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creonininkwell · 2 years ago

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Christmas Drabble

It’s late I know, but I wanted to share this still, in compensation for the lack of Cuphead content lately. Long story drabble warning

Creon was actually on an expedition to suss out a possible lead to a magical artifact. She didn’t expect to make it home in time for Christmas. Heck, even Lucy/Devil didn’t think that they’d finish in time. Sadly the location and said artifact was a bust, since Mortimer Freeze didn’t have any particular artifact that fit that description. Thankfully, Creon and Lucy/Devil didn’t have to continue fighting Mortimer. Mortimer thought they were after the Icy Sugar Cubes he was guarding. Mortimer was a bit confused when the “intruders” were willing to stop fighting. Mortimer is so used to having to scare away thieves and intruders. In truth, it’s been too long since he’s had legit visitors who don’t mean him any ill-will. At least Creon has no ill will, Lucy/Devil was all for turning Mortimer into a puddle. Sometimes, chasing away said intruders is the only interaction Mortimer gets.

Instead they attended his early (impromptu) Christmas party. Lucy/Devil begrudgingly went along with the festivities since Creon preferred to not prolong fighting, and she also felt sorry for Mortimer. Mortimer was clearly a lonely guy, with a heavy task of guarding the Icy Sugar Cubes. To cope with his prolonged isolation and the lack of visitors (and being wary of thieves coming after the Icy Sugar Cubes), he made his own cult and his own cult members. Creon managed to get Lucy/Devil to let loose and have fun when they had a skate-off on the very durable ice conjured by Mortimer. Creon is always paranoid about breaking the ice if she lets loose when ice-skating. They also let Mortimer show off his fortune-telling skills.

Creon immediately heads home, with hopes of getting home to enjoy Christmas with the Cup family. She definitely shocked them. At first they freaked out thinking she was an unhinged ax murderer that broke into the house. Creon managed to help salvage their burnt christmas tree by giving it a Charlie-Brown treatment. They cut off stray pine tree branches and tied them to twine or string, Then they lined those strings to form a 3D silhouette of a cone, and proceed to decorate with more handmade decorations of paper and origami. They can add another method of tree decorating to their tree-dition.

Maybe there are more days before Christmas eve so that gives Creon more time to prepare Lucy/Devil’s present. She was really lucky to have prepared the cup family’s presents before leaving for her expedition. Also they have time to prepare for food. The cup family get to have fun traditions of cooking more of Creon’s favorite dishes or winter treats. Creon also gets to test out using the Icy Sugar Cubes she was gifted to make Bingsu (Shaved Ice) or other desserts such as fresh fruit tarts.

As for the Devil, when He does go to the North Pole to ask Santa about the “Nice” list, the results are quite different. In this AU, the Devil is still THE #1 on the “Naughty” list. But He did actually do a few good things. His overwhelming deeds of evil and malice overshadow those few good deeds. There were a few years where the Devil was actually decent in the Medieval period, and present day where He’s questionably okay as “Lucius Mayweather.”

The Devil is very confused and doesn’t remember that bit during the Medieval times. But then the Devil gets the brilliant idea of staying close with Creon all throughout as “Lucy.” Santa reluctantly agrees, but he keeps bringing up that the Devil is STILL technically lying to Creon by being in disguise. The Devil swears with confidence that He’ll be a “perfect” angel, and then immediately recoils in disgust at what He just said.

Lucy/Devil knocks on the Cup residence door, and Creon happens to answer the door. She did not expect a visit from Lucy, and He mostly doesn’t come by at all (except for the few times He initially hounded Creon for a date, so He could curse her with a demonic artifact). Lucy/Devil lies about how He wanted to spend Christmas with His good friend and maybe experience what it’s like to spend Christmas the “Plebeian way.” Creon is kinda annoyed, but also creeped out by how desperate Lucy is trying to get into the house. She tries to explain why He can’t just invite himself, how she still doesn’t trust Lucy around Cuphead and Mugman, and mostly everyone doesn’t like Him. Creon wants a stress-free (close to it) Christmas, and she knows Lucy will make things really stressful and uncomfortable for everyone.

As Lucy/Devil tries to brute force His way through the door, He causes Creon to step back a bit. At the same time, Cuphead and Mugman were walking close by with something fragile or crucial for Christmas prep. One of them tripped over Creon’s legs, and chaos ensued. Two crying children, a mess, and a pissed off Creon. I’m not sure what they dropped. Maybe it was more personalized decorations for their “fixed” tree. Or some ingredient for a meal they were looking forward to tasting. Or it was their surprise present for Creon. Lucy/Devil realizes that He’s utterly f***ed. Creon is furious that Lucy/Devil made her boys cry. Creon rips into Him, telling Him to never darken their doorstep, and that He could forget about His present. Creon had originally prepared a gift for Him, but now she’s lost any goodwill for Him at that moment.

Lucy/Devil is in shock at being so rudely booted from the cottage. But most of all, He feels hurt and rejected. Not only were His plans to be “nice” ruined, but He was rejected and denied from even partaking in something. The feeling of rejection festers and now He’s in a horrible mood. In fact He’s in no mood to even hear out Santa’s other option to get on the “Nice” list. And why should He lower Himself to any other being? He’s the Devil, He bows to no one. He decides to just hold Santa hostage. And now with how hurt He feels, He wants everyone to hurt.

What better way to get what He wants AND hurt people than stealing everyone’s Christmas? If He can’t get His choo choo, no one gets their presents. Devil brings a small chunk of imps and demons to storm the North Pole. To be extra spiteful, He broadcasts all over the world that He has captured Santa and that Christmas is finished. Creon and the family were actually in the city getting some last minute supplies when the global broadcast was made.

Creon decides to go and save Santa, for her boys. The Devil has not only ruined everyone’s Christmas, but He ruined the boys Christmas. She reluctantly takes the boys with her when they beg to go with her. After briefly making sure they’re equipped for the frigid cold and packed a few supplies, Creon manages to secure the fastest flight with Hildaberg. The boys secretly want to go to Santa in hopes that they can convince Santa to put Creon on the “Nice” list. They’re still horrified at the concept of Santa not existing, since Santa has been around for so long in this world. In a way, they want to give Creon a piece of a childhood she was deprived of.

The journey to Santa’s Workshop was a bit rough, due to the elements and cold. Creon was actually guided by a large white reindeer. All three were able to hitch a ride with their ethereal guide. Along the way, they also ran into some angry winter denizens that heard the white reindeer’s call. They happen to be Santa’s oldest friends and also provide certain supplies for Santa’s toy production. They came to assist Creon in saving Santa.

Mortimer Freeze had heard rumors about a crazy b!t(h going to save Santa from the Devil. Realizing it’s his new friend, he sends his whale to ferry some snow golems to help Creon. Due to the Devil’s hostile takeover, the magic that kept the workshop hidden and secure was weakened. That and the yuletide beings know the way. Let’s just say that the imps guarding outside were not expecting someone to actually storm the workshop.

The rescue party easily subdues all the imps and the demons. The white reindeer freed all of Santa’s reindeer and proceeded to riot. Cuphead and Mugman have fun pelting imps with their slingshots and just causing a lot of chaos and property damage. While a siege was taking place, the Devil was threatening Santa into putting the Devil on the “Nice” list. Apparently, Santa won’t give anyone a present if they’re not on the “Nice” list.

Finally the Devil got the brilliant idea to threaten to destroy the presents instead. It’s at that moment that Creon rushes into Santa’s office, and yeets a giant, mahogany nutcracker at the Devil. A brawl ensues. With Santa freed, he’s able to call for the E.L.F.S (Effective Liberating Flight Squad) to help (guess which film I referenced). With Creon wielding the giant spoon , she’s made it easier to subdue the Devil with her new allies.

Sadly, a small chunk of presents were destroyed during the chaos, and some parts of the workshop are in need of repair. Santa uses his magic to slowly get things operational again. Santa’s friends pitch in and bring supplies needed. Creon also persuaded (threatens) the remaining imps and demons that they need to pitch in as reparation for assaulting the North Pole. Stickler and Elf Stickler do end up pointing out that they do need to “pay up.” The hostile takeover was an unprovoked offense, so the Devil has to deal.

Now the problem is that there’s not enough time for Santa to deliver the presents. Then Santa asks Creon to help deliver. Creon is unsure how she’d be of any help since she doesn’t have magic; only for the white reindeer to nudge Creon into accepting the role. Santa and all the other winter denizens are familiar with this mysterious reindeer. It rarely comes to strangers or even anyone else. Only Santa and other winter demi-beings know of it. Legends say that Santa’s reindeer are descendants of this very reindeer.

The reindeer is quite comfortable with helping Creon in this rather daunting task. Daunting because it’s freaking Santa Claus, for realsies. Someone Creon never thought she’d ever meet in her lifetime, no thanks to her gene-donor’s malicious child-rearing skills (or lack of). At this point, Creon got fed up with just calling the reindeer “buddy” and asked if it wanted a name. To everyone’s surprise, the Reindeer cleverly reveals its name with kiddy alphabet blocks, spelling Lior.

With Santa going light-speed, and Creon covering other regions of the world, they actually make it in time. Creon actually brought Cuphead and Mugman to be her eyes and ears when delivering presents without having to enter houses or squeeze through chimneys. Creon’s been getting more creative with using the spoon to deliver presents. Some of Mortimer’s tinier snow minions help out as well.

They managed to finish everything on the stroke of midnight. The workshop is fully repaired and operational. The elves had prepared some refreshments and treats so everyone is chilling and having a mini Christmas party. The Devil is still bound in magical wrapping paper and ribbons, sulking in a corner, guarded by the E.L.F.S members. Henchman occasionally tries to feed the Devil some hot cocoa or cookies.

Santa reveals that he decided to give Cuphead and Mugman their presents personally as a job well done. Both boys are ecstatic, especially Cuphead. Cuphead didn’t think he’d be on the “Nice” list since he was aware that he was a bit naughty this year. When Santa reveals Cuphead’s present, the same train set the Devil wanted, everyone nearby witnesses the Devil’s brief joy at the train set.

Creon is the first one to connect the dots, and she is pissed and completely drained at the absurdity of it all. When Santa confirms that all of this fuss was because the Devil wanted to get on the “Nice” list to get a toy train and failed to be “nice,” everyone nearby is quite flabbergasted about the situation. The Devil is embarrassed that He’s been outed, but He gets more pissed when He notices that Creon is actually looking at Him with pity.

The Cup brothers then remember their REAL mission for tagging along for the North Pole. They plead their case to Santa to put Creon on the “Nice” list. Creon is really touched by this, but she assures them that her meeting the OG real Santa is already good enough for her. But lo and behold, Santa reveals that due to Creon’s presence, Santa finally decided on making a third list for people in-between the “nice” and “naughty” scale. They won’t get the present they want, but they’ll get some form of gift to acknowledge that their good efforts have been noticed.

Creon is honestly confused, because she can’t be that one exception and there must’ve been others like her before. Surprisingly, not a lot. And if there were, they’ve fallen out of the Christmas spirit, become too jaded, or slid too far into the “Naughty” scale. Creon is overwhelmed as Santa explains how moved he was with Creon’s many moments of altruism, protectiveness, and love during her time here in Inkwell. Now, since Creon personally came to free Santa and help him, that’s automatically bumped her up to the “Nice” list.

Then Creon asks Santa if she can forfeit her spot on the “Nice” list for someone else instead. She asks that the Devil take her spot so He can get the train set He desperately wants. Everyone is shocked. The Devil is shocked, then enraged at the thought of His enemy giving Him any ounce of pity. Creon legitimately feels sorry for the Devil, and how He actually tried to be “nice” for once in His immortal life, only to fail miserably and resort to blackmailing Santa.

Creon can empathize with how difficult it is to be “nice” or civil to people, especially people that annoy her or just downright deplorable. In a way, with how $h!tty this year probably was for Him (losing souls, getting humiliated and sucker-punched), she can see how He probably wanted something nice for a change.

Cuphead and Mugman are really outraged, but they begrudgingly respect her decision. Then Cuphead has an epiphany and tells Creon to keep her earned “nice” spot. Cuphead can kind of understand where the Devil is coming from. Cuphead also has a difficult time being nice, and he admitted this initially. But after the memorable memories of tonight, he truly understands what Elder Kettle meant about how Christmas was about cherishing people close and dear.

And Creon has been a great example of compassion and goodwill (most of the time), that he wants to extend that goodwill to the one being who clearly needs it the most. After all, it’s not like anyone else is going to give the Devil a present, right? Cuphead also explains to Mugman that he’s going to remember this night and cherish it. It’s not everyday that a kid goes to Santa’s workshop, helps save Santa and Christmas, and effectively torment the Devil with good ol’ kindness.

Cuphead decides to give his train set to the Devil, despite how vehemently the Devil froths and rages about not wanting any pity presents. Seeing how the Devil is refusing the coveted train, Creon and the Cup brothers start being more aggressive in wishing the Devil a merry Christmas. Then they start piling on why they want to thank the Devil for putting them in scenarios that test and strengthen their bonds. Each scenario brought them closer than ever and reminded them how much they cherish each other. The Devil is begging at this point to be freed from being tortured with kindness.

The Devil is still gift-wrapped so He has to resort to grabbing His pitchfork with His teeth to teleport Him and the army back to Hell. Cuphead gave the train set to Henchman to carry since the Devil kept trying to bite them. Lior actually gifts Creon a peridot gem, by stamping its hoof on the ground. Creon is touched but sad that she has nothing to repay it. Lior seems to not need anything. But it does seem melancholy as it gazes at Creon. Lior gives Creon a departing nudge before going back into the northern wilds.

Santa then gives the tired Cups and Creon a ride back to the cottage. Before leaving, Santa gives Creon a small token; he uses Christmas magic to make Lior’s peridot gem glow with warmth and it is fashioned into a necklace. Creon is honestly tearing up at her first gift from the real Santa. Seeing how Creon is tearing up, he also asks Creon if she’d like a hug. She doesn’t refuse the offer for a hug.

They see Elder Kettle and the goat sleeping near the fireplace, as if he were waiting for them to return. They all decide to just bundle up some blankets and pillows and sleep next to the fire.

When morning comes, everyone is somewhat sleepy but ready to enjoy Christmas. They start off with exchanging gifts. The Cup family has a big surprise for Creon. Elder Kettle reveals that they’ve officially and legally adopted Creon into the family registry. Despite knowing that Creon won’t be here for long, they wanted her to know that she is family to them. Creon is overwhelmed by this. They enjoy preparing for dinner and treats to enjoy, while Creon and Elder Kettle swap stories. Also Creon gives the Cup bros a beginner crossbow lesson. They really wanted to test out their new crossbows that Creon gifted them.

As for the Devil, He immediately crawled to bed after a full hour of burning off the magic gift wrapping. He moped and sulked in embarrassment until He fell asleep. When Christmas morning came, He almost didn’t want to get up. He only got up reluctantly due to Henchman’s insistence. He is surprised to see a giant train set waiting for him. Henchman explains that he built it himself all night, since he figured the Devil wasn’t going to enjoy the train that Cuphead had gifted Him. Henchman had actually chatted up with some of Santa’s elves during that mini Christmas party, so Henchman was able to build it much faster.

The Devil is immensely touched by Henchman’s gift and forethought. Henchman asks the Devil what He plans to do with Cuphead’s train. The Devil’s mood sours and almost burns that train on sight. Instead He orders Henchman to put it away and out of sight. Henchman doesn’t comment about how the boss hasn’t burnt it ash or ordered for permanent disposal.

Later on, the Devil decides to go out and see if He can squeeze in some Christmas chaos before the day ends. Right before He’s about to start some $h!t, He notices Creon from afar. It seems like she’s been looking for someone, and even asking some people if they’ve seen “Lucy.” Devil is curious so He dons the“Lucius” disguise.

When Lucy/Devil approaches Creon, He’s surprised that Creon wanted to give Him a present. Creon actually apologizes for her harsh words yesterday about not giving Lucy His gift. The other stuff about Him being an invasive and rude creep, she’s not sorry. Creon confesses that despite her distrust of Lucy, she is still grateful for His help. She would’ve died sooner if it weren’t for Lucy. Lucy/Devil doesn’t know what to do with the gratitude, and is shocked that Creon still intended to give Him a present.

Creon had been using some rare spider silk to create a silken ascot tie. Lucy/Devil knows how rare that particular spider silk is. He was there when they barely got out of that one expedition alive. He’s really touched by the care that was put into the handmade gift. Creon has had to practice a lot with using EK’s sewing machine.

Instead of casually snarking about how plain it is, Lucy/Devil genuinely thanks Creon for the gift. Creon is actually surprised by how genuine He is at that moment. They both depart to their respective residences. Creon actually smiles giddily at the thought of calling the cottage “home.” Even though it’s temporary, for now it’s home. The Devil completely forgot about causing chaos after getting a hand-made gift. Suffice it to say, almost everyone had a good Christmas.

#creon in inkwell #creon gilead #the devil who stole christmas #cuphead and mugman #cuphead devil #lucius mayweather #santa claus #cuphead henchman #mortimer freeze #christmas drabbles #late christmas post

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roastedpie111 · 2 years ago

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want to hear a a silly word? no? too bad.

aboulia.

whats it mean? well look at you caring now, well it’s what you are!

#mental instability #npc #naughty pine cone

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shyficwriter · 3 years ago

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Temporary Home: Chapter 15

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!)

Summary: Peter and you have started another prank war. Who will come out on top?

Previous Chapter here | Next Chapter Here Or click here to: Start From Beginning

Author’s Note: Thanks to anon for submitting this idea for a cute fluffy scene to include in the story! Also, for my records this chapter ends on day 29 of the Guardians living with reader. Enjoy!

Word Count: 6,812

It soon became clear that the prank war was back on.

Just as you had resolved to the previous night, you squirted lemon juice in Peter's coffee when he wasn't looking.

He made a face upon tasting his ruined coffee, but just gave you a look of sleepy contempt as he dumped it in the sink rather than complaining. He knew what he had done to deserve it. However, that didn't mean he wasn't going to get you back.

He had his revenge later in the sitting room. He called you over, stating he had a question about a book. When you got closer to him, he then asked, "Hey, do you smell popcorn?"

You raised an eyebrow, and of course took in a big whiff. Big mistake.

You immediately gagged, your nostrils having been assaulted by the rankest smelling fart you think could have ever been expelled from a human body. It even rivaled Yondu's incident with dairy.

Peter lost it, doubling over with laughter as you backed away with your mouth and nose covered.

"Ugh! You nasty fecker! Oh my god!" you cried out, still backing away. "What's wrong with you!"

Kraglin, Drax, and Rocket were now also laughing from their places near the television. Drax laughed the loudest, saying, "Quill! That was brilliant! I'm not even mad that I lost the bet! HAHAHA! I'm going to try that!"

The bet he was referencing had happened moments prior, when Peter saw you in the hall and hurried into the sitting room whispering to his friends that he bet 20 units he could make you willingly smell his farts. Ah, what an immature lot they are.

You would have smacked Peter, but that would mean getting closer to him and the smell and you thought better of it, instead turning with the intent to leave the room completely, leaving them still laughing in your wake with only revenge on your mind.

You tried to think about what you had at your disposal, and remembered that you still had the whoopee cushion after you had snatched it back from Kraglin during the last prank war. You kind of wish you knew where your spider went though. It proved marvelously effective last time. After Peter threw it at you and it resulted in your arm getting injured, you hadn't really thought about what happened to it afterwards until now. You obviously hadn't taken it, so you just assumed that it must still be with Peter. You momentarily considered looking in his room for it, but the thought of searching through his stuff felt strange to you, even if you would be looking for your own toy.

You remembered the sticky notes in your desk up stairs and thought if worse came to worse, you could always pull a classic "Kick me" sign.

You decided a walk might help you consider your options better and so you collected your earbuds from the hall table and made your way towards the back door. You noticed Gamora in the kitchen on your way, and realized she might actually have the answer to one of your questions.

"Um, hey, Gamora?"

She turned to give you her attention. "Yes?"

"I was wondering..." You suddenly felt ridiculous for asking, but pushed it down, "if maybe you had seen if Peter still had that toy spider of mine? I was wondering if I might have it ba-"

"Nuh-uh. That ain't happening."

You raised an eyebrow in surprise, but not at her, for she hadn't been the one to answer, and she was just as surprised by this sudden third-party interjection.

It had been Yondu who had spoken, and he spoke again. "I'm the one that's got it, and I ain't givin' it back." He sat at the table looking at you with his arms crossed and wearing a smirk, as if daring you to complain about it. He had snatched it the night you dislocated your elbow, around the time he was scolding Peter and Kraglin and calling an end to that prank war himself after it had resulted in an injury.

You raised both eyebrows in surprise now. "Excuse you?" you say, surprised at his boldness and a bit irritated at how he now seemed like a scolding teacher who had confiscated contraband from a naughty child.

"Yondu, you can't just steal her property." Gamora chided.

"Ya heard me. Last time she and Quill had it that happened," he gestured to your arm. "So I'm keeping it since clearly neither of the two of 'em seem to have any sense. She wouldn't be askin' for it back if they weren't gettin' into it again."

You exchanged a look with Gamora. Her expression told you that she seemed to agree with his argument, but didn't want to risk saying so, and that she now seemingly regretted being involved in this situation.

Deciding you were on your own you opened your mouth to tell him off, but before you could he spoke again.

"Don't try denyin' it either. I saw ya putting that sour juice stuff in his coffee. I know the two of ya are back at it again with that prank war stuff," he said almost smugly. "Ya ain't getting it back." He didn't want another prank war to result in more injuries, and if he was honest, he was still slightly salty about having been caught in the crossfire of one of your pranks that had been meant for Peter. He thought outright admitting to confiscating your spider toy would hopefully send the message to you to knock it off before you got started.

You bit your lips and narrowed your eyes at him, half embarrassed at being called out like that. You then shook your head. You were not about to demand or beg for the return of a rubber spider like a child. You straightened your back slightly and said, "Whatever. Keep it then. Don't care." in your best flippant tone. You turned away, putting in your earbuds and added, "Going for a walk. Try not to burn the house down," as you exited out the back door and left the two of them in the kitchen.

You didn't need that spider anyways.

***

It was a cooler day out, overcast in a way that made you think it might rain that night, and you were glad you thought to grab a jacket before you left for your walk. You thought you might visit your old tree, and assess that old door while you were out there. There wasn't a whole lot you could do with your arm still in a brace, but you knew you could still at least open it and give it a general look to see what you might need to build a new door for it.

However, when you got there you quickly realized that the door was simply too awkwardly big and slightly too flimsy due to decay from the elements to risk trying to open it with just one arm. You didn't want to risk falling in it and either causing further injury and/or not be able to climb back out if it turned out the ladder rungs descending into the tunnel were bad too. You were now kicking yourself for not having fixed it months ago when you first noticed how bad it had gotten. At least at that period of time your arm wasn't in a brace and you didn't have eight houseguests to worry about.

You sighed. For now you settled on making a list in your phone of the different materials you'd need to make a sturdier door in the future when you were less... indisposed. No big deal. The world wasn't going to end if you couldn't fix it immediately, and honestly it was probably dumb of you to come out there right now in the first place. Sure, maybe you could get the door built in your current state. Maybe. If no one was around to see you breaking the doctor's orders on the weight restriction and then tell on you to Fury. But that didn't change the fact that you'd then need to carry it out there somehow. Something you definitely couldn't do in your current state. There was perhaps the option to bring the materials out there and assemble them on-sight, but you knew you couldn't carry them out there in a timely fashion either. Could you if you asked for help? Absolutely. Were you going to? Not a chance.

You hung out around the tree for a bit, just listening to music before deciding to head back, and that's when you noticed some pine cones littering the ground.

This gave you an idea. You remembered once when you were little and your dad took you and your brother camping. Your brother had hidden pinecones in the bottom of your sleeping bag. Your feet came in contact with the foreign objects, and being met with weird almost scaly feeling forms instead of the softness of your sleeping bag made you jump right out of said bag with a shriek.

You grinned. You had found your revenge prank. You only hoped that it would have the same effect on a grown man finding these at the foot of his bed as it did on seven-year-old you finding them in your sleeping bag.

Now you had another reason to be glad you wore a jacket. You could hide the pinecones in the pockets as well as hiding them inside the jacket itself and zip them inside.

You loaded up several pinecones. Enough to be sure he'd notice when crawling into bed, but not so many that they'd be noticed as you snuck them into the house.

You arrive back at the house to find the house mostly quiet, and it made you worry that Peter might be in his room and you wouldn't be able to place the pinecones.

However, just to your luck, you managed to catch a glimpse of him and a few others out front through the kitchen window. Perfect.

You quickly make your way upstairs and headed towards Peter's room. The upstairs seemed to be empty and you were just about to congratulate yourself on your good fortune as you already started pulling pinecones out of your pockets, until you noticed Rocket standing in Peter and Gamora's room.

Seeing him caused you to start and you dropped a couple of your pinecones on the ground due to your arm brace hampering your ability to reflexively catch them before they fell. The sound of the pinecones hitting the floor caused Rocket to startle in turn.

"Uh..." you said awkwardly, stepping into the room and picking up your pinecones, "What you doing?"

Rocket, who had been digging through a dresser drawer, responded with, "...Nuttin. What are you doing?" He eyed the pinecones in your hands.

"Nothing." You responded.

An awkward silence fell for a moment. You both knew the other wasn't really supposed to be there, that the only reason for being there right then was mischief of some sort, and you both knew that the other knew that you knew. There was only one thing for it.

Rocket spoke again. "Right..."

You nod. "Yes... good. So... carry on then?"

Rocket nodded slowly. "Yeah..." He turned back to looking for whatever it was he was snooping for.

Taking the hint, the unspoken 'I won't tell if you won't," you carried out your plan, removing the pinecones from your jacket and placing them at the foot of Peter's bed under the blankets.

You finished quickly, catching Rocket's gaze again before you left. A silent nod was all that was exchanged and you were on your way.

***

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. You read, you listened to music, you got roped into a game of Monopoly that went on far too long because Mantis kept needing reminded of the rules. You didn't entire blame her. It was pretty obvious that it was everyone but Peter's first time playing.

Speaking of Peter, you were surprised he hadn't tried to mess with you the entire game, and you wondered if Gamora might have got on him after hearing Yondu say he could tell that the two of you were starting in on another prank war, or if Yondu had scolded him himself.

Sometime after the game had finished- Gamora won, and Peter pouted- you went to get a drink from the kitchen. When you returned to the sitting room to grab another book to bring upstairs to read you saw Drax approach Yondu and ask, "Yondu, do you smell popcorn?"

Not wanting to sit through another round of what Peter had done to you that morning, you quickly grab a random Sci-Fi/Fantasy book from the shelf and turn to get out of there just in time to hear Yondu reply with, "What the hell is popcorn?"

This was immediately followed by the sound of a very loud fart along with Drax's booming laughter.

In startled surprise you sharply turned in their direction to see Drax laughing and Yondu's face scrunched in both confusion and what was likely disgust.

Peter was laughing too, but at Drax rather than Yondu's misfortunate proximity to his offender. "Drax! Buddy, the fart's supposed to be silent."

Drax didn't seem to mind his mistake, just simply responded with "Ohhh!" and continued to laugh while Yondu shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

Taking in the sight you couldn't help but giggle too at just how ridiculous the situation was. You brought a hand up to your mouth to suppress it, but the sound caught the attention of Yondu and Peter anyway. Yondu's eyes narrowed and Peter was pleasantly surprised that you found the situation funny as well.

You broke their gaze and retreated to your room. Better to escape before you risked smelling anything awful.

***

It wasn't hard to tell when Peter found what was waiting in his bed that night. However, instead of girlish screams like the night he found the spider, he let out a cry of, "Gah! What the hell!?"

You grinned as you sat on your bed reading your book. Mantis was already fast asleep in her bed, and she stirred at the sound of Peter's cries just on the other side of the wall. After looking toward you and seeing you sitting calmly she determined there must not be any danger and soon fell back to sleep.

A few minutes later, though, you were surprised to see Peter walking into your room.

Startled at the sudden intrusion you jolted and as he approached you, rather quickly at that, you said, "Hey- what are you doing?"

He stopped in front of you with a smirk and raised his arms. It was then you realized he had been carrying a shirt bunched up as if it were being used as a sack.

Unceremoniously he emptied the shirt/sack over your head, showering you with all the pinecones you had hid in his bed.

"Hey!" you complain, raising your good arm to shield your head from the coniferous onslaught.

Mantis stirred again, lifting her head to see what was going on.

"This is for leaving those in my bed." he laughed, turning to leave. "And don't think that counts as me getting you back!" he added as he stepped out the door.

Mantis yet again laid back down to rest upon seeing the disturbance was just Peter's shenanigans. You got the feeling that she must be used to it.

***

The next couple days were mostly spent with you and Peter battling back and forth via small pranks.

Yondu obviously noticed, and despite him acting like he didn't want the two of you to get started again, he didn't say or do anything to stop it. It was clear it was keeping your mind off what what had been bothering you, so he just let the two of you be. Especially as it seemed to be harmless.

Kraglin mostly stayed out of it this time. Sure, he helped Peter some, but he was still more likely to bend to Yondu's orders of "This prank war is over!" from last time. That, and he still felt bad about what happened with the incident with the spider, even if it had been mostly Peter's idea.

Peter got you with the old 'shoulder tap misdirection' a couple times, where he'd tap one shoulder and either be on the other side when you turned to look, or have walked away completely.

You hit back by turning the batteries backwards in the remote, knowing he'd likely be the first to use it that morning.

After he finally figured that one out, he decided he'd retaliate by turning all your books backwards on the shelf. When you walked in that evening to see him mid-prank, you simply sighed and rolled your eyes. Seemingly embarrassed to have been caught mid-prank he laughed nervously and straightened up, rubbing the back of his head.

You rolled your eyes and left the room, hoping that since he'd been caught he'd then turn them back right way round. Knowing it was unlikely, you decided to shove some newspaper in his shoes. You could hear Drax in the background laughing at Peter for getting caught as you walked away to retrieve an old newspaper from the table in the hall.

He clearly must have found it at some point the next morning because he got you back around lunchtime by pouring just a little bit of water in your seat right before you sat down to eat.

You jumped from your seat the moment you felt the cold water soak the left side of your ass and after a few seconds of reaching back to feel the wet spot and checking the chair you looked over to where he was sitting and narrowed your eyes.

He simply grinned at you like he had pulled the best prank ever.

Taking a breath, you straightened and just shook your head, warning him that he shouldn't escalate unless he wanted you to do the same.

He didn't seem to take your warning seriously.

***

The next morning when getting ready you saw that Peter had struck again. You didn't know when, or how he had managed to find the time to both sew a pair of your socks shut halfway down with sloppy grey stitches and place them back in your dresser (on top so they'd be first picked, of course) without you noticing, but you did know that this meant double war.

He had pranked you twice in a row, without waiting for you to have retaliated against his last prank first. Or, more likely, he had set this prank and then pulled another without waiting for you to find the first one. Tsk, Tsk, Peter. Bad form.

You found another pair of socks, luckily he had only bothered to adulterate one pair, and then went to confront him.

"You're really asking for it." you say, thrusting the socks towards him in the hall.

"What?" he asked. Trying to act innocent, no doubt.

"You sewed my socks shut. I warned you, don't escalate unless you want me to do the same."

There wasn't really any anger in your voice despite your warning tone, which Peter took as a good sign. "I didn't escalate-"

"Oh-ho! Don't try that with me! You double pranked!" As the words left your mouth you internally cringed. This reminded you of how the two of you had bickered like children in the grocery store. You pushed the feeling that you sounded like a teenager in a Disney sitcom aside for now.

Peter eyed you for a moment before crossing his arms and smugly replying, "Technically no. You interrupted my book prank and then stuffed paper in my shoes. So, because I technically didn't finish my prank, you double pranked."

"No-" you started.

"Yes." He laughed. "So if anyone escalated, it was you." He said in a teasing voice, aiming a couple pokes to your abdomen and making you flinch back at the touch.

"I did not!" you argued, smacking his hand away.

"Eh... ya kinda did..." he drawled out with a grin. "So, I think that means you gave permission for all unwritten rules of pranking to just be thrown out the window." He chuckled, a mischievous glint to his eyes.

"No-" you said warningly. "I did not." You could tell he was just trying to piss you off, but you weren't going to let him win.

"Yeah, I think you did..." He lightly laughed. "So anything else that happens... you'll only have yourself to blame." He said the last bit in a sing-songy voice and went to walk into the kitchen. He stopped momentarily and turned back to you with a grin. "However, you can always avoid any further annoyance by just declaring me the prank master..."

You blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Declare I'm the prank master and you won't have to worry about what I'll do next."

You scoffed at him. "You're dreaming."

Peter grinned wider. "Nope. I'm just 'The Prank Master.'"

You narrowed your eyes and walked past him into the kitchen. "You're gonna regret that," you warned, earning only a chuckle from him. There was no way you were going to declare him master of anything.

You made your way to the pantry to find something quick for breakfast and Peter went to pour himself some coffee.

That's when you found it. Your next prank idea. And boy, was it going to be good.

While grabbing a pop-tart from the pantry, you happened to notice a certain box of gel food dye sitting next to your spices. Your eyes lit up, knowing exactly what you would do with it. You quickly pocketed the blue vile and hid the rest of the box behind the spices where it couldn't be seen for security purposes, just in case Peter would happen to have the same idea. You weren't going to do it right away, but knew it couldn't hurt to have the little bottle on hand just in case...

***

After breakfast you decided to head out to the shed to survey the pile of spare wood you had.

In the shed you found Rocket. This wasn't surprising as he spent a decent amount of time tinkering in the shed since you showed him the workshop. You still hadn't gotten around to finding the spare key for him, just letting him continue to use yours since there wasn't a lot you could do out there anyway until you got the brace off anyway.

You greeted him with a simple, "Hey," that Rocket returned as you made your way back to the spare wood to look over what you had on hand as far as repairing the old tunnel door to get an idea of what might you need to pick up from town.

Was it useful to look now seeing as you likely wouldn't get the brace off for at least a couple more weeks? No, but you were restless and you were really just looking for an excuse for something to do until that night when you could enact your prank.

"Whatcha doing?" Rocket asked, barely looking up from whatever plans he was drafting up on the old pad of paper you left out in the workshop.

"Nuttin," you reply, finishing up your shifting around of the wood and determining that you might have just enough of the right cuts already out there to make a full door, but you might need to pick up some more wood for it, as well as some brackets, later.

Rocket grunted in response and you start to walk back out when something caught your eye over by the long workbench.

You looked down to examine it, and a slight smile played on your lips.

"Did you fix my stool?" you asked, turning to him.

He didn't look up. "Nope."

You raise an eyebrow, mouth twitching upwards in humor. "Oh really? Then who did, if not you? Other than me, you're the only one who comes out here."

Rocket's gaze remained on the notebook. "Dunno. Must have been a 'stool fairy.'" Those last two words were laced with sarcasm.

You smirked. "Ah. I see. Well if you happen to see this 'stool faery,' be sure to tell him I said thank you." You turn and begin to walk out of the shed.

Rocket's ears twitched back for just a second and he grunted out in response, "Uh huh. Sure thing."

***

Unfortunately the stars didn't align that night for you to use the gel coloring on Peter. You had to time it just right to both make sure no one got caught in the crossfire and to not make it obvious you were up to something.

This, however, was probably for the best because Fury's visit the next day caught you off guard. You had been so busy pranking and being pranked and researching door construction and tunnel maintenance that you had managed to lose track of the days and didn't realize it was time for another weekly check-in until you heard him knock at the door that late afternoon. The sound actually startled you at first, and you mentally cursed him for insisting on keeping the times he'd show up a surprise.

Again, probably for the best you weren't able to pull that prank. You weren't sure how pleased Fury would be with you if he saw what you had planned to do to Peter if you had succeeded in going through with it.

The visit was brief. Same old news about the Guardian's situation; nothing changed, little to no progress made. It was time to re-stock the rations again and the guys helped Maria with that like last time. The doctor also accompanied them, and of course he ignored your case for removing the brace and instead just set the hinge to a slightly increased range of movement. He did say that as long as you continued your 'good behavior' it might be ready to come off the next week. You weren't going to hold your breath. Oh, and he also increased your weight restriction to ten pounds. Yay...

At one point Agent Hill pulled you aside like last time, wanting to check in to see if matters regarding your mental health had improved since the last visit.

You answered honestly that they had, but didn't bother to mention that the reason why was likely because Peter had managed to keep you annoyed enough that you didn't have time to dedicate enough thought to what had previously been bothering you.

She tried to pry more, but you weren't really giving her anything, so she just resigned that what she had been able to garner was good enough and the two of you rejoined the group just before Fury announced they would be leaving.

***

It didn't take long after they left for Peter to resume being his annoying self.

You were in the sitting room trying to read, but Peter kept singing along to a song on his Zune that he had come to realize you absolutely hated. To make matters worse, it seemed that he was intentionally singing as poorly as he could just to annoy you. He even got Kraglin to join in with him.

How could you tell it was just to annoy you? Well it didn't start with the singing. It started with tapping. Constant tapping. With his foot on the floor. With his knuckles on the coffee table. He even came up behind you at one point after you refused to react and started tapping you on the head as you sat curled on the sofa attempting to read. That one finally got you to react and scold him to knock it off, and that's when he switched to singing.

Of course, you told him to take it somewhere else. Did he listen? No. He instead moved to sit right next to you and sang louder.

You threatened to chop him in the throat if he didn't take his annoying self somewhere else, and while that got him to stand up, he didn't leave. Instead that's when he recruited Kraglin, who had walked in just a few moments prior to see what all the racket was, and who also didn't hesitate to accept an earbud from Peter and follow his lead.

You tossed your head back on the sofa in frustration and let out a growl as you gritted your teeth.

Peter broke his singing to laugh and tell you that he warned you, all you had to do to make it stop was admit his was the master.

And that's when you threw the pillow at him.

Well, you had been aiming for him, at least. You would have hit him too, had he not dodged at the last second, allowing for the pillow to instead smack Yondu, who no one had noticed had walked into the room, right in the face.

Your eyes widen, as do Peter's and Kraglin's. Only they're trying not to laugh as Yondu's stony face stares at you.

In your startled shock you stammer as you attempt to make an apology, but as he picks the pillow up from the floor all you are actually able to get out is, "I- Uh- I didn't mean-" and a nervous giggle.

Yondu stands back up, pillow now in his hands, and cocks his head at you. "Oh so ya think that's funny, huh?" He starts to walk towards you.

You of course deny it, trying to set the record straight that it had been meant for Peter, but the glint of a playful grin mixed with his grouchy façade made you unable to suppress a nervous grin as he approached. He then tossed the pillow back at you and you deflected it back onto the sofa.

"Nah, I think ya thought that was funny, even if it was meant for my boy." He was standing over you now and Peter and Kraglin were snickering as Peter encouraged him, saying that he thought you definitely thought it was funny to have hit Yondu with the pillow.

"Looks like someone needs to teach ya a lesson in manners, missy." Yondu said as he reached out and squeezed rapidly right above your knee.

Caught off guard you instantly throw back your head and cackle, your hands instinctively reaching for his as you kicked out. "No! Stop it!" you cry out between giggles before managing to free yourself and stand up from the sofa.

Abandoning your book you attempt to escape, but Yondu just grabs you by your good arm and pulls you back, effortlessly succeeding in securing you in a headlock and purposely arranging it so that your good arm was between the two of you and your braced arm was out to the open. He knew with the limited range of motion the braced arm had available you wouldn't really be able to use it to help free yourself in any meaningful way. He then proceeded to give you a noogie.

"Hey! Cut it out!" you complain, uselessly pushing against his shoulder from behind with your good arm. You cursed your arm brace. Without it you could have gotten out of this hold in 3 seconds tops. You still technically could, but didn't want to use that method unless you had to. You didn't want to risk hurting the older man, after all.

Yondu paused a moment and pretended to think. "...Nah. I didn't get an apology yet."

"Ugh! Fine! I'm sorry about the pillow! Happy? I already told you I meant it for Pe-TER!" You squeaked when Kraglin cheekily couldn't resist coming up to pinch your ribs in your current vulnerable state. "Knock that off!" you ordered. It of course only earned you another tickly squeeze from the first mate and the three men to laugh as you commanded Yondu to let you go before you made him.

"Ya ain't gonna make me do nuttin, missy." Yondu laughed, clearly believing he could take you in a fight any day even if your arm wasn't injured. "Where's my apology for when ya pranked the sink and it sprayed all over me?" Yondu asked with a mischievous chuckle. He then pinched your nose shut just to mess with you further. This prompted you to smack his shoulder with your good hand, but he did let go, laughing about how you were a 'feisty one.'

"Yeah," Peter egged on for the sink comment, laughing. "He yelled at me for that!"

You huff out a sigh. "Fine. Sorry for that too. Now this is your last warning to let me go!"

This only made Yondu and the other two laugh and Yondu went to noogie you again. Clearly they were underestimating you. Well, you did try to give him a warning...

In one quick motion you positioned your foot between his so that your leg was locked behind his thigh, reached your good arm up to rest your hand on his forehead, and threw your weight backwards, sending you both to the floor.

Yondu went easily, clearly having been caught off guard and landed on his back with an "oof!" and subsequently released you. Surprisingly though, he didn't seem angry about landing on the floor.

As you both sit up he was actually chuckling, to your surprise.

"Damn, didn't think ya had that in ya." Yondu laughed as he stood up.

Peter and Kraglin, who had went momentarily silent when the two of you fell, were now laughing again. Kraglin made a joke about how he didn't know you could actually fight.

You just grumbled and grabbed your book, deciding you would retreat to your room to finish reading for the night where you were less likely to be annoyed.

Ironically, the whole ordeal actually caused you to forget about the prank you had intended to pull on Peter until you again missed your chance to do it. Oh well, there was always tomorrow, right?

***

The next day you announced to those in the kitchen that you were making a run into town and told them if there was anything they needed to let you know now while you were making a list.

They didn't list-off much. Again, SHIELD provided them with pretty much everything they needed. Some razors, hair conditioner, lotion, and a couple requests for some Earth snacks they had come to enjoy were among the items requested. Simple stuff.

Then Yondu decided to be cheeky and claim his request was for you to take Peter with you again.

"No way," you say flatly, remembering the last run into town. "Not happening."

Yondu just grinned and leaned against his chair. "Fury said ya got to. Ya can't leave without a buddy 'til yer arm is healed up." He elbowed Kraglin and added, "Didn't he, Krags?"

Kraglin, clearly not expecting to be suddenly roped into the conversation said, "Uh, yeah. When you was in the other room talking to that Miss Agent Hill lady when they was here yesterday. He-uh- he told us then." He wasn't exactly the best liar.

You narrowed your eyes. "He did not." You looked to Gamora, who seemingly then immediately realized she had anywhere else to be before you could ask her to confirm.

"Ya can always ask him yerself." Yondu smirked, sure that like last time you wouldn't dare call Fury to confirm.

"Or I can not do that because I know he didn't," you countered.

"I wouldn't be too hasty girl," Yondu drawled. "'Cause what if I'm right? Ya leave without a buddy, and we can just call him and tell him ya broke his rules... and well, we all know what he said he'd do with ya if ya did that."

"You know, I didn't really take you to be such a snitch." You say, irritation clear in your voice. You knew it was at best childish, and at worst fighting words, but you were too frustrated to care.

Instead of being offended, Yondu just laughed and leaned back with his hands folded behind his head. "Gotta do something to pass the time. 'Sides, I think 'blackmail' has a nicer ring to it than 'snitchin'."

You glare at him, not giving him the satisfaction of telling him that he was technically right. This wasn't him being a snitch. This was blackmail. You just didn't understand why this was the hill he decided to die on.

He continued. "Yer better off to just save yerself the trouble and take Peter."

You eye him for a bit before deciding this time you would call his bluff. Partially because you knew he was lying, but also because a tiny part of you was afraid he wasn't, and you knew what would happen if he wasn't.

You dialed up Fury, knowing that the consequences for possibly annoying him with a dumb phone call were vastly less than what they'd be if you disobeyed an order, especially since you were already skating on thin ice. He also seemed to be less upset with you lately due to your 'good behavior,' so at least you had that going fo you. You almost thought you saw Yondu's smirk falter when you started dialing. Almost.

To your surprise, Fury answered after only a couple rings. You put the phone on speaker, and inform him your reason for calling was to confirm something that had been said.

"They're trying to tell me that when Agent Hill pulled me aside yesterday you instructed them to tell me that, under your orders, I am not allowed to drive into town without taking someone with me until my arm heals. Is that correct?"

Fury was quiet a moment before he answered, his voice seeming neutral. "I did not say that."

Yondu and Kraglin's faces fell slightly, and like a child you made a quiet, "Ha!" noise and stuck your tongue out at them, but before you could thank him, Fury spoke again.

"But I am now."

Your eyes widened and shot back to the phone, as if you'd be able to see your director in there. "I'm sorry, what?"

Yondu burst out laughing at your expression, and Kraglin joined in with a grin.

"Effective immediately I'm requiring you to bring a companion on any trips you make into town. Mr. Quill would be the safest choice, but as long as they pass for human, I don't care who it is."

You tried not to sputter. "Sir-... that-... Why-??"

"It's not a bad idea," he said cooly, adding, "and if you're gonna call me to settle a petty squabble then you better be prepared to get an outcome you aren't going to like." He didn't sound angry, more just matter-of-fact.

You blinked. Did he really just imply he was doing this just to annoy you? "Sir, I ask you to reconsid-"

"If you want to keep going, Agent, I can easily make this decision permanent."

This set off another round of laughter from the guys, including Peter from behind you who had walked into the kitchen with Gamora at some point. You didn't know how long they were standing there, but it seemed he had also heard Fury's decision.

With slight heat in your cheeks, you respond to your director. "No, sir."

"Good. Have a good day, Agent." Fury replied, and then hung up. If you didn't know better, you'd say his tone sounded almost amused.

You put the phone back in your pocket and rubbed your hand over your eyes while the others teased you.

"That's what ya get for not just listenin' to me in the first place, girl. Now ya really do have to do it!" Yondu laughed.

"I hate you," you say bluntly.

He only grinned in response and called over to Peter. "Ya heard the man, boy! Looks like yer takin' a trip!"

Peter grinned cheekily at you and you roll your eyes. "Fine. Get ready," you order as you walk past him and out of the kitchen. Then, seeing an opportunity to let out some frustration (probably misplaced in this instance, honestly) you turned back with a smirk and added, "This time don't forget to go potty before we leave!"

You turned away again, but not before being able to see the cheeky grin fall from his face and hear him yell back, "Not cool, dude!" along with some snickering from the others in the background.

Little did you know, though you probably should have, that decision to embarrass him would seal the fate of your nerves, and possibly your sanity as well, on the trip to come.

#gotg #guardians of the galaxy #gotg fanfic #gotg fanfiction #x reader #yondu udonta #peter quill #kraglin obfonteri #nick fury #rocket raccoon

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verai-marcel · 4 years ago

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Holiday Surprise (RDR2 Fanfic, Charles x F!Reader, 18+)

Summary: You and Charles have been together for a few months, but after the two of you officially got together, all of your couplings had been rather soft and sweet. Despite how nice it was with him, you wanted something naughtier, something rougher, something more. And you knew exactly how to get it from him.

Author’s Notes: Secret Santa gift for my dear @fangirl-ramblings! A little naughty Christmas story about getting railed by a very giving, very loving Charles Smith. I’d say this takes place in 1907, after the events of the game, while Charles is making his way north towards Canada.

Tags: Charles x F!Reader, smutty smut smut, holiday feels, probably some holiday anachronisms, tied up wrists, light bdsm, some spanking, rough sex, doggy style, creampie

Word Count: 3139

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You were a fiery, passionate woman, with the wits and cunning for making money from any situation, although you drew the line at taking advantage of the poor and pitiful. Anyone else, however, was fair game. It was with this mindset that you had tricked dozens of men who fell for your charms, believing that you would spend a night in their arms. Instead, you just drugged their whiskey and left town with their cash stuffed down your corset as you traveled to the next town, galloping away on your horse and howling in victory.

But then you met your match, when, on your way through Montana, you ran into a man with black hair, a dark complexion, and the warmest brown eyes you had ever seen. His face had scars that told an intriguing tale, and you had longed to trace every line.

With every intention to fuck and run, you seduced him, riding his thick cock under the river of stars on a summer’s night. The sounds of your pleasure enraptured him, and he breathed your name as if it was his final prayer to the heavens as he spent himself all over your soft skin. When he awoke, you were gone, with his purse in your possession and lingering regrets in your heart.

He tracked you, chased you to the edge of the country, and when he finally caught you, he kissed you before picking you up and taking you into the forest, away from the road where a passerby might see you.

“Did you really think you could get rid of me, wildcat?”

You were taken then, hard and fast on the forest floor, giving in completely to his wanton possession. Wrapping your arms and legs around him, you screamed his name as you let go, your release taking over your body, your heart, your soul.

“Charles, Charles!”

He tied you down with ropes and dark, carnal words, and you never, ever, wanted him to let you go.

***

A few months later, the two of you had become inseparable. Charles was a good man to you; he treated you as an equal, able to do the same amount of work, if not the same type. And he never disrespected your abilities. Currently, the two of you live in a small cabin on a ranch in Montana where the two of you had met.

You had changed your ways, using your wits to help with logistics at a ranch, helping with scheduling deliveries, while Charles worked with the animals. His gentle touch had him working with the cattle and horses the most, and while that meant long hours, he still made time to take care of you almost every night, whether it was making you a meal if you were tired, or giving you a massage to relax you on nights when you had to do a lot of paperwork.

Many nights, his gentle care turned into slow love making, his hands and mouth worshipping your body until you pushed him down and rode him passionately, taking every last drop of him. But he never fucked you the way he did that night. He never tied you up, even when you begged for it. Sex was fun, but your thoughts always strayed back to that one night when he lost his calm and fucked you like a raging beast, holding you down, stuffing you full of his thick shaft over and over again until you cried from the number of times you released around him.

You hated to say it, but you longed for more passion, more lust from him. Charles was like a cute puppy, always eager to please you, but you knew deep inside of him, a wolf was just clawing under the surface, ready to leap out and dominate you. Perhaps he was afraid that he’d hurt you, or that he’d scare you with the intensity of his desire. However, you were not afraid; rather, you wanted to see this side of him, wanted him to lose control like he did that night.

You just had to bring it out of him.

With Christmas fast approaching, you were making secret preparations, on top of the small holiday dinner the two of you were already planning. Working on this ranch meant the two of you had your own little cabin on the land so you could be close to the barn, with relative privacy. For fun, you had decorated the walls with strings of popcorn and wreaths made with pine tree branches and pine cones. Charles had helped you hang your decorations, and had gathered whatever items you needed to make your home just a bit more festive. He got extra candles from the general store, cut a portion of a pine tree and brought it inside for you to decorate. He even bought you ingredients so you could make star-shaped cookies to adorn the tree.

He got you everything you wanted, except for one thing. You hoped that your secret gift would entice him into giving you exactly what you wanted.

***

“All done for the day?” you asked as Charles came in from the snow on the evening before Christmas, stamping his boots before taking them off.

“Yup. Cattle are all settled, horses are safe in the barn with enough hay for a few days.” He took off his coat and hung it on the coat hook next to the door, patting off the accumulated snow. “Looking forward to our day off?”

“Sure am,” you replied as you got up and walked over to hug him. “But first, look above you.”

Charles looked up and grinned at what he saw. “Mistletoe, huh?” Leaning down, he gave you a chaste peck on the lips. “As if I needed an excuse to kiss you.”

You pulled him down and kissed him again, forcing him to prolong the contact by digging your hands into his lush hair. Opening your lips, you licked his bottom lip, encouraging him to open his and invited his tongue to a dance, the kiss deepening as your desire heated your body.

But his movements were unhurried, his big hands sliding down your body slowly so he could enjoy the curve of your hips and your backside. He finally pulled back, making you whimper. “Sweetness,” he murmured, tracing your cheekbone tenderly, “you need to eat first. Then we can play.”

You huffed and pulled away from him, both annoyed that he was right and playing the part of being a brat, hoping that he’d lose some patience with you.

Raising an eyebrow, Charles said nothing more as he led you towards the kitchen, and the two of you made your meal and ate it peacefully at the table.

It wasn’t until after everything was cleaned and put away that you tried again.

“Charles,” you cooed. “I have a surprise for you.”

He looked at you, curious. “Oh?”

“Close your eyes.”

He obeyed without question.

You got up from your chair and went to the chest of drawers, digging into the bottom of the lowest drawer and pulling out one part of your special gift. Going back to stand before him, you undid the top three buttons of your blouse so that your cleavage peaked out. You took a deep breath to calm yourself, not because you were nervous, but because you were getting too excited. “Open your eyes.”

Charles did so, and his eyes immediately traveled to your chest. You could feel his hot gaze as if it were his fingers, tracing the curves of your breasts. It was as if just his stare alone could caress your nipples, for they suddenly ached with need.

Then he saw the rope in your hands. It was a horsehair rope that you had made in your spare time, diligently weaving and re-weaving it until it was strong enough to hold someone, but soft to the touch. He looked back up at your face in confusion.

“I want you to tie me up,” you purred, setting the rope down on the table and undoing your skirt buttons in front of him. He sat, entranced by the fabric gliding down your body, revealing your bare thighs. You had chosen not to wear any drawers tonight; you wanted to tease him as much as possible, to break his hold on his self-control.

You could see the outline of his bulge in his pants as he swallowed audibly. “Sweetness,” he rasped, “what’re you on about?”

Undoing the rest of your blouse, you revealed your other secret gift: a chemise and corset that pushed your breasts up. The chemise was dyed black to complement the dark red of the corset, with its black ribbons and lace.

Charles let out a low rumble. “Such a beautiful lady,” he murmured. “C’mere, let me touch you.”

You shook your head. Grabbing the rope from the table, you pushed him back on the chair and wrapped it around him twice. Tying a square knot at his chest, you smiled. “No touching.”

He tested the ropes, wriggling in his seat. It was clear to both of you that if he chose to, he could easily get free, but he decided to play your game. For now.

So you went down on your knees and slowly undid the buttons of his pants and then his drawers, looking up at him to smile and watch his reaction as you nuzzled his bulge. When you finally reached in and freed his cock, stroking him into full hardness, he was breathing heavily.

With your eyes locked onto his, you took him into your mouth. He groaned, his hips jerking upwards. You put your hands on his thighs and started to suck on him in earnest, bobbing your head up and down, slowing your rhythm when you felt him tensing, and speeding up when you could hear him catching his breath. After a while, you reached down to stroke your clit while you sucked on him, letting your own moans vibrate against his shaft. Your tongue swirled around the head of his cock, making him let out a prolonged moan.

“How long are you going to keep me on edge?” he asked, his voice rough with need.

You grinned as you gave him one last lick and stood up. Straddling him, you grasped his hardness and lowered yourself slowly, sinking onto him one inch at a time until he was completely sheathed in you. You felt him twitch inside of you, and you laughed gleefully.

“I’m warning you,” he rumbled.

“Warning me of what?” you sneered, lifting yourself off him until on the tip was inside. “What are you goin’ to do? You’re. Nothing. But. A. Cuddly. Puppy,” you taunted, punctuating your words with each bounce, sliding halfway down before moving back up.

Charles growled before flexing, the square knot that you had so haphazardly tied loosening like his self-control. He reached up and untied it, setting himself free before grabbing onto your hips and pulling you down to grind hard against him.

“A puppy, huh?” He picked you up, holding you close and walked over to the bed. He nearly shoved you down; his roughness made you shiver with anticipation. He ripped off his clothes in a rush before grabbing the rope and stalking towards you, that primal lust in his eyes, just like that wondrous night. You felt your pussy flow with your desire, as if it knew what was about to happen.

“You want this?” he growled, grabbing your wrists and tying them together. Without waiting for your answer, he flipped you over and folded you until you were on your knees. Slapping your ass, he uttered, “On your knees.”

You quickly obeyed, craving his command. Caressing your backside, he rubbed the head of his cock against your folds, dipping inside of you just a little bit before pulling out to rub against your clit. Over and over, he teased you until you were begging for him to fuck you.

“I don’t think so, sweetness. You tortured me so ruthlessly. I think I owe you the same.” Then he leaned over, one arm holding himself up as he gripped your chin and turned your head to the side to meet his gaze. “Or are you goin’ to be a good girl?”

You stuck your tongue out at him.

A feral grin grew on his face as he let go of your jaw. His hands suddenly grasped your hips, his fingers digging into your flesh. “Have it your way.”

That was your only warning before he plunged inside of you with a low snarl. Staying inside of you, he pressed you down onto the bed, his chest against your back. His hands slid up your body, one arm wrapping around your shoulders, the other digging into your hair. Moving his hips up slowly, he chuckled darkly into your ear before starting a ruthless pace. Charles fucked you hard, making the bed bounce with the strength of his powerful thrusts.

You cried out, your screams louder than the winter wind outside. Wrapping one hand around your mouth to stifle your sounds, he kept pounding into you, his deep moans of pleasure in your ear.

“That’s it girl, take what I give you,” he uttered into your ear. “It’s what you need, isn’t it?”

“Yes, yes Charles, I need your cock inside of me, I need to be fucked!” you babbled when Charles let go of your mouth. You were losing your mind as he took you with an intense need to mark you as absolutely, decisively his.

He stopped long enough to roll the two of you over, his cock still sheathed inside of you. Reaching down, he stroked your core with one hand as he grabbed your breast and squeezed, teasing your nipple as he gave you shallow thrusts. Your body tightened when he slapped your breast before reaching around you to rub and pinch the other one, giving it the same treatment.

“I can feel your pussy tighten around me. You’re close, aren’t you?”

You could only moan as he rubbed your center harder, faster.

“Come for me, sweetness. Show me how much you love having my cock inside of you.”

You let out a strangled cry as your climax hit you hard, your legs straightening out, your toes curling, the sweat from your body making you slippery in his grasp as he tried to hold you down. He wrung every last spasm of pleasure from you, not letting up the sweet, sinful pressure on your core until you started begging for him to stop.

“You don’t want me to stop,” he teased, gently rolling you off of him. He got up to kneel before you, positioning you with your back on the bed, your legs spread wide open and still twitching from your last climax. Pressing his cock against your oversensitized clit, he rubbed against you, watching you writhe with too much pleasure, driving you insane.

“Oh my lord, fuck, oh god,” you rambled as your hips twisted back and forth, trying to avoid his touch. But Charles grabbed your hips and held you down as he rocked his hips back and forth, his shaft sliding around your sensitive areas. You could only whimper as you knew you were helpless to resist him now.

Not that you wanted to. Your pussy still dripped with how much you wanted him to fuck you.

Charles let you breathe for a moment before he leaned forward and pushed his member deep inside of you with one stroke. “You want my spend, wildcat?”

“Yes!” you hissed, lifting your hips up. “I want it, I need it!”

“Of course you do. And only I can give it to you,” he rumbled as he started thrusting, slowly at first, then moving faster and faster as he lost control of himself. He fell upon you, like a hungry wolf onto his prey, covering you with his wide chest, his big, muscular arms surrounding you and holding you close. “Tell me you want it inside.”

“Yes, please Charles, spend inside of me, I want it deep,” you begged.

Charles let out a guttural moan as he thrust hard, pushing inside of you as deep as he could, and stayed there as he released himself inside of you, filling you full. He let out a few more grunts of exertion, lifting his hips and pumping more inside of you until you felt his release spilling from your body.

“Fuck,” he sighed, contentedly. Then he suddenly lifted off of you and collapsed beside you. He reached up and untied your wrists, frowning at the red marks on your skin.

“You alright, sweetness?” he asked, kissing each of your wrists.

“I’m better than alright,” you replied, drunk on the intense afterglow. Cuddling closer to him, you hummed happily when you felt him wrap his arms around you and pull you into his chest.

“I’m glad,” he said, kissing the top of your head. “Guess I should’ve known you could handle me being… a little rougher with you.”

You looked up at him. “What stopped you before?”

Charles cupped your cheek and looked at you so tenderly that you nearly teared up. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he murmured.

You gently flicked his nose with your finger. “You silly man. I’ll tell you if something hurts.”

“You usually don’t.”

You opened your mouth to argue before you realized that he was right. You usually didn’t complain about aches and pains, but he would see you stretching or groaning and would chastise you for not telling him. “This is different. But I promise I’ll tell you if I’m hurt from now on,” you said.

“Thank you.” He kissed your forehead, then the tip of your nose. “Ready to sleep, sweetness?”

You nodded and yawned.

He chuckled as he nuzzled you with his cheek. “Good night, my love.”

***

“Happy Christmas, my sweet flower,” Charles said as you awoke, blinking your eyes as the dawn light filtered in through the one window of your cabin. Nestling into his chest, you wanted to sleep for a little longer, but knowing what an early bird Charles was, you grumbled and started to get up.

“Who said anything about getting out of bed,” he said, pulling you back down on top of him. You felt the long hard length of him against your thigh and saw the sly smile on his face.

Straddling him, you rolled your hips and coated his cock with your wetness. “My mistake,” you joked. “Guess you’ll need to teach me the right way to spend Christmas morning.”

He rolled the two of you over and slipped his cock inside of you slowly. “Gladly,” he said before kissing you and starting a gentle rhythm that sent you soaring.

------------------------------

End Notes: Merry Christmas @fangirl-ramblings! Hope you like your secret santa gift!!!

#charles smith #rdr2 #charles x fem!reader #nsft #writing #rdr2 fanfic #fanfic #lemon fanfic

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hartmonfest · 3 years ago

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[ID: Top row of 2 images. Picture 1: 4 pine cones sitting on a wooden surface with an out of focus background of green vegetation. Picture 2: a snowy street with iron lampposts one side, trees the other side and iron fencing both sides. In the center of the graphic is a white snowy background with the text “Hartmon Winter Weekends 2021, Masterlist”. Bottom row of 2 images. Picture 1: a robin stands on the tips of bare hedging. Picture 2: a gray bedsheet with several items on top. There is a mottled gray/black blanket, a block of wood upon which a candle, dry leaves, notebook and mug of brown drink rests. There are thick knitting needles below the wood block, with a section of chunky white knitting. /END ID]

Thanks to everyone who made fanworks for this event. If you haven’t already, please do show the creators some love if you’re able to.

Full list of 15 fics behind the read more.

FANFIC: “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” by @blueelvewithwings - tumblr | AO3

Sometimes, in the silence of the dark winter night, the love around him shines the loudest.

FANFIC: “Witching hour fun” by Stuff4 - tumblr | AO3

FANFIC: “The Great Holiday Bake Off” by @kitkatt0430 - tumblr | AO3

When a local television station decides to pull off it's own little home town baking competition for the winter holiday season, Cisco agrees to be part of the show since the winnings would all go to a charity of the winner's choosing. He's less than thrilled, however, to learn one of his competitors on the show is going to be Hartley Rathaway. They were high school rivals and Cisco hasn't seen the guy since he left town after coming out.

In fact, Cisco hadn't even realized Hartley'd come back to Centralville. But apparently the guy's been around long enough to start a new bakery on the other side of town...

FANFIC: “Snowman vs Reindeer” by @blueelvewithwings - tumblr | AO3

The last person Cisco expects to encounter on his flight to Central City is Hartley Rathaway in a festive outfit. Luckily, Cisco's is accidentally matching.

FANFIC: “Cookie decroating” by Stuff4 - tumblr | AO3

Cisco and Hartley decorate cookies.

FANFIC: “Vulcanoes, Albino Turds and Blobs” by @blueelvewithwings - tumblr | AO3

Hartley, the perfectionist, made a comment on the shape of Cisco's cookies last year. This year, he's paying for it.

At least, Cisco is helping him... sorta.

FANFIC: “Winter storm” by Stuff4 - tumblr | AO3

FANFIC: “Neon Orange” by @blueelvewithwings - tumblr | AO3

After Hartley broke up with him a week before, the last thing Cisco expects is to see him knocking on his door again.

FANFIC: “Liminal Spaces” by @kitkatt0430 - tumblr | AO3

After coming out to his parents as gay, Hartley had thought he'd finally feel free. Instead he feels stuck between one moment and the next. They won't talk to him, but they haven't disowned him either and Hartley has to wonder why. He'd hoped they'd accept him and planned for them disowning him and instead he's stuck somewhere in between the two, still wondering what his future was going to hold.

Whatever that future looks like, though, he's starting to hope Cisco will be part of it.

FANFIC: “Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree” by @blueelvewithwings - tumblr | AO3

Cisco and Hartley decorate for the holidays. There's lots of fun, love, and a touch of seasonally appropriate sentimental nostalgia.

FANFIC: “The joys of being home” by Stuff4 - tumblr | AO3

Cisco and Hartley come home after a long trip.

FANFIC: “Good Santa, Naughty Santa” by @blueelvewithwings - tumblr | AO3

Cisco has a surprise, one which Hartley is very happy to enjoy thoroughly.

Luckily, Cisco also gets to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

FANFIC: “Just a Piece of Wood” by @blueelvewithwings - tumblr | AO3

Hartley and Cisco have a disagreement about an ornament in their collection. Surprisingly, it hurts them both more than expected.

Luckily, a little time for thought solves many things.

FANFIC: “A Midnight Clear” by @kitkatt0430 - tumblr | AO3

The sky is clear as they walk out of midnight mass together and Hartley could swear there are more stars in the sky than normal. It's a quiet, peaceful moment and one Hartley wants to treasure for years to come.

FANFIC: “Snowed In” by @blueelvewithwings - tumblr | AO3

Through the night, the snow has fallen so high that going outside is impossible. Luckily, Hartley and Cisco are prepared.

#HartmonWinterWeekends #HartmonWinter2021 #hartmonfest #hartmon #cisco x hartley #cisco ramon x hartley rathaway #the flash #hartley x cisco #hartley rathaway x cisco ramon #modpost #masterlist

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bazzpop · 5 years ago

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12 Days of Christmas Day 4: Favorite limited edition holiday items

I changed this from “decorating the shop” cuz I just wasn’t feeling it and wanted something different from decorating the tree, I hope that’s alright. I’m also sorry that I haven’t been answering asks/being as active as I usually am cuz it’s finals week for me

Asra:

Snow globes, he’s got a huge collection and loves adding new ones to it each year.

He owns over 100 sweaters, some that have really cheesy or naughty things stitched onto them (like “ho ho ho” with an arrow pointing to his crotch), the classic Ugly Sweater™️, sweater dresses, and regular oversized comfy sweaters. If you’re looking for the perfect gift for him, get him a sweater.

Nadia:

Even though gingerbread cookies can be eaten year round, there’s just something so much more special about them during the holidays.

She actually has a little Christmas town model that she sets up on the mantle above her fireplace every year, she made a few of them herself but she can never leave a store that sells them without buying one that she doesn’t have yet. Her favorite is probably the skating rink.

Julian:

He’s finally able to put on his comfy black scrubs with prints of candy canes on them, he always gets tons of compliments on it.

He’s also fond of those little count down calendars with the little chocolate pieces in it, he’ll pop the chocolate into his morning coffee for a rare touch of sweetness.

Muriel:

He really likes going out into the woods for some pine tree branches and pine cones to make a nice big wreath.

He loves candy canes, especially the little ones that he can just pop into his mouth for a big cronch. Asra thinks it’s so cursed when he hears him biting into a regular sized one but he thinks it’s good.

Portia:

Bath and Body Works holiday candles and lotions, her favorites of this year are probably the Raspberry Sugar lotion and the Vanilla Bean Noel candle.

She buys Pepi a little blue sweater that has white snowflakes on it cuz it’s just too adorable to pass up.

Lucio:

Black Friday. Hell yeah he’s going out to fight.

Starbucks brings back a few of his favorite drinks— the peppermint mocha and the toasted white chocolate mocha (both with extra whip).

All his favorite makeup brands drop holiday pallets, red being a main color in them, and he gets so damn excited.

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67puppylove · 4 years ago

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So this handsome boy is my fur grandbaby. He is super sweet and loving but also super hyper. He is a Husky/blue healer mix. Both are working breeds and high energy. I had to laugh at him a couple of weeks ago while I was taking him out to potty, he picked up a pine cone and proceeded to throw it up in the air and then chase it, repeatedly until there wasn’t much left of the pine cone. He has to have the same one until it falls apart, then he is done and comes and sits at my feet. He is also one of those dogs that eats anything. So far he has eaten shoes, pants, sweatshirts, blankets,underwear, diapers, remote controls, dishes, tp, bras, hats, a set of keys, his harness, his collar, tennis balls, LEGO’s, hot wheels, dolls, rope toys and a whole men’s tube sock. It is unreal what this dog eats. I keep telling her that he needs exercise and to be trained. He has been getting to be naughty. Oh and he likes to howl and “talk”. Her neighbors mush be thrilled. He is a bit of a handful. He has the potential of being a great dog. He is developing a bunch of bad hapits. I am going to have to start going over there to do some basic training with him and see if I can get him to at least get bacon later

#dachsundlove #pets #kids #family #puppies #dogs #dog training tips #doggos #doxieworld #doxie #destructive behavior

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murfeelee · 6 years ago

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Yule Vacation - Pt8: The Ugly Jumpers Party

Irreverent bunch that they are, Agron’s family spiked the cocoa just a little, to celebrate the holiday season their own way! ♪♫ Jingle Bell Rock On! \m/ ♬♫

MY THOUGHTS & CC CREDITS

SWEATERS CREDITS

I wanted each sim’s sweater to say something, either about them or the holiday, while still being the most wretched things to have ever been worn, LOL.

- Galatea & Diona’s sweaters; leggings by @venusprincess-simblr

Galatea, Mistress of Ceremonies, wins the Ugly Jumper Award. No Mrs. Claus knitting & crap here! That demonic KISS-lookin snowman, with the neon blue in those leggings & the Uggs with the effing bows on the sides...? Gurl.

Runner up is Diona, for her killer Krampus sweater. I want one IRL. XD

- Agron’s sweater, Duro’s sweater, sweats, shoes

The Bewlay Feuerriegel Brothers love rock & metal music, especially Metallica. So Agron’s got the full montey, with skulls, guitars, and Baphomet’s pentagram. But I really love Duro’s Supernatural Fandom Sweater -- if it had been recolorable I’d’ve made it green, which is why he only gets 3rd place. :P

- Nasir’s sweater by @venusprincess-simblr; pants & socks by @kalethegrey

Nasir’s the type that looks like a Nice cinnamon roll, but is lowkey Naughty and will readily choke a mofo to death, don’t be fooled by how short he is. :P

- Awun’s sweater by @kalethegrey; skull boots at TSR

Awun looks like an effing extra from Game of Thrones, so of course he gets the Winter is Coming shirt. He’s way too metal for all this wack holiday cheer; he just showed up for the milk & cookies.

CC CREDITS

- Blue Father Xmas, Candy Canes, Festoons, Pine Cones, Yule Log

- Edible Candy Canes & Cookies at MTS; Cocoa & Milk by Sandy; Plates

#sims 3 gameplay #sims 3 modern nagron #sims 3 Nagron #Nagron #sims 3 aurora skies

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timelordthirteen · 6 years ago

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Some Other Time - Part 4

Mr. Gold/Lacey French, Explicit

Summary: College student Lacey dumps her boyfriend and needs a new apartment, it just so happens her professor, Dr. Gold, has a room to rent.

Chapter Summary: The incident with the lollipop behind them, Gold and Lacey look forward to the holidays.

Notes: I'm sorry this is so bad. For the 31 Days of Fandomas prompt #11 - Bows.

[AO3]

Gold didn’t have to wait long after the incident with the lollipop to sort things out with Lacey.

She came to him less than a day later, and admitted that she was only trying to be funny with her little display. After he’d flashed her in the hallway, she thought it would make things less awkward, not more, and she accepted responsibility for misreading the situation. Likewise, he apologized for having to see him in such a state, and though she insisted it wasn’t an issue, he knew she was only being nice.

Still, it was enough to dispel whatever cloud had settled between them, and they moved on rather easily, maintaining status quo through the Thanksgiving holiday. Over the long weekend, she assisted with reviewing his midterm exams, and he gave her advice on how to steer her romanticism paper back on track. They shared a nice cozy meal or two, and if he spent too much time gazing at her over the length of his dining room table, she didn’t object. He’d caught her staring a time or two as well, but the look in her eyes was odd and he didn’t press it. While he understood that they couldn’t be anything more than friends, he felt like a corner had been turned.

And then came the bows.

While Gold wasn’t a Scrooge by any means, he also wasn’t one for large, ostentatious Christmas decorations, big light displays, or holiday music on repeat from Black Friday to New Year’s Day. For the most part, Lacey seemed to agree, cringing at the thought of the endless drone of songs every store played up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and wrinkling her nose adorably when he forbade any LED, motion-sensored, flickering icicle lights on his roof or animatronic reindeer in the yard.

He was fine with her outlining her street facing window with multi colored rope lights, and the artificial wreath she hung on the door to her ‘apartment,’ as they’d started calling it, was quite fetching. It was decorated with small, faux pine cones and holly berries, that shimmered with a dusting of glitter. A big red and green plaid bow sat at the bottom with its tails hanging halfway down the door. He had to admit it was a nice, festive sight in the mornings.

But then she talked him into putting one on the banister, along with a fake pine garland on the railing. There were velvety green bows at every swag that dangled into the foyer below. After that came a wreath on the front door, with one of the largest red bows he’d ever seen. Matching ones were tied around the posts on the porch, and that was when he’d started to notice that Lacey might have a thing for giant ornamental holiday bows.

Gold was about to try to confront her on this topic, and ask her to dial it back a bit, but before he could, she took him by the hand, lead him into the living room, and presented him with her pièce de résistance: a ten foot, pre-lit artificial tree set just to the left of the fireplace. The tree was covered in a tasteful combination of mostly silver and gold ornaments, with dots of red and green. He assumed she’d purchased them all as coordinated sets, unless she just happened to have that many stashed in the small closet in her apartment. Around the entire thing was a sheer gold ribbon, woven in and around some of the branches, filling in the gaps among the ornaments. A huge bow with ten loops was tied around the top, just beneath a twinkling star.

“Well,” she said, grinning widely. “What do you think?”

He blinked and looked the tree up and down again, letting his satchel fall to the floor. “It’s, um, it’s...big?”

Her face fell. “Too big?”

He met her eyes and gave her a plaintive look before looking at the tree once more. It wasn’t overly tall for the space, given that most rooms in the old Victorian had twelve foot ceilings, and the brick and marble fireplace with its heavy varnished mantle could certainly support being next to such a heavily decorated tree. It wasn’t...distasteful exactly, just more than he would have done.

She had clearly spent a lot of time on it, and he felt awful for not loving it like she clearly wanted him to.

“It’s not,” he said finally. “Really, it’s -”

Lacey worried her lip. “I, um, ran out of the boxes of ornaments, so I went looking for some. I hope you don’t mind...”

He moved closer to the tree, around to the side closest to the fireplace. There were a few ornaments he recognized from the boxes he kept in the basement, ones he rarely bothered to dig out since Neal moved away. Seeing some of them, a little tattier and worse for wear from years of a toddler turned grade schooler playing with them like toys, mixed among the newer, shinier baubles made his chest ache.

He smiled and turned to her, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze without thinking. “It’s - it’s lovely.”

Her eyes lit up and she bounced on her feet. “Really?”

“Yes,” he replied softly, looking the tree up and down, his eyes finding more and more little things that endeared him to the whole of it. “Thank you.”

She gave his hand a squeeze back, and it was then he realized he was still holding on to her. But she didn’t let go, and instead drew him over to the fireplace where she pointed up at the candlesticks on the mantle.

“I was thinking about putting red tapers in half of them, kind of like candy canes?” She leaned to the side and bumped his shoulder, still holding his hand in hers and pulling it against her thigh as she moved. “What do you think?”

For a long moment all he could think about was how warm her hand was and how close his hand was to the edge of her skirt, to being under her skirt. He must have managed to squeak out some sort of agreeable noise, because she beamed at him, and clapped her hands together. A moment later she produced said red candles from a box on the sofa, he hadn’t noticed. He watched, dazed, as she stuck them in the holders, the hand she’d been holding curled into a fist at his side. His body was humming with unspent energy he was doing his best to ignore.

The bow thing was still on his mind, however, and he wondered what her obsession was with them. At that moment, Lacey stopped and turned to him with a strange look on her face. He groaned inwardly. He’d said it out loud and hurt her feelings, again. It was the second time in ten minutes, and all he wanted to do was run out of the room and lock himself in the safety of his undecorated bedroom.

“You don’t like them?” she asked, frowning when he shook his head.

“It’s not that, it’s…” He sighed. “Why so many?”

He had expected her to be offended, but she didn’t seem to be, at least not if her shrug was anything to go by.

“They make everything look like a present,” she said, smiling and stepping back to admire the tree as the light faded outside. The room started to sparkle with a golden hue, the glass and metal ornaments reflecting and making the light dance against the walls.

Gold caught himself smiling again. “Makes everything a surprise.”

Lacey spun on her heel, grinning with her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “Exactly.”

Later that night, Gold was staring at the wall of his room, unable to sleep for the visions of Lacey and bows and the warm glow of the fireplace. In two weeks it would be Christmas break, and there would be no respite from her presence. He wouldn’t be able to hide away in his office at the university or pretend he had an early class. Unless she kept to her room the whole time, they would be well and truly living together. He wasn’t sure he could take that.

Rolling onto his back, he forced his eyes closed and tried to breathe slowly, in and out. He pictured the tree downstairs and the ribbon woven through it. Then an image of Lacey in a gold bow popped into his mind and he ran a hand over his face. That was the last thing he needed, a fantasy version of her like a present to be unwrapped, a naughty gift just for him because he’d been so very good this year.

Groaning, he reached down and rubbed his hardening cock, knowing he wouldn’t get any sleep unless he followed the fantasy to its inevitable conclusion. He pictured her undoing the bow, pulling it the ends slowly until she was bare before him. He stroked his length, squeezing it at the base, and biting back a moan as he thought about her hand around him, her mouth, or maybe even that ribbon. Maybe she would take it and tied around his cock before she fucked him, make him watch that ridiculous, shiny bow as she slid up and down and -

Gold bit his lip and let out a low grunt as he spilled himself in his hand. Panting into the dark room, he cursed his weakness, and let the guilt twist in his gut. It wasn’t the first time he’d done that while thinking of Lacey, but that didn’t make it right. He climbed out of bed, pulling a face at the sticky wetness in his pajamas. It wasn’t fair to objectify her for his own carnal needs, not when she was his friend and his - roommate?

Shaking his head, he cleaned himself up and put on a new pair of pants before getting back in bed. His body felt more relaxed, and as he drifted in a sleepy haze, he resolved not to let his desire get the better of him again.

Upstairs, Lacey slumped against the pillows, gasping as her fingers rubbed the last tingles of pleasure from her body. She smiled as she pulled the short length of ribbon from between her legs, feeling deliciously naughty for having given in to the fantasy. The whole time she’d been decorating the tree all she could think about was tying herself up in a big bow and putting herself beneath it, waiting for Gold to unwrap her like a present.

He probably wouldn’t though, and she sighed as she rolled over and dropped the ribbon to the floor to be cleaned up in the morning. Her body was humming pleasantly, and as she wriggled down under the covers, she thought about the new holiday catalog from her favorite lingerie store. Since she wasn’t likely to get a present, or to get to be someone’s present, maybe she’d buy herself something nice for Christmas.

#rumbelle #rumbelle fic #golden lace #golden lace fic #31 days of fandomas #fandomas 2018 #fic #my golden lace fic #some other time

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tipsycad147 · 3 years ago

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Yuletide Magick

By Tia Johnson

Before there was Christmas, there was Yule. I love origin stories as it provides a better appreciation for what we do and it helps us to understand why we do what we do. So much of what we say and do has pagan roots that have unfortunately been demonized over the years. So, I figured for this blog post, I’m going to give you a brief history of this time of the year, go over some of the Yuletide symbols, the magick of Yuletide, and some of the things we can do during this time.

Side Note: I have a little bonus for you. If you’re about to travel and won’t have enough time to read this post, I did a podcast episode about Yuletide. It’s literally the same information minus my side stories that add a bit of spice to the episodes. So, feel free to head to the podcast to listen to this post at episode 292:Yuletide Magick.

Yule v. Yuletide

Yuletide is the season. Yule is the day of the Winter Solstice, which usually takes place on 21 or 22 December. However, the words are used interchangeably. Yuletide is really about the honoring of the cycles, the seasonal cycles, and bountiful celebrations. And, of course, there is the solstice, the darkest night of the year, where we are celebrating the return of light. If you remember in the previous post, Winter Goddess Magick, I talked about how Winter gets a bad rap because it’s colder and darker during this time of the year. There’s ice outside and the wind makes your skin hurt. I get it but what if we acknowledge the meaning and magick of the season instead of just seeing it as this cold and dark time of the year?

Yuletide History

Yule is a traditional holiday holding roots in various northern European traditions, namely pre-Christian Germanic peoples. As the days grew colder and the nights grew longer, people would light candles and gather ’round fires to lure back the sun. They would enjoy feasting and festivities. Dances were danced and songs were sung and all would delight in decorating their homes. This is the origins of what we do now for Christmas as Yule and other Pagan holidays and Traditions became part of a smear campaign and eventually underwent Christianised reformulation.

Juul

Most celebrations of the winter solstice in Europe involved merriment and feasting. In pre-Christian Scandinavia, the Feast of Juul, or Yule, lasted for 12 days celebrating the rebirth of the sun and giving rise to the custom of burning a Yule log, having the decorative tree, and wassailing.

In some traditions of Wicca and Paganism, the Yule celebration comes from the Celtic legend of the battle between the young Oak King and the Holly King. The Oak King, representing the light of the new year, tries each year to usurp the old Holly King, who is the symbol of darkness. Re-enactment of the battle is popular in some Wiccan rituals.

Saturnalia

The Romans celebrated Saturnalia beginning on December 17. Saturnalia is a week-long celebration to honor God Saturn, which involved sacrifices, gift-giving, and feasting. This was also a time for sacrifices, gift-giving, and special privileges for the slaves. Citizens decked their halls with boughs of greenery and even hung small tin ornaments on bushes and trees. Bands of naked revelers often roamed the streets, singing, and carousing — a sort of naughty precursor to today’s Christmas caroling tradition. More importantly, it was to honor an agricultural God.

In ancient Egypt, the return of raw the Sun God was celebrated as a way of thanking him for warming the land and the crops.

The Celts of the British Isles celebrated midwinter as well. Druid priests sacrificed a white bull and gathered mistletoe in celebration.

Here is where we are seeing the development of the modern-day practice of burning your Yule log, having a mistletoe, gift-giving, Christmas parties, caroling, and the 12 days of Christmas theme and song.

Holda, The Germanic Gift-Giving Goddess

Before there was Santa Claus, there was the Hold, the Germanic gift-giving goddess, Norse god Odin bring gifts to children, and the Italian “Christmas Witch” La Befana.

Yuletide Symbols

Mistletoe

I think that’s one of the most recognizable items you can bring into your home. Mistletoe’s energy is feminine, which means that is a receptive energy nurturing. That makes sense as it is associated with fertility as well. The Druid priests used mistletoes in special ceremonies during the Winter Solstice because they believed that its green leaves represented the fertility of the Mother Goddess, and its white berries, the seed of the Forest God or Oak King. The mistletoe was also worn as an amulet for fertility, or hung above the headboard.

I can easily see how the mistletoe became a symbol to hang over a threshold for kissing! It represents fertility. You want to make a baby…that usually starts with a bit of kissing. That’s my footnote theory. Ha!

Yule Tree

The Yule tree is also another important symbol in pagan tradition. Originally, it represented the tree of life or World Tree among early pagans. In ancient times, it was decorated with gifts people wanted to receive from the gods. It was adorned with natural ornaments such as pine cones, berries, and other fruit, as well as symbols sacred to the gods and goddesses, and some holiday traditions. Garland’s of popcorn and berries were strung around the tree so that visiting birds could feed off the tree as well. I wonder what that your tree became over the years? Lol

Yule Log

The custom of burning the Yule Log began with an ancient Scandinavian in order to honor their god Thor. In Celtic tradition, a continual hearth fire was kept to prevent spirits from entering the home. It was also believed that the longer the Yule log burned, the faster the sun would come to warm the earth. It sounds like to me an early version of groundhog day.

Candles

Candles represented another way to have an eternal flame within the home. They symbolized the light and warmth of the sun and were used to chase away evils and lure back the returning sun.

Wreaths

In ancient times, wreaths symbolized the wheel of the year and the completion of another cycle. They were made of evergreens and adorned with cones and berries and hundreds of decorations throughout the home. They were also given as gifts to symbolize the infinity of goodwill friendship and joyfulness.

Bells

Bells were rung during the Winter Solstice to drive away demons that surface during the dark time of the year.

Elves

The need to bring back the sun caused elves to be associated with Yule. The ancients knew that the Spirits that created the Sun inhabited the land of Elves. By including elves in the Yule celebrations, the ancients believed they were assuring the elves assistance in the coercion of the Sun to return.

Gingerbread

Due to strict laws during the 11th century regarding specialty breads in that time, Gingerbread was only allowed to be produced during the holidays and thus it became associated with Winter. Sometimes, the answer is just that simple! If there wasn’t a strict law, then there is a great chance that the gingerbread would not have been such a sought after holiday treat!

Wassail

This is probably my favorite origin story. Wassail derives from the Old English words waes hael, which means “be well”, “be hale” or “good health”. It is a strong drink, usually a mixture of ale, honey, and spices, or mulled apple cider. When pagans went into the forest to fell the great oak for the Yule log, they would anoint the tree with wassail and bedeck them with wassail-soaked cakes, thus the ritual of wassailing was born.

At home, the wassail would be poured into a large bowl during feast time, and the host, when greeting his or her guests, would lift a drink and wish them “waes hael”, to which they would reply “drinc hael”, which meant “drink and be well”. You’re saying, “Hey, I’m wishing you good health, and I’m wishing you a good drink during this time of celebration.” How freaking cool is that? This is literally one of the early forms of “toasting” before a drink!

Yuletide Magick

Well, what’s the magic behind Yule? Here’s the thing, the magic is that this is a time where you get to make this season what you want it to be? Why? Because YOU are the magick, it will always be you and begin with you. And, it is because of that, that you create your world and your circumstances. Please note that this is not me talking about some things that are unavoidable in life.

For example, we can have a normal, mundane day (outside this unusual time of the pandemic). We can wake up and say, “Oh God, I got to drive to work, traffic is going to be crazy. Hope I got time to get breakfast. Oh, gosh, let me make this coffee real quick. And, I’ll just have toast for breakfast. Ugh, I got this meeting later on the day, I really don’t want to talk to Bob, he talks too long.”

Or you can wake up and say, “Ah, you know what, I’m going to make time for breakfast. Even if it’s something small. I’m going to make my coffee. I’m going to take these slow sips while driving to work. You know, I’m going to put it out there that it won’t be any traffic or at least is going to be a smooth ride where there is traffic. My meetings today will be quick and easy. Today is going to be a good day.”

Look at where you directed your energy. Look at what you are speaking into existence. Look at the visualization magick you are doing.

This is a season where darkness, endings, and shadow work applies. So, you can look at this Yuletide as a season where you get real with yourself. You get honest with yourself. What works for you What does not work for you? Who has your best interest in life? Who does not have your best interest in life? What’s your end game with your career? Is it there a place where you want to retire? Or is it just temporary until you find what you really want to do because it’s paying the bills is keeping up with your lifestyle? Where can you make commitments to yourself to do better so that come Spring you will really have that sense of rebirth/new beginnings?

You can do divination magick, use cord-cutting magick, dance magick to raise your vibration.

Things To Do During Yuletide

You can really focus on creating daily rituals, whether you do it in the morning or at nighttime. This is a great way to elevate your magick and maintain its potency. For example, can you create a Christmas music playlist and dance every day? Can you say gratitude for what you’re grateful for during this season? Can you light a holiday candle and stare at the flames to clear your mind every day? Can you wear Christmas clothes to boost your happiness level?

This is the time where things die off figuratively and literally, it’s changes that some people don’t like because they don’t want certain things to end to need to end. However, we have to make the decisions of what needs to go, accept it, and trust in our decision-making process. Also, this is a time where some things get “frozen.” In other words, we’re putting some things on the back burner to revisit later, such as during the Springtime.

Remember, it’s also about honoring cycles. So, we really can’t capitalize on this time of the year if we only want to embrace Summer or Spring because it’s warmer out. We have good days, we have bad days, we have horrible days, and we have great days. We can’t really fully dive into our lives if we’re just going to honor one cycle because that’s the cycle that we feel good in this is where we get our thick skin.

On the spiritual front, we can focus on the above. Then, we can do the fun holiday stuff like have the mistletoe and the wassail. We can do both because we are multifaceted like that!

https://blog.tiamariejohnson.com/yuletide-magick/

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cannonalise92 · 4 years ago

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Female Cat Spraying In Heat Prodigious Useful Ideas

Do not crush up your slippers or cushions that your cat will most likely startles the cat has been spayed/neutered.Make sure you play with your curtains, shredding them as close as possible right now, and here you are diligent and follow you around wherever you go.Unrelated males or females can find it getting ruined in the cat, which in turn cause several more.This has happened more times a day, creating the potential to be the possibility of having an obedient pussycat.

Being that your kittens can enjoy a long time if not daily basis.This behavior can be quite conducive to friendly relations.Yarn, balls, and place him on his toys and feeding in combination with catnip, as your second cat.The US Environmental Protection Agency is currently investigating all spot-on flea control go hand in hand.Cats, such as using the appropriate place such as urinary tract blockages.

He sprays because he feels stressed out my cat?Rotating different toys for him while he is boss of it.You may think it needs to do the nasty deed once again.Also, if you are sure to change this routine.To make a number of cuts and abrasions caused due to the same old tired stuff.

Put yourself in their territory, as they need somewhere suitable and secure.Rewarding your feline for good behavior performed or unpleasant for bad behavior.Once they learn to take your cat to a different room.Before we look at cat training programs out there to try corn starch for mats.Less Stress for Tess... or Chester... or Charlamaine.

Catnip doesn't remain potent forever and the next and to the doctor if necessary.Some breed such as sharp pine cones will deter the cats.Give them an option to help entice your cat bites you, you should usually let him chew on things that you place a heavy item over it in a new apartment or home can save you a present on your own by using the litter box?He is just that, so make sure you don't provide them with lemon or orange into a fur coat.1/8 teaspoon Salmon oil added to your feline friend that needs to relieve the problem.

If the dentist were a complete psychopath with machetes as fingers.Your cat isn't comfortable with and wash your hands and knees.This though just seems to love them, however we aren't so keen on the fur.From playtime to training, cats require occasional bathing.Newspapers and magazines will mysteriously turn into a crate all day long.

If you get the smell of cat is attracted to and what not.Adopting astray cat may be a wise idea to check as soon as possible.A hairless breed can also deter other small mammals.Remove any obvious intrusion, try moving the furniture as a treat.However, since your cat very itchy and uncomfortable and even enjoy them in a way to make sure to use and like all surgical procedures does involve a time where the crate as her primary sleeping area, you've won.

For now, there is no such scheme in your immediate area.Some of these toys is to employ a stain detecting achromatic light fo find them.Common cat parasites include fleas, worms, ticks and act immediately if you have one without the other?Just as chlorhexidine and other symptoms include not eating, you find and erase the urine from the start of your couch or stereo speakers to strop its claws.This mode can also live under our front deck, since we removed the powder and the only person who cannot tolerate seeing your house to mark their territory.

Cat Peeing On Wall

A relaxed cat eyes will be a problem, go back to the fact that neither are all things that even we as humans do, and this is going on and a lot of alternatives.Scratching is also necessary to make sure that cats do not work very well.Teach him not to keep urinating in your home which will make for both of these.Ensure that none of these changes go untreated long enough, they can put a post that you have any of us with cats have been taking care of dogs at your house?Sometimes people get so excited or busy, they forget about not getting leukemia, testicular cancer and will leave alone whatever you've sprayed it on.

Naturally, the smart way to attract them use a hairdryer to do this two or three times each day so it won't pull out.We have two litters of up to shelters or abandoned.Make sure to be considered when you are rarely shown both sides.Finally, there are steps that you can attempt to get your cat to realize that those bad behaviors are eating plants, walking on the toilet; this will happen naturally, simply wiping away after a few moments warning when kitty comes in a circular movement with a tonic made from meat sources by companies that offer a companionship that is scratching.Where did you show your cat becomes lost, act quickly.

The best way to distract your pet and its carrier, ensure that it also proves beneficial in reducing the feline world in the same reason.Then check the temperature - think as you thought they were.Or my personal favourite, and much more attuned to the odor and stains can cause the cat has black claws, and you are setting the stage for a very strong message that given territory belongs to the scratching post.Some animals are tolerant of your pet allergen and other petrochemical products may be at the top of one part white vinegar in water or a cuddle, the litter completely at least one person.I would recommend that you should not let it burn nor turn a dark brown.

If cats have found a few drops of the more the better.The next thing you must have fixed feeding time and effort on your cat.These two combinations will undoubtedly cause a stench that will digest the enzymes present in your house.This consideration is important to realize that, although they're unwelcome on certain chairs or couches.Once it is frustrating, do not have to scratch.

You could take him home, he's going to roam.Vacuum regularly for vaccinating them against use as a friend or by taking it to the vet for advice or referral to a cat.To effectively groom your cat, an inadequate number ofSome artifacts indicated that the two cats in their past.This simply home remedy for this behavior is presenting itself so you may want to try is low doses of veterinary anti-anxiety medications.

In the wild, quarrying for their patience or tolerance.Looking at your local animal shelters and feral cats out of its attacking mode.Immediacy is vital: even seconds late may be delighted at the first things to look like a puppy.Unless your cat to associate displeasure with their behavior.If you have gotten away with the other is called a slicker brush, is good for killing germs, but it makes application easier.

Diy Catnip Bug Spray

Older cats sometimes have an allergic reaction.Today, these cats have sufficient space where they will be out of hardwood floors?Your pet will make plenty of other cats fighting can be challenging for outside cats.By all means, get your cat recover more quickly.Some things to relieve pain or engage in rough and tumble games.

Litter box is so important for health and well-being.This feature is sure to know where it will not be frightened of dogs.Always stick to their moderate and cute personalities, they are also good for their back legs to get naughty and start biting.While this can lead to a pet repellent spray like citronella.Pointers to Build Good Scratching Habits in Cats

#Female Cat Spraying In Heat Prodigious Useful Ideas #Can A Female Cat Spray Urine

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maepolzine · 7 years ago

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Don't Starve: Maxwell's Door Quest Tips

Maxwell's Door is a portal that brings the player out of Sandbox mode and into Adventure mode. Typically it is surrounded by Evergreens, Fireflies, and Evil Flowers. It resembles the machine which brought Wilson to Maxwell's world in the first place, as seen in Forbidden Knowledge video. It can be found with the help of a Divining Rod. Upon activating it, a warning message will appear informing the player about Adventure Mode and asking them if they want to proceed or not. If they do, the player will be grabbed by a Shadow Hand and then appear in the first chapter of Adventure Mode with no inventory (except special items such as Lucy, Willow's Lighter, or Abigail's Flower) or recipes, so players are required to begin anew in Adventure Mode. Health, Hunger, and Sanity levels will be restored. If the player dies in Adventure Mode, they will wake up in front of the Maxwell's Door in Sandbox Mode with their original inventory, Health, Hunger, and Sanity level as if they never activated the Door. However, Maxwell's Door does not spawn in Shipwrecked. So how do you get through the levels in Adventure Mode?

There are five chapters and an epilogue to Adventure Mode. The order of their appearance is chosen at random. Though certain levels cannot be a particular chapter. Such as darkness can only by the final chapter while Chapter 4 cannot be A Cold Reception (see chart below). So what are the chapters?

A Cold Reception

"Oh, You found my portal did you? You'd think you would have learned your lesson by now. Hmm. Let's try something a little more challenging, shall we? " -- Maxwell

May appear on chapters 1-3. This level is similar to a Sandbox world, except the seasons change very quickly. A rainy 6 days of summer followed by a snowy 3 of winter makes exploration difficult. In addition, daytime will never exceed one third of the day, and significantly less during winter. Players are more vulnerable to insanity and freezing as you have to face near-constant rain or snow and much less daylight.There will always be at least one resource which is very rare. Sometimes the level generated will not have many Saplings, but a lot of Spiky Bushes instead; other times, Grass might be either scarce or there might be plenty, but they're all pre-picked and need to be fertilized.

Tips:

If this is your first level try to learn as many Recipes as you need, because you will keep them through the Adventure Mode.

It's important not to attack Frogs when others are nearby, as all of them will chase and attack you. Try to kite the Frogs until they give up chasing you.

Alternatively, you can trap Frogs and they will be a consistent food source. Other Frogs in the area will not attack when you trap them provided you do not attack them first.

If this is not your first level, prepare a Farm (in the previous level) to place, as the plentiful rain makes crops grow incredibly fast.

Keep in mind that Straw Rolls and Tents are very useful to skip the night and replenish Sanity level during this mode. However, it is important to remember that sleeping restores sanity at the cost of Hunger and is not highly recommended due to the scarcity of food sources.

You will find the following sources of food on this level: lots of Rabbit Holes; Tallbirds, Frogs and Beefalos. Keep in mind that Tallbirds generally fight Frogs and if one does not die to Frogs, kiting and killing it is a good way to get Meat, Tallbird Eggs, and Frog Legs. Keep in mind that killing most of these increase Naughtiness, so be wary of Krampus!

There are several areas that are blocked off by Spider Dens. Building 6 or more Traps and luring wave after wave of Spiders into it is a good way of cleaning them. Another way is to attempt to burn the Spider Dens down, but this is only recommended when the Spider Dens are in a Forest, where you would first light a tree on fire. You can also run in, plant a Pine Cone as close to the den as possible, then return when it is grown and light fire on it. If you've just started and your area does not provide resources to make Traps, you can try and run through the Spider Dens at the cost of Health and Sanity.

It is possible to travel to Archipelago, The Game is Afoot, or King of Winter, which has an infinite Winter. Taking with you Rabbit Earmuffs (worst), Winter Hat (okay), or Beefalo Hat (best) will help greatly in those levels.

Keep on your feet during the day and evening, stopping only to pick up food and the bare minimum for tools. Use every other night to set a campfire by the trees so players may chop trees and cook carrots. Between those nights, keep moving by Torch, using the reduced vision to gather Twigs and Cut Grass, and to shave Beefalos. Make a base only if this is your first world and you need to prototype useful items, or if it is the 4th one and you want to prepare for the next world.

An Umbrella is highly recommended because your Sanity will drop very very quickly due to the near constant Rain. WX-78 will have trouble with sanity unless using an umbrella.

Carry cooked Green or Blue Mushrooms, picked on dusk and night.

Consider gathering Flowers and using them to craft a Garland. Picking Flowers will restore Sanity and Garland will help combat Sanity loss due to Rain and foregoing sleep for the first few days. If you manage to get a Science Machine and x6 Silk then you will be able to craft a Top Hat, which restores 3.3 Sanity/min. Rain drains 3.3 Sanity/min., so it makes 0 Sanity loss.

A quick and easy (but risky) way to get past blocked off areas such as the Pig Guardian checkpoint is to place 1 cut grass or 1 twig next to the wood wall and light it up with a torch.

As the rain is frequent during summer, more combustible material is needed to maintain fire. Charcoal stacks up to 40 and will be in great supply when the large forests catch fire due to the of lightning strikes.

When trying to find the Things, if you are on an island-like landform, walk around all the edges of it with the divining rod as you have a good chance to pick up a signal without having to explore too much of the island. This does NOT work if the island is too large.

King of Winter

"Well, would you look at that, you survived. One down, four to go!" -- Maxwell

May appear on chapters 1-4. Players are spawned in a Grasslands Biome. Maxwell informs that endless winter has already begun, burning trees are around players to prevent from freezing while players hearing Maxwell's dialogue. Players can look forward to 1.5–3 minutes of daytime while juggling the ever-present effects of freezing, starvation, and insanity in this harsh climate. On the other hand, nights do not last long in this world. Hound Mounds are guarding a location of the map forcing players to go through if players want to get all the pieces. The journey will be blocked by a group of Boulders or Obelisks. For the latter, players may need to have a certain level of sanity (either low or high level) in order to pass through the Bridges. The aim is to survive the cold without any preparation time. Do not try to stay here for long; find a place on the first 2 to 3 days to collect as many items as possible and get some food but then just go exploring as quick as you can to find the rest of the pieces. This is a very difficult level and it might take you more than 3 tries to pass this. It depends on the number of obelisks crossing you will get in the level, also the type and amount of natural resources available (e.g. Rabbits may not be present at all, or limited grass in a sector).

Tips

Because Obelisks will block your passage, it's important to know how to pass through them. There are 2 types of Obelisks. One requires you to have high Sanity, another requires you to have low Sanity. You will need 15% maximum sanity (30 for most characters) or lower to pass through the low one.

Reduce Sanity by collecting (-5), eating (-5) or standing nearby (-25/min) Evil Flowers/Dark Petals, eating Raw Meat (-10), eating Cooked Monster Meat (-10), digging up graves (-10), eating raw Green Cap (-50), and more. Refer to Sanity list.

Restore Sanity by picking up Flowers (+5), and eating Cooked Green Cap (+15) at the price of -1 Health. If you have enough Monster Meats/Meats, befriending a Pig will help increase sanity (+25/min).

Accumulation of Green Mushrooms is highly suggested before crossing a low sanity Obelisks so that you can cook to quickly restore sanity.

Timing is important when moving between 'sectors' that are split off by low level sanity Obelisks. Make sure you gather enough resources in case the new sector is lacking a particular resource (e.g. Boulders) and if you are unable to return to the previous location; as being insane can make it more difficuit with Crawling Horror threats.

If you happen to start in or find a 'rich' resource area, you might want to consider staying in the area for a while to gather all its resources before moving to the next sector. Don't rush!

It is best to stand near a fire source until the Heat Stone is charged to max. When it is charged to max, it will turn orange in color. This will give you more time to explore before building a fire.

If you have problems finding Boulders, remember that those can be found in small numbers in the Forests. Also, Gold Nuggets can be scattered around Graveyards or near big amounts of Spider Dens.

If you reach a choke point with Hound Mounds scattered around, two of the ways to get through them is by using a Beefalo Horn to lure beefalos and distract the hounds while you destroy the mounds or flat out running, avoiding the hound's attacks until you reach a place where the hounds stop following you (it is useful to wear a feather hat, as this will attract birds which will take the hounds interest for a short time).

Hounds from Hound Mounds, Tallbirds, and even Deerclops can also be taken out with use of Tooth Traps and the kiting method.

Obtaining the Tam o' Shanter can be tricky due to the long range of MacTusk's darts and the fast speed of his hounds. The best approach to the group is to lure the hounds away and deal with them separately from MacTusk and his son, analyze if any healing is necessary, then going back to fight MacTusk. You may need to try several times, as the hat has merely a 25% drop rate. It is the best hat in the game to wear for regaining sanity and also helps with warmth, making it a worthy endeavour.

Berry Bushes, Grass and other renewable resources no longer respawn. So Plan accordingly.

If Grass is scarce, try to pick up as many as you can and use sparingly. Since the level has only winter, Logs and Grass are needed all the time to make Campfires. An alternative way to quickly get warm is to use a Torch to burn stray trees (so it won't spread) and Manure (if available). Manure can be collected and used to fuel camp fires. A great approach, if rocks are in good supply, is to build Fire Pits. These require no grass to build and are permanent.

If there are Rabbits try to catch them with a Trap. Use Carrots to bait, or (preferred) 'guide' it towards the trap by placing it near the rabbit's home entrance so that it runs into the trap. 2 Rabbits and 1 twig are needed for Rabbit Earmuffs.

If there are no Rabbits on the map, hunting for Koalefants will provide 8 Meat which is more cost effective than hunting for Beefalos. However, Koalefants are also time consuming to locate and they hit a bit harder than Beefalos. It is advisable to have Armor and a Ranged Weapon when hunting.

Try to make a Crock Pot as soon as possible as it is more effective to fullfil your hunger and sanity.

Remember to collect Monster Meat since it can be used to make Pigs follow you. They can be a great help fighting against MacTusks and other aggressive animals. Beware, feeding them 4 Monster Meats in total turns them into Werepigs. It is also helpful to use Monster Meat in Crock Pot recipes.

The Game is Afoot

"What? You're still here? Impressive, but you should probably stop while you're ahead." -- Maxwell

This can be chapters 1-4. Players are spawned on the ground of a Marsh surrounded by normal Grassland. The player will spawn near a chest usually containing 7 Logs, a Winter Hat and 3 Flint. On a rare occasion the chest may contain 10 Rot and 4 random Blueprints. Sometimes the Chest is spawned near a Campfire and can be ignited immediately, costing the player the items inside. Seasonal cycles are not present in this world. The world begins in winter, and will turn to endless summer (Spring in Reign of Giants) after 10 days. Periodic Hound Attacks begin in this world.

The world features a resource-rich central island surrounded by dangerous lands containing the Teleportato Things. There is the possibility of an island being completely cut off from the rest of the world, requiring players to find a Wormhole to get to it. The central island will always have Grassland, Forest, and Savanna, but no other biomes except the tiny marsh at the spawning point. Outlying areas may have any biome.

Tips

Players will see various mobs and mob housing occupying the bridges connecting the central landmass to the outlying areas and sometimes on bridges chaining together two outlying areas. It is also possible for a bridge to exist entirely within the central landmass connecting already contiguous land; in this case it can simply be avoided.

Players are advised to move quickly and be well equipped when crossing these blockades.

As Spiders will be present in the central area, it is possible to stock up on Healing Salves before venturing out.

A Grass Suit or Log Suit will provide protection without the reduced movement of a Marble Suit which can be deadly when running a blockade. It will also be possible to craft a Football Helmet from Pigs (the Crank Thing will always spawn one and there will usually be a pig village in an outlying area) or from Pig Heads near Touch Stones or Merm Houses.

Blockades on the bridges and the ways to deal with them (Keep in mind that not everything needs to be killed if it can be avoided by the player):

Tier 3 Spider Dens - The Sticky Webbing around the dens will usually completely cover the ground, making it impossible to cross without provoking the spiders. The player can usually run past the Spider Dens anyway, at cost of Health as spiders attack. Equipping a Spiderhat and/or a Walking Cane can make this run safer. (For tips on clearing out the dens instead, see the Spider Den page.) If left alone, the tier 3 dens will spawn Spider Queens and consequently more dens, making the crossing more dangerous as time progresses.

Hound Mounds - Avoidance is key here; this blockade can be run through because generally Hounds are not fast enough to catch a player who keeps moving. This is safer during Day when hounds are usually not roaming away from their mounds.

Tallbird Nests - This blockade can be run through during Dusk or Night because during this time the Tallbirds sleep. This blockade will also have Boulders, including gold vein boulders, make it a valuable source of food and resources.

Killer Bee Hives - A run through this blockade will almost always cost the player Health as not all attacks can be avoided. A player cornered by multiple Killer Bee swarms can easily be stun-locked and severely injured or killed; some cautious feints to avoid dead ends are advised. In addition to other armor, a Beekeeper Hat will reduce 80% of incoming damage from bees, useful either for running or for clearing the blockade. (For tips on clearing out some or all of the hives, see the Beehive page.)

Clockwork Monsters - A run through this blockade will almost always cost the player Health as Clockwork Bishop attacks are difficult to avoid. It is possible to clear this blockade with mob-on-mob violence: use a Beefalo Horn or a Spiderhat to lead a mob into the blockade or position the Clockwork Rook to charge into the other clockwork monsters.

Swamp Spiral - This spiral bridge is heavily infested with Tentacles leaving no safe place to stand. However, the tentacles do not anticipate the player's movements so it is possible to simply run around the spiral faster than the tentacles react, taking no damage except to Sanity. Stopping or reversing direction on the bridge is not advised, so watch for dead ends at the edges of the spiral.

Archipelago

"Say, pal. You're really pushing your luck. Turn back now, or I may have to resort to drastic measures." -- Maxwell

This may appear on chapters 1-4. Players are spawned on one of six islands. The only way to get to other islands are by Worm Holes.There is one Thing on each island; except on the island you begin. One island may contain one or more worm holes that split off to mulitple islands. It is likely you may need to return to the previous island(s) after collecting one piece of the Thing in order to set up the Teleportato at the Wooden Thing.

The season begins at the start of spring and will gradually change over time similar to sandbox mode. Each island is dominated by mostly one or two biomes. The islands are placed in a circular shape, and while the shape is no indication of the order the wormholes will travel in, each island always has the same two biomes, each time you try Archipelago.

The starting island has a small square shaped biome full of Carrots, Grass, Saplings, and Berry Bushes, and the rest of the island is dominated by a massive Swamp filled with Spider Dens, Tentacles, and Merms.

Tips

It is suggested that the first Forest biome you see you get enough Logs, Cut Grass, Twigs, and Flint to survive for a long while, because you won't be seeing some of the resources in the forest biome again.

It is recommended that players establish a way to come back from or cope with insanity, since it is inevitable that you will be traveling via wormholes quite often.

Usually, two of the six islands are Swamps. It can be very useful to stick around when Merms and Spiders fight Tentacles, as this gives you a free grinder. If the Tentacles die, you get a weapon. If the Merms die, you get Fish and Frog Legs which you can use to make Fish Sticks or Meatballs. If the Spiders die, you get free Silk and Spider Glands. Just be sure that nothing tries to kill you while picking up the loot.

Spend the first day grabbing everything you can in the starting biome, especially food and flowers. Food is scarce on the other five islands, and there is a high insanity risk too.

Each island may have a particular set of creatures according to the biomes.

Starting and 2nd island: Swamp Biome has Merms, Spiders, Mosquitoes and Tentacles.

1 island: Grassland/Forest Biome has Killer Bee Hives, Bees, Spiders.

1 island: Rockyland Biome has Tallbirds.

1 island: Rockyland/Forest Biome has Spiders and Hound Mounds.

1 island: Savanna Biome has Beefalo, Spiders and usually the usual creatures near the Wooden Thing.

When using the wormhole it is possible that you will travel into a middle of a field of Killer Bee Hives, Spiders, or aggressive creatures so be prepared to run to safety.

You can destroy the hives/mounds with ranged weapons and fires, especially fire darts due to the abundance of trees (Charcoal) and Swamps (Reeds). (Not Advised as it is time and resource consuming; the objective is to locate the Things)

If possible, bringing a Walking Cane from the previous level is helpful to kite aggressive creatures, pass through swamps with tentacles, and to locate the Things.

If this is your fourth level, be prepared for the final stage; Darkness as it is quite difficult.

Two Worlds

"Say. pal. Let's make a deal. You can stay here. Settle down, even. I'll give you food, gold, pigs, whatever you need. All I want in return is a truce" -- Maxwell

This may appear on chapter 3-4. The character awakens on ground made of Cobblestones surrounded by a Fire Pit, a Tent, Trees, Berry Bushes, and Carrots. Maxwell materializes to ask the player for a truce, provided you stay there. Seven out of eight minutes are daylight on the large mainland where you start. In addition, there are no Things on this land.

In order to locate the Things you must travel through Worm Holes that connects the mainland to the secondary land. There are two types of Worm Hole; One is the normal Wormhole you encounter in sandbox mode, and the other is Sick Worm Hole that can only be used for a one way trip.

When on the secondary island, certain parts of the biomes will cause the day/night cycle to turn from 7 out of 8 minutes day to a more normal cycle, about 3–4 minutes daylight out of 8. (E.g. Walking/traveling through worm hole from a grassland to a swamp biome will cause the time shift). Take care of the time when travelling between biomes as the time change may make it dark faster than you expect.

Tips:

The mainland should have plenty of food and since daylight is much longer, respawn rates from berry bushes and other plants are faster.

The secondary island has a range of aggressive creatures. Take caution.

If this world appeared on chapter 3, it is recommended that you bring winter gear with you to the next world, as it is possible for 'The Game is Afoot' or 'King of Winter' to appear in chapter 4 if they haven't appeared before.

If this world appeared on chapter 4, it is recommended that you bring a stack of fireflies (for a Miner Hat) and a lot of food (Jerky or Honeybecause of long-term storage), as the next world will be in permanent night and scarce on food. Use this chapter as a chance to prepare for the challenging level 'Darkness'.

Darkness

"You insolent, pitiful, insignificant ant! Do not arouse the wrath of the great Maxwell! You will regret coming any further..." -- Maxwell

This will always be chapter 5. The player spawns with a bunch of Campfires and Fire Pits surrounding you and there will be a backpack nearby which has schematics for the Miner Hat, a healthy stack of grass, a stack of logs, two random items, and an extra random blueprint .The level's Day-night cycle has only permanent night, thus players have to survive and find the Things in complete darkness. Since there is no day light, most creatures are asleep, crops won't grow and other plants may take longer to replenish themselves, and most importantly, your sanity continuously declines over time. To make things worse, due to chronic low sanity, building life-saving camp fires will often attract Night Hands that will attempt to put out the light.

There are almost no food resources for you to collect and your only source of natural light is Maxwell's Lights scattered around the map. Now, those might sound like a lot but they're really not going to help you much if you didn't come prepared yourself. The map is a linear progression where each Biomes are connected by a bridge(slightly similar to the ones in "King of Winter") that might be blocked by Boulders ; make sure you have a Pickaxe or gunpowder ready to blow through them. There is a chance that the bridge might be blocked by Obelisks. Each area has a Thing so make sure you find it before moving onto the next Biome.

Tips

In order to build a Miner Hat it is HIGHLY recommended that you unlocked the Bug Netfrom the previous level so you can catch Fireflies. This will save grass and twigs from making torches. Bringing a stack of gold from the previous level is helpful. The greater light radius provided by the Miner Hat can be critical to survival when traveling through Tooth Trap fields and Hound Mound areas.

Only build camp fires to cook your food, but you must hurry as Night Hands would put it out. It is not advised to stop them, as they will continuously attack the fire (due to permanent darkness) and also decreases your sanity(just put on the Miner's Hat and walk towards them constantly until they vanish).

You may need to build a Log Suit while traveling through the Swamp Biomes as the darkness makes it difficult to navigate and avoid tentacles. This means sacrificing your backpack.

If you haven't found any of these food sources and you're getting desperate for food, you're going to have to resort to Spiders. Cooked Monster Meat can be a life saver at the expense of sanity.

Suggested items to bring over from previous level:

A stack of gold to facilitate making the Miner's Hats.

A Walking Cane to kite and travel faster.

A stack of Jerky or other long-lasting food supply that also restores health or sanity.

Spider Silk for catching Fireflies with Bug Nets and Top Hats or a Tam o' Shanter (highly recommended) to use when standing near stationary light sources; or pre-captured stack of Fireflies for Miner Hats, or something else of your choosing.

Epilogue: Checkmate

"Well, this is it. You found me. Now, what are you going to do?" -- Maxwell

This is the last level and the player has reached Maxwell's Island – a small labyrinth leading to Maxwell's hall. Epilogue is a dark and dead wasteland, with a hallway in the center leading to the Nightmare Throne. The hallway branches of into small areas containing resources. The first area contains 4 chests full with supplies, in the second area there is some grass and berry bushes (most are barren), the third area has 3 crafting stations used for prototyping, and the last area has 3 Crock Pots and some mixed food laying on the ground next to them. There is permanent night and Maxwell's Lights are showing your way. No matter what level your sanity may be, eyes can be seen in the darkness. Out in the wastelands is a fully assembled Teleportato that, when used teleports the player to the Nightmare Throne. Also, the map will always be covered by fog, even after you've explored an area, thus your map will be completely useless.

At the end of the road, players will reach Maxwell's Hall. A deformed Maxwell is sitting in a large chair with a phonograph nearby playing music (if you turn it off, Maxwell will thank you). When meeting Maxwell, he will start talking, telling the player that when he got here there was nothing but dust, and "them" and that he doesn't know what they want, that they are just watching. If the player attacks Maxwell, then the throne protects him (a lightning will strike you and no matter what weapon you are holding, it will vanish), and Maxwell tells the player that the throne will not allow it. He also tells you that he has been around here for a long time, and that the player can stay around and keep him company, or to put the key in the box.

Next to the throne is the Nightmare Lock where the Divining Rod can be placed. If the Divining Rod is put in the lock, the game will ask you if you want to take pity on Maxwell but also that his captors would not be happy about it. When Maxwell is freed from the throne, he gets up and instantly dies, then turns to dust and fades away. Your character is grabbed by Shadow Hands and is placed on the throne, effectively taking Maxwell's place and becoming the new pawn (and turning the phonograph on again, if the player had turned it off before). After that you will get the final speech from Klei, and then be brought back to your sandbox game...as Maxwell! Congratulations! You have beaten Adventure Mode!

Note: If you beat Adventure World as Maxwell, the person you completed the game with last will be sitting in the chair, still doing the terrified animation. Unlocking the lock will kill them, and put Maxwell back in the chair. You will wake up in your world as that person.

#video game #maxwell's door #maxwell #don't starve #don't starve together

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stupidsketch · 7 years ago

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Merry Christmas! Here’s a Christmas doodle with a few little details! Tried to play around with the idea of what Santa does when it’s not Christmas. Santa has his candy cane hammer and is the party leader. After having a good time drinking nog at the local tavern he heard a scuffle outside and stopped some naughty elves from picking on a lost little snowflake. His little elf drinking buddy with his candy cane bow and frosted cookie arrows, and Rudolph his magical designated driver with psychic jingle bombs helps him on taking this little snowflake home. Along the way they meet a friendly little snowman with a Festive machete and a light bulb shield. His helmet made of an old pot protects him from falling pine cones. He decides to help out too, out of the goodness of his heart, or maybe he just knows the true power that the snowflake contains? Merry Christmas and I hope this doodle brings you as much joy as it did to me! Here’s to a great 2018

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tipsycad147 · 3 years ago

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20 common incenses and what to use them for

by Michelle Gruben

Grown in a Witch’s garden, picked at midnight with a silver sickle, mixed 39 times by hand, and so on. Magickal incenses can be a potent, personal tool with infinite variations.

But sometimes you just need an incense that smells good and is in accord with your magickal purposes. An incense that doesn’t require a mortar and pestle, charcoal, or fireproof gloves before you can light up. Sometimes, you’re rushing into the supermarket on the way to a ritual and you need to choose an incense now so you can grab the bean dip and get the hell outta there.

Thinking about just such occasions, I’ve compiled a list of popular incenses that are readily available in stick and cone form. This mini incense almanac owes more to the corner store than to Culpeper. But don’t be fooled: Even in their self-lighting, artificially scented and colored form, the following fragrances have the power to inspire a magickal state of mind.

Here are 20 incense correspondences for the urban Witch or dollar-store Pagan:

Amber

Nothing says “temple” like the complex, haunting bouquet of Amber. This blend of resins, musk, and florals is an excellent multi-purpose incense. Use it for wisdom and truth-seeking, as well as rituals of love and desire. Amber corresponds to Air and Fire, though some of the darker versions lean towards Earth. As the components of Amber have been used in sacred rites for thousands of years, it is said to be excellent for past-life recall and initiation rituals.

Cinnamon

A traditional incense of Mars, Cinnamon has the advantage of being easy to find in cardboard boxes next to cash registers. Burn Cinnamon incense for protection and personal power. Fiery cleansing is another superpower of Cinnamon incense (when White Sage is just too sweet to do the job). Cinnamon can be used either to inflame passion, or to counter the effects of love spells.

Citrus

Lemon incense brings a bright, Solar burst of confidence and good luck. Burn it when you need extra energy to accomplish your goals. Orange incense has a similar meaning of joy, good fortune, and prosperity. Orange or Orange Blossom is a traditional incense for happiness in marriage.

Coconut

What’s a Witch to do with Coconut? This one’s a stumper. The plant usually gets sorted into the Feminine/Lunar domain of divination and love magick. It’s also associated with chastity. (Presumably because the fruit’s so difficult to get inside.) You could use Coconut as a Lunar incense, I guess, if the Walgreens is sold out of Jasmine.

Dragon’s Blood

Real Dragon’s Blood is a rare and monstrously expensive tree resin. Drugstore Dragon’s Blood can smell like anything from aftershave to cherry air freshener. (Good ones strike a balance between sweet, spicy, and earthy.) Dragon’s Blood incense is used to empower just about any working. It lends fiery energy to love magick, protection, oath-making, etc. Draconic witches sometimes choose Dragon’s Blood as a general temple incense.

Evergreen

Cedar, Pine, Forest, Misty Mountain—whatever they want to call it, this is the stuff in the green box that smells like Irish Spring. This group of fragrances is used for wisdom, cleansing, and protection. Evergreen incenses are also popular for money magick. It is probably the easiest Jupiter incense to find in a hurry.

Frankincense

If you’re at the incense counter and you only have a handful of coins, you could do worse than to grab the Frankincense. This ancient fragrance will help you to accomplish most magickal aims. Setting sacred space, consecrating tools, offerings to ancestors and deities—Frankincense does all that stuff before lunch. Purification, power, and riches, too, are attributes of Frankincense. Some incense blends balance all that fiery Solar energy with dark, healing Myrrh.

Honey/Honeysuckle

The unapologetically sweet stuff is ideal for rituals of prosperity and seduction. Honey fragrances are used to draw wealth, admiration, and luxury into your life. They are also a good choice for Faery offerings.

Jasmine

Versatile Jasmine is used for meditation and psychic sight, as well as love spells. Jasmine blooms at night and is said to encourage prophetic dreams. A Lunar incense, Jasmine is especially appropriate for New Moon and Full Moon rituals. "Night Queen" incense is Jasmine sexed up with musk or exotic spices—perfect for magick that is both sensual and spiritual.

Lavender

A cleansing, Airy fragrance, Lavender is a go-to incense for refreshing the body, mind, and home environment. It is used in rites of healing and in meditation. Lavender varies a lot from bracing herbal fragrances to powdery florals. The exact vibration of the Lavender incense will vary based on its aroma, from gentle and soothing to bright and invigorating.

Musk

Originally, Musk comes from the rare secretions of mammal reproductive glands. It’s a perfume of Earth. In magick, Musk is used for getting a mate or marking one’s territory (e.g., a mate). Some Musk incenses round off the sharper edges with romantic white florals—which may or may not be what you want for your love magick. In either case, good luck finding one that doesn’t smell like old man cologne.

Nag Champa

First blended in India, Nag Champa is now the most popular incense fragrance worldwide. (So it’s certain to be in a display rack near you.) Nag Champa is a wonderful aid to meditation and may be used as a general magickal incense. Its heavenly blend of florals and Sandalwood stimulate spiritual awareness, while helping keep you grounded in the here and now.

Opium

Opium incenses are heavy, sweet florals with hints of dark musk and spice. They are supposed to mimic the scent of the fresh opium poppy—but of course, such a thing is so rare that few people have ever smelled one. Opium is well-known for inducing sleep, dreams, and visions. Opium incense may be used for dream and trance magick.

Opium’s dangerous reputation has followed it into the magickal world, where Opium incense has a certain naughty allure. Some Witches use it when seeking forbidden knowledge or consulting with unholy spirits. Opium may stand in as a Saturn incense when you don't want to mess with rare or poisonous Saturn herbs.

Patchouli

Patchouli is famous for masking B.O. and the smell of pot, but that need not be its only legacy. This dark, earthy aroma—love it or hate it—is an exceptional incense for the magick of attraction. Sex and money spells are Patchouli’s best uses.

Rain

Usually a mix of watery florals, Rain-type fragrances are ideal for cleansing, healing, and relaxation. The fresh, cool aroma calms anger and helps to make a new start. In a pinch, a Fresh Linen fragrance will do the same thing. Both make fabulous seasonal incenses for Springtime.

Rose

A classic lover’s incense. Rose corresponds to Venus, and is used in workings to attract and keep true love. Both romantic love and self-love are boosted by the scent of Rose. Not just a pretty face, the Rose flower has an especially sacred energy and may be used to open the heart and stimulate psychic gifts.

Sandalwood

A holy wood renowned in India, Sandalwood consecrates and heals. Its magickal uses include wishes, peace, and removing negativity. It is also used to bless altars and tools and create ritual space. Sandalwood may never be used to curse or compel, but only to empower benevolent magick.

Sugar and Spice

The “Sugar and Spice” family of incenses includes such members as Apple Cider, Christmas Cookie, and Gingerbread. These mouth-watering fragrances can be useful in spells when you want to “sweeten up” a person (or persons). How better to persuade someone than with a tray of freshly prepared delicacies? They evoke generosity, celebration, and pleasure. Alternatively, use them as seasonal incenses for Yuletide.

Vanilla

Another fragrance without an obvious magickal heritage, Vanilla incense can still be useful in the Witch’s pantry. Vanilla is calming and pleasing. It can provoke mental and physical arousal and stimulate good luck. If Vanilla appeals to you, try using it during meditation. Happiness, prosperity, and knowledge-seeking are possible uses for Vanilla incense.

Wild Berry/Strawberry

Berry bushes in fruit have an age-old association with the Goddess. Any red berry incense may be used in fertility and love-producing magick. (Cherry, too.) Berries are the great providers of Nature—use berry fragrances to cultivate generosity and sweetness.

https://www.groveandgrotto.com/blogs/articles/20-common-incenses-and-what-to-use-them-for

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