#my notes: these were a nightmare and a half to colour which on one hand; i learned a Lot more about colouring gifs

[sillyabtmusic]

walk you home cover by louis (src)

[ghettogirly]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐬 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

-> synopsis: Being held captive by a cartel leader is a law enforcement worker’s worst nightmare, especially when you’ve been sold out by people from your side. Your fate lies in the hands of a ruthless cartel leader, what would be the consequences?

-> format: imagine

-> theme: angst.

-> warnings: mentions of kidnapping, mentions of violent scenes, mentions of childhood trauma, mature language, armando has a lot of trauma to him.

-> authors note: sorry for the lack of updates! i’ve been sooo busy. hope you all enjoy! 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝! 💗

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Dust coated the desolate, concrete floor below as a cast of cold air swept through the room. It being an open space due to the lack of rooms, walls were knocked down as you saw the rubble not too far from you. Your eyes were heavy as a pain then boomed through, clearly the consequence of it being bruised.

The question being how and why?

Looking down, the lack of movement was prominent as your feet and hands were bound to each other. Purple and pink blotches were plotted on your hands as a tension line formed due to the rigid surface of the rope, branded your skin. The uncomfortable feeling of the wooden chair not making the situation any better as grunts escape your mouth as you try wiggle you way out of the ties, to no avail. Huffing in frustration, you give up.

Graffiti was plastered on the walls, a multitude of colours and signatures decorated them as it made it clear that this place was abandoned. A free zone where people come in and practice their artwork. Moving over to the left, two chairs were aligned next to you. One chair had a man sitting in it, bound just like you but with his head now lying back. His eye was swole and coloured with blue and purple marks due to the fluid built up behind it, the result of a pretty clear beat down. His head had blood leaking from it, cascading down his face into the floor as red marks also plastered his body.

He was practically half dead.

The other chair next to him was empty, the rope loose at the bottom of the chair as blood trailed from it. Understanding the gravity of the situation, you then start to panic, wrestling the ropes. Clearly these people were not here to play. “No tiene sentido tratar de escapar de Mami, no lo vas a lograr.”

The voice erupting from somewhere in the building made you stop dead in your tracks as you quickly look around to see where that echo came from. Your brown eyes moved frantically as you desperately search for answers. Suddenly, 3 men walk in front of you, dressed in full black from head to toe.

More footsteps could be heard which causes the men to stand to the side, revealing the man.

A shadow casted over you due to the height of the apparent, hispanic man. His knuckles were rough, slight roots of hair covered his arms yet his skin was relatively smooth. A glint of a neutral tan covered the man’s body, demonstrating his mexican heritage.

Slowly glancing up to his face, a medial size scar was apparent on the right side of his face and a scar in his eyebrow.

He was fairly groomed. His facial hair freshly trimmed as well as his hair being freshly done. Yet, his dark, pink lips formed into a scowl, looking down upon you.

“Armando Aretas..” you thought.

“what do you want with me?” Croaking out, your throat running dry and raspy due to the dusty conditions.

"No puedes hacer las preguntas, nena. You came here on my territory, snooping around my business. I want to know what you’re doing here so far away from your homeland.” Armando calmly suggests, walking circles around your chair as the two other men stared down at you, evoking some psychological strategy.

“How did you-“

“How did I know? ¿Es esa la pregunta principal que te estás haciendo en este momento?” He scoffed, clapping his hands in disbelief.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Boss, there’s something you need to look at.”

Peering over at the picture that was slid on his marble desk, Armando lifted up the sheet, slighting creasing the corner due to his carelessness. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked up at worker with hesitation in his eyes. “¿Es cierto?”

The former nodded causing the man to sigh. Casting his eyes over the tablet the man just gave him , a picture was presented to Armando causing the former to squint. Eyebrows furrowed and lips curled, he sat back and looked at his worker in silence.

His tongue slid over his bottom lip as the male sat there, contemplating.

“Armando-“

“¿Me ibas a decir que teníamos a un estadounidense en nuestro equipo?”

The double doors opened revealing a caucasian male who slowly strolled in. The sheer arrogance exuding off of him due to his wealth and status. Dressed in designer branded clothes and accessories from head to toe, the blonde male raised his eyebrow.

“What are you talking about?”

A quick head nod was exchanged and the tablet was exchanged.

“Fuck. I know her.”

“No shit. Don’t fuck around with me Louis.”

A sigh came from the male standing in front of Armando.

“Listen, all I know is that she’s in the legal profession. I don’t know anything else. She’s a rat though.”

A loud sound of glass shattering was heard as pieces of debris flew throughout the office, causing the other two men to duck in attempts of protecting themselves.

“Fuck!!!”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

A scoff reverberated off of the walls. “Querías saberlo. Ahora ya lo sabes.”

“Why are you doing this.. We’ve hardly spoken. Just kill me.”

“I’ve saw you. I’ve saw you talking to the other women in the kitchen. Helping out the little ones in the community. We had a good conversation, remember?”

“It was one conversation-“

"Uno. Significaba todo para mí. La única persona que me escuchó fuiste tú".

“Armando, i do care about you. ¿Esa conversación sobre tu madre? Lo recuerdo.” A slight whisper falls out of your mouth, you clasp onto the wooden bars of the chair in desperation.

“But you was going to do the exact same thing she did to me. Lie.”

“I wasn’t lying!”

“¡Pero tú lo estabas!" Armando shouts, kicking the chair next to you.

“Armando-“

“No. It’s fucking over. No hay ratas en el negocio de los cárteles.”

A baby was heard throughout the room as the woman’s head slumped down due to the trajectory and power of the shot. Blood splattered on the hispanic’s shirt and the concrete floor below.

Heading towards the door, Armando looked at the workers, the sight of a tear daring to show itself by leaving the corner of his eye.

“Get this cleaned up.”

Footsteps faintly turned away.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[🌱] 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒:

“No tiene sentido tratar de escapar de Mami, no lo vas a lograr.” - there’s no point in trying to escape mami, you not going to make it.

“No puedes hacer las preguntas, nena.” - "You can't ask the questions, baby"

“¿Es esa la pregunta principal que te estás haciendo en este momento?” - is that the main question you’re asking right now?

“¿Me ibas a decir que teníamos a un estadounidense en nuestro equipo?” - Were you going to tell me we had an American in our team?

“Querías saberlo. Ahora ya lo sabes.” - You wanted to know, now you know.

"Uno. Significaba todo para mí. La única persona que me escuchó fuiste tú". - One. It meant everything to me. The only person who listened to me, was you.

“¿Esa conversación sobre tu madre? Lo recuerdo". - That conversation about your mother? I remember it.

“¡Pero tú lo estabas!" - But you was!

“No hay ratas en el negocio de los cárteles” - there’s no rats in cartel business.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[🎀] 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @5tarlan7 @yeahnohoneybye @dyttomori @dyttomori02 @milliumizoomi @shurisgf @tyneshaaa @omg-mymelaninisbeautiful @wizewhispers @amplifiedmoan @thedarkworldofhananerea @sarcasticbitchsblog @armandosbabymama @believeinthefireflies95 @twinklestarslight

[anathemaloren]

flowers and tea

Naomi McPherson x fem!florist!reader

🌼Warnings - 2 curse words? and english is not my first language

🌼Genre - fluff (i guess)

🌼Word count - 3.4k (WHAT?!)

🌼Notes - OH MY GOD, you don't know how much time I've spent writing this like 3k words???? that's just crazy. also, i wrote this in several classes at school, sorry arturo, montse and chus 🙏🏼 and this is dedicated to carolina who tried to peek into the story and i didn't let her, luv ya bubs

Having her own shop was a dream and a nightmare at the same time for Y/n L/n.  Paying the bills, keeping the flowers beautiful the whole day through, being all day on her feet or dealing with rude costumers were all things Y/n wished she could get rid of. But at the same time, she truly loved her job. Being able to surround herself with flowers was a dream come true, and seeing a smile on the face of a happy customer really made her day. Plus, the shop was in a strategic place in Los Angeles where sometimes famous people came through, and she even had a few celebrities who were usual shoppers. Lucy Dacus stopped from time to time to buy flowers in order to dry them, and considered Y/n a friend. Pedro Pascal always bought flowers for his sister from Y/n, and Ashton Irwin loved to stop by for a chat about how to keep his plants as beautiful as Y/n’s. So, Y/n shouldn’t fall easily for a star, right?

          It was a slow day, so Y/n busied herself rearranging flowers on the back of the shop. She was calmly arranging a bouquet of lilies when she heard the bell on top of the door and a pair of shoes rushing in. Curious about who would come bursting in like that, she lowered the volume of the Glenn Miller vinyl that was playing on the background and stepped into the front of the shop while cleaning her hands on her apron. She then saw a person looking like they had run for 10 kilometres, with curls sticking to their red face, and trying to catch some air.

          “Hi.” Y/n said calmly “Can I help you with something?” she asked. “Yeah, I think you would be unbelievably helpful right now” they said, making Y/n chuckle amused. “Tell me, what can I do for you?” she said, taking her notebook out, just in case she needed to write something down. The person standing on the other side of the counter leaned a bit on it and tried to arrange the curls around their head. “It’s my mum’s birthday, and I’ve been so busy that I completely forgot about buying her something, and I love her very much I can’t just not buy her anything, and I’m meeting her tonight, I can’t show up empty handed” they said without stopping, catching a quick deep breath “. So Lucy told me to come here and say to you that she sent me and that you could arrange something with flowers that have meaning for, like… now… could you?” they finished, looking expectantly at Y/n. The girl just blinked a few times, taking all the information in. “Which Lucy sent you?” she asked, testing the person’s connection to her, not truly trusting them yet, even though they looked like a decent person to her. “Ummm… Lucy Dacus?” they said, with caution. Y/n visibly lighted up, smiling at the thought of the black haired girl recommending her to her friends. “Well, you should’ve started with that.” She said, turning around and starting to walk to the back of the shop, turning around again to gesture to the still nameless person to follow her back.

          If the front of the shop was a dream, full of aromatic plants and antique furniture, the back of it was another level of etherealism. Besides another huge amount of plants and flowers, one wall was a window wall, made out of old looking stained glass of art déco style. There was a table with two chairs were Y/n would have tea, sometimes with someone else, and behind the table there was a bookshelf with heaps of books about flowers and their care and meanings. In the middle of the room there was a worktable with a few half-arranged bouquets of lilies of different colours. Y/n moved with ease around the space, and she turned to face the stranger once she got to the workbench, only to find said stranger with their mouth half opened in awe.

          “Are you okay?” Y/n asked, slightly amused with the reaction she was witnessing. The stranger blinked a few times as if to come out of some sort of trance, and responded after centering themselves in the conversation again “Yeah, yeah, fine” they said, making Y/n’s smile a bit brighter. “I’m Naomi, by the way” the stranger said, finally giving a name to the curious person. “Oh, yeas, from Muna, right?” Y/n said, eliciting a nod from Naomi. “Lucy has told me so much about all of you, I don’t know how I couldn’t recognize you the moment you walked in” she said, making Naomi smile a bit. “She really talks about me to you?” Naomi asked, feeling a wave of affection for their friend. “Yeah, she talks about all of you all the time” Y/n said, giggling a bit “. I almost feel like I know you personally sometimes, although meeting you in person makes me realize she forgot to mention some things” she said, standing behind the working table and moving the flowers around to make space for others. “Like what?” Naomi asked, furrowing their brows, thinking that maybe they had given a terrible first impression, when they had been mesmerized with Y/n since they had seen her. The girl standing opposite to them smiled at them coyly before saying nonchalantly “For starters, she forgot to mention you are even more handsome on real life than on pictures.” The comment made the curly haired blush, not expecting the sweet looking florist to be so flirty and straightforward.

          Naomi’s reaction made Y/n giggle, feeling like she couldn’t stop smiling around them. She didn’t know where the confidence to be so bold had come from, either. She then decided to stop messing around and get to work. “So” she said, clearing her throat before continuing ´´, what did you want for your mum?” Naomi shook their head for a second, pulling themselves together about the flirty comment from before, and answered the question “I truly don’t know, I just want to tell her I love her, and flowers seemed like a good option” they said, being truly bad at flowers. “So you want to send a message with these flowers” Y/n said, looking at Naomi attentively. “Yeah, basically” they answered, doubting a bit about the rightness of their answer. “Well, if you want I can arrange a bouquet with flowers that mean that you love her” Y/n smiled, always loving to do bouquets with deep meanings. “Do you mean flowers mean something specific?” Naomi asked, making Y/n clutch her pearls in feigned offense. “Of course they do! That’s my job you’re talking about!” she said, making Naomi laugh. Y/n smiled and walked over to the bookshelf, picking up and old-looking book, with a pink cover and golden details.

          Y/n sat down on one of the chairs of the table, signalling Naomi to sit in the other one. The florist browsed through the book, in which Naomi could only see beautiful illustrations and paragraphs of what they could guess was information about the flowers in the other page. When Y/n finally had all the information she needed, she closed the book and looked up, only to find the curly haired brunet already looking at her. This discovery made the girl blush and Naomi look away immediately, embarrassed about being caught. Y/n decided not to panic, clearing her throat before speaking “I think I’ve found the ideal flowers” she said “. If you follow me, I can show them to you” she continued, while standing up, already blushing a bit again. Where had all the previous confidence gone? The person now standing in front of her was truly messing with her emotions, and they had only met for roughly 25 minutes, even less.

          Y/n waltzed around the room picking up flowers, oblivious to the mesmerized client who was following her. She picked up the flowers and explained their meanings to Naomi “White carnations mean purity, love and beauty; the azaleas are a symbol of womanhood in China, and they are a symbol of love; daisies symbolize purity and innocence; and camellias represent gratitude and longevity” Although Naomi seemed like they were just hypnotized about the girl’s beauty, her words were also enthralling to them. After coming back with the flowers to the worktable, Y/n asked Naomi about their opinion, at which they could only stutter an OK, making the girl working in the bouquet blush and giggle.

          When she finished the bouquet, the mixture of carnations, daisies, azaleas and camellias looked beautiful. Y/n’s talent was something that had Naomi’s mouth open in amazement. Their head couldn’t wrap around the fact that two hands and a few flowers had given such result, the florist’s talent oozing from every aspect of the bouquet. Besides from the big possibility of their mum loving the bouquet, Naomi had also fallen in love with the care and talent Y/n had shown making it. Maybe they had also fallen for the hands responsible of such beauty, and the person who controlled them with so much grace.

          Y/n finished wrapping the bouquet, not really wanting Naomi to leave her shop. But she knew she couldn’t stop a big ass pop star that surely wasn’t going to fall for her. “I think this is finished” she said, nerves flowing through her whole body. “We can go to the front now” she continued, now moving to the front of the shop, bouquet in hand. While Naomi paid with her card, Y/n finished preparing the gift. When she turned around to get the business card she always gave out to first time clients, she hesitated when deciding what complimentary flower to give to Naomi. She finally chose a lavender coloured rose. She nervously put the flower and the card in a bag with the flowers. She didn’t know why she was so shaken, Naomi probably didn’t share her feelings; for fuck’s sake, they had known each other for something more than an hour. When Y/n gave the bag to Naomi their fingers brushed ever so slightly, which resulted in different reactions; Y/n let out a sigh, while Naomi froze immediately. When the florist realized they had spent more time than necessary in that position, she put her hand back as Naomi’s suddenly burned. They just blinked a few times, blushed, turned back and marched through the door mustering a rushed thanks and a farewell. Y/n sighed when Naomi was finally out, leaning on the counter and placing her head between her hands. What a naïve thought, that someone like Naomi McPherson could ever like someone like her. Now, she just had to move on, and try to forget about them.

Lucy Dacus had decided to have a quiet night. She had a nice dinner, placed a few candles and played some soft background music. She then picked up her current read, and with a cup of a delicious tea that Y/n had suggested her, she got ready to relax, plunging down on the armchair she loved the most. That relaxing, though, didn’t last long, as she heard the doorbell ring. She groaned, detangling herself and getting up to open the door. If it was her annoying neighbour again, she was ready to throw hands. However, when she opened the door, there was no nosy neighbour on the other side; instead, Naomi was there, nervously biting her nails, and looking a bit miserable. “Naomi? What are you doing here? Are you okay?” Lucy asked, worried about her friend’s state. “Where the fuck did you send me?” they just said, spreading their arms exasperated. “What?” Lucy just said, sincerely confused. Seeing as the only answer from Naomi was a pair of widened eyes, which lead to Lucy sighing and moving from the door, signalling Naomi to come in. Goodbye, quiet night.

          After a cup of tea, Naomi had calmed down, and they had told Lucy about those afternoon events. “And when I finished dinner with my mum I needed to vent, and as you were the one who told me to go to her, I just…” they finished, trailing down at the end. Lucy nodded in understanding, not needing to hear more from her friend before concluding “So basically, you fell head over heels for her and you think she doesn’t correspond your feelings”. Naomi just mustered a “yeah” while dropping their head in defeat. Lucy nodded again, leaning back on the armchair she was sitting in. “Well, we can kind of know how she feels about you” she said, smiling softly, making Naomi shoot their head up, waiting for a solution for their problems. “Did you keep the flower she gave you with her card?” Lucy said, already knowing the answer. Naomi slowly reached for a pocket in their jacket, taking out a lavender rose. Lucy got up and moved towards a shelf next to a window, where she saw rain starting to pour. She took a book from the shelf, under the curious stare of her friend. The book was a Victorian guide to flower meanings, which Lucy had somehow managed to thrift. She looked through the book sat on the armchair again. She could feel Naomi biting their nails and looking nervously at her. Finally, she found it. “It says here that lavender roses mean…” Lucy stopped, looking kindly at the meaning “It’s a flower that represents enchantment love at first sight” she said, looking again at Naomi, whose mouth was now partly opened in shock and eyes completely opened. They quickly recomposed and started shaking their head in denial. “Come on, Dacus, stop playing” they said, not believing what Lucy was saying. “I’m not” Lucy replied, showing the book to them. Naomi was feeling a weird mix of emotions, between shock, denial and complete confusion, with a tint of utter affection. Was this some kind of sick and twisted joke?

          Naomi got up and started pacing Lucy’s living room, not sure about what that really meant. They knew they had liked Y/n, call it love at first sight if you feel like it, but something had bloomed in that flower shop, and not only the plants. Lucy closed the book and laid back, deciding to leave Naomi to walk around and calm down. They finally did, sitting across Lucy again. Taking a deep breath, the curly haired talked for the first time in the last few minutes, breaking the silence that had settled itself on the room, mixed with the sound of drops of the still pouring rain. “What do you think I should do?” they asked Lucy for advice, with a hint of somewhat fear on their voice. “I can’t decide anything for you” Lucy said, shaking their head. “I’m not asking for instructions, Luce, I want your opinion” Naomi said, in a soft tone. Lucy sighed and leaned towards her friend “Do you like Y/n?” she asked, not really expecting a forward answer. “Yeah, I think I do” Naomi said with a sincere voice, astounding Lucy, who blinked and talked again. “Do you want to tell her that?” “I think I do” they replied again. Lucy questioned Naomi for a third time “I have her address. Do you want me to give it to you?” she said, and spoke again before Naomi could say anything “And don’t say that you think you do” she half-threatened. Her friend closed their mouth, opening it not much of a second later “I truly want her address” Lucy nodded, getting up to write it on a blue piece of paper. When she finished, she folded it and gave it to Naomi, who was standing up, nervously playing with their fingers. The moment they had the paper, they gave a heartfelt hug to Lucy, and then sprinted to the door. Lucy saw them get into their car and smiled softly. She didn’t mind a night not so quiet if it was for the sake of romance.

Y/n was laying on her couch, one feet dangling off it. She laid there, looking at pictures of Naomi on Pinterest, although if someone asked, she was reading the Rilke book that was now laying on the coffee table next to her. She sighed, turning her phone off and keeping to staring to the ceiling. How was she so stupid that she had been so enchanted by someone who had been in her store for an hour. She stood up and picked up the book, deciding it was enough pining for someone she probably would never see again. She read a few pages, but didn’t last long before putting the book in her lap and looking out the window. She looked at the pouring rain, which she loved. She knew she should hate the rain, but she loved the romanticism of it all, even though she knew she would never have her ever so idyllic love confession in the rain.

          Just as she was lost on her thoughts, Y/n heard the doorbell ring. She wondered who the hell would be knocking at that time in the night, even more with that terrible weather, which truly didn’t invite to going out. She kept wondering who it could be as she walked to the door, expecting to see a neighbour or someone trying to sell her some stupid product. However, the only person she found waiting outside of her house was a drenched Naomi. Y/n’s eyes opened wide as she took the sigh in, with her breath getting caught in her throat.

          Y/n talked, although the lump she felt on her throat made it a bit difficult. “What are you doing here?” she said, not being able to move herself from her spot on the door entrance. “I needed to see you” they said, with a tint of hopelessness in their voice. Y/n felt like flowers were blooming in her stomach, with the leaves and petals tickling her stomach. “How did you know where I lived?” Y/n asked again, nerves now flowing through her system. Naomi looked a bit guilty before answering “Lucy gave it to me, I asked her for it”. Y/n made a mental note of scolding her later, but asked the last question she couldn’t stop pondering about. “And why did you want to see me, Naomi?” she said, not sure if she wanted to hear the response. Naomi breathed deeply before replying. “I like you” they said, making Y/n’ world turn upside down in a matter of microseconds. She tried to calm down her breath, that was now working, but too fast for anyone’s liking.

          However, Naomi misinterpreted the silence, thinking that Y/n was somewhat outraged by the statement, apologizing while moving back to what Y/n suspected was their car “I’m sorry, this was a mistake”. Y/n snapped back then, following Naomi to their car with a quick pace “Naomi, wait!” she said, trying to get Naomi to look at her. The curly haired, which hair was now not so curly as it was soaked and stuck to their face, turned around and looked at her with a pained look on their face. Y/n tried to find the words, but they seemed to be stuck to the walls of her throat. Naomi exhaled, turning back once more to unlock their car. Seeing as the opportunity of confessing was slipping through her fingers, Y/n decided to take matter in her own hands… literally. She got closer to Naomi and took their face into their hands, pulling them in for a kiss. The kiss was short and sweet, and Y/n pulled away to see what reaction that had elicited from Naomi. They just stared at Y/n with a look of shock on their face, that didn’t last so long, as their brain decided to finally act. Naomi took Y/n face in her hands and kissed her again, now deepening the kiss. The moment under the rain seemed to last forever, as both their hearts synchronized in loud thumps. When they finally pulled away from one another, the rain kept pouring over them with an astounding force that seemed to mimic the strength of their feelings for one another. They were both soaked as they stood outside of Y/n’s house, smiling to each other like the infatuated idiots that they were.

          “I liked the flower” Naomi said, still not getting away from one another. Y/n laughed, touching her forehead with Naomi’s. “It was not as subtle as I intended it to, I guess” she said, making Naomi laugh now. “I liked it better that way” they voiced, giving a small kiss to the side of Y/n lips. It that was a dream, they both hope they would never wake up.

[bunnyboo77]

The Mad King's Bride Chapter 5

Aerys who is now in his own chambers sitting with his eyes fixed on the secret people through which he watched Francesca. She stood among the other servants, her beauty shining like a beacon at midst the mundane surroundings of the bathing area. Aerys obsession for her was growing by the day a twisted desire that consumed his every waking thought.

He watched as she was tended to by the other women, with their hands grazing her skin with a gentle touch that sent a surge of jealousy coursing through him. The king loved the thought of anyone else laying a hand on what he considered to be his, even if it was another woman. Watching every detail as the servants removed her grubby garments showed her soft gentle skin that was coated in patches of dirt. The very thought of dirt being on her skin was an absolute disgrace to her beauty. The king made note of every curve every freckle every blemish that lay upon her skin. As she gently lowered herself into the metal bath the King's vision was obstruct it from seeing francescas beautiful curves. The light moans escaping her mouth as she lowered herself peaked the King's ears as if it was music to him.

In his dreams Francesca haunted him her image imprinted on his mind like it was branded with a hot iron. She appeared before him clad in the colours of his house a vision of beauty that both entranced and tormented him. Her eyes shone with a light that seemed to Pierce through his soul igniting a fire of desire that threatened to consume him whole.

Abruptly the king was entranced with the scene before him women anointing her skin with oil as two washed up and down her arms and legs though he could see that she wanted to pull away as the servants got lower down her body.

“Ohh my darling soon no one will touch your beautiful skin only me and I promise you you will never want to pull away from me whether you like it or not”

Considering he had watched her long enough the king close the hidden peep hole. As he got up from his chair two servant girls entered the room their faces blank and devoid of expression. They were here to wash and dress the king as he himself was getting ready for the first of many nights with his darling Francesca.

________________________________________________________________________________________

As the servants washed and dried Francesca adoring lavish dress was then presented to her. The dress itself was mainly red with trimmings of black running through the center of the dress with golden thread. The dress itself was exquisite and fitted her body perfectly, and she ran her hands through the dress the silk was nothing she'd ever touched before in her life. It felt almost like a dream but she knew it was not a dream but a nightmare.

“This dress is it's beautiful” she said hoping to start a conversation with one servant girl.

Not getting any response back she dared not open her mouth again as even though she's with others she feels alone in this world. Guided to the vanity her hair was brushed and then gracefully half braided that was all hold together with beautiful pins of flowers. The flower pins reminded her of the flowers in the gardens she would secretly walked through when she was not busy in the kitchens or anywhere else. How odd she thought her favorite flowers though no one could have known this.

As the servants finished with her makeup and hair they said not a word and vowed exiting the room.

As she paced about the room her mind raised questions and doubts. Would she ever be able to escape the confines of the gilded cage in which she was trapped.

“Ohh what am I to do” Francesca muttered to herself her voice tinged with anxiety.

“How did I come to this fate to serve a king who sees me as nothing more than an object”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The candles surrounding the table reflected the tearful eyes of the servents as they careful place each fork and knife in it place. The room was dressed as if it was expecting Lords of the land but instead it was set for the king and his new plaything. Aerys awaited Francesca in his lavish dining room a look for excitement in his eyes. He was eager to have such a beautiful maiden adore in his arm her presence a symbol of his power and wealth. As Francesca timely entered the room her eyes downcast and expression fearful, the King's gate swept over her taking in her beauty with possessive delight.

Francesca was now visibly wearing the sigil of the dragon the emblem of the King's house a stark reminder of her newfound position at his side. As the king drank in her body from head to toe he couldn't help wonder how the dress would look on his floor or rather that the table as he ripped pieces off her and took her right there and then. Fearing that she would reject him Aerys paced himself as he wanted her to want to be with him to be touched by him willingly. The depiction of her bouncing on top of him was his goal but he wanted her to want him in everywhere possible.

The king did not notice the fear in her eyes as he ushered her towards the beautiful lady table adorned with an array of sumptuous foods and wines, rose water Shimmered in the candlelight casting a warm glow over the room. Francesca and if curiosity rose her eyes never has she seen so much sumptuous items laid before her in one place not counting the time she was expected to serve people in the grand hall.

As the king made his way towards Francesca, he gently escorted her to the lavish seat beside his own. Seemingly he was acting with such kindness and grace that itself was unknown to even himself.

“Before we sit my darling I do have a gift for you I had it made especially for someone as beautiful and radiant as you” the king spoke while taking a box that was placed in front of her chair. Teen presented with a gift was something huge Francesca as she grew up in a poor village she was not one for receiving gifts other than the wooden toys that was crafted by her father that was given every name day.

Hesitant to open the box Francesca knew if she didn't she would risk enraging the king for not accepting his gift. Pulling the bow the box opened by itself and presented in front of her was a gold chain necklace of which had a three headed black dragon with rubies in their eyes.

Francesca's eyes widened at the gift that was presented to her.

“Your majesty this is such a thoughtful gift and I appreciate such a kind gesture that you have made towards me, but a servant like me could never except something like this from you”.

With those words spoken the hope in his eyes faded and were replaced by rage.

“Nonsense you are no longer a servant you are my personal companion and I deem what is worthy for whoever whether that be gifts titles or even sentences”

with that last turn of phrase Francesca knew she had to paint on a smile and accept the King's offering.

“My apologies your majesty I did not mean to offend you only that I was never gifted with anything like this before, please forgive my rude behavior”.

With that trouble sees turned calm and the king took the necklace from the box placing it around her neck. The touch of his fingers around her collarbone sent a shiver down her spine but she did not want to show a reaction. Francesca could feel the boniness of his fingers as he ran through down the back of her neck.

Want you not to scare her he graciously took her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it and spoke with such gentle words” shall we my dear the food is getting cold”.

 _________________________________________________________________________________________

It had been an hour into dinner and already Francesca spoke with simple words with the yes or no with the King's never ending questions. Where did she grow up did she have siblings what is her favorite and least favorite things.  

“My dear have you any brothers or sisters” thinking spoke with Joey and his eyes.

“No your majesty”she said.

“Have you any interest such as reading writing cooking” he spoke.

“no your majesty” she spoke.

Growing rather tired of her simple questions the king rose from his chair grabbed her throat of which he brought his face close to hers their nose touching ever so slightly.

“My dear you interest me but I have to say my interest will disappear if you speak like a simpleton”

with that he released her throat and she began choking. The act itself made something stir in his breaches. A soft pinging which he remembered he felt when he gazed in her doe eyes.

“I know this life my dear may seem like a prison but I assure you the prisons that are in this world far worse than the ones you will have with me” he spoke sipping on his cup.

“I shall give you time but I will grow impatient and I want you willing to be mine in both mind soul” and leaning closer to her ear he spoke  “and body” licking the corner of her earlobe.

“Please no” she spoke staring at the lust filled eyes

[ladylamrian]

Fantastic Beasts ✨️

Female Main Character: Alex

Pairing: F!MC × Nik Ryder

Summary: Alex discovers another side of the supernatural world.

Word counting: 3.4K

Rating: General (Fantasy, Fun, Fluff, Magic)

With Harry Potter Hogwarts references added

Warnings: none

-> -> -> Full Masterlist here <- <- <-

Thank you so much to anyone who takes the time to read, like, comment, or reblog my stories/fanfics. It means so much to me! Please inform me if you would like to be added/removed from my new Tag List.

Taglist: @infactnoimmasitinthemiddle ; @lilyoffandoms ; @liviusofpella ; @secretaryunpaid ; @blackcatkita ; @dutifullynuttywitch ; @rosepetals1 ; @mxdanni ; @peonierose ; @hopelessromantic1352 ; @jdstar88 ; @mariemarieohcontrary ; @stars-are-within-me ; @artbyalz ; @choicesficwriterscreations ; @choicesmonthlychallenge for Choices March Challenge (Prompt: Nature, Animals, Awakening)

Thanking @secretaryunpaid for edit beneath

Author's note: An old fanfic rewritten and expanded ✨️🦄🧚🏼‍♀️

After Nik led his girlfriend, Alex carefully through the dark woods, he finally removed the blindfold from her eyes. She gasped at the beauty in front of her. The fields were glade-green and the sound of chirping birds filled the air. Bees are murmuring in that strange cult hum and flit from flower to flower, surfing the short spaces as they go. The bayou was always so special for Nik, but this time he led Alex somewhere else, near the bayou. Mother nature is beautiful, but her eyes were focused on something else.

"Whaaa?! Are these...?"

"Welcome to the beautiful side of the supernatural and magical world, rookie. Forget your fears, nightmares and welcome this great side of this world.", Nik wispered and gently brushed her hair to the side while she got surprised of the sight in front of her.

Trotting towards them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Alex has ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with steel-coloured beaks and large, brilliantly golden eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly-looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of them were held in the vast hands of a young man, who came jogging after the beasts.

"Nik!! How are you, my friend?"

"Hey Anton, I'm fine and you don't mind if I brought Alex along? She's new in this supernatural and magical world and didn't had the oppurtunity to explore the beautiful parts.", he introduced her to his friend.

Alex slowly stepped closer towards one of the majestic creatures and tried to touch one, but it quickly backed away.

"Are these Griffins?"

"No, Hippogriffs, but they're very similar to the Griffin with the horse rear replacing the lion rear. And that's Anton, my client and a good friend. A few years ago I helped him to track down the missing pegasi which were held captured by the Blight Brothers in Arizona."

"It was a dangerous mission, but you pulled it off. Nik, because of you not only the pegasi, also many other magical creatures were saved and gained back their freedom. I will never forget that.", the friend thanked the young nighthunter.

After hearing what Anton said, Alex gave her boyfriend a sweet smile, showing him how proud she felt. He shyly glanced back at her with a crooked smile on his face. Who knew that a young man giving the bad-boy-vibes with a dark past could be so golden at the same time? His heart, so pure and still he didn't like to show it and kept it hidden from the world. Risking his life to save others... Somehow she felt very grateful to call that man her boyfriend.

"Ummm, well, shall we head a little further to show Alex a few other species?"

"Wait, I want to pet this Hippogriff first before we go. Can I?", she gazed with pleading eyes. The friend immediately agreed.

"Sure. When humans approach Hippogriffs, a proper etiquette must be maintained to avoid danger. Hippogriffs were intensely proud creatures, and an individual must show proper respect by bowing to them, and waiting for them to bow in return before approaching. Eye contact should be maintained at all times, without a single blink. The Hippogriff should be allowed to make the first move. If offended, it might attack. Hippogriffs were tameable, but only by experts in their care like me. I'm a wizard. Although, Hippogriffs could also be fiercely loyal and protective of those who had earned their trust."

"Eeeek, I'm getting Harry Potter vibes from you right now. Nik, your befriended with a wizard which is soooo cool!!! Anton, can you do magic? Are you from Hogwarts?"

Nik chuckled because of the loud excitement of his girlfriend, while Anton got nervous and so did the Hippogriffs, but he quickly managed to calm them down.

"Raahhh!", one of the creatures answered in response.

"I can only do a little magic, because my main job is to take care of these creatures and no, I'm not from Hogwarts. Whatever that is."

"You're really doing a great job, Anton. Uuuhhh, but do I really have to bow to touch them?"

"Don't worry, these ones were well tamed by me. Just pet them, I'll hold them."

Again, she stretched her arm and placed her palm on one of the Hippogriff's feathers while Anton held it near her for support. She softly stroked the creature which stayed calm now and gave her a curious look. Even Nik decides to give it a try to pet it now.

"An amazing creature. Hey rook, you likin' it?"

"I love it, Nik. And I want to see more. Pleeeeeeease?"

Her puppy eyes and one "Please" already melted his heart and he asked his friend to give both of them a tour. The three of them walked further with the gigantic Hippogriffs following right behind until they reached the fields and the tiny house of Nik's friend. In the backyard of the wooden house, he showed them, the magical creatures, he has been protecting and taking care of before releasing them. Even keeping a close eye on them was important when the creatures were in the wilderness. To prevent any danger and to appear quickly for any rescue or help. Some magical animals even decided to visit Anton more often or even stayed with him, especially the way he gently cared about them.

"Anton, the bound between you and the magical animals... it's... it's amazing. Damn, it's outstanding!! And you're not even a fae which are already naturally bound with nature."

"Right said, Anton is the best!!", a mysterious voice answered.

Alex quickly turned around and realized that one of the Hippogriffs just... talked??

"Uhh, can Hippogriffs talk?"

"Uhhh, no. That was just a series of high-pitched whistling or piping notes like eagles always do. Hippogriffs are partly eagle as you can see."

"No, I... I heard real words coming from that bronze colored Hippogriff."

"Is that girl talking about me, Ash?", she heard the bronze colored creature answer again.

"I don't think so. Come on, let's eat something. I'm hungry.", the gray colored hippogriff talked now.

The gray colored beeing pulled at the long chains Anton was holding which were attached to it's thick leather collar and signaled him something. The young man immediatly gave in and got led by the Hippogriffs to see what they wanted. The wizard friend recommended Nik to show Alex a little bit around on his own. Nik's always welcome to his home. Then Anton left the two alone.

"I think Ash was hungry."

"Who's Ash?", Nik asked her.

"That's the name of the gray Hippogriff."

"Okaaaay, I don't remember Anton mentioning the name at all. Well, wanna see the pegasi next?"

She excitedly nodded and both of them were headed towards a field where beautiful winged horses enjoyed the fresh grass of the season and some of them even flew around. Before Alex could let out an excited shriek, Nik quickly covered her mouth with his palm.

"Shhh, we don't wanna scare them. Pegasi are mild-tempered, docile animals, unlike unicorns. A herd of Pegasi used to live in the Bayou, but now they're just a few of them. Since they're imbued with magic from heads to hooves, Pegasi are sometimes poached and sold to collectors or killed to be used for parts in spells."

"That's so sad, I'm glad you went to that mission in Arizona to save them. They're so beautiful and such majestic creatures, Nik. You know, I learned that Pegasus isn't a type of creature, it's actually the name of the winged white stallion from Greek mythology and while Pegasus was one specific creature, his name has often been used as a defining term for winged horses in general. Also, his role was to bring thunderbolts to Zeus."

"Damn, you're good. I love it when you speak intelligent stuff."

"Thanks. Just imagine that one day a pegasus will bring you your arrows."

"That would actually be cool, my intelligent girl."

"Oh Nik, I love it when you call me intelligent."

"Then why did you sometimes played the dumbass last year?"

His girlfriend gave him a playful nudge and he lets out a warm laugh after teasing her.

"But no, really, I like it when you praise me. You even once said that I'm powerful and strong. Like I'm no helpless princess anymore, waiting for her knight in shining armour or prince charming to come for rescue. And what you also said about the faes. That the faes need worship to the ground I walk on. But seriously, that line sounded very cheesy."

But Alex quickly realized that Nik's focus was somewhere else and followed his gaze. A white pegasus carefully trotted towards him. That majestic white stallion got carefully closer, but still watched the two of them from a safe distance. A crystalline droplet appeared out of nowhere and floated in the air beside the creature's eye.

By touching the tear, everything around Alex faded away and she find herself in an animalistic body. Having hooves instead if feet, gigantic feathery wings and the body of a horse. She saw a vision about the creature's past Everything in the perspective of the creature. The night had fallen already.

"Neeigh!"

Tied up with a rope, the pegasus was captured in a small cage in a dark room, seeking for food, fresh water and freedom like many other creatures around . Some of them are also the pegasi from it's own herd. The Blight Brothers have captured the pegasi after it left Anton's backyard to go for a flight.

"Don't worry pegasi of my herd, stallions and mares, I will find a way out of here.", it promised it's pegasi companions.

"We won't get free. I've been captured here for almost a week now."

The pegasi turned it's attention away from it's own herd and focused on the unicorn calling out. She was a beautiful mare, had white fur, a sparkly pink mane and a horn on the top of her head.

"My name is Sunburst, the leader of the pegasi herd in the bayou of New Orleans and I won't let any human steal our freedom from us."

"And as an leader you're still befriended with one human called Anton?! My name is Moonlight and I'm telling you, all humans are the same and..."

Their conversation got cut as a blond haired man suddenly began opening the cages and freeing all the captured animals in a hurry.

"Okay, time for everyone to escape before Scourge and the Blight Brothers catch us. Hurry off, to your beloved freedom!! Anton's going to be happy 'bout this."

"But... Isn't he working with the Blight Brothers?", the female unicorn wondered herself.

A feeling of happiness and hope appeared. One by one the young man released every creature from their cages and they immediately flew or ran towards their beloved freedom. When the last creature got freed, Sunburst, the pegasi leader suddenly discovered several men, the Blight Brothers appearing towards the human.

"You're a traitor, Carl Drogo!!", one of the men yelled at the animal rescuer.

"I'm not Carl Drogo, you bastards! I'm Nik Ryder, a nighthunter and your biggest nightmare!!"

As the Blight Brothers attack, the nighthunter kept fighting, threw punches and shot arrow after arrow to keep the bruisers distracted until the last creature made it's safe escape. But they're too many of them and they slowly began surrounding the bleeding hunter.

"Damn...", Nik silently cursed as he realized that he was in trouble. All the bruisers against him. He was alone.

But then... Sunburst, the pegasi leader came into action. Flying above the dangerous bruisers, it kicked and stomped with it's hooves to buy the hunter enough time to escape before leaving Arizona for good. And it worked!! While the animal kept the bad guys busy, Nik quickly took his chance to escape while looking after the winged horse. Making sure that it escaped too because he wouldn't allow it if it got captured again. And it worked!! Flying across the nightsky with the rest of it's herd, the leader of the pegasi hoped that the rest of the creatures and the mysterious nighthunter will be on their way back home too. Safely.

Then the memory of the underground trading ring dissipates around Alex like a mist and she found herself back in the woods in her own body. Without knowing, she was leaning against Nik. The white pegasi which the two of them were watching was already gone.

"Hey, what's the matter?", Nik, her boyfriend got worried and gently touched her cheek and leaned to make eye-contact.

"Aww, the pegasi is gone. And I couldn't even pet it, Nik."

"They're very shy, so it's gonna be very hard to pet one or even find one. I'm surprised that this one even dared to come that close to us. Well never mind, I can show you other cool creatures if you'd like. Maybe a tiny jackalope or some pixies?"

"How about unicorns?"

Sudden silence hang between them. After a moment he began to speak, but this time his voice heavy, jaws clenched and eyes drowned in her's.

"The hell!! I'm not even letting you near a unicorn, rook. They're dangerous and not like the ones from My Little Pony where everything is sparkle, glitter and rainbow. Unicorns are territorial and they attack whoever comes in their near unlike pegasi, rook."

"Not all are like that..."

"Oh yeah, met one before?!"

"Uhhh maybeeee..."

"Wait what?!! Where? When? Whyyy?"

"Uhhh, last month. But she was a friendly one and she even talked with me, relax. I guess beeing partly fae gives me the abbility to talk with animals and understand them. Isn't that cool?"

Without words, Nik gripped Alex softly by her wrist and pulled her with him through the dark woods, back from where they came from.

"Heyyyy, where are you taking me?!!"

"Headin' home."

"If you want to go home then leave, I want to explore..."

"Rookie, no."

"Rookie, yes!!"

"You never listen."

"You don't understand. Look how great this day begun and now you ruined the whole mood, Nik."

Gggrrll...

The girl bumped into Nik when he suddenly stopped walking after hearing a strange noise. Both of them got alert. A skeletal creature slinked out from behind the bushes and began hissing at the young couple. Nik protectively stood infront of her.

"Nik, what is that?!"

"Shhh, don't worry. These creatures have canine skeletons and are covered with moss or vines. They can be killed if their skulls or spines are destroyed."

"What do we do? You didn't brought your weapons along. How are we...?"

"You run, I'll handle."

"No way, Nik!! Not that again. Seriously?"

Nik tried to calm her down and pushed her away from danger, towards safety as the skeletal creature appeared closer.

"Gggrrll...", the skeletal creature aggressivly snarled.

Time seemed to slow down as it jumped in the air towards the young nighthunter and landed on him. Both crashed on the ground, the creature above the Nik who desperatly tried to escape its grip

"Gggrrll..."

The creature ready to strike...

"Nik!!", Alex panicked.

Without knowing, Alex stretched her arm, showed her palms where a light blast appeared and hit the moss creature hard. First the wood monster hestitated, then it decided to leave Nik and... to hunt his girlfriend down instead. This time, it lets a powerful shriek out while desperatly tried to signal her to run away.

"Ggggrrr..."

"Come here you freaky monster!!! You don't scare me at all. Let him go!"

Before the moss creature could reach her, Nik quickly leaped on the creature, preventing it from getting near her and at the same time letting out several strong whistles by pressing the tips of his thumb and forefinger together up against the tip of his tongue.

"Phhwwwht!"

While Alex got confused why Nik suddenly began to whistle, a majestic falcon appeared from the sky and flew towards Nik and the moss creature. It somehow began to help Nik by peeking angrily on the creature's skulls.

"Kack-kack-kack!"

Both struggling, while Nik and the falcon tried to fight it, but the monster kept biting and snapping to release itself from the hold. Alex had to do something quick before Nik gets more injured, the monster's claws made him already bleeding.

"Run, can't... hold... longer!", Nik desperatly begged her, but she decided to stay.

Alex remembered what had she learned in the fae realm and began to concentrate. Closing her eyes, she pictured a crystalline blade, radiant with golden light. Her fingers abruptly curled around the smooth, glassy warmth of a handle! After a while, as she opened her chocolate-brown eyes, she discovered to see a long, slender blade of light gleaming in her palm! She held her magical weapon with confidence and immediately knew what to do.

Swinging the weapon up and without losing more time, she sprinted towards the monster. With enough strenght while keeping a safer distance towards Nik and the mysterious falcon, she finally brought her sword down. Slashing through the creature's neck with a blow so hard, that the blade bit through the dirty ground.

"Hyyaaa!!"

The moss creature's body crumpled, twitching beneath her sword. Then, she picked up it's snapping head and blew it's glowing eyes like candles, and it's body fell still.

"Damn, that was hot.", Nik got impressed by his girlfriend.

Letting the creature go and letting her golden sword disappear with magic, the girl quickly hurried over to Nik who was still lying on the ground. Alex gently helped her boyfriend on his feet and assisted him to walk while the mysterious falcon flew away.

"I'm fine, it's just a little blood. Are you okay? Why didn't you ran away when I told...?"

"Because we're a team, remember? You told me that last year when I wasn't listening to you, right? And you're not fine, you're hurt! Let's get you somewhere safe. We are not far from Anton his house, right?"

"Yeah. And I'm fine, thanks."

The injured hunter gave her sly smile after she reminded him that they were a team.

"Nik, what was that before?? You whistled and then a falcon came... Uhh, how did...?? That was cool! Awesome!! That... That was... How???!!!!!", she couldn't believe what she just saw and asked him.

After a little silence, Nik finally spoke in a nervous tone while his eyes faced the ground as both of them were strolling towards the wizard's house.

"The thing is... The falcon and I share story. A past. When I was still living in Elijah's house in the woods, I found it. It was a tiny chick. Near it's nest I discovered two dead falcons, it's parents. And well..."

"Oh Nik...", she placed a hand on his shoulder for support. Afterall Nik his birthparents also died when he was a tiny child, so that little falcon chick reminded Nik of himself.

"Soooo yeah, I kinda raised the falcon. I named it, fed it, taught a few tricks and took care of it. Poor little fella' lost it's parents like I did, so I had to something. So just like Elijah took me, I took this falcon. Alex, you're the very first one I'm sharing this. And please don't share this embarrasing story to anyone, especially not Katy."

"But it's not embarrasing, it's heroic. You're a hero, Nik. A protector. But I see... You don't want your tough guy act be ruined, huh? Oh my Nik, you're such a hidden softie and I love you.", she giggled and pinched his cheek with love.

"Ouch. Hey?"

"You're welcome, dear. By the way, what name did you even gave your falcon pet."

"It's not my pet, rook. It's a free living creature, a friend and well... I named it... I named it Arrow."

"Arrow? Just like the arrows of your crossbow??"

"Arrow. Because this bird flies really fast just like a shooting arrow. Like really really fast, rook."

"I see. Not bad actually, Nik. Definitly better than any nicknames you give. Or should I say Nik-names??", she giggled while Nik rolled his eyes after hearing that bad joke.

"Stop it, rook.", he grinned.

"Fine... Oh hey, Nik!!"

"Hmm?"

"Since I met your wizard friend today, I was wondering... What Hogwarts house would you like to belong to?"

"What kind of question is that? From where did you got that idea?"

"Just answer!! I'm curious to know."

"Well, I don't know. Never thought about that. Would a Gryffindor suit me?"

"Oh definitly, but I actually see you more as a Ravenclaw because you know a lot of things."

"Me? Ravenclaw? You think I'm intelligent??", Nik surprised by Alex's opinion, so she decided to explain it more.

Nik Ryder was indeed a very brave man with enough strenght and courage. Life made him tough, but he also showed his knowledge and intelligence. Several times he came up with new ideas, suggested what to do next and got into the leader role very well without noticing. By staying loyal to his companions and thinking about every next step, he lead his friends through adventures. He was the one and only who found out about Alex's missing father, her mysterious benefactor and that she was fae royalty instead of an ordinary human. Mysteries and puzzles solved all thanks to him, she explained.

"So yes, these are the reasons why I think a Ravenclaw would suit you too. Means I have a very clever boyfriend.", she praised.

"Oh yeah? Thanks, my dear girlfriend. And you're definitly a Hufflepuff.", he winked.

Thanking @secretaryunpaid for this beautiful and magical edit above. -> Full view here , when you scroll down beneath to find the monster and hippogriff <-

So credits to @jamespotterthefirst , for these beautiful templates which she created and I was allowed to use for my MC and LI. I also made some changes with the colors and added my own edits/pictures.

[januaryembrs]

THE NIGHT IS DARK AND FULL OF TERRORS | Jaime Lannister x reader

Request: hi!! biggest congratulations on 1k, it is so so deserved!! i would like to send in a drabble request for jaime lannister, maybe where either he or the reader has a nightmare, and the other person comforts them, if that’s okay? and feel free to change this however you see fit, of course!! thank you, and I hope you're having a good day :))

description: Jaime has a nightmare of his sister finding out about your secret affair. 

Word count: 1k

trigger warnings: Though the reader is a cousin of Ned Stark, I left her racially ambiguous so that everyone may feel included, reader and Jaime are naked but no smut, Bolton's men chopping off Jaime's hand and hurting reader.

main masterlist

Author’s note: this was written as part of my 1k follower celebration. please feel free to send in 1000 word drabble prompts of your own! also thank you to the person who sent this in, I appreciate it very much and I hope you like it!

A low gasp broke the pure silence the dark bedroom kept. Jaime’s mind took a brief moment to decipher where exactly he was, his dream being so realistic it seemed to have knocked him senseless. 

In King's Landing, he was in his chambers. He would know the smell of the fragrant soaps the maids here used anywhere, chamomile and honey as Cersei always demanded so that he and her could match. He’d kicked his sheets off in the night, it was a warm harvest season considering winter was right around the corner. He reached out to pull the thinner of the sheets over himself, his naked body now catching quite a chill in the twilight air, when he struggled to catch the fabric. 

And that’s when he saw why. Where his glorious, sword wielding hand had once been, now lay a messy, gruesome scar at the end of his forearm. Amidst his vivid dreams of you being held at sword point per his sister’s orders, one in which he’d been having the past week you’d both returned to King’s Landing, he seemed to have been dragged so far from reality he struggled to grasp it even now.

Jaime Lannister had always been a proud man, the best swordsman in the continent. Known for his skill in the field, and his glorious reputation in his kingdom. That was before Roose Bolton’s men had gotten their hands on him, and Locke had carved his hand from his arm with one quick manoeuvre that left him no better than his half-man of a brother.  

The blonde man didn’t have enough time to mull over his loss before he felt a body stirring next to him. You made a noise of protest upon realising he had rolled away from your side, your equally nude body now cold. Your eyes peeked open to observe him. Where the moonlight filtered in through the thin windows, decorated intricately with maroon wire to match his house colours, it illuminated his features enough for you to realise he seemed troubled, saddened almost. You woke yourself up out of your slumber more to tend to him, though you had a good idea what his distress was about. 

Your hand fell to his cheek gently, the sudden contact making him flinch. You sighed deeply as he dragged himself out of whatever though he seemed to be buried deep into, turning your body over to face him completely.

“What is it?” You whispered, afraid to disrupt the silence cooing at the man as if he were a trembling cub. “Same dream again?”

Jaime says nothing, but you feel him relax into your touch, his head shifting to gaze at you with sleep infused green eyes. You see him glance over every part of your face, a short groan of fatigue leaving his dry lips. That was confirmation enough for you he had been yet again woken up by his troubled mind. 

“We’re being careful. We don’t interact outside of your room, for all your sister knows, we could just be comforting one another after-” You tried to reassure him, though he cut you off tiredly. 

“Cersei will find out somehow. She has eyes everywhere.” He spoke solemnly, though he reached his good arm up to stroke your hair out of your face. “I don’t want her to find more of a reason to hurt you. The fact you’re a Stark is already a death sentence to her.” 

It had been unlikely - the two of you falling for one another. You had offered to return Jaime to the Lannisters when he had been captured by Catelyn and Robb in exchange for Sansa, only travelling intending to be sure the Lannister man kept his word and returning your cousin’s daughter. You and Brienne had ridden the chained man two-thirds of the way before the Bolton’s men had got their slimy grasp on you. 

They said they knew your head could fetch just as much gold from Roose as Jaime’s, and had beaten you to near death right before their eyes before they’d decided they wanted you alive. 

You had been a few more hits away from losing consciousness when Jaime had fought. He had stolen one of their meagre steel swords, taken down three of the hunters, and threw his body over yours to defend you before Locke had intervened and cut off his sword hand. 

He had sacrificed his greatest weapon, his greatest achievement for you. A woman he should have hated, a woman he would have died to defend. A woman he had grown to love, who he couldn’t stand to watch be assaulted in such a way before he had to mediate the fight himself. 

But returning to King’s Landing, being pardoned for your ‘crime’ of a treasonous family by King Joffrey. That didn’t mean you weren’t walking on a sharp blade every second you spent in court, now a bartering chip for Tywin to use against your family. At least you could protect Sansa as promised, and explore your growing affections for the King Slayer. 

The man you regularly slept with, regularly exchanged sweet words in the privacy of his bedsheets, the man you knew would protect you with all he could as he had before. 

“Your name, your status would be enough to sway anyone wishing to hurt me.” You tried to convince him, laying a gentle kiss to his lips, “You don’t need both hands to protect me as viciously as you do,” 

“It would certainly help,” He grumbled back, tracing his remaining fingers down your bare back gently, salvaging every touch he could get of your nude body. 

You smiled whimsically, pressing another kiss to his lips though this one was heavier, more deep with the love you found yourself pouring over him in these moments. “My brave lion fighting for his wolf. No one could stop a man so powerful,” You stroked his ego, feeling him tighten his grasp on you. 

He knew you were pandering to him, but as all Lannisters, he didn’t complain one bit. Because he knew it was the truth. He would wreak the havoc of a feral beast before anyone, his sister included, would lay a hand on you. 

permanent taglist:

@greeneyedblondie44 @liadamerondjarin @andy-rocks @musicartmayheminmyheart @howlerwolfmax @ciarra-mae

[the-little-ewok]

Marks

Marks

Poe Dameron X Female Reader Wordcount: 7.5k (ish) Rating: E Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Multiple Orgasms/ overstimulation, use of restraint (hand tying), 2 spanks, PIV, F-Receiving oral, language, Fluff (lots of fluff at the end)

Summary: Giving Poe Dameron a love bite leads to a lot more fun than you anticipated...

A/N - While this can be read on its own, it is a sequel to Strike Three & A Sincere Apology. You don't need to read them to enjoy this one (but it does add more colour). A note on timelines : These fics are snapshots of a long running relationship so the timeline jumps forward with each one.

-----------

"Really?" Poe groans, looking at you through the mirror of your shared room. You grin back at him, pulling your boots on as he traces the tips of his fingers across the red and purple mark on his neck.

"You weren't complaining earlier. In fact, you were rather loudly enjoying it." Your words earn an unimpressed look as he pulls his collar up.

"If anyone sees this, I'll never live it down." He grumbles. Your laughter fills the room, which only causes his frown to deepen as he turns to pin you with a glare. You grin sweetly back at him until his lips twitch, and he breaks into a smile of his own.

"You're a nightmare." He sighs, going back to studying the mark in the mirror. No amount of tugging on his shirt collar will cover it fully and that only amuses you further. "I'm supposed to be the General, not a schoolboy."

"I like it. Made you mine, General Dameron." You tease. Poe huffs in response, watching you get to your feet. In the months since the fall of the First Order, you'd watched him grow into a leader that Leia would have been proud of. Not that he ever listened to you when you tried to convince him of that. He was always too harsh on himself about his ability to lead, too quick to judge himself.

Smoothing down your shirt, you turn to leave. "I'll see you at the morning meeting." Poe's hand shoots out to grab your wrist in a gentle grip, pulling you the few steps back to him.

"Hey, where's my goodbye kiss?" He pouts. You can't help rolling your eyes at him with an affectionate smile.

"Poe, I'm going to see you in what, an hour?"

"How am I supposed to go about my morning, if all I can think about is what it would be like to kiss you?" You roll your eyes again, but it's hard to keep the smile off your face as your heart melts. Somehow, he always knows the softest words to say. With a sigh of defeat, you press your lips sweetly to his for a moment, and straighten his collar.

"Good luck hiding that, baby." You boop his nose with your finger and watch as his eyebrows pull together in an unimpressed frown. Laughing, you turn and sprint out the door before he can delay you any longer.

~

At this point of the meeting, you’ve been grinning for so long that your face is beginning to hurt while you watch Poe across the room. Beads of sweat collect around his hairline before occasionally making their break for freedom over his forehead. The humidity has his hair curling and damp with sweat. Poe shoots you a glare, adjusting the scarf that he has been wearing all morning before wiping his forehead.

"You ok, Dameron?" Snap gives him a concerned frown from across the table.

"I'm fine, thank you." But Poe’s words are stiff and each syllable seems to hold a heavy tension as he throws a look your way that has heat flooding through you. It’s a heat that has nothing to do with the rising temperature in the room.

"You’re looking kind of warm there, is all." Snap shrugs, sitting back. "It's a thousand degrees in here today."

You didn't think it possible, but your grin widens even more. Of course he ended up drawing attention to this all by himself. It was the hottest day you'd ever known and Poe sat with his shirt half open, his sleeves rolled up, and his scarf wrapped around his neck.

"You'd probably feel better if you got rid of the scarf?" You suggest with a shrug, knowing that if he could reach you, you'd get a kick to your boot to shut you up. But you'd been smart enough to sit at the opposite end of the table, where you could enjoy this show comfortably.

Poe folds his arms across his chest. "How about instead of interrupting the briefing, you do the reports I asked for? I didn't seem to receive them last night when they were due." You blink at his firm words, momentarily annoyed by him calling you out in front of everyone.

The reports in question were the ones you’d been dragged away from last night, with his insistence that you could do them in the morning. But somehow, the fleeting annoyance fades into concern as you register the look on his face. You know this expression well. The quirk of an eyebrow and a smirk.

What are you about to do?

"I assume you know how to spell my email address to send them? Or do you need a lesson in spelling my name as well as keeping quiet?" There it is.

You can feel the blood rush up your neck and across your cheeks. There’s not a single doubt in your mind that everyone in the room has noticed it, too. All you can do is hope that they take it as embarrassment at your General calling his own girlfriend out.

You stumble over your words for a moment. "N...no, Po-General. I'll have them with you within the hour." You finally get a handle on yourself, swallowing hard and shifting in your seat. Bastard.

He nods and goes back to the meeting while you sit there, heat creeping out across your skin. And in that moment, you can’t seem to help yourself as you press your thighs together when the memory of his tongue creeps into your mind.

"Why is he wearing that?" Snap leans over, whispering to you. His lowered voice brings your mind back to the room.

"It's obviously a fashion statement." Karè answers for you with a giggle and a roll of her eyes.

"It's a health hazard in this heat." Snap grins, making you snort with laughter. Poe’s eyes narrow, glancing over to you, making you bite your lip in an attempt to stop laughing. You can see him getting more unimpressed by the second. Deciding that perhaps you've pushed him far enough, you settle back in your chair and shut your mouth, trying not to grin.

With or without your input it's only a matter of time before Poe passes out or he gives in. And as the minutes tick by you can see him start to struggle and eventually, ever so reluctantly, he removes the scarf from his neck and quickly pulls up his collar. But it's too late.

"Stars, Dameron, what the hell is on your neck? Have you had a medic look at that?" Snap questions in a not-so-subtle way across the table. You have to bite your tongue in order not to burst out laughing. You can see the colour rising in Poe's cheeks and you sink further into your chair, holding your breath to stop the giggle that's fighting to break free.

"It's nothing. We are discussing flight plans, not me." Poe answers through gritted teeth, immediately trying to go back to the briefing.

"No, Poe, that looks pretty bad." Karè pipes up.

This was the most fun you've had in weeks and it was becoming increasingly hard not to start laughing again.

Karè throws you a grin as she continues. "I guess you were pretty sick with something? I did wonder who was making all that noise early this morning. I guess maybe you had a fever with it and babbling nonsense?" Oh shit. Poe glares at you and you raise your eyebrows, your lungs starting to burn from holding your breath to contain your laughter. For once you weren't the one being loud. Your mouth had been busy.

"What if it spreads? You could be infecting us all right now." Snap is having trouble keeping the amusement out of his voice and it tips you over the edge, forcing your laughter to break free. You can see the exact moment Poe's had enough of the interruptions, and his General side takes over.

"Enough. Out. Now. All of you." Snap and Karè jump up, laughing.

"You too." Poe nods at you. "Out. No more interruptions." He folds his arms over his chest and you know this is going to be a conversation later.

"I didn't say anything!" You protest, but you're still laughing and it's hard to stop. He stares you down silently until you stand up. You can’t resist teasing him further as you slip out of the door. “You really should get that looked at though.” As you leave, you catch the look he gives you which says all it needs to.

Once the door is safely shut behind you, Snap grins and shakes his head. "You're in so much trouble."

"Yeah, thanks for your help with that! If I get murdered in my sleep, I know who to blame." You laugh.

"Oh don't worry I'm sure you'll find a way to make it up to him," Karè winks with a laugh. "Come on, before our General really loses his cool." That gets another bark of laughter from you as you follow them down the corridor.

~

You'd actively avoided Poe since he kicked you out of the briefing, starting to feel a tiny thread of guilt tugging in your chest. You'd apologise to him later, but you would also at least give him some space, especially after the look he had given you. Instead, you busied yourself helping the squadron with repairs on the ships, and generally keeping off of his radar.

"I swear, they do this on purpose now." Jessika groans, helping you drag the broken droid across the hangar to try and piece it back together. "Just combust the second I look at them. Honestly, I don't do anything, it just... happens."

"Don't worry, we can get it fixed up before anyone notices. I'm pretty sure it’s probably just a fried chip, or several. Besides, I think the Great Destroyer is a pretty cool nickname!" Jess sighs and finally lets out a laugh at your attempt to comfort her.

"Maybe! And talking of combusting… you have one unhappy looking man staring at you, fit to explode." She nods over to the other side of the hangar and you glance up to see Poe. His arms are folded over his chest, the scarf wrapped back around his neck, watching you with a look that makes you swallow hard.

"Guess I need to deal with that. I'll be back in a minute." You sigh. Jess nods and waves you off.

Poe doesn't move as you make the longest walk across the hangar, but you know that his eyes are watching each step you take until you're in front of him. You fidget awkwardly under his silent gaze, not wanting to meet his eyes.

Eventually, Poe sighs, "I've had to listen to Snap go on all morning that I have some disease. All. Morning." He states firmly. You dare to steal a glance at him and watch his lips twitch, holding back a smile, making you grin.

"I’m sorry. Not for Snap. I actually think his comments were hilarious. But, I am sorry that I interrupted your meeting. Although, I maintain it's not my fault and you should blame Snap and Karè for making me laugh." Poe rolls his eyes in answer to your rambling, still looking unimpressed, so you play the best card you have. "I guess lucky for you, someone taught me how to give a proper apology."

Poe lets out a soft laugh at that, shaking his head while he considers you for a moment, all traces of annoyance wiped from his expression.

"Come here." Grabbing your hand, he pulls you back behind one of the ships where you're mostly hidden from view. Without even looking to check that there’s no prying eyes, he pulls you hard against him and dips his head to kiss you.

"You're in so much trouble with your General." His lips follow your jaw and trail down your neck, nipping at your flesh with his teeth. Normally you would get lost in the moment and you wish you could, but you can't help giggling at the heat pouring off him.

"Poe. You're burning hot. Take off the scarf. It's just a mark. Nobody even cares other than you."

"No. Busy." Another soft kiss on your neck, a drag of his teeth against your skin that makes your breath catch for a moment. Maker, he can be so stubborn and so distracting. You tilt your head as he places soft kisses down to your collarbone, before following the path back up to capture your lips again.

You allow yourself just a moment to kiss him back before you sigh, reluctantly pulling away from him. Poe frowns, clearly unimpressed at your lack of enthusiasm. Wrapping your fingers in the damp material of his scarf, you pull him to you and press another soft kiss against his lips.

"Off." You insist, unwrapping the material from around his neck before pulling it off. Poe pulls his collar up over the mark and holds out his hand for the offending item. Shaking your head, you hold the scarf behind your back. "Nope. Not unless you're going to use it in a way I like." You whisper low enough that you know only he will be able to hear over the low hum of life around you. He takes a breath and his hands slide back around your waist, pulling you against him.

"Stop. It's already too hot." He warns you, leaning his forehead on yours. You peer at him through your eyelashes, giving him your best innocent look.

"Stop what, General? You're the one dragging me away from work to have your wicked way with me." He drops his head to your shoulder with a groan at your words. Taking a deep breath, his fingers tighten against your hips. You smile to yourself, pleased that you still have that type of power over him.

"I swear…" he groans. Whatever he is about to say is interrupted by BB-8's panicked beeps. Peering around the edge of the ship, you realise it's because the droid has seen the mess Jessika has made.

"No, no, calm down! Don't worry, I can fix it… I think…I didn't murder them at all! No BB, calm down!" You laugh as you hear Jessika begging the BB unit and the continuing panicked beeps.

"Think that's your call to get back to work, General." You giggle. Sighing, Poe steals another quick kiss from you and then another, causing you to giggle against his lips.

"Don't think this means you're out of trouble. I have things to do, but," He leans in, his lips ghosting over the shell of your ear as he whispers, "I'll deal with you later". The look he gives you as he pulls back let's you know it's both a promise, and a threat. Then he's gone, striding across the yard to the BB unit before you have time to form a coherent response. You stand blinking and watching his retreating form, heat pooling in your abdomen, the temperature ticking upwards.

I'll deal with you later.

~

His words infiltrate every thought you have for the rest of the day. Every time you pass him in the yard, in the corridors or in meetings, he gives you a look that confirms he knows exactly what you're thinking about.

By the time you get back to your room during the late afternoon, you're practically panting with need, desperate to throw yourself into his arms to do whatever he wants. Except, you find yourself disappointed when the room is silent and empty. You shouldn't be surprised, really. He works too hard: sometimes not crawling into bed until the early hours, wrapping you up in his arms and mumbling soft apologies against your skin. You had hoped just this once, he might have come back early, but duty calls, and you understood that.

Sighing, you struggle out of your damp clothes, throwing them down to the side and heading into the fresher. A shower would help calm you down while you wait, you could wash off the sweat and dirt from the day, and hope he would be back soon. Switching on the water, you turn the temperature down from the usual blazing heat that Poe has it set to and step in. The cool water feels good against your skin, but only somewhat settles the ache between your legs.

I’ll deal with you later.

You could take care of yourself, you consider, skimming your hands over your breasts. It wouldn't be the same, but stars, he could be gone for hours and you've been on edge so long already. You let your eyes drift closed under the steady stream, imagining Poe's hands tracing their way across your abdomen in a way they had so often before: slowly sliding down further.

Poe, calling your name from the other room, pulls you out of the daydream with a jolt.

"Yeah, I'm here. I'll be out in a minute." You call back. Stepping out of the shower, you dry yourself off before wrapping a bath towel around your body and walk out into the bedroom. Poe, having already kicked off his boots and shirt, was busy typing away on a datapad, his back turned to you. You lick your lips as you take in his broad shoulders, your eyes trailing down his bare back to his ass. He turns to catch you staring and gives you a grin.

"Like what you see, beautiful?" He smirks, throwing down the datapad and holding out his hands. With an affectionate smile, you walk over and take them, allowing him to pull you in for a soft kiss. When you pull away, you wipe a smudge of oil from his cheek.

"So that's where you've been. Playing with your X-Wing?" You tease gently. Always a pilot first.

"I just had something to finish. Why? Miss having me in the shower with you?" He asks, sliding his hands around your waist, his fingers tightening on your hips as you step up close to him.

"Hmm, not really. Always more fun by myself." He raises his eyebrows at you with an unimpressed look.

"Oh? Is that right? Guess I'll have to teach you otherwise." His lips capture yours as one of his hands pull your hips against his, the other finds a home on the side of your neck, tangling in your hair and holding you to him as he kisses you. He teases your lips open, his tongue licking into your mouth, hot, slick, and teasingly slow. You moan softly as he slides both hands down to cup your ass, pulling your body hard against him and holding you there. Poe lets out a soft groan as he pulls away from you, looking you over and licking his lips.

"Don't think I've forgotten that you're in trouble." He warns, letting you go and stepping back. "Put your hands behind your back."

You giggle and give him a frown while playing dumb, although you have your suspicions about what's coming. You know him well enough by now. "What? Why?"

"Because I told you to, and you need to start following orders. That was an order." His tone is low, commanding and not to be argued with. Desire shoots through you like a blaster bolt, hot, sparking fire racing through your veins. You do as he asks and watch him curiously as he steps behind you. You feel a damp soft material wrapping around your wrists, binding them in place. Glancing behind, you watch him putting the final knots in the scarf. Experimentally, you wriggle your hands, but he's tied it tight and there's no way you're getting out.

"You've had far too much fun today... I think it's about time I had some of my own." His fingers slide slowly up your bound arms and over your shoulders, resting lightly on top of the material covering your naked body.

"Yes, Sir." You breathe, happy to play along. Heat blazes across your skin and pools in your abdomen. His hands skim down across your breasts through the towel as he presses his body against your back.

"At least you’ve learnt some respect now, after showing me up this morning." He growls in your ear. His hands suddenly leave your chest and without missing a beat, he brings a hand down hard on your ass. While you yelp with the sting, it sends a shot of pleasure straight to your core. He repeats the action on the other cheek, only this time, your yelp is more of a moan.

His hands slide back around your waist, agonisingly slowly, toying with the edges of the towel as he places open mouthed kisses to your neck. His tongue snakes down your skin, leaving a hot trail in its wake and causing you to shiver with desire. He places another kiss to your shoulder, before his teeth graze softly across your flesh, nipping slightly as he pulls the material from you, allowing it to pool at your feet, exposing your naked body.

Poe makes a soft noise of appreciation in your ear, his fingers coming up to graze across your hard nipples. He takes both between his fingers, rolling and pinching lightly, causing you to let out a low moan and arch your back to his touch. You can feel the heat prickling your skin and your arousal starting to coat your thighs as he bites your neck, hard enough to give you a jolt of painful pleasure. His hands leave your breasts to slide slowly down across your abdomen, taking his time to map out every inch of your skin.

"I'm going to take a shower. You stay right here." His hands are suddenly gone and he steps back. You twist around to look at him, your mouth agape. He can’t be serious. “I warned you, baby." He shrugs and steps around you, heading towards the fresher.

"Wh-Poe. Don't you dare." You growl in warning, "Poe, I swear, if you-" He turns and gives you a mischievous grin.

"What are you gonna do, sweetheart? You're all tied up." He interrupts. Your eyes narrow in warning at him and he lets out a laugh as he walks back over to you. "Would I do that to you? Leave you wanting?" He teases softly, cupping your cheek and brushing his thumb across your lips.

"I actually wouldn't put it past you." Poe gives you an offended look before leaning in to kiss you softly. You melt into it, but he pulls away all too quickly.

"Maybe next time I will." His hands find your hips as he gently backs you up to the bed. "Sit." Somewhat awkwardly you manage to sit down while his hands steady you. Very slowly, Poe kneels down in front of you resting his hands on your thighs.

"Untie me." You want to sound serious, even if you aren't. But the way his still damp curls fall over his forehead and the smirk on his lips causes heat to creep through your veins, spreading out across your body, making it hard not to give away the smile that you're fighting down.

"I will. If that's what you really want, baby." He leans into you, placing a soft kiss just below your ear as his hands slide up your bare thighs. He waits silently for a moment, nudging his nose against your neck, his breath fanning out across your skin. Poe knows you don’t want him to untie you, not really. By now, he knows exactly which buttons he can press. He's always known which buttons he can press. Just like you're sure he knows that your arousal is pooling between your legs for him as you sit there in anticipation. Maker, he knows you far too well.

"Nothing to say?" He teases, dropping his lips to kiss a trail across your collarbone and continuing down to follow the curve of your breast, before taking one taunt nipple in his mouth and rolling his tongue around it slowly. You let out a low moan at the spark of pleasure that shoots through you at his actions. "Wish you were this quiet in my meetings." He grins.

"Wish your meetings were this interest-" You break off into a moan as he bites down on your nipple gently.

"You need to stop talking." Poe warns, moving to the other breast and bringing another quiet moan of need from you. When he pulls back for a moment, you manage to form a reply.

"Make me." The look he gives you let's you know he's absolutely going to take that challenge on. His hands complete their journey to the top of your thighs before pushing them apart, fully exposing you to his gaze.

"You should be careful what you wish for." His head drops to your thigh, his lips sealing around the skin there, licking and sucking. You know there will be a mark there tomorrow, one that makes you his. The thought and his actions draw another moan from your throat.

"Mmm, I can't wait to hear more of that. Much better than talking." Poe thinks aloud for your amusement. Whatever smart ass reply you were planning dies on your lips as his tongue licks a hot stripe across your clit, making you arch your hips with a gasp. His hands press down on your thighs, pinning you to the bed as his tongue flicks back and forth across your sensitive bud. Then his tongue presses against you in another swipe, causing more needy moans to fall from your lips.

He repeats the actions over and over: flicking and licking slowly while the knot in your abdomen tightens. Moan after moan falls from your lips and your toes curl into the hard floor. Another well timed swipe of his tongue across your sensitive folds sends a climax crashing through you as you whine his name.

"Oh, fuck, Poe!" You moan, tilting your head back, barely able to continue sitting up as his tongue slides down to your soaking slit, slowly pushing inside you, his nose nudging against your clit. Your fingers twitch and pull at your bonds, desperate to run your hands through his dark curls, to hold him to you as he fucks you with his tongue. When your thighs begin to tremble again with another impending climax his mouth moves to seal over your clit, sucking hard as he slides two fingers into you, curling them against your walls. It brings you crashing over the edge again as you clamp down on his fingers and tremble through each wave of pleasure.

You finally fall backwards onto the bed, unable to hold yourself up any longer. Your tied arms take the brunt of your weight as you groan in momentary discomfort.

"You alright, baby?" Shifting your position slightly, you give him a nod as he watches you; your arousal still shines on his lips. His eyes are dark with desire but still concerned as he observes you, checking the cause of your discomfort.

"Ye-yeah. I'm fi-oh!" You break into another moan and throw your head back against the bed as his tongue goes straight back to work against your already over-sensitive clit. His fingers slide almost all the way out of you before thrusting back in with an obscenely wet noise. One hand comes down, pinning your hips as his tongue goes back to lapping at you, his fingers keeping a fast pace thrusting into you.

"F-Fuck!" You stutter out. Your nails dig into the scarf still binding your hands, needing to hold something as your entire body trembles with overwhelming pleasure. His fingers curl inside you, pressing repeatedly against that one spot that makes you shudder with need, sharp bolts of pleasure careening through you. This time when you climax, there's no buildup, no prior warning of the approaching edge. Your orgasm slams into you out of nowhere, tearing another string of desperate curses from your lips while your entire body goes rigid as it tears through you. You feel barely conscious, dizzy with the high, panting heavily, as Poe trails soft kisses against your trembling thigh.

"So beautiful. I could watch you cum all night." He groans against your damp skin, curling his fingers once more inside you and earning a shuddering whine from your lips. It's almost too much, but you can't stop your hips lifting, trying to chase the feeling. The hand on your hip pins you down, refusing to let you move. "I want to see it again."

"I don't k-know i-if I can?" you stutter. Every nerve is on fire, and your vision is blurry with a haze of pleasure. He'd stop, if you asked him to. But you aren't sure that's what you want, not yet.

"I told you to stop talking, and you're still talking, baby." You can feel him grin against your skin before he seals his lips once more around your sensitive clit, making your whole body shake with a broken moan.

Every touch is on the verge of being too much and you no longer know up from down. All you can comprehend is the never ending pleasure coursing through you; his fingers and tongue working you through repeated shivering tides of pleasure. You try to talk, but any words you try to say come out as incoherent garbled cries when another climax crashes over you.

"That's better." Poe whispers, finally removing his mouth from you and leaning his forehead against your thigh, watching his fingers continue at a slower pace thrusting into you.

Your arms are starting to get numb from the uncomfortable position, your nerves are so sensitive, even his breath against your thigh has you trembling. You can barely take the feeling of his fingers sliding into you again.

"I… I..." You start to stutter, but he curls his fingers in a way that makes you whine, cutting off whatever you were going to say.

"P-Poe, please." You manage to get out eventually, whimpering pleadingly as you look down over your body at where he’s positioned. You don't want to stop - no, you want more, you need more. You need him buried deep inside you, you need him to fill you until you can't breathe. You need him to scream your name as he cums. If you could, you would have told him the same, but your mouth isn't working the way you want it to, so you stutter out what you can. "F-fuck me." You plead desperately.

"Thought you'd never ask, baby." His teeth graze the mark he's left on your thigh before he ever so slowly removes his fingers from you. Glancing down, you see his hand is soaked in your arousal and you suspect the bed is, too. His eyes hold yours in a steady gaze as he swipes his tongue over his palm, then around each digit individually, slowly, teasingly, making soft noises of appreciation for the taste of you. You let out a whimper. You're still so on edge that even just watching him is almost too much.

"Please." You whimper, pulling at your bonds. Your need to touch him is almost as consuming as your need for him to be inside you. Deciding his hand is sufficiently clean, he takes your arms and gently sits you up, tugging the knots out if the scarf binding you. He takes your hands, bringing them to his lips before placing a soft kiss against each wrist, giving you a moment of recovery.

"Lay down, baby." You do as he asks, sinking into the mattress and catching your breath while he strips himself of his remaining clothing. Climbing over you, he settles himself between your still-trembling thighs.

His lips capture yours in a fevered, desperate kiss, allowing you to taste yourself as his tongue darts into your mouth. Your hands slide over every part of him that you can reach, dragging your nails lightly over his skin, drawing a low moan from his throat. Another set of temporary marks for you to admire.

"Ask me again." He whispers in your ear, his lips moving down to your neck, licking and sucking at your salted skin. He takes his cock and presses it against your clit, allowing it to slide over the wetness there. You buck your hips against him with a groan. "Ask me to fuck you. I'm not going to do it ‘til you ask."

You're already trembling again as he continues to slide himself against your slick folds, and you struggle to get the words out. Your head swims from the pleasure coursing through you. Everything is too sensitive and you're already so close to the edge again with the smallest of touches.

"F-Fuck me. Poe. Fuck m-me." You manage to stutter out, lifting your hips against his as you tremble. You tangle your hands in his dark curls, pulling his lips down to yours. His tongue snakes into your mouth again as he thrusts into you in one fluid motion. The feeling of him stretching your walls, filling you entirely, is too much for your over-stimulated body and you moan into his mouth, another climax crashing over you.

"Again, baby?" Poe groans, pulling away from your lips. At this point you can only whimper in response. "So fucking hot." He breathes, pulling almost all the way out of you before slamming his hips hard against yours, knocking the air from your lungs.

“Fucking hot, watching you fall apart over and-fuck... over.” Poe usually likes to take his time, take things slowly, drag it out just to watch your face contort with pleasure. He likes to make you beg him to fuck you harder, faster, or to simply hold you close against him for as long as he can. But sometimes, when he's riled up, or if you've been teasing him all day, he'll let go and give you everything all at once.

This time he doesn't give you a second before his hips begin to snap against yours in a quick pace. Broken, desperate moans falling from his lips as he presses his body as close to yours as possible.

“Oh fuck!” You choke out, lifting your hips to meet his, feet digging into the bed for purchase, struggling to form the words as he slams into you and presses you down into the mattress.

Grabbing your thigh, he pulls one of your legs up high over his hip, holding it there so tightly you know his fingers will leave marks. With the change in angle, each of his thrusts hits that spot inside you that makes you scream his name in pleasure while your hands claw at him. It's too much and your vision starts to blur. Your words are slurred with pleasure as you incoherently babble a mixture of curses and chants of his name.

"Bet the w-whole fucking base can h-hear you." Poe growls and stutters, his thrusts becoming mistimed and messy. His hand leaves your thigh to slide between your sweat drenched bodies, pressing two fingers against your sensitive clit. "Cum with me. That’s a-an o-order." You didn't think you could, but somehow your body wants to obey without question and you spiral into another climax. Your nails dig into his back, your walls clamping down around him, your whole body trembling as the orgasm rips through you.

The whole world stops for a moment and you can't form any coherent thoughts. Every bone feels like it's turned to liquid. Every nerve is on fire and the blood that had been rushing and pounding in your ears suddenly seems to fall entirely silent. You lose all sense of time and feeling, momentarily lost in the never ending peak of pleasure. You hear a shout of your name as Poe reaches his own climax, emptying himself into you with stuttered thrusts.

When your senses eventually return, he’s already collapsed beside you, nuzzling your neck and placing soft kisses against your skin, his fingers tracing lazy patterns against your hip.

"Still think things are more fun on your own?" He whispers softly. You let out a shaky laugh.

"Never is." You turn your head to press a soft kiss to his damp curls as he continues to bury his face in your neck. "Are you still annoyed I gave you a love bite?"

He lifts his head to look at you, his eyes flickering over your face. You know he's admiring the way your eyes are half shut, your lips swollen from kisses, your hair tousled. He's told you before, this is his favourite look. Nothing else seems to compare to seeing you after he's entirely taken you apart.

"No. I never mind you marking me as yours. Although, maybe next time, we put it somewhere less obvious." He finally answers, before a smirk twitches across his lips. "Besides, given how loud you were screaming, I think tomorrow everyone will have forgotten about me and have someone else to make fun of."

You groan, throwing your hands over your face. "I'm never leaving this room again." Poe laughs and returns to nuzzling your neck while allowing a comfortable silence to envelope you while he holds you close. You let out a contented sigh as your eyes drift closed. Maker, your body is exhausted.

"Don't go to sleep." He whispers, breaking the quiet moment. Sitting up, he presses a soft kiss to your lips. “I mean it. Don't go to sleep.”

"You're so bossy." You grumble, fighting against the tiredness as your eyes refuse to open again. "You've always been so bossy."

“I’m not done with you yet.” He whispers, taking your bottom lip and tugging it gently with his teeth.

“I don't think I can go again for a while.” You giggle honestly as he takes to peppering soft kisses across your jaw.

"Not that. You can have more of that later. I have a surprise for you." That makes you crack one eye open to look at him. Poe stops kissing you and props himself up on his elbow, grinning down at you with a childlike excitement. That has your interest peaked, but not enough to make your body work to leave the bed.

"Can you bring it here?” You ask. Poe shakes his head, his curls falling across his forehead with the movement. Automatically, you brush a hand through them, pushing them back off his face.

“Nope. You have to go to the present.” He grins at you expectantly, waiting for you to be excited, too.

"Hmm… Is it a loathcat? I'm not getting up if it's not." Experimentally, you shift one leg, but the effort is exhausting and you close your eyes again, wanting nothing more than to sleep.

"No." Poe laughs. "Still working on that one for you. I promise, you'll like this just as much, sweetheart. Please?" You let out a dramatic sigh and force both eyes open. Like you can say no when he asks so sweetly.

"You're lucky I love you, Dameron"

~

Later, when Poe had finally managed to coax you out of bed, you were trekking through the trees in the early evening light, his hands covering your eyes. You giggle as he nudges you another few steps forward with his body. Stumbling forward, your feet catch in the undergrowth.

"Where are we going?" You laugh, raising your hands in front of you in an attempt to steady your steps.

"You'll see when we get there. Stop asking." He sighs, nudging your feet forward with his boot when you pause again. “Keep going.”

"Poe?" He sighs in response, no doubt knowing exactly what's about to come out of your mouth since you've been asking since you left the room. "Where are we going?"

"If my hands weren't busy…" he leaves the threat hanging in the air and heat surges through you in response, your mind reeling with thoughts of what else his hands would be doing. You decide to push him just a little, to see exactly what he had in mind for those hands.

"Where are we going?" You tease again.

"Stop. No, really, stop.” Poe laughs in your ear while he holds you back by your head as your body continues forward. Laughing, you stagger to a stop, your hands flailing for a moment as you regain your balance.

"Are you ready?" He asks. You're already raising your hands to his and trying to pull them off your eyes. Poe holds steady, ignoring your attempts at moving him.

"Yes! I'm ready." You giggle, still fighting to pull his hands away. "Poe. Stop dragging this out." You tug at his hands harder and eventually, he lets you pull them down. Blinking against the fading evening light, you allow the world to come back into focus. The trees whisper quietly in the evening breeze as you look up at the X-Wing hidden within the planet's foliage.

"I know most girls prefer flowers, but…" Poe trails off quietly, waiting for your reaction.

When he had taught you to fly, the tandem X-wing had been a wreck to say the least. Filthy and scratched. Every flying lesson he had given you, you'd complained about the state of it, and no amount of cleaning ever seemed to make it less dirty. It had been lucky to make it out after most of the fleet had been destroyed and even then the damage had been near irreparable. It had been dragged here only to be used for salvageable parts.

But now it stood infront of you, almost as good as new. You take a few steps forward and standing on your toes, you reach up to trace your fingers against the orange stripe, painted down the side of the ship. The amount of work that must have been put into fixing it makes tears burn your eyes.

"Poe… did you do all this? Is this where you’ve been all the time?" You whisper, not trusting your voice to hold steady.

"As much as I could. The whole squadron's been helping, and not all the time. But some of it, yes." You can hear the relief and the smile in his voice as your fingers press against the metal, swallowing your tears before you turn to face him. Before you have a chance to speak, Poe holds up his hands.

"I know what you're going to say. That you're a competent pilot now all by yourself. I mean, you've had the best teacher in the galaxy, so of course you are. And I know you have a ship already. But, I hope sometimes..." Poe pauses, taking a breath before he continues in his rambling. "Sometimes, I hope you'll still want to fly with a co-pilot. You know, even though you don’t really need me now and -”

"You're right. I am a good pilot all by myself now, and I doubt that has anything to do with my teacher. That, Poe, is just pure natural skill." You cut him off, grinning at his unimpressed expression. "But here's what you don't know. I always want to fly with my co-pilot." Making your way back to him, you throw your arms around his neck. "I always miss flying with you.” You smile, pressing your lips to his. Poe wraps his arms around your waist, holding you tightly against him as he kisses you back, soft and slow, taking his time to kiss every part of your mouth.

“Good. Because I miss flying with you, too.” He admits when you pull apart, placing a soft kiss to your forehead and pulling you into a tight hug. He cuddles you quietly for a moment, placing soft kisses to your hair. "Better than a loathcat?"

"Close. But no." You smile and squeeze him tight as you cuddle. "But close."

"It's been a while since you flew this type of ship. I might need to show you how to handle the controls again?" There's a mischievous edge to his voice that makes you smile, your own plan forming.

Letting him go, you step back, reading the confusion in his eyes at your actions. "Hmm, new suggestion." You counter with a grin, gently pressing your hands to his chest and forcing him to walk backwards until he's backed up against one of the trees. Dropping to your knees in front of him, you look up at him as you lick your lips. "How about first we deal with that apology I owe you?"

------

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment if you enjoyed it!

Further reading in this series: A Sincere Apology Strike Three A Sincere Apology spelling (from Poe's POV) Strike Three flying lesson (from Poe's POV) Strike Three test (from Poe's POV)

Beta'd by the lovely : @fisforfulcrum

Taglist: @salome-c ; @reenadreams ; @the-scandalorian ; @fisforfulcrum ; @mbpokemonrulez ; @prettylilhalforc ; @lexloon ; @jitterbugs927 ; @lostinwonderland314 ; @pumpkin-stars ; @mypedrom ; @one-hell-of-a-disappointment ; @fett-ching : @mandorush ; @beydameron

Requests and further fics: Masterlist

[fivelakesinwriting]

hi! please write more barry x reader. i don’t even have a specific request, just anything with barry is fine with me tbh😂

Author's Notes: I thought about adding this as another chapter to Slummin' It - but you asked so sweetly. I ask that you please not judge me too harshly for this one...the moon and whatnot.. If this was your request, I hope you love it xoxo

Warnings: Sexual references - sexual innuendos, Mention of scars, Smut * (daddy kink, light choking, over-stimulation, unprotected sex - please be safe, your choice how!)

Requested? Yes! Requests for OBX are OPEN!

*My work is not to be transferred, copied, translated or reposted to any other sites without my permission. Please see my masterlist for all other works and warnings. Thank you! xoxo

It was the rare occasion in which he napped. He didn't like sleeping during the day, but he had slept terribly the night before and couldn't keep his eyes open. He had kicked his boots off, laid on the bed and fell asleep within five minutes.

He woke up at dusk, the little house on the edge of The Cut still blazing hot. He crawled off the bed, pulled on his boots and rubbed his eyes as he walked down the hall.

"Why you let me sleep so long, woman?" He grumbled, eyes still closed as he walked into the kitchen where he heard his girlfriend messing about.

"You looked so peaceful, baby. I didn't want to wake you. And you tossed and turned all night." She replied, her back to him as she rooted around in the cupboards above her head.

"You been walking around in just that thong all day?" Barry asked, pointing to the baby blue thong she wore on her lower half, and nothing else.

"Yeah. It's hot in here, baby." She stated as she turned around to face him.

"Anyone come by to see me while I was asleep?" Barry asked, his thumb running over his top lip as his eyes scanned over the thin layer of sweat between her breasts and the base of her neck.

"Did anyone see me in my thong and bra? No, Barry." She sighed a she leaned against the counter behind her.

Barry hummed in response as he took the few steps over to her. He stood in front of his woman and traced his thumb down her stomach to the top of her thong.

"I'm sweaty." She whispered as she nudged his chin with her nose.

"Yeah. Like this colour on you." Barry mumbled as he tugged at the waistband of her thong, then snapped it back in place.

"Thank you. I'm thinking you had a good sleep?" She laughed as he bent down to kiss her throat while he tugged the strap of her thong.

Barry grunted in response while his tongue licked up the sweat at the base of her throat. His hands grabbed at her backside as he licked over her salty skin. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers in his hair.

"You wanna come cuddle with me?" Barry grumbled against the column of her throat, pulling her hips to his.

"I'm not done cleaning in here, but I'll let you distract me for a bit. Sure." She laughed as he all but dragged her backwards to the bedroom.

Barry sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her onto his lap before he laid on his back, pulling her chest to his. He breathed out a smirk when she reached down to lift her hips, tugging her thong down to her knees.

The soldier easily pulled the flimsy material down the rest of her legs and off her ankles, tossing it somewhere int he bedroom. H e grabbed at her backside, squeezing her flesh firmly to make her squeal.

"Baby!" She laughed as she spread her thighs to straddle his hips, her hands pressed to his chest as she sat upright.

"Ride me." Barry ordered as he reached up to pull the cups of her bra down and roll her nipples between his fingers. He felt her wetness soak through the front of his pants, and he couldn't help but thrust up into that feeling.

"Yes, Daddy." She cooed, her finger on his trigger and Barry pulled his lips under his silver tooth. He wasn't sure he had the composure to let her ride him anymore.

"Don't play games." Barry growled as he stuck his thumb in her mouth and pressed on her tongue. He released a shaky breath when she wrapped her lips around his thumb and sucked, her tongue swirled around the pad of his appendage, making him wish it were somewhere else.

"No games. I missed you today." She spoke around his thumb before she kissed the heel of his hand.

"You gonna make me cum in my pants if you keep it up, woman." Barry mumbled as he shifted uneasily beneath her.

"You say my name in your sleep." She whispered as she leaned down, pressing her chest to his.

"Yeah?" Barry replied, breath in his throat as his beautiful, naked girlfriend rubbed herself all over him.

"Mmm. It's between this growl, and this sexy, sweet little whine. I thought you were having a nightmare at first, but it was the whole afternoon. It made me so wet, baby." She whispered as she pressed her forehead to his while her fingers tugged at the loose collar of his shirt.

Barry had hit his limit. Trigger pulled. He practically tossed his girlfriend off of him, and onto her back on the other side of the bed. He tugged off his shirt and tugged his pants just beneath his backside before he laid between her thighs.

"Said no games." Barry growled as he pressed a hand to her throat and looked down at her pretty face.

"No games! Baby, I'll ride you! I want to. I just telling you - FUCK!" She tossed her head back mid- apology when he thrust inside of her, giving her everything he had.

"Yeah. I know your little pussy is soaked." Barry groaned as his head dropped down to her shoulder as he bottomed out.

"Let me ride you. Please. You wanted it." She begged so softly, so sweetly that Barry couldn't possibly love her more.

"Why you wanna please me so bad? Hmm?" Barry mumbled while he gave her slow, even thrusts.

"Because I love you, Barry." She whimpered as she scratched his shoulders, careful of his scars from the war. Even though it didn't hurt when she pressed on them, and he had told her hundreds of times it didn't.

"Love you, too. Can ride me after. Feels too good like this." Barry panted as he hooked his bicep under her knee and pinned it back to the mattress, giving him a deliciously deeper angle.

"Oh! Oh, Barry!" She gasped as she pulled her nails down his arms, her toes curled.

"Feel good?" Barry asked with a grunt as hepushed some hair back from her face to see her eyes.

"Feels so good, baby. Do I feel good?" She whispered as she reached for the small of his back.

"You feel fucking amazing." Barry growled as he picked up his pace, pulling his bicep from under her knee to grip the back her thigh and push it to the bed.

"I love you so much, Barry." She cooed as she pulled her nails down his back.

"Love you, too." Barry grunted as he pumped his hips, hitting her g spot. His forehead nudged against hers as he kept a bruising grip on her thigh.

"Baby, will you play with my - "

Barry growled, leaning down to bit her bottom lip as he reached his left hand between them to roll her clit with his thumb. He pulsed his hips as he felt his high approached, licking inside her mouth.

"I want you to cum inside of me, baby." She whispered against his lips as her nails dug into his skin.

Barry shivered and came inside of her, feeling her quiver and clench around him with her own orgasm. He rode them through their highs then pulled out, his heart skipping a beat when she whined for him. Barry leaned back on his heels and looked his girlfriend over before he dropped down to his hands, face between her thighs.

"Baby." She giggled, one hand running through his messy hair and the other pressed her fingertips to her lips as he licked her folds of their combined fluids. It wasn't the first time he did this, but it always made her blush when he did.

"So good to me, woman." Barry slurred against her core as he licked her clean, fingers pressed into her thighs to keep them apart.

"Barry." Her hips arched into his face as the coil tightened in her lower stomach again from his loving over-stimulation.

"Gonna cum again? Just cleaning you up." Barry mumbled against her core.

She whimpered softly in response, pulling at his hair. She rolled her hips up into his face as she reached another high. Barry let her ride his face, more than happy to help her through her orgasm, then propped himself up on his forearms above her.

"What did you dream about?" She shivered as she reached for the back of his neck, her body shaking beneath him.

"Don't remember." Barry grinned as he licked his lips of her, then lowered his head to kiss her lips.

Hotties:

@starkey-babie @barrysjumpsuit @sodasback @fashion-fasting @maybankslut @beauvibaby @professional-busboy @soph0864

*tag list is open, please let me know if I forgot you or you would like to be added. I've removed the people that don't pre-populate :(

Please let me know what you think if you have a moment! Thank you so much xoxo

Requests for OBX ARE OPEN!

[llamagoddessofficial]

what was it like the first time Mc met Skull in the portal Au?

Is it story snippet time? I think it’s story snippet time.

The vent cover was loose.

You’d noticed, as soon as you’d rounded the corner. It didn’t matter that the facility was dark, quiet, deep in one of its night cycles... in the faint illumination of the safety screens and directional arrows left on, you picked up the silhouette of the cover. You were so familiar with the area of the lab around the room you slept in that you probably would’ve seen it anyway... but what immediately made all your attention snap to it was the fact that the glint of sleek metal in the darkness was, in fact, misaligned.

... Sans wanted everything neat. Sans wanted everything right. Red liked it that way, too, but Sans seemed to have the final say. And it showed- the entire facility was neat, angled, symmetrical and impossibly clean. It was so regimented and unnatural that you felt like an outlier yourself; a strange, curved, imperfect biological creature in a space that seemed to bleed robotic perfection from every corner.

... So... something about this one plating... this one vent cover, at a bad angle, tilted just against the grain...

... You were hyperfocused.

You moved over to it, bare feet cat-silent on the warm white floor, crouching down. You weren’t supposed to be out of your room at night, Sans didn’t like you wandering around when he was unaware, powered down for system maintenance and repairs... your fingers sealed around the loosened ends of the vent cover, and with the gentlest of tugs the whole thing came off, leaving a gaping hole in the wall large enough for you to crawl into. 

...

It was like you had a fog, separating one half of your mind from the other. Every day in this strange lab was confusing- and when you tried to ask yourself normal questions, like “where am I?” or “how did I get here?” or “why do I have no memories before this place?” your brain supplied you with absolutely nothing. And not only that, it couldn’t even supply you with the concern you knew you should be experiencing... the fear, the panic, it wouldn’t come. It was the most paradoxical and horrible sensation... the feeling of knowing something was wrong, of knowing you should be scared, but something in your head just not letting you access it.

... Maybe that was why the sight of the hole in the wall, the gap in the artificially perfect world around you, made your heart skip in excitement instead of fear. Maybe that was why you normally would have stuck to what was safe and not done stupid shit like going into vents...

... But this time, you got on your hands and knees, and crawled right in.

You weren’t crawling for a very long time; after what couldn’t have even been a minute of moving in a straight line through the smooth metallic system, the dark space opened up above you, more than enough for you to stand up to your full height in. Your eyes were wide, childlike in wonder- unlike the rest of the facility, that at least seemed to try and fake an air of safety, this place behind the walls... every surface around you was dirty, stained and rusty, there were tubes and buttons and tangled wires sticking out of the floor and ceiling, the whole place was lit up with an unnerving orange glow that was leaking through slits in the flooring. The air was filled with a nasty tang, metallic and almost blood-like, heavy and claustrophobic...

... It was like you’d crawled into hell. Like you’d gone from the head of the facility to the entrance of the throat. Another world...

...

As your gaze lowered...

... There was something in the room with you.

The hairs on the back of your neck bristled. Near the other end of the room there was a large, metallic box, most likely containing important wiring of some kind. From where you were standing you could judge that it was about your shoulder height... pretty big. 

... But it wasn’t the box that had your attention. It was what it was blocking from your view. A perfectly circular crimson light was peeking out from behind that box... a turret eye, bright and awake and alive, cutting through the murky coloured darkness. And the more you stared, the more you could make out, the more you could see the partially obscured hunched figure attached to the eye that was trained directly on you. 

...

“H-hello?” You whispered.

...

“sh-ouldn_t.. be.here.”

... The voice was like nothing you’d ever heard. Deep, deathly deep, you could feel it in your chest like standing next to a speaker- vibrating in your stomach, the palms of your hands, even tingling along your scalp. It sounded... automated, jittering and autotuned and with inflections no human would use, but so clearly with thoughts and feelings behind it, the unmissable edge of somebody who’s cautious, afraid... a downright uncanny mix of machine and man.

“... Should you?” Your voice sounded so... weak. So biological. Your heart was pounding.

... The eye noticeably changed; the dot in the centre became a fraction wider. It took an odd shape, too... from your distance it... looked like a heart...?

A soft, low “... no_.”

“... Then that makes two of us. Right?”

...

The owner of the eye stood up. 

He stood slowly, too. And as he did, the box he’d been crouched behind just got smaller, and smaller, and smaller... a beast, made of the facility’s leftovers. Large enough to crush you like a beetle. The dim orange light touched his silhouette to reveal thick tubes, misshapen metal plates, wires hanging off him like cut vines... a gaping cavity in his chest where a half-broken plasma motor was faintly humming and glowing. One of his hands looked vaguely humanoid but the other was just a badly affixed pincer claw... the plate on his face had been haphazardly cut away so his one red eye could see, and a skeletal nose shape had been carved into the centre. Everything about him was asymmetric, uneven, mismatched... 

You opened your mouth-

[Bleep!]

...

It floated through the room. A light noise, like a phone notification. You took note of the fact that you couldn’t hear it echoing through the rest of the facility... something that was only heard in the backrooms, perhaps? It was a very gentle little sound, nothing more than a light jingle...

... Except he flinched like a gunshot had gone off, eye blinking out entirely. Immediately, he turned around- you let out a little “H-hey, wait!” and raised your arm but it didn’t stop him. In a few giant steps he’d completely disappeared around a corner, clanging sounds moving so much deeper into the metalworks in such a short amount of time that you found yourself immediately disoriented. How... you were just standing there, how did someone that huge and heavy move so fast?

...

You wanted to pursue. You wanted to chase him deep into the bowels of the lab, down where you weren’t ever supposed to go, where no light would reach... you wanted to so badly you’d already moved a few steps without realising.

... But at the same time, you felt like you’d done enough for one day. Your nose stung from the strange smells in the air, your eyes were straining in the orange darkness... you wanted to go to sleep, back to your relaxation chamber, to rest for now and figure out what the hell you’d just seen.

What the hell you’d just spoken to.

... You turned, and clambered back through the vent. It took no time at all to re-emerge back in the regular facility... back to the whiteness, the cleanliness, the perfect and fake.

...

You had no idea why he’d reacted the way he had to that sound. What did it mean? You trailed your hand along the wall as you walked, making your way through the halls back to your chamber, the floor smooth and faultless under your bare soles. Was it... some kind of warning? An alert system? Was he running toward something, or away fr-

“subject.” 

- You almost jumped out of your fucking skin.

You were never sure where Sans’ voice was coming from. It always seemed to just spontaneously exist all around you, disembodied and impossible to describe, surrounding you on all sides as if emanating from the air in the building itself. No matter how hard you searched you could never seem to find any speakers on the cold, unfriendly white walls or floor... just further adding to the confusion and dream-like quality of this whole place. You clutched your chest, taking a little breath, trying to disguise the wild flinch that you’d just experienced.

“Y-yeah?” You said, smooth as always, and totally completely not-startled.

Sans always heard you, no matter how quietly you spoke- and judging by passing comments he’d made he always seemed to be able to see you and your expression. God, you hoped he couldn’t read the panic in your face.

“the facility is in night cycle.” Calm, emotionless, slightly autotuned, as per usual... but a little softer than the norm. “why are you out of your relaxation chamber?”

You glanced up at the nearest camera, a small black orb close to the ceiling with a gently blinking blue light.

...

“I-I can’t sleep.” Was all you could think of.

...

“... perhaps it will be easier to sleep... if you are reclined in a position, in which you can actually sleep. you should return to your chamber.”

“... I’m just walking around.” You kept moving, hoping he wouldn’t think about where you’d come from. “I mean... N-not all of us have a ‘go to sleep instantly’ button. I’m clearing my head. I’m fine, I'm on my way back anyway.”

...

“you’re stammering. your heart rate is elevated.”

Shit. Shit. No, it’s-

“... did you experience a nightmare?”

...

“O-oh. Yeah. Uhm...” You rubbed the back of your neck, eyes drifting down to the floor. “You know about those?”

“i have access to the combined entirety of human knowledge. yes, i am aware of nightmares.”

“W-well... yeah. Yes. I... had one. I’m walking it off.”

... A pause, on his part. 

...

“... i can turn the lights back on. if... you’d like to walk around.”

“No thank you. It’ll just make me feel more awake.”

“i see. ... well. i need to complete some more system reboots. i will be partially offline again. if... you need me, just call.”

“Okay. Sure. I will.”

[imjeralee]

i request that you drink plenty of water and take care of yourself !!! ·o·b after thats done, came i pretty please get headcanons with link, Kaeya and maybe Childe about an s/o who draws them one day as a confession and gives it to them? :) (maybe they already knew and saw them drawing them before ? who knows) thank you in advance!!

Thank you anon! *looks at cup of green tea beside laptop* yep I think i’m doing well in keeping myself hydrated recently hehe but thank you :3

Anyway please see below for the ask! (it’s pretty long)

Link

He was grooming one of the ponies when he saw you standing behind a tent peeking at him curiously and when he turned round properly, you quickly scampered away and he got worried so he followed you to the room you share to see you sitting on the bed with a wine red book propped up in your lap but upon his return, you immediately hid it behind your back, smiling widely at him

He wonders what it was but decides not to pry, but he later discovers it was actually a sketchbook when he’s packing up for tomorrow and you’re taking a bath and the sketchbook drops out of your pack and onto the floor, opening at a random page

He picks it up with the intention to return it to your bag but then he sees the various drawings of him in his Ancient Armour set, Hylian and Snowquill set. They’re fully coloured and it looks like you’ve spent hours on them. He didn’t know you were this artistic and wondered why you hid this from him

The date you wrote on the bottom of the page indicates that you drew all this in one day! He’s super impressed

Then he sees the note you wrote below: “To my Dearest Link, I hope you like my drawings of you. All I can think about is how lucky I am to be able to be by your side, you’ve changed my life for the better and-”

Obv half complete so now he knows why you didn’t want to show him and he respects your privacy, so he puts the sketchbook away 

Outside, he sees Beedle and goes over to see what’s new for sale. Beedle has some cool art stuff (well, it’s more like stuff that can be used for dye but can also be used as paint) so he buys some for you as a present which he will give to you later.

Next day, you get chased by a group of Bokogoblins and the book and all your drawing supplies drops out from your bag. 

You didn’t see it drop and returned to the stable, ransacking your bag like crazy only to find your stuff missing

When you realise everything must have dropped out when you got chased, you quickly leave the stable to go back to the area but it’s thunder and lightning so Link chases after you

“Link, what are you doing? Go back, the weather’s awful.” You tell him but he shakes his head, unable to leave you alone in the rain like this

He helps you with your search and you end up locating your book and your supplies which are lying in the mud

The book has been trampled over and some of the pages have been torn out. The remaining pages are soaked with dirt and grime. Your pencils are snapped in half and your paints have been left to bleed all over the grass. All of your drawings are ruined, too. This is your worst nightmare.

Link observes you silently as tears begins to form in your eyes and you look at him, sniffling slightly.

You’re experiencing a mixture of devastation, frustration, anger and exasperation - from your carelessness to the stupid bokogoblins - and this incident infuriates you so much you throw the book to the ground angrily

Before you can march away, Link grabs your wrist 

Turning round, your gazes meet and he looks at you softly, intently.

‘What’s wrong?’ he is saying. 

“I was going to use those to confess to you!” you end up roaring out by accident. 

Link looks at you, a little stunned

“N-Never mind! Everything’s ruined!!!!” 

You’re about to storm off again when Link suddenly pulls you into his chest and gives you a hug

“!” you’re so shocked you can’t speak

He pulls away though, and leads you to the hollow of a nearby tree trunk where he gestures for you to sit down to shelter from the rain whilst he glances around, then sprints back over to where the ruined sketchbook is

He picks it up and holds it against his chest as if it’s dear to him. That’s not all, you watch as he begins to pick up the remaining pages that were torn out and once he’s collected them all he returns to you, clutching the pages tightly

"Link...” you murmur breathlessly as he he kneels down in front of you before he fishes around in his pockets to reveal a random bunch of paint pots in his hand.

You’re a little confused, but realise he has some spares which he must have bought from a merchant

it’s not much but...

he nudges it to you for your offering

You gawp at him for a few moments before you smile and chuckle and upon seeing you back to your usual self again, Link smiles and helps you back onto your own feet to stand

You thank him as you cradle the paints to yourself. You will need to restart from scratch from somehow it feels ok and something tells you you don’t need to hide it from him anymore

And you return to the stable, sheltering from the rain by sharing a large leaf together

Kaeya

Let’s begin with the fact that alongside you, there is a maid who also likes Kaeya as much as you do and she’s a bit of a sneaky bugger and you don’t show your drawings to anyone or watermark your artwork until they’re complete. You can probably see where this is going

One day, Kaeya finds out you are drawing a picture of him when he comes to your office to inform you that there’s a group of abyss mages outside Mondstadt so you hurry off to dispatch it and leaving Kaeya in your office

He accidentally comes across your drawing when he sees his face on a piece of parchment and his interest is piqued so he heads over to check it out

It’s a really good sketch!!! the amount of detail is insane! he had no idea you possessed such skill and who knew that you could create such beautiful art like this? He also finds some rough doodles and sketches you made earlier on some scrap paper you had also written on so he knows it’s you

Anyway, he puts everything back to join you in battle, but not before passing a maid along the way who is heading to your room to clean up

She comes across your drawing and she’s always fancied Kaeya herself, so for some reason other than just thinking she might be able to get away with it if she’s sneaky enough, she takes your drawing and sets off with it

Meanwhile, you return to your room after the battle, take off your coat and sit comfortably in your chair, reaching for your quill

“Ah, time to get back to my drawing of Kaeya.” you say with a smile, looking at your desk.

Wait a minute.

Something is wrong.

Very wrong.

It’s GONE!

After checking the rest of your office (and its clearly not there), you rush outside, wondering what happened to it when you see Kaeya and a maid talking in the corridor

they didn’t see you, so you quickly hide

“Please accept this, captain Kaeya!” gushes the maid, presenting your drawing to him. “I drew this picture of you to show how much you mean to me.”

What in the Samachurl shit is this? 

You’re about to storm over when Kaeya takes the drawing with a delicate brow raised, studies it intently and goes, “Oh? But I’m not so sure about that.”

“W-what do you mean, Captain Kaeya?”

“There’s no watermark on it,” he points out, “....one could’ve taken anyone’s artwork and claim that it’s theirs.”

“T-That’s - ! Ah, Captain Kaeya, h-how could you think so lowly of me?”

“I’m only just stating some simple facts, that’s all. You won’t hold that against me, will you? And I’m certainly not accusing you of anything...unless you...?”

“Oh....uh....I...I-I’m so sorry, Captain Kaeya, you’re right! I-I....please excuse me!”

The maid’s too embarrassed to proceed any further and leaves, running away.

Indeed, what in the samachurl hell had just happened? 

It goes quiet and you wonder if he’s still there; you step out of your hiding place only to go nose-to-chest with Kaeya.

He greets you with a smirk. “if it isn’t the little kitten, what are you doing here?”

“Um...uh, I....that....that drawing - “

What he said is right, there’s no watermark. How can you prove it’s yours? Would he believe you if you told him?

“Hm? Ah, yes, this drawing. I was going to keep it for myself.”

“No, wait! I mean...er...it’s not finished yet-”

“So you drew this then?”

“Yes, I did. it was me.” Though you wonder if he would believe you after everything you had just heard.

“Why?”

You lamely tell him you really like him and wanted to use it to confess to him.

He watches you for a few seconds, then hands the drawing to you. “I’ll wait until you’ve finished then.”

“Huh?” You gasp. He gave it back to you so easily despite what he said to the maid! “You...you’re not-”

“I knew it was you who drew it. I recognised your style.”

“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“If I said so earlier, how else would I get you to confess to me?”

“KAEYA!!!”

(from then on he’ll want you to draw him more often)

Childe

Saw you sitting on the grassy hill near Qingxu Pool drawing earlier and because he is good at sneaking up on people, you didn’t hear him as he casually leaned over to peek over your shoulder and said, “Hey girlie, what’re you up to?”

You’re like “UWAGH!” and quickly close your sketchbook before turning round to see Childe.

“N-nothing!” you exclaim, before you get up and run down the hill, leaving a very amused Childe on his own

Later, when you’ve finished your masterpiece, you nervously approach Childe and tell him, “Um....this is for you, let me know what you think.” before rushing off in a blushing mess and Childe will open the sketchbook to see that you’ve drawn a very nice portrait of him in a battle stance, wielding his bow, surrounded by his hydro blades

Childe stands, staring at the picture

Then he sees the words ‘do you like me?’ scribbled at the very bottom

Childe staring hard now

He’s used to giving people gifts but now that he’s received something so thoughtful, he’s a bit overwhelmed. he can tell you put so much effort and hardwork into this. Ah, what is this feeling? 

He closes the book without further ado and scrubs a hand over his face

he actually wasn’t expecting you to do this. he knew you were drawing him but the result is really....something else

You don’t hear him from Childe in a few days and you are so nervous and worried.

Is this a rejection? Maybe he didn’t like your picture after all...

You’re walking in the streets and sigh and sit on the stone steps of Liyue, staring at the sea, upset and dejected

But then you hear a whistle from behind and throw a glance over your shoulder to see Childe standing on a higher step, a hand in his pocket

“Hey girlie, heads up,” he tosses a paper plane into the air which makes this little loop before you stand to catch it

Looking up, Childe has gone

You unfold the paper plane to its proper size to reveal that Childe’s drawn a little sketch of you in return and he has written: ‘Yes I do’.

[turtlethon]

“Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko”

Season 5, Episode 5 First US Airdate: September 14, 1991

Mikey returns to where the Turtles were mutated and encounters a half-boy, half-lizard.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles season five continues with “Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko”. This is the only episode of the series written by Gary Greenfield, and aired as the second half of a double-bill with “My Brother, the Bad Guy”.

After Michaelangelo wakes the other Turtles due to a recurring nightmare, Splinter steps in. Using a medallion to place his student in a deep sleep, he has Mikey recount his dream’s events. We flash back to the fateful moment when a boy carrying a bowl containing the four Turtles would trip, leading them to fall through a grate into the sewers. We originally saw these events unfold all the way back in the very first episode of the show, “Turtle Tracks”, though this retelling of their origin is done with entirely new footage.

Eagle-eyed viewers of the show will notice that this version soon diverges from what we saw in season one. Here, the Turtles land in the mutagen immediately, whereas the original story had Hamato Yoshi find them and discover they had wandered into a puddle of mutagen later. Note, too, that mutagen was originally a pink/purple colour. Beginning with season four, the show adopted green as the standard colour for the ooze, in line with its usual depiction in other TMNT media, and so that’s how it appears here.

Michaelangelo remembers seeing a baby lizard emerge from the cracks between the bricks of the sewer walls and join the Turtles in the mutagen. It’s seen being picked up by a shadowy man with a large collar. Mikey screams in terror, despite never being in any danger and not knowing the lizard; I guess the idea here is that the mystery man was just that scary.

Raphael is his typical wry self and doesn’t put much stock in Mikey’s dream. Splinter suggests that it might not be as fanciful as it seems, and that “what seems to be fantasy often proves to be reality”. This is the second episode in a row that’s opened with Splinter’s supposed wise teachings being the most obvious, redundant platitudes: sometimes people don’t believe things that turn out to be true, no shit.

A fun gag follows where Leo, Donnie and Raph all complain that they’re never going to be able to get back to sleep now, before immediately all being out like a light. Michaelangelo is still up, however, and is fixated on learning more about what happened. He leaves the confines of the Lair, spending hours wandering around trying to solve this mystery. Eventually Mikey winds up standing beneath a grate that he’s convinced was the one from his dream, and logically, given the amount of time that has passed, that should be the end of it. For the purposes of the story, however, we continue.

Above ground, three hoodlums are seen robbing a bank: the quiff-sporting Sluggo, plus-sized crook Basher and a third individual in a long, hooded coat. Mikey confronts the trio, and as he has no weapons of any practical use nowadays – his character model doesn’t even include his nunchucks anymore, following their gradual phasing out last season – all he can do is charge at Basher, bouncing off his belly and flying into a nearby wall. He then gets hurled into a trash can, which is kicked downhill. I’ve never seen any of the Turtles get their ass handed to them by some random unarmed guy in this manner; this is truly a new low.

April and Stan arrive at the bank to cover the robbery. Our ace reporter interviews the Chief of Police, and as is so often the case in TMNT, the cops are entirely incapable of providing assistance and clueless as to what is going on. The Chief reveals he knows nothing about the robbery, and only happened to be on the scene as he was depositing his paycheck.

We briefly check in with the other Turtles, who muse over breakfast as to where Michaelangelo has wandered off to. Elsewhere in the sewers, Mikey has another encounter with the hooded robber, who rides a skateboard through the tunnels while carrying the standard cartoon sack of money (sans dollar sign). The thief winds up skating into an area that’s a dead end, and with his back literally against the wall is forced to reveal his true identity as Mondo Gecko, a mutant lizard.

Act two opens with Mondo Gecko using his tail attack, before turning Michaelangelo’s grappling hook against him, tying the Turtle up on a sewer pipe – his second humiliating defeat in the space of a single morning. The mutant gecko escapes, but Mikey is able to follow him thanks to the tracks left by his skateboard. Playing spy, he sneaks around a run-down warehouse and sees Mondo, Basher and Sluggo checking in via radio with their boss, the mysterious villain “Mr. X”. The trio are given instructions for their next raid, this time of a military truck that will be carrying a new and “devastating” explosive device. Mr. X explains that his plan is to only return the invention in exchange for an astronomical sum of money.

When Basher and Sluggo briefly exit the room to retrieve some dynamite for the mission, Michaelangelo steps in to confront Mondo Gecko again. This backfires when the other two crooks return, and Mikey soon suffers his third defeat of the day, this time getting thrown in a net for his efforts. He’s about to be fed to an improbable pool of sharks installed in the warehouse, but Mondo has second thoughts, suggesting that they should take him to be punished my Mr. X directly instead.

A still-restrained Michaelangelo is left in the back of a pick-up truck while the three hoodlums carry out their plan, knocking a tree onto the road and forcing the military convoy to halt. Mondo, Sluggo and Basher hijack the military truck containing the explosive device, hurling Mikey in the trailer and driving off to Mr. X’s hideout.

Mikey is able to use his Turtlecom to make initial contact with the Turtles, but Basher steps in to destroy it before he can relay his location. April is also on the scene, riding a news cycle as she covers the robbery of the truck for Channel 6. Leonardo asks her to steer clear of the situation due to the danger involved. April agrees, only to immediately turn around and follow the truck anyway: she’s not about to let go of such a big story so easily.

While Mondo Gecko orders his allies to dispose of the truck, the Turtles are tracking Michaelangelo’s “bio-genetic infrared code” from aboard their blimp. They determine that he’s at Devil’s Mountain, and set a course to travel there immediately.

Act two ends with Sluggo convincing Basher to murder Michaelangelo by sending the truck he’s in over a cliff with a thousand-foot drop. When we return from commercials, the two villains continue to cackle as the vehicle is seen hurtling downhill. Mondo Gecko steps in, furious at his allies for their behaviour. He uses his skateboard to catch up with the truck, jumping on-board and retrieving Mikey moments before the military vehicle goes up in flames.

Michaelangelo announces his surprise at being rescued by someone he had pegged as a villain. Mondo explains that he doesn’t know why he came to the aid of Mikey, his actions being purely instinctive; now back to his normal self, he holds the Turtle at gunpoint and marches him back to Mr. X’s home.

The Turtle Blimp arrives on the scene, and upon seeing the wreckage of the truck our heroes are briefly under the impression that Michaelangelo has perished. Raphael is even tearful for a moment before the team notice that his life signs are still present. Our heroes head off in pursuit, with April travelling in the same direction.

Mr. X is seen in a Dr. Claw setup, his appearance largely obscured by the back of his chair, as he demands five billion dollars from the military over the phone. If they don’t comply in the next seven minutes, then it’ll be “kablooey”. (Who is he going to blow up seven minutes from now given the super-explosive device is in his home isolated at the top of a mountain, other than himself?) When Mondo brings in Michaelangelo, Mr. X turns around to reveal his true identity, which I can only describe as “Norman Tebbit dresses as Colonel Sanders for Halloween”. Mikey immediately picks up on this being the man who he was having nightmares about; through a flashback, we see him picking the baby lizard out of the mutagen.

Mondo Gecko is ordered by Mr. X to execute Michaelangelo; when he expresses his reluctance, X tells him that “either you finish him, or I finish you!” before storming out of the room. For his final wish, Mikey asks Mondo to return a pendant to his mother, and presents it to the lizard. In reality, this is the same trinket that Splinter used while performing hypnosis earlier. Our resident Party Dude now uses the same tactic against his captor, placing him in a trance and having him recount his own origin story.

More flashbacks follow as Mondo recalls being picked up by Mr. X – it's never explained why – and taken back to the villain’s hideout. There, X raised Mondo as he grew into a half-lizard, half-boy, leading him into a life of crime. After ending the hypnosis, Mikey convinces Mondo that he’s not really villainous, but was indoctrinated to believe he was. Mr. X, Sluggo and Basher return and are about to open fire on the two mutants, but Basher manages to accidentally activate the military device.

Mr. X has Michaelangelo in his sights when the Turtles break in, tying up Basher and Sluggo. Furious, X attempts to shoot Mondo instead. The lizard is saved by the intervention of Mikey, who knocks him out of the path of the ray gun’s blast. Michaelangelo goes on to use his grappling hook to hoist Mr. X up on one of the roof’s beams.

April arrives and immediately declares that she wishes she had a camera to chronicle this “dynamite story”, before the Turtles explain that’s an unfortunate way of putting it, as the timer on the military device has been ticking down since Basher knocked it. Now there are less than twelve seconds remaining to deactivate the bomb. Donatello is forced to quickly choose which of the wires to cut, opting to go with the purple one and successfully stopping the timer. When pressed as to how he knew which one to choose, he reveals that he just went with his trademark colour.

Mondo provides April with the sacks of money that he stole to return to the police. Now without a home, he suggests that perhaps he’ll return to the sewers. Michaelangelo is thrilled by this, and is quick to welcome the lizard as a new neighbour for the Turtles. Later, we see the team helping him to move furniture in, and a lot of gushing follows about how the green teens will now have a new ally living next door that they can call on in their daily adventures.  Mikey and Mondo head out to ride skateboards together, leaving the other Turtles to continue lugging furniture around.

(Sharp intake of breath through the nose)

No. No, no, no. I don’t care for this episode at all.

With more than a hundred adventures behind us, we’ve seen a multitude of different characters undergo some form of mutation, all of them under different circumstances. When you start meddling with the core aspects of the series and the origins of its central characters to squeeze another mutation out of it for a largely throwaway episode, that’s something else entirely. The retcon that the Turtles instantly wound up in the mutagen and Mondo Gecko also just happened to be there is, at best, a big ask for us as viewers who have been invested in the story of the green teens for years at this point, and at worst could be considered simply a gigantic middle finger to the audience. All of this for no real reason beyond shifting a few more units of one new action figure.

But wait! There’s more somehow.

Mondo’s mutation presumably is contingent on him having made contact with Mr. X, turning him half-human. But Mr. X, who must have had at least some exposure to the mutagen too, turns into... nothing? Splinter did much the same with the Turtles, and even if his transformation is confusing (because as we’ve covered previously, we saw with our own eyes that the last animal he’d been in contact with was not a rat, it was the Turtles themselves), at least he did change. If X had been an interesting new mutant enemy for the team to battle, we’d have that to chew on. Instead, we get one of the most laughably ineffectual big villains the Turtles have ever crossed paths with. Even his name suggests that this guy was a complete afterthought. Neither he, nor his henchmen Sluggo and Basher, will return. Good.

All of the Turtles are arguably diminished as a result of this episode meddling with the mythos behind their creation, but no-one comes out of it worse than poor Michaelangelo, who gets defeated by absolute schmucks over and over again. In-universe, it makes him look weakened due to the loss of his old weapons, and the fact that he gets to tie up Mr. X at the end does nothing to rebuild his credibility given that, as we’ve established, Mr. X sucks beyond belief. Mikey deserves better. We all deserve better.

Going off his toy’s file card you might expect that Mondo Gecko would be portrayed as a full-on Poochie, the most extreme radical dude possible, getting biz-zay consistently and thoroughly. For better or worse, we don’t really see much of that here. Instead, he’s largely handled as a cantankerous and gruff villain who just happens to also ride a skateboard, the need to keep his babyface turn until the end preventing him from ever becoming particularly likable. The ending of the episode suggests Mondo will be a regular fixture moving forward, but this won’t be the case: he’ll make one more appearance two years from now, in the late season seven adventure “Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter”.

Mondo’s role in the Archie TMNT Adventures comics is far more significant than his television portrayal, with the mutant lizard even appearing in the spin-off series “Mighty Mutanimals” alongside some other popular side characters like Leatherhead and Ray Fillet. His inclusion in the toy line at the height of Turtlemania seems to have boosted his profile despite only seeing a scant amount of TV time – call it “Ace Duck Syndrome”. The fact that Mondo would get a second action figure in 1992 suggests that Playmates were at least somewhat satisfied by the sales of his first toy; why they decided to dress him in full-on Woodstock hippie attire for his return to the line at the height of the grunge era is anyone’s guess.

I’m struggling to find anything positive to say here. There must have been some kids who had Mondo Gecko’s toy, or knew him from the comics, and I imagine they would have been excited to see him here, so there’s at least value in that. I suppose it’s not “Camera Bugged” bad, so that’s something? Definitely ranks alongside some of the all-time worst, though, next to “Michelangelo Toys Around” and the rest of the dreck from season four’s syndicated stretch. Given that our next episode, “Enter: Mutagen Man” will also introduce a new character from the toy line, I can only hope that it’ll be better than this.

[mandoalorian]

Pain Is For The Living [Javier Peña x F!Reader] - Chapter 3

Summary: Sex work in the heat of 1980’s Colombia was never going to be a walk in the park. Especially not when you had a crush on your number one client, agent Javier Peña. You’d been warned about him and his reputation, but after one very specific incident that would change your life forever, you find yourself attached to him like never before and you’d do anything to make him yours. Even if it means endangering your own life.

Rating: 18+

Warnings: Javier being kind of an asshole, allusions to sex, a ~moment~ in the bathtub, mention of PTSD and trauma, food mention, drink mention, ...feelings?

Word count: 4200

Author’s Note: It’s been so long! I’m sorry. It’s been pretty hectic and I’ve been doing my best to wrap up my other series’ and complete requests. I appreciate you all for sticking around and asking for updates on this chapter. I’ve mentioned it a few times, but PIFTL is very difficult to write. It deals with very sensitive issues and so not only can it be mentally draining to write, it takes a lot of time to research and edit. I won’t give up on this series though. I adore this story and can’t wait to share it all with you.

Pain Is For The Living Masterlist

* Reblogs appreciated and my ko-fi is linked in my bio if you wish to support my writing!

Nina pushed off Javi quicker than a bullet leaving a gun, grabbing a blanket from her bed and wrapping it around her naked body. “What the fuck Javier?” she spat.

Jesus Christ -- Javier had never made that mistake before. Moaning someone else’s name? He was better than that. It took him a moment to just process what happened, Nina’s yelling and accusations only a blur in the background. “Who is she, Javier?” Nina questioned, her tone venomous. That was enough to snap the agent out of his thoughts. Her cold eyes burned like wildfire as she glared at him. “Who. Is. She?”

“Uh…” Javier racked his brains to try and figure out a way he’d be able to save this situation. But the longer he took to answer Nina’s question, the more infuriated she got. “Informant.”

That wasn’t exactly a lie. You’d agreed to help him. But whether or not you’d actually be able to provide Javier with any relevant information was a different ordeal in itself.

“You’re still sleeping with your informants?” Nina gasped a little, clicking her tongue and shaking her head in disappointment. “Why am I not surprised?”

Javier sighed and rolled his eyes, pulling himself off Nina’s bed and grabbing his denim jeans that had been previously discarded on the floor. “C’mon Ni, don’t get jealous now. We haven’t been together for like, a year.” Javier hummed, zipping up his pants. His eyes darted around the room as he tried to locate his shirt. Maybe there was no fixing this. For a split second, he’d forgotten why things had ended with Nina, but now it was becoming clear again. He just had to get outta there. He needed air, and a smoke. 

“I let you cum inside of me and you moan out another woman’s name!” Nina exclaimed, shaking her fists in the air. “Javier Peña I fucking hate you!”

Javier offered Nina a small shrug of his shoulders before finding his shirt and buttoning it up. “I’ll see you around Ni.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Called him seventeen times Con, he’s taking the piss.” Steve grimaced, aggressively flicking to the next page of the Bogotá local newspaper.

“Will you just calm down? He’s our friend. We’re doing him a favour. He'll be back soon,” Connie sighed, glancing back over to you, where you had been sleeping on the sofa for the past two and a half hours. “She sleeps better than our Liv,” Connie noted. “Wish we could sleep as well as that.”

Steve hummed in agreement. “I’ll go check on Liv.” He announced at the mention of his daughter. He’d put her down for a nap about an hour ago in Javier’s bedroom.

“No honey, I’ll go. You keep working on your crossword,” Connie giggled before pointing her index finger into one of the blank squares. “Fourteen down: Los huevos revueltos.” 

“I would’ve got that,” Steve huffed, scrambling to write the answer down. He definitely would not have. The Spanish puzzle was made for infants and yet he was still struggling.

“Whatever Murph.” Connie rolled her eyes, leaving the table where they were both sitting at. 

The second she left the room, you woke up in a cold sweat, feeling dizzy and shaking from a nightmare you didn’t want to remember. Your cheeks were wet, tear stained and goose pimples pricked at your arms. You checked your surroundings in a fluster, not recognising the brown leather couch you were laying on, or the oak wood coffee table in front of you, or even the television pushed against the cream coloured walls. A man with blonde hair and mustache raced over to you, and dropped to his knees, holding you by your shoulders.

“Are you okay?” The man quizzed, his blue eyes searching to meet yours. You were horrified, the feeling of an unfamiliar man grabbing you like this. You screamed in terror, and defensively dug your fingernails into his skin. The man yelped out and stumbled back from you, hitting the coffee table in the process. “Fuck-- shit-- ow--” He gasped. “Connie!” he called. “Connie, she's awake!”

The way he yelled and screamed your name... it was like you were some kind of monster. You hated it.

The sound of footsteps padding into the living room alerted you, and a woman, not much older than you, knelt down in front of you. But unlike the man, she knew well enough to keep her distance. “Hi sweetheart, are you alright? I’m Connie, don’t be afraid. You’re okay.” she assured you, her voice sweet like honey. 

“Where am I?” you choked out, tears filling your eyes. 

Connie hesitated for a moment. “She doesn’t remember where she is?” Steve asked Connie with concern, scratching the back of his neck as he pulled himself together and shuffled over to you. Taking a note out of Connie’s book, he kept his distance. Connie briefly explained to her husband how your behaviour right now actually made a lot of sense, and how victims of PTSD can often have ‘memory blanks’.

“Darling, I’m Connie Murphy. I’m a nurse. And this is my husband Steve. Steve is DEA. He’s friends with Javier Peña. You know that name, right? Javier Peña.” She repeated his name slow and steady, allowing you to take your time to process the words. Javier Peña. Just like that, a wave of calmness washed over you. His name felt like home. It felt like safety. 

“I know Javi.” you whispered in admittance, shuffling around on the sofa. You could feel your lips trembling. It was strange. You were new to Bogotá, and you didn’t really have any friends, other than the late Rosa. And well, Javier too. He was a client, sure, but he was always kind and gentle with you, unlike your other customers. You’d like to think of him as a friend. Right now, he was the only person you had. 

“This is Javier’s place. He’s going to watch over you for a little while, okay?” Connie explained. “We are your friends and we’re not going to hurt you. I promise,” the lady soothed. She turned to Steve. “Bring over Olivia.”

“What-- why?” Steve quizzed, his eyebrows furrowing together in bewilderment.

“She needs to know she can trust us. Bring over Olivia,” Begrudgingly following his wife’s instruction, a wary Steve stood up and padded into Javier’s bedroom where Olivia had been left to sleep in a small, transportable crib. He picked up his daughter and carried her into the living room. “This is my daughter Olivia,” Connie told you quietly, smoothing out Olivia’s black hair. “She’s one year old. Would you like to hold her?”

“Connie are you fucking crazy?” Steve snapped.

“I’m a fucking nurse Steve, I know what I’m doing.” Connie hissed back, taking Olivia from her father. She looked back over to you and her deep frown turned into a comforting smile as she slowly handed you the baby. Connie’s hands never left Olivia, and she made an effort to support her head as you cradled the sleeping baby in your arms.

Holding Olivia Murphy gave you a feeling of responsibility. If Steve and Connie were dangerous, they would never have shown you their daughter, let alone allow you to hold her in your arms. You contemplated everything and although it was hard, you decided that you probably could trust them. Still, it raised the question: “Where is Javi?”

Steve shook his head incredulously and stood up, grabbing the phone from one of the side tables and dialling his partner’s number again. You didn’t know what was wrong with the blonde haired agent, but you got the impression that he did not want to be here.

“Steve is going to call him, again. He went to get groceries. I’m sure he won’t be long.” Connie informed softly, and you nodded your head. 

“Your baby is adorable,” you announced quietly and Connie smiled, thankful you were beginning to talk a little more. Seemingly, you’d calmed down, which meant Connie’s comforting approach had worked.

“She’s a real gem, isn’t she?”

Javier was just a couple of blocks away when his carphone began to ring. He eyed up the display and read the ‘17 missed calls’, cursing under his breath. He clicked the accept button and continued to drive.

“Javier Peña. You prick.”

“Hi bestie.” Javier grinned, shaking his head at Steve’s introduction. Typical.

“You left us here for three fucking hours with some random girl -- who, by the way, is incredibly unstable, Javier. I don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, but I’m not here for it. Where the fuck have you been? No, forget that. You better be home in the next ten minutes and you better have the ingredients for my fucking paella.” Steve growled before angrily slamming the phone down on the hook.

Javier couldn’t help but chuckle. Steve Murphy was ever the drama queen.

As he drove down the street, he made one final attempt to shrug off what had happened with Nina. Okay, yeah, saying your name was a little uncalled for. But she always got so needy and possessive -- even when she had no reason to be. Nina and Javier weren’t exclusive and hadn’t been for a long time, so, what was her deal?

What was even more concerning to Javi, was the fact he said your name in the first place. Nina looked rather similar to you. Not identical, but from a distance, there was a chance she could’ve been mistaken. Only, when he was pounding into her from behind, he wasn’t at a distance. In fact he couldn’t have been any closer, and yet he still said your name. He was really struggling to justify it. 

Sure, he’d been thinking about you when he was inside of her. But was that really so bad? You were clearly on his mind, and Javier just pinned that down to the fact he’d been out all day investigating the crime scene at the brothel. He’d been with you, he’d held you and comforted you. Fuck, even before noon he had been fucking your mouth. It wasn’t exactly unreasonable…

But moaning out your name… shit, could Javier really get past that? Was there any way to justify that -- other than the blatant and glaring honest reason that Javier refused to admit. He wouldn’t even let his mind go there. Whatever, it was fine. He was home now. The end of a long day.

Javier grabbed the groceries from the back of his car and buzzed himself into the DEA apartment block where he and Steve were living. Making his way over to his apartment, he opened the front door and set the brown paper bag of ingredients down on the kitchen counter. When he got home, Connie was just finishing up painting your nails a beautiful sea blue gel colour. She turned around and she looked up at Javier. Your eyes, however, were already fixated on him the second he entered the room.

“Where’s Steve?” Javier asked, diverting his gaze from the two women and continuing to unpack the food. 

“He went home. He’s pissed, Javi.” Connie admitted, shaking her head in annoyance and placing the pot of nail polish on the coffee table. She walked into the open space kitchen and nudged the agent.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Javier muttered, stacking the canned goods into a cupboard.

“I’m going home, but don’t think we’ve forgotten about the paella. Steve wants that fucking paella,” Connie chastised. Javier nodded his head but remained silent as he emptied his bag of shopping. “Unbelievable.” Connie scoffed incredulously, and opened the front door before slamming it behind her.

“Thanks Con!” Javier called, but there was no telling if she even heard.

Javier was half way through putting his shopping away when he heard your meek and softly spoken voice call his name in a questioning tone. His dark eyes looked over at you. You were sitting upright on the sofa and his face softened. Stopping what he was doing, he neglected the bag of groceries and padded into the living room to sit down next to you. 

“Hi.” Javier murmured, crossing his legs and adjusting the crochet blanket that was covering your lap. 

“Hi.” you replied, feeling somewhat shy and slightly nervous, for a reason you couldn’t quite place.

“How are you feeling?” Javier asked, bringing himself to look at you.

“Um,” you fumbled at the blanket and thought for a moment. It was a loaded question. Other than the overwhelming feeling of distress and helplessness, you decided to give the agent a simple answer. “Well rested. A little thirsty.” 

Javier nodded. “How would you feel about taking a bath?”

You swallowed back a knot in your throat that you hadn’t even realised was there in the first place. “...Do I smell?” you asked, You stretched out and gave your underarms a sniff, prompting Javier to burst out into laughter. Shit, had you always been that adorable? Your nose scrunched up at the distinct smell of dried up blood on your clothes and your shoulders slumped sadly. Javi, noticing your change in demeanor, gently lifted up the blanket and wrapped it around your body.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he cooed. “Believe me, I get stinky too. It happens. Let me help you take a bath. Come with me.”

Taking his hand, Javier navigated you towards the bathroom. It was a small boxy room with barely any space to move around, and yet, to your surprise, it fit a bathtub. Javier twisted the faucet, and the tap began to run warm water. He picked up a bottle of bubble bath and a tub of salts. “I have a bad back,” Javier told you. “These salts really help me relax. And the bubbles are nice too.”

You nodded with a smile. As he emptied the contents into the tub, you watched the products swirl into a colourful abyss. “It smells like you.” you uttered, without really thinking about the weight of your words. Javier said nothing, and you both sat by the side of the tub in comfortable silence, watching as it filled up. He occasionally dipped his hand in the water, checking the temperature.

“Will you be okay?” Javier asked you, taking out a towel and folding it up on top of the toilet seat.

You weren’t really sure, but you nodded your head anyway. Just as he was about to leave, you spoke up again. “Actually, Javi, could you stay?”

Javier fumbled a little but smiled. “Yeah, of course.”

Javier had seen you naked countless times due to the nature of your job but for some reason, this time, it felt different. He’d never had a woman use his bathtub before, let alone be requested to stay in her presence as she got undressed and stepped inside. You slipped out of your sultry, blood stained dress and let it pool to the floor. Javi’s mouth parted as he took in your naked form under the amber tinted bathroom lights. 

You stepped inside the tub and almost slipped over, but Javier, as quick as lightning, grabbed your arm and steadied you. “Sorry,” he muttered, and your hand slid into his. As your fingers interlocked, you felt something. It was like a bolt of electricity, running up your arm, and judging by Javier’s reaction, he could feel it too. “I should’ve warned you. It can be a little slippery.”

You giggled and tried to tear yourself from Javi’s grip, but he didn’t let go of you once. Instead,  he helped you sit down comfortably amongst the bubbles and aromatic hot water. You moaned, feeling your body become indulged and your muscles soften. You smiled and laid back, the bubbles fizzing around your neck and chin, and Javier felt his heart swell in his chest as he noticed your lips curl into a smile. It was the smile he would kill to see, and he hadn’t even realised how much he missed it.

“Just relax,” Javier soothed. “I’ll be back faster than you can count to ten.”

Javier ran into the kitchen and took a glass from one of the cupboards before racing back to the bathroom. Kneeling down by the side of the tub, he dipped the glass into the water, filling it up, and gently emptied it down your hair. 

“Close your eyes,” he requested, continuing to wet your hair ample enough until it was ready to be shampooed. Taking the bottle of his musky scented shampoo, Javier squirted the thick liquid into your scalp and began to massage it in. You couldn’t believe how gentle he was, and how he was taking his time with you. You’d never in a million years imagine Javier Peña being like this, or acting this intimate, with any woman -- especially not you. To be honest, his own behaviours were even coming to shock Javier. But he just let his instincts take over. He wanted to protect you and make sure you knew just how safe you were. That was the most important thing on his mind.

Once he rinsed your hair, he grabbed some soap and a sponge, handing them to you. “Do you uh-- uh-- do you think you can wash your own body?” He asked, his dark eyebrows knitting together. “If not, that’s okay. I can help. But--”

You smiled and rested a wet hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay Javi. I’ll be fine.” you promised, taking the sponge from him. 

“I’m going to find you some clothes to change into.” He told you. “Shout if you need me. I won’t be long.”

And he stuck by his word. Javier raked through his drawers and picked out a pale yellow button down shirt that he hadn’t worn in a few years and a pair of boxer shorts. Padding back into the bathroom, he presented you with them. “It’s not much but it’s all I have,” he told you. “I’m sure Con will take you out shopping at some point. Or we can hop on back to your place tomorrow to grab some of your stuff,” You smiled and stood up, making sure to be careful not to slip this time. Javier held out the towel for you and wrapped you in it. “I’ll leave you to get dried.”

When Javier went back into the kitchen, he figured he should put the rest of the groceries away, only to notice that the once frozen paella ingredients had become defrosted and been rendered completely useless. “Shit.” Javier cursed, pushing them to one side and running a hand through his hair. Looks like after all of this, he couldn’t make paella tonight. He knew he was about to get an earful from Steve at work tomorrow.

“Do you like pizza?” Javier called, rummaging around for a take-out menu and grabbing his phone from the counter.

“I do!” you called back, buttoning up Javier’s shirt and wrapping a towel around your head.

When you padded into the kitchen, dressed in Javi’s clothes, the agent felt his throat dry up. You were a sight to behold. You smelt distinctly like him, but you already looked one thousand times better now that you were clean and comfortable. You felt better, too. It was amazing what a bath could do to you. You shimmied onto one of the bar stools Javier kept by the counter and rest your elbows against the laminate. Javier passed you the menu so you could look over the dishes.

You agreed on a simple chilli pizza, which was one of Javier’s favourites anyway. Javi called the deli and asked for a large, planning on sharing it with you. Remembering that you’d mentioned you were thirsty, he poured you a glass of water and handed it your way.

“Steve is gonna be so mad at me tomorrow,” Javier chuckled, rubbing his temple. You peeked up from the glass that you nursed and looked up at him through your eyelashes. “I promised him paella and I’m not gonna be able to make it tonight. Not only that but he’s gonna ask me where I’ve been. He’ll know I wasn’t out getting groceries for three hours.”

You furrowed your eyebrows together and tilted your head. “Three hours? Where were you?”

Javier paused and absent-mindedly brushed a finger along his mustache. “I bumped into an ex at the store. Went back to her place and-- you know.”

Your eyes fell back into your glass of water. “Oh.”

Javier picked at his short fingernails and another sigh left his lips. “Shit, I just--” he shook his head. “Made a mistake. A very big mistake.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Yeah, that would probably be for the best but how could he even begin to tell you what happened, when you were part of the problem? Javier figured it might even scare you away. “It doesn’t matter… she’s just…” Javier scratched his head. “She’s fine. It’s a ‘me’ problem, I think.”

The doorbell rang and Javier was grateful for the interruption. He paid the pizza delivery guy and sent the stone bake on the table.

“It looks good,” you smiled. “I’ve never had Colombian pizza.”

Javier’s jaw dropped. “You--?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Dulzura, how long have you lived here?” 

“A month,” you grinned, with a mouthful of pizza. “Tastes good.”

After you’d finished eating, it had gotten pretty late. You and Javier exchanged small talk, learning little things about each other. You liked it a lot. He had always been an enigma to you, and even though he offered little information, it was still something, and you appreciated that a lot.

“It’s been a difficult day,” Javier noted, folding the pizza box and throwing it away to be recycled. “You should take my bed.”

“No,” you insisted. “I’m fine on the sofa. Honestly.”

Javier sighed. “I’m not going to let you sleep on the sofa any longer. You’ll get back ache.”

“Then I’ll just use your bath salts.” You smirked in retaliation. Javier laughed and you relished the way small crinkles appeared in the corner of his honey coloured eyes.

“Please, take my bed.” Javier said, staring at you pointedly. His eyebrows were raised and his strong arms were crossed over his chest.

You were about to argue further but truthfully, sleeping in a bed tonight sounded like exactly what you needed. You took a few steps closer to Javier, a pool of butterflies swirling in your stomach as you broke any distance between you both. You wanted to kiss his lips so desperately, taste him once again. It was only earlier today you’d had your lips wrapped around his cock, and yet, so much had happened in between then and now. You wondered if Javier was thinking about it too.

“Get some sleep, hermosa.”

Your eyes were completely trained on his soft pink lips. You wanted to kiss-- you just wanted to kiss him. Just one kiss. Just one-- you leaned in and shut your eyes, and neared him, closer and closer... but Javier stepped away.

And you felt your heart shatter in your chest.

“Nothing personal,” he told you. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Nothing personal? How were you meant to accept that? You had literally sucked him off just a few hours ago and now he wouldn’t even grace you with a kiss? Maybe Rosa was right; you shouldn’t form crushes on clients. Especially not Javier Peña. You’d only get hurt. You tugged on the sleeves of his button down shirt and balled your fingers into a fist, trying to ignore the pain in your chest.

Without uttering a word, not even a ‘goodnight’, you sulked away and into his bedroom.

Javier wanted to shout out. He didn’t want you to be mad at him, or even upset. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt you. It took him all the strength he could muster to deny you of that kiss. Your perfect lips looked so soft and delicate and if Javier could have it his way, he would’ve taken you in that very moment.

But you were more than just a sex worker now. You were a compliance in the hunt to catch Escobar -- and he had to be careful. No matter what, he couldn’t risk losing track of the bigger picture.

-—-—-—♡—-—-—-

Permanent taglist: @paintballkid711 @supernaturalgirl @phoenixhalliwell @ah-callie @stardust-galaxies @wickedfrsgrl @goth-topic​ @nerdypinupcrystal  @kiwi-the-first @pedroepascal @castiel-barnes @honeymandos @rocketqueen  @dybalalover10 @girl-obsessed-with-things @elena-myth @moth-guillotine @pedro-pascal-love @hayley-the-comet @pinkninja200 @maxiarapamaya @autumnleaves1991-blog @artsymaddie @harrys-stan @kennedywxlsh @cripplingmoon @cheekygeek05 @mrschiltoncat @rye-flower @theamuz @persie33 @sleepylunarwolf @martellthemandalor @pedro-pastel @steeevienicks @rrtxcmt @saphic-susperia @ladyjenny19 @readsalot73 @softmedics @jade10077 @dodgerandevans

PIFTL taglist in replies! Let me know if you wish to be added to either taglist Xx

[halfway-happyyy]

Bright Eyes

AN: hello friends! this is a little something i came up with using this lovely moodboard by the ever-talented @flowers-in-your-hayr . this is also in celebration of her hitting 650+ followers! congratulations my dear, you are a light and deserve all of the love.

warnings: this piece is under the cut because it delves heavily into pregnancy and babies!

The changes were somewhat slow to note in the beginning.

There had been intense morning sickness throughout the first trimester; nausea on a level she had never fathomed before. It had been so terrible that some days the only task she could muster successfully was peeling herself from her duvet to stand beneath a near-scalding shower, arms braced against the glossy, tiled walls and chest heaving under the duress of the waves roiling deep in her belly.

Sleep, when she could come by it, was an absolute reprieve that came fast and all-consuming for her.

And then one morning- a couple of weeks shy of her third trimester, she had been standing naked and dripping in front of the fogged mirror in their on-suite washroom, when she noticed as if for the first time, the burgeoning bump of her belly. She watched the rounded curve of the life form growing inside of her with a hungry, fascinated gaze.

“Good morning baby,” Alexander had appeared behind her suddenly, his warm hands reaching around her front to caress the growing bump. He dropped to his knees to press a series of tender kisses to the taut skin there. “You be kind to your mama today, hm? She's been having a bit of a rough go of it lately…” Rising to stand, he reached for the stick of Shea butter balm, removed the cap, and began to roll it over her stomach in soothing circles. She had grown self-conscious of the opaque lines that had started to grow on her belly in the months leading up to their child's birth but he remained steadfast in his utter adoration and admiration for her and what her body was doing for them, regardless. “How are you feeling today, gorgeous girl?”

She had considered the question carefully; mulled over each possible answer in her mind and sighed softly, opting for the truth. “I'm tired today, Alex.” And she was. She had known that they were approaching the tail-end of this whirlwind adventure. Knew that in the next few months their baby would be earth-side with them, knew in her heart how quickly time would pass until then.

He smiled down at her, his azure blue eyes glassy and utterly empathetic. “I'm sure you are. I have two meetings in the city today, and then I'm all yours for the next couple of weeks. What do you say we grab dinner out tonight?”

A small sigh of relief before her lips curved up into a half smile. “I'd say you got yourself a date, Skarsgård.”

And then there was the moment she had woken up from a dead sleep three weeks before she gave birth. A slick sheen of perspiration covered every square inch of her body as she fought for a proper breath, and Alexander- bless his heart, in his sleep-heavy state had assumed that this was it. He had leapt out of bed, hand poised around the leather handle of the diaper bag next to his night side table. It, of course, wasn't it- rather she had been the victim of a nightmare of such terror that she could not begin to explain, or quantify, but that had shaken her to her very core. She was gripped with a fear the likes of which she had never felt before or since. It was a palpable, ugly thing that sidled itself inside her chest and caused tears to rush in rivers down her cheeks. All Alexander could do was hold her tight and rock her until the heaving stopped, the seemingly bottomless well of saltwater behind her eyes dry for the time being.

“What on earth is going on, kid?”

She had taken a deep breath, her eyes felt as if someone had dried them with sheets of sandpaper. “I'm scared, Alex.”

He clicked his tongue and held her ever tighter to his chest. “Of course you are. Of course you are. That's completely normal, my love.”

She trembled violently beneath him. “I need to feel like I'm not going to fuck this child up somehow… I need to know I'm going to be okay at this.”

Alexander pressed his lips to her temple, his warm breath as it fanned out over her face helped to quell her panic somewhat. “You're going to be okay at this,” He rubbed reassuring circles into the small of her back. “We're going to be okay at this. Together. We're going to make mistakes- that's a given. But there’s no way this child won't know love. Because it lives right here with us.”

One Monday morning, about a week prior to giving birth, she had found herself admiring the finishing touches to their nursery. A wooden rocking chair- possibly her most favourite part of the room, stood unsuspecting in the corner next to the open window. It was cracked to help the heady scent of fresh paint dissipate and she held her arms a little tighter to herself to ward off the early morning May breeze. A brand-new bookshelf was already chockful with material- titles ranging anywhere from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, to Where the Wild Things Are, to The Little Book of Fika- stood next to the rocking chair. Adorning the top of the shelf were photographs from their maternity shoot, some framed sonograms and a bear-shaped lamp. The walls had been washed in a soft beige, with Alexander insisting on some kind of fun decal- a tall tree and a rainbow helped to spruce up the adjacent accent wall. The whimsical plush animals of their baby’s mobile swayed gently in the breeze and she smiled to herself again. Reaching for the radio next to the crib, she flicked it on and braced herself against the wooden railing to stretch. Everybody Wants to Rule the World had come on and she dropped her head back and began to dance to the calming sway of the song. Regrettably, she hadn’t done much of it all during her pregnancy, but it felt necessary and wonderful to be as connected as possible to the little light inside of her before they were separated for good.

“Whatcha doing there, mama?”

Not noticing her sudden company until he had made himself known, she splayed her hands around her bump and beamed up at Alexander from his perch in the doorway. “I’m dancing this baby out, papa.”

“Mind if I join you?”

Her smile grew tenfold. “We’d love that.”

Alexander closed the short distance and wrapped himself around her; the velvet-soft rust coloured sweater that he had chosen for the day reminded her of the miniscule onesie tucked away in the dresser a few feet away. She leaned into his touch, letting his embrace warm the pair of them wholly. “Are you ready?” She murmured, after a while.

“Not even remotely,” He confirmed. “But that’s the beauty of it, isn’t it?”

Their baby girl arrived early in the morning of the twenty-first of May. At about six pounds thirteen ounces, she was almost incomprehensively small but easily the most beautiful creature they had ever laid eyes on. She fit nearly perfectly in the palm of Alexander’s hands and came complete with ten miniscule fingers and toes. Her eyes, when they were open, were a breathtaking hue of blue- one of the countless things her papa had bestowed her. A name had been elusive to them until they were in the comfort of their own home, her tiny frame swallowed up by an expert swaddle, and tucked easily inside the crook of Alexander’s forearm. “Well, what do you think kid?” He peered down at her, his eyes tired, but alight with a fire she had become familiar with in the days after their baby's arrival.

“I think it’s a beautiful name, Alex.”

He cleared his throat and blinked back a couple of tears as he gazed down at his sleeping daughter. “Welcome to the world, Maja Elizabeth Skarsgård. We love you endlessly already.”

And he had been right all along, of course.

It was never going to be easy and sleep was never going to be readily available again. They were going to screw up somewhere down the line. But to be blissfully hopeful for the future and for their family was easy- because love lived there.

[absolutepokemontrash]

The undatables as uncles need more love, so... What if L!MC and the rest of the children just go to the castle or purgatory Hall for a few days because the Bros got tired or just need a day of rest. Idk this makes no sense

Yes, more uncle shennaniganery!

A Day at the Demon Lord’s Castle

Masterlist

It was Demon-Flu season, and no demon in the House of Lamentation was spared from its sniffly wrath. It started with Belphegor waking up and sneezing right next to Beel, and it was all downhill from there.

Notice how I said “demon”, the dear little Half-Demons were all fine thanks to the efforts of M!MC who for some reason had bought a bunch of plague doctor masks the week prior.

“Why... why did you buy these?” L!MC asked, their voice muffled by the badly fitting mask.

“I saw em’ in a store window and I decided I wanted them.”

Three out of four of the Brat Brigade (plus the cat) were on their way to the Demon Lord’s castle to stay until the house’s little epidemic passed. Lord Diavolo had oh so graciously asked (begged) to be allowed to host the kids for a while.

What could go wrong?

Many things could go wrong.

For one, the first thing A!MC saw when they first arrived, was a rat. Not one of the gross scary ones, but one of the absolutely adorable ones that turns you into the ‘gently holds’ meme.

“I’m going to call you Templeton!” “*squeak*” “Yay!”

Barbatos of course came to greet the guests, and explained that they have a little... issue with rats at that moment. Butler-dad assured them it wouldn’t be a problem, just if the children saw any of the vermin running around to tell him and he’d dispose of them.

Templeton the rat was promptly hidden in one of A!MC’s pockets.

The Purgatory Hall crew was there as well, apparently Solomon decided to make brunch and Purgatory Hall’s kitchen exploded.

Lord Diavolo finally makes his entrance and declares that everyone should unpack and relax, his gorgeous/terrifying castle was their gorgeous/terrifying castle.

“So,” L!MC rested their head on their hand and rotated the knight in their free hand as they stared half vacantly at the chess board. “Did you take care of the snake in the labyrinth, Dia?”

Diavolo lit up when he heard his seldom used nickname. “Well, Henry 1.0 isn’t exactly bothering anyone down there at the moment, and I don’t think Levi is equipped to deal with a fifty foot long untamed snake.”

L!MC smirked and placed their knight down. “Yeah, at least not right now.”

The moment L!MC removed their hand from the knight, Diavolo moved his bishop and took their queen. Shit.

“Aw man...” L!MC mumbled, after a cursory look at the board, the poor thing realized that they had been screwed for the last five turns and Diavolo was just prolonging the match.

“Don’t feel too bad, L!MC.” Diavolo gave them a pat on the head. “Lucifer can’t beat me in chess either.”

“Hmph.” They wouldn’t admit it but... that did make them feel a little better.

“That reminds me, I have a favour to ask of you.” L!MC almost outwardly drooped at the mention of... ugh... a task. “Do you mind reviewing some dad-jokes with me to make sure they are suitably dad-like?”

“...what?” Quickly remembering they were in the presence of honest to God (poor choice of words... uh... Grandfather?) royalty, L!MC straightened their posture and tried their best to look respectfully curious instead of completely and utterly confused. “Pardon?”

“M!MC and several others have said I have ‘dad vibes’, so I’m leaning into it!” Diavolo smiled so brightly if L!MC hadn’t been the child of the Morning Star they may have been blinded. “My father wasn’t one for jokes, so I’d like to run these by you before I say them to others.”

Suppressing a snort of laughter, L!MC nodded. “Go for it, I’m all ears.”

Diavolo pulled out quite the long list and began to read out loud... L!MC quickly realized that this may take longer than expected. “Okay, to begin: I’m afraid for the calendar, it’s days are numbered.”

“Oh not-that-good-Lord...” L!MC muttered under their breath.

The dad jokes continued, some were funny, some were absolutely awful, some sounded like they were made for children in the Victorian era... overall, it was a good- holy shit that took over two hours...

“Finally,” Diavolo squinted at the last joke. “I went to the liquor store and they asked for my ID, while I fumbled for my wallet, my Blockbuster card fell out, the cashier said ‘nevermind’.”

L!MC furrowed their brows. “What’s a Blockbuster?”

“That was what I was hoping you’d explain to me... is it a dad requirement to get a card for that establishment..?”

“Mmmm...” L!MC pursed their lips. “Probably not. I mean, Lucifer doesn’t have one.”

“That’s true...” Diavolo looked at the clock, then stood up and began to shoo L!MC out the door. “Look at me, taking up all your time that you should be spending with your friends. Thank you for your help, L!MC, now don’t let me keep you any longer!”

Giggling slightly, L!MC shot a wave over their shoulder as they left the room. “Bye dad! See you later!”

They were half way down the hallway when they realized their verbal slip-up.

“Oh.” L!MC’s face burned with embarrassment. “Shit.”

Dad-volo was totally delighted and very cool about it, don’t worry.

M!MC and Bean the cat were hanging out with the angels in the very pretty royal gardens when that mess was going down.

Luke was being absolutely adorable and was snuggling Bean while he and Simeon looked at the pretty plants.

In traditional M!MC fashion, they were engaging in an average game of ‘lightly tease the chihuahua’.

“It’s just... you’re so small.” M!MC took the opportunity to rest their arm on Luke’s head as he stopped to observe a colour changing flower bush. “How many years have you been this height? 100? 200?”

M!MC had taken the news that Luke was older than them in stride, finding new opportunities to make the little angel do his adorable angy face. They were obviously succeeding in their jerkwad-endeavours as Luke pushed their arm off and fixed his now smushed hat.

“You be quiet! I’m perfectly average height for an angel my age.” Luke huffed, petting the cat, who hissed at M!MC. The stupid cat absolutely hated them for some reason, it brought L!MC never ending joy to bring the cat into their shared room and watch it hiss and swipe at them. L!MC should really show some more respect for their older cousin!

“Are angels normally the size of a fifth grader?” M!MC snickered. “Is Simeon considered a freak for his height?”

“No, M!MC, I am not.” Simeon chuckled. “Rest assured, Luke will grow.”

“Yeah! And I’m sure I’ll be taller than you!” Luke added.

M!MC smirked deviously and pinched Luke’s cheek. “Well, I’ll have to take advantage of your smallness and baby face while I still can!”

“Hey! Stop that!” Luke tried to swat their hands away, but M!MC had inherited their father’s reflexes and his penchant for being a little shit every once and a while, so Luke’s swatting only resulted in more pinches.

“Never!” M!MC teased. “Surrender to your smallness!”

“No!”

Luke took off deeper into the garden, surprisingly quickly considering he was holding a cat that was hellbent on clawing M!MC’s eyes out. M!MC laughed and gave chase.

“Luuuuuuuke! Come back! I promise I’ll be nice!” M!MC lied right through their teeth like the little heathen they were, as they ran down the path they noticed that they couldn’t see Luke up ahead anymore, nor could they hear him yelling for Simeon to make them quit their teasing.

“Heheh...” M!MC wheezed as they stopped to catch their breath. “Luke c’mon, don’t be a baby. It’s real immature to hide like that!”

There was no response, which made M!MC just a little nervous, just a smidge. The plants had changed from pretty flowers and gorgeous trees to a much darker clump of vines and twisting branches. It all seemed to be the same plant, M!MC noted as they scanned the area for any sign of Luke and the cat, or Simeon for that matter.

“Luke? Bean? Come on! Haul your asses over here, this isn’t funny any-” M!MC paused and looked down as something coiled around their left leg. “-more?”

The vine tightened and yanked them backwards, M!MC fell right to the ground and clawed at the path to stop them getting pulled into the brush. Another vine wrapped around their right leg, any resistance that digging their nails into the ground was nullified as both vines yanked M!MC into the bushes.

Well, this was a nightmare of epic proportions. The vines continued to wrap around the helpless half demon until they were completely unable to move. As M!MC looked around frantically, they made eye contact with an all too familiar pair of blue eyes. Ah! There was Luke!

“Mmmph!” Only Luke’s eyes were visible, but the eyes are the gateway to the soul or whatever, and M!MC took an educated guess and decided that Luke’s soul wasn’t too happy with them.

“Mmth! Mmth!” M!MC tried to speak, but their mouth was covered by the vines. The two would have to communicate with their eyes only.

‘This is your fault!’

‘How the fuck is this MY fault?’

‘If you hadn’t teased me this never would have happened!’

‘Grow thicker skin, you chihuahua!’

‘Fuck you!’

Listen, Luke probably wasn’t capable of trying to communicate a swear word, but it was incredibly funny for M!MC to think about.

“M!MC? Luke?” Simeon stepped into their limited field of vision. “Where are you two? This plant is carnivorous.”

Oh... lovely. That was good to know.

“Mmemph!”

“MFTH!” Luke and M!MC tried to call out to Simeon, only for the vines to wrap around them even tighter. Wow, what a way to go... strangled by a plant... ugh. L!MC would never let them live that down...

“Hm,” Simeon looked down at the vine that was coiling around his leg. “What a bother.”

Quick as lightning, Simeon grabbed the vine and sent a burst of shining gold magic shooting through it. The magic quickly spread to the rest of the plant and the moment the magic slammed into M!MC they nearly passed out from the searing pain that shot through their entire body.

They clamped their eyes shut and clenched their teeth to stop them from rattling as they felt the massive wave of Celestial magic wash over them. It was weirdly warm, like a hug from a friend, but it wasn’t a pleasant sensation, at least not to M!MC.

The plant let out an otherworldly scream as it threw Luke, Bean, and M!MC back onto the path at Simeon’s feet.

Luke picked Bean back up and dusted off his clothes like he didn’t have a care in the world. M!MC lay on the ground, if you listened closely you could hear them sizzle a bit. Nothing like being nearly strangled by a plant and then roasted by holy ‘fuck you’ magic.

“I’m glad you’re both okay,” Simeon pulled Luke into a hug and helped M!MC off the ground. “Did I ah... use to much magic?”

M!MC half-scowled at their saviour and wiped down their outfit. “Yeah. A little too much.”

“My bad,” Simeon ruffled M!MC’s hair. “I hope this serves as a learning experience for you two, Luke, don’t run off like that, and M!MC,”

The half demon nearly jumped in fear and surprise as Simeon swivelled to look at them. The smile on his face was far from comforting. “Don’t tease poor Luke too much, okay?”

“Uh... uh huh.” M!MC quickly nodded.

“Good! Now let’s head back, I think we’ve all had enough of the Royal Gardens.”

As the group returned, they passed a very red in the face L!MC and wondered what exactly went down in the time they were gone.

It’s common knowledge that Barbatos hates rats, it’s also common knowledge that A!MC is the embodiment of a ray of sunshine.

What does this lead to, you may be asking, well...

A!MC and their dear rat Templeton needed to hide from the politely homicidal Barbatos.

“Sh!” A!MC whispered into their pocket, the rat responded with an indignant squeak.

The Demon Lord’s Castle was absolutely massive, and trying to navigate it without a map was akin to wandering around an ancient pyramid filled with death traps. A!MC and their dear companion were wandering the place without a map and trying to hide from a butler that had the power to see into the future. The two fugitives were at a clear disadvantage.

A!MC had managed to stumble into an area that had paintings and statues completely everywhere, it was then they realized they were completely lost.

While quietly perusing the room, A!MC took notice of quite the lovely portrait of a woman. She had long flowing locks of golden hair and the most gorgeous captivating eyes... A!MC nearly shrieked when the woman’s eyes snapped to their’s and her face contorted into a scowl.

“Do I know you?” The woman asked, A!MC gulped and shook their head.

“N-no ma’am, I don’t think we’ve met...” A!MC mumbled before sticking out their hand for a handshake. The painting woman stared down at their outstretched hand, very unimpressed. “I’m A!MC, it’s nice to meet you.”

The half demon offered their cutest smile, their dad had lovingly taken the time to coach them in the art of being so darn tootin’ adorable that everyone would fall over themselves to get A!MC to like them. The moment the woman registered the smile, her scowl returned for a brief moment, then vanished entirely.

“Oh,” The woman smiled sweetly. “I do think I know you, do you mind coming a bit closer so I can see you better?”

Suffering from a complete inability to detect red flags, A!MC happily moved closer.

“Ah, just as I suspected. You look like Asmodeus.”

“You know my dad?” A!MC asked.

“Yes,” The woman’s eyes narrowed. “I know him quite well.”

A!MC was suddenly knocked off balance as a massive gust of wind shoved them closer to the painting. They frantically clawed at the stone ground as Templeton squeaked and squirmed in their pocket.

“Your father is the reason I’m stuck in this painting,” The woman explained coldly as A!MC tried to scramble away. “He escaped the labyrinth twice, but I don’t plan on letting you escape.”

“I-uh- m-muh-my dad’s probably really sorry about whatever he did! There’s no need to be rash!” A!MC stuttered.

“Yeah, no.” The woman huffed. “He had his chance to fix things. I’m getting even.”

“Not right now you’re not.”

A!MC swivelled their head around to see Barbatos calmly holding out a pair of scissors.

“Now Helene, I’d recommend releasing the child before I’m forced to take drastic measures.” Barbatos clicked the scissors together twice, and Helene paled. The wind pushing A!MC towards the painting dissipated and the half demon ran and hid behind the butler.

“Th-thank you...” A!MC mumbled.

“It’s not a problem, A!MC. Now I believe it would be a wise choice to move to another room.”

The two, (plus the hidden rat) ended up in the kitchen. A!MC shifted nervously as Barbatos began prepping lunch.

“Is there something you need to tell me?” Barbatos asked suddenly, A!MC straightened their posture and nodded.

“I um... promise you won’t be mad...” A!MC mumbled.

“I can assure you, I won’t be too upset.”

“I made a friend.” A!MC took Templeton out of their pocket and held him closely to their chest, Barbatos’s calm smile froze on his face. “He’s really sweet, please don’t kill him!”

“...A!MC.” Barbatos began slowly. “I’m not mad... just make sure it doesn’t escape and run rampant... now... please get it out of my kitchen.”

“Yes sir! Thank you sir!” A!MC turned and sprinted to their room.

Ugh... Barbatos, haven’t you ever watched Ratatouille? The rat can cook dammit!

When Luke went in to bake with his second dad he was very confused as to why Barbatos looked like he was having war flashbacks.

Huh... weird right? Anyway...

Good ol’ weird uncle Solomon suggested that after dinner everyone should get together and watch a movie.

L!MC and Solomon suggested that they watch The Conjuring and that idea got immediately shot down.

M!MC brought up that the most “family get-together” movie they could think of was Star Wars.

So they watched A New Hope.

“We could be watching the Conjuring right now.” L!MC murmured as they watched Luke Skywalker fumble his way to Obi Wan Kenobi.

“Yeah.” Solomon whispered back. “You know, I met Ed and Lorraine Warren.”

“Cool,” L!MC smiled. “My ren took me to their house once, when I went in to see all the haunted objects all the demons inside wanted to hang out with me.”

“Huh,” Solomon snickered. “Did they think you were Lucifer?”

“Yep. It was funny, Annabelle’s a pretty big asshole though.”

“I’d be an asshole too if I were stuck in a raggedy Anne doll since the 60s and not allowed to leave.”

“Both of you sh!” M!MC hissed, they threw some popcorn over their shoulder, which L!MC threw right back.

A while into the movie, M!MC elbowed Solomon and pointed at one of the aliens. “That’s you.”

“I’m so hurt…” Solomon pouted.

“And that’s you.” L!MC pointed at a stormtrooper that had just gotten shot with a blaster. M!MC scoffed and rolled their eyes.

“I’m not some dumb stormtrooper.”

“Yeah, you’re a little short for a stormtrooper.”

“HEY!”

“SHHHHHHH!” A!MC and Luke turned and started throwing their own popcorn…

The mess that they all had to vacuum after the movie was much more terrifying than The Conjuring ever could have been.

So, after a few days, Lucifer called to say that everyone was back to normal and the last remnants of the Demon-Flu were gone.

Yay! The kids could go back to their really overcrowded house!

The goodbyes were something to behold.

“Goodbye everyone! Come back sometime soon!” Diavolo waved from the doorway.

“Bye, Lord Diavolo!” L!MC smiled brightly and returned the wave. M!MC snickered and nudged them.

“That’s a pretty cold way to say goodbye to your dad-”

“Shut up…” L!MC growled.

“L!MC, what are they talking about?” Lucifer asked.

“Nothing!”

M!MC looked like they were weighing the pros and cons of surviving the conversation, then shrugged.

“M!MC, no, you have so much to live for!” A!MC pleaded.

“L!MC called Lord Diavolo dad!”

Mammon erupted into hysterical laughter while Asmo giggled and half heartedly patted L!MC on the head. Lucifer was not impressed.

“You know,” L!MC sighed. “I’m moving out. Lord Diavolo can I come live here?”

“L!MC, come back.” Lucifer trailed after his very embarrassed spawn.

A!MC pulled on their dad’s sleeve and cleared their throat.

“Yes sweetie?”

“D-dad, do you have a vehement hatred and or fear of rats?”

“Um-”

“Meet Templeton, he’s adorable and my friend.”

————————

Author’s note, The next part of the main series is coming next week… or this week… idk how long things take.

(Probably this week)

[sidespart]

The Fall of King Romulus Part 3

Summary: Twin Princes Remus and Romulus are cursed at birth with Honesty and Obedience. When Romulus, who cannot disobey any order, is told to kill his brother the next time he lays eyes on him, he changes his name to Roman and runs away. Roman joins up with a misfit group of adventures and plans to never return to his homeland. But the fae have other plans for him…

Warnings (for whole fic not necessarily individual chapters): Violence, mind whammying/memory altering, curse of obedience related consent issues, references to sex, references to war related injuries/PTSD, references to child abuse/neglect (YMMV on that one but just in case), antagonstic-but-not-exactly villian!Janus, Extremly-moraly-dubious-but-not-exacty-unsympathetic-Remus

Pairings: Mostly Platonic LAMP and all the found family feels. Could be read as pre-slash.

Feedback appreciated. 

NOW ON AO3 :D

Prologue     Chapter 1   Chapter 2  

Remus. Remus, Remus, Remus.

The mad Prince of Notaleveale.

Remus was coming here. Remus was coming to Steveange and if Romulus saw him-

Roman had to leave.

Which was easier said than done; when the streets were crowded with hoards of shoppers and revellers all pressing against him, blocking his path, stealing the air out of his lungs-

“Roman!”

He needed to go. He need to find Virgil and Patton in whatever rooms they’d managed to find, collect his belongings and-

No. That would take too long – he could replace the clothes and books, he already had his sword-

“Roman, what’re you-”

- but he needed his lute. To make any kind of living he had to be able to perform. It was the only thing he was good at and once he’d got away he’d be -

He could do it. He’d run away before. He survived alone, without anyone, he could do it again and-

“Roman! Stop!”

He stopped.

Logan. Heading towards him. But he hadn’t given a time frame and if Roman grit his teeth and pushed past the spike of pain he could start to move again in just a second-

“Wait!”

Dammit.

Roman waited. Fists clenched by his side, until Logan was next to him.

“Roman.”

His chest was tight. His brain wasn’t -wasn’t working right and Logan looked so odd, with his glasses askew and his face flushed – had he been running?

“I thought I saw Patton.” Roman blurted.

It was the first excuse that popped into his head and it was clearly not – not good enough. Logan was frowning at him, a pinched expression, studying him like an experiment and-

Roman hated him, suddenly.

Logan was an upstart swot with ideas above his station and a chip on his shoulder. He poked and prodded and lost them jobs with his terse words and his better than you attitude. He reminded Roman of the tutors who snap at him for his lack of understanding and bark orders for him to recite, repeat, remember, to be better, smarter, stronger: someone worthy of his title.

He reminded him most of all of Julius. His fathers closest advisor, who had been charged with unravelling the Princes’ curses. He was the one who had helped Romulus learn how to push against his curse. He would give him orders that were almost impossible to follow and watch with cold eyes as Romulus struggled to disobey. Together they’d categorised how much pain he could withstand, what orders could be navigated and misinterpreted and which ones he was truly helpless against.

Once, he’d bid Romulus to stand on one leg. And left him there until his muscles started to cramp and shake, waiting to see if gravity or the curse was stronger. Romulus had been in tears by the end. Had even wondered, briefly, about complaining to his parents. But is was such a silly, innocuous order compared to other experiments. What had truly upset him was how Julian had just stood there, not speaking, his eyes distant and cold and calculating as he noted down every twitch and whimper from the boy. Even when he circled him, Romulus could feel those eyes boring into the back of his neck like a-

“Princey.”

Roman blinked. Julius’ practice room disappeared, replaced with the sights and sound of the Steveange street. Logan was in front of him and his eyes were far from cold. When he spoke it was with the same gentle tone that Roman had heard him use when Virgil’s worries overwhelmed him or when Patton woke from a nightmare and didn’t know where he was.

“Did the cro- the woman. Did she say something to you?” Logan was holding his hand. Gently but firmly, he tugged at Romans tightly clenched fingers, encouraging them to unfurl. Roman stared uncomprehendingly at the deep crescent marks he’d made in his palm.

Slowly, Logan released his right hand and reached for his left, repeating the process.

Roman felt shame ripple through him.

Logan wasn’t Julius. Logan would never push him so far he broke.

Logan was his friend and Roman has made him worry with his silly behaviour and his slapdash lie. But he could fix it.

He forced a smiled. Flexed his fingers and straightened up his full height. Made a show of looking around him.

“I swear I saw him. Big man, big sword, big smile – he’s hard to mistake!”

Hesitantly, Logan glanced around too before quickly refocusing on Roman.

“Are you sure you –“

“Ah well, the mind plays trick I suppose – must be hunger getting to me, speaking of which…”

Roman reached forward and deftly snatched the bag from Logan's grasp, reaching in blindly and shoving the first pastry he found into his mouth.

“Mmmm so good!” He beamed at Logan with berry stained teeth, flakes of pastry flying through the air. “Aren’t you going to have one?”

Logan stared at him. Roman kept his smile sweet and his eyes clear. He held up the bag and wiggled it enticingly.

Hesitantly, Logan took the bag and selected a tart. Keeping his eyes on the bard the entire time, he ate his treat with much more refinement then Roman had shown. “Holding back?” Roman asked, teasing, “I’ve seen you eat jam before, there’s no point pretending to have table manners now.”

Logan just hmphed but his shoulders relaxed slightly and Roman decided to take that as a victory. “We should get going” Roman said and started walking, Logan easily falling into step beside him.

The streets were crowded enough that none of the sellers seemed to feel the need to call to Roman specifically, and so this time he was free to investigate the stalls he was actually interested in.

But instead he stayed by Logan's side

Logan was a good friend. For all he claimed to lack an understating of emotional nuances he was letting Roman have his space. He’d even distracted him earlier, when his biggest concern had been the a spike of homesickness after meeting their northern customer.

He was nothing like Julius.

Roman was going to miss him so much.

***

Roman kept up his performance of normality all the way back to the main square, where they had agreed to meet the others once their mission was done. The sky was beginning to turn dark by the time they got there, though it was easy enough to navigate from the sheer number of stalls still in operation, each one boasting its own selection of colourful lanterns.

“This is fantastic!” Roman gasped theoretically, spinning on one foot to take in the whole spectacle.

“It’s a fire hazard.” Logan muttered with a frown.

They found Virgil waiting for them by the central fountain. He had manged to find a seat on the fountains edge but was wedged between two young couples who had clearly taken the romantic festival atmosphere to heart. The healer’s shoulders were up by his ears and his cloak was wrapped so tightly around himself it looked constricting. When he saw them he sprang to his feet so quickly he almost knocked one of the young ladies into the water.

“Took you two long enough.”

Roman and Logan glanced at each other.

“Logan got lost-”

“Roman kept wandering off.”

“-We brought you baked goods!”

Virgil took one of the two remaining pastries with minimal grumbling and led them out of the square. They took the north east road, a path that curved its wary upwards into the higher levels of the city. Here the buildings were all built of a blush-pink marble that sparkled in the evening twilight. The streets were wide, with neatly arranged flowerbeds and street lights which had the steady glow of Arkazeii glow lamps rather than the flicker of oil. There were certainly no traders spread out on blankets. Logan looked distinctly unimpressed.

“Was this inn you found an…economical choice?”

“It was a ‘the whole town’s rammed and this was the only place with a room left’ choice.” Virgil snarked “and don’t worry – its one room for all four of us with no breakfast included, if you were worried about getting too… bourgeoisie…or whatever."

Logan raised his hands for peace.

“I’m sure you did the best you could.”

“Well …we were lucky.” Virgil told him, and then glanced over at Roman, his lip twitching.

“Apparently they give discounts to performers.”

***

The inn was certainly a cut above their normal haunts. With brightly painted walls almost obscured by well pruned climbing plants, outdoor seating, and a wrought iron gate leading to spacious stables behind the building.  Even the doors were of better quality then your typical village tavern – made of wood heavy enough to make a satisfying crash when Roman stormed in.

The room was crowded, but Patton really was hard to miss. Roman shoved his way through to the back table where the big man sat waiting. Leaving other customers cursing in his wake.

‘Hey kiddo!’ Patton greeted him with a wide smile “Did you-“

“Key.” Roman snarled.

Patron blinked and him, shock writ large on his face. “Sorry?”

“The key. To my room.  Give it.” Roman snapped. “It is mine right? Since you seem happy to pimp me out in exchange for-“

“Hey!” That would be Virgil. Roman half thought he had left both men behind in his rage after Virgil’s little announcement, but the elf at least seemed to have kept up. He’d reached the table just in time to hear the start of Roman’s rant. “What the hell is your problem Princey?”

“My problem? Oh I’m sorry, I’M not the one signing other people up to sing for their supper without permission Virgil.”

“You like singing for your – we thought you’d want to!”

“Well it would have been nice to have a choice!”

“Virgil. Roman.” That was Logan, it had taken longer for the shorter man to force his way through the crowd but he wasted no time now in inserting himself into Romans business. “whatever this is… it’s not about putting on a show.”

He turned to the other two. Virgil scowling, Patton wide eyed.

“He had an…episode in the market.”

“Excuse me?” Roman shouted.

“Roman, whatever disturbed you, you practically ran away.”

“Well perhaps I had simple grown tired of looking at your face? Had you considered that?”

He turned his back to Logan, rounding on Patton again: “Now, give me the-“

Patton already had his hand out, wrought iron key resting loosely in his palm.

“We’re on the fourth floor.” he said calmly as Roman snatched it from him. “First door once you get up the stairs.” Roman spun on his heel only to find Virgil blocking his path.

“Move.” Roman hissed.

“What is wrong with you?” Roman narrowed his eyes. Virgil looked angry. Looked one second away from telling him to sit down, shut up, stop causing a fuss. He wondered if he could get past him without using his sword.

“I’ll bring you up some food in a bit,” Roman blinked glancing back at Patton, startled. The warrior still hadn’t moved from the table - admittedly no easy task in the cramped corner- and was looking at him calmly.

“I don’t want anything” Roman muttered, sullen.

“But you might later.” Patton smiled at him. Not knowing how to respond Roman turned back to Virgil. The elf glanced between the two, chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, before sighing and stepping to the side. Not fast enough to prevent Roman from knocking his shoulder with his own as he pushed past however.

It wasn’t as satisfying as he hoped.

**

At a guess, the room was normally meant for storage not guests. Two rickety looking beds had been shoved in, so close together they might as well have been one. There was one small table forced between the end of one bed and the wall, with a basin of water perched on top. Someone,  presumably Patton, had organised their bags neatly at the end of the beds. Roman’s was at the far end, closest to the window. Then Patton, then Virgil with Logan closest to the door, next to the only built in shelf where a candle had been left for the night. Roman would be able to wake with the dawn, as he liked to do, and Logan would have light for the longest to stay up and read.

Romans lute was not on the floor with his pack.  Instead he found in had been placed on the bed itself, propped up on his pillow, away from any potential harm.

Whatever righteous anger he had been able to hang on too as he stomped upstairs dropped out of him now like a stone from a cliff. Without it, the despair he had felt in the market came rushing back. He sank down right there by the door, bringing his knees up to his chest as he’d done in the forest. As he used to do in Julius’ room.

He almost wished Julius was here – at least he would tell him not to cry.

The through was so absurd he let out a weak snotty laugh and buried his head in his arms.

He needed to leave Steveange.

He didn’t want to leave them.

But they had planned to stay for a week at least, hopefully longer.

Convince them to leave early? Except he couldn’t explain why. Find them a job out of the city? How? When the coronation and accompanying celebrations were over it would be easy enough to find a traveling group in need of a little extra protection, but for now no one was leaving.

They’d been excited to come. Virgil want to try the city baths, famed for their heated pools and soothing water. Logan had been talking about the library for half the trip. Patton was just excited to explore the city itself, meet the people and try the food. He loved when they stopped in busier towns but it was a rarity.

There was no way Roman would be able to convince them to leave just because he wanted to.

Roman did what other people wanted. It was all he knew how to do.

And even if he had a convincing reason…well, they probably didn’t want him around anymore anyway.

He scrambled up, grabbed the first pillow he could reach and buried his face in it to muffle a scream of frustration which turned into more sobs.

He was so pathetic.

Since he’d left home, he’d kept his memories, kept Romulus, buried as deep as he could. But now it was like Romulus was just under his skin. Ready to jump out If he let himself slip. With all his anger and hurt and fear.

Romulus was a liability.

Romulus was a murder. Or would be. If Roman couldn’t think.

He stepped over to his pack, still hugging the pillow to him like a teddy bear, and started to review the contents. He didn’t need to take all of this with him, surely? Half of it wasn’t even his, their belongings having become more and more intertwined the longer they travelled.

The healing salve was rightfully Virgil’s, the soft shirt he wrapped himself in during cold nights was actually Patton’s, at least one of the notebooks belonged to Logan.

He opened the nearest book to check, but instead of Logan's neat lists his own sloppy scrawl stared back at him. Song lyrics and passing thoughts and, on the next page, an unfinished sketch. It was of Virgil, hand covering his mouth but eyes betraying his laughter. The other pages, he knew contained scribbles of all three of them. He flicked back and found his favourite, the page marked with a yellowed leaf he couldn’t remember picking up.

It showed all three in one sketch. Logan, sleeping and so looking years younger, head pillowed on Virgil’s thigh. Virgil was turned towards Patton, rolling his eyes as if to say ‘can you believe this?’ but making no move to actually shift scholar off him. Patton was laughing, he was the most well rendered of the three figures, you could almost see his shoulders shaking.

Roman looked at it for a moment. Then slowly replaced the book mark and closed it. This would have to come with him.

A knock at the door startled him so badly he dropped the book, which bounced under the bed.

“Kiddo? Can I come it?”

Fuck.

Patton. He had -he had been so, so unbelievably rude to Patton.

His first instinct, which was admittedly not a good one, was to jump out of the window.

Roman took a deep breath. Focusing on the mundane task of sorting items had cleared his head somewhat. He was still a little shaky but his eyes were dry. He knew what would be expected of him now - Romulus had spent most of his life apologising.

“Come in.” he croaked and stood, squaring his shoulders.

Patton entered alone, two bowls of something that smelled delicious cradled in his arms.

Roman ignored the sudden spike of hunger – the fruit tart seemed a long time ago now- and bowed from the waist. He kept his back ramrod straight and bent low enough that it quickly became uncomfortable. It was the kind of bow Romulus would only have given his father or elder brother.

“Patton, I owe you my most humble apology I-“

“Roman I am so sorry.”

“The way I spoke to you was the height of disrespect and unprin- ungentlemanly behaviour I – wait, what?”

He straightened up and looked at Patton, confused. “Why are you sorry?”

“Roman, I – wait hold on.” Patton handed him one of the bowls and turned to close the door. “Do you mind if we sit?” he asked and Roman nodded, smiling despite himself. Patton was the politest person he had ever met.

Once they were both seated, Patton’s bad leg stretched out in front of him, Patton looked at him seriously.

“Roman you were right downstairs. We should never have promised you’d perform without asking you first - no it's true!”

But Roman was already shaking his head. “Patton you were fine, you know I love singing! I was the one acting like, like some sort of beast I-“

“I know you love singing but that doesn’t mean we get to pick and choose when-“

“But I wanted to perform as much as possible whilst we were here- I’d told you that!”

“-especially after travelling all week. We were, er, presumptuous.”

Roman stared at him.

“Unlike this soup, which is pre – scrumptious.”

Patton beamed at him. Roman groaned.

“Anyway I’m sorry for letting you stew-“ he held up the bowl again waggling his eyebrows “- up here for so long, but we needed to make things right with the landlord.”

Roman, who had been starting to relax under the force of two puns in a row, tensed again. “What things?”

Patton smiled. “We paid the difference – you don’t have to perform! Uhh unless you want to of course, but it’s your choice.” He nodded decisively whilst Roman gaped.

“b-but isn’t it expensive?”

Patton just shrugged, “Well, the last job paid well didn’t it?”

“Not that well!”

“Aw c’mon kiddo, what’s the point of having money if we don’t spend it? Right?”

Not knowing what to say. Roman shoved a spoonful of stew into his mouth without tasting it. Guilt turning the meal to ash.

“Patton…how many days did you pay for?”

“The rest of the week! And there’s still enough to have some fun at the markets, don’t worry, we can all have a – hey!” Patton put his bowl down, shuffling closer to put one warm hand on Roman’s knee.” Roman, hey kiddo, buddy what’s wrong?”

Roman found, quite to his surprise, that he was trembling. He followed Patton's example and put the bowl carefully on the floor before digging the heels of his hands into his eyes. “I…can’t Pat. I can’t stay here. I have to go.”

“Go?” Patton looked at him with confusion clear in his big brown eyes, “But why kiddo? You don’t like the inn?”

Roman groaned shaking his head “not the inn. The city. I’m not – I can’t – if ‘m here it- “ he let out a whine of frustration, hating his curse heavy tongue.

Never tell anyone about our conversation.

“I just-“ My brother is coming and if I see him I-

“If – “ my brother is coming and he won’t be alone. There are people who know who I really am and I –

“Okay.”

Romans head snapped up.

Patton still had a frown on his face but when he looked at Roman his eyes were as serious as Roman had ever seen them. “If you can’t tell me the details it’s fine but-“ he lent forward, “Roman, are you safe here?”

Without breathing, Roman shook his head. No.

Patton nodded and squeezed his knee. “Well then of course we’re not staying.” Hesitantly, he lifted his arm and rested one large hand on the back of Romans neck. Forcing their eyes to meet. “Whatever it is – we will help you. You know that don’t you?”

Embarrassingly, Roman felt his eyes filling with tears.

“We’ll leave in the morning.” Patton told him. Patton stood up, taking Romans congealing stew and his own empty bowl and headed to the door. He paused, one hand on the door handle. “Everything’s going to be okay kiddo.” he smiled, “We love you.”

And he was gone.

For a long moment Roman sat frozen, staring at the closed door.

“Yeah.” He agreed, eventually. “Right.”

Except. They didn’t. Not really.

They loved Roman.

Roman had screamed and insulted them and instead of kicking him out of their group like they had every right to do, they had given up what little money they had just to make Roman feel better.

And Roman was a lie.

Roman was Romulus with a bad haircut. And Romulus was everything they weren’t’ – a stupid, pampered, prince with no power or pride.

Patton might be willing to upheaval their lives just on Roman's say so, But Logan and Virgil were more practically minded. They would want explanations. Might even demand them.

Never tell anyone about your curse. Remove yourself from anyone who might ask you about it and put as much distance between you as you can.

Romulus was a liability.

One they shouldn’t have to deal with.

He strapped his lute to his back and secured his dagger in a hidden pocket that Virgil had taught him how to sow.  Everything else he left, including, after a moments hesitation, his sword. He had been training Logan to use it, on and off, and whilst the scholar was no solider he was improving. At the very least, it would be some source of protection until they could hire another swordhand for their travels.

The climbing plants he had noticed on the way in made getting down from the window much easier than he had originally anticipated. Dusting off his hands he skirted the building, taking care to avoid the large windows of the main hall, until he found the entrance to the the stables.

He wasn’t proud of it, but he had stolen before when he first left home. He would have to again now in order to put some distance between the city and himself.

It wasn’t his worst plan.

And it might even have worked, had they not already been waiting for him.

When Romulus was eleven, and had taken to following the young Marquis de Orenlla around like a love sick puppy. Even now, under the weak light of a covered lantern and with almost fifteen years distance from the memories, he still recognised him instantly.

“Good evening, your highness.” The Marquis smile was as dazzling as he remembered, although his eyes were colder.

He had no army with him, and no weapon that Roman could see. But then, why would he need one?

“Come with me.”

Roman went.

part 4

[umbry-fic]

The Tree Spirit’s Secret

Summary: Martel is overjoyed whenever Lloyd and Colette come to visit her, but it always comes with the risk of a third unwanted visitor. One that continues to try and involve her in his schemes...

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters: Colette Brunel, Lloyd Irving, Summon Spirit Martel, Noishe Relationships: Colette Brunel & Lloyd Irving, Martel & Noishe Rating: G Word Count: 3340 Mirror Link: AO3 Original Post Date: 15/05/2022

Notes: My birthday gift for @likes-words-and-shrimp! The third fic in the "Noishe the Wingdog" series and meant to be at the end, though I might still add more fics if I have more ideas :)

This one is kinda a crack fic :p

Previous fic in the series

~~~

“Martel!”

At the call of her name, Martel rose from where she knelt, tending to the leaves of a sapling. A sapling which at this moment was still small and weak, but carried in every part of it the dream of a future where it could tower over the land, its boughs providing bountiful shade as it gave life to all, funnelling mana into the very earth with its roots.

Two familiar figures burst into the clearing, their arms reaching to push aside the branches that scratched at their faces and open up a passageway for themselves. One following close after the other, hand-in-hand.

“We’re back!” Lloyd yelled, waving enthusiastically as he and Colette pulled closer, a light breeze ruffling their hair and sending the leaves clinging to their clothes towards the sky. On both their faces were bright smiles that attracted the attention of the flowers growing by their feet, turning on their stems to wave their heads at the two.

Held safely in Colette’s arm was a paper bag, that Martel knew would be packed to the brim with goodies. Whether it be the local delights of whatever lands they’d travelled on their hunt for the remaining Exspheres, or souvenirs from the various towns they’d stayed at, capturing the wonderful memories of their journey. Always delightful, no matter the contents.

“It’s good -” she started, heart soaring as she strode forward to join them. She was glad to see them, for they broke the constant monotony of the clearing and her daily routine - wandering, always on alert for a threat. Injecting some much-needed colour into the dullness, and teaching her how to fill the void left behind by missing memories.

That happiness fell to the ground and shattered like glass the instant the third travelling companion leapt through the trees, with a bark that broke the tranquillity like a knife slashing it in half, sending several birds screeching from their nests into the azure sky, raining feathers upon the land.

Please, not Noishe. Anything but Noishe.

“Hi, Martel,” the Protozoan’s voice echoed in her mind as he grinned, confirming her worst nightmares.

~~~

“I’ve tried everything, and nothing has worked! They’re still dancing around each other. I need some better ideas…”

She stewed silently on a tree stump, staring, unimpressed, at the Protozoan before her, wishing she could be anywhere but here. Noishe lounged on the grass, still wet with morning dew, beady black eyes trained on her, tongue lolling from his mouth. To any passersby, and indeed to Lloyd and Colette, she must have looked like she was in an intense staring contest with the giant dog-like creature, raring to win. An extremely silly one, for when did Noishe ever blink?

Tapping her fingers against the hard surface of the bark, she groaned, slumping over. It was bad enough that Noishe had dragged her out into the middle of the forest to listen to his yapping, leaving an extremely confused Lloyd and Colette behind. But to continue involving her, a noble Tree Spirit, in his inane shenanigans? She understood that she could understand him, being a Spirit and all, and was also the only Spirit he could reliably find, but didn’t he have any respect for her? To drone on and on about his insane ideas to get Lloyd and Colette together, never letting her have a moment of peace…

Not that she had anything better to do, or even anything to do at all, but still!

“Oh, oh! Maybe I should try stranding them up on the mountain alone next. Then -”

“Okay, that’s enough out of you,” she snapped, interrupting Noishe before he could cook up another terrible plan. Each one was more extreme than the last, and it wouldn’t be long before he put the two supposed “lovebirds” in mortal danger.

Had Noishe even realised that she hadn’t volunteered a single idea in the year since he’d gotten her involved in his wingmanning? Or, she supposed, his “wingdogging”? All she’d done so far was listen to him talk, his whines invading her ears while his words ricocheted around her mind endlessly. Feeling somewhat pitiful for Lloyd, who had to be at his wit’s end dealing with his dog’s sudden strange behaviour.

She could keep sitting here in silence, doing nothing and simply observing, as was her role. But surely things had gone too far, and it was time to break her silence.

“I’ll go talk to one of them right now, alright? Figure out what’s going on, and nudge them in the right direction if needed. None of this roundabout nonsense you’re doing.” She stood, dusting her lap off and grabbing her staff, resting against the trunk, before stomping off. Fingers gripping the staff tight enough to snap it in half if it wasn’t enchanted, keeping them away from wrapping around Noishe’s neck and wringing the life out of him. That would at least shut him up. “And in case you forgot, they can actually understand me!”

“I’ll leave it to you, then, Martel!” Noishe called after her, before letting his head fall to the ground.

Even if his enthusiasm was a little too fervent, a flame in a lantern that threatened to melt through the glass, she could understand where he was coming from. Lloyd and Colette were sweet to watch, showing how much they cared about each other, in every little action. They were always touching - taking each other’s hands, kissing each other on the cheek or the forehead, enjoying the comfort of each other’s embrace. Always looking out for the other, always sharing their joy and their sadness. Both of them had gone through so much to get to this point. They deserved to find happiness in each other.

After all, if she truly wanted to avoid Noishe, she could simply vanish. Let her physical form fade and hide her essence away in the World Tree, watching in amusement as he ran around in a futile attempt to find her.

Maybe she did enjoy his company, just a little. Even if he was annoying and insufferable, it was nice, to have someone there to fill the silence.

And… Perhaps after so many years of living, of seeing so many come and go, of witnessing all those close to him fall to despair… After all that, all Noishe wanted to see was a happy ending.

She would be willing to help with that.

~~~

Humming, Lloyd pushed the knife into the wood, carving out another letter on the collar he rotated in his hands.

It was always a joy to work in the silence of the clearing, the only sound being the melodic song of the birds, brushing soothingly over him. Taking shelter beneath a large tree, able to sink into complete concentration as he got the work done in record time. Leaves fluttering down from the branches above to cover him with a cloak of green, clinging snugly to his shoulders.

He wondered where Martel had gone. She’d been dragged off by Noishe before he or Colette could get a word in, and the both of them hadn’t been seen since then. Unfortunate, but it was good if the two of them had become friends - Noishe could keep her company when they could not. Maybe this was where he went to whenever he disappeared?

“Lloyd.”

He jumped at the sudden voice, barely keeping a scream down in the safety of his throat. Dropping the collar, his hands closed on grass, pulling up tufts of dirt.

“Oh. It’s just you, Martel. Warn me next time, won’t you?” he muttered, heart returning from its sojourn in the sky as he let the dirt trickle between his fingers back to its rightful place. Standing across from him was Martel, arms crossed over her chest, having appeared out of nowhere.

He swore she had the ability to meld in and out of the forest. It would explain how quickly she could move from location to location within the clearing, all in the blink of an eye, occasionally scaring the life out of him when she arrived without him noticing. Sometimes it felt like she was doing it on purpose. But, surely not.

“What are you doing?” she asked, squatting down next to him, cocking her head as she stared at the collar sitting on the ground.

“Oh, this?” He rescued the collar, a light brown and the sides smoothly filed down, shaking off the dirt that had found its way into the grooves of the letters before proudly showing it off to Martel. “Colette likes naming all the dogs we come across, and I thought I’d make collars with their names on them. Then we could put them on if we ever run across those dogs again.”

After all, Colette gave the best names ever. Any of the dogs they’d met should be able to carry the name she’d given them with pride.

“That’s sweet.” A small smile spread across Martel’s face, her fingers trailing down the side of the collar. Her smile never wavering, her tone never changing, she continued to speak. “So, how do you feel about Colette?”

“What?”

He couldn’t help but blink at the unexpected direction the conversation had swerved in, mouth falling agape. Martel should have been asking about all the dogs they’d seen on their journey, giving him the perfect opportunity to describe everything. The round dogs with pudgy limbs who tottered up to Colette, hampering for her to give them a good rub between the ears. The nimble ones who ran between her legs and in circles around her, yipping. The lazy ones who rolled over onto their backs, awaiting the heavenly sensation of a belly scratch.

And how they all barked in joy whenever Colette gave them a name, her face lighting up as she gave them even more rubs, never satisfied with just the one. Until every dog in the town had gathered around her, burying her in a swarm of fur and wagging tails.

“How do you feel about Colette?” she repeated, emphasising each word, placing her staff in her lap as she settled down cross-legged, eagerly awaiting his answer.

“Um, well…” This was all very strange. But he didn’t feel like lying to Martel, who sounded utterly sincere, even if he was still confused, his hesitation betraying his bewilderment. “She’s… very important to me.”

“Mmhm.”

“I want to ensure she’s happy. This journey is more than just collecting Exspheres. It’s about showing her the world, since she’s seen so little of it.”

His voice grew gradually softer as he went on, the words tumbling out of him without him even having to try, the memories of all that they’d done on their journey clear in his mind. A thousand shards, each warm and glowing in their own colour, every one of them a precious treasure.

A chance to teach Colette that she was allowed to be happy, to help her break out of the once-impenetrable shell she’d built around herself. Every place made all the more beautiful by the genuine smile blooming on her face, the sound of her sweet laughter touching his soul. He would continue to nurture the fragile seed of joy growing in Colette’s heart, watering it every day and doing everything in his power to protect it.

“And does she know about all this?” Martel whispered, green eyes trained on him with an intensity he didn’t expect. Like she was staring straight into the depths of his soul, able to drag every truth contained in his heart out of him.

The answer came to him easily, for it was the truth.

“Yeah, she does.”

“If not, you should - wait, WHAT?!”

Martel jumped to her feet, staff falling abandoned as she began to walk circles around him. So fast that watching her made his head spin, her hair flaring behind her as she only picked up the pace.

“Yeah, I told her everything. Simple as that.” He shrugged, swallowing nervously. Could someone walk fast enough to set fire to the leaves beneath their feet? He might just receive an answer today.

“Where was Noishe during this?” she demanded, pausing her circuit to whirl around and face him, murderous intent clear on her face. Enough to make him shrink back, holding the collar protectively against his chest.

The usually peaceful Tree Spirit, who loved to listen to their tales as she nibbled on snacks, becoming one with the clearing itself as the wind decorated her hair with petals, flowers surrounding her like children would their mother, now looked ready to commit the most unspeakable of crimes.

What in the world was going on? Things had been so strange lately. First Noishe, now Martel…?

“He was… off. Somewhere. Like he usually is,” he said with a voice he could barely keep steady, waving his arms, the immense pressure of Martel’s glare pressing on him.

“So he wasn’t there to listen to any of this?”

“Yes, but… why does that even matter?”

“Oh, but it matters immensely.” A smile began to split across Martel’s face, her fury like that of a volcano, contained for the time being. A bomb waiting for a fire to light its fuse, jumpstarting a spectacular eruption. “Thank you, Lloyd. You’ve been of great assistance to me. I will be off now. I have business to attend to. Urgent business.”

“Um, alright?” He watched her disappear into the shrubbery, the leaves bending around her to give her passage, closing behind her to swallow her whole.

He had a feeling Noishe was not going to have a very good day.

“Lloyd!”

“Gah!” This time, he really did scream, throwing the collar into the air.

Had Martel returned? Was she going to take out her fury on him -

“Lloyd, what’s wrong?” Colette leaned over him, staring down with wide blue eyes filled with concern. The collar held in her right hand, having been caught just in the nick of time, saving it from any further abuse.

“You scared me, is all.” He sighed in relief, his head falling back against the trunk. Hand gripping tight over his heart, which pounded away, showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Was he happy to see Colette. A guardian angel, swooping in to save him, and capable of protecting him against everything. Even the possibility of a rampaging Tree Spirit.

“I just wanted to ask if you’d seen Martel. I haven’t had the chance to give her our presents yet…” Colette pouted, patting him on the shoulder.

“Well, uh -”

He was interrupted by a bone-chilling howl, emanating from the deep centre of the forest. Birds flocked from the trees, flooding the sky with a massive, writing shadow that blotted out the sun, covering the land with a momentary blanket of darkness.

“Oh, was that Noishe? He must be with Martel. They’re such good friends. It’s so sweet!” Colette remarked, settling down next to him and resting her head on his shoulder. Not noticing the sweat rolling down his face as he resisted the shivers that threatened to attack him in the middle of the day. Entirely oblivious to anything that had gone on today.

“Yeah.” Blood running cold, he was glad when Colette threaded their fingers together, providing him with a warmth that could overcome all, melting the dread away. “Yeah, they’re… They’re really good friends.”

All he could do now was pray for Noishe’s safety.

~~~

There was a strange, rather unpleasant smell wafting out from the cottage that Yuan called home now. A place that Martel occasionally stopped by, whether it was to sit in silence, sharing a bottle of wine, or to chat about something mundane, chin resting on her steepled hands. It had stopped hurting as much, the dagger that stabbed his heart every time he saw her. It helped that she no longer reminded him of the wife he dearly missed - she was her own person, complete with her own quirks. The friendship they’d managed to strike up was something he appreciated, in the silence of the clearing.

Wrinkling his nose, he stepped in through the doorway onto shiny wooden tiles, firewood in hand. Martel must have been cooking, a rare occurrence. But he’d best check as to whether or not she was in the process of burning down the whole place. The dark smoke surging out of the chimney, visible from miles away, did not bode well.

“Martel? What are you cooking?” he asked when he reached the kitchen, staring in disbelief at the cauldron sitting on the stove, noxious green liquid boiling within. Tufts of fur floated up to the surface, swirling around as bubbles popped and reformed.

“Protozoan soup,” she said cheerfully, a wide smile inscribed on her face as she stirred the viscous liquid with her ladle. “Would you like to try some?”

“No. No, I’m good.” He took a step back, then another. And another, until he’d backed right out of the kitchen, blocking all view of it behind a wall.

It would be best not to get involved.

He couldn’t help but wonder, however. What had Noishe done this time, to warrant Martel seeking revenge in such a savage manner?

No matter. It was none of his business.

Not if he wanted to keep himself safe from the rage, still coldly burning in the kitchen.

~~~

A bark grabbed Colette’s attention, one she recognised as Noishe’s. He was finally back! She hadn’t seen him since he’d disappeared together with Martel, back at the World Tree, almost a week ago. It was fairly common for him to wander off to locations unknown for up to a month, and then appear at their campsite before daybreak, as if he’d never been gone in the first place.

Still, she missed him every time. Him, and the lovely sensation that came from burying her face in his soft fur, blocking out the world for just a moment. Comfortable enough for her to fall asleep right there and then, until either Noishe moved and made her lose her position, or Lloyd came to shake her awake when it was time to move.

The dog that met her when she turned around wasn’t Noishe, however. It was a similar-looking dog, of a similar-looking size - far larger than the average dog, its back large enough to fit both her and Lloyd - but its coat was a lot thinner. And a lot less colourful, the green spots gone.

“You’re a new good boy,” she exclaimed, dropping to her knees and hugging the dog around the neck. “I’ll have to give you a name, then.”

The sound of snickering floated down to her ears, making her glance up. Lloyd had his hands clapped over his mouth, doing his best to hold back laughter.

“Yeah. Yeah, give him a new name,” he wheezed, doubling over. “I’m sure he’d love that!”

The dog lay its head in her lap, whining as she rubbed behind its ears, which were even the same shape as Noishe’s.

How strange. Maybe this was really Noishe’s long-lost brother? But, oh well. Nothing could hold her back from giving a doggie a name!

“Your name is Bob,” she said cheerfully.

“Bob” thumped its tail against the ground, continuing to whine as Lloyd gave up and practically fell to the ground, overcome with laughter.

“Today has been so strange. Don’t you think so, Bob?” She hummed, giving Bob’s back a nice big rub. That was another familiar sensation.

“Do you want to come with us, Bob?” she asked, standing and patting its head.

“Yeah, Bob.” Lloyd grinned, finally poking his head up again.

After a moment of silence, the dog gave a short bark of assent, taking its position in front of them. It still sounded so sad! And its tail was drooping...

She hoped she’d be able to cheer it up along the way.

“Let’s go, then!” She set off with Bob leading the way, Lloyd following behind her, the occasional snicker from him rising into the air.

“I can’t wait to introduce you to Noishe!”