache tormenting your heart ease just enough for your smile to make a reappearance as you’re easily consumed with bliss and passion.

If only you could have more time to stay consumed by this sweet bliss on the thin and uncomfortable bed with him, but alas your presence is needed now more than ever that you’re in the encampment just days away from reaching Harrenhal. Besides, Aemond is proper, he doesn’t like being late, especially now that you’re surrounded by an army of men.

“If only I could have brought Vanessa,” you interject with hints of complaint as you slip on a silver fitted breastplate over a grey-purple gown. “Aemond,” you huff. “Could you help me?”

Aemond presses his foot in his boot before he walks over to replace your fingers with his on the buckles on the side, and captures your attention. He’s too focused on tightening the buckles to notice you though, but you watch him with a gaze that softens as you see how delicate he is with his movements, how his nostrils fall and rise with each breath, the way his small lashes fall with each blink, and the way he keeps trying to shrug away his hair.

Perhaps it’s the newfound attachment to him after all that happened a couple of days ago, but you can’t stop yourself from stealing longing looks to admire his mere presence; as if keeping your eyes away from him, and him from you for too long will somehow result in either of you being gone.

As to your heart in this newfound attachment? Well, your heart dances to a new beat every time you catch the smallest glimpse of him and he looks at you.

Like now for example, Aemond did not think you were looking, he was too focused to feel your gaze so he looks up and catches your eyes already him, causing your lips to spread to a tender smile, and making him slowly look back at what he’s doing with a timid smile; as if this is the very first time spending time together.

When he’s done with one side he goes to the other and does the same with the exact same amount of carefulness he used to secure the other buckles.

“I would help you with yours, alas,” you click your tongue, and his eye snaps to you.

“I’m not the one carrying children,” he retorts, making you scoff and let out a soft snicker.

“Like that matters,” you counter lightheartedly. “But…we already talked about this,” you breathe out heavily, and he scoffs as he drops his eye back to what he’s doing.

“Yet you will still find a way to comment on it,” he says because he knows you all too well.

“Only because I’m worried, my love,” you rebuttal and look at him with a pointed glare he doesn’t catch. “I…have lost enough. I need you. We need you.”

A small breath escapes his nose and you watch his eyebrows slowly furrow while a small storm of conflict seems to brew behind his eye.

You take that as him comprehending your concern but being too prideful to respond, so you then brush his long hair over his shoulder so it’s not in his way. He passes you a thankful hum in response and you can’t help but smile before you try to ease that furrowed brow with sweet words. “Thank you for helping me.”

He finishes what he’s doing and then looks over at you with a gentle half-smile that makes you lean in and slowly take him in for a lingering kiss.

Nevertheless, a voice then proceeds to cut through the moment, causing you to brush your lips over his as you drift your head to the side to look at the flaps that are meant to be your doors.

“My Prince, Princess, breakfast will be served in ten!”

Without waiting for a response their footsteps recede and the moment no longer returns to what it was since you’re then driven outside your tent not much later. You just finish getting ready and walk out to join Ser Criston and Ser Gwayne for breakfast before it’s time to gather for a much-anticipated war meeting.

These meetings, unlike the council meetings, are far more captivating. These meetings don’t threaten to lull you to sleep like the others do.

Yes; you did long to be a part of those small council meetings, but they still were a damn drag! However, you doubt one thing will change; that being this group of men not taking what you say under consideration.

You’ll have to wait and see if they do or don’t though.

“What come of the search parties for his Grace?” Ser Criston Cole directs at Aemond.

Aemond presses his palms on the top of your chair and leans over. “Nothing yet. We’ve checked the harbors, but no one spotted any suspicious boats leaving the docks. I scouted what I could on top of Vhagar, but I caught nothing.”

Not like he searched thoroughly or pressed critical urgency. And why should he? Aegon seemed to have left by will with Lord Larys. There was no sign of struggle, and Grand Maester Orwyle mentioned Lord Larys frequented Aegon a lot and grew interested in his healing process. Which is why the theory so far is that they left willingly together. As for the reason?

No one knows, and it’s not like Aemond cares all that much. He benefits with Aegon being gone, and the entirety of the RedKeep, and you can let out a sigh of relief without his stench or wandering fingers.

“If this had been a ransom we would have heard of it by now,” Aemond adds and moves away from behind you to start pacing around the table. “We all knew Aegon, he had no taste for ruling or responsibility, this perhaps is one of his whims. He will return when he’s out of coin.”

Ser Criston’s chest raises high before he drops it heavily as if holding back his argument over the fact that Aemond doesn't care as much as he should.

“Princess,” Ser Criston calls you out. “Has…Rhaenyra sent a word? We cannot rule out the fact that she may have snuck in the same way those assassins did both times.”

You clench your jaw and dart your eyes down to the marked map on the wooden table. “No,” you deadpan, and don’t even try to mention that you doubt it was her who took Aegon, ravens would have been sent already if she had, and this war would have turned a lot more bloody.

“What of Sunfyre?” You change the subject away from the sore subject. “If anyone can lead us to Aegon it’s him.”

“Still gravely wounded,” Ser Criston reports. “He has not moved since Aegon went missing.”

You hum and add, “well if he takes flight, have men follow his flight path. It could give us an indication of where his rider might be.”

Ser Criston Cole nods in comprehension without looking at Aemond for confirmation, probably so he wouldn’t hear any protests after Aemond’s lack of care.

“What of the Lannister forces on the western front?” Aemond changes the subject and stops on one side to take a look at the lion markers. “They reached the Red Fork?” He points to the lions.

“Yes,” Ser Gwayne says and slides markers to face the wooden lions. “But as predicted, the Lords of the Trident have gone out to meet them. Now the Western forces may have the advantage of numbers, but,” he sighs. “This the land of the Riverlords. They have the knowledge of their lands to their advantage.”

A nauseous wave hits you as the twins seem to start reacting to your breakfast, so you take a deep breath to try and clear the ache before you get up and stand on your feet instead.

“Hm,” Aemond hums and studies the map for a long time, letting Ser Criston Cole interject.

“We should wait and have Ser Jason come out triumphant before we head to attack Daemon and Harrenhal,” he suggests, making Aemond pick his gaze off the map to glare at him—“He has the numbers with the Riverlords taking arms under him. Whatever is left of the Western force will still give us more strength to challenge them without getting crushed.”

You glance at Aemond, and he looks over at you, but you kind of agree with Ser Criston. You don’t want to give Daemon the advantage, you want his pride crushed, along with his very soul, and you can’t do that if you lose, so you begin to wander around the table yourself and look at the map. Mainly you focus on the marker that represents Daemon.

“No,” Aemond argues. “We still hold the advantage with Astraea and Vhagar. We will move forward, whatever remains of the Western forces can join us in Harrenhal when they have won the fight.”

You glance at the south side of Harrenhal and cross your arms over your chest as you tilt your head to study the markerless spot.

“That would not be wise, nephew,” Ser Gwayne tries to argue against Aemond before Ser Criston can utter what he thinks. “It's best if we wait now so Ser Jason can go as planned and attack at the west to surround them. They would have heard about the battle at the Red Fork and would not suspect them to attack so soon. We can use that.”

“Perhaps,” Aemond retorts and moves down as if following your figure whilst Ser Gwayne begins to walk toward you. “But how much time before they send scouts and find Astraea and Vhagar? We came a day early so we could catch them by surprise, I will not waste it. We will attack as it was planned. At first light.”

A tension grows in the silence that Aemond’s stubborn persistence brought, but neither man in the tent dares to break it knowing how quick Aemond is to anger. And you, well your focus is set on the south side of Harrenhal.

There’s no markers there, or plans to move men towards there to attack on that side, so your attention focuses there and helps your mind brew an idea. An idea Ser Gwayne seems to pick up on.

“What is on your mind, Your Grace?” He probes as he steps closer to you, making you glance at his close proximity and then look over at Aemond since you know how he feels about his uncle, catching his gaze slowly grow ice cold and threatening.

Yet Ser Gwayne doesn’t seem to care or doesn’t have a clue, his eyes stay on you and try to unravel your growing thoughts, only infuriating Aemond even more. To the point, his jaw clenches tightly, and his nose flares as if he’s ready to pounce at the man.

You find it cute for once and tilt your head to the other side to catch his gaze and shoot him a faint taunting smirk before you share your thoughts. “What of the south side of the Harrenhal? I notice there’s no markers, or intention to have men attack from there. It leaves us vulnerable for any party of scouts to sneak through, or for men to surround us from there.”

“Hm,” Ser Gwayne is the first to interject. “Nice catch. Alas, we would have to go around the God’s Eye. That would add a two or one-day ride. More if it’s on foot.”

You drift your focus to Aemond and see his lips curled and his chest puffed out, and you can’t help but smile down at the table. In doing so, catching Ser Criston look between Aemond and Ser Gwayne in annoyance.

“Hm,” you hum and drop your arms back to your side to slowly throw them behind you and clasp your hands together before you start swinging them back and forth against your grey-purple cloak. “Then I will scout the south side on top of Astraea. Just for the afternoon, it’s cloudy and Astraea can easily hide amongst the cloud bank. No one will spot us.”

“That could give us an advantage—”

“No,” Aemond cuts Ser Criston off bluntly. “It’s too much of a risk for you and Astraea alone. Daemon could spot you and he would not hesitate meeting you in the sky. And Astraea is no match against Caraxes.”

You snap your eyes up to him and drop your arms to your sides with a thud.

“That's the point,” you’re quick to sneer through your teeth. “I am not going to be seen. I am just going to report on their numbers from a side they won’t suspect me to be in.”

Aemond shakes his head. “No. You will remain here with me until the day of the attack. I will not put your life at any unnecessary risk.”

Unnecessary risk?

There’s no such thing! You were almost killed in your own chambers! You’re here even if you know you’ll be at risk, being in this tent so close to Harrenhal is already a high risk, so what the hell does he really mean? Does he just want you to stay put until you attack? Do nothing but fiddle your thumbs and think of what your life has turned into?!

He’s supposed to respect your strength, your willingness to fight. He’s supposed to put faith in your wishes to fight, to be on that battlefield, and on Astraea the same way he’s on Vhagar. That’s why you’re here! That’s why you came because you had a purpose, a goal!

“No,” you counter bravely and all too easily get caught in a brewing storm of anger where fact nor logic actually pass through. “I will go scout on top of Astraea. What if I can catch something significant that can help us?”

Aemond presses his hands on the surface of the table and leans forward to snap back in frustration. “I said no. Argue all you want, the answer will remain the same.”

You challenge his gaze with a glare as you nod along in comprehension. When you see that he won’t budge you rip away from your spot and storm away with the intention to disobey him.

Aemond knows you well though, he saw the defiance growing in your eyes like a dark cloud and doesn’t care that the meeting is ongoing, he storms after you calling out your name, but you ignore him and continue striding toward Astraea in your growing storm he only worsens by following you.

And no matter how fast, or what twists and turns you make to try and lose him, he never loses track of you. He actually ends up finding a shortcut to cut you off in your path and finally capture you by your arms in a more secluded part of the forest where no men wander around.

“Let me go Aemond,” you bark and try to pull his hands off you, but he only tightens his old, making it hard for you to challenge his strength. “I will not just stay here and be your accessory in this war!” You’re quick to spat out as you’re blinded by your rageful storm. “You can’t just parade me around to flaunt me like you did when we were with my family! Because I saw you, I saw how you looked at them like I was some trophy to be won, but I am much more than that!” You remark and try to push him away, but he keeps reaffirming his grip so you’re just thrashing against his hold, like winds of a hurricane in a storm.

“I am capable too!” You throw out and push him, but he doesn’t let go, he presses you against a tree to keep you from fighting. “I am strong! I am brave! I can fight too!”

“I know! I know!” He exclaims over your rage, making you look at him with a trembling lip and teary eyes that are quick to release a stream of tears that come from the depths of your chest.

“Then?” Your voice quivers even if you don’t want it to, even if you try to fight the stupid tears. “Why do you want me to stay here when I can go out there and be useful?”

Aemond parts his lips but before he can form a word he catches you start to sob unwantedly, as if your heart had been broken all over again.

“I-I,” you stammer and slip your arms from his grasp to try and wipe away your tears. “I’m sorry. I do not know why I’m crying. Stupid,” you gasp as you weep again.

This time clouds in your mind begin to clear as a realization begins to penetrate through.

Since you learned the truth about your father, since your mother admitted the truth that day in Dragonstone, your sorrow comes and goes. You can go on thinking you can get over it, you can distract yourself with other matters, but then when you least expect it the sorrow, the need to cry out your heartache springs up on you. And other times you managed to calm down, but right now as you face Aemond after he rejected your offer you can’t seem to stop crying and thinking of one thing that leads to so much more agony.

“I know you’re all those things,” Aemond tries to explain to assure you, and so you know he doesn’t think any less of you. “I admire all of it, but my love,” he talks softly and grabs your shoulder to pull your eyes up. “With us being so close to Harrenhal, I can’t have you risking your life for a simple scouting mission. He could spot you and challenge you, and I would not be able to be there to help you.”

You shake your head. “I will not be caught,” you repeat yourself, and those tears don’t stop flowing. “We will not be caught, I swear. I assure you just…let me have a purpose,” you whimper. “I know what my brothers are. You know what they are and they do too, and even if they did not know their father long, even if they didn’t spend a lot of time together, he still loved them. And Daemon loves his children in his own way, and-and my father?” You cry and clutch onto your chest.

“I was not good enough for him to stay,” you reveal what’s tormenting you. “He left, and she lied to move on and have more children while I was gone, so where does that leave me? Why am I even here if he was going to leave to be with someone else? Why fight so hard to keep me alive to have me replaced? Why did they even have me if they didn’t even love me? At least before I knew the truth, my purpose was to prove I was worthy enough to my mother, I wanted to be a good daughter, or simply live,” you explain through tears, missing the pitiful look that takes over his face as your breakdown aches his own heart.

“And now?” You say between a sob. “I don't know why I was even born, I don’t know why I’m even here?!”

You fall to your knees before he can catch you and drop your head in your hands in an attempt to stop yourself from crying, but nothing can stop the stream from flowing, leaving Aemond unaware of what to say to console you.

What can he say to make your pain less? Wanting to be worthy in the eyes of someone to have them love you is something he knows, but your feelings go so much deeper than that, and for a while, he doesn’t know what to say.

At least not until his heart can’t stand seeing you hurt a moment longer. After that, he slowly goes on his knees and gently grabs your wrists to pull your hands away from your face so you have no choice but to look at him.

“You…are worth something to me. To our son,” he starts to mutter words that spring to mind. “You…are the best thing that happened to me. When we were kids you were the most important person to me, I would always look forward to spending time with you, hearing your stories, and sharing what we liked. And now?” He speaks softly. “Now you’re worth so much more. More than the air I breathe.”

You bat your eyes and sniffle as his words fill your weeping heart.

“I love you, Aerion loves you. You…” he trails off and smiles with a tender grace. “You mean something to me, and I’m sorry if I have done things to make you feel otherwise,” he admits and swallows thickly. “But you do. You mean something, and without you life would be a dull affair.”

Your lips twitch to a smile and when he catches that he moves his hands up to cup your face and wipe away your tears.

“I…” he trails off and pulls one hand away from your face to dig in his pocket. “I was going to give you this for your name day, but have it now.”

Your gaze lingers on him for a moment before you can’t help your curiosity and look down at his fisted hand, catching him right in time as he opens it and reveals a silver chain necklace with a small white-wooden siren hanging from it.

“I,” he scoffs timidly. “I started whittling it when you and your family left for Dragonstone, but I was never able to give it to you because you left.”

“You whittled it?” You croak and brush your fingers over the soft wooden siren.

“Having no dragon left me with a lot of time to spare,” he whispers and lets the chain fall so he can grab it between his thumb and pointer finger. “And more when you left.”

A smile trembles on your lips and your eyes scream the thousand I love you’s that you cannot express with words.

“Whenever you feel like you did now just…look at it and know you mean the whole damn world to me,” he whispers shyly with the kindest and most timid smile that he hides by leaning forward and hooking the necklace around you.

“<Thank you,>” you whisper in High Valyrian as you grab his arms before you slide your hands up to grab the sides of his neck. “<I'm sorry for being difficult.>”

Aemond pulls his head back to face you and strokes your chin before pressing his forehead against yours and whispering against your lips. “<I love you.>”

The corner of your lips spread to a sweet smile and you don’t hesitate to return those words with affection oozing in your voice. “<I love you too.>”

He hums and leans in to press a gentle kiss on your lips, making you lead him to a much deeper kiss that’s fueled with a soft burning passion.

When you pull away he breaks the string of saliva that connected you by giving in. “You can go scout.”

You scoff and pull back to question him excitedly “Really?”

He groans and nods stiffly. “But if you see Caraxes out, or if you catch even a whiff of Daemon fly back. Don’t challenge him,” he presses harshly.

You start to grin and nod in comprehension. “I’m just scouting, that's all.”

He nods. “That’s all.”

You press a juicy kiss on his lips before you get up to your feet and rub your face as if that will get rid of your swollen eyes. Aemond stands up after you and grabs your arm before you can think of walking over to meet Astraea.

“Any sign of danger. Leave.” He presses.

You draw out a deep breath that comes out shaky after crying so hard and nod eagerly. “I know. I understand. I’ll be back soon.”

He cups your cheek and holds it for a lingering second before he drops his hand and lets you go. Before you can turn to leave you press a chaste kiss on his cheek and then go and join Astraea in some clearing where she and Vhagar keep each other company.

At first, when Vhagar sees you mounting Astraea she probably thought she was going to leave this wet forest, she seemed almost relieved, but when she didn’t catch her rider trailing behind you she threw herself back on the ground.

“<Sorry girl,>” you direct at Vhagar. “<But we will be leaving soon. Swear.>”

Vhagar lets out a loud huff that blows away the greenery before her, and you can’t help but laugh softly whilst you hook on your restraints.

Once you're secured, you command Astraea to ascend into the grey sky. And it's once you feel the cool breeze brushing over your face, offering you fresh and crisp air to breathe that the cruel aching weight that set over your chest completely blew away. This is why having Astraea, flying on her in the endless sky is something you will always love. You can’t imagine not having her by your side all of your life. Without her, you would not be able to ever find an escape when you’re at your lowest.

Sure you work out your problems on your own, and other people like Aemond also comfort you; they forbid you from getting lost in the dark, but there’s something that Astraea offers that no one else ever can, and that’s being able to find an escape where all that exists is her, you, the sky, the shining sun, and the twinkling stars.

If only you could wander the skies and explore the Riverlands without having to be on task, but alas there’s a duty that you do want to do, so once you approach Harrenhal, you sit up straight and lean the handles down to nudge Astraea down.

When your dragon leaves the cloud bank she hovers just below it in order to find a quick escape if you need it, while also trying to blend in with the thick clouds so you’re not easily spotted. You loosen your restraints, lift your feet off the footrests, and secure them in the footholders to be able to stand up and narrow your gaze like a hunting hawk to spot anything out of the ordinary in the green lands below.

At first, it all seems calm, there’s just a lot of fresh green plains, trees littered everywhere, and streams. It all honestly makes you believe that you’ll be able to return without anything to report, but then as you get closer to the grand dark castle in the distance, you spot lines of marching men leaving the grounds of Harrenhal. And from what you can see they’re all marching towards the direction of Blackwater rush, away from the army you’re with.

Does it mean Daemon is moving all the army toward your mother now? Or just some.

From what you can see before the trees block your sight, the numbers aren’t of high concern, so maybe it’s just some men going to Dragonstone?

You can’t fully circle the castle or you will most likely be caught. You can only scout the south side, so you can’t know for sure, the only thing you can do is count the heads that you do see now. You would try to follow the line, but the woods are too thick, you’d have to fly just above the treeline to see clearly and you can’t do that without being caught by someone keeping a watchful eye.

You’ll have to tell Ser Criston and Aemond to send a discreet scouting party on horse to know what’s really going on. As of now, you squint your gaze as you keep your head tilted down, and in doing so miss something that Astraea doesn’t. Your dragon immediately catches sight of something worthwhile and alerts you with a soft call, but you give her your attention first before you follow her line of sight and catch what she’s alerting you of; Daemon on top of Caraxes.

It’s…Daemon.

He’s on dragonback. He’s a few miles below you, he’s there…

The man who planned with your mother to send your father away. The one who schemed with your father to marry your mother. The man who sent you to Kings Landing for his own benefit is there just below; in shining dark grey armor, unaware of you or your dragon.

He’s there. Daemon.

Daemon is there. You see him, you're piercing your glare at him, and a raging storm of anger brews quickly and dangerously. You want to ignore it, not give it more fuel to ravage, you’re just here to scout not take action after all. Aemond told you not to act if you see Daemon, but he’s there in your eyeline! Alone! A man you hated for six years. Six years! All because you thought he killed your father—but it turned out he didn’t…but! He still schemed with your mother, he still lied too, and all to be her consort.

He’s careless and cruel. He’s given his daughters the cold shoulder, he killed baby Jaehaerys and hurt Helaena in the process. He used you and shoved you in the jaws of the enemy. You can’t just swallow all that anger, and you can’t forget it. You can’t ignore the boiling of your blood, you can’t stop your breath from growing heavier and heavier, and you can’t avoid the storm raging within you, blinding your judgment second by second until there’s not a single thought or instinct that keeps you from directing Astraea to torpedo toward Daemon and Caraxes.

And your dragon is obedient, she shares your anger, and her rage blinds her too, so she tilts down and tucks her wings at her sides to shoot toward Caraxes and Daemon at a quick and dangerous speed.

Neither man nor dragon spots you right away, they don’t hear your dragon as she penetrates through layers of the sky. You have the advantage, thus you grab your bow that you keep hooked on your saddle and pull out a single arrow you have tucked under the side of your seat for easy access.

When you align your arrow your blood thumps violently in your ears; thump, thump, thump. And with each thump, your rage only burns hotter, your jaw clenches, your lips curl to a scowl, and you bend your knees. With each thump, the only word that you see, that you hear is kill, kill, kill.

Shoot. And kill.

There’s no clearer than that thought. You have to, you need to get rid of him. Even if he finally tilts his head up as Astraea's shadow casts over him, you have to do it. You have to kill him.

Caraxes also proceeds to spot you and Astraea and lets out a shrieking roar to warn you away, but Astraea snaps back with a much louder and guttural roar, and you don’t drop your aim. You only pull the string back further and pierce your glare into Daemon, making your intention to him very clear.

Yet he doesn’t move, he doesn’t block his face with his hands protected with his shining armor. He doesn’t open his mouth to command Caraxes to move, his lips part in surprise because you’re going toward him, but he remains still and leaves the unprotected spot between his eyes a clear shot.

Yet as your menacing figure in his eyes reflects back to you, growing larger and larger the closer you get, that screaming need to let your arrow go is slowly diluted. Unlike when you shot that stag two years ago, this time the arrow doesn’t slip from your fingers. It doesn’t break through barriers of air to hit your target, you remain crouched over your saddle and watch Daemon with a trembling lip as one other person penetrates through the raging storm. Her very face disperses what clouded your instincts and your judgment, and it’s the mere thought of your mother that makes you lower your arrow.

And thus with no need to be told what to do, with the simple connection you share, Astraea swoops up hard before she can ram through Caraxes, and you lose sight of Daemon.

“Damn it,” you hiss and return your bow and arrow to where they were before you sit back down on your saddle. “Damn it! Damn it!” You bellow over and over again as you hit your saddle.

Tears cloud your eyes, and that built-up anger slowly seeps out, leaving your body trembling as if coming down from an adrenaline high that you did nothing with but build up.

However, even as tears do well in your eyes, they don't come out. You press your hand over your face and leave yourself in darkness for a moment before you rub your face and take a deep breath to have those tears go back where they came from.

Now there was no way to go back and scout so you head back to camp thinking of what you did not do, not with regret in your mind, but more so why the very thought of her made you not do it.

It runs in circles in your mind.

——

*LATER*

What should you tell Aemond and the others? The truth and send them after Daemon to foil his plans?

Do you stay quiet and let Daemon do whatever it is he’s doing?

Aemond did say not to pursue Daemon, but you did, and Daemon, and or anyone who witnessed what happened won’t keep quiet. Eventually, somehow, word will spread and he will find out, which will only make things bad, or worse.

Hm.

Then again…whatever plans Daemon has, why should you be the one to help him achieve them? You can’t hold in your anger for the sake of him or your mother. And the truth is you don’t think of your brother’s sakes, nor that of your cousins because the anger for your mother and Daemon clouds you. No matter what, everything goes back to them.

Thus you’ll tell Aemond and the others—Actually, it’s surprising that your overbearing husband hasn’t come to meet you the moment Astraea was spotted descending. He must be caught up with Ser Criston, or scheming a malicious plan. Whatever it is you approach the campgrounds alone with only the singing crickets spread around the forest keeping you company. And considering you are close to enemy lines you keep your eyes out for anyone suspicious hiding between the trees while you hum a sweet song.

That is until you hear some bushes rustling moments before a slow clap startles you and sends your hand reaching for a hidden dagger. Yet much to your surprise, the person who comes out from the bushes is Ser Gwayne.

“Ser,” you greet between heavy breaths and pull your hand away from your weapon. “You startled me.”

He raises his hands and a small apologetic smile grows on his face. “Forgive me I did not mean to. I heard you humming and I could not help myself.”

You glance around and do not notice any sign of tents or life besides the plants, the trees, and him all by his lonesome, so you grow insanely curious. “What brings you so far from Camp Ser? Keeping an eye out? Or has your nephew scolded you?”

Ser Gwayne chuckles and shakes his head as he meets you halfway before turning on his heels and walking by your side back to camp. “No, none of the sort. I came to find privacy and I could only find it this far.”

You nod and don’t care to poke around for more. That’s all the information you need.

“How was your scouting? Find anything worthwhile besides dull grey clouds?” He probes.

You can’t help the small amused smile that slips on your face before you summarize what you saw, so you don’t have to repeat yourself. “It was…eventful.”

“How so?” He probes.

You sigh and your lips form to a deep frown. “I caught an army of about sixty-five men marching away, and Prince Daemon on his dragon.”

Ser Gwayne’s eyes slide to you and he slows down in his pace to study you head to toe. You can feel his eyes examining you carefully before he pulls on the right damn thread. “Did you pursue the Prince?”

You fiddle with your rings and leave a short silence, but it’s still too long nevertheless for him not to figure out the truth.

“I was angry. I let my rage control my judgment,” you confess in the silence of the forest. “And do not worry yourself, Ser, I will tell Aemond.”

Ser Gwayne scoffs. “I was not going to run and tell now. If it was a secret then I would have kept it.”

You let your fingers slip from your grasp and slowly drift your gaze to the charming knight to pass him a softened look, and a faint smile before you drag out a deep breath and look ahead. “It is not a secret, but people would have run to Aemond and ran their mouths for some kind of praise or prize, so.” You shrug.

Ser Gwayne nods. “Yes, I know. Unfortunately, people like us cannot trust so easily. You think you have made an honest friend but the moment you turn your back they run off and spill your secrets so the world may know that they were in your presence. As if that would benefit their lives.”

You hum and he steals a glance at you before he continues running his mouth with something else. “Tell me why you felt such rage at the mere presence of Prince Daemon? Not that it’s not deserved, he has a quite distasteful reputation, but he is your stepfather, correct?”

You scrunch your nose in disgust at the mere sound of those last words and quickly rebuttal as if reminding you of such a link offended you. “As if that has anything to do with anything,” you grumble and shake your head. “But if you must know…he,” you pause. You’re about to tell him the reason why you have hated him for six years of your life, but that’s not the truth anymore, is it?

He did not kill your father.

But the rage is still there. You can’t let it go.

“…what is there to like about Prince Daemon?” You avoid spilling out the entire list of why you hate the Rogue Prince. “And do not repeat that ever again. By law, he may be my stepfather, but he is nothing of the sort. He never will be.”

Ser Gwayne nods gently and doesn’t press or interject, he lets the silence grow between you until you can’t help but utter, “he’s cruel. And so was my father.”

That word is like bile in your mouth. Never in your life did you ever imagine you would view your father in a negative light. He was always a memory you cherished, now all those happy memories are tainted with anger and hate, making your words about him vile.

“Fathers are…difficult,” Ser Gwayne adds in a much softer tone than you’re used to hearing. His voice is always usually dripping with this cocky ego. “Is Aemond any good?”

“Aerion is only five months so we have yet to see, but so far…he’s good, attentive, and everything his own father was not,” you share with a growing smile. “As of late he has been distant, but this war effort takes a toll on everyone.”

“Well,” he sighs. “He will have a lifetime to do better, and I’m sure when the twins are born he will rejoice. He seems very fond of you. It’s rare to see.”

The corner of your lips tug a wider smile on your face and when you catch Ser Gwayne notice it you offer him a smaller smile, but one still from the heart.

A silence proceeds to fill between the two of you, but it’s in that silence that you hear loud celebratory commotion, singing, and cheering coming from camp.

“What are they celebrating?” You have to ask, turning Ser Gwaynes' attention away from you to focus on the spot of a campfire that you can now notice.

“From what I was told, it’s the name days of a few soldiers, so it seems they have made a bit of a ruckus and filled the air with terrible singing.”

You chuckle softly and he turns suddenly to look at you with his eyes widening.

“Why do you not share your talent? It will be good for morale support to have you seen amongst your men,” he suggests with growing excitement. “And well, your voice will bring our ears some relief.”

You part your lips to throw out an excuse, but in truth, you cannot think of a quick excuse to use to refuse him, so you gape like a fish out of water.

“That is if you really are the Siren of Driftmark,” he taunts you.

As you approach the campgrounds you see men gathered around a campfire, forgetting what tragedy lies beyond the treeline, and why they’re away from home in the first place. And you can't imagine this commotion must settle right with people like Ser Criston and Aemond, and the men must know that, but they do not seem to care. They’re completely unfazed and lost in the moment.

You want to forget too. And most of all…holding their approval and their praise is important. To you at least.

Aemond won't very much like you being caught in the middle of a group of drunk men, he especially won’t like seeing you so close to Ser Gwayne, but he can throw whatever tantrum he wants. He cannot control you, especially when it comes to something so mindless as laughing, singing, and sharing stories with men who are supposed to fight for him and his family. Besides, it all looks so fun! How can you just watch from a distance and long to join them when they’re in the safety of your camp?

You can tell Aemond and Ser Criston what you saw later, right now you want to be amongst the fun as well!

“Well,” you give in reluctantly. “I am good with a lute.”

A charming grin spreads on Ser Gwayne’s face. “There you go. That’s the spirit!” He exclaims.

You smile giddily and without a second thought you follow him towards the happy and drinking group of men who welcome Ser Gwayne with open arms, but when they see you they slowly all go quiet and murmur amongst themselves whilst they make sure Prince Aemond isn't lurking in the distance ready to attack them for even looking at you.

“Now, now, there’s no need to quiet down,” Ser Gwayne assures them. “The Princess is here to join in the celebrations and sing us a song or two. So everyone please welcome The Siren of Driftmark!”

There’s no timidness holding you back, no hesitation, or thought of Aemond disapproving, you offer them all a charming grin that makes them all start to clap, and slowly untense.

“Now this would be more fun if I could drink,” you interject to break the tension, “but alas I am with child, so you all will have to show me that you’re having fun.” You’re quick to turn on your charm as if you were born to perform in front of many. And as if enchanted by your words alone the once tense men start to ease and grow comfortable, welcoming you instead of just tolerating you.

“Now could I borrow that?” You point to the lute a young man is holding, and without question, he hands it to you. “The rest of you,” you direct at the other men with the other instruments. “You will know this song, so just follow me.”

They nod, and without any concern of judgment, you twirl back to stand in the middle of the gathered group. “This song here is one of my favorites, I learned it from a famous pirate my grandfather knew. You all better dance and sing along!”

A hoot sounds from the crowd, and without further delay you slowly start to strum the strings on the lute before you quietly start the song at first, to lure them all in. When the other men start playing their instruments around you, you pick up the speed on the lute and stop singing just for a moment.

After picking up the beat on the strings you start singing again along to the beat, and with a great joy that makes your once dull eyes glimmer.

The men around you are quickly and deeply charmed with your singing, with your enthusiasm, and your beaming joy that they don’t hesitate to stomp their feet and clap their hands along to the song, forgetting the tension and bursting out with even more excitement than before. All because of you.

And it's because of you that the heightened commotion doesn’t go unnoticed. It has all become much grander because you’re amongst the men, so Ser Criston and Aemond walk out of the tent to silence the men and end their feast. Albeit when Aemond catches you in the middle of the crowd, fueling the men’s excitement with your song he slows down in his raging storm and makes Ser Criston hesitate snuffing out the celebration.

Does that mean he didn’t want to stop you? No. He sees all the men drunk, or drinking around you, and right away he wants to storm over there and yank you away, tell them all to stay away, and threaten them. He wants to put a stop to all the commotion, but…as bothered as he is he does notice your beaming grin, he sees how happy you are and how can he be the one to diminish that?

Sure his stomach is twisting with jealousy because he hates that his uncle is near you, celebrating, and only egging you on, but he doesn't ruin your fun, he actually trusts his uncle more than Ser Jason in the back of the group smiling like some enchanted idiot. Aemond does approach the group but doesn’t join the commotion, not even if his uncle is not leaving your side in the group of men that only grows. Aemond just stands close enough that he has a clear view of you in case someone’s hands wander where they’re not supposed to.

He actually thought you wouldn’t notice him, but you do, you find him there behind the sea of people as if he was the bright moon amongst the dark canvas of the night sky, and nothing in the world proceeds to matter but him and you. It all disappears, leaving only two souls dancing in your plane; his and yours.

Nothing shines brighter than him and you; except maybe that smile in your eyes that only shines for him. It shines so bright in fact that the giant shining star in the sky would be envious. While the smile on your face is backed with so much joy, and your voice is so charming, that you're able to tug the faintest smile on Aemond’s hardened features.

It’s faint, but you see it. You’re the only one he lets see. And you cherish it, your heart actually swoons because he’s outside watching you. You would have liked it better if he would dance with you, but you take what you can get and store his lovely appearance and his faint smile in the chambers of your heart.

And much to your surprise, Aemond continues watching over you. He doesn’t interfere as an older soldier pulls you to dance as the music continues. He watches over you as you completely infatuate the soldiers to your side with your voice and the fact that you’re spending time with them, proving to him why people flock to you, why they remember you; like that man from the Night's Watch.

He likes that about you, he likes that people are not scared of you, that you are so easygoing with them and you have their respect, but at the same time he also doesn’t like it. He wants you to be at the bottom with him.

Nevertheless, as those thoughts swirl in his head he continues watching over you, he would continue watching you until you grew tired and withdrew from the commotion, but from the heart of the crowd, you notice Ser Criston pull him away.

You know that nothing would have pulled Aemond away from his “guard duty” if it wasn’t significant. He would have stayed against the tree until you left the crowd, but he’s pulled away and you can’t help your curiosity. Even if you’re high by all the excitement, you manage to find an escape and follow Aemond to the tent Ser Criston took him to.

However, just as you’re going to follow him in to be a part of the significant conversation, what comes out of Ser Criston’s mouth stops you right behind the entrance, turning you into that spy you once were when you worked for your mother.

“We just received word from Ser Tyland. He and the Triarchy have hit Driftmark, setting fire to the harbor of Spicetown, and ships sent out to counter them.”

Your lips part in surprise. Regardless, if your grandfather plans to have one of his bastards be heir over your own son, Driftmark is still your home, and hearing that pirates and low-life sailors have begun to sack Driftmark is upsetting.

“What about it?” Aemond remarks with sass. “It's what they should do.”

Ser Criston clears his throat and then adds what he really wants to share. “Scouts have spotted a small cog ship sailing from the Eerie, and right directly toward the Triarchy fleet. It’s said that the Cog, the Gay Abandonment, carries Prince Viserys, Prince Aegon, Prince Joffrey, and Lady Rhaena. The sons of Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon.”

Your heart drops to your stomach at the sound of that news. No matter your feelings towards your mother and Daemon, your brothers are not between that. None of them.

“Have Ser Tyland and the fleet doing something worthwhile and capture the cog,” you hear Aemond suggest, making your breath catch. “But do not injure any of them. They will be priceless hostages.”

You back away until you’re completely covered by the shadows of the night and let out a shaky breath as you go over what you just heard, as you begin to realize that you cannot for any reason let Ser Tyland or his fleet of pirates take your brothers and Rhaena. You can’t just hear what you did and willingly let anyone take them captive. No matter your resentment, and no matter the rage that has you giving your back to your mother.

Aegon, Viserys, and Joffrey are still your brothers, and Rhaena is your cousin.

You can’t—

You know what you must do. Aemond won't like it, he would forbid you from going if you asked considering he already didn’t want to let you scout, but he can’t stop you if he doesn’t know you left until you’re gone. Besides, you’ll return, you can’t just sit here and let anyone take your brothers and Rhaena captive, and if you send a letter it might be too late. You have to go yourself.

Thus before Aemond could walk out and catch you, you rush to your shared tent and hurryingly rip off the breastplate you had been wearing to quickly just throw on different armor; one that’s not bulky but lighter, and slimmer in design so it’s a more feminine fit, like the way you saw Queen Rhaenys the Conqueror wear in books.

The gown under the armor is no longer your grey-purple gown. You changed it to a very pale grey that almost blends with the new silver armor, but it stands out since it flows over your legs, covering the shining silver greaves over the bottom half of your legs.

The pauldrons on your shoulders are shaped like dragon scales, much like the one you wore just moments ago, and beneath it lies a fringe of forged silver dragon wings. You stay away from wearing gauntlets and anything on your arms, besides leathered armguards, showing off the beautiful embroidered sleeves of your gown instead. When it comes to your head and face, you leave out the helmet because you never had one made in the first place, instead you opt for a thin chainmail headpiece that connects with an intricate veil of dagger-like chains, and a delicate but protective silver chain mask caging over your mouth.

Albeit none of what you’re wearing can be seen by any pair of eyes just yet. Even if a lot of the men are drunk or tipsy, some aren’t and others will still share what they saw no matter how intoxicated they are, so you throw a dark crimson-colored cloak over your cape, covering the dragon scale bodice that protects your chest and the twins growing inside you, and blends you with the shadows of the night.

Yet before you can rush out of the tent you snatch more arrows from your trunk, and then just before you're going to open the flaps, you spot Blackfyre, the Valyrian steel sword resting against a wooden pillar, and debate taking it, but not for long.

With a faint smirk tugging on your lips, you snatch the Valyrian steel sword, Blackfyre, and sneak out to your dragon Astraea to leave toward the Gullet in the cover of night.

.

.

.

.

A/N- Daeron and you would have been the bestest of friends with the lute and singing.

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[moon-mirage]

hii this is my first time sending a fanart prompt I hope it's okay 🙈 if you have time please make a vegebul art where Vegeta is carrying Bulma while she's in her lab gown (I fear for some reasons we don't have enough of it or I just never have seen one) even in canon we only have that one passing scene in super future trunks arc

Aww, I’m kinda honoured you sent your first prompt to me. And it’s obviously okay that’s why I asked for prompts after all. 😚 So you asked for:

- Vegeta carrying Bulma

- Bulma wearing a lab gown/coat

I added Bulma being a ki-gun wielding badass, I hope that’s okay?

I hope you like the art I did for you first ever art prompt - thank you very much for sending it!

[estrellami-1]

If I Should Stay

Part 1 | . . . | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16

Steve gets home and enters into chaos.

The older teens are nowhere to be found—Steve hopes they’re still in the shed—but the boys are arguing, pointing first at sheets on the table, then each other.

“No, you dumbass-”

“Oh, I’m the dumbass? I’m the one who forgot oxygen?”

Steve sighs. “Always the damn babysitter,” he mumbles to himself, fighting a smile. “Alright, cut it out!” He says, loud enough to be heard over the arguing. Immediately, everyone turns to him. He crosses his arms and nods at them. “What’s going on?”

Immediately they’re all talking over each other, doing their best to give Steve a headache. He sighs and raises a hand, and slowly they all peter off. “One at a time. Lucas?”

Lucas sighs. “We’re still trying to figure out the best way to weaponize fire down there.”

“And you’re disagreeing on something?”

“Yeah, we all think it would be best to do it different ways.”

Steve nods. “Write down a list of all the pros and cons you can think of. Pass the lists around in case you’ve forgotten something. When they’ve all been passed around, compare them together. But please, if it’s at all possible for you, do it quietly. If for no other reason than El’s still resting.”

“Oh,” Mike says quietly, and they all get to work, scribbling out their lists.

Steve sighs and scans the rest of the room, smiling when he sees Eddie leaning on the doorway. “Hey. Wanna help me bring stuff in?”

“Sure,” Eddie shrugs, and follows him out. It’s silent for a few moments before he speaks. “Y’know, a part of me was hesitant to believe everything until just about three minutes ago.”

Steve chuckles. “It does sound crazy,” he agrees. “What changed your mind?”

“You,” Eddie says simply, like it doesn’t send Steve’s heart jackrabbiting in his chest. “The way you are with the kids.”

Steve chuckles. “Y’know that’s the very reason we started to get along, before?” He glances at Eddie as he shuts the trunk. “We saw how we were with them. We were both a little jealous of each other, mainly cause of Dustin. I swear, he was always going on about Eddie this, Eddie that, greatest Dungeon Master ever but don’t tell Will, and… I started to feel like I was being replaced.” He smirks. “Course, then you told me how he practically worshiped me, and I realized Dustin’s just being a shithead.”

Eddie snorts. “From what I’ve seen of them, that does seem pretty accurate.”

“I know this probably doesn’t mean much to you, but I’m glad you’re here.” He smiles at Eddie and walks inside, giving Eddie a second alone outside.

He almost runs into Robin as he turns the corner, steadying himself, the bag, and her. She looks up at his face, wide-eyed, then slowly morphs the look into a judgy one.

“What?”

“Quit breaking his brain, Dingus, let him actually like you as a person first.”

“How the hell could you tell that from my face?”

She gives him another supremely judgy look. “Have you forgotten I’ve known you for years? Steve,” she sighs, taking the bag from him. He lets her. “Don’t forget this is four years ago for them. At this point, does he even know who Chrissy is?”

“Okay,” Steve admits, “you may have a point. But we had a breakthrough just now! We were talking and he said he believes me because of how I am with the boys!”

Robin sighs again. “And did you respond with something that happens in the future?”

Steve splutters. “How do you do that?”

“I’ve known you for years, Stevie-boy, don’t forget.” She ruffles his hair as she passes. “Leave the future out of it,” she advises. “Live in the now.”

“Kinda hard to do, considering we’re here to change the future,” he says, just to be contrary. She gives him a look like she knows what he’s doing.

“Talk to him like you’re getting to know him for the first time, Steve. Because that’s where he is. Everything about the Upside Down, and even the kids… that’s all secondary. You got along because your personalities match. Give them a chance to.” She smirks at him. “And maybe show off a little bit of that Harrington charm I know is in there somewhere.”

He shakes his head, grinning. “You’ll see one day, Robs, I’ve got game.”

She grins, ruffling his hair one last time before dancing out of reach as he squawks at her. “I’ll believe it when I see it, Dingus.” She leaves, bringing the bag into the other room, and he sighs and follows her, wondering—not for the first time—how he ended up with her as a best friend.

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[tobiasdrake]

Dragon Ball Daima, episode 5. Time to meet the new girl for realsies.

For like forty years.

Goku's leaving out information that's extremely relevant to the new girl's question. The reason he has the skills of a middle-aged martial arts master is because that is literally what he is.

We're still going to the castle? I thought we turned around to go chase the Dragon Ball instead. Maybe I misunderstood.

Gloom n' Doom was trying to leave her behind but we all know who the real star is, and he accepts bribes in exchange for friendship.

He also accepts friendship without bribes. He's just nice. But he's not gonna turn down some onigiri if you're offering.

We have a name! Between Glorio and Panzy, it seems the denizens of Daimakai have flowers for their name pun theme.

(Goku, you named your son after rice. You have no room to talk.)

Not sure if the exchange over whose name is weirder is meant to be a parallel to Goku's first meeting with Bulma. Very rarely do the punny names get called out as funny in-universe.

They're going the "Everyone has their own unique superpower" route for the Majin, I see. And Panzy's is....

Telekinesis.

We've seen telekinesis a few times. Chiaotzu and Guldo are the most prolific telekinetic characters. But they're also...

Like. They both kinda fall into the category of "Characters who got exactly one fight and then fucked off or died." We've never had a character who was important to the plot and had abilities centered around psychic powers.

I hope that's about to change but Dragon Ball is notoriously terrible with its female characters so I'm not taking anything for granted.

Panzy is completely ruining Glorio's vibe as our solemn guide to the demonic lands and he can die mad about it. XD

Weird thing to have a character say before cutting to a montage of everyone pleasantly sightseeing with no trouble whatsoever while happy fun-time music plays in the background.

The front gate is HUNGRY OM NOM NOM NOM

Is....

...is the plan to raise Baby Dende like an ordinary child over the course of many years so that he imprints on Gomah and comes to see this castle and its occupants as his home and family?

Is that what we're doing here?

(Wouldn't he still have his memories? Goku and the others do.)

Oh, she is definitely like the king's daughter or something. There's a reason she happens to know the most convenient way to and from the castle. Glorio needs to learn how to read a room.

You know, I really thought they were gonna tease that out a bit longer.

She's got her own distinct style to her but she's definitely a bootleg copy of Bulma. Child genius female super-mechanic who attaches herself to Goku after seeing how powerful he is and happens to be the daughter of the most rich and powerful family in the region. There's visibly a lot of Bulma in her character DNA.

Even her logo on the front of her shirt often looks like a C because of the stuff covering it.

Which is kinda making me start to wonder if Glorio is a bootleg copy of Future Trunks. Grim and serious demeanor, showing up out of nowhere in a magical fantasy vehicle, leaning on a weapon but also being able to fight without it, that jacket... Huh.

HAHAHA NO

Goku, sure, but Kaioshin is one whole Fuck No in the realm of fighting Majin Buu. It is thoroughly established that he'd be up shit creek without a paddle in a straight fight with Buu.

...

In fact, so is Goku. The only form of Buu that Goku has ever been a match for is Fat Buu. And that is strictly hypothetical, based on Goku's impression of Buu versus how strong Super Saiyan 3 is supposed to be..

Strictly hypothetically, his Super Saiyan 3 could waste Pure Buu too. We all saw how well that worked out.

"Wait but wasn't Goku holding back so Vegeta could have a turn?"

Common misconception but no. Vegeta accuses Goku of that, but Goku was sincerely giving Buu his all and getting wrecked. Super Saiyan 3 is the only form Goku has that can match Buu on paper, but Super Saiyan 3's drawbacks prevent it from being able to match Buu in practice.

So. Uh. No. There is not a single person in this room that can cash the check that Glorio's stupid mouth has written. Not counting sequel series that haven't taken place yet at this point in the timeline, the only time Goku has ever been on Buu's level was when he had Vegeta to fuse with.

Seems legit. I like the cut of his jib. We should definitely make him king.

He commodifies women as bargaining chips to be bought and sold by their fathers. I don't like the cut of his job. We should not make him king.

Goku proving himself by fighting all the royal guards at once is a fun fight, well animated, and nicely paced. But I particularly enjoyed this moment.

Goku transforming to Super Saiyan not to actually go Super Saiyan but just to use the burst of ki that comes from it as a radial attack to blow the goons away. Weaponizing the power-up itself.

Some real "Shazam hits his opponent with the transformation lightning bolt" energy going on here.

...

I legit thought this guy was going to, like, reveal some sort of power that lets him teleport directly to Earth and then bring back Vegeta, Bulma, and Piccolo in a snap.

I'm looking forward to having Panzy on the team. Especially when Bulma gets here. I can't wait for Bulma to meet Discount Bulma.

[kirarisoul]

predictions — quackity

first fic kinda scared 🤪

cw: angst, family problems, sad 😔

not proofread

skater!quackity x fem!reader

summary: after moving cities, you meet a very awkward, closed off guy. you eventually break through his walls, however, it seems to be written in your fate that you two could never be.

Spades represent challenging tasks or events coming in the future.

Hearts represent feelings, family, home, love, and relationships.

august 17th

moving somewhere new is always scary. leaving all you friends and family and home behind for a new place, a decision you didn’t have any say in. your parents said it was best to move here, but there wasn’t even any reason to move. you were doing fine in school, had a few good, loyal friends, and you were happy. however, being a child means nobody listens to what you have to say and you must adapt very quickly. good thing you were 17 and could do what you wanted after your 18th birthday, move back home and go to college.

but, for now, you were here. in your dads car, finally getting closer to your new house after hours in the car. you wondered what your room would be like, what your new school would be like, if you would make any friends. you definitely don’t have the same confidence you did when you were six, talking to everyone in your class and making friends. i guess you somehow knew you would be making lifelong friends, ones that you would grow old with and live on the same street as forever. you started to sketch what you think the house looks like in your sketchbook, and what you hope your room would look like.

“look, [name]. we’re gonna get there soon. why don’t you take those headphones out and look around.” your dad looks through the rearview mirror to look at you.

you yank your headphones out. he knows your mad but just won’t leave you alone. you tune out your dad talking to your mom and look out the window for the first time in three hours, the last thing you saw was a bunch of cows out on a field.

…

this place is a fucking dump. it sucks. everything sucks. now you really want to go home. your parents just had to pick the worst place for you to move. your neighbours front lawns were full of junk, like they were hoarders or something.

the car stops and you feel your dad get out and open the trunk. you open your door to greet your new home. you can work with this. it’s not the ugliest thing in the world. you walk inside and hear something about the moving van coming in a few hours. your room was alright, very empty but the window has a nice view of the sunset.

“[name], after dinner i want you going straight to bed. you start at your new school tomorrow.” your mom sternly said.

“alright” you say. “don’t know why i’m starting school on a thursday, but ok” you mumbled.

///

the floor in this house is oddly comfy, you think to yourself. but you can’t sleep, your heart is racing thinking about starting at a new school tomorrow. you’ve seen new kids at your old school be all alone and never understand how they can handle it, and now you’re the new kid. you can only pray it goes well.

you turn over to look at your phone.

[00:36]

you should really get to sleep.

///

you jog down the stairs to see furniture that wasn’t there yesterday, guess your parents were busy making it look nice last night.

“hey, eat up and get going. don’t wanna be late on your first day!”

“‘kay.”

still mad.

///

you walk out and breathe in the air. it’s warm and humid. you pull out your phone so you can open your google maps to get you to school.

dead.

clearly you didn’t remember that the electricity on the second floor just didn’t work and your phone didn’t charge. great. how the hell were you going to get to school now.

you then had the great idea of looking for someone who looks like a student and asking them if they go to your school. maybe make a friend aswell.

you see a boy leave the house opposite yours and turn left down the street. he had a hat and a hoodie on, with the hood up. in this heat? what a weirdo. but it looks like your family is just surrounded by elderly people living out their retirement on this street, so you doubt you would be seeing another teenager apart from him. and you were getting late.

so you crossed the street to catch up with him.

“hey! excuse me!” you yelled after him.

the boy turned around with a confused look on his face and looked around as if there was anyone else you could be taking to.

“uhh… hi?” he said quietly, with the same look on his face.

“yeah, hi, uh, do you go to [school]?”

“uh, yeah, why?”

“me too! well it’s my first day, and my phone is dead so i don’t know how to get there and i was wondering if you cou-“

“you’re new?” he cut you off.

“…yeah. anyways, can i walk with you?”

“why are you starting school on a thursday?”

why does he care? can you walk with him or not??

“i dunno, but it’s getting late so can i walk with you or..?”

“i mean if you want.”

“ok, thank you.”

and so you started walking. the silence between the two of you was so awkward you wanted to die.

“so, uh, what’s your name?”

“alex.”

“nice..”

…

was he gonna ask your name? has he ever talked with another human before?

“my name is [name].”

“ok.”

ok? OK?

“is that the school there?” you point to a building that’s about 4 stories coming up ahead of you two.

“no, it’s just got a bunch of kids outside it for no reason.”

what the fuck is this guys problem. you’ve just met him and he’s acting like this. no wonder he’s walking all alone.

///

after getting your schedule from the front desk, you make your way to your first class. you sit down in a chair near the front and set down your bag. you really, really, hope that the teacher doesn’t make a whole speech about the new kid in class.

“so, as you guys might’ve noticed,” the teacher starts. “there’s a new face here!”

of course he did.

he comes over to your desk and gestures for you to stand up. “wanna introduce yourself, [name]?”

“uh, sure.” you stand.

“uhm, my name is [name] and i moved here yesterday from-“

“you’re starting school on a thursday?” some kid says from the corner of the class.

“….yes.”

///

finally, the first day was over. apart from the fact that you sat alone at lunch and had to make an introduction in every single class, it wasn’t horrible.

now to get home….

which way was it again?

have you seriously forgotten? it was only like 6 hours ago.

suddenly, you see a familiar hoodie in the distance, walking.

it’s alex. i’ll just go walk with him again.

you jog up beside him.

“hi, alex.”

he turns his head and looks at you while he keeps walking.

“hello?”

“uh, this is kinda embarrassing but i don’t know how to get home either, can i walk with you again?”

he sighs. “sure, i guess.”

“cool.”

you weren’t gonna talk this time, since clearly he doesn’t want to.

…

this is even more awkward than the walk to school.

“so,” you start. “how was your day?”

he turns again and looks at you weirdly. “uh, fine?”

“good…”

you won’t tell him about your day, he doesn’t seem to care very much anyways.

///

you figured out how to get to school in your own for friday, so you didn’t have to go through that whole thing with alex again. it’s the weekend now and while you scroll through your friends stories, seeing them all having fun hanging out, you’re alone in your room, lying on your bed, doing absolutely nothing. you know, cause you’ve got no friends.

you get up to go get another popsicle from downstairs, i think everyone eats a lot when they’re bored out of their mind. you pass by the window in your room and see alex outside of his home across the street. you stop and look, for some reason he’s just so intriguing to you. and kinda cute.

wait a minute.

am i really thinking this about that weirdo who doesn’t talk, wears hoodies in the summer, and walks all alone? i must be really bored.

he’s out there with a skateboard in his hand, and he looks like he’s waiting for someone. his hair isn’t hidden behind a beanie like usual, it’s under a baseball cap. he’s still wearing a hoodie, but with shorts instead of longer pants this time. wow, his legs are nice too. and his eyes. and face.

suddenly, he looks up at your window and locks eyes with you. you immediately drop down to the floor and crawl the rest of the way to the kitchen. could you have handled that any weirder?

///

monday came fast, and once again you were leaving the house for school. you didn’t see alex again during the weekend, and probably for a good reason, cause if he remembers that window situation, it’s over for you. God, why did you do that?

you hear a door shutting from across the street, and you can feel a pair of eyes on you. you turn slightly to see and there alex is, looking right at you, again. you whip your head back around and start walking faster.

///

you get home fast enough to avoid seeing alex again and reach for the door handle. it doesn’t work. you try it again. and again. and again. then you remember, your mom went back to work today, and didn’t leave the door unlocked like usual. you didn’t have a key either. now you’re stranded outside your house, for about another three hours until your mom gets home. you sit on your porch steps and start the waiting.

until, you see a shadow above you and you look up. it’s… alex? wow, the last person you wanted to see right now.

“hey.” he says.

“hi…”

he looks around then shoves his hands in his pockets and sighs.

“my mom said i should ask you if you wanna come in, so you’re not waiting out here.”

you look past him and see a woman in the doorway of his house, smiling at you and waving.

“uh, i’m alright.”

“just come, she’s not gonna give up, she’s been wanting to meet you guys since you moved in. also, you shouldn’t wait outside in the sun.”

“ok, i guess.”

you follow him to his house and walk in after greeting his mom. it’s a nice place, better looking on the inside than the outside. his lawn is probably the nicest on the street. after all, you see his mother outside gardening all the time.

“hi, honey, you’re [name] right?, i talked to your mom today, and she told me to make sure you’re not waiting outside until she comes home.”

“oh, thank you.”

“it’s no problem! you can sit in the living room while your waiting and i’ll get you something to eat oh- actually, alex, take her up to your room.

“mom i-“ he says frustrated and then stops himself. “fine. follow me”

you go up to his room and look around. it’s small, the same size as your room, but it’s nice. it’s very…. alex. the walls are blue, there are posters up on the wall of tyler, the creator and kanye west. there are a couple skateboards around, each with a different colour and size and shape.

“just sit wherever, im gonna play.” he points to his console and sits on the floor after turning it on. you sit next to him cause sitting on some strangers bed is weird. as he scrolls through the games, one catches your attention, mario kart.

“oh, you have mario kart?”

“yeah.” he scrolls right past it and clicks on something then gta’s loading screen pops up on the tv. you guess you were too subtle with telling him you like mario kart. you nod and turn away, pulling out your phone and mindlessly scrolling.

you hear him sigh and close down gta. “do you wanna play mario kart?” he asks.

“oh, uh, sure.”

he hands you a controller and you two pick out your characters, shy guy and princess peach.

“princess peach? really?” he questions you.

“she’s the best. i always win with her.”

“it’s very basic.”

“watch me win, then start talking.”

he laughs. “alright, but just so you know, i’ve never been beat in mario kart.”

“me neither.” you’re getting pretty competitive with him.

you both play for the three hours and get more and more comfortable with each other. you think you could even be friends with him. his mom opens the door and calls your name.

“your moms home, honey.”

“oh,” you start getting up and grabbing your school bag. “ thanks for having me, ma’am. and thanks, alex.”

“it’s no problem” he says, looking away.

///

walking home from school is probably the best part of your day. your headphones are in, your alone, looking at the scenery. it’s fun. you even close your eyes and take in the air as you walk. it’s so peaceful. until you feel someone walking next to you. you open your eyes and see alex, walking with you.

“hi.” he says, looking forward.

“hey.” you say, a little confused.

you two continue walking in silence, but it doesn’t feel as awkward anymore.

“hey, you have a few hours til your mom gets home, right?”

“yeah, why?”

“well, if you were just gonna come over again, i was gonna go to the skatepark today.”

“oh, it’s fine, i’ll just walk around the block or something.”

“no, like, i was wondering if you wanna go with me?”

was he asking you out?

“just, to kill time, y’know?”

“uh, sure, that’ll be fun i think.” you smile at him.

at the skatepark, you sit at the edge of the bowl, watching him skate.

“you’re really good!” you say.

“huh? nah, i’m not really.” he laughs.

“no, you are! well, to me atleast.”

he smiles and turns away to keep skating and doing tricks.

after about an hour of just watching him and talking, he asks you something.

“d’you wanna try?”

“what- skating?”

“yeah, i can teach you.”

“i dunno..”

“it’ll be fun! and safe, i promise.”

“fine, i guess.”

he holds out his hand to help you get into the bowl, and you grab it.

“so basically, what you do is you stand on it with two feet, then push off.”

“ok…” you try and you move, but don’t get far.

“that was great!” he says, encouraging you.

“it really wasn’t.”

“for a total beginner it’s great.”

he helped you learn how to turn and do some simple tricks.

“this one is kinda hard for a beginner, but i think you’ve got it.”

you watch him demonstrate it then you try. you push off with one foot and bend your knees, just like he did, to do the trick. he’s jogging along with you on the skateboard, making sure you don’t fall. you jump up slightly to do the trick but it doesn’t work, and you stumble when you land back on the skateboard. you feel yourself tripping, and prepare for the impact by closing your eyes, but it never comes.

instead you feel hands on your waist, pulling you up, helping you stand. you open your eyes and alex is looking at you, and asking “you okay?” with a worried expression. but all you can think about are his hands. their placement, how they felt on your body.

you snap back into reality. “i’m fine.”

“maybe we should stop now..”

“good idea.”

you two lay on the grass near the skatepark, talking.

“i’m just mad at my dad really,” you say. “he made us move here, and he’s always on me about my grades. it’s like he’s always mad. he’s always yelling and stuff. my mom says he’s just stressed about work but that’s not my fault.”

“i get it. my dad isn’t the best either. he’s not mean but he’s very strict. we’re not like father and son, he’s more like my boss. he’s always talking about how i’ll follow in his footsteps and own his business, but i don’t wanna.” alex says.

“what do you wanna do?”

“ok, promise you won’t laugh.”

“i won’t.”

“a streamer.”

“like a twitch streamer?”

“yeah, i already have a youtube channel that’s doing pretty well, and i want to do streaming too. i wanna make people happy with my content. i also wanna move to LA. that’s where all the streamers live.”

“woah. you really planned it all out. i wanna go to art school, i love drawing.”

“really? can i see some?

“yeah sure!” you pull out your sketchbook from your bag

///

december 28th

as your friendship developed, and you crush on alex developed, you became happier and more content with your move. you found other friends but you always walk home with alex. and you go to the skatepark all the time. you’re pretty good at skating now.

for his birthday, you decided to go to a carnival. you went on rides together and ate food, the night was coming to an end when you saw something near the back of the carnival.

“look, fortune telling! let’s go!”

“you know it’s all fake right, it’s a scam.”

“just come.” you drag him to the tent and walk in.

it’s just a spinning wheel with four symbols on it.

spade.

heart.

club.

diamond.

whatever, it’s only a dollar. you give the tired teenager working the tent two dollars for yourself and spin the wheel twice.

your first spin was the heart.

your second spin was the spade.

“huh, i wonder what they mean.”

“look it up online, it’s like 11, we should get home.” alex says, while urging you out the tent.

///

august 17th

it’s officially been a year since you moved here, and you are completely at peace with the situation now. you made new friends, and you always had alex there with you, especially during hard times with your family and home.

you’re sitting at the desk in your room, studying, when you suddenly get a notification on your phone. it’s alex.

alex

hey can u come outside for a sec

you

why lol

alex

just come pls

you grab your jacket and slip your shoes on. you walk outside and breathe in the cool, summer, night air. you see alex a little bit down the street from your house. you speed up to reach him faster.

“hey,” you smile at him, with rosy cheeks due to the nippy air. he doesn’t think you could ever look better. “what’s up?”

“i have to tell you something.”

your smile falters. “what is it, alex?”

“i’m leaving..” he paused.

“what, sorry, where? when? what are you talking about? why?” you bombard him with questions, he can’t just drop this bomb on you with no explanation.

“LA.”

“oh” you’ve known it was his dream for a while now. “that’s great, alex! i’m so happy for you! when are you going?”

“tomorrow.”

“oh.. so soon? why didn’t you tell me before?”

“it was last minute, one of my friends over there found an apartment for me, and i was gonna go to college soon anyways, so i applied for one in LA. sorry i didn’t tell you but it would’ve upset you and i-“

“alex, it’s fine. it’s what you’ve always wanted. i’m glad you’re getting to do this finally.” you smile at him reassuringly.

“thanks.” he smiles back. “i wanted to ask you though.”

“what?”

“come with me.”

“what?!”

“come to LA with me. i’ve been putting off telling you and i wasn’t going to but i can’t go without saying this. [name], i have liked you since that day you asked to walk to school with me. i’ve loved you since you let me teach you to skate. i can’t go without you.”

“alex..”

“we can get away from your dad and my dad and this whole city together. i have everything ready-“

“alex.”

“i’ve got an apartment, and there’s an art school nearby that you can go to. we can live together and you can go to school and i’ll stream an-“

“alex!” you say sternly this time. he looks at you for the first time since he started his ramble. you’re crying, why are you crying? he thinks.

“i-i can’t.”

“what..?”

“i can’t go with you alex.” you look at him with wide eyes like you’re also surprised at what you’re saying.

“what do you mean? we can get away from all of this! from our parents, from this town, from this street!”

“i can’t leave my family, alex.”

“[name], what? i thought you would’ve wanted thi-“

“why would i want this alex?! why are you doing this?! you cant make me choose between my life here and with you! it’s not fair!”

“i-i don’t-“

“just go alex.”

“what?”

“just go. i don’t think we can do this.”

“but-“

“go.” your voice breaks.

he whimpers and takes a few steps back.

“i’m sorry [name]…” his eyes are wide with shock. this isn’t how it’s supposed to go. you’re supposed to be going to LA with him. you two were supposed to be together.

“i love you, [name]” alex starts walking.

“i love you too.” you whisper, hoping he heard.

you turn on you heel and walk into the distance.

you make it to the skatepark where you have millions of memories with alex. you sit there a couple hours. just thinking.

when you get home your parents are there, waiting.

“[name], where were you? i told you to study, where did you go?”

you’re too exhausted to talk. you walk past them and go to your room. you couldn’t even cry anymore.

and so, the heart and the spade came at you together.

august 17th has been the worst day of your life two years in a row.

end.

////

ommgggg how was it, i hope it wasn’t too long or boring. this is my first fic on this account hope you guys like it 😛 sorry if q was a little ooc

[lillylvjy]

Race to Meat Mountain?

A/n- hi this is not good at all. i did this at 1 am yesterday and was editing it and it’s not the greatest but it’s something. also i kinda based the angst on things around my life so, sorry if i self-indulged a little, but i hope you all like this fic ( i tried editing the best i could)

warnings- angst if you squint, eating disorder mentioned, swearing, kissing, cute stuff, one sexual joke but i also intended the reader to be apart of the asexual spectrum (again self-indulged) let me know if there is anything i missed:)

Wilbur had talked about going to Iowa the night before stating that hes “never been to Iowa and he doesn’t know if he’s ever going again”. You knew he would. For god sake he’s a musician and he plans on touring in the future. But you just let it go and told him they could go the next time they were in america. 

Apparently that wasn’t good enough for Wilbur, because you woke up at 5 in the morning by Wil shaking your body and whining for you to get up. When you finally opened your guys and let out an annoyed sigh, you say Wilbur with the biggest grin on his face. “Good Morning darling. Get up and get ready, we’re driving to Iowa today.” He said with the most excited voice ever. Now you would be mad at him for waking you up so early, but he was so excited and he looked determined so you said screw it and got up. 

Once it hit 7:30, you all were in the car ready to go. There weren't enough seats in the car and you offered to sit in the trunk but Wil demanded you sit on his lap the whole time because he “didn't want you to get hurt and bored back there”. Was it illegal? Yes. Did any of you care? Nope. Not at all. Wilbur put the seat belt around you and locked it into place. “Are you comfortable love? Do you feel safe?” He asked as Shelby got in the car.

“Yes my love. I promise.” You said kissing his cheek as the boys in the back either gagged or said “get a room!”. 

“Will what- what are we doing?” Jack asked Wlibur. 

Wilbur shifted to look at Jack, “We’re driving to Keokuk, Iowa.” 

“Why?” Jack said in an accusational voice as Wilbur laughed. 

“Two hours and 46 minutes” He said while rubbing your arms. 

“But why are we doing this? You’ve not explained to us why we’re doing this.” Jack asked again. 

“I’ve never been to Iowa-”

“It isn’t real.” Jack intervenes.

“Yes it does! My family lives there!” You said glaring at Jack jokingly.

“As far as I know love..” He said, looking at you with a shrug. You slapped his shoulder as he started laughing.

“Shut it.” you said teasingly.

Wilbur turned back to the camera, “ I have no intention to ever go to Iowa. I mean- what? Am I gonna go to Davenport? No. I'm not going to Iowa ever. So I decided, I'm gonna go right now, so I can say to myself… ‘That’s it!’ Until the day I die I will never enter Iowa.” Wilbur concluded.

\(timeskip)

As Wil and Ranboo explained why we were going to Iowa, you were looking outside and playing with Wilbur’s hand until it got ripped out of yours.

“And they pogged! They pogchamped!” Wilbur yelled as he brought his hand back down to yours and intertwined them back together.

“So me and ranboo are going to split a meat mountain together and that is not what you think it means!” He joked. You laughed and rested your head in his neck.

“What do we call this road-trip?” Wilbur asked after a while. 

“Race to meat mountain.” Ranboo said immediately. 

Race to meat mountain?” You repeated back like it was the dumbest name ever. 

“Yes, and don’t shit on it y/n! You remember what you named the road trip with tommy, tubbo and i? You called it r-”

“Shut your goddamn mouth ranboo! We agreed to let it go!” You said looking at him through the seats. Everyone laughed and went back to the name. 

“Wheatskins title card, “Race to Meat Mountain, go!” Wilbur said to Jack. 

(timeskip)

“Y/n discovered a stain on the back seat, “ Wilbur listed. 

“I’m sitting in it” Ranboo claims.

“It stinks of cigarette smoke” He said, as a chill ran down your spine. You never had a good relationship with cigarettes or smoking. Not that you did it, but friends and family used too and it brought back some bad memories of smelling smoke or seeing it. Wilbur noticed this and wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed your neck lightly. Like a little, “I’m here and you're ok.”

“And the ‘Check engine’ lights on. Welcome.” He concluded.

“We have no windshield wipers.” Shelby claims. 

“Oh yeah! I'm just going to use my body to clean the windshield of its rain.” He said holding you tighter as it got bumpy. 

“If it rains, we’re fucked.” Jack said.

As Wilbur explained the car situation, the middle compartment opened up and everyone laughed. “There you go!” You said laughing. 

“It's raining.” Wilbur said as you guys got on the freeway. Ranboo and 5up found a snow cleaner on the floor and gave it to Wil. 

“Babe that’s for snow!” you exclaimed at Wil. 

“Open the window love” He said as you sighed and rolled down the window. Wilbur hunched over you and started to wipe the window making it slightly worse than before. “I made it worse.” He said laughing. 

(timeskip)

“Oh my god, gone fishin’. There's only two things I like in my life! My wife, and fishin. And of them don’t complain.” Wilbur said, pointing the camera at you. You laughed and turned it away. 

“Canonically your wife is actually a fish wilbur so really hmnahmmm” Jack mumbled in a weird voice. 

“There’s a rest area!” Shelby said looking at you, knowing you had to go to the restroom. 

“Thank god.” you sighed in relief. 

“What can we get?” Wil asked. 

“Deli.” Shelby and you replied at the same time and laughed at each other. 

“Isn’t that…. Isn’t that meat?”

“So deli is sandwich and meats.I don’t know if we should go-” 5up said as will giggled.

“I need to save myself for the meat mountain” ranboo exclaimed.

“I'm a feeble boy! There's only so much meat I can handle.” Jack said in reply. 

“I’m hoping the meat mountains going to take my virginity.” Wilbur said as a joke. 

“Too bad I already took it.” you mumbled under your breath as a joke but everyone still heard it. 

“Love what?!” Wilbur looked at you with wide eyes as everyone laughed. Shelby eventually parked and you opened up the dorr and hopped out. 

“Am I wrong?” you asked him, teasingly. He was red as a tomato at this point. “Love, I'm joking. Don’t be so flustered.” You said, kissing his nose. 

(timeskip)

“TEST! TEST! TEST! TEST!”

“IT'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!” Wilbur exclaimed, and you groaned wanting more sleep as you cuddled up into Wilbur. “Sorry darling.” He apologized to you and kissed your hand that was intertwined with his. You smiled and pecked his lips as an ‘I forgive you’, but then the boys yet again thought it was gross. 

“You guys really need to mature. One day you’ll be like this with your partners. If you get one that is.” You said to the as Wilbur ‘ooo’d and laughed. 

“Guys calm down, I got this!” Ranboo said to everyone.

Ranboo tried to find a sonic but the boys eventually found a subway ahead of us. You gave up trying to sleep for now so you sat up and loomed out the window. 

“To the right! NOW!” Jack yelled at Shelby.

“Just get hashbrowns!” Wilbur exclaimed. 

“They don’t sell hash browns in American subways!” You exclaimed at him. 

“WHAT DONT YOU HAVE HASHBROWNS AT FUCKING SUBWAY!” He said looking at you. 

“BECAUSE IT'S A MCDONALDS THING! NOT SUBWAY!” You said back.

Shelby parked and Wilbur undid the seatbelt and slid out the car from underneath you and shut the door. “Welp he’s gone” Shelby said.

“Sure is. Hopefully it'll shut his loud ass up for a bit. “ You said in a joking manner.

“I think we should go after him.” Jack said. Everyone got out of the car and started walking to subway. 

“On a quest to find Wilbur soot,” Jack said to the camera. 

Everyone agreed to wait for sonic but still agreed to find will. You got to the door and saw Wilbur ordering. You told everyone to be quiet and walked in. you ran up behind Wilbur and hugged him around his waist. He jumped and turned around to look at who this person thought they were. But he relaxed as soon as he saw your smile and wrapped his arms around your neck and kissed your forehead. 

“You should probably take off those glasses.” you pointed out. 

“Eh, I think they’re quite cool! I got tired of waiting for you guys so i just came here.” he said nonchalantly at the camera.

(timeskip)

Apparently Jack has never been to a Walmart as he found one down the street so we all agreed to go. 

“Odds that I buy play-do” ranboo said. 

“For me, buy me some.” Wilbur said, picking it up.

“Five.” ranboo replied.

“Three two one,”

“One” “three” 

“ Buy me some anyway.” Wilbur said to ranboo.

“Sure” ranboo replied.

“Thank you” will said walking away. You pulled ranboo back and held out your hand.

“I’m not letting you pay for his stuff, I'll pay. Just be quiet about it.” you said putting your finger up to your lip to tell him to be quiet and winked at him.

He laughed and walked up with the others. You stayed back and eventually found the home decor section. Back in your and will's apartment, you needed more furniture but you both never have time, so why not now. Just to get a good idea. You forgot about the group as you looked at mirrors and light fixtures you could put up. Knowing wilbur he never could stay in one place but you hype you can convince him to settle down for now until you guys had enough money combined to buy a house and live somewhere you both agreed on. 

As you kept looking, you didn’t hear Wilbur calling your name. But when he looked down the aisle for a quick second before seeing you, he stopped and walked back to the aisle and smiled at you. He knew you wanted more decor but you didn’t know when the next time you guys were moving. He didn’t want to move for a while since he had you there. He wanted to wait until you both could settle down in a home, get married and have kids. At least the feelings are mutual. As he walked down towards you, where you were looking at some vases and little things to hang on the walls, he smiled and looked down at the thing you were holding. “I like that a lot love, you should buy it.” he said, smiling down at you and hugging you from behind. 

You smiled but shook your head. “No, there's nowhere to put it in the car and I don't know when we’re moving next.” You said looking up at him. 

“Darling. I don’t want to move anytime soon. I want to stay in the same shitty apartment until we can afford an actual home where we can get married and start a family. As long as I have you, I’ll stay as long as I need.” He said, pouring his emotions out.

You smiled up at him, teary eyed. “Really? That’s what you want? “ you asked him for reassurance. 

“Yes, really love. I want to marry you and have a family and cherish every moment with you. I love you.” He concluded, cupping your face and pulling you into a kiss. Yes, it was weird to kiss in the middle of a home decor aisle in the middle of the store, but it was perfect. And yet again, ruined by the boys. 

“ I swear to god! If you guys are going to act like horny teenagers, at least do it somewhere else!” Jack exclaimed. 

You narrowed your eyes, “1.) We are NOT horny teenagers at all. 2.) it was a sweet moment before you people ruined it” you finished with an annoyed sigh. Wilbur laughed and said we should probably go and get everyone else food. Which you all agreed to. 

(Timeskip)

You guys finally made it to sonic but the sign was like going through a psychedelic trip. 

“We’re going to trip out at Sonic,” Jack said, making you laugh. 

Wilbur got out of the car again and you just sat, looking at the menu.

“Why are you out there, what are you doing?” Jack asked will.

Wilbur started to look around and sniff like an animal, at least that's what the pictures looked like.

Once Will was back in the car and you were both comfy, we all confirmed we knew what we wanted and started to order. You ordered a simple corn dog and fries with a drink. 

“Where are you going?” Jack asked will. 

“I’m gonna go wild out.” he said and left the car again. 

“Jesus christ, he’s worse than tommy right now.” you sighed and everyone laughed at that, will just glared at you and stuck his tongue out at you. You laughed and made a heart with your fingers at him. 

After Will was ‘wildin out’ he came back in, lifted you back in his lap and looked back at the camera. “Hey baby.” he said, as they all started laughing. 

Apparently will found that super funny to the point of tearing up from laughing so hard. “Love calm down, it wasn’t that funny.” you said laughing at him. 

He was trying so hard not to laugh as he tapped Shelby's shoulder. “Tell ‘em-” he cut himself off by laughing and tried again. “Tell ‘em thanks from me.” he finally got out. 

“I’ll pay, I’ll pay!” Wilbur said, giving Shelby his card. “Stop filming my card! I don’t want wheatskins knowing my fucking card.” he said to jack, laughing still. 

You all eventually got your food and started eating. As Shelby was passing food out, will tried to steal a fry. “Will stop, you can eat some of my food. I'm not going to eat it all.” you said handing him your fries. He took some fries and gave them back to you.

“Thank you love.” he said, while eating the fries. You laughed at him and started eating your corn dog. 

Wilbur started to drink his milkshake. “I cant get it out” he said. 

“Suck harder.” 

“I can’t get it up.” 

“You got to give it that good-good.” Jack said and you almost choked on your food, as Wilbur started lightly tapping your back.

“You ok darling?” he said sincerely, looking at you with concerned eyes. You nodded and took a sip of your drink. 

“Will film me eating corn dog.” Jack said, passing the camera to him. Wilbur figured you were in a better position and handed it to you, and you got the memo. 

“This is my first corn dog ever, I've never had one before. It's really hot. “ Jack says to the camera.

“All the way” ranboo kept saying as you just laughed behind the camera. Jack started to put the whole thing in his mouth until he stopped and laughed. 

“I couldn’t go any further.”  he said, taking a bite of the corn dog. “It’s burning my mouth right now, it's really hot. “ he said as you deadpanned to 5up eating.

“ I have to process the moment, like I have food in my mouth everywhere.” they said as you deadpanned back to jack. 

“I’ve got worse in my mouth, king.”

“I’ve had worse in my mouth. 2017.” ranboo randomly says.

“Do I wanna know?” you asked him. 

“ the year or? Jack asked as well. 

“Yeah he had 2017 things in his mouth” Will says. 

“The stick touched my tonsils as I took my last bite.” Jack said to you.

“If you gag on the corn dog, you know she's not a baddie.” will says as you hit him in the arm. He laughed and smiled at you as you rolled your eyes and smiled back.

“I’m sorry to my audience for letting them down!” Jack says. 

“I’d say all girls are baddies.” Will says placing the camera down in front of you both but failing. 

“Well done will.” Jack says as you all laugh. 

Wilbur fails three times until it finally stays up. “If she gag on the corn dog,”

“She not a baddie.” Jack finished. You and Shelby shared a look and laughed with each other. 

“She not a baddie, isn't that right ranboo?” 

“That's what i'm saying.” he replies as we laugh. 

(timeskip)

“Hey wheatskins, wheatskins! Just make that lean.” Jack says, showing the camera his slushy.

 “Wheatskins, wocky slush. make it wocky slush please,” Jack says in a funny voice as you giggle at him and eat your fries. 

“Make it - make it that purp drank, wheatskins,” Jack pauses and laughs. 

“You say it with so much urgency,: 5up says, as Jack continues. 

“You cut yourself off!” ranboo says as you all laugh.

“You got to film ranboo wildin’ out' ' will says passing jack the camera. 

As ranboo got back to the car, he offers his nuggets to will who kindly shuts down the offre, 

“Roll your windows up kids.” He says while laughing. 

Finally since ranboo is still there, wilbur takes one and eats it. After eating it, Wilbur slumps down the best he can with you on his lap, which ends up with you holding yourself up while he falls.

(small timeskip)

“Sonic was great, let's go to Connetikuk..”

“Kowekuk.” Wilbur replies, wrong also.

“Keokuk!” Shelby corrects them both. 

You groan into Will's neck and turn into him more. Wilbur look’s at you and realizes you're sleeping. He smiles and admires you for a quick second before shushing people. 

“She’s sleeping so please try to keep it down until we get to the Iowa border, please. “ He said to the group as he turned back to you and held you tighter to him. 

“Wheatskins, play the title screen.” Wilbur whispers to the camera.

 (timeskip) 

You ended up waking up during the Keokuk chant the boys were doing and groaned. “Why didnI agree to this?” you ask yourself out loud. 

“Because you loved me. '' Wilbur answers softly in your ear. You hum in agreement with him. 

“Look there’s a peep!” Shelby exclaims. 

You gasp, “where?!” you ask, fully awake now. 

“What the fuck is a peep?” Wilbur asks you. 

“That's hurtful.” you replied back. 

“Shelby, your eyes are supposed to be on the road!” 5up exclaims. 

After you all settled down, will gave the camera back to jack. And then a couple minutes later will says this;

“I really have to go to the bathroom.” he says to you all. 

“But im genuinely afraid of going to the bathroom around here. I think there gonna smell that im an atheist out of towner-” 

“Like my parents did. And look, you turned up unafraid and alive!” you cut wilbur off. 

“I'm so scared.” He said, and you felt his hand tighten on yours. You rubbed his knuckles. 

“I can go in with you and pretend like i'm buying things and wait for you.” You said, as he nodded.

Shelby parked and you both got out of the car. Will tried to take off his shirt but you all convinced him to just go in and get it down. As you went in, Wilbur asked for a bathroom as you bought a drink and some funyuns. Once Wilbur was done he rushed out and went with you to the car and hurried you both in, as you rolled your eyes. 

“I tried to say ‘have yall got a toilet’, I tried to throw a y’all in there. But it ended up like, “have y’all got a bathroom’” he explains as you all laugh. 

“I think it went well.” you said. 

“No shit! You’ve done this before love. Me, quite the opposite.`` Wilbur said to you as you laughed. 

(timeskip to arbys because i'm lazy)

You guys finally made it to Arby’s, as you all go in, Jack goes to the front counter and asks if they have the so-called ‘meat mountain’ here. While the rest of you sit, jack comes back with the order. 

“Are you sure you can eat all that?” a worker asked. 

“Probably not, i'll give it a go though” jack replies.

“That's a lot of meat.” The worker replies. 

“I’m aware.”

“You’re a - you’re a little one too.” The worker tells jack. 

We all laugh as Jack just sits there. “We're gonna give it a go, oh my lord.” Jack said as he held up the sandwich. When Jack opens it, your eyes go big. 

“Yeah no, I'm good.” you say as you try to ditch the eating part. 

“Love at least try a little bit? For me?” he said looking at you, genuinely. 

“But I already ate.” you whispered to him, as everyone else looked at the sandwich. 

Wilbur took your hand in his, “You don’t have to love. I know it’s a bigger type of food. But if you could just try a little tiny bit for me and just review it. You did so at good lunch today, I'm very proud of you. So very proud.” He whispered back to you, kissing your hand. 

You sighed, “fine, only for you though.” You told him. He smiled at you and kissed your forehead before turning back to Jack and the sandwich. 

“Take a bite king,” Wilbur told Jack, as Jack bit into the overly large sandwich.

Jacks review- lots of flavors

“Ranboo this was your plan”

“This was never my plan”

“You told me about meat mountain”

“I did tell you about meat mountain” ranboo said as he took the sandwich.

Ranboo review- meat

“I have to have a bite. Originally it was me and ranboo who were taught the tale.” wilbur said. 

“I’m not even hungry, I had a subway.”

“You are hungry for the meat mountain, the meat mountain is hungry for you.” ranboo said as wilbur sniffed it and took a bite.

Wilbur review- can't describe the smell, does not like the temperature mix 

Once Shelby tried it you knew you had too as well. You took a deep breath to slow your heart rate and to stop yourself from having a panic attack. Your hands started shaking and wilbur noticed this, and gave you a look saying, ‘you don’t have to take a bite if you truly don’t want to.’ But you shook your head and asked Shelby for the sandwich. Is it pushing limits? Yes. But it’s good for you to try new things. especially when you're getting better at eating. 

You took a bite of half the sandwich at first to see if you could handle it.

 ‘Hmm. Not horrible.’ You set the sandwich down and nodded your head.

 “It's not the greatest but it’s bearable.” you said as your review

. You started to pick at your hands, anxiety wearing down slowly. But before you could do damage, wilbur grabbed your hands and kissed them. “Thank you baby. I’m so very proud of you.” you smiled and felt accomplished. 

5up took the sandwich and ate the only spot left.

 “6 bites of a meat mountain.” wilbur said, looking at the sandwich. 

“I’m just thinking about it now.” Jack says as everyone hummed in question. “Why did we drive two and a half hours to Iowa for this?” he asked. Wilbur laughed behind the camera.

“We passed three arby’s on the way here.” Shelby concludes.

“We passed one a good 30 minutes in.” ranboo adds.

 Jack shrugs.“Iowa baby” Jack fist bumps ranboo.

“That’s what i’m sayin’, “ ranboo says.

 “Wheatskins, play the title card.” Jack tells the camera as you all laugh. 

You sigh. “Can we go back now? I’m tired as hell.  And now that we’ve achieved our goal, you guys can all be quiet and take naps with me. I’m looking at you will.” you said as you looked up at him.

 Everyone laughed and agreed on going back to the hotel. 

As you were walking back to the car, wilbur took your hand a kissed it.

“ i love you darling and I’m glad you decided to come with.” he said smiling down at  you.

You smiled back.”Of course my love. No place I'd rather be than with you.” you said as you pulled him down to your lips.

 “Ok guys! c’mon! “ Ranboo whined, as will and you laughed. 

Taglist: @deadphantomsociety (if you want to be part of this lovely taglist, feel free to ask:))

[sluggzillaa]

Can you write an eddie munson x reader where eddie y/n and their friend group go on a little road trip and one night while they're sitting around a camp fire or something y/n tells everyone the legend of skinwalkers and it actually scares eddie but he doesn't show it until later before they go to sleep he's all uneasy and y/n notices and is like "it's OK I'll protect you" and she ends up cuddling him all night

✧ Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

✧ Summary: The gang goes camping after you experience a grueling breakup. You just so happen to meet someone new. What does the future hold for the two of you?

✧ Warnings: use of Y/N, (sfw)teasing, pet/nicknames, mentions of break up, brief mention of su1c1d3(jokingly), kinda awkward, Strangers to friends to lovers, Mentions of a scary creature.

✧ Authors note: This one was pretty rushed since i was taking forever to write it and needed to get it out. I like the awkward fluffiness for now. I hope you enjoy ^^. Also minors, LEAVE OR ILL SHOOT YOU

✧ Word count: 2.7k

Day 1

The phone rang off the hook. Once a cycle of rings ended, a new one started. The phone definitely was not gonna answer itself. Stumbling out of your room; eyes surrounded by dark bags and hair disheveled, you snatched the phone off its receiver.

“Hello?”

“Oh my god finally! I thought you killed yourself”

“Not yet I haven’t.. What do you want, Nance?”

“Look, my friends and I are taking a trip up to the campgrounds by lovers lake”

“uh huh..”

“And I know you’ve been down in the dumps”

“Nance~” You dragged on

“So I was wondering if you’d like to tag along”

Radio silence on your end. You’ve never liked camping, or at least that’s what your ex made you believe. He always told you about these gross stories from his camping trips with his friends. He never let you go along with him. That’s probably because he was in a raggedy motel with some bimbo broads. You let out a sigh and turned your attention back to the call.

“Sure”

“Wait what..”

“Sure, i’ll come”

“Great, i’ll let everyone kn-” Her sentence was cut short by the phone being slammed into its holder

⋆.ೃ࿔*

A car horn signaled you from in front of the house. You dragged your two bags out front. There you were greeted by good hair Steve and Nance. Steve popped open the trunk and took your bags from you. Nancy pulled you into a tight hug, greeting you. You hopped in the van, being met with your favorite fake brother Dustin.

“Hey kid”

“Wassup!”

“So how’s geek camp?”

“Shut up..”

“Hey! It was just a question”

You leaned back in your seat and ripped off the tiny backpack you’ve brought along. You pulled out a pack of gushers and your walkman; preloaded with the best mixtape ever. You rip open the pack of fruit snacks and practically shove all of them in your mouth. The noise from the outside world was shut out by the blasting music on your headphones.

They group drove around the neighborhood for a bit, picking up members. So far it seemed like everyone was here. Suddenly, the van makes a stop in front of a trailer. You slid your headphones down your next and peaked out the window.

“And who lives here?”

Harrington blared the horn twice before shouting out his window. Out of the trailer, stumbled a tall pale metal head with pasty white skin and long dark hair. His curls were all over the place; like he’d just rolled out of bed. He held a duffel bag which had black sabbath written on it in bold purple letters. He hauled the bag into the trunk and made his way to the side of the van. Once he opened the door, he froze. Stood staring at you before looking at Steve. Steve sighed and leaned towards the back of the car.

“Eddie this is y/n, y/n this is Eddie”

“Sup..” You greeted

“Hey” Eddie nodded as he climbed into the van. He took his seat next to you. He greeted everyone then directed his attention to the window.

⋆.ೃ࿔*

Steve parked the van in an empty spot in the small parking lot. Everyone hopped out and stretched. They all made their way inside of the rest stop and dispersed. That left you and Eddie together. You made your way to the snack aisle, he followed close behind like a little puppy.

“So how do you know the group?”

“School.. plus me and Nance have been friends since diapers” You answered

“Then why haven’t I seen you”

He leaned against the shelf of chips, causing a few to fall. He scrambled to pick them up and put them back. He went back to standing against the shelf. You gave him a glare before shuffling through your snack options.

“Maybe because you’re never in class, Munson.. Had to do our history project by myself”

“Shit my bad”

“Yeah, your bad”

He huffed and continued to follow you through the aisles. His attention was grabbed by the brightly colored drink machine. He nodded to himself before turning back to you.

“Make it up to you by buying you a slushie?”

“Deal”

The two of you rounded the corner, making your way to the machine. Eddie grabbed a medium and presented it to you, seemingly asking for permission. You nodded and watched as he looked over the flavors.

“Did you say coke or cherry?”

“I didn’t.. Coke”

He nodded at your choice and filled up the cup, dolloping the frozen liquid to top it off. He placed the lid on and stuck a straw in. He handed you the cup, to which you immediately took a sip. You gazed up at him; looking through your lashes. You pulled away from the cup and walked over to the counter. You placed your snacks and the slush on the counter.

“Snacks on me, slush on him”

⋆.ೃ࿔*

The van finally pulled into the campsite. Everyone piled out and took in their surroundings. Eddie and Steve unpacked the trunk, handing all the supplies to Nancy, Robin, and you. You guys placed it down onto the picnic table and began to set up everything. The boys placed down the bags and set up the 4 tents. The kids quickly claimed their tents; the boys in one, Robin and the girls in another. That left Nancy and Steve together and you and Eddie. You let out a nervous laugh as you notice the pairing.

“I think you guys made a mistake”

“Nope, everyone’s paired just fine” Steve answered

“Yet me and him are sharing a tent”

“Well you guys are the only two left without a tent”

You pinched the bridge of your nose in frustration. You paced through your thoughts before you finally came up with a reasonable solution. You grabbed onto Nancy’s hands and pouted at her.

“Let me stay with you and Steve”

“Oh honey, You don’t wanna share a tent with me and Steve” She reassured you

“First of all, Ew.. Second of all, you guys suck”

Nancy patted your back and pushed you off towards the tent. You scoffed and looked back at Eddie in defeat. He shook his head and wrapped his arm around you and led you to the tent. Once you made it there, you immediately dropped your bags and began to set up your mattress. Eddie flopped onto his side and let out a loud groan.

“This is so much more comfortable than the fucking car”

“Yea.. So comfortable” You said sarcastically

“Hey! I’m not that bad, Princess”

“Whatever”

⋆.ೃ࿔

The group sat around the campfire, just catching up. You sat down holding the supplies to make s’mores. You handed them out to everyone around you. The kids excitedly put together their s’mores, as the adults whispered to each other . You guys all whispered agreements to each other before turning to the kids.

“Alright, story time bitches!” Steve announced

They all perched up on their seats, excited for whatever story you’re about to tell. You sat on the edge of your seat, the fire being the only good source of light. A sinister grin painted across your face.

“There was a woman; named Abby, who lived alone in her home. All her former roommates complained about something dark and sinister going on in the house. Abby never knew what they were talking about until one dark summer”

Already, the kids and even the rest of the adults began looking around the area. When they all realized just how dark it was around them, they all huddled together.

“It was bedtime for Abby. She did her nightly routine of brushing her teeth and getting into her pajamas. Finally, she reached her final step; turning off all the lights in the house. As she walked to her bedroom, she shut off every light on her way there. Once she got to the final switch, she sensed something following her. She turned around and found nothing there. So she turned off the light. That’s when she turned off the light and found a figure standing at the end of the hallway. She kept flickering the light.. until.. IT WAS RIGHT IN HER FACE!”

The kids let out small screams and yelps. You felt Eddie jump a little beside you. You turned to him and gave him a confused look, to which he pretended to be fine. You shrugged it off and continued.

“She ran to her room, quickly shutting the door behind her. She kept her bedside lamp on and crawled into bed. Most of her room was dark but she figured her lamp would suffice. She took one last scan around the room before she felt at ease. She closed her eyes but once again, she felt watched. She opened her eyes and took a peak beside her. There she saw a pale woman with white out eyes, a cut out smile, and sharp fangs. The creature pressed the button on the lamp and.. LIGHTS OUT!”

Suddenly, the fire had gone out, leaving the campsite pitch dark. The kids quickly jumped from their seats and rushed into their tents. The adults all laughed and went their separate ways; into their tents. You and Eddie settled down and laid down; backs facing each. It was silent as you both tried to sleep. There was a shuffling coming from Eddie’s side. You turned towards him and found him facing you.

“What?”

“I’m scared”

“It was just a story, Eddie”

“We’ll it must’ve been a really good fucking story cause now i’m scared”

“Okay, what do you want?”

“Can you hold me?”

You rolled your eyes at him and scooted over, closer to him. You opened your arms wide. He moved into you and settled into your embrace. You wrapped your arms around him loosely. You huffed and closed your eyes, kinda enjoying this.

“You need to grow up”

“Fuck off”

⋆.ೃ࿔*

Your tent began to unzip from the outside. In peeked Dustin, not fully comprehending yours and Eddie’s tangled sleeping bodies.

“Good morn- AHHHH”

Dustin quickly rushed out of the tent, leaving your tent slightly unzipped. His screams and the light peeking through woke you up. You sat up quickly and shook Eddie awake.

“Fuck off” He groaned

“Wake up asshole”

You got up and slipped on a pair of your boots. You stepped out of the tent, met with a lot of stares. You shake your head and sit at the picnic table. Nance took the spot next to you.

“So are you and him like a-”

“NO! jeez.. I just met the guy”

“But you were-”

“He was being a total pussy after the campfire.. so he asked me to like cuddle”

She scoffed and got up from her seat, walking over to Steve who was cooking up breakfast. Eddie walked out of the tent in a white tank and some low-hanging pajama pants. You watched his figure as he walked past. He made his way over to the group of boys and began to mess with them; chasing them around. Nancy placed a plate of sausages and pancakes in front of you.

“Don’t get in too deep”

“Don’t plan on it”

⋆.ೃ࿔*

“Goodnight guys!”

Everyone headed into their tents for the night. You headed off into the woods with a pre-rolled joint. Once you’ve headed far enough, you leaned against the tree and lit your joint. You took a pull, inhaling and exhaling. The forest was extremely dark. Only the moon and the cherry of your joint providing a small amount of light. The wind made a sort of creepy whistling noise. Suddenly, a stick snapped. You looked around and were greeted by Eddie. You jumped back in fright.

“Holy shit! What are you doing here?”

“I saw you were rolling a joint, and no one else around here smokes but you and me”

You gave him a glare before passing the joint over to him. He took a pull and blew the smoke into your face. You punched his arm and snatched the joint from him.

“So why didn’t you go to bed?”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I asked you first” He nudged you

“Needed to clear my head”

“From?”

You scoffed a took a second to gather your thoughts

“Relationship shit”

“Breakup?”

“Yea..”

“I feel you”

He took the joint from you and took a large pull before carrying on

“So what’s your damage?” He said while holding in the smoke. He exhaled and leaned against the tree next to you. You followed suit, standing rather close to you.

“Cheated with his coworker.. Caught them when i surprised him at work”

“Yeesh” He patted your shoulder

“How ‘bout yours?”

“Y’know Chrissy?”

“You dated that priss?”

He chuckled and took another pull of the joint before passing the last bit of it to you.

“Well, turns out she was only using me to get back with Carver; and when it worked I was left in the dust”

You both sat in silence for a moment, a comfortable silence. Occasionally, you would give each other glances. You tossed down the end of the joint and put it out. You looked over at Eddie for a second before running down a path. Eddie yelled at you and chased behind.

“Where the fuck are you going!” Concern soaking his voice

“Come on!”

“This path is steep, Slow down!”

Eddie continued to chase you down the hill, attempting not to twist an ankle or break a leg. Finally, you both got to the bottom. What stood in front of you was a large lake; in the shape of a heart, hence its name ‘lovers lake’. You walked over to the dock and placed down the items you had in your hands. You turned to Eddie, watching him hunched over; attempting to catch his breath.

“Don’t you ever.. do.. that- jesus fucking christ”

“Let’s go for a swim”

“What?”

He quickly set back up, being met with you stripping down. His eyes latched onto your figure. He didn’t even notice you caught him. You cleared your throat, catching his attention. He quickly turned away from you.

“Dude, it’s the same shit as a bikini.. come on”

He turned back around and watched as you dove straight into that lake. He quickly began to strip down to his boxers then follow after you; into the lake. It wasn’t as cold as either of you would’ve thought, it was actually pretty warm. The two of you floated around for a bit. Suddenly, Eddie was pulled out of his calm state by being splashed with water. He sat up and glared at you. He gave you a menacing smirk before splashing you. This resulted in a full out water war.

“Oh you fucker!”

“It’s pay back sweetheart!”

“Fuck off, Munson!”

You swam out of the lake and got back onto the shore. You sat on the sand and watched as Eddie caught up. He laid down next to you, attempting to catch his breath. He looked over to you and scoffed.

“You’re a pain in the ass, y’know that?”

“You hardly know me”

“Know you enough to know you’re a pain in the ass”

You slid closer and laid beside him. You admired the patterns of stars. You both just sat in a comfortable silence together. The two of you just took a moment, enjoying eachothers company. You both finally felt not so lonely.

⋆.ೃ࿔*

“Hey, can you pass me my shirt?”

Eddie tossed over your shirt and waited for you to finish getting dressed. The sky was beginning to get lighter as the morning approached. The two of you grabbed the rest of your stuff and headed out to the campsite. You found your fingers intertwined with his as he led you up the hill. The two of you finally reached your tent. He tried his best to get the two of you in quietly. He quickly closed the zipper and flopped down onto his mattress. He turned to you and patted the empty spot next to him. You quickly shuffled over to him and laid into his embrace. His arm laid down onto your waist and pulled you in closer. The lack of energy caught up to the two of you, causing you both to drift off.

Taglist🔖 (open)

@mystars123 @chickennug90 @gaysludge @edenfrompluto

[alexiskk]

Hiiii tlou anon here!! Your works are sooo good and since u asked for Tlou suggestions, I was wondering if you could do a fic where Tommy and Ellie are talking and Tommy reveals that Joel’s ticklish. Which leads to Ellie trying it out of course, and Joel getting revenge on the both of them for messing with him! I look forward to seeing what you’ll write and I’ll probably end up giving you more suggestions in the future. :) -tlou anon

hi anon! this is such a good suggestion, im so glad tlou has brought me back in the mood to write, definitely send more if you have em! Also I backed off on lee!tommy a bit but I hope u still enjoy🫶

word count: uhhh kinda long

❗️tw: shoot/killing a deer, slight mention of blood

also all Joel and Ellie pairings in any of my fics are in a parental/child relationship anything else is gross so pls don’t think I ever mean to cross that boundary. ok thx

Not so Funny Now

Thud

“Damnn El” Tommy blew out an impressed sigh as he looked over in proud amazement at the girl posted with her barrel rested on the tree trunk beside him.

“I guess my brother is good for something, he taught you howda’ shoot like a bat outta hell”

Ellie smirked as she stood up and rested the rifle on her shoulder, almost knocking herself over in the process, but she seemed to play it off successfully. They were both watching the deer Ellie had shot about 20 yards in front of them struggle to regain it’s footing, after all, she had shot it square in it’s neck, so it was only a matter of time before it was down for the count. Lucky for them, the deer only managed to make it a few more yards before not so gracefully plumping back into the snow.

Ellie had found some of her time in Jackson to be restless, as she hadn’t quite found anyone her age that she clicked with quite yet. Tommy especially picked up on this restless energy due to numerous nights of listening to Joel’s complaints about “Too many godamn questions”. So, Tommy thought inviting her on some of the hunting trips would help her blow off some steam, and more importantly, tire her out. Although, he was especially fond of days like today, where the rest of the crew was too busy off with the cattle and stable duties, so he and Ellie had the day left to themselves.

The pair had made their way over to the deer as Tommy began sizing up their catch.

“A buck Ellie not too shabby” He gestured to the pedicles on top of the deer’s head.

“Hey, what can I say, I’m a natural” Ellie had a sarcastic tone as she awkwardly threw up one of her hands while the other stayed securely on the rifle. It was only her 6th or 7th trip out here but she learned to pull her weight, although she couldn’t help but hide a smug smile as she realized this was the biggest deer she’d ever shot.

“No seriously, you gotta great shot kid”

“Awh quit fawnin’ over me Tommy” Ellie held her breath as Tommy paused and slowly looked up at her, to her surprise, he bursted out a chuckled laugh in response to her pun before even she could. He shook his head and looked back to the buck.

“You duhumass help me pull”

Ellie let some of her own laughter escape as she walked towards and placed her hand around an antler while Tommy grabbed the other. They both began dragging it through the snow, leaving a trail of dirt and blood behind them.

“Hey you know what a deers favorite bread is right?” Ellie had her eyes down at the snow in front of her, slightly out of breath from the trek they were making back to the horses.

Tommy smiled as he continued to entertain her gimmicks “Now what might that be?”

“Dude, it’s Sour doe, duh”

While less caught off guard, Tommy still found himself breathing out a few chuckles in response to the teenager’s terrible puns. Ellie of course had a huge grin plastered across her face, this wasn’t the audience she was typically used to.

“What, so you’ve got these memorized?”

“Nah these are my own, but I have plenty memorized from the book if that’s what your looking for.”

The pair dropped the buck as they had finally made it back to their horses. Tommy began preparing one of the horses to carry the load from the day.

“Ah is this that famous joke book i’ve heard so much about?”

“Whatt Joel mentioned the book to you?” Ellie still slightly out of breath looked up from the snow. She knew Joel cared about her, but there were very few days he actually enjoyed the joke book coming out of her pack.

“Just a few times” Tommy smiled with his back to Ellie. He was extremely caught off guard a few weeks ago when Joel had repeated one of the jokes Ellie had told him earlier in the day, he didn’t think he knew how to joke like that anymore.

“Did he also mention he fucking hates joy because I can barely get him to crack with it”

“What he wouldn’t laugh?”

“Barely”

“Yeahh that sounds like my brother”

Tommy gesture for Ellie to help him in loading the buck up onto the horse. They struggled getting it off the ground due to its size, but finally got it up and secured it before they both hopped on to the other horse they brought with them. Tommy gave Ellie the reins of the other horse to lead from the seat behind him and they began their trek back into town.

“ Was he always like that? ya know, all ‘ugh im joel, im tough and grumpy and i hate laughter’” Ellie had he arms flexed inward as she lowered her voice to imitate Joel.

“U-Uh he’s kinda been that way since i can remember kid, although Sarah was one to remind me of how ticklish the bastard is”

Tommy didn’t seem to bat an eye at the statement he just uttered, while Ellie sat in shock behind him.

“W-what did you say?” an astonished grin stayed on her face, this was the best yet most unexpected piece of news she could have asked for. If that asshole won’t laugh at her jokes, she’d just have to find other ways to make him laugh.

“Huh? Oh yeah Joel’s terrible, if he wasn’t so goddamn strong i’d torture em’ everyday just to see the old fucker squirm.” Tommy chuckled as memories of him and his older brother during childhood flooded in n out of his memory.

He then turned around to see a plotting expression on Ellie’s face.

“Hey if your thinkin what I think your thinkin, leave me out of it, heaven forbid he found out I told you”

“Hmm fair enough” Ellie replied and seemed to let it go as her and Tommy mostly sat in silence for the rest of the ride back, but despite his warnings, she couldn’t help but imagine his older brother in stitches, and strength be dammed she was eager to make the old man laugh, any way she could.

With a week an a half gone by, Ellie had practically forgotten her whole plans to make Joel laugh. Between hunting trips, chores around the stables, and helping out Maria, there was no real time for her to even think about it. But, it happen to be a rare lazy Sunday for both her and Joel, with neither of the having duties to attend to today. Although in the Miller house, there was no such thing as a “lazy day”, as Joel found himself up underneath the kitchen sink while Ellie, of course, found herself perpetually bothering him.

“So what is it your trying to do?”

Joel sighed, “ For the 4th time kid, the pipe is leakin’ and I can’t figure out why it ain’t workin’ when I fixed this shit 2 weeks ago.” Joel let out a frustrated grunt as he attempted to turn a wrench on the pipe letting out a perpetual drip every few seconds. Although the frustration in his voice was mostly from annoyance from Ellie’s constant pestering.

“I thought contractors were supposed to be good at this kinda stuff.” Ellie stood with her arms crossed, onlooking Joel as he had himself wedged up with most of his upper body underneath the sink and head lamp on to light his view of the pipe.

Joel sighed once again. “This is plumbing, not contractor stuff”

“Oh, so you just suck at plumbing?”

“Would you just—just go find something else to do” Joel didn’t even break eye contact with the pipe, he was just done with Ellie’s constant nagging, especially on what was supposed to be his day off.

Ellie rocked back and forth on her heels.

“Alright, but just remember you asked for this” she rushed over to her backpack that laid on the couch to pull out a beaten up copy of No Pun Intended: Volume Too. She then rapidly flipped the pages as she walked back into the kitchen to join Joel once again.

“Hey Joel, why shouldn’t you trust stairs?”

Joel muttered under his breath “Here we fucking go again”

Ellie didn’t dare wait for a proper response.

“Because their always, up to something!” Ellies over exaggerated response to the joke left her with a huge grin on her face, but she was getting nothing from Joel except grunts from his fight with the kitchen sink, so her attempts must continue.

“Ok ok, you’ll like this one. I used to hate facial hair. But thennnnnn it grew on me!” She once again ended in her iconic cheeky grin, but Joel was already exhausted of her none sense two jokes in.

“Ellie, this is actually worse than torture, just-please go make yourself busy elsewhere” His half joking half absolutely serious tone seemed to discourage Ellie’s spirit a bit, but something clicked in her as he spoke, and that devious plotting expression returned to her face.

Ellie, being the spitfire that she is, took no consideration into what the consequences of her actions would be, but as she inched closer and closer to Joel, the only thoughts in her head was how much fun she was about to have.

“Geez talk about torture Joel, i think you might onto something”

She had finally positioned her self right next to Joel’s body underneath the sink and that’s when she attacked.

“Ellie what the hell are yoUOHC-”

She dove her hands around the thighs of the man wedged up underneath the sink. She could barely get a good grip with his thick work jeans getting in the way, but she managed her best to squeeze right above both of his kneecaps as hard as she could. Joel caught his words and incoming laughter in his mouth and managed to swallow them all, leaving only awkward grunts to escape him. His legs began to twitch, trying to fight off the teen with her hands wrenched around his legs. He began to attempt to scoot out from underneath the sink to properly defend himself when Ellie decide to switch her tactics.

“You lihitle sHiHIHIT DOHONT-”

Panicking after seeing Joel’s initial response, Ellie dove her hands into his sides and she soon began to smile. With his head in close proximity to the pipe, Joel couldn’t risk any aggressive moves escaping from underneath the sink, but luckily for Ellie this also meant he could escape the onslaught of tickles she was dealing him at the moment. Ellie’s smile only grew as she now realized just how ticklish Joel was, watching as his stiffened grunted outbursts began to turn into actual resentful laughter under her touch. He even attempted to push Ellie away with what little strength he had at this point, but Ellie was quite quick, repositioning herself up and around the man to never get caught. From what Tommy had told her, she knew there was no one way she could give Joel a break without him retaliating, so she had her hands digging into the old man at super sonic speed, probably only worsening the experience for Joel himself.

“You motherfucker why don’t you laugh at my jokes like this?”

“Y-YoHoUH ASAHASS”

“That’s nhot an answer Joel!”

Joel could simply not handle the torment from Ellie. Being pinned as well as completely caught off guard caused the man to begin to succumb to the electrified touch of Ellie, each poke and kneed into the man’s sides causing a wheezing laugh that would occasionally break out into genuine giggles when he couldn’t tough it out any longer.

Ellie found herself giggling along side him, she had never seen Joel quiet this joyful, and there was no way in hell she’d ever let him forget this.

Joel in his fight against his sensitivity took a calculated swipe at Ellie, in a panicked response she threw her hands underneath the man’s arms to which his body responded with jerks and jolts as he-

Dung

“Oho shihitttt”

Ellie’s smile slowly faded as put an abrupt stop to her torture and scooted a few feet back on the floor as the man underneath the sink was now completely vertical and rubbing the side of his head with his hand after obliterating it into the pipe he was working on, which unfortunately, was still dripping in a rhythm. They both sat in a tense silence. Ellie unaware how badly she might have hurt Joel, didn’t know how to comfort or even help him at this point.

After what felt like years, Joel began to slowly pull himself up and out from underneath the sink, scoffing or grunting with pain with each heavy movement until finally slumping his upper body up against the lower cabinets. With his hand burying his face, even though Ellie was facing him their was no way to tell just how hurt, or more importantly for Ellie, just how angry he was. The pair sat facing each other on the kitchen floor, continuing their tense silence until Ellie just couldn’t take it any longer.

“Hey, Joel i-i’m real sorry I didn-”

“Could y-you j-just grab some ice” Joel cut her off more gruffly than usual, but he didn’t look up or move his hand.

“Y-yeah of course ” Ellie had a doe-like expression on her face as she scurried to her feet and grabbed a pack of ice from the freezer. She feared she may have pushed too far.

She knelt down next to him and he gestured for her to place it against the right side of his head and she obliged. Ellie watch as Joel went to take it from her hand when all of a sudden, he jerked to grab her wrist instead.

“hEYA-UH!”

Im what seemed like miliseconds, Joel whipped the teen by her wrist around him, grabbing her other arm and whipping himself around in order to place her firmly up against the cabinets where he once sat. He then grabbed her upper biceps as if he was to hold her in place there.

“ WHAt the fuck Joel I thought you were fucking hurt!” Ellie’s genuinely shocked and angry tone was followed by kicking and attempts at squirming away but Tommy was unfortunately right, that asshole is way too strong.

“What the hell do you think your doing-g-gettin’ on me like that?” Joels tone was stern but he seemed to stumble over his words a bit, almost as if he was a bit embarrassed over his vulnerability with Ellie just minutes prior.

Ellie still frustratedly trying to shake Joel’s hands off her to no avail replied.

“Well you’re such a grump how the hell else am I supposed to get you to- i dunno have fucking joy?” After she finished her sentence she slowly brought her struggles to a stop and look up with that memorable cheeky grin.

“You gotta admitttttt it was prehettty fuhunny Johoel ” She sillily shook her shoulders back and forth as she giggled at the recent memories of Joel in stitches underneath the sink.

For some reason, it never registered in Ellie’s silly little brain that Joel would try to get her back somehow. The pair didn’t have much of a history of physical touch in their relationship so Ellie was half expecting a lecture on how just how unsafe what she just did was. After all, other than that one incident in the bunks with Riley, she couldn’t even remember the last time she was tickled.

At this point in time however, Joel’s embarrassment was currently being used for fueling his rage towards the rascal he was holding up against the cabinets, and a disapproving frown began to slip at the edges as Joel developed his own plotting expression. Ellie watched him, still giggling but an inherent sense of panic began flooding her senses, for she knew nothing good could come of this look.

Joel sighed and shook his head.

“Yeahh kid maybe it was, but not nearly as funny as this is about to be.”

Joel let go of his grip on Ellie’s arms to dig his hands into her stomach, to which she responded with a flurry of giggles pouring out of her mouth.

“jOHOHEHEHEL”.

Ellie doubled over as Joel’s hands kneeded at her stomach and sides, there was little strength in her to push the oaf’s hands away and even if their was, Joel had no plans of stopping anytime soon.

“OkOKAHOKAAHAY NOHO ENOUGAHA YOUHU DIHIHICK”

There was constant routine of Sarah ending arguements or fights by leaping onto her father and tickling him until he gave in, it was one of the only things she could hold over his head. Joel obviously let her, he saw how happy it make her to see him loose his mind over her hands squeezing into his ribs. But in the Miller household, revenge is always in order, and just like Sarah giggling absurdly on the couch from Joel’s attacks, Ellie now found herself doing the same on the kitchen floor.

“ IHI CAHAHNAHT” She could barely get the words out in between the laughter as she was curling herself up into a ball on the floor. Joel’s hands were now squeezing at rapid speeds, all the way up to her armpits and all the way down to her hipbones. Ellie’s eyes where glued shut and snickers and snorts began escaping her as all her strength had run out.

“Nohot so funny now kid huh?” Joel’s grin was cheekier than ever, he loved to see Ellie this giggly, this was her childishness at 100%.

“IHIHI DIHE AHAHA JOEHEHAEL”

Ellie was almost wheezing at this point, Joel had began attacking her knees the same way she did him, where she felt each squeeze jolt throughout her-

Creakkkk-Slam

Tommy looked with wide eyes at the pair on the floor as shut the front door behind him. He had brought over beers for Boggle night at the Miller household when he saw the sight of a giggly Ellie still curled up in a ball as well as his brother, who had stopped his torture and was now giving his brother a stern look.

“You got somethin’ to say to me?” Joel asked his brother with a knowing look at Ellie and then back to him. He was also rubbing Ellies back at this point as she continued to sputter out a few stray giggles, but he had a slight inclination that Ellie didn’t just decide to attack him on her own terms.

Tommy gulped as he walked in slowly and placed the drinks on the table. He took a step back, never breaking eye contact with his brother.

“Uhh Nope”

In blur, Tommy bolted out of the kitchen and sprinted up the stairs. Joel red with anger immediately got to his feet and followed close after.

“GET BACK HERE ASSHOLE”

Ellie finally pulled herself up from the floor as she heard a thud, followed by muffled manly giggles from upstairs.

So much for a lazy Sunday.

[z0-ne]

Omg hi😄 Honestly there's not a lot of dragon ball x reader and I haven't watched dragon ball for a while but now I'm back for it, so I'll just request this😌😔 So i don't know if you have watched Tokyo revengers but, let's just say that the reader has Takemichi Hanagaki ablitiy so she can time leap. And so the dragon ball characters find out about that and they find out about the other future timelines and how when she changes something in the past the future can also change and so what are their thoughts on this?

Btw if you haven't watched Tokyo revengers you can just ignore this!

Or you can search it up on Google and search up the time leaping power of takemichi

[I hope you don't mind, but I made this a slight headcanon! Short reactions for multiple characters, and I'll try to include every main characte in the dragon ball z series!]

WHAT IF...: What if (reader) could time travel just like Takemichi from Tokyo revengers? Includes: Future Trunks, Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Krillin, and Piccolo!

FUTURE TRUNKS

Trunks knew after his parents, but only because you stole his time machine to keep going back to whichever date you found necessary and got caught.

He wasn't exactly happy about it at first though.

"You STOLE my time machine!?"

"Yes- but please just lemme explain-"

"YOU STOLE MY TIME MACHINE??!"

This whole argument was actually because he mentioned another stolen time machine, and thought it was yet another cell. Without thinking, you told him that you "burrowed" It.

It did not help that the time machine was broken when you "gave it back" "For a good reason!"

You actually did do it for a good reason. Thanks to the time machine, you found a temporary loophole in your ability, and you were able to save a lot more people.

"What reason is a good reason for stealing my time machine!? I need that thing!" "Well it's not like I'm really using it for bad stuff! It's only temporary! Plus your mom is making me one and its almost done! I just need this for right now!"

"(Name). Explain."

You could understand why he was upset, so you went ahead and told him what you needed it for, and even went as far as to explain your ability to him.

"Wait-You can time travel- And you still stole my time machine!?" "Damnit Trunks did you not hear me explain why!?"

"YOU ALMOST BROKE IT!"

It took a little while to get him to calm down and actually listen to you.

BULMA

Bulma was a lot more understanding than her son and husband even if telling her was actually done on accident.

You let it slip while you were asking her about the time machine and she asked you what it was for. Then you went on a rant about how you stole her sons machine for your own powers to work.

"You can time travel?" "Yep." There was a short pause before she put on her face cover and got back to building the time machine you had asked her for when you first got here.

"Neat." You were relieved to hear that she was so calm about the whole thing, but eventually she put the blow tourch down and lifted her face cover up to look at you again.

"Wait a sec- If you can time travel, why did you need Trunks's time machine and one of your own?" "Well- actually I need them because I found a loophole in my ability. If I use this time machine, I can go back to any time and then go back twelve years in the past as long as I'm with ___"

"So ____ is that person you were with earlier? I'm guessing that makes you both pretty important, to y'know. The planet." "Yep."

Then she went back to her work pretty quickly, and kept making conversation until she found out about everything she wanted to know about your powers.

"Alright, I'll finish this soon. Did you already tell the others?" " Well I mean- I accidentally kinda told Vegeta so I'm probably gonna have to talk to him about this in full detail later, but the other fighters? I didn't really plan on it."

"Well you're gonna have to tell Trunks soon Honey. He's paranoid about letting in another cell."

VEGETA

He was actually the first to know, and had a better reaction than his son.

You ran up to him while looking for Bulma, and asked him wehre she could've been earlier so you could ask her for the time machine that you stole from future Trunks.

"Hey Vegeta! Have you seen Bulma? I need her to build me a time machine!"

You spoke as fast as you flew over there when ____ mentioned the possibility of the loophole in your time travel, and even mentioned Bulma in the process so you rushed over without much thought of a cover up. "What- The woman is probably inside. Why? So you can play time hero with the boy?"

He mocked despite hardly being able to fully process a lot of what you said because of how quickly you were speaking, but you dismissed it and instead hugged him quickly.

His face flushed red from embarassment after you let him go and he snatched away.

"Thanks, you're a saint! And no! I found a loophole in my time travel ability that I'm...not..supposed to tell you about-"

"...What-" "Bye Veggie!" You ran as fast as you could as he was standing there stuck, long enough for you to make it to Bulma's lab and shut the door behind you.

"WHAT!?"

Once you explained it to him later and he called you a nuisance, but in his defense it just meant he would have another person to carry in fights.

GOKU

This was yet another accident.

You didn't want to tell him at the moment because of what happened with vegeta, but luckily for you it's goku. He reacted a little better than vegeta did.

"So why's Trunks so mad at you?" He questioned as he followed close behind you while you were running from Trunks, who's time machine you needed to "borrow" again.

"I needed his time machine!"

"Huh? For what? I thought we only had the cell issue?"

He was understandably confused, and asked the most questions.

In the heat of the moment, considering Trunks was far behind but it wouldn't take much for him to catch up if you got distracted and slowed down, you blurted out answers instead of thinking about them. "No, something else happens later that I've gotta stop!"

"But isn't that Trunks's job?"

Once again, you were trying to keep as far away from Trunks as you possibly could so you could make it to the island in time to get away with the time machine, "Trunks can't time travel like I can!"

"You can time travel?"

"NO"

Once explained in detail, Goku understood but asked a bit more questions than you expected especially without _____. Who of course, has way more information than you do.

PICCOLO

Well of course he knew, he's the only one you would trust to keep a secret. However you didn't even tell him, _____ did!

It was a shock considering they chastised you for letting just about everyone on the team know. However its reliving that Piccolo knows, as the only one who actually took the time to sit and listen to the benefits and non-benefits of the ability.

"you and ______ Should stick close to each other, if we loose either one of you it could mean trouble" He says in his usual stern tone, and honestly you get it. It'd be troublesome to loose the only two good time travelers who can help without getting into some time trouble.

He understands you're a good fighter but you're also an asset and now a liability, so no matter how much he's in your corner you know he won't hesitate to make you stay behind if he feels its too dangerous for you to go with the rest of them.

KRILLIN

"I can time travel." You just decided it was about time to let him know. You guys were alone, and you got sick of him hinting at you and _____ dating.

"H-Huh?" He asked, his confusion clear as he blinks as if that's somehow gonna fix his hearing or maybe he'll blink the confusion out his head who knows.

"I can time travel with ______. That's why we're always together, we have to be" your tone sounds a bit neutral, and you answered him a bit too fast but you wanted to get your point across as you knelt down to lift a pile of rubble to look for a dragon ball. "We aren't dating, we can time travel we just cant without the other and a few more rules."

"S-so this whole time you guys could-"

"Time travel. yes Krillin." You answer him with a sigh as you stand up and walk over to check somewhere else to find the dragon ball, hopefully you can find it soon so you guys can head back.

"Oh man, this whole time I thought you guys were a thing! Or at least you and Trunks" He mumbles the last part.

"What?"

[salty-an-disco]

Drew that thing I was thinking about- now, what is this about Mae and Gregg and Cold and Contrarian parallels? (Looking at you very politely)

Him melting aomsksjdxkdoke. so cute <3 Augh. Thank you so much for the contrahero, I’m love them T^T

Now– onto the Gregg&Mae and Contra&Cold parallels– *cracks knuckles* (warning: long ramble ahead)

The most obvious similarities is how dismissive all these characters are of danger and death. One of the first things Mae does when she comes back to town is climb to the wire lines so that she can go over a fence. And before that, she almost got crushed by some tree trunks and this is her reaction:

And on your first encounter (and Mae’s reencounter) with Gregg, those two easily fall back into a familiar bit: listing off horrible things that could’ve happened to the other one, seemingly trying to one-up each other in tragedy levels (that ‘too bad…’ game). To these two, danger, risk of death and injury, it’s all entertainment. Something fun to do with your closest friend. Each of Gregg’s hang out is a dangerous and illegal activity that Mae is happy to go along with (smashing lightbulbs with bats, firing a crossbow on a statue or birds, the knife fight, stealing an animatronic, etc, etc, etc).

Just from this, you can already see where the parallels start. Much like Mae and Gregg, Cold and Contrarian also don’t really care for danger, not really believing consequences are a thing, and going along with whatever would be the most fun.

There’s a very crucial difference though, and it’s that Mae and Gregg are actual people that grew up in a community full of other people; and I think looking into their character arcs more thoroughly could really help to see how Contra and Cold could develop in the real world, or even the kinda people they could be if they were always humans.

First, Gregg:

When you first meet him in Snack Falcon, he’s incredibly energetic and excited to see Mae, happy stimming, screaming, and immediately deciding they need to do a band practice. Those are the first things we learn about Gregg: energetic, impulsive, has a bit of a morbid humor, and really missed Mae. And after meeting with the rest of the band, Bea and Angus, he’s apparently the only one there who missed Mae; both Angus and Bea seem more bemused than enthusiastic, and Casey (someone both Mae and Gregg mention fondly) is nowhere to be found.

That immediately presents Gregg as Mae’s main support, besides her parents, back in Possum Springs, since everyone in town seems to dislike and distrust her for one thing or another she did in the past, but Gregg never seem to care. He’s on the same wavelength as Mae, and because of that, Mae thinks fondly of him. In the midst of all the mess that was dropping out of college and going back home, hanging out with Gregg, doing stupid and illegal shit is a reliable, and maybe even cathartic, source of comfort.

At least– that’s what Mae was hoping for. But Gregg is planning to move out with his boyfriend, Angus, sometime in the future.

And when you think about it– that’s perfectly fair. Gregg is a queer man, heavily implied to be neurodivergent (bipolar is mentioned at one point in the game), living in a conservative small town; of course he’d want to leave as soon as he could. And it’s not like it’s easy for him either, he knows what kind struggles they’ll run it, Possum Springs may suck, but it’s familiar and where everyone he knows is. But he HAS to go, it’s the only way he can grow. (Let’s shelf this for later for now).

And not only that, but much like Mae, Gregg’s also dealing with his own mental issues.

With some more prodding from Mae, we learn that Gregg and Angus have been arguing, and it’s really heaving on Gregg, making him feel like he’s not good enough. Paraphrasing his own words– “Maybe I’m inconsiderate. Maybe I’m not good. I’m just parking lot trash. I’ve known it all along; I’ve got no future if it was just me.”

And that’s what he’s scared of. Being with Angus gave him hope and a future to look forward to, when before, he was most likely just trudging along and whatever happens, happens, much like Mae is doing for the entire game. But now, he has a future, and someone he cares for. And he’s terrified of screwing it up, of losting the one thing, failing the one person he so badly wants to do right by (*gestures vaguely towards ContraHero*).

And Mae doesn’t really understand. She doesn’t know what it is like to have something to worry about, or a future to prepare for. She went to college, yes, but her heart was never in it, she only went along with what her parents wanted and as soon as it got too bad for her to handle, she dipped and went back to Possum Springs, where everythings more simple. Except, it isn’t anymore. Bea hates her, her parents are disappointed in hee, Gregg will be moving out soon, and everyone remembers what she did to that kid in the softball game.

Speaking of–

Let’s talk about Mae’s reputation in the town.

(sounds familiar........ 🤔)

We immediately catch up that Mae was a troublemaker in town by how everyone talks to her. Her aunt mall cop already sounds exhausted (if unsurprised) after seeing that Mae jumped over the fence instead of going the longer way around to the town’s entrance. Mae is known for stealing, vandalizing, causing trouble to the elders, and, more predominantly, of sending a kid to the hospital back in high school (where the ‘killer’ nickname came from). That last one is treated as one of the main mysteries from Mae’s past, together with the reason she dropped out of college. No one in town, and we, the player, really know why she did that, and Lori M (the rat girl up there^) mention their mothers warning kids to stay away from her in case she snaps again.

Mae, for the most part, acts unaffected by this, and seems to embrace her troublemaker status; in a confrontation with an old man that was directly affected by Mae’s behavior in the past, you have the option to double down and insult him back, basically confirming his statement about how Mae hasn’t changed, and is still just the same kid that’s always searching for trouble.

And, yeah, during the day, with other people around, Mae acts like it doesn’t affect her, says she enjoys being seen as a miscreant, and plays into what everyone expects of her. But alone? There’s this very poignant scene where Mae is standing in front of a mirror, preparing for a party, where all her insecurities and self-consciousness comes to light:

(note: the other option you can choose in the second pic is: “You don’t like people. Clearly.”)

We see that not only is Mae self-conscious about her appearance, she DOES care about what people think. She craves connection and a community, that’s why she came back to Possum Springs, but for some reason, it seems like she just can’t hold on to a relationship for long before fucking up.

She’s impulsive, doesn’t have much of a filter, and struggles to understand other people’s perspectives. We see that clearly with Bea. It was Bea’s dream to go to college, but because of personal issues, she can’t; and Mae, someone who GOT that chance, simply threw it all away and dismissed it as ‘college just wasn’t for me’ upon coming back, and expects everything to be as it always was.

Mae isn’t an understanding person. She tries, and she really wants to help the people around her, but she just isn’t very good at understanding people, and will often run her mouth at the worst moments. Bea’s hangouts has some of the best (or worst, ig) examples of that. I’m not gonna get too deep into what happens, but, uhm. It gets BAD, and those moments can make you really unsympathetic towards Mae; but you gotta respect this game for not pulling its punches when showing off its protagonist’s worst traits (and honestly, it made me love Mae all the more, she’s so beautifully flawed).

You can see the familiarities to Cold? Struggle with understanding others, impulsive decisions made with the main goal of entertaining yourself, no sense of danger, disregard of own life, no filter– the main difference is that Mae is much more emotional and prone to snapping, but I feel like their core struggles are very similar.

I could go more into how Mae’s derealization is also very similar to how Cold views the world, but while Cold embraces that feeling as a reason to why you can disregard pain and consequences, that thought terrifies Mae and the kind of person that makes her (it doesn’t make her a bad person, btw, she’s mentally ill and traumatized, but ‘bad person’ is what she internalizes after being told so for so long), but anyway aaaaaaaaahhhhhh this got so long and pretty rambly akaksjsmsjd)djsjdj. Hopefully it made sense though? This has been turning around in my head for days now, glad to finally put it out.

[acoldsovereign]

I'm glad to see you back! I have a question, if I may ask. What inspired you to make (Ancient) Saiyan Culture? And would you say Maiz is a good example of it?

Subject Matter: Lore & world building // sender: anonymous // status--always open!

{{ This is so freaking old, like MONTHS old, dear stars above. I don't know who you are but whoever sent this, I hope you're still around! 😭 My bad--

Anyhoo!! Yes, you may! And thank you for your question(s)! What inspired me to create ASC/Ancient Saiyan Culture is a long story (one that I've shared I think about twice on here?) but the short of is this: I wanted to explore why Maiz (before I completely revised her for RP purposes, she was basically a fanfic/lore study OC for Saiyan lore) was the way she was. To do that, I strived to make an antihero character with some sympathetic undertones. Which meant that I had to explain her culture, the way she thinks, why she had troubles with Turles (the version I wrote), how Paragus was important to her as a makeshift father figure despite her initially disliking/hating him for personal reasons (PLEASE someone ask me about this, it was so sweet and heartbreaking. Can you tell I love the Saiyans so MUCH AUGH--) what foods she was used to, what made up her nightmares, fears, hopes, etc.

In a way, I started cooking up Saiyan Culture around her and then around the other Saiyan characters I was writing. Somehow though, I ended up with a vast world that eclipsed them.

And well, my best friend brought me to RP and the only character I thought about constantly was Maiz, so I broke her down and did my creative thing according to the needs of the RPC (basically I stalked/lurked on a lot of the accounts that I interact with these days--the same ones that I'm proudly mutuals with 💙). I noticed there was a lack of female Saiyans and a lack of particularly vicious Saiyans in general too, so Maiz ended up becoming this really cool and complex villainous/antagonistic/aggressive character who has little to no redeeming traits, funnily enough--though "redeeming qualities" depends on who you ask, I guess. (She's actually a good mom and an interesting romantic partner to have ) In the end, she ended up being a hit with everyone that's seen/read her stuff/interacted with her.

But speaking of her and the culture that surrounds her, you know what? Ironically enough, she is a decent example but at the same time, not the best even if she's an expert on it. (And yes, the hypocrisy is intentional on my end. Sometimes Maiz comes close to realizing it, and other times it goes over her head. She does deny things to rationalize her actions occasionally. Make of that what you will).

Ahem.

Ancient Saiyan Culture, at its core is all about community and teamwork--albeit taken to dark extremes due to Saiyan tribalism.* (And no, not all of it is dark, I digress).

(We see aspects of this in the franchise all throughout, sadly only in flashbacks or filler or whatever, but that's neither here or there. Again, I digress).* Individuality is celebrated but it wasn't emphasized because it didn't NEED to be, pre-Cold Family. Maiz excels at being an individual, but her main problem is that she denies personhood and understanding to other Races. Unless she likes them, or likes an individual from that Race. And even then, she's liable to treat them as a "token" until she gets better. (She does with long term exposure, but she'll still be Permanently Weird because she is a Stubborn Alien Lady™ with a Petty Streak).

The plot twist is: this line of thought + behaviors would be considered the Saiyan equivalent of 'sympathy'. Because the way she was taught was to spare nobody. Not even a child. But Maiz post-Genocide will spare people--but only if they are a nuisance that she thinks lowly of ( it's kinda how her and Jay's Future Trunks got started; the slowest burn in the universe / @burnxngslash), someone that she thinks is interesting or could be useful to her long term (the majority of her slaves and how she got her kingdoms/twelve planets), or because they amuse her in some way that she can't exactly put her finger on so it forces her to think further on if she really wanna kill them or not. Spoiler alert: She Does Not and Reasons May Vary (basically her and Thane's Future Trunks' dynamic right now / @hopefromadoomedtimeline. Listen they're complicated okay but they're working it out. Just know that she is Not Normal™ about him. He Makes Her Heart Nervous and She Doesn't Like It).

Point is: there are some aspects of the culture that Maiz doesn't exactly live up to, but it's her choice. Other times, it's because it's too painful (what community can you have when the only survivors of your Race are half breeds and some spread out males that are so far removed from the culture that it feels like you might as well be the only true survivor left?), or because it's something she doesn't agree with: killing off the weaker partner after reproduction for example.

Fun fact: For a very long time, Maiz dreaded the idea of being in an intimate relationship because she was afraid that a potential mate would see her blind eye as a defect and kill her off after having a baby with her. Weakness of any kind was ingrained in her at birth to be an unsavory thing, which partially fueled her viciousness as a childling. She wanted to live to adulthood. (She doesn't know that this is the main reason why she denies herself romantic and sexual feelings as an adult. All of this got repressed and forgotten about, post Genocide).

Also--this may come as a shock to you all--but Maiz, for all her high self esteem, doesn't actually see herself as super attractive. It's because back on Planet Vegeta, the beauty standards revolve around health, intelligence and physical ability. Her eye is more than enough to dock off several 'social'/beauty points even if her strength more than makes up for it. That, and even though she's a taller and more muscular version of her mother, she was indirectly taught that there are more 'beautiful' people out there. You'd never know this though because of how arrogant/rude/cruel/mean, etc she is and how she carries herself. (She forgets she's her mom spitting image too).

She also isn't deprecating about it (nor does she think about it so it wouldn't even make sense for me write it out unless I'm in a scene where that's the topic). Like, she's not UGLY, but she's not mid either? She sees herself as in between these two things.

I wanted to write more but you know, avoiding the whole "making her too sympathetic" thing is still going strong over here. Hopefully this paints a clear enough picture for you! Thanks again for the question anon!

[redphienix]

It's funny how I've only grown to love the transformations in dragon ball more and more over the years.

I used to hate SSJ3 because of the eyebrows, I used to hate SSJ4 for the weird monkey chest, now I literally vibrate when either come up because I fucking love them so much.

I still think 1.5 is the dumbest but it's kinda "supposed" to be the dumbest, so I give myself a pass lol

That transformation was so dumb to kid me that it made future trunks go from the coolest surprise character to the character I always look at and go "big buff idiot, fucking dumbass with his mega pecs, dunce."

He got a whole new arc in super all about him finding a new way to utilize strength and hope and a pseudo transformation / pseudo spirit bomb proxy where he wields the hope of the people as a sword and I still looked at him and thought "Dummy with his stupid swollen blue saiyan suit, fucking nimrod <3"

[dballzposting]

idk if trunks is a big music guy but ngl to me hed be a big tears for fears kinda guy. think he'd love the shit out of the seeds of love album ykwim.

iirc i think you've mentioned them at least like one (1) time but as i was listening to swords and knives rn i was like waow..... this is sso future trunks ..... and then a single tear rolled down my face

This is so awesome i agree hardwith this.... Tears For Fears is usualy a Gohan Moment to me but actually it is soooo for Trunks's easy spirit. He'll listen and be chill about it. Nevermind the messages and madness. He can take it all in strides

There is a version of "Tears Roll Down" that goes SO hard that I couldnt find on Spotify or Youtube and so i think it is an iTunes exclusive but i do have it on my computer but it's an MPEG-4 and I tried to upload it just now and it didnt work maybe becasue it was an MPEG-4. Oh god but it's such a Gohan Moment. But this is about Trunks so I guess it doesnt matter ...

Song tyhat Anon mentioned:

So something that Trunks would lie in bed with headphones listening to past his bedtime. Procesing his emotions but he doesnt have a lot going on so there's not much to process so he's pretty much just chilling. Feeling easy and breezy.

NGL I've never heard this song and i cant make out what hes saying so I'll take your word on it being Future Trunks I mean I guess it's all right there in the title isn't it. Future Trunks could listen to Tears For Fears too but I feel like he would enjoy it less than Present Trunks would . Just becasue of their different lives. Future Trunks would appreciate more homey and folky and upbeat and hopeful songs probably , But then again he may be moonstruck and amazed at how 1980s synth euro-bands capture the feeling of the void like that. So IDK

THANKS !!!!

[empressofthesunwriter]

Yin and Yang: Book 1.10

Balance is a key aspect in the world, so why shouldn’t the Avatar have an opposite?

In a world where Raava and Vaatu merge with humans, the Avatar and the Daimon try to keep the peace between the four nations.

Aang and Hua are the current incarnations, but wake up 100 years in the future.

How will these two learn all four elements in one year and defeat the Fire Lord?

Who is Veda? You can read the story, and you will know if you want to see her look at my Deviantart Account. ^^

Book 1.10: Jet and Veda

Water. 

Earth. 

Fire. 

Air. 

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. 

Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. 

Only the Avatar and Daimon, masters of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed them most, they vanished. 

A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar and Daimon, an airbender named Aang and an earthbender named Hua. 

And although his airbending and her earthbending skills are great they have a lot to learn before they’re ready to save anyone. 

But I believe Aang and Hua can save the world.

After a nice breakfast, it was time for team Avatar-Daimon to hit the road again.

Only someone was missing…

“Where's Momo?”, asked Aang his friends, hoping they had seen where the lemur had flown off.

It was like he heard them since Momo’s screeches echoed through the forest.

“Jaiyi, girl, find Momo!”, command Hua her ninetails.

Not wasting time Jaiyi did as she was told, finding Momo's smell and leading the humans.

They found the poor lemur and two hog monkeys in cage traps hanging by rope on tree limbs.

Aang uses his airbending to fly to the top of the tree, jumping from trunk to trunk to get higher. He finds the traps' mechanisms, undoes them, and carefully lowers Momo to the ground where Hua, Katara and Sokka are waiting. They open the trap together and the lemur runs out with one of the lychee nuts in his mouth. 

The watertribe siblings and the Daimon look on as Momo gets on his hind legs and eats it as though nothing has happened. 

Jaiyi sist down beside him and licks his head, which makes Momo purr.

Sokka grunts in frustration and facepalms. 

When Aang lands, he looks up to see the other two animals seemingly crying out to him for help.

So he jumps up to them, but Sokka say how this will take forever and just uses his boomerang to cut the hog monkey free.

While the free animals run off into the forest, Team Avatar-Daimon study the trap together.

“These are Fire Nation traps.”, concludes Sokka. “You can tell from the metalwork. We'd better pack up camp and get moving.”

They return to their camp. Gathering their things they begin to pack them onto Appa's saddle.

Suddenly Sokka proclaims: “Uh-uh! No flying this time.”

The others are confused.

“What? Why wouldn't we fly?”, wonders Aang.

“Think about it: Somehow Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation keep finding us. It's because they spot Appa, he's just too noticeable.”

“What? Appa's not too noticeable!”, comes Katara to the bison defense.

“He's a gigantic fluffy monster with an arrow on his head! It's kinda hard to miss him!”

Appa seems offended, which makes Aang coo at him how Sokka was just jealous he doesn’t have an arrow.

“Well, then we can all ride on Jaiyi. Four humans and our supplies are nothing for her.”, offers Hua, as her Kyuubi yips in agreement.

But Sokka shakes his head.

“No, same problem with Appa. When Jaiyi is in her big form you can’t miss her, when she is little you could confuse her for a normal fox cub…I mean till you see the tails.”

This makes everyone deadpan at Sokka. He really doesn’t want to make their journey comfortable for them.

“I know you all wanna fly or ride, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe this time and walk.”, explains Sokka.

“Instincts?”, mumbles Hua confused, while Katara leans forward to her brother: “Who made you the boss?”

“I'm not the boss, I'm the leader.”

“Since when and where was I when this was decided?”, questions Hua, getting more confused by the second.

What’s up with Sokka all of a sudden?

“I agree with Hua, you're the leader? But your voice still cracks!”, sass Katara her brother.

“I'm the oldest, and I'm a warrior!”, retorts Sokka. “So I'm the leader!”

“If anyone's are our leaders, it's Aang and Hua. I mean, he is the Avatar and she is the Daimon.”

“Are you kidding? He's just a goofy kid! And she is just a little girl.”

“I’m not that little!”, mumbles Hua angrily, while Aang proves Sokka's point hanging upside-down from Appa's right horn with feet sticking out in the air and agreeing.

“Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?”, ponders Katara. “I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl.”

This makes Hua snort, which in turn makes Sokka blush embarrassed.

Great, even the youngest laughs at him!

“I've kissed a girl, you just haven't met her.”, defends the water tribe boy his manly honour.

“Who? Gran-Gran? I've met Gran-Gran.”, roasts his sister further.

Now Hua has picked up Jaiyi and hides her laughing face in the pelt of her ninetails.

She can’t!

Katara was just too good at dishing out!

Angry Sokka throws his arms into the air. Katara's sass and Hua's laughter go on his nerves and hurt his manly ego.

“No! Besides Gran-Gran. Look, my instincts tell me we have a better chance of slipping through on foot, and a leader has to trust his instincts.”

“Okay, we'll try it your way, oh wise leader.”, says Katara sarcastically.

“Oh guide us, wise leader.”, can’t Hua help herself to add.

The girls laugh together, as Sokka sends them an offended look.

Why were girls such smart-asses?

Now Aang steps over, wearing a backpack. Momo is sitting on the top.

Always the optimist he says that walking might be fun.

Words he would soon regret.

“Walking stinks!”, decides the Avatar. “How do people go anywhere without a flying bison or a kyuubi?”

“Well I don't know, Aang.”, answer him Katara “Why don't you ask Sokka's instincts? They seem to know everything.”

“Yes, our wise leader will lead us to the holy land of the Nothern Water Tribe on foot.”, adds Hua cheeky.

Jaiyi, who walks beside her, laughs her fox laugh.

“Ha ha, very funny, guys.”, deadpans Sokka.

Ungrateful brats! He was just looking out for them and this was the thanks?!

“I'm tired of carrying this pack.”, complains the Avatar.

“You know who you should ask to carry it for a while?”, begins Katara.

“Oh, oh, let me guess!”, calls Hua, raising her hand like in school. “Sokka’s instincts?”

“Right on, Hua!”

“That's a great idea.”, agrees Aang. “Hey, Sokka's instincts, would you mind–”

Annoyed Sokka calls out: “Okay, okay, I get it! Look, guys, I'm tired too. But the important thing is that we're safe from the Fire ... Nation.”

He trails off because they stepped right into a big camp of Fire Nations Soldiers.

“Sokka, your instincts, suck!”, hisses Hua.

The oldest tells them all to run, but a Fire Nation soldier blocks them off by setting the bushes behind them on fire.

The four go into battle positions.

Seems like the only way to get out of this mess was by fighting.

“If you let us pass, we promise not to hurt you.”, tells Sokka the soldiers with fake bravado.

His sister asked what he was doing and admitted he was just bluffing. 

A Firebender with an eyepatch laughs at them.

“You, promise not to hurt us?”

A whooshing sound was heard and the soldier was knocked out by an unseen tranquillizer dart on his back.

“Nice work, Sokka!”, praises Aang. “How'd you do that?”

“Uh, instinct?”

That’s when Katara draws their attention to a nearby tree. On it, a young man tosses his blowpipe and unsheathes two hook swords. He jumps and takes down two soldiers on landing. He runs forward and takes down two more using his hook swords.

“Down you go.”

Katara looks amazed, Hua admiring, Aang shocked, and Sokka confused.

Another soldier charges at Jet, but he is defeated. Then a soldier points out how more people are in the tree, but it’s too late.

A young boy lands on top of the soldier and turns his helmet around to blind him, before riding him around while laughing. Another boy launches arrows at the soldiers while more boys and girls come out of the trees. 

Hua, Aang and Katara aid them in fighting the soldiers with their primary bendings. 

Sokka holds up his boomerang and yells as one approaches him, but stops when the young man with the hook swords takes him down first.

The watertribe boy bemoans that he was his, but the young man just says he has to be faster next time.

Sokka looks dismayed and a huge boy falls out of the trees and easily takes down two soldiers as the hook sword boy skilfully takes down one more, causing this soldier's spear to hit another soldier, who was going to battle Sokka, in the head, making that soldier also fall down.

Again no points for Sokka.

Currently, Hua was launching rocks at two soldiers, as she felt that someone was approaching.

Another Soldier!

Before she can react, a pretty girl, not older than herself, attacks the soldier with her whip. She bonds him in it and throws him against a tree, knocking him out cold.

The Daimon's mouth claps open and a hot blush forms on her cheeks.

This was one of the hottest things she had ever seen!

She feels all tingly inside, it only gets worse as the pretty girls walk over to her.

“Hi.”, the pretty girl greets. She has beautiful grey eyes, and mid-length black hair and wears a green kimono-styled top with bandages, brown pants and black boots. 

“Hello.”, croaks Hua nervous out.

“Your earthbending is amazing.”, praises her pretty girl. “I’m Veda and who are you cutie?”

Being called cutie by this beautiful Veda makes Hua's brain short-circuit.

The last time she felt this way was 100 years ago when she had a crush on her neighbor Ai. The one who had also stolen her first kiss.

So she does something, which will make her wish to die on the spot.

Babbling nonsense.

“Me, me, Hua, I mean-I’m Hua. Hua, like, like flower. Only flower, just flower not any specific kind of flower, I don’t know why my parents didn’t specify. Sakura or Sayuri would have been nice, they are specify flowers. You know? Sakura is cherry blossom and Sayuri Lily. But, but, I think you know that…”

Amused Veda wipes away some ash from her cheek and Hua swerves she will melt.

“You are a cutie pie, Hua. Don’t be nervous, I don’t bite…unless you want me to.”

Then Veda winks.

And Hua makes a sound like a dying whale.

Oh Spirits, kill her now!

“Veda, are you done flirting?”, calls over the hook sword boy, who was standing beside an equally besotted Katara. 

“Sure, Jet.”, calls Veda back, but stays beside Hua, winking at her again.

The now-known Jet shakes bemused his head and then starts to introduce himself and his friends: “My name is Jet, and these are my Freedom Fighters. Sneers, Longshot, Smellerbee, Veda, The Duke, and Pipsqueak.”

The Daimon has trouble following along with how Aang tells Pipsqueak how his name is funny, only to be revealed that the biggest boy was named so and not the little one. It seems like Aang will get hit, but Pipssqueak laughs and pats him friendly on the back though the hit is hard enough to knock Aang flat on the ground. 

The Duke stops laughing and looks down at Aang sprawled on the ground before his feet, face flat in the dirt, though when Aang raises his head and continues laughing, so does The Duke.

The Freedom Fighters ransack the camp, while Sokka looks on a little uncomfortable.

Katara thanks Jet for his help and Hua and Veda are talking with each other.

Well, Veda talks and Hua babbles nonsense, however, the other girl doesn’t seem to mind.

Aang watches how both his female friends seem cosy with their new friends and…well…he feels strangely strange.

Does it make sense?

Seeing Katara with Jet was not making him feel funny, but Hua and Veda made his stomach twist.

He didn’t get it.

What was up with him?

Why was there a voice in his head, who practically growled mine, stay away.

Aang doesn’t have this kind of feeling for Hua, they were friends, also he liked Katara.

But this strange voice in him or let’s say a thousand voices in him hissed and snarled.

Mine!

Soulmate!

My Yang!

Stay away from them!

To think he shakes fast his head. This was all so confusing.

Were these voices of his past lives, where he and Hua were couples?

It made the most sense.

Nonetheless, he never reacted like that…

Maybe because someone was showing interest in Hua and he saw it?

And his past lives didn’t like that?

Well, he would ignore it!

He liked Katara, he knew she was his forever girl, and his past lives should get used to the Daimon having another partner.

There!

That’s when Aang hears how The Duke tells Jet how they will bring the things from the ransacked camp to their hide-out.

So his little episode was forgotten as he asked excitedly if they had a hideout.

Jet offers them to show it and both Katara and Hua yell how they want to see it.

So they follow the Freedom Fighter for a while through the forest, till they stop.

“We're here.”, proclaims Jet.

Confused Sokka says that nothing is there, so Jet gives him a rope and the watertribe boy pulled up into the branches.

Jet offers one to Aang, but he uses his airbending to climb the tree.

“Now you Hua.”, calls her Jet.

A bit nervous the Daimon steps forward, as she feels a hand on her shoulder.

Veda.

“The first time can be a bit wild, want to travel with me?”, she asked with a pretty smile.

Not trusting her voice, Hua nods.

So Veda wraps an arm around her hips, while Hua wraps her arms around the other girl's shoulder, as the Freedom Fighter girl grips the rope.

They get pulled up and all seems to go in slow motion.

Romantic light shines down on them, making Veda look like a goddess, which turns Hua into a pepperoni.

When she feels Veda's hand and where she is holding on, Hua swerves it burning her.

She never wants to let go of the other girl.

Sadly they land on a wooden platform.

For a second Hua admired the awesome hideout of the Freedom Fighter, which was a couple of treehouses, connected with zip lines as Veda whispered in her air: “Hey, you wanna ditch the other till dinner? I want to show you my favourite place.”

Butterflies are in Hua's stomach and she nods in agreement.

Giving her a pretty smile Veda takes her hand, Hua may or not may make again a dying whale sound, and leads her to her favourite place.

On the way there they talk.

Veda tells her how she came to the Freedom Fighter. She and Jet were neighbour, as one day the Fire Nation burned down the village, killing their parents. She would be dead too, if Jet hadn’t saved her that night.

He was eight and she was six.

“I’m so sorry, Veda.”, tells her Hua, squeezing her hand. “I wish I could do more to help you with your pain.”

“It’s okay Hua. Even if I miss my family I have a new family in Jet and the Freedom Fighter. Jet is like my big brother, I would do anything for him.”

Suddenly Hua Daimon-Radar goes off. How Veda said she would do anything for Jet…it has a dark note in it.

Hua can’t think anymore as Veda leads her to a platform, from where you can see all the forest.

“It’s so beautiful!”, shouts Hua.

“I love it here.”, confesses Veda, sitting down. “You can see anything from her and when the stars are out it's quite romantic.”

This makes Hua blush again, as she sits down beside Veda. The other girl grips her hand caressing it.

“It’s even better when you share it with someone.”, whispered the Freedom Fighter in her ear, making Hua shiver.

Then she feels a little kiss on her cheek.

Surprised she gasp and looks with wide eyes at Veda.

The other girl has a cheeky smile, which makes Hua's stomach do somersaults.

“I know we just met, but you are so sweet Hua, I could eat you up.”

“Then do it.”, whispers Hua back, she feels the attraction too and wants to bathe in it.

With another grin, Veda kisses her on the mouth.

And for a long time, both girls don’t say anything, getting lost in each other.

***

It’s now dinner time in the Freedom Fighter hide-out. 

Hua sits beside Veda and Katara as she enjoys her meal with her friends, new friends and…girlfriend?

She and Veda didn’t really specify what they were after their romantic escape, they just enjoyed each other.

Maybe they didn’t need a label.

Just being together was nice.

For however long it may be.

Jet stands on the table raising his glass and starts his speech: “Today, we struck another blow against the Fire Nation swine.”

Everyone cheers. 

Katara, Hua and Aang smile while Sokka cops an attitude and a scowling face.

“I got a special joy from the look on one soldier's face when The Duke dropped down on his helmet and rode him like a wild hog monkey.”

The Duke, without his helmet, climbs up the table. He marches on the table with his arms in the air.

“Now, the Fire Nation thinks they don't have to worry about a couple of kids hiding in the trees. Maybe they're right.”

A very loud and long boo is heard all around. 

“Or maybe ... they're dead wrong.”

Loud and long cheering happens.

“Hey, Jet, nice speech.”, praise Katara with twinkling eyes.

“Thanks.”, says Jet as he sits down beside her. “By the way, I was really impressed with you, Hua and Aang. That was some great bending I saw out there today.”

“Well, they are great. He's the Avatar and she’s the Daimon. I could use some more training.”, admins Katara blushing.

“Avatar, Daimon huh? Very nice.”

“Thanks, Jet.”, chorus Aang and Hua together.

“So I might know a way that you, Hua and Aang can help in our struggle.”

That’s when Sokka states: “Unfortunately, we have to leave tonight.”

Both Katara and Hua looked devastated, they didn’t want to leave Jet and Veda already and Aang pounts, he liked it here!

Fortunately for them, Jet has a mission for Sokka, which makes him curious.

They will stay another day.

Puh, thank the spirits.

After dinner and dishes were finished, Veda showed the girls of Team Avatar-Daimon where they could get cleaned up.

With a blown kiss to Hua the Freedom Fighter girl left them.

Like a besotted fool, Hua waved at her till she was away.

“Ah is someone in love?”, cooed Katara at her best friend, as she started to undress.

Hua follows her and blushes to her breast.

“Not love, but hard crushing. I love girls who can kick my ass.”, she confesses. “Also what is with you and Jet?”

With a washcloth, Katara starts to clean herself and starts blushing too.

“I like him, alright, but we only talked. That hickey on your breast tells me another story.”, says Katara with a grin.

Shocked Hua looked down and there it was.

A hickey.

Okay, she and Veda got a bit wild.

“We may have gotten carried away.”, she admins to her best friend and starts to clean herself too.

This makes Katara frown a bit.

“Hua, please don’t take this bad, but aren’t you both only twelve? I don’t think you should be doing that already.”

It takes the Daimon a second before she understands what Katara is implying. She turns crimson red.

“No, no, Katara, we didn’t do anything like that, we are just a bit handsy, Nothing more.”

“Oh.”, makes Katara the sound long and then grins cheeky. “So like did you touch her breasts or something?!”

For that Hua throws a towel at her face.

“None of your business.”

“So you did cup a feel!”

“I never knew you could be this pervy!”

“I’m not pervy, just couriers and worried for my best friend.”

Together the girls laugh and change the subject.

After they were done washing, it was time for bed.

***

The next day Katara and Hua made presents for their crushes, while they waited for them to return with Sokka from their mission.

Katara made Jet a hat and Hua made for Veda a necklace.

Aang was somewhere goofing off with The Duke if they understood correctly.

They hear how Aang talks to Sokka and little explosion.

Ah, so they probably returned.

The girls walk up to Sokka and Aang.

“Hey, Sokka.”, greets Katara. “Are Jet and Veda back?”

Her brother was sitting with his back to the trunk and staring at the ground, glaring.

Whatever happened now?

“Yeah, they’re back. But we're leaving.”, decides Sokka.

“What?”, shouts Aang disappointed.

The girls are right with him.

“But I made him this hat.”, whines Katara.

Hua whines too: “I made Veda this necklace.”

“Your boyfriend Jet and your girlfriend Veda are thugs.”, makes Sokka clear.

Of course, Katara and Hua are shocked and won’t believe it.

Sokka insists that the Freedom Fighters are messed up, while Aang takes partei for them and says to Sokka they just have a different kind of life.

“They beat and robbed a harmless old man!”, shouts Sokka angrily.

Why won’t they understand?

Stupid Jet and stupid Veda with their stupid charming personalities.

Katara and Hua felt for it, hook, line and sinker!

His sister crosses her arms and demands that they talk with Jet and Veda about it, she wants to hear their side of the story.

Meanwhile, Hua’s bad feelings about Veda from yesterday's return.

Could she really misunderstand Veda's true self?

Her Daimon-Radar had tried to warn her…but she couldn’t believe how the girl who was so sweet to her, had such a side on her.

Her stomach in a twist she followed the other to Jet cabin.

To their luck, Veda was there too.

Both seemed to talk in secret.

This didn’t help the doubt which was forming in Hua.

Not wasting time Katara asked them about the mission they had with Sokka and what happened. Did they really beat up and robbed an old man?

“Sokka, you told them what happened, but you didn't mention that the guy was Fire Nation?”, asked Jet back.

Veda stood beside him, emotionless, even as Hua tried to look into her grey eyes.

It was like the other girl closed her off.

The Daimon didn’t like it.

“No, he conveniently left that part out.”, huffed Katara at her brother.

He groaned. “Fine! But even if he was Fire Nation, he was a harmless civilian!”

“He was an assassin, Sokka.”, corrected him Jet.

The leader of the Freedom Fighter pulls out a knife and thrusts it into a nearby stump. It is a sinister-looking curved blade. There are four spikes evenly spaced along the grip, with enough space for fingers to go between them. There is a ring on the butt of the knife.

“See? There's a compartment for poison in the knife.”

He pulls on the ring and removes a small glass tube filled with red liquid.

“He was sent to eliminate me. You helped save my life, Sokka.”

Relieved Katara says she knows there was an explanation, but Sokka insists that he didn’t see a knife.

Jet rebukes that the man hid it and Katara agrees.

The watertribe boy makes clear how he was sure there was no knife and they would go now!

Dramatically he leaves Jet cabin.

“Tell me you guys aren't leaving yet.”, turns Jet to the remaining three. “I really need your help.”

Aang asks what they can do.

Jet explains how the Fire Nation plans to burn down the whole forest and them with it, however, if the three use their waterbending to fill the reservoir they could put the fire out.

“Please, you would do us a great favour.”, begs them Veda and bows.

Still, she won’t look at Hua.

She doesn’t like it.

“We will talk with Sokka and then tell you what we decide.”, the Daimon tells Jet and Veda.

She takes Katara and Aang by the hands and walks with them to their cabin.

Sokka was already packing their things.

“We can't leave now with the Fire Nation about to burn down a forest!”, was the first thing Katara said to her brother.

“I'm sorry, Katara. Jet's very smooth and his lackey like Veda do anything for him, we can't trust them.”, answered Sokka calmly.

“You know what I think? You're jealous that he's a better warrior and a better leader!”, accuses him Katara.

“Katara, I'm not jealous of Jet. It's just that my instinct–”

“Well, my instincts tell me we need to stay here a little longer and help Jet. Come on, Aang and Hua.”

The Avatar say sorry and leaves with Katara.

Hua stays a moment longer, unsure and then tells Sokka: “Find evidence.”

Surprised Sokka looks up.

“I don’t want to believe that Veda is so heartless, but my instincts, my Daimon ones are haywire, but without proof, it’s only a feeling. So look for one. I hope you are wrong though, I really like Veda.”

With that, she follows after Katara and Aang.

***

The next day Jet leads the three benders to the damn upriver along its west bank. Geysires are everywhere.

“Jet, I'm sorry about how Sokka's been acting.”, apologies Katara.

“No worries, he already apologized.”, says Jet.

This shocks the other three and they look at each other.

Sokka?

Apologizing?

“Yeah, I was surprised too.”, admins the Freedom Fighter. “I got the sense that maybe you talked to him or something.”

“Yeah, I did.”, confirms the watertribe girl.

“I guess something you said got through to him. Anyhow, he went out on a scouting mission with Pipsqueak, Veda and Smellerbee.”

“I'm glad he cooled off. He's so stubborn sometimes.”

Meanwhile, Hua can’t help but bite her lips nervous. Her Daimon-Radar was going crazy, something was wrong, but she couldn’t pinpoint what.

Also, she said to Sokka he should look for proof, maybe he found nothing and that’s why he said sorry.

Or…she doesn’t want to think about the other possibility.

They are now walking in the gully, beside the 'river'. Aang pauses after noticing something strange and is launched into the air by a blast from the geyser he is standing on.

“All right, we're here. Underground water's trying to escape through these vents. I need you guys to help it along.”, explains Jet.

Unsure Katara tells him she never benden water she can’t see and doesn’t know if she can do it. 

However Jet was right behind her putting his hands on her shoulder and encouraging her.

A bit sad he was left out Aang asks what about him.

“I know the Avatar can do this, just like the Daimon.”

Jet sends Hua a smile and she has trouble copying him.

Her brain tells her to listen to her instincts, but her heart wants to believe that Jet and mostly of course Veda are good people.

With a heavy heart, she joins Aang and Katara at one of many Geysir in the gully. While Jet looks on, they bend the water up. After a few minutes, a stream of water emerges from the hole. They pull it to their height and send it toward the river where it continues to flow like a waterfall. The water quickly joins the river.

Jet congratulated them on a job well done and informed them with another few more Geysir the reservoir would be full.

Excited Aang points at the next Geysier.

The benders walk up to it, as Jet tells them he has some business to attend to and will see them later.

Katara says they would join in at the reservoir, but Jet says it’s better to meet up in the hide-out.

So he leaves them at their bending.

Since they are three waterbenders they finish pretty soon.

“I bet that's enough, and I'm not just saying that to be lazy.”, states Aang, as the three look at all the streaming water fountains.

“Let's catch up with Jet at the reservoir.”, announced Katara.

“Didn’t he say we should meet at the hide-out?”, points Hua out.

“Well, we finished early. I'm sure he'll be happy to see us.”

Well, nothing to say against it.

So they make their way over.

They reach the edge of the cliff. 

At the base of the dam, they see, four of Jet's people unloading barrels from the wagon and arranging them.

“What are they doing?”, wonders Katara.

Surprised Aang notes that these are the blasting jelly barrels the Freedom Fighter got from the Fire Nation.

Before Katara can say anything Hua lets out such a dirty curse, that both she and Aang gasp surprised.

They didn’t know Hua could curse like that.

“They gonna blow up the dam!”, screams Hua, tears springing into her eyes. “Oh, why didn’t I listen to my Daimon Instincts? I felt the darkness in both Jet and Veda, I’m the worst Daimon ever!”

“No, Jet wouldn’t do it, calm down Hua.”, said Katara, wrapping an arm around the distressed girl.

“He would and he is! Katara stop lying to yourself.”

“I've gotta stop him.”, tells them Aang.

The Avatar opens his glider but before he can reach the edge, Jet crosses his path from behind and snatches the glider. Aang is left wobbling precariously on the edge and uses airbending to get himself back on stable footing.

“Yes, I would.”, confessed Jet the true.

Now Hua has to hold Katara by her shoulders.

“Jet, why?”

“Katara, you would too if you just stopped to think. Think about what the Fire Nation did to your mother. We can't let them do that to anyone else ever again.”

“This isn't the answer!”

“I want you to understand me, Katara. I thought your brother would understand, but–”

“Where's Sokka?”

Tears fall from her eyes, as Jet reaches out and touches her face.

“Katara.”

She lowers her head, and with an angry shout, sends Jet flying with the water from her waterskin. She draws it back into the skin when she's done.

Faster then he can react, Jet gets enclosed into a coffin of stone plates, only his face free.

Hua looks at him in anger, her eyes switch from her natural green to her bright orange ones in Daimon State.

“You disgust me!”, she shouts with a thousand voices. “You and Veda are terrible people who act like heroes! You would-be murderers!”

A birdcall is heard. 

Katara and Aang are startled, Hua gets out of Daimon State and looks to the valley beyond where it's coming from. 

Jet gives an answering birdcall.

“What are you doing?”, demands Katara to know.

“You're too late.”, the leader of the Freedom Fighter simply states.

Horrified Katara and Hua shout No.

The centre of the dam explodes in a cloud of smoke and fire. 

Katara, Hua and Aang watch a massive wall of water go to the town the water rushes through the open gate, as a cresting wave dwarfs it. The wall and gate are swallowed as the wave strikes the town.

“All those people …”, cries Katara and turns full hatred towards Jet. “Jet, you monster!”

“This was a victory, Katara. Remember that. The Fire Nation is gone and this valley will be safe.”

“It will be safe, without you.”, they hear suddenly Sokka's voice.

He appears on Appa, with Jaiyi and Momo on the saddle.

His sister and friends are so glad to see him.

Sokka explains how he managed to warn the village in time, so no one died.

Of course, Jet was angry.

This was his chance to ride and free the valley from the Fire Nation and Sokka thwarted him.

Hua shakes her head in disgust at Jet's madness and earthbends herself on Appa's saddle. Jaiyi jumps in her arms, licking her cheeks. She hugs her ninetails tight.

“Who would be free?”, asked Sokka rhetoric “Everyone would be dead.”

“You traitor!”

“No, Jet. You became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people.”

Jet begs Katara to help him, but she just says goodbye to him.

Hua earthbends her best friend into the saddle and Jaiyi gives now Katara licks.

Both girls smile at the ninetails in thanks.

With a Yip-Yip from Sokka, Appa flies away from Jet.

They are soaring through the sky for a while till Aang says to Sokka: “We hoped you were going to the dam. How come you went to the town instead?”

“Let me guess, your instincts told you.”, speculated Katara.

“Hey, sometimes they're right.”, says Sokka with a shoulder shrug.

“Mmh, you do know we are flying in the wrong direction?”, asks Hua with a little smile.

“And sometimes they're wrong.”, admits Sokka and stears them back on the right course.

***

Late at night while anyone was sleeping Hua looked at the moon and cried silent tears.

She didn’t see Veda, so she couldn’t tell her how disgusted and disappointed she was in her.

Veda seemed so good, so perfect…in the future Hua decided to listen to her instincts more.

For Sokka, it worked as it showed.

That’s when she hears how someone stands up and walks over to her.

Without a word a warm hand grips her and she squeezes back.

The black-haired girl lays her head on Katara's shoulder and the older girl her over the younger.

The two don’t need words to understand each other.

They have both crushed on people who in the end were terrible.

In the future, they will be more careful with their hearts.

But for now, they were happy they had each other.

And this was enough.

Previous

Next

[ato-catto]

omg hiiiii. could i request a trunks x reader where it’s inspired by the song “dark red” by steve lacy? for some reason it seems so fitting. THANK U SM I LOVE YOUR WRITING :D

Thankyou 😭 I wasn't sure which Trunks you wanted so I went with the hottest one- Future Trunks.

When Trunks looked at you he saw Hope. He saw what he was fighting for in this messed up version of his existence.

Trunks said a prayer at night. He didn't know to what god- if any- but he said a prayer begging whoever was out there that you looked at him the same way he looked at you.

Death was always around the corner for the two of you, a shadow looming in your wake of the Grim Reaper wielding a lengthy scythe. Sometimes, he saw the hope drain from your eyes when you became tired, and quiet.

He would give you a big smile and tell you to get back up and keep going, and assure you he was at your side.

But he wanted more than to just be at your side. He wanted to curl around your sleeping form at night and kiss your neck, hold your waist. He wanted YOU.

You sat beside him in the bunker, a little metal barrell infront of you both with burning paper licking out of the air holes. You both warmed your fingers and spoke about your journey, your survival so far.

His blue eyes flickered in the dull orange glow of the fire, as he watched your face as you spoke.

"Trunks-?" You frowned. He was totally lost in your eyes, just staring with an empty expression. When you said his name, he seemed to whir to life, blinking and glancing away.

"Sorry i-" he began, but he didn't have a good enough excuse. He had been wondering what it would be like to just.. kiss you.

"Are you alright?" You pressed, leaning forward to put your hand on his sympathetically. "You look a little lost there."

He glanced down at his enveloped hand- although it was barely enveloped because against his, your hands were almost pathetically small. It made him blush, and turn his hand over so he could link his fingers with yours.

"I was just thinking." He said, still looking at your entwined hands.

"About what?" You gave his hand a little squeeze. The tips of his fingers were cold against your knuckles.

He couldn't look you in the eye, for fear of giving his heart away too soon. "Us, mostly." His gently but gravelly voice seemed to waiver slightly, as he squeezed your hand back.

"Us?" Something in your chest moved heat to your cheeks. There was an 'us'?

"I.. I have feelings for you. Its kinda getting hard to ignore it." Trunks' eyes finally flicked up to meet yours. They were brimming with unspoken emotion, and his pupils seemed to widen once they fell upon you. Your heart kicked up, and started thrumming in your ears.

"What?" You couldn't quite believe your ears.

He sighed and closed his eyes, gathering whatever bravado confidence he may have inherited from his late father. "I'm in love with you."

You weren't sure what you said or how he moved so fast, but very suddenly, his arms were rapped around you, his familiar dusky smell surrounding your senses. He pressed his mouth to yours in a gentle, inexperienced kiss. Your hands came up to touch his hair, running your fingers through the coloured locks.

You had been too busy just surviving that you had forgotten to live. And you hadn't even noticed how much you loved Trunks.

How much you needed him.

[gayspock]

ok im lbing this bc we're not gonna get more for a long time

ok initial thoughts: zombies by the cranberries sent me a little loopy. im sorry. its a heartbreaking song, its a heartbreaking scene. but playing those both together is the funniest fucking thing you could do ever. heavens

second thoughts: i know there was a lotof, like, backlash abt the last ep regarding the present day girlies "giving in to lottie so easily" so its funny to see them ppl owned so early. LOL. although this cant end well and i have already been spoiled and i will say i saw that coming sort of but thought "no they wouldnt do that... tht sucks" but anyways

THIRD thoughts and last time im gonna open a thought with that: literally i said all that, but i know last week ppl also complaine saying they didnt "explain the game well enough" which i thought was stupid bc if they sat there and did thatd be clunky and dumb and ruin the horror of it so now misty is just exposition dumping to lottie im like for gods sake. and in some ways i do kinda get what theyre trying to do with it (misty would be frank about it and clear and etc) but i still think its just a bit alrighhttt alrighttt to watch

this is making me feel sick...

SHAUNA BEING THE DESIGNATED BUTCHER TOO... heavens and a bit.

TH

NOT THE DESIGNATED T...

this is so fucking crazy

HER COVERING HER EYES. I AM SICK. YOU KNOW WHEN THE WET, BIG BROWN PUPPY DOG EYES ARE GONE THE WORLD IS DARK AND CRUEL

ok but seeing trav crying over havi like that . meanwhile shauna was fucking sobbing with jackies corpse holding it for months. everything in the world mental

UGHHH FUCKING WALTERRRRR

SORRY IVE MADE MY FEELINGS CLEAR. I DO NOT LIKE HIS FUNCTION AS A CHARACTER. I THINK MISTY'S ARC WOULD BE SO MUCH FUCKING STRONGER WITHOUT HIM. GET MORE CREATIVE. YOU DONT NEED HIM . and its like hes not bad hes fine but its so annoying that they give him more FUCKING ATTENTION THAN FUCKING NAT AT THIS POINT

plus her dynamic with nat is so much better

i love adult shauna scheming. always gets them into a bit of a pickle. classic!

COACH BEN COMING BACK TO STIUATIONS IS FUCKING UNFATHOMABLY F- NATALIE WHAT HAPPENED

I FIGURED OUT WHERE HAVI WAS HIDING

DOES ANYONE HEAR HIM

YOURE N

I FEEL SICK

his little gorgeous babygirl tear.

coach ben your gay ass needs to move fast before the second most homophobic fast food chain after chick fil a opens up in the canadian wilderness with a limited menu of #1 fucking d

FUCK OFF ELIJAH WOODFUCK OFF KEVYN THIS IS SICK. UGHHHH YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST.

UGH

THIS WHOLE CONVO IS SO BORING IM ASLEEP WORST GUYS IN THE WORLD FUCK OFF THERES NO WAY WE'RE WASTING TIME ON THESE GUYS WHEN THERE'S LITERAL GIRLS EATING GIRLS

"A COVEN OF THEM ALL UP TO NO GOOD" OK that kinda ruled

JEFF WIN JEFF WIN JEFF WIN HIS BIGGG JEFFING COCK FUCKING RULES . NO JEFFING ABOUT.

YOU KILLED HIM?

OKAY jeff is raising the bar here im happy with jeff and walter jeffing and waltering and jaltering and weffing

is weffing something sexual it sounds sexual i hope to god not

shauna is so mother making a meal for the family 😊

THE WOBBLY HEART . MY GOD. DONT- DONT GIVE IT TO TRAVIS. DONT FUCKING LOOK AT HIM WITH THE WOBBLY HEART. COME ON BRO.

hes

um

raw.....

this is a little um

god the crazy parallels of lottie in the past fucking ruined over the ritual and lottie of the present being the most caught up in it. hellaur

IF YOU MAKE CALLIE DEAL WITH THAT ROTTEN COP I'LL KILL US ALL

SHAUNA DRAWING THE CARD?

"IT WAS JUST US!" "is there a difference?" EXACTLY. SAY THAT AT THE FUCKING C- SORRY BUT THEIR SLOW ASS RUNNING MADE ME LOSE IT

TH

THE TRUNK OF THE FUCKING CAR HELP THATS SO FUNNYYYY KEVYNNNNNN

CALLIE WITH A GUN

HI... OK. BUT THE ... OK IS ANYONE GOING CRAZY RIGHT NOW

i mean other than the girlies in animal masks in th e woods

lottie: everybo-

SHUT UP ITS CRAZY EVERY TIME THEY CUT FROM A FUTURE SCENE TO A PAST SCENE I GO STUPID IN THE HEAD

lottie: can you fucking kill me

lottie: can you fucking kill me and can i also elect the next girl president

ANTLER QUEEN?

NATALIE?

YOU MAKE ME SICK

YOU MAKE ME SICK THERES NOWAYYYYYYY

NATALIE NO MY SEET SWEETBABYGIRL

HEY

HI

AND HELLO

LISA....

LISA. NO. SURELY NOT.

OH MY GOD

NATALIE YOU ARE SO....

the nattielot stocks are literall crazy the nattielot stocks are literally in turmoil its like a rollercoaster its literally a thrillride they blow your brain right out up and down and round and round til your FUCKING BRAIN COMES OUT YOUR NOSE AS DINNER SURPRISE

travis......................

my god natalie atalie no NA QUEEN CA RD QU

NM

M

M

M

M

M

HI AND HELLO AND HI

SORRY . THATS TISTE DTHIS IS TWISTED THIS IS THE WORST FUCKING THING EVER IM ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS EVERYBODY VETTER FUCKING KILL

STOP PLAYING RADIOHEAD AND SLOWMOING HER FUCKING DEATH IS THERE NO FUCKING DIGNIT

NO THIS IS

YOU ALL.... ARE THE WORST.....

I HATE MY STUPID FUCKING EXISTENCE

ITS NOT EVIL ITS JUST HU

THE NATLOTTIE STOCKS JUST BURST

I FEEL ILL I HATE MY ST- NOT THE DRUG OVERDOSE. COME ON . I JSUT WANT TO FUCKING CRY THIS ALL FUCKING SUCCKS.

walter: um...... >_<

you guys fucking suck sending her there i know i know theres so few options but fu- VAN. PUT THOSE BIG WET EYES AWAY. PUT THAT AWE-INDUCED WET SMILE AWAY. COME ON GIRL. PULL IT TOGETHER

hey shauna

most normal girl in the world

coach ben said FUCK women. WOW. ALRIGHT. i mean it was... RIGHT LIKE HE?

HE SERIOUSLY JUST DECIDED FUCK THESE GIRLS OH MY GOD YES TYHIS IS THE FUCKING ENDING I WANTED

van being the last out vantler queen when?

THIS IS FUCKING NUTS

altrnateively the wilderness being like :/ you didnt need to do that to havi guys....

ANYWAYS GOD WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT