#not to mention that I tend to have trouble keeping track of my mentions and dms and asks I'm only one person

[canisalbus]

just a quick ask to tell u it makes me super happy seeing the detail u go into when pointing out stuff u like about other people's art of ur ocs :3 it's so rare to see but it's so so motivating!! <3

Thank you! I don't take any interest for my art for granted, and if someone goes through the trouble of drawing my characters for me, I feel like trying to write a proper response is the least I can do. For a visually oriented person, receiving gift/fan art is a huge deal, it means someone considered my goobers worth their time and effort, they've probably been thinking about them more than a little and found them inspiring in a way or another, and I find that terribly flattering. It's extremely fun and interesting to see other people's takes on them. And I've drawn stuff for people as well, I know how nice and rewarding it feels to receive a response that is longer than a word or two. Positive comments like that can linger in people's minds for a long time, at least for me they do.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

The Detour 7

Warnings: non/dubcon, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Characters: Thor

Summary: You find yourself stranded in a small village.

Part of the Backwoods AU

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging.

You return to the hotel now less agitated than when you left. The longer you’re stranded in this sleepy village, the more exasperated you grow. You just don’t understand. You took every measure to make sure your vacation is perfect and you were sidelined by a damned axel. You will be having a long conversation with the man who did your oil back in the city. Empty promises are not good business. 

As you cross the lobby, you slow and peer around. That chirpy woman isn’t behind the counter. The place is almost desolate. You shrug and carry on up the stairs. Wouldn’t that be amusing if that oaf’s party turned out to be a bust? Who in their right minds would put so much energy into spending a single moment with the brute? 

Housekeeping has tended to your room. Fresh linens and even a new bottle of wine. You suppose that might be another pitiful attempt to lure you down to kickoff of Thor’s midlife crisis. You ignore it and focus on what you can enjoy. There isn’t much for you there but a hot bath sounds wonderful. 

You take your time, undressing, stretching, sifting through hotel samples. They smell of artificial rose. A pre-packaged migraine. You retrieve your toiletry bag as the tub fills slowly.  

As you sink into the steam pool, the first sign of trouble sounds from below. The blaring hum of bass thrums through the floor. You sigh as the contents of the bath shelf rattle. Great, so much for relaxation. That’s all you want after the last few days. You’ve been wound tight by that ox of a man and this boorish place; not too mention that fool who interrupted your coffee in town. This village breeds inanity. 

Your obstinacy keeps you submerged, just until the water grows cold. Still, you are tense and irritated, annoyed by even the sound of your own breath. You release the stopper and climb out, drying off with the plush towel. At least the amenities are acceptable. 

You hang the towel and wrap yourself in the rope. The hotel’s wireless should do for an episode or two of your weekly indulgence. You’ve a backlog to catch up after the last few weeks of tireless work and preparations.  

It would be a shame to put the wine to waste. You uncork the bottle and pour a glass. You set up your phone on the bed, propping it up with your purse and recline against the fluffed pillows with the rose. The subtitles are much too small on the screen to accommodate for the constant haze of noise from below. 

You give up, frustrated at straining to track the arguments of spoiled wives and eccentric widows, and turn off the show. Something to look forward to. Later. You put the phone face down on the night table and empty the glass. 

You rise to replenish the crystal and sift out the single book your brought along as Plan B. You never know when you might be bored out of your mind but you hard think the novel will withstand this monotony. You resume your laze in bed, this time with pages beneath your thumbs, and furrow your brow at the prose. 

Barely a few pages before you are once more torn from any semblance of content. You growl and slam the book shut. The music is louder now. Oh, that overgrown ape must be living it up. You can’t help but think it’s purposeful. He know he has guests, rather a guest, and yet he carries on so. 

Well, he will not get to you. You will not give him the pleasure of disturbing you. Not any further than he already has. 

You shove the book aside and grab a pillow. You are rather tired, as it were. You will need rest for tomorrow when you march down to the mechanic’s shop and demand that he fixes your car. At once. You cannot bear another day of this hole. 

You squeeze your eyes shut and smirk at the fantasy of your unbreakable will. Like a conquering warrior, you will not be beat back this time. You must escape from this place before you snap. A whole vacation planned on the premise of letting go and you are more stressed than ever. It is that cruel irony which has followed you through much of your existence. 

You manage to reach that foggy state right before the drop off. In a moment it dissipates. There’s a clamour in the hall and the high-pitch of a giggle, then another, followed by a booming thunder. Ugh, absolutely ridiculous. It sounds as if it’s right outside your very door. 

You toss the pillow away from your head as your temper razes through you. That’s it. You’re done being the better person. You will be the banshee everyone thinks you to be. 

You hop up and storm across the room. You rip open the door and snarl, “would you keep it down?!” 

You are faced by a rather dopey looking trio. Two girls with a drunken glaze in their eyes and the hotel’s resident idiot; Thor. He smirks as the girls stagger around and babble, ignoring you as they grab at his thick arms. 

“Come on, Thor, you said we could see the honeymoon suite,” one whines. 

“Who even comes here--” the other hiccups, “for their honey--” hiccup, “moon?” 

It’s a fair question. You roll your eyes as Thor takes the girls beneath his arms, sending you a pointed look, “ah, don’t worry, girls, I’ll show exactly why anyone might come to Thunder Lane to unleash their darkest desires, eh?” He turns them away and you snarl at his back, “you’ll like the shower head.” 

He chortles loudly and you gasp. Disgusting. You swing the door shut and stomp your foot. More than the village itself, you detest that man. You almost feel bad for those dumb girls. They look much too young for him. Does he really think the silver strands blend so well into the golden blond? Well, you wouldn’t assume wisdom comes with age in that one. 

You pace back and forth, arms crossed, trying to figure some way to settle down. You don’t want to spend the whole night annoyed by that man and his drunken guests. You paid for your room. You paid for peace and quiet. 

You will not be riled any further. You are smarter than him. You are smarter than all of them.  

You finish the glass of wine and find your sleep mask along with the pair of earbuds that came with the emergency travel kit you found at the bookshop. It seemed ridiculous at the time but at least it has proven a sound purchase. You put the silk over your eyes and push the buds into your ears. You once more bury your head under the pillows as you let the dreamy tones of the Carpenters lull you. 

The wine helps. You feel yourself drifting as the drumming softens and the woodwinds blend in with Karen’s heavenly voice. Your breaths thicken and catch in your nose, rolling into snores you can hear through your half-sleep. 

The 70s pop fades away as you roll onto your back, the pillow slipping from over your head. Dazed and dozy, you lay in darkness, the pulsing of bass still rumbling through the mattress beneath you. You groan as your lashes flick against the sleep mask. You reach to remove it but a vice closes around your wrist, then the other. 

The bed jostles again. It's more than the thumping speakers below, there’s someone else there. You whimper as your arms are pinned beside you and a weight straddles your middle. A rolling thunder seeps into your ears as hot breath fans over you. 

“Don’t think I forgot about you, sweetheart,” Thor’s devilish baritone sends a shiver through you as he grinds his pelvis against yours, “time for you to join the party.”  

[wildandsmile]

Summary: When your brother leaves for America to tend to some pressing business, he found himself in need of a favor, which you were unaware of. Little did you realize that this favor came with an unexpected twist – a pink-haired man tasked with monitoring your every move.

Tw: Weird club group , Bad pick up lines, kidnapping, stalking, unknown backstabbing and guns

Wc: 4.6k

Kinks: Fingering, Degrading, Cream-pie, Praising, Sir Name, Squirting, Exhibition, Sub Reader, Dom Reo, unprotected sex, penetrative sex (p in v), humiliation, Choking, Rough Sex and Knife play.

An: Kinktober is still going to be finished but I will only do my days instead of all 31 by myself, hope y’all can understand also sorry if the story weird I just wanted to get something out.

Enjoy Kinktober day 12!

Your older brother, a legendary gang leader in the heart of Tokyo, certainly brought some complications into your life. No more regular school for you, as he worried about a target on your back, so homeschooling it was. But the real headache was that everyone knew your face and your connection to him. It felt like trouble followed you everywhere, with people trying to get to him through you. So, you can imagine his frustration when he had to jet off to America, leaving you here, all alone and unprotected.

He was in a real bind, torn between his trip to America and leaving you all alone. So, as he sat there in his chair, puffing on a cigarette, he suddenly remembered that Toman mentioned wanting an alliance. Your brother wasn't one to make alliances lightly, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He picked up the phone and dialed them, striking a deal: he'd form an alliance, but only if they watched over you while he was gone. They didn't hesitate to jump on the opportunity.

And that's how you ended up standing at your front door, wearing nothing but an oversized shirt and pink panties, as you sleepily rubbed your eyes. There, you were greeted by a tall, pink-haired boy with star-shaped scars on the corners of his mouth. At first, you thought he must have had the wrong house, looking like he came to pick someone up for prom or something. But then it clicked – your brother had mentioned a pink-haired guy named Sanzu coming over to keep an eye on you. You couldn't quite recall the details because you'd zoned out when your brother explained it, something about him watching over you.

You barely had time to process it before you were shoved aside. Turning around, you found the guy already making himself at home, feet on your table and arms spread out on the edge of your couch. It irritated you, but you set that aside and approached him. After closing the door, you stood in front of him, hands on your hips, and decided it was time to lay down some ground rules.

"If you're going to be my bodyguard or whatever, we need to set some ground rules," you asserted, tilting your chin upward, trying to exude authority. The pink-haired man raised an eyebrow, and you continued, "Rule one: No breaking or messing up my or my brother's stuff, and get your feet off the table. Rule two: Don't follow me everywhere I go; I'll text you if I need your help or something. Rule thre—"

Your words were abruptly cut off as you noticed the man aiming a gun directly at your heart.

"Now you listen, princess," he declared, his voice oozing authority, "I'm the one who sets the rules here. I decide when you can come and go, who you can have over, and whose say matters. Your life is in my hands, so you'd better not get on my bad side. Do you understand ?"

The gun remained pointed at you as he spoke, but you couldn't help but roll your eyes. You started to walk away, but his gunshot into the floor stopped you in your tracks. "I said, do you understand me?" he growled, this time with a harsher and louder tone. You reluctantly turned back towards him and gave a quick nod, but in that instant, he fired at a vase right behind you.

"Use your words," he demanded, and you quickly forced out a hesitant, "Yes, sir."

With that, you made your way to your room and flopped onto your bed, pondering why your brother would choose a wild pink-haired lunatic, brandishing a gun at the slightest provocation, to protect his baby sister. You couldn't help but admit that the guy had some charm, but you quickly dismissed that notion from your mind, reminding yourself that you had school the next day.

Morning came, and your alarm blared, jolting you out of bed. You began your usual routine with some light stretches, a soothing hot bath, and a touch of makeup. However, when you emerged from your room into the dining hall, you were met with an unexpected sight. There were no servants awaiting your arrival, and there certainly wasn't any breakfast on the table. The only thing in sight was Sanzu, sprawled across the dining table like a model for a magazine cover, casually toying with your dartboard.

"What are you up to, and where are all the servants?" you inquired as you approached the man whose name you still hadn't obtained. He remained silent, seemingly oblivious to your presence, which was starting to irk you.

"I know you can hear me, Mister," you insisted, letting the last word linger as you searched for an unflattering nickname. Just as you were pondering, he finally spoke, "My name's Sanzu, and as for your servants, I sent them away. Can't be too trusting of anyone now that your brother's gone, not even me," he explained while lounging on the table.

You let out a sigh of frustration before heading to the kitchen to start preparing breakfast. Fortunately, you weren't so much of a spoiled rich kid that you couldn't make your own food. After about an hour, you returned to find Sanzu seated at the table, knife and fork in hand, as if he'd been eagerly awaiting his meal.

You were on the verge of ignoring him, but as you settled into your seat, something zipped past your cheek. You turned to see a dart, and it was clear who was behind it – Sanzu, still facing the other way. You rolled your eyes and returned to the kitchen, offering a middle finger salute as you mumbled, "If you wanted some, you could have just asked, asshole."

With a plate of food for the irritating pink-haired man in hand, you placed it in front of him and returned to your own seat. You closed your eyes to say a quick prayer, which seemed to get on Sanzu's nerves. He looked at you and commented, "You know there's no one listening, right?"

You gazed at him, your eyebrow raised and a hint of annoyance in your expression. "And how would you know that?" you questioned.

His response was laced with a bitter laugh, "If there were a god, neither you, your brother, nor any other gang member would be in this mess. We'd be living peaceful, happy, and healthy lives, but here we are." With that, he got up and walked away.

You decided to brush off Sanzu's earlier comment and resumed your prayer before eagerly digging into your meal. Once you had finished, you retreated to your study to join your teacher for the day's online lesson. This had been your monotonous routine for nearly three weeks – no going outside, no friends over, just making breakfast for both you and Sanzu, then retreating to your study for the day's schooling.

Truth be told, you were growing tired of the routine and decided it was time for a little adventure, away from your exasperating bodyguard. After your lesson, you informed Sanzu that you were going to bed and that he didn't need to worry about dinner. He offered a quick nod and waved you off, engrossed in flipping through various TV channels.

Back in your room, you readied yourself for your secret plan. You gathered your phone, wallet, makeup, different shoes, and a change of clothes, determined to slip out unnoticed.

Once you had all your essentials in hand, you called your friends, making sure they were exactly where they told you to meet, ensuring the cameras wouldn't catch you or the getaway car. After receiving confirmation that all was clear, you quietly descended to your brother's study. For some peculiar reason, this was the only room in the house the cameras couldn't see.

You carefully slipped out of a nearby window, evading any prying eyes, and managed to reach your friend's car without being detected. The moment you hopped in, your friend sped away as quickly as possible. And that's how you ended up at this club, indulging in drinks and dancing your heart out. It had been a while since you'd had this much fun and freedom.

As always, there had to be someone ready to ruin the fun, and in this case, it was a group of someones - a mix of girls and boys who approached you and your friends, attempting to flirt with you while delivering some of the lamest jokes and cheesy pickup lines you'd ever heard. The once-joyful atmosphere was now tainted, and you were ready to take a seat.

However, just as you turned to walk away, one of the girls grasped your wrist, halting your exit, and tried to reassure you, saying, "Come on, doll face, don't be shy. We're just trying to have a little fun." You gazed at her with a twisted expression of disgust, quickly sizing her up from head to toe. In a harsh tone, you retorted, "Let me go." Despite your threatening words, she still didn't release you. Frustration mounting, you did what any reasonable person would do and delivered a punch right to her throat, causing her to stumble back in pain.

Your brother had imparted some skills to you, though nothing too extreme. Yet now, all that training paid off. With your friends in tow, you decided it was time to leave the group that had spoiled your night. Before you departed, your bestie turned back, playfully tazed the troublesome girl, and stuck her tongue out, saying, "Gotcha, bitch."

You all stopped at a nearby restaurant for a quick meal, even though it didn't take long since it was already dark. While eating, a nagging feeling persisted, as if someone was watching you, but as you scanned the surroundings, you couldn't spot anyone, so you brushed it off.

Eventually, you and the girls paid for your food and began walking back to the car. Yet that eerie sensation of being observed didn't dissipate. You whispered to the group, huddled close, expressing your concerns. They all agreed that something felt off. With a quick nod of agreement, you all broke into a sprint, heading for the safety of your car.

You arrived in no time, your heart racing as you piled into the car. Locking the doors for safety, your friend ignited the engine, and within moments, smoke began to fill the car. The acrid scent immediately tipped you off to the nature of the gas – a sleeping agent. You urgently instructed your friend to open the door, but no matter how hard you all tried, it wouldn't budge, and by then, it was too late.

As you regained consciousness, you found yourself face-to-face with a masked man. Despite your efforts, your limbs felt immobilized, and your struggles proved futile. The man stepped back and chuckled, remarking, "You're a feisty one, aren't you?"

He then turned to converse with another man in the room, their hushed words leaving you in the dark. Letting out a long sigh, you realized this wasn't your first kidnapping experience. But, for the first time, you felt a tinge of fear because your brother wasn't around to protect you.

He then turned to confer with another man in the room, speaking in hushed tones that left you in the dark. Exhaling deeply, you realized this wasn't your first kidnapping, but it was the first time you felt a creeping sense of unease, as your protective brother was nowhere to be found.

"What kind of games?" you managed to ask as sweat trickled down your face. The masked man remained silent for a moment, only dragging the knife's tip along your bare thighs. When he reached the part of your skirt that covered the rest of your legs, he paused, gazing up at you with a wicked grin.

"Oh, the fun," he purred as he sliced through your skirt. You recoiled, and the other two assailants closed in. Fear began to well up inside you, and it was only when one of them placed a hand on your shoulder that you couldn't contain it any longer. You screamed, "Help! Somebody, help me, please!"

The masked man with the knife pressed the blade against your skin, whispering sinister words before he was abruptly interrupted. The door burst open, and all eyes turned to the entrance. There, like a knight in shining armor, stood Sanzu.

"Hey, princess, close your eyes for me, won't you?" Sanzu's voice broke through, and as he leaned against the door frame, you obeyed, shutting your eyes. Soon after, you heard a cacophony of noises and groans, and then the sensation of your hands being released and your body being lifted.

As you opened your eyes, you found Sanzu carrying you. Glancing back at the guys who had been your captors, they were sprawled out on the floor. When you turned your gaze back to Sanzu, he was looking down at you with a radiant smile, blood trickling from the sides of his head, and you could tell it wasn't his blood.

Finally, an exit came into view. Sanzu gently set you down and looked you directly in the eyes, saying, "Stay. I need to settle some business with those guys from earlier, okay?" You didn't say anything; you merely nodded in response. With that, he turned and walked back to where you had come from.

·٠•●🩷𝕾𝖆𝖓𝖟𝖚 𝕻𝕺𝖁 🩷●•٠·

He returned to the cold, dimly lit hallway and reentered the room, finding the men still unconscious. Taking his time, he carefully moved them all to the room's center and began tying them up. Nearby, a bucket of water caught his eye, and he grabbed it, emptying its contents over the group of men. Predictably, they awoke, wriggling and squirming, which only elicited a chuckle from Sanzu.

The men turned their gaze toward him, their voices filled with confusion. "What the hell are you doing, man? This wasn't part of the deal," one of them protested. Sanzu merely rolled his eyes and approached, pressing a gun to the man's forehead. "And I don't recall giving you permission to touch her either, so it seems we've both broken our deal in some way," he retorted, increasing the pressure on the gun.

The man from the other side attempted to speak but was abruptly silenced when the gun went off. His lifeless body fell limp, and a pool of blood began to form beneath him.

"I can't stand it when people ask me dumb questions," Sanzu declared, his gun aimed at the remaining man, and another gunshot rang out. He had systematically taken down all the men in the room except the one standing before him.

The man trembled, his heart racing, and Sanzu reveled in the fear that danced across the man's face. It was this thrill that had drawn him to the world of gangs in the first place. However, his excitement waned when the man began to shout at him, "You're a freakin' monster, nothing but a sick freak!"

In response, Sanzu let out a long, manic laugh and danced around like a madman. Once he regained his composure, he fixed his gaze on the man and explained, "Of course, I'm a monster. That's why I orchestrated all of this – to appear as a hero in her eyes, so she couldn't see the true man-eater that I am."

The man attempted to speak again but was silenced by a bullet through his head. With a sigh, Sanzu returned to the door, making a swift phone call, "Hey, Rindou, send the clean-up team to my location." He hung up and then made his way back to you.

·٠•●🩷𝕰𝖓𝖉 𝖔𝖋 𝕻𝕺𝖁 + 𝕿𝖎𝖒𝖊 𝕾𝖐𝖎𝖕🩷●•٠·

You were back at the house, and in a hurry, you headed straight to your room, shutting the door behind you. Unbeknownst to you, Sanzu had followed you, and it wasn't until you closed the door to your room that you noticed his presence. You quickly opened the door and pulled him into your room, asking, "Do you mind staying with me, at least until I calm down?"

Rolling his eyes, he gave you a quick nod and headed over to your bed. He plopped down on it and patted the spot beside him, and you interpreted that as his invitation to join him. With that, you closed your door and made your way to his side.

The two of you watched TV for a while, enjoying each other's company. The atmosphere shifted when a steamy scene played out on the TV. You couldn't help but catch yourself glancing at Sanzu and then back at the screen. Yet, every time you looked at him, he appeared unfazed, his attention firmly fixed on the television.

The moment you glanced at him again and found him staring back, a shiver ran down your spine. It was only then that you finally spoke up. "You know, if you keep undressing me with your eyes, I might just freeze to death," he teased, sporting a cheesy grin that left you blushing.

"I wasn't undressing you with my eyes," you countered, trying to mask your embarrassment, "I was just looking at you to pick something out as a gift for saving me." You couldn't help but fib through your teeth, but Sanzu wasn't buying it.

He pinned you to the bed, now hovering over you, and declared, "Now, come on, princess, no need to lie." You attempted to protest, but he silenced you by pressing his lips against yours. The kiss didn't linger for long, but it left your mind feeling hazy, like pudding.

"How about you let me help you forget about what happened today? Consider it my reward and your stress reliever. What do you say?" Sanzu inquired, peering deeply into your eyes. In response, you gave a quick nod, prompting him to kiss your forehead and neck while uttering, "Just remember, you asked for this, princess."

·٠•●🩷𝕾𝖒𝖚𝖙 🩷●•٠·

You keep your eyes closed as you groan and wriggle under his touch, savoring the feeling of the knife and his cold, numb fingers. You groan amusingly as you snap and trap the hand of the man with the pinker hair between your thighs.

The man replies, "Mmm, seems like you're ready for some fun," as he runs the blade of the knife down your stomach and watches you shudder with excitement. With a low voice, he says, "But first, we need to get you out of these clothes."

With that, he begins to carefully start cutting your large shirt with his knife, showing your exposed skin inch by inch.

After removing your shirt, he will straddle you while drawing patterns on your chest with a knife. "You know how much I love to play with you, don't you?" He grins and leans in for a kiss, then bites your neck. Slowly, teasely, he moves his free hand down your body in the direction of your underwear. "Let's see how much you can take" He adds, before sliding a finger under the elastic of your underwear and letting it go with a snap is other hand now setting the knife black on the table.

You recoil in horror and hiss as the stinging sensation hits your skin.

As he watches you lean into her touch, he chuckles gently and watches you with hungry eyes. He grins down at you and slides a finger under your pant elastic, rubbing his fingers gently between your folds. "You're so eager," he says. "But patience is a virtue, and I want to savor every moment," he says as he leans down to bite your nipple and sucks it into his mouth, setting aside the knife.

He mutters gently, "Mmm, you feel so good," as she continues to glide his hands expertly through your slickness, and his breath is hot against your skin. "You're so moist and so silky...You feel incredible under my fingers, but I think it's time for you to show me how badly you want it," he adds, sitting up and moving away with a sly grin on his face. Let me hear you grovel for it. "Beg me to touch you again and again."

You look into his eyes with desperation as you whisper, and you groan as you realize you won't be able to feel his touch again. "P-Please don't stop, I need your touch…please touch me. I'm pleading with you.

He laughs at your pleading and kisses you passionately, his fingers returning to your swollen clit. As he pulls away from the kiss, saying, "That's a good little pet," he watches you pant and wriggle against his, his touch remaining steady despite your throbbing core. To which he replied, "But I want to hear you say it louder."

If you don't respond, he'll get more aggressive, dropping his fingers to circle your wet hole and gently teasing it as your face contorts with pleasure.

Beg for it, already. As he asks, "How badly do you want to come?" his hands move rapidly and tightly against you, sparking a fire deep within you.

"Fuckk…Please don't cancel my trip; I really need to be here. You start to scream, but it doesn't help; he pulls away his hand and stands by the side of the bed.

Sanzu's mouth curved into an alluring grin as his fingers traced the curves of your trembling stomach, inching tantalizingly closer to the flimsy cloth that barely covered your alluring curves. He eagerly drew it down, longing to feel his hand disappear behind the plush velvet. As his fingertips brushed over your tantalizingly bare thighs, they inched ever so little closer to your yearning core, and your breath caught in your throat.

What's the point, "Come on don’t tell me I turned you into a dumb slut already yet, princess?" He poked his finger inside your cunt, laughing at how tightly the walls gripped his finger.

Knowing that keeping your tongue quiet was going to be impossible, you said, "Fuck," but you didn't want the moment to end since you were so attracted to him. You needed him badly. With your eyes closed, you muttered, "Fuck, Sanzu," again.

You began making low whimpers and groans as he pushed it in and out of you, causing your breathing to become irregular. When Sanzu inserted his middle finger and ramped up her speed, you tossed your head back in an instant because you wanted to hear more of the amazing noises you created particularly for him. And he was completely content with everything. You started repeating her name under your breath when he got to the portion of the speech that always made you roll your eyes back in your head.

He said softly, "You're making such a pretty mess princess, look at you." It was the mix of his chilling voice and deft hands that gave you the old familiar feeling of dread.

I like how flexible you are in my hands. He gushed, "You take me so well," as he raised your skirt fabric once more to examine your cunt with his free hand. As they dripped from your thighs, he saw that your fluids were soaking through his hand and collecting at your feet. Unable to contain his hilarity, he let out a whistle at the location.

You lowered your sight to the place where he met your body and moaned in shock because you couldn't believe how soaked you were for him. If you thought Sanzu turned you on, seeing your body react to his touch was a whole other experience.

While his enormous, thick fingers stretched out your cunt in the alley, all you could hear were wet moans. The ease with which his fingers glided into your cunt was almost mortifying. You would feel guilty about it if you weren't getting fucked out by him, but you didn't care.

"I'm- I'm so close! Close your eyes and dig your nails into his shoulder blades as you beg him not to stop.

Sanzu spoke softly in your ear, "Cum for me, princess," as you closed your eyes and agape your mouth in search of your high. You were on the edge of passing out from the exertion, yet he didn't stop his moves on your body until you practically begged him to.

After you've squirted all over his hands, he'll proudly observe your messy state as he pulls out each finger and brings it to his mouth to be sucked clean. Your eyes were glistening and your lips were bitten because you were too tired to talk. Your tits were almost visible now that your dress barely covered your upper torso.

You finally took a deep breath, but before you could adjust to his massive frame, he lined up his cock with your now too sensitive cunt and drove his throbbing cock within. You wept because carrying his presence within you was driving you crazy. After rubbing your clit in rough circles with his left palm, Sanzu made a series of low groans. And his right made its way to your thirst, landing softly on your throat and making you and Sanzu feel like you were about to cum.

You look great like a filthy little cum slut ready to get filled, but what you don't get to cum is what makes you look great. So feel free to cry on my cock while I decide if you can continue to breathe. You whimpered as your nails dug painfully into his wrist. Slowly, your disorientation returned. When I tell you to, princess, you'll cum on my cock. While his mouth was close to yours, he started talking. His voice cracked with effort, and you could hear him taking small breaths.

The messed up expression on your face as you moaned, "M'mm yes sir, promise not to cum until I'm told" only served to make Sanzu more aggressive.

After giving you a couple more sharp thrusts, Sanzu says, "Good girl," again. When he hits the sweet spot again and time again, a sound like a scream comes from deep within your chest. He let go of your neck a little while ago.

"Cum." Your eyes suddenly went white as the demand reached your ears. While you were having an orgasmic experience, you could feel his hips jitter against yours.

He gently backed away, admiring the sight of you straining to stand up with your legs spread wide and his sperm seeping out of you into the cold ground. After cleaning you up the two of you lay in bed looking at each other and you say “I never thought we would get to this point” with that Sanzu lets out a hard laugh before pulling you into a deep kiss and goes “Never did I”. And with in that moment the room to your door opens is you brother and without he say “What fuck is this”

[imagines--galore]

||The Thread of Fate|| Part Thirty-Three

Summary: Soulmate AU. They say the Thread of Fate connects you to your one true love. It may tangle. It may stretch. But it will never break. Wrapped around your little finger it tightens when it feels your soulmate is close and loosens when they are far. And becomes visible with the colors of your soulmate’s Nation when you finally fall in love with them.

Pairing: Zuko x OroraOC (ATLA)

Rating || Genres || Warnings: T+ Romance. Adventure.

Previous Chapters - Masterlist

A/N: Hello loves! Sorry its taken me so long but I haven't been feeling the best lately but I'm slowly getting back on track and hopefully whatever bad juju I've been cursed with is now dissipating. Also slight mention of a dislocated shoulder and it being put back in place, so I hope you don't get too squeamish! Anyway! Back to the story! And get ready for a LONG ASS chapter!

Though she had finally removed her bandages from around her abdomen for good, Orora still had the area covered with the sash she had put together. Mostly to hide the hole at the side of her shirt where the fabric had been cut by Zuko to tend to her wound, but also because, well, the remaining sight wasn't exactly that pretty.

Not that she had anything against scars. She had plenty. It was the looks of pity she wanted to avoid whenever she was around her friends. Though mostly, she didn't want Zuko to see it.

The idiot would go ahead and feel guilty about what had happened, even though it hadn't been his fault.

So it was best to keep it hidden.

Out of sight, out of mind.

"You should go back Orora. We'll both be fine!" Sokka spoke up from where he stood next to her, watching as Zuko prepared the balloon for launch. Glad to have a distraction, the Waterbender didn't even spare her brother a glance as she secured her gloves around her forearms.

"I find that a little hard to believe Sokka." She said. A look of offense creasing his features, he turned to Orora. "What? You don't trust us!?" He demanded, his tone high and accusing at the same time.

Sighing the girl shook her head. "Oh no, I trust the both of you." She paused before continuing. "It's just you and Zuko tend to rub each other the wrong way. And sure its hilarious to see you two get on one another's nerves, I would prefer you didn't do it on such a high stake mission." Her admission had Sokka blinking in surprise. Yes, he did tend to tease and make fun of Zuko, but mostly because he was so uptight about everything. Well everything except Orora.

There was also the fact that Sokka still hadn't figured out how to act around Zuko. They'd been enemies for such a long time that sometimes, when he would see Zuko walking around camp, doing chores, or even just sitting and having dinner, it would throw him off a little. These were all such normal tasks and if there was one word he would never have used to describe Zuko, it would be normal.

Honestly, there was nothing normal about their situation.

Clearing her throat, Orora bit her lower lip. "So my aim on this mission is to make sure you two don't argue to the point of getting caught, getting in trouble, or worse."

Worse was bad.

Worse was very bad.

Katara would kill him if he got into worse.

Seeing the genuine worry in her blue eyes, Sokka sighed, before reaching out and wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. "You don't have to worry, Sis." He reassured her with a soft smile. "I promise my main focus will be the mission, and not making fun of Zuko and his grumpy expressions."

Though she offered Sokka a smile in return, she couldn't help but ignore the tightness in her stomach at his words. Hopefully he wouldn't become too focused and ignore every sign of danger that came their way.

She would just have to be super vigilant to make sure her boys stayed safe.

"I also don't trust either of you from making needlessly dangerous plans, trying to overdo everything and getting into unnecessary trouble."

Sokka looked utterly aghast at such a deceleration. Orora grinned. "I mean you were about to go off to a highly secured prison surrounded by water without a waterbender, which kind of proves the point I made just now." Playfully patting him on the head, she shouldered her water pouch and walked off to join Zuko in the balloon.

Leaving Sokka to follow after her, grumbling under his breath.

                                            ————————–

Leaning back against the metal railing of the war balloon, Orora allowed her fingers to flit through the clouds as they passed by. She'd almost forgotten how calming it was to travel by air. Or rather traveling by an Air Bison. Dragging her eyes away from the open blue sky, she shifted her attention to her two traveling companions.

Two rather awkward and wary looking companions.

It was strange to see how stiff the two boys were being around one another. If it weren't so painfully awkward, she would be laughing till she cried. But Orora kept her mouth shut and lips pressed in a thin line.

Throwing his hand out, Zuko sent a burst of fire into the tank to keep the hot air moving upwards and into the balloon. As he closed the metal door, she saw the both of them glance at one another before looking away.

Spirit, this was ridiculous.

Over Zuko's head, she caught Sokka's eye and mouthed at him to say something.

Sokka looked panicked for a moment, his head swiveling from one side to the other, as if he were looking for an interesting topic.

As if it would fall out of the sky.

"Pretty clouds." He finally stated, prompting Zuko to glanced around as well, missing the way Orora smacked her forehead and let out a silent groan of frustration.

"Yeah." The Prince responded, nodding in agreement. "Fluffy."

Another beat of silence, one where Sokka avoided any eye contact with his frustrated sister. Zuko, meanwhile, glanced in her direction with a helpless look on his face. Knowing this was so new to him and that he was way out of his depth here, Orora gave him an encouraging smile and gestured for him to continue.

Normally she would jump in now and act as the medium between the two boys, but not this time. They had to learn to get along on their own.

Just then Sokka began to whistle, prompting a slightly panicked Zuko, to turn to him. "What?"

Sokka stopped whistling. "What? Oh, I didn't say anything." He stated, a little defensively.

Maybe it would be better if she just threw herself off the war balloon and avoid this awkwardness altogether. She did the next best thing though, and that was closing her eyes.

"You know," She heard Sokka say. "A friend of mine actually designed these war balloons."

Zuko hummed in interest. "No kidding." She opened her eyes to see him opening the metal hatch once more.

"Yep, a balloon.....but for war." Sokka continued, looking a little dismal that someone had taken something as innocent as a balloon and turned it into a weapon of war.

Zuko blasted more fire into the tank, prompting the balloon to rise higher. "If there's one thing my dad's good at, it's war." His tone was dark as was his expression as he turned his eyes downcast. A surge of protectiveness raced through her, yet Orora stayed quiet.

Sokka nodded. "Yeah, it seems to run in the family." He was referring to Zuko's ancestors, though the Firebender wasn't about to agree with him.

"Hey, hold on." He said, the defensiveness in his tone evident as he turned to face Sokka. "Not everyone in my family is like that."

Holding up his hands, Sokka nodded. "I know, I know, you've changed." He said, his voice placating. To which Zuko shook his head.

"I meant my uncle." He said, the mention of him prompting both him and Orora to feel the wise old man's absence even more so then ever before. "He was more of a father to me. And I really let him down." She'd told herself she wouldn't interfere in the conversation, but that didn't stop Orora from reaching out, taking Zuko's hand in her own and giving it a reassuring squeeze. Zuko closed his eyes briefly at the contact, drawing comfort from her presence.

Sokka crossed his arms over his chest, a contemplating frown on his forehead. "I think your uncle would be proud of you." He said after a moment of silence. Zuko turned to look at him, a little surprised at the words of encouragement that followed. "Leaving your home to come help us? That's hard."

Glancing briefly at his soulmate, who was pretending she wasn't actively listening in on the conversation, Zuko felt the corner of his mouth lift in a small smile. "It wasn't that hard." He said, his voice soft, his hand sliding out of Orora's grip, only to take it again, this time with their fingers intertwined.

She was standing on his other side, which allowed Zuko's form to hide their little touches of affection from Sokka.

Sokka, frowned. "Really? You didn't leave behind anyone you cared about?" He asked, finding it hard to believe that Zuko didn't have anyone who cared for him in his own home.

"Well," He trailed off, glancing at Orora out of the corner of his eyes before he continued. "I did have a friend." He admitted. "Mai."

The water tribe boy frowned, though there was a smile on his face. "That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?" He asked, to which Orora glanced at him from over Zuko's shoulder. "Wait, you've met her?" She asked, genuine interest coloring her tone. Sokka nodded. "Yeah! She was one of the girls who attacked us with Azula."

Orora blinked, raising an eyebrow in Zuko's direction who was smiling sheepishly. "Way to go making friends with people who have a vendetta against your current friends Zuko." Her tone was heavy with sarcasm, as was the look she gave him.

"Well none of my relationships have ever been easy, so I guess the same could be said about my friendships." He responded with a laugh. Finally letting go of her hand, which neither of them had noticed they were still clasping, he sent a burst of flame into the metal box.

"Everyone in the Fire Nation thought we were dating, but I was only helping cover for her while she visited her Soulmate. And before I left, I made sure to cut all ties with her. In the eyes of my Nation I was effectively betraying them and I couldn't drag her into the mess I was leaving behind." He briefly wandered how Mai was doing. It had been days since he had thought of her.

Hopefully she was happy with her Soulmate, just as he was with his own.

Orora, however, was a little fixated on a minor detail. "So, the entire Fire Nation thinks you two were dating?" She asked, a sting of jealousy coursing through her body as she crossed her arms over her chest. Zuko shot a slightly panicked look in Sokka's direction, who mirrored his expression. "It was all just pretend." He quickly said, hoping to amend the situation. "She even encouraged me to go out and find you again."

Orora, however, continued to give him a skeptical look.

Thinking that perhaps his intervention would help, Sokka opened his mouth and said the first thing that popped into his mind. "My girlfriend turned into the moon." He blurted out.

The news were more then a little surprising to say the least, and it had Zuko turning to look at Sokka with a shocked expression. He glanced towards the sky, as if he would be able to see an actual girl walking among the clouds. Turning his head back towards Sokka, he gave him a sympathetic look.

"That's rough, buddy."

Not exactly an appropriate answer, but then again, what did you say to someone who's girlfriend became the moon?!

Though as the two boys continued to talk, Orora figured it was better then anything.

At least they were past the awkward stage.

Somewhat.

                                            ————————–

She fell asleep while the boys talked, and only woke up when the sun was setting, accompanied by the sound of someone snoring. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and picking her head up from where she had placed it on the side of the war balloon, Orora was a little surprised to find a blanket covering her. One glance in Sokka's direction told her that he was fast asleep. Zuko, however, was still awake and tending to the fire inside the metal box.

He turned his head in her direction, smiling slightly as he watched her run a hand through her slightly ruffled hair. "Perfect timing. We'll be there in an hour or so." He said, reaching down for the pack of food they had brought. She'd slept through the meager lunch he and Sokka had shared.

Taking the bread, Orora bit into it, realizing just then how hungry she was. Though the gnawing in her stomach was nothing compared to the strange heaviness she felt in her chest. Averting her gaze from Zuko, she continued to nibble on her lunch, hoping he wouldn't broach the subject she was sure was bothering her.

"You know, nothing happened between Mai and me."

Sometimes she cursed just how well Zuko knew her by now to know exactly what was bothering her. She heard him close the small metal door and leave his post to come and stand next to her, the both of them gazing out at the orange and yellow hues the setting sun cast all across the sky.

Taking her silence as the invitation he needed to explain himself further, he continued. "I mean she was insistent at first, but then she saw me talking to you or rather, talking to your illusion that only I could see and hear. She confronted me about it, and I had to tell her everything." His head turned slightly so he could look at her as she stood beside him, her gaze unwavering as she stared straight ahead. "And she admitted to finding her own Soulmate, and we-"

"Zuko, you don't have to explain yourself to me." Her voice finally came, low and soft as she began to break pieces of the bread and dropping them to the ground. "She's your friend and you helped one another out because that is what friends are supposed to do."

Sensing her hesitation, Zuko reached out to gently lay a hand on top of her forearm. "Then whats on your mind?" He asked, his voice gentle, as he tried to coax her to unburden her mind. Closing her eyes, and throwing the last bit of bread into the wind, the girl allowed her head to fall forward, drawing comfort from his strong, warm presence.

"Its just," She sighed, before raising her head and continued. "Your entire Nation accepted the fact that you were dating Mai, even though you weren't. And I just can't help but think what their reaction will be when they find out that your Soulmate is not only from the Water Tribe, but also a Waterbender. I doubt either of those two things will work in my favor." She had wanted to pause there and give him the chance to speak, but the flood gates had opened, and all the worries and thoughts she had kept hidden began pouring out.

"You're a traitor to your Nation already, would having me as your Soulmate win you any support if we ask for it? And I've read how rigid the Fire Sages can be when it comes to the Royal Family, and I don't want to cause any more rifts between your people more then there already is. Then there's also the fact that ever since we've gotten back together we haven't even kissed yet, which has been making me think that maybe you're treating me a little more cautiously because of what happened, because if you are then know that I have forgiven you and that you don't need to prove yourself to me anymore an-"

The rest of her words were cut off with a gentle yet firm hand covering her mouth. Orora turned her head to glare at him, but found Zuko shaking his head at her. He stepped forward so that they were almost chest to chest.

"Orora." He said her name in a manner that had her heart skipping a beat. "I don't care what my Nation or people think about you being my Soulmate." His admittance had a flare of surprise running through her body, though it was more pleasant then she had expected it to be. "There was a time when I would've thought the exact same things and just gotten angry and frustrated at the entire situation, but I've learned not to do that anymore." The hand over her mouth slowly slid up to press against her cheek, cradling her head. Orora, in turn, nuzzled against his warm touch, sighing softly, her eyes never looking way from his. "I spent so long trying to deny what fate had already decided for me when it came to my heart, and I don't want to do that anymore. I just want us to be together." He stated, his expression just as honest as his voice as he gazed at her.

"And as for not kissing you." A blush stole across her cheeks at that part. She'd been hoping he wouldn't focus on that. Zuko simply shrugged with a smile. "If you want me to kiss you then fine I will, but I was kind of waiting for a special moment to do that."

Orora blinked at him. "What kind of special moment?" She asked, her words coming out a little breathless as she found her hand lifting to trace the scar that marred his face.

He shrugged, keeping his eyes on her, despite the urge to close them just so he could savor her gentle touch. "I have no idea." He admitted, prompting her to let out a small laugh, before stepping forward to wrap her arms around him. He returned the embrace, closing his eyes and feeling that warmth in his chest spread throughout his body.

There was a small stretch of silence, broken only when Sokka would let out a particularly loud snore.

"You know," Zuko said softly. "Its weird that I'm the one telling you not to worry when, just a couple of months ago, you were the one doing it for me."

Orora rolled her eyes at him as she pulled back from the embrace. "What? Only you're allowed to freak out in this relationship and not me?"

"Well you are the more rational and emotionally mature one out of both of us."

"I'm overall more mature then you Zuko."

"We're the same age, Orora."

"And yet, I've never tried to get myself killed during a lightning storm."

"......."

"That's what I thought."

                                            ————————–

True to what Zuko said, it was nearly an hour later, when night had fallen, that the prison came into sight. It was rather an impressive construction. Built in the center of a volcano, a gondola the only way in and out of the massive building that apparently housed every single dangerous individual in the Fire Nation.

Or rather those who had been deemed dangerous. Sokka had woken up at Zuko's exclaimation, and all three of them were watching as they neared their destination.

"There's plenty of steam to keep us covered." Zuko said as he assessed the surrounding steam rising from the boiling water. "As long as we're quiet, we should be able to navigate through it without being caught." No sooner had he said the words when the balloon began to loose altitude.

Frantic, Zuko began to blast even more fire into the tank. "We're going down! The balloon's not working anymore!" As a last resort, he blasted fire up into the balloon itself.

Orora's eyes darted towards the island that was getting closer and closer, as well as the boiling water as they began to drop at an alarming rate. "The air outside is just as hot as the air inside so we can't fly!" Sokka exclaimed, quickly realizing the scientific reason behind the balloon's failure.

The balloon began to sway from side to side, prompting all of them to grab the sides and hold on. "So what are we supposed to do?" Zuko asked, the panic clear in his voice.

"I don't know! Crash-landing?" Sokka responded. Orora quickly stood, raising her arms to create a sheet of ice over which the balloon could glide over. But the faster she tried to freeze the water, the faster it melted.

"Argh, its no use! The water is too hot. I'm gonna need to freeze the a big patch of ice, and I can't risk anyone seeing that even with the mist." She said, frustrated at being unable to help. Just then the balloon skidded along the boiling water, forcing Orora to hold on to the side railing for dear life. The balloon floated along the lake enough to reach the island atop which the prison stood, and tipped over, ejecting the three of them onto the rocky shore.

They sat up, groaning and rubbing whatever sore spot the tumble had caused them. Zuko was the first to look to the now destroyed balloon. "How are we gonna get off the island if the balloon won't work?" He asked, standing up before reaching out and pulling Orora to her feet as well.

"We'll figure something out!" Sokka stated, a hint of resignation in his voice as he did. "I suspected it might be a one-way ticket." Orora's mouth fell open in surprise, an emotion Zuko mirrored as he said. "You knew this would happen and you wanted to come anyway?"

"Sokka, are you insane?" Orora shrieked in a low voice. Truthfully she wanted to scream at him, but that meant drawing unwanted attention. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Sokka ignored them both as he walked towards the balloon and began to gather up the broken parts. "My dad might be here! I had to come and see!" Orora pursed her lips, making a mental note to talk to Katara about whether or not Sokka had been dropped on his head too many times as a baby.

"Uncle always said I never thought things through. But this," He threw his arms out in frustration. "This is just crazy!"

The resident waterbender nodded. "I agree. Sokka you should've thought this all through. This recklessness could get you hurt, captured or killed."

Shooting both of them a glare, Sokka paused in his work. "Hey, I never wanted either of you to come along in the first place! And for the record, I always think things through! But my plans haven't exactly worked, so this time, I'm playing it by ear. So there." With that he kicked whatever was left of the war balloon into the boiling water and watched as it disappeared under the steaming surface.

Zuko stepped forward, a little alarmed at the rather mild mannered water tribe boy's show of aggression. "What are you doing?"

Sokka shrugged, walking towards the prison as it loomed over them through the dark and fog. "It doesn't work anyway, and we don't want anyone to find it."

Behind him, both Zuko and Orora glanced at one another, uncertain and yet determined at the same time. The girl quickly reached out the catch her brother by the shoulder. "Sokka, just try not to overdo it. I don't want you getting hurt." She said, hoping he would start thinking with his head rather then let his emotions rule his every judgement. "I hope you know what you're doing." Zuko stated as he followed after Sokka. "There's no turning back now."

                                            ————————–

Finding a way in wasn't that hard to do. A pipe that was clearly used to pump water into the prison was their way in. The metal grate that covered it was quickly sliced to pieces by Orora. A task that didn't take her too much time since years of water damage had rusted the metal rods already. Bending the water out of the way and keeping a firm control on the pressure of it, she lead the way in, with Zuko holding up a small flame in his hand to guide the way, while with his other, her did his best to bring down the temperature of the water to a more tolerable level.

Luckily they entered the water storage room, with the water cascading into a large metal tank.

"How do you suppose we sneak around the prison?" Orora asked as they climbed out of the water tank, completely dry thanks to her creating a small ice platform to slide down from. Sokka looked around the room, assessing it to the best of his ability.

"Since this is the water storage room, I'm willing to bet the room where they keep spare guard uniforms is nearby too." He glanced in Zuko's direction, who gave a quick nod. "I'll go out and see. Even if someone sees me they might not raise the alarm since I'm dressed in Fire Nation clothes."

With that, he quickly exited the room, sparing Orora only a brief glance of reassurance as he did.

The time he was gone, the girl paced the floor, chewing on her lower lip, hoping he wouldn't get caught. Sokka looked around the room, spying a small unused cupboard he figured they could store their stuff there once they wore the uniforms.

The sound of the door opening had both teenagers dropping into defensive positions, only to heave a sigh of relief to see that it was only Zuko with a large sack over his shoulder. "I was only able to find the men's uniforms." He said, setting the sack on the floor and pulling the items out. Sokka shook his head.

"Its fine. Its best if we stay together even while we share sleeping places. Plus Orora can disguise her voice can't you?" He said, looking to where Orora was collecting the pieces of her uniform, a helmet tucked under her arm.

She nodded. "I won't speak unless I'm spoken to." With that the girl walked away to change behind one of the coolers that were placed throughout the room. A few minutes later, all three of them emerged from the room, disguised and barely recognizable with the helmets covering their faces.

"Lets take the rest of the night to explore the prison. Get a bit of layout." Sokka suggested, to which the other two nodded. As the boys moved to walk away, Orora suddenly stopped them with a hand around their wrists. "Wait! We have to decide on some sort of signal." She whispered, prompting Sokka to raise the visor of his helmet and look at her curiously. "Why would we need that?"

Orora scowled at him. "Use your brain Sokka. Everyone will be dressed the same with their faces covered. How would you like to walk up to someone who you thought was either Zuko or me and blab about everything?"

A beat of silence.

"Can't believe we didn't think of that." Zuko said, sounding a little admonished that such a minor yet major detail was about to slip past them. Sokka pouted briefly. "I don't blab Orora, but you're right. We should come up with a code word. Something neutral." He hummed under his breath, tapping a finger against his chin as he did.

Orora rolled her eyes at his attempt to put so much thought into something so simple. "I think there's a full moon tonight." She said, adjusting the braces of her armor. "Its easy to remember and if we drop it in a conversation, it can just be taken as an observation."

The Fire Prince nodded. "We'll meet back here in two hours."

                                            ————————–

"Well the only thing I learned about this place is that its near unbreakable." Orora whispered to Zuko as they both walked into the Mess Hall and picked up their trays. He hummed in agreement. "Except for where we got in from." He reminded her, to which she shrugged. "Only if you're a waterbender. And I haven't seen any waterbender prisoners. Though I doubt they would keep them so close to a water source." She mused to herself as she picked up a bowl of soup and placed it on her tray.

It was only the two of them at the moment, since Sokka had been ordered to take one of the prisoners to the Cooler. Whatever that was.

They'd spent their time scouring the entirety of the prison and so far hadn't seen any water tribe prisoners. Then again, they hadn't talked to the guards yet.

Orora glanced over her shoulder at the various guards as they ate, drank, chatted and laughed while on their break. It was a little strange to see such normal faces under the helmets, but then maybe that was the reason they were forced to wear them as part of their uniform. To make them appear terrifying to the prisoners. "We need to get information about the prisoners here without raising suspicion." She whispered to Zuko who was loading his own tray with food.

Of course neither of them had removed their helmet.

"We can always just ask directly." He stated, looking around at the guards as well.

Orora made a face, her forehead creasing in worry. "Won't that be too obvious?" She asked, nervous that they would get caught instantly. Zuko, feeling a little in his element with so many Fire Nation people around him, shrugged. "Lets find out."

She realized a second too late what he was about to do. "No! Don-" But he was already turning away and walking towards a nearby table, asking his questions as he did. Orora stayed where she was, gathered her food, and quickly made her way towards an empty table. Not even ten minutes later Zuko joined her.

"That was reckless." She whispered, lifting her bowl of soup to her mouth and taking a big gulp of the warm broth.

"I got the information we needed so, it worked didn't it?" He responded with a slight grin as he finished up with his own food.

Orora pursed her lip and slammed her elbow into his side. Zuko nearly choked on the gulp of water he had just taken. He coughed harshly, clutching his ribs as he did. "That is not the point." She growled, picking up her now empty tray of food. "Come on, lets go find Sokka before he does something reckless like you."

"Yes, ma'am." He coughed.

                                            ————————–

Returning to the platform, Zuko approached the lone guard standing there, Orora a few paces behind him.

"Hey there, fellow guard, how goes it?" He asked, prompting Orora to clench her hand to stop herself from reaching out and punching her idiot Soulmate for not using the code phrase. Then again, her brother wasn't the brightest either, since he lifted the visor of his helmet and exclaimed loudly. "Zuko?"

"Spirit! Its like you two want to get caught." Orora hissed, glancing around to make sure no one was listening to them. Thankfully the platform was empty.

The two boys did wince at their mistakes, but quickly shook it off, eager to share what they had found. Or rather hadn't found. "Listen, I asked around the lounge." Zuko said, shaking his head. "There are no Water Tribe prisoners." He, too, lifted the visor of his helmet. "I'm afraid your father's not here."

Orora felt her stomach churn at the realization that they had failed their mission. Or rather, the mission had been a failure from the start. "What? Are you sure?" Sokka asked, not wanting to believe they had come all this way for nothing. "Did you double-check?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Zuko nodded, as Orora lifted her visor as well, a sympathetic look on her soft features as she approached Sokka. "We both asked around Sokka. I'm afraid he isn't here."

But Sokka was done listening. He banged his fists against the metal wall, growling in frustration. Orora quickly reached out to stop him from hurting himself by grabbing his wrists.

Zuko stood with his own eyes shining with sympathy for the clearly anguished boy. "I'm really sorry, Sokka."

He was trembling, she could feel it from where she clutched his wrists. "So we came all this way for nothing?" He asked, eyes closed in frustration. "I failed.......again." His shoulders drooped, as Orora quickly wrapped him in a comforting hug, hoping to reassure him somehow.

"We'll find him Sokka. Even if we have to break into every Fire Nation prison." She promised, conviction running through her veins as she thought of the kind, brave man who had taken her under his protection. In the few weeks when they had traveled after escaping Ba Sing Se, Hakoda had shown her how a real father acted. And though she had been envious of Sokka and Katara, she couldn't help but thank the Spirits that at least she had caught a glimpse of what true fatherhood was. Something that Hakoda had extended to her when he had claimed her to be Sokka and Katara's sister.

Her brother's breath slowly calmed, and he pulled back from the embrace, giving her a small smile of gratitude.

Holding his chin, Zuko hummed under his breath. "What would Uncle say?" He mused to himself, hoping a few words of wisdom would ease Sokka's frustration and worries. He glanced up to the sky where the clouds lazily passed by. "Sometimes, clouds have two sides." He said, walking towards the railing. "A dark and light." The two Water Tribe siblings glanced at one another, utterly confused at what Zuko was saying. "And a silver lining in between. It's like a silver sandwich!"

Orora clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud at what her Soulmate was saying. Meanwhile, Sokka had moved to stand by the railing as well, looking down at the prisoners as they milled about in the yard below.

"So.......when life seems hard......take a bite out of the silver sandwich!"

She could feel her ribs cracking from holding back her giggles. Sokka, however, had completely lost interest in both his companions as his eyes caught sight of a very familiar figure in the yard. He gripped the railings excitedly, his whole face lighting up as he did.

"Maybe we haven't failed after all!" He exclaimed, his excitement prompting Orora to forget her own mirth and stare at him inc confusion.

Zuko grinned. "That's the spirit!" He encouraged, folding his arms. "I can't believe that worked. I didn't even know what I was saying." He muttered to himself.

"No, what you said made no sense at all." Sokka stated, quickly shattering whatever notion had been forming in Zuko's head that maybe he could go around sharing his wisdom with the rest of the world. His mouth dropped open. "He's right. If I knew it wouldn't attract attention, I would've been laughing my head off." Orora added, which only made Zuko grumble under his breath, a little miffed that the both of them would think that.

Pointing excitedly in the direction of a lone girl sitting in the yard, Sokka nearly fell over the side of the railing. "It's Suki!" He cheered, barely noticing as Orora grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from tipping over. Though his reveal had her own eyes widening.

"Suki?! You mean your soulmate Suki!?" She asked, turning her own excited gaze in the direction he was pointing. Sokka nodded. "Yes!"

Ice blue eyes blinked. "But then why didn't you feel your string tug?" The girl asked, a little confused. Though that confusion turned to sheer frustration with her brother's response.

"I did. I just thought it was malfunctioning or something."

Without missing a beat, Orora reached out to completely remove his helmet, and slap the back of his head. Hard.

Zuko couldn't help but let out the bark of laughter at Sokka's reaction. Orora was seething because how in the world was she saddled with two complete idiots?!

"Soulmate strings do not malfunction you dodo!" She hissed.

But her frustration was short-lived, as they began to form the next steps of their plan that now included breaking out Suki.

                                            ————————–

Of course, all their plans went down the drain and up in smoke the moment Zuko was thrown in prison.

"Oh this is bad! This is really bad! What if someone recognizes him and tells the Fire Lord where he is?"

Both Orora and Sokka were in the water storage room, with the latter watching his sister pace the length of the room as she ranted and panicked over the minor hitch they were currently facing.

"What if he gets into a fight and gets hurt? You know how his temper can be. What if someone inside the prison recognizes who he is and the prisoners turn on him? He won't be able to fight all of them off." Sokka glanced over the edge of the water tank he was leaning against. Sure enough the water within was churning and roiling, responding to Orora's emotions.

She'd been ranting for a good ten minutes now, or maybe more. With Orora, Sokka had learned that it was best that she had her emotions out of her system, since she would allow them to fester inside her.

Reaching out, he grabbed Orora by the arm as she walked by, pulling her to a stop and gripping her shoulders so that she was facing him. "Orora." He said, his voice firm and yet gentle at the same time. "Nothings gonna happen to Zuko. He'll be fine. He knows he has to keep his head down and he will."

Her eyes were still wide and panicked, so Sokka continued. "We're all gonna get out of here safe and in one piece. I already have a plan to cross the boiling lake so don't worry about that."

That caught Orora's attention.

"You do?" She asked, to which he nodded, finally letting go of her shoulders. "I do. Now go tell Suki and Zuko to meet us by the northern stairwell during cleaning hour. I have to do some scouting work for our escape."

Nodding, the panic and worry being replaced by a sense of determination, Orora quickly pulled on her helmet. "I'll meet you there too." She said. Sokka nodded and smiled. "We'll be fine Orora." He reassured her again, using the voice he reserved for both his sisters that he knew would calm them down.

This time the girl nodded, lifting the visor of her helmet briefly to flash him a smile before running off to do her task.

                                            ————————–

Her first stop was Suki's prison cell.

Quickly slipping into the room, she closed the door behind her and turned to the young girl sitting on top of the uncomfortable looking cot. "Sokka?" The girl whispered as she stood up. She couldn't be much older then her, Orora guessed as she quickly reached up to lift up her visor. "No, but I'm a friend of Sokka's. I'm-"

"Orora." The girl interrupted, prompting the Waterbender to frown in confusion. "Sokka mentioned he was here with you. Said I would recognize you by your hair." She gestured to the small white patch that was only just visible from being pressed against her forehead under the helmet. Orora couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Trust that idiot to give you a physical description where it won't do you any good." She grumbled to herself. Suki grinned. "I tried to tell him the same thing, but we kind of got interrupted by the fight outside."

The Water Tribe girl winced, remembering the skirmish that had resulted in Zuko's capture. "Oh yeah, that was my Soulmate covering Sokka's impromptu meeting with you so the both of you wouldn't get caught." She explained. Suki blinked. "Wait, Sokka said he was here with you and Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation." The girl's mouth fell open as she raised a finger to point at Orora.

"Does that mean he's your...." She trailed off, while Orora lifted her finger which had the now always glowing string tied around it and nodded. "Yup! He's my Soulmate." She let out a slightly derisive laugh. "Fate really has a sense of humor doesn't it?"

A moment of silence, where both girls simply stared at one another before Suki shrugged. "I guess you win in that department. I mean my Soulmate kissed the Moon Spirit herself, so really your Soulmate being the Prince of the Fire Nation shouldn't be too surprising." The other girl hummed. "I suppose. But hey, at least he's on our side now, so that's good."

A development she was thankful for every single day.

"Well he did burn down my village, so it'll take me some time to trust him again." The information had Orora wincing. "Yeah, I guess I should apologize on his part, but I'm sure he'll be sorry for his actions as well. He was a different person back then." Suki shook her head. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'll judge how much he's changed when I meet him." Orora nodded, before a small smile pulled at the corner of her lips.

"You know, its strange. I've never met you before but I feel like I can trust you with anything." Suki grinned. "I'm glad. Cuz that means I'm not the only one who feels the same way."

Orora laughed softly before holding her hand out for Suki to shake. "I'm Orora." She introduced herself, as Suki shook her hand. "And I'm Suki, its nice to meet you Orora."

The Waterbender all but beamed at the prospect of a new friend. Normally it took her a long time to trust someone and open up to them. She'd had months with Zuko before she had learned to trust him. Not to mention with Aang, Toph, Katara and Sokka, it had taken her time to get used to having them around and trusting them to keep her safe, just as she tried her best to keep them safe as well.

And here she was. Speaking so openly with a girl she had only just met.

Strange happenings really.

The sound of the bell ringing notified her of the change in shift. "Sokka said to meet by the northern stairs during cleaning hour. We'll catch you guys up with the rest of the plan there." Suki nodded, a determined gleam in her eyes. "Got it. I'll meet you there."

Sliding her visor back in place, Orora opened the door to the cell to step out. She paused at the threshold and glanced back.

"We'll get you out Suki. Don't worry." She reassured the other girl who smiled and nodded. "I know. Thanks Orora."

With one final smile, Orora locked the door behind her and walked off.

                                            ————————–

Her second stop was Zuko's prison cell. Easy to find. All she had to do was follow her string.

"You going for a new fashion statement?" She asked as she closed the door behind her. Zuko had been stripped off his guard uniform and given the standard prison clothes to wear. Her Soulmate gave her a deadpanned look. "At least it isn't brown or green." He retorted, recalling back to the time they were hiding in Ba Sing Se and he had to wear Earth Kingdom clothes.

He really hadn't liked those colors.

Orora rolled her eyes, an act that was visible to him since she had removed her helmet to allow her hair to breath a little. They were all out of place from being stuffed inside a helmet for so long. She looked oddly flyaway in her current state, and Zuko found she looked adorable.

Maybe it showed on his face, because Orora raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" She asked, knowing there was something on his mind. Zuko shrugged, the start of a smile on his lips. "Nothing. Just noticing how cute you are."

The effect of his words were instantaneous.

Pink flared across her tanned cheeks, and a gasp of surprise escaped her lips as she averted her gaze, suddenly feeling shy. It was ridiculous how Zuko had the ability to make her want to wring his shoulders and elbow him for being an idiot, to becoming shy and uncertain in a matter of seconds.

Trying to get back on track, she cleared her throat, the pink still evident on her cheeks. "Sokka says to meet by the northern staircase during cleaning hour. Suki will be there too so we can make the rest of our plan......there."

The last word was spoken in a slightly breathless whisper. To distract herself, Orora had begun to fiddle with her arm braces, and had not noticed Zuko walking towards her. Only when she looked up did she realize that he was standing before her, with barely an inch between them.

Her blue eyes widened in surprise, while a teasing spark glinted in his golden eyes. She gulped. "You know we really shouldn't be letting our guard down." The girl whispered, gaze darting to the closed door over her shoulder. Gentle fingers coaxed her to turn her head back in his direction. He smiled at her. "I timed the guard's rounds. We have half an hour before they make their rounds again. We're safe." Zuko reassured her, his thumb stroking along her chin.

"For now." She whispered, the last dregs of worry dissolving as she lost herself in his warm, familiar and loving golden gaze.

Not exactly the location to have a moment, but they neither of them were about to complain.

His head began to lean down, his intent obvious with the way he tilted it as he closed the distance between them. And Orora wanted to let him close that last few breath of distance between them.

She really did.

But her hand came up to gently press her fingers against his slightly parted mouth, stopping him. Zuko blinked at her, a little surprised. "You said you wanted our kiss to be special." She reminded him, to which he nodded. "What did you mean by that?"

The boy shrugged as Orora removed her fingers to allow him to talk. "Its just something silly." He admitted, not wanting to say his thoughts out loud. But the expectant expression she gave him had the Prince sighing as he reached up to toy with her silver hair. "Its just our entire journey as Soulmates has been full of unexpected and, at times, unbelievable, circumstances. I mean how many other people can say they met their Soulmate while saving their lives?"

She hummed. "True, but that's what makes us unique doesn't it?" Zuko chuckled at her response and nodded. "You're right it does. But since I came to the Air Temple I've been planning on going about things normally."

"Normally?" She repeated, a confused look on her face that had him shrugging and looking away from her, suddenly feeling uncertain and sheepish. "Yeah normal, like, going out on dates, just hanging out and acting like a normal couple and not with the weight of the entire world on our shoulders." He admitted. "Is that too much to ask?"

A small moment of silence followed his admittance. Orora smiled softly. "Zuko? Did you want our kiss to be after our first date or something?" Looking more then a little sheepish, as well as uncertain, the boy shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't be opposed to it." He admitted, and Orora felt her her heart turn to mush inside her.

"You know what." She said, the smile evident on her face as she looked up at him. "You're right. We do deserve a bit of normal in our lives. And when we have it, we'll go out on that date like normal teenagers do."

"Really? You wouldn't mind?" Zuko asked, to which Orora shook her head. "Mind?! I would love that! And yeah kissing for the first time as a couple in prison sounds exciting and all, but we've had too many exciting moment in our lives and having a normal boring story to tell would be amazing."

Zuko grinned, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to her cheek. And if he lingered there for much longer then was necessary, neither of them mentioned it. Or were bothered by it. "In that case, I promise, that when we get one moment of peace in our crazy lives, we'll go out on a date."

"I'll hold you to that."

                                            ————————–

The next part of Sokka's plan had gone off without a hitch.

Aside from a couple of hiccups.

One of them being Chit Sang, another prisoner, who wanted in on their escape plan when he overheard them talking about it.

Alright, no problem. Easily taken care of. And since he helped get Zuko thrown in the Cooler, that worked out well.

The second hiccup came in the form of Sokka being unable to retrieve Zuko from the cooler. He was pulled away for some guard duty. Luckily Orora had been standing next to him, and he had quickly told her where to find Zuko and let him out.

She was only ten minutes late to her destination, and opened up the Cooler, her heart hammering in her chest at the sight of Zuko crouching on the floor.

"I'm here to take you back to your cell." She stated in a deep fake voice for anyone around to overhear her. "If you've learned your lesson that is." She added, using the code-phrase she had insisted upon since they couldn't ask outright if the screws had been removed or not.

Once again Sokka had been about to overlook the minor detail. Which Orora had remedied quite quickly.

Orora watched as Zuko slowly raised his head from where he had it buried in his arms. A small burst of fire escaped as he exhaled, before looking up at her and smirking. "Yes I have."

He lowered his arms to reveal the bolts and screws he had removed. "Completely."

Trying her best to suppress her smile, the girl quickly leaned forward, lifting her visor as she whispered. "Sokka is getting Suki and Chit Sang out of their cells. They'll be waiting for us at the shore." Sokka had found a door that led to the shore. It had been hidden behind one of the boilers in the water storage room.

Zuko was about to step out of the Cooler when the sound of footsteps accompanied by voices had him halting. "Someone's coming." No sooner had he hissed the words when he was grabbing Orora by the wrist, and yanking her into the freezing Cooler and shutting the door.

The cold instantly reminded her of the temperature at the North Tribe. A shiver ran through her entire body, prompting Zuko to pull her against him, his warm body providing her with instant relief.

With bated breath they waited for the people outside to pass.

Only to learn a crucial piece of information as they did.

"War prisoners." Zuko whispered, recalling what the guard outside had said a few moments ago about the new prisoners arriving the next day. "It could be Sokka's father."

Orora nodded. "I know." Either they escape now and not investigate further. Or they forfeit and see whether the war prisoner was really Hakoda or not.

Zuko turned his head to look at Orora. "Well, what should we do? Are we going ahead with the plan or are we waiting another night?"

Shaking her head, the girl opened the door of the cooler and stepped out. "We have to tell Sokka. This is his mission. He gets to decide what our next step should be." She stated firmly, as she led him down the corridor towards their escape.

Though she had her doubts they would be escaping that night.

                                            ————————–

The moment Orora burst through the door and caught sight of Sokka, Suki and.....three other prisoners, not the problem right then, she blurted out what had been burning at the tip of her tongue the entire time she had Zuko had been sneaking their way through the prisoner.

"Sokka! New prisoners are coming in tomorrow. And there might be war prisoners in the batch." She panted out, having dragged Sokka away from the other four so they could speak without being interrupted. Barely drawing a breath she continued. "Hakoda might be..." She trailed off once she caught sight of Sokka's face. A plethora of emotions flickering in his eyes.

Zuko stepped forward. "You wanna go through with this?" He asked, knowing just how torn he must be feeling. "Or do you want to wait?"

Running a hand through his hair, Sokka pursed his lips. Uncertainty and hope swirled inside him, drawing a cloud of confusion around his brain. "I don't know!" He whispered, more to himself then the two of them. He glanced up to where Suki was looking in his direction, the curiosity evident on her face. "Is it right for me to risk Suki's freedom, all of our freedom on the slim chance that my dad is gonna show up?" He turned to look at Zuko and Orora, almost as if he were silently begging them to make the decision for him.

"It's your call, Sokka." Zuko said, his tone soft as he reached out to place a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you sure you wanna go? You're the one who said you wanted to redeem yourself. Redeem your honor. Rescuing your dad is your chance."

Normally, Orora would've recommended putting everyone's safety over honor, but she knew that Sokka needed to do this. Needed to get his confidence back and start thinking with his head straight on his shoulders once again. Too many rash decisions had been made up till now, all based on emotions.

What was one more?

"Your dad?" Suki's soft voice cut through the tense silence as she finally approached the trio. Orora nodded. "He might be transferred here tomorrow. But we don't know for certain" She explained.

Turning to Zuko, Sokka sighed in a resigned manner. "If I had just cut my losses at the invasion, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess." He glanced away, looking dejected and hopeless. "Maybe sometimes it's just better to call it quits before you fail." His shoulders drooped and for the first time, Orora saw the look of defeat cross her brother's features and settle into his very being.

And she didn't like it one bit.

Her Soulmate seemed to think the same, since he shook his head. "No, it's not." A determined look in his eyes had Orora stepping back towards Suki, giving the two boy the space they needed to talk. "Look Sokka, you're going to fail a lot before things work out."

Sokka scowled. "That supposed to make me feel better?" He asked in a slightly miffed voice before he began to walk away. But Zuko was persistent as he followed after the Water Tribe boy. "Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again-"

"Seriously, not helping."

Reaching out, Zuko pulled Sokka to a stop with a hand on his shoulder. "You have to try every time." His eyes flickered in Orora's direction, prompting the girl to stand up straight, tilting her head curiously. "You can't quit or stop trying because you're afraid you might fail."

Silence followed Zuko's words.

Sokka stared at the scarred Prince, a little surprised at how much what he had said made sense.

Chit Sang, who had been standing by the cooler boat, and was growing impatient, called out. "Hey, if you two are done cuddling, can we get a move on?"

His entire demeanor changing, Sokka turned to the giant man. "No. I'm staying. You guys go." He turned to Suki and grasped her hand. "You've been here long enough."

Orora knew the answer before Suki even gave it. "I'm not leaving without you, Sokka." The Kyoshi Warrior stated firmly, prompting Orora to step forward and make her decision known as well. "I think I can say for both Zuko and myself that we're not leaving." She glanced in Zuko's direction, who nodded in agreement. "I'm staying, too."

That was all the confirmation the other three needed. The boat was pushed off and the three escaped convicts disappeared into the mist.

The four teenagers stood on the bank of the shore. "We gave up our only chance of escaping." Sokka said, sounding just a bit unsure. "I hope we haven't just made a huge mistake."

                                            ————————–

It would seem the Spirits had decided to side with them for the mission.

Chit Sang and his friends were caught rather quickly, and were hauled away into solitary confinement.

But the real winning point?

Was when Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe stepped off the gondola and reaffirmed Sokka's faith in himself. Orora couldn't help but smile at his relief. Glancing in Suki and Zuko's direction, who were mirroring the relief the son was feeling at seeing his father, she nudged Sokka forward.

"You go talk to your dad." She said. "I'll get these two back in their cells. Meet me back here in an hour and we can start making the new plan."

With a nod Sokka ran off to locate his Father's cell.

                                            ————————–

Gently knocking on Suki's door nearly two hours later, Orora slipped inside, locking the door behind her as she did. "Sokka met with his dad, and they've come up with a plan." She whispered softly as the two girls leaned their heads forward. "He's gone to tell Zuko, but I wanted to talk to you about a minor detail before he decides to execute the plan."

Suki frowned slightly. "What detail?" She asked, prompting Orora to purse her lips briefly before speaking. "Hakoda suggests that we take the Warden as our prisoner."

A surprised look was all Suki responded with, before she raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh, and how does that plan go?" She asked to which Orora let out a groan of frustration. "That's just it. That is all they've come up with. Honestly, sometimes I think its just pure luck that Sokka has survived this long in life with the way he plans things and forgets the minor details."

Suppressing a smile at Orora's obvious frustration, Suki shrugged. "Well, its a good thing he has us to help him out." She leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest as she did. "What do you propose we do?" She asked, to which the other girl grinned.

"I have a few suggestions." The excited glint in Orora's blue eyes had Suki mirroring her grin as the both of them began to iron out the finer details of their own plan.

                                            ————————–

No sooner had Sokka explained the plan when Zuko found himself being escorted away by a couple of guards. Or rather being dragged away, since he wasn't about to let them take him without a fight.

"What are you doing?" He demanded to know, his voice echoing in the otherwise empty corridor. "Where are you taking me?" Of course the guards offered no response. Instead they opened a door and three him inside a bare room where the only item was a wooden chair in the middle. "I didn't do anything wrong!" He called out as the guards disappeared, leaving the door open.

"Come on, Zuko." A familiar voice cut through the darkness. His head whipped towards the corner of the room where a very familiar figure stood half-concealed in the shadows. "We all know that's a lie." She stepped forward, the anger that was evident in her voice, flashing in her eyes as she glared at him.

He felt his mouth fall open in shock. She was the last person he had expected to see here. "Mai! How did you know I was here?" He asked, his mind racing, wandering if his sister was here as well. The three of them did tend to travel in a pack.

"Because I know you so well." Mai responded. While any other time, Zuko would've picked up on the heavy sarcasm that laced her words, this time his brain was a little slow to catch up.

"But, how-?"

Loosing patience, Mai simply snapped. "The warden's my uncle, you idiot." A beat of silence, before Zuko facepalmed. He should've remembered that little detail. Orora would have his head if she knew he'd forgotten such a crucial piece of information.

Pulling out a scroll, Mai held it out in front of her former friend. "The truth is, I guess I don't know you. All I get is a letter?" She demanded. Angry wasn't the appropriate word to describe what she was feeling in that moment. Enraged came in pretty close. But there was also, hurt and the feeling of being betrayed. "You could have at least looked me in the eye before ending our friendship."

Guilt gnawed at his stomach. Unable to meet her gaze, he dropped his head in his hands. "I didn't mean to-" He said, his voice muffled, but was cut off as. "You didn't mean to?" She demanded to know, before unrolling the scroll and reading his words to her in a slightly mocking tone.

"Dear Mai, I'm sorry that you have to find out this way, but I'm leaving."

The urgency within him to find Orora and the others rose tenfold. He had to get out of here if he wanted to make it in time for their breakout. "Stop!" He said, standing up. "This isn't about you." His voice was firm as he continued. "This is about the Fire Nation!"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Mai rolled her eyes. "Thanks Zuko, that makes me feel all better." She hissed, throwing the letter at him. Taking a step towards her, he changed tactics, his tone imploring as he spoke. "Mai, I never wanted to hurt you. But I have to do this to save my country." The last few words had a tinge of desperation in them. Something that Mai picked up on, causing her to purse her lips.

And yet her anger remained. "Save it? You're betraying your country!" She said, her voice getting louder with each word. "I told you to go after your soulmate Zuko. I didn't say you could go and betray your entire Nation."

Zuko's own voice raised in retaliation. "That's not how I see it." Mai only scowled at him. "I've traveled the world Mai, and I've seen the devastation and destruction the Fire Nation has caused since the war began." Memories of all that he had seen but never noticed before rose to the forefront of his mind.

"We have been fed nothing but lies since we were born. The Fire Nation isn't interested in sharing its glory with the rest of the world. Its only looking to destroy it and take what it can give." He paused to draw breath. "Mai, I've seen families torn apart because of the Fire Nation. Mothers, father, children, sisters, brothers, Soulmates. No person has been shown mercy by our people. My great-grandfather wiped out an entire Nation, Mai. Aang is the last of his kind in the world." Mai's face began to loose some of the rigidity and anger as she gaped at him. "Children are starving and their parents can't do anything about it. Our people are being forced to serve the army. They're just as effected as the rest of the world. And I have to stop it." He declared, standing up straight, tall and proud.

"Its my destiny to restore the Fire Nation's honor and help Aang. I was so blinded by my own problems that I never looked beyond that. Uncle and Orora helped me see. They opened my eyes to what I was blind to and I'm not going to turn my back on those I can help."

His eyes were fixed on Mai as he added. "And if doing the right thing labels me as a betrayer then fine. I've lived with several titles, whats one more added to the roster."

Silence.

Which was quickly broken by the arrival of a guard, claiming to have been sent to protect Mai since there was a riot happening. The information prompted Zuko to act and he quickly made his escape using the guard to knock Mai down.

He locked the door behind him, glancing back to see Mai glaring at him through the slot at the top of the door.

"I stand by my beliefs Mai." He stated. "And I won't apologize for it."

With that he ran off.

                                            ————————–

One would think that starting a prison riot would commence with a punch being thrown.

But in this prison, that was not the case.

All it took was for Chit Sang, who they had to add into their group as well since he didn't give them away, was picking up another prisoner, holding the squirming man above his head and yelling out two words.

"Hey! Riot!"

A beat of silence.

And then all hell broke loose. Prisoners started to punch, kick, scream, claw, bite and do all manners of bodily harm. The Firebenders began to use their bending as well. All around them was chaos.

Exactly how they had planned.

But even better.

Hakoda looked shocked at the sudden turn of events. "Impressive." He praised, a little reluctantly.

Just then the panting figure of Orora ran over. She'd gotten rid of her helmet and was wearing her water bending gloves. "Hey guys! Have you guys seen Zuko?" She panted out. Pausing, she briefly turned to Hakoda and smiled brilliantly. "Its great to see you Chief." She said, sounding genuine and relieved at seeing him safe. The older man smiled. "And you Orora."

Another brief smile before her attention turned to Sokka.

"Where is Zuko?" She asked again, though barely had the words left her mouth when she felt her string tug. The boy in question, somersaulted over a prisoner, slamming them to the ground, and landing flawlessly in front of their little group.

"You called M'lady." He said with a teasing smile, making Orora roll her eyes at him before she moved to stand beside Suki as Sokka stepped forward.

"Zuko! Good, we're all here. Now all we need to do is grab the warden, and get to the gondolas!" The Water Tribe boy stated excitedly. The Prince nodded. "Right, and how do we do that?" Sokka's shoulders dropped and a sheepish expression overcame his features as he rubbed a hand behind his head. "I'm not sure." He admitted, prompting Zuko to groan and facepalm.

"I thought you thought this through!" He yelled out in frustration, which had Sokka responded at the same level of volume. "I thought you told me it's okay not to think everything through!" Zuko growled in frustration. "Maybe not everything, but this is kind of important!" He rubbed his forehead, his mind racing, trying to come up with a solution to their new problem.

Just then, Chit Sang spoke up.

"Hey, uh, fellas. I think your girlfriends are taking care of it."

Both boys jumped up and peeked out from behind the wall they were taking refuge.

And sure enough there was Suki and Orora.

With the former hoping on the heads of the rioters, using her momentum to push her forward. Never once did she loose balance, or miss her target. And even if she did, she found a small pillar of ice boosting her whenever she would run out of heads.

Orora, meanwhile, had decided to take on a more direct approach. The moment she had stepped out from behind the wall, she'd waved her arms and tiny drops of frozen water had emerged from her person. She'd spent the entire time in prison with the greatest weapon concealed in her uniform. And now, she was using it to the best of her abilities.

Which was saying something since she was only a few steps from becoming a true Master.

She was sliding along the ground, a sheet of ice creating a path for her through the crowd. Anyone who stepped on the ice slipped. And anyone who stepped in her way, retreated when several sharp ice daggers would be thrown in their general direction.

She was only a few paces behind Suki and as the Kyoshi Warrior began to scale the wall, Orora threw her hands out, creating ice-holds that would help the girl boost herself up faster then her already hurried pace. Creating a whirlpool of water around her, Orora quickly rose to the top, using the same whirlpool to create a wave that swept away any remaining firebenders that Suki hadn't already taken out. They went over the edge of the tower.

Suki, meanwhile, swept her leg out, defeating the final guard who was protecting the Warden and grabbed the man-in-question, grinning in triumph as she did.

"You wouldn't dare." The man growled, though he did look intimidated with the two girls looming over him. One who had defeated his high trained guards with just her bare hands, and the other who'd only used her abilities at the bare minimum when it came to the actual fighting.

Suki grinned, tying his hands together and using his headband as a gag. "Sorry warden. You're my prisoner now." She slammed the warden against the wall. "Impressive." Orora said as she quickly threw her leg out to waterbend a few straggling guards who were trying to sneak up on them. "You're not so bad yourself." Suki said, grinning from ear to ear. Shrugging, Orora gave a modest smile. "I try." She said, before the two girls giggled.

Spying the rest of their group approaching, Suki called out. "We've got the warden! Now let's get out of here!" The four males paused to catch their breath, funny since none of them had done the actual fighting.

"Those are some girls." Hakoda said, once he'd caught some of his breath.

Sokka and Zuko, both still trying to catch their breath, looked proud and a little love-struck at the same time.

"Tell me about it."

                                            ————————–

Getting to the gondolas was a bit of a challenge.

Luckily, they had two highly trained warriors, one seasoned warrior, two formidable benders, and a criminal who had probably done shady stuff in the past to have landed at such a high-security prison.

"We're almost there!" Suki called, even as they were stopped by two guards who launched twin fire blasts at them. Zuko quickly shoved Sokka out of the way and blocked the fire. Another two tried attacking from behind, only to be thrown aside by one of Orora's water whips.

As more guards approached, Zuko called out. "Back off! We've got the warden!" His words had the desired effect. Every single one of them stopped dead in their tracks and dropped their stances. "Let's go!" Zuko urged, grabbing Orora's wrist and pulling her beside him, her with twin ice daggers clutched in her hands, gleaming threateningly, while he never dropped his defensive stance, ready to attack should anyone make a move.

But no one did.

Reaching the gondola, Suki quickly opened the door. "Everyone in!" She called, which had Zuko quickly pushing Orora in the direction of the gondola. "Get on!" He called to her, racing towards the lever which would start the machinery. As everyone piled in, Zuko began to kick the lever several times.

"Zuko!" Orora called out in alarm as the gondola began to move. Several guards tried to move in on him, but a few threatening ice daggers being embedded where their feet were had them stepping back.

The lever broke, and Zuko raced towards the edge of the platform before leaping off and towards the gondola. Orora threw her arm out, ready to catch him, with Sokka right beside her.

But what she hadn't factored in was the momentum behind Zuko's jump, as well as his weight when gravity caught hold of him. He did grab her arm, while also grabbing Sokka's, but Orora's arm took the brunt of his weight.

And was pulled clean out of it's socket.

A scream of sheer pain sounded from her lips. And she would've dropped Zuko if Sokka hadn't gotten a hold of him as well. Stumbling backwards, Orora dropped to the floor, clutching her shoulder, whimpering as she saw her arm bent at such a strange angle.

"Agni! Orora! Are you alright?" The moment she had scream, Zuko's heart had plummeted in his stomach. And seeing her on the floor, with Suki and Hakoda already hovering over her, he crouched in front of her. "Spirits! I'm so sorry!" He said in a low voice, guilt racing through him. Orora shook her head frantically, breathing raggedly through the pain.

"Not your fault." She whimpered, as Hakoda inspected her injury with a critical eye. "We need to put the arm back in place." He said, gently but firmly, grasping Orora's arm. "Brace her." He advised Zuko and Suki, who both grabbed her by her uninjured shoulder to keep her in place.

"Hold on Orora. This will feel better soon." Hakoda said reassuringly. The girl simply nodded, panting as her entire body tensed. "On three." He warned.

Though he didn't bother counting.

The shoulder popped back into place, and Orora's entire body jerked as she roared from the pain. Or rather her body tried to jerk but both Suki and Zuko kept her in place. The relief was instant, but now a consistent throbbing seemed to run through her entire arm. "I'll be alright." She whispered softly. Suki stepped back, as did Hakoda. Zuko, however, cradled Orora's face, brushing her hair back as he did.

"What was that? Why'd you stay behind?" Sokka demanded, not liking that Orora had gotten hurt because of what Zuko did. "I had to make sure they didn't stop the gondola." The scarred Prince responded, barely looking up from Orora who was now breathing a little normally as she began to calm down.

Sokka blinked. "Huh. Way to think ahead." He praised, making Orora laugh softly as she patted Zuko's hand where it rested against her cheek, signalling to him that she was fine.

"We're on our way!" Suki said, sounding a little in disbelief as she stared at the other side of the platform as it neared. She'd been locked up for so long she didn't think she'd get free.

And now it was so close.

"Wait!" Hakoda called out from where he was standing in front of the window. "Who's that?" He asked, his question prompting Sokka, Suki and Zuko to race to the window, with the latter helping Orora to sit on one of the chairs along the wall.

"That's a problem." Zuko said, pursing his lips. "It's my sister and her friend." His words has Orora looking up from where she had water pressed to her shoulder, about to begin her Healing Session. "Azula?" She exclaimed softly, moving to stand but falling back down as pain radiated up and down her arm. "You stay where you are Orora." Hakoda said, resting a comforting hand on her uninjured shoulder.

"Yeah, cuz this is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said, her eyes narrowing in determination as she glared at the two girls on the platform.

Zuko flexed his fingers, feeling them burn hot as fire rose to the tips. "Me too." He added, before moving to the window to climb out to the roof.

"Be careful you three." He heard Orora called out to them.

The Waterbender, meanwhile, turned her attention back to her shoulder. The water on her hand glowed as she slowly began to heal herself. "Chief Hakoda, I'm gonna need you to make a sling for me." She said as the gondola began to sway from side to side and there were thumps and sounds from above.

Clearly the fight had begun.

She reached into the bag Sokka had brought and pulled out a piece of cloth she had cut especially for an injury like the one she had. Once she'd healed herself as best as she could, and the throbbing had dropped to a dull pain, Hakoda quickly had her arm in a sling, tying it behind her neck.

With Chit Sang looking up to the ceiling where the fighting was happening, none of them realized the Warden had wriggled free of the gag around his mouth and was shouting through the window for the lines to be cut.

Wasting no time Orora threw her arm out, slamming a block of ice around the Warden's mouth and effectively shutting him up.

But the damage was done.

"They're cutting the line." Zuko said as the three fighters slid back inside. Orora stood up, feeling a little better after her Healing Session.

Hakoda glanced around in worry. "I hope this thing floats." He muttered. "Maybe I can freeze some of the water underneath?" Orora suggested, stepping towards the window and glancing down at the boiling water below. "Zuko can't you bring the temperature down a little?" She asked to which he shook his head. "Even if I bring the temperature down at one spot, the heat will quickly come back." He said. Orora frowned, trying to come up with another solution when something caught her eye.

"Who's that? And why is she stopping the guards from cutting the lines?" She called out, which had everyone rushing towards the windows and peering towards the platform.

Zuko's eyes widened in shock. "It's Mai!" He whispered, sounding just as surprised as he looked. Whatever she was doing, it worked. The lines weren't cut. Azula and her friend had left the gondola long ago.

They reached their destination, the gondola rocking to and fro as it hit the platform. Everyone rushed out, with Zuko helping Orora make her way down the side of the volcano.

"Sorry Warden! Your record is officially broken." Hakoda called to the struggling captured man as a goodbye.

Climbing over the rim of the volcano, Zuko helped Orora sit down on a small boulder. "Wait here." He said, his gaze flickering around as if he were looking for something.

"Well, we made it out. Now what?" Suki said, looking around a little lost. Sokka noticed Zuko's strange behavior and stepped forward. "Zuko, what are you doing?" He asked, as Zuko came to a sudden stop.

"My sister was on that island." Sokka made a face. "Yeah, and she's probably right behind us, so let's not stop!" He urged, grabbing the other boy's arm and pulling at it to get him to start walking.

The Prince shook his head. "What I mean is she must have come here somehow." He walked up to a large hill and saw what he was looking for. "There!" He called out, pointing towards the airship.

"That's our way out of here!"

Suki helped Orora up before their small group began to make their way to commandeer the airship.

                                            ————————–

Mai stood atop the platform, detained by two guards with Azula and Ty Lee before her. The latter looked terrified and concerned as she glanced between her two friends. Azula, meanwhile, had her signature poker face, devoid of all emotion. Though Mai knew her friend good enough to know what was going on beneath the surface.

"Leave us alone." Azula commanded. The guards gave the Princess a bow before exiting. Mai stood her ground, the defiance evident in her very body language as she stood before her friend.

Well, former friend.

"I never expected this from you." Azula said, the disbelief evident in her tone. Ty Lee's eyes began to water as tears rose to the surface, her entire body trembling as she waited for what was to come.

With her hands behind her back, and her forehead creased in a frown, Azula continued. "The thing I don't understand is 'Why?'. Why would you do it? You know the consequences." She added, wandering if perhaps she hadn't made those clear during the years they had known one another.

Mai scoffed. "I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do." She said, her voice taking on a rather mocking tone when she said the next two words. "You miscalculated."

What Zuko had spoken to her about, had shattered whatever denial had been left within her.

"I value my friendship with Zuko more than I fear or value my so-called friendship with you."

Whatever intrigue had plagued Azula went up in smoke as her face contorted to one of absolute rage. "No, you miscalculated! You should have feared me more!" The Fire Nation Princess angled her fingers, ready to strike her friend with lightening. Mai readied herself, gripping one of her knives between her knuckles, ready to attack.

But before either of them could move, someone else moved first.

A few quick jabs, and Azula found herself falling to the floor in a helpless heap. Ty lee stood by, a little shocked at what she had done. Mai too was staring at her friend.

With no time to loose, Ty Lee quick ran to Mai and shook her out of her stupor. "Come one! Let's get out of here!" They're barely taken a few steps when they were surrounded by guards.

"You're both fools!" Azula hissed from where she was being helped by two guards.

"What shall we do with them, princess?" One of the guards asked, keeping a firm hold on their prisoners. They may be children, but the guards were now aware just how deadly these youngsters were when it came to the skill set they were experts in.

They'd already had a breakout. They weren't about to loose anymore prisoners today.

"Put them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again!" Azula spat out, sheer anger and disgust behind her words as she glared at her former friends.

"And let them rot!"

                                            ————————–

It was nightfall, by the time the airship reached the Air Temple. Sokka, Zuko and Orora stepped off the platform, looking more then a little pleased with themselves, with the latter two holding hands and smiling brightly.

Katara was the first to step forward. "What are you doing in this thing?" She asked, looking up at the construction in awe. "What happened to the war balloon? And what happened to Orora's arm?" The girl added. Despite the minor squabble that was still ongoing between the two girls, it didn't stop Katara from showing her concern for her sister.

"Its alright, Katara. Nothing too bad." Orora was quick to reassure the younger girl.

Letting out a sheepish chuckle, Zuko shrugged. "The balloon kind of got destroyed." He explained, sharing a look with Sokka who shrugged his shoulders in a What can you do? way.

Aang chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sounds like a crazy fishing trip." Toph stepped up next to Orora, sensing her heartbeat. Once she was sure it was normal, she turned her attention to more important matters. "Did you at least get some good meat?" She asked.

"I did." Sokka proclaimed proudly. "The best meat of all. The meat of friendship and fatherhood." He looked way too proud for someone who had been trying to come up with something clever to say for the past few hours. But that didn't matter, as Suki, Hakoda and Chit Sang all exited the airship.

Though Chit Sang tried to introduce himself, his words were drowned out by Katara who called out for her Father and raced up to embrace him. Hakoda returned the hug just as fiercely and lovingly as it was given. "How are you here?" Katara asked, her voice high with both joy and disbelief as she grinned at her brother. "What is going on? Where did you go?"

"We kind of went to a Fire Nation prison." Her brother responded with a grin. Orora smiled as she watched Hakoda pull his son into the embrace. Tears burned behind her eyes, which she quickly blinked away as she moved to rest her head on his shoulder. Beside her, Zuko was smiling as well, their hands still twined together as he leaned his head down slightly to rest his head atop her own.

Of course, Toph had to go and ruin the moment by saying:

"Seriously? You guys didn't find any meat?"

                                            ————————–

Tag List - @wavesofchaos​ @violet-potter​ @rennysketch​ @emma-andrea1 @lovesammikinzz @fuzzyfestcat @msrawog @notsaelty @lust-for-pan @aces-tattooartist @jinxxangel13 @lotr-got @bitterspoons @realrintaro @gatorgirl151 @inutheangel @heartfully10 @lucaaahhh @juniper-july19 @anuttellaa @gfksz @bussyvussy @punksnotdeadbutiam @ablofftoneverland-blog-blog @slut-for-menn @vyliie @army-moa75 @juwhls @aqlodun @lovelybaka @glowyruby @niktwazny303

[nockstormbringer]

hii, this is my first time doing a request (i hope this is where i do it)

(feel free to ignore this if u are uncomfortable writing on this topic, i’d get it completely ^^ )

rengoku with a partner who has troubles with food (meaning like, they don’t have much of an appetite and have a very hard time trying foods due to fear or taste and texture, like to eat very few food types, and forget to eat enough meals often) possibly??

Bento Boxes || Kyojuro Rengoku

Synopsis - Kyojuro and his partner + their food struggles

Warnings - Struggles involving food, mentions of throwing up, a singular judgemental asshat. Possibly more?? { Let me know if any are founded please 🙏 }

A/n - Hard core relate

Word count - 516

↳ I feel like he would share his food with you.

↳ With the whole texture thing, if you ask him to, he’d be willing to describe it to you.

↳ Kyojuro would most definitely spoon feed you if you want.

↳ Me personally, I can’t stand the smell of chicken noodles, I always throw up 😭

↳ So if certain smells bother you, he wouldn’t eat that food around you, so you don’t get sick!

↳ I feel like when he first learned you tend to forget meals, he’d would be reminding you when it was time to eat, but this would always be interrupted by his missions.

↳ So he’d set up a schedule for you to follow and depending if you yourself are a demon slayer or not, he’d either get your Kasagi crow or Senjuro to help keep you on track.

↳ Resident pretty boy Kyojuro will even buy you pretty bento boxes as encouragement! Like one with Hello Kitty or a pretty green one!

{ Ignore timeline issues. 🌚 }

↳ I’m gonna out him. He can’t cook. He’s tried and either he burns the food or undercooks it. He can’t win in the kitchen.

↳ But… Senjuro can! And I feel like it’s common knowledge within the fandom that Senjuro been headcanoned to enjoy cooking, right?

{ I have no idea if he actually enjoys cooking T-T }

↳ Senjuro will make all the food you want! He’s also known to keep a list of foods you like and can eat because he’ll make you food even if you don’t ask!

↳ I love him so much! Senjuro is such a cutie!!!!

↳ He’s offered to take you to Shinobu to understand why there are these issues with food. Whether you go or not is entirely up to you!

↳ If there are reasons behind these struggles, he would never judge. He’s your number 1 cheerleader!

↳ If you wanted to try a food, but were extremely anxious, because of taste or texture, he’d hype you up!

↳ NEVER BACK DOWN NEVER WHAT?? 🗣️🗣️💥💥

↳ If someone were to, I dunno… say something negative about you or your food struggles…

↳ They’d wake up the next morning with their body buried in dirt, only their head above the ground.

↳ If you were catch him doing this, well, he’d…

↳ :DDD

↳ He’d smile at you at you, like the pretty boy he is and say:

↳ “Go back to bed love, I’ll finish this and come back to you.”

↳ JAJRBSIZNBFIEUB

↳ That or he’d lecture them 😭

↳ Oh my god, Mitsuri would be so nice about it too!

↳ Like if Mitsuri came to train with you two, or go out to eat with you guys one day, she would always be so supportive.

↳ Like, you don’t eat something on your plate, but don’t want to waste food, she’ll eat it for you if you ask!

↳ Or if there’s something on her plate you’d like to try, she’d offer you a bite!

↳ Oh my god, kyojuro would too!!

↳ I love them so much, I’m totally normal about them 🌚

↳ Gah, rengoku would be as helpful as you want him to be, and he’d support you. No matter how you’d go about the situation.

thank you!! ♡

[butchhamlet]

a scene-by-scene playlist for macbeth--one song for each scene. you know the drill by now. track list with rationale under the cut; special thanks to @blackcatarts for help with the selection :3 happy halloween season, y'all.

track list + rationale

act one

1.1 (the witches enter) - Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Lorde Cover) (feels self-explanatory, plus the vibe of it feels like panning in over a foggy battlefield)

1.2 (duncan finds out macbeth slayed) - Aneurysm by Nirvana (found this one on this macbeth playlist a while back and it has remained a macbeth song to me forever and ever; the manic energy fits the battlefield fervor here)

1.3 (macbeth and banquo meet the witches) - They by Jem (“and it’s ironic too // ‘cause what we tend to do // is act on what they say // and then it is that way… who are they? where are they? how can they possibly know all this?”)

1.4 (duncan names malcolm his successor) - Money Money Money by ABBA (he’s plotting! he’s planning! stars, hide your fires! look just trust me on this one)

1.5 (lady macbeth reads the letter & reunites with macbeth) - She’s Kerosene by the Interrupters (every lyric of this song is about lady macbeth.)

1.6 (lady macbeth welcomes duncan to her castle) - Silver Platters by Les Gold (“no need to be cordial // you could be immortal // if you take the risk // could you take the risk?” + “step out on the dance floor // this is what you asked for // such a pretty face // what was it underneath the mask for?”)

1.7 (the macbeths argue) - Fight For Me by AlicebanD (macbeths song of all time!!!)

act two

2.1 (dagger scene) - Disturbia by Rihanna (the supernatural begins to bleed into the world! will someone please direct a macbeth where this comes on during this scene) 

2.2 (post-murder argument) - Prowl Great Cain by The Mountain Goats (very macbeth song. placed here for “and i feel guilty, but i can’t feel ashamed!” & mention of sleepwalking & betrayal & prowling [cf. his line about tarquin in 2.1])

2.3 (porter scene, duncan’s death comes out) - Daniel in the Den by Bastille (“felled in the night by the ones you think you love // they will come for you” + “and for every king that died // they would crown another”)

2.4 (hey. don’t cry. duncan’s horses ate each other) - When He Died by Lemon Demon (literally a song about the world getting fucked up after a guy dies what can i say)

act three

3.1 (banquo gets suspicious) - Aha! by Imogen Heap (entire song about people pretending to be better than they are, including an actual serial killer. + “cost you to keep me quiet” with banquo…)

3.2 (the macbeths are fracturing) - The Horror of Our Love by Ludo (EXTREMELY MACBETHS SONG. here because this is the scene where they start to switch places, with him the one buying into violence as the answer & telling her not to worry about gory details)

3.3 (banquodeath) - Bury A Friend by Billie Eilish (rdj meme voice: he has murdered his friend)

3.4 (banquet scene) - Bird Song by Florence + the Machine (song about killing the witness and then being haunted by that witness and completely losing your shit trying to shut their ghost up…)

3.5 (hecate) - Hecate by Wendy Rule (i don’t give a shit about this scene i’m sorry. interpolation boooooo)

3.6 (lennox talks politics) - Dark Doo Wop by MS MR (foggy apocalyptic ones. “it’s all gone to shit // it’s out of our hands”)

act four

4.1 (double double toil & trouble) - Hot Knife by Fiona Apple (i’m a hot knife i’mmmm a hot knife i’m a hot knife he’s a pat of butter… you’re just gonna have to trust me on this one. my school’s macbeth had heavy drumming all through this scene and it’s associated with this song to me forever)

4.2 (macduff’s family is murdered) - Pretty Little Things by the Crane Wives (songs about pretty/fragile things being destroyed because of men’s betrayal… thinking about how lady macduff blames her husband for abandoning her to the wolves :( )

4.3 (malcolm and macduff) - All or Nothing by the Dream Masons (songs that are about both malcolm and macduff. the first verse especially is very malcolm, as a young prince stranded among enemies; the chorus is especially macduff-deciding-to-kill-macbeth-or-die-trying)

act five

5.1 (lady macbeth sleepwalks) - Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song) by Fiona Apple (LADY MACBETH GUILT SONG! “those boon times went bust // my feet of clay, they dried to dust // the red isn’t the red we painted, it’s just rust” w her imaginary bloodstains, + “i’m either so sick in the head i need to be bled dry to quit // or i just really used to love him // i sure hope that’s it”)

5.2 (the scots and english gather) - Marked Man by Mieka Pauley (songs i considered for 4.3 as well. they are coming to Get His Ass)

5.3 (macbeth preparing to fight) - For the Departed by Shayfer James (songs about knowing you’re about to get got but what does it matter when you’re already damned)

5.4 (the fucking wood is moving guys) - Kingdom Fall by Claire Wyndham (songs i almost put on the prior scene, for “i’d rather watch my kingdom fall // i want it all or not at all,” but eventually i placed it here because… well, we are watching the kingdom fall, my guy)

5.5 (tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow) - Drowning in the Sound by Amanda Palmer (okay, this is kind of because of “sound and fury,” but also it’s soooo macbeth act 5. “and the body is a temple but the temple is a prison and the prison’s overcrowded and the inmates know it’s flooded and the body politic is getting sicker by the second” + “do you ever feel like this should be officially the end? // and that you should be the one to do the ending, but you can’t?” + the inevitability…)

5.6 (scots + english arrive) - Lion’s Teeth by the Mountain Goats (song about trying to kill a powerful and tyrannical figure. also sounds like a fight scene)

5.7 (macduff and macbeth come face to face) - Bury Me Face Down by grandson (so obsessed with how firmly this guy would rather go down fighting than do literally anything easier)

5.8 (macbeth’s head presented, malcolm crowned) - King of the World by WAR*HALL (a new king is crowned after one dies by violence. fleance is still out there somewhere. the cycle of violence continues. this one doesn’t work unless you imagine the witches watching pityingly/sinisterly in the background)

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

Heathen in My Own Right

Author's note: Hura's next chapter. I mentioned @sleepyfan-blog Death Guard OC Darsas and their Salamander OC: Ash'val too. @kit-williams OC's Roland and Arnault are mentioned in this. Thanks for letting me borrow them!

Past =-= Next

Warnings: None as far as I can tell. Let me know if I need to add anything.

Summary: Hura and others get warned about a Feral War Band of Black Templars showing up.

Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @egrets-not-regrets, @kit-williams,

Tagged continued: @sleepyfan-blog, @whorety-k, @ms--lobotomy @bispecsual @thevoidscreams

Tagged continued: @i-am-a-dragon34, @gra93fruit-blog

Hura’s beloved human has fully recovered from their illness a month later, the minor blessing that he’d given them had been a tad stronger than he’d meant it to be. But he’d made sure to note down that he was able to give a Blessing of Nurgle that was so strong, in Ancient Terra where things were far, far more difficult and took far more effort, resources and time than in their home Era. 

It was something he was going to mention to Darsas the next time he saw him. Darsas tended to be more of a wanderer by nature and what his duties were, while Hura was an Apothecary, but necessity was more stationary. Granted, he, like all Apothecaries, was rotated through the various Astartes run stations as needed. 

And if he was called in to help with particularly recalcitrant or difficult renegade and most especially Chaos Marines, he was happy to help. He’d met Zeth recently, a Black Legionnaire, while he was blessed by the Warp with strong gifts… he was not the brightest of the Sons of Horus. 

Which wasn’t a bad thing, but something that was noted in his file for his fellow brothers and cousins in Chaos to help him with. Sometimes that type of brothers and cousins needed a bit more help, more structure and routine, and did poorly in the even less structured environment that is Ancient Terra if they weren’t a part of a specific group of marines. 

Bless his Hearts, Zeth was trying his best, but that Cousin has already gotten into trouble several different times and didn’t seem to quite understand what it was that he did that he was being scolded for. 

At Hura’s suggestion, he was put into a group with a couple of the sharper Sons of Horus and was given one of the stricter Chaos Marine Sergeants to keep him on track. While Hura isn’t an officer, he tends to be able to get his fellow Marines to listen and behave  with his unique blend of pleasantly threatening. 

Also, Chaos Marines especially know the phrase of “don’t fuck with the medic” and adhere to it, usually more strictly than the renegades and loyalists do. He scratches at one of his elbows as he heads into the Apothecary Meeting, listening to the others talk about various important administrative things.

Hearing about a War Band of Loyalist Black Templars (is there any other kind?) that are in the area that have some members who are… particularly dangerous. Has his eyes sharpening and he asks what they mean by that.

“One of the Salamander Captains,” The Ultramarine Apothecary says, “Said he’d gotten a warning from one of the Primaris Marines that the Chaplain Captain in that particular war band is… quite a hardliner.”

“Great, a particularly over zealous Son of Dorn,” One of his fellow Chaos Marine Apothecaries says with a groan, “So fun. Are we being shifted from inner city clinics to outer until the bastards leave then?”

“Yes, for the safety of yourselves and those around us,” Zariel says with a nod. 

“Any other information about this Black Templar war band that you should or need to tell us about?” Hura asks.

“Not at this time.” Zariel says with a shake of his head. 

Ash’val had been almost breathing fire how angry he was, and he’d grabbed all of the Primaris Marines on the base and had stuck them in the nest, a safe place and had been almost breathing literal fire and had stirred up the rest of the Salamanders quite unpleasantly. Learning what Catius had told him had, reevaluating the Black Templar Chapter, and sending a message back to his handler about it. 

Not that Ash’val had told him everything but it was more about the politics of M42 which had been nasty business. He’s not going to stir up this mixed group of loyalists, renegade and Chaos Apothecaries. 

Especially since some of them would spread the information around to some of their more Troublesome brothers and cousins to Start Shit. Not only that but Roland and Arnault of the Black Templars were also in the area. Having been told about another Black Templar Primaris marine in need of Older Brother guidance. Not that Zariel is going to tell these people that.

“Thank you for the warning cousin,” Hura says with a nod.

[just-jae]

A bit sloppy, but I like!

Here’s some redesign sketches for Kiba Inuzuka (IP of Masashi Kishimoto)

As I’ve mentioned before, I really enjoyed the idea of a dog-themed character, but to me Kiba didn’t really fit into the ninja world as itsdesigned to be.

And I, frankly like that. So here’s the juice:

Kiba Inuzuka is from a more indigenous clan of hunters whom, more or less formed a treaty with Konoha to stay out of eachother’s hair. However, Konoha‘s officials are still opportunists, and still keep their military programs open even for allied outsiders, granted they pledge allegiance to Konoha over their clan and become a citizen.

In Kiba’s case, he just didn’t fit in and was something of an outcast for his quiet and aloof demeanor. As a teenager he was starting to get in trouble and his shyness started to turn into antisocial tendancies as he clashed more with his peers and elders and became more hardheaded about his own choices— basically he was anticipating being rejected by the Clan and starting to self-fullfill the prophecy.

So— the Konoha recruitment program reaches out and offers to give Kiba a place in their ninja program. His parents were more against it, but Kiba agrees in a moody fit just to get away from the tensions, being added to a specialized reconnaissance team (With Hinata and Shino).

Generally he’s a lurker; quiet, watchful, but also avoidant and aloof. At first, he runs into the same problems with wandering off, being suspicious of his peers (where one is a Hyuuga and the other’s… well Shino) and having terrible communication skills (not to mention particularly tense interactions with Naruto). Hinata’s kindness and Shino’s reliability bring him out of his shell. He learns to trust them, but also to care about and relate to them.

Team 8 becomes his found family, whom he’s incredibly protective of.

Eventually he does start to miss home, especially as he matures and reflects on situation he left.

His relationship with Kuranai is feels strange just bc she reminds him of his mom and Aunts, but is very obviously not an Inuzuka. They have similar demeanors and temperments, so Kuranai acts as an accidental role model for a healthier way to express himself and maintain his boundaries and relationships at the same time.

His skills primarily lie in tracking, nonvisual detection, and guarding, but he’s also the team’s heavy hitter when they’re facing a group of enemies, especially when they’re protecting an asset or client. He’s also the quickest on foot, and the the most durable. Also, while Akamaru is small, he tends to train with him by literally throwing him around. Akamaru basically uses Kiba as a trampoline and is an expert hole-hopping troll.

Overall, for the design I mostly just like how the hood and facepaint turned out, the rest of his clothes are still a mystery in my mind. I was going for something tribal looking, but for now that’s a future me endeavor.

Hope yall enjoyed!

[fyodoro]

HIIIIII!!!!! i um want to request angst of akito and toya (separatly) x reader bc there isn't rnough of it rahhh have a good day baba

->𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐂𝐫𝐲

After a fight with their dads, they can’t seem to keep their emotions in check for the rest of the day…

With Akito Shinonome & Toya Aoyagi | Genre - hurt with some comfort, angst

Cw) mentioned fights, crying, cursing, slight anxiety, nightmares, suggestive (?) for like a sentence in Toya’s part (it’s rlly not suggestive you’re just on top of him fixing his hair but I’m putting a warning just in case), reader in in vivid bad squad but it’s not explicitly stated

-> Akito Shinonome

It wasn’t unnatural for Akito to be on edge some days. In fact, it’s more unnatural for him not to be on edge. So of course, no one batted an eye when he showed up to practice with a look of irritation spread across his face today.

He was clearly getting even more ticked off when everyone went off track, talking about their day instead of practicing. However, It felt like you were the only one who noticed.

“Shinonome, what about you? How has your day been so far?” Kohane asked sweetly.

His face twisted in disgust as he remembered the events that occurred an hour before he met up with the group. The memories he thought he was finally able to ignore flashing vividly across his mind.

“My good for nothing dad- actually no. Forget it. I’m not telling you guys. Hell- we aren’t even practicing, so I’m leaving. Bye.” Throwing his bag over his shoulder, Akito stormed off. The rest of you were left in shock.

“What’s up with him? He never leaves practice.” An remarked. She was right, practice usually made Akito feel better, he never just left.

The thought of your your boyfriend being alone and angry right now made you feel guilty. You should be there for him, right? But what if he didn’t want you to be there for him right now? He sounded pretty upset.

Your mind raced with these thoughts, conflicted on what you should do.

“(Name), you alright? You look a little troubled.” Toya asked. He always picks up on these things.

“Yeah… just a little worried is all.” You replied.

Toya was quiet for a moment, thinking of what he would do if he was in your shoes. He was Akito’s partner, and knew him just as long if not longer than you have. He was used to these outbursts and would leave him be for a while til he cooled down.

But he was only Akito’s partner, you were his significant other. The responsibilities were completely different.

“Why don’t you try talking to him? I’m sure he’s more comfortable talking to you than any of us.” He finally said.

With someone else saying it, you felt more okay doing it. It’s not a crazy idea, it’s a normal one in-fact. The only thing you were worried about was…

“Thanks Toya, I’ll go find him. I’ll see you all tomorrow, yeah?” You bid your farewells to the group before heading off. ‘Just where could he have went?’ You thought.

You caught onto his first few words- he had a fight with his dad. There’s no way he went back home so soon after that. The only other place you could think of was Weekend Garage, or somewhere around that spot.

Truth be told, you were terrified. You knew Akito better than you knew yourself, and when he’s in these moods, he tends to make… rash… decisions. Ones he knows he’ll regret later. You didn’t want to be the cause of any poor choices he makes, especially between the two of you.

After what felt like a marathon, you finally arrived at Vivid Street. Panting a bit from the long walk, you kept an eye open for the ginger boy. Walking down the musical streets full of liveliness, you couldn’t help but feel at ease. It’s best you feel good now before you get crushed later, right?

Turning one last corner, you spotted him. Hastily walking up to him, you grabbed his shoulder.

“The hell do you think- oh. (Name), it’s you.” For a split second, he seemed to have calmed down. But only for a split second.

“What was that back there, you never ditch practice! And- I’m worried about you. Can you please just talk to me?” Your voice expressed all the concern it possibly could.

He stared at your frame for a moment with an unreadable expression. Just what was he thinking? Then again, you couldn’t really blame him. He must have been out of it ever since whatever occurred that made him snap.

“Jesus (Name), you’re wasting your time. You come all the way out here for me and you don’t even…” Akito’s voice grew quieter and quieter. Starting harsh, ending weak.

But what happened next was something you would have never expected.

Tears fell from Akito’s eyes. His nose went red as he started sniffling, while trying his hardest to stop anymore tears from coming out.

“S-shit.”

Thankfully you were in a secluded spot of Vivid Street, near an alleyway. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to see him cry, including you.

You pulled him into an embrace and began rubbing circles on his back, trying your best to soothe him. Though, this only seemed to make him cry more.

“‘s okay Akito, let it all out…” You spoke softly.

That was all he needed to break down more, seemingly tearing all his walls down in that moment. He let out choked sobs into your shoulder. You could tell your shirt was getting wet, but you couldn’t care less, not now at least.

“M-my fucking dad- I can’t fucking deal with his shit. I can’t- I can’t I can’t I can’t!” More sobs escaped his mouth. He was getting more and more emotional by the minute.

You scratched his scalp as he cried more. You couldn’t care less about the peering eyes in your direction, though you’ll never tell Akito about them. Right now all you want is for him to let everything out.

When his sniffles became less frequent and his sobs stopped you pulled away, intertwining your hand with his so he still knew you were with him. Akito averted his eyes away from you, looking at anything but you. He felt… embarrassed. Why wouldn’t he be? He just broke down on you in the middle of Vivid Street, making you deal with his pathetic self.

At least, that’s what he thought about it.

“Let’s go get you some pancakes. You haven’t eaten today yet, have you?” You asked.

He shook his head slowly, feeling even more ashamed. If only he knew there was nothing to be ashamed of in front of you…

“Y-yeah… let’s go.”

You knew there was still a lot to talk about, but you wanted him to take his time gathering his thoughts. Plus, he needs to eat.

You’ll do anything it takes to make him feel better, even if it means blowing your money on the fluffiest pancakes on the menu.

-> Toya Aoyagi

Toya swore he’d never wear his heart on his sleeve. Well- he never explicitly swore. But he’d never allow himself to express his emotions, especially if they could end up as a burden.

It wasn’t like he wanted to do this. It just felt like he had no other choice. He ended up looking stoic and blank in his teenage years because of this, but by now he was accustomed to this lifestyle.

There were few things that could make Toya crack, it was probably the shortest list in the world. Of course, he’d never share it with anyone. Not in a million years. The reason why being…

He thought it was pathetic. He thought it made him look fragile. The last thing he wanted anyone to think of him was that he was fragile.

So when a nightmare gets the best of him? He can’t help but feel worthless. It didn’t help that you were right next to him, sound asleep nonetheless.

He tried to catch his breath from what felt like the scariest thing he’d ever experience. Sweating bullets down his forehead as the events of the nightmare flashed across his mind. ‘Couldn’t this happen any other night?’ He thought.

In the midst of his panic, he finds his eyes wandering back to you. Your sleeping figure looking so peaceful as you let out soft snores. He couldn’t bring himself to wake you up for something so bothersome, not when you were like that. But at the same time, he finds peace in your sleeping presence.

Toya pushed his hair back a bit, trying to distract himself from the terror he just felt. His panting eased a bit, but not for the reason he wanted it to.

He felt his eyes watering, cheeks feeling wet but only in lines. He touched his face, feeling small tears lurking down his face. ‘Of course…’ he thought.

He was too focused on wiping all of his tears away to notice your shuffling. Eyes shut with his hands on either side of his face, vigorously rubbing. He felt a softer hand pull them away.

“(Name)-“

“Toya.”

He stared at you for a moment, unsure of what to say. Was he the reason you woke up? Guilt flooded his chest, making him feel even worse than before. Only he could become such a hazard in a short period of time…

You brushed your fingers through his hair, attempting to put it back into place. He felt himself shrink a bit as you climbed on top of him, legs on both sides of his torso. You were more focused on getting his hair back into place, but he didn’t miss the way you briefly examined his wet eyes. He knew that you knew he wasn’t okay right now, and there was no way to avoid it.

“You’re hair is too beautiful to be such a mess… but even when it’s messy, it still looks perfect.” You stated it like it was a fact, catching Toya off guard.

“It’s really not…” He said meekly.

You pushed yourself off of him and back to your spot next to him. You looked at him in disbelief while he scratched the back of his neck. ‘Does he seriously not see how perfect his hair is?’ You thought.

“I’m not an idiot, Toya. I know you’re upset right now and I know you were just crying. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to though.” Even when you wanted nothing more than to help you, you still wanted to respect his boundaries and privacy. Toya appreciated that about you.

“It was just a bad dream- a really bad dream. Um, I don’t think I wanna go into the details… if that’s okay.”

You smiled warmly at him and nodded your head. If he didn’t want to talk about it, that was okay. Even if he never told you what it was, it was still okay. As long as he doesn’t bottle it up, you’re okay with not knowing what the dream was about.

Your smile made Toya’s heart melt into mush, making him tear up once again.

“T-Toya! Why are you crying now?” You asked.

“I’m not- I guess I am a little bit huh… ah. I just feel so lucky to have you, that’s all.” He said back, a small tear running down his cheek.

You pulled Toya onto your chest, which he gladly accepted. He nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck while you played with his hair. He was finally starting to feel better…

“Even if you don’t talk about it, now or ever, that’s okay. I just want you to be happy Toya, more than anything else. So please- don’t be afraid to ever let anything out, especially around me. I’ll always be here for you.”

Your words of affirmation went right to his heart. He held you tighter than before and you swear you felt him smile. While this time he didn’t cry, he definitely would have been okay with crying after that.

[omegatheimmortaldragonborn]

Character Study: Idolaf Battle-Born

Because I'm tired of seeing how quickly people kill him off, let's see if I can get myself to understand why you would OR show you why you shouldn't.

Feel free to request a character study in my ask box! It will help me keep track of them!

Neurological traits & Personality

There's a good chance he's neurodivergent, please bare with as I'm using my own experiences with this.

This isn't to say this is how all ND people act, although I shouldn't have to clarify that

He has a strong sense of justice - we see this with the imperial legion, he's a very strong supporter

He seems to lack the ability to feel empathy - eg. When talking to Fralia at the market (this isn't to say this applies to all ND people, as some experience quite the opposite)

While this could be just the voice acting, his voice lacks emotion (which i personally struggle with)

He doesn't actually seem to hate the Gray-Manes, only their choice in support. There's no dialogue in game where he insults or "drags" any of the family members. While yes, he can say he wants to throw Avulstein in jail, this can be linked back to the strong sense of justice

THORALD!!! He was looking into it himself, and if your speech is high enough you can persuade him to tell you. While his reasoning is blurry, it can be presumed he asked about because of concern. He mentions that they used to be friends, no doubt close too.

He knew the risks of asking about him, and he tells us he was told to mind his business but kept pushing for an answer

He believes letting the Gray-Manes think Thorald died would've been easier than telling them that no, he's alive, held captive by the Thalmor, in a place where you don't ever come out, and probably being tortured. - sense of Justice AGAIN

He gives you the letter anyway, too!

The market scene reinforces the lack of empathy theory, and the strong sense of justice, because he clearly cared enough about Thorald to go asking about him, had his answers (worse case scenario ones too) and came to the conclusion she was better off not knowing.

I think people tend to forget he grew up around the Gray-Manes too, so he's going to know their character alot better than the DB ever will.

Fralia already seems heartbroken over him going missing, which is probably why he made the decision not to tell her.

Often considered prideful, for example - would rather bend his knee to Ulfric than ask Eorlund for help. Again though, he grew up with the Gray-Manes and so them not picking the same side he did probably hurt like a bitch. (Sense of justiceeee)

Parenting

This part is the only part where I can fully understand why people may not like him as Lars is still being bullied.

There may be multiple reasons for this

Lars hasn't told him - very unlikely though since Alfhild (Idolafs wife) knows about it but he may just be closer with her

Has a more traditional approach to it, and tries to get him to stand up to her, which is most likely as it seems to be a common theme throughout Nords in general that you handle your own problems.

He has spoken to Armen and/or Sapphia about Braiths behaviour, but nothing came of it. Which to be fair is also a decent possibility, as someone who has been bullied most of my school life, typically parental intervention never really helps 💀

Other than that, he seems to try a decent amount. He tries to keep Lars out of trouble with the guards (climbing Dragonsreach cannot be legal 💀🤣), and Lars is outside most of the day too so he probably encourages him to play with the other kids in the hold. (Maybe not braith but yknow)

Anyway, if there's something I've missed feel free to leave a reply, I'm happy to try and explain them some more! :> not that I'm expecting anyone to see this like who actually scrolls Idolaf's tag 💀

Me, I do :)

[mysticsparklewings]

Obscutober 2024 Day 3: Horology 🕰️

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Horology (n.)

the science of measuring time

the art of making instruments for indicating time; clockmaking

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I assume real clock-making is rather time-consuming 😉 Making a clock-making-inspired mandala sure was!

...It took more time than I care to admit to come up with that joke. At least the art turned out nice? 😅 Bad puns aside: Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk more about my thoughts/process for this piece ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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I'm a little bit conflicted with this one, Sparklers. (But hey, at least I should be getting this one posted a little bit earlier! 🤷‍♀️ ) I am happy with how it came out, and I was pretty excited to see what I could do with the ideas of gears and metal that immediately sprang to mind for this word, however...The act of making said metal and gears ended up being a lot more trouble than I anticipated. 😅 Those emotions are so equally matched it's hard to separate them. The biggest hurdle was the fact that in order to look "right," I had to be more careful about getting curves looking circular-ish and uniform with each other. For full circles, that's generally not so bad. For semi-circles and arcs, it tends to be a big pain. 🙃

It also didn't help that I chose to make the outer ring of gear teeth a size that was really "too small" for Procreate's symmetry tool to help me out as much as I needed it too. So I also had to be more careful with those as I worked me way across what area the symmetry tool wouldn't fill in for me. The background was a bit more challenge than I expected, too. If anyone remembers how I mentioned yesterday I had decided some spot color "within" the mandala lines is okay but I still want to keep things loose: This one definitely pushed the boundaries on that. I tried leaving things more abstract, but I kept going back and re-defining certain color areas because it felt wrong otherwise.

I think that's a conflict between the general clockmaking concept and the abstract nature of how I'm approaching these prompts; Clockmaking, or at least the physical components needed to do it, is so very rigid and precise. Although, on the other hand, there's a kind of irony in that, isn't there? Since the way we humans measure time is something we made up—it's pretty arbitrary as far as nature is concerned.

...I seem to be wandering away from talking about the art and into higher concepts I am really not an expert in. 😅 Let me try to get this derailed train of thought back on track...

My point was that it felt like I needed more color, placed more carefully, to help with the definition between the different gear and cog pieces. This was not helped by how a lot of the images I kept seeing when I looked up clock/watch insides did usually have pieces that stood out because they were differently colored metal. Two related asides: 1. I apologize to anyone that does work with watch/clock components and may be getting a headache from my lack of proper vocabulary to describe said parts...Or the general lack of sense the "clock parts" I tried to draw here make compared to the actually insides of a time-telling machine. Many, many artistic liberties were taken! 2. I do actually kind of recommend looking up watch/clock insides sometime when you get a chance if you're not familiar with what that looks like; I found a lot of the pictures oddly soothing for reasons I don't fully understand. But even so—A lot of them are pretty even though I don't think they're trying to be. The screws on this one make me think of tiny gemstones! [I did consider adding some spots of color to background to mimic that jewel-like feel I just mentioned, but ultimately I didn't want to over-complicate the color palette.]

Anyway, going back to the lines/mandala portion for a moment: I knew going in that the fact I'm taking up the center for the word definitions would make a time/clock-themed one more difficult. After all, one of the primary things you think of with those concepts are the clock hands in the center of a clock face. Usually, even if you don't read analogue clocks that often that's still true!

For that reason, while I normally make the mandalas from the inside-out (aside from adjustments/tweaks that happen later), this time I started more on the outer edge. The clock hands hanging out there were still one of the very last things, but the gear teeth and general round "clock border" were the first and I more or less worked my way inward.

And at a certain point I realized so far I really just had a "gears" or industrial-themed mandala that showed no hints of being tied to clocks specifically. 😅 You can see from that, I ended up opting to put roman numerals in the 4 primary "clock" positions—12, 3, 6, 9. If I'd had room, I might have gone for the full set of 12, but by that time (ha-ha) I'd spent way too long making those four "gear spoke" semi-circle things that hang over right where most of the other numerals would go and I was not of a mind to either re-do or erase them. 😵‍💫 I then spent way too long trying to figure out how to "compensate" and fill the "clock face" just a little bit more because the big 4 numerals weren't quite enough for me. It's not very exciting but I landed on just some small lines—Tick marks, you might say. 😃 You may also notice that, true to something else I said yesterday, this is now the first example of one of the Obscutober mandalas in black rather than white. I did start out with it in white, but as I was moving into work on the background I thought the white was coming off a little too "soft" or too much like the mandala was glowing. Black felt like a better fit for the illusion of depth and the more "rigid" feel overall.

Although while I was in the process of changing the lines from white to black, I was very tempted to leave it in a half-state where some of the uppers layers were in black and the lower ones were still white. That got vetoed for consistency's sake, but it did cause me to go back and play with some of the contrast in the background a little more to kind of echo the idea.

I was also very tempted to try dark brown or sepia lines for this one, but, say it with me: I decided not to to keep things simple and consistent.

The final product doesn't necessarily look that much like what I originally had in mind...But to be fair, my original vision was pretty fuzzy. At least unlike yesterday, there isn't too much I feel like I'd change or do all that differently if I had to do it over.

I do hope I can say at least that much about tomorrow's piece—Tomorrow is shaping up to be a busy day in my offline life, so I'm a little bit concerned about how I'm going to fit Obscutober in...But that's a key point of the challenge, right? 😅

There's definitely a joke in here somewhere about "use your time wisely," but I can't quite put it together, so you Sparklers will have to think on it and let me know if you can figure one out. 😉 Until tomorrow, Sparklers... 🤗

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See the Prompt List

Artwork  © me, MysticSparklewings

Obscutober Concept Inspired by nikolas_tower

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[romaine2424]

Last Daily Blog September 19, 2023

Well, it was worth a try, but this didn't turn out like I hoped. For one, I couldn't keep up with a Daily blog or Weekly. My priority has always been on getting my writing done first, and since I've gone to a scheduled posting of once a week for my WIP, I haven't found the time. And since the goal of this was for more fandom interaction, I kind of failed there, too, so I lost the inclination.

I'm also going to stop posting my weekly WIP fic updates. My last post last Tuesday, and Reblog the next day got one Like. There could be a variety of reasons, but this is consistent. If I post a rec for someone else's fic or reblog something, I'll get a fair amount of Likes and Reblogs. If it is my own work....... So, since I have less than 200 followers, it's not a productive way to promote my own work. In other words, my fandom ego gets embarrassed. I do understand that I tend to write niche or on-the-edge Drarry fics. From politics to trans-female!Draco with Harry during the 2-year transition, and this one where we have bi-sexual!Harry (Draco's is in Azkaban for 30 years, and Harry has to marry to uphold the family bloodline). I get it. LOL

So, one last time: Chapter 15 of The Azkaban Letters is up. Next week Harry enters the Portrait Room to meet all of his ancestors.

Okay, enough about my personal issues. BTW I will continue reccing fics and watchout, @hd-fan-fair is coming up in October!

What I've Been Reading:

I'm thoroughly enjoying @oflights The Star Splitter. This is a Drarry Chapter fic that is updated regularly.

Summary:

On a routine time travel assignment to the past, Draco stumbles upon 7-year-old Harry Potter and witnesses his neglect and mistreatment by the Dursleys. In the moment, there is only one solution, even if it goes against all his training as a Time Agent: he has to bring Harry back to the future with him. In which Draco burns his life down for the sake of his former school rival.

@oflights is such an amazing plotter. Currently, there are seven chapters posted (34.5K), and Draco is in so much trouble that I haven't a clue how it can get resolved. It's truly delicious reading about Draco taking care of 7-year-old Harry but knowing he shouldn't be.

The Star Splitter on AO3

more recs and then fandom resources under the cut

@squintclover is a new author for me. She's got a very sweet 2 chapter fic going on where the first chapter has been posted. Twirling Cords (like in the muggle movies). I liked it so much that I perused her other fics posted and found this amazing gem. For anyone who loves Matilda and Ms Honey, Harry Potter; Miss Drew's Class; Y4 (2K) is a must read.

Summary:

A look at Harry Potter's life from the POV of his year 4 teacher, Miss Drew.

Snippit:

These are the last two lines of the opening scene:

We all go into teaching wanting to be Miss Honey. But none of us want to meet our Matilda.  Harry Potter is my Matilda. 

I don't tear up often, but in only 2K, I most certainly did.

Harry Potter; Miss Drew's Class; Y4 On AO3

Please give lots of love and comments to both fics!

Tumblr Resources:

How could I not do this section without mentioning thee amazing @sitp-recs. Reccer Extraordinaire! I'm guessing every one of my followers is a follower of Liv. Her pinned post is so nice and simple, but OMG there is so much under all of those links.

I was in complete awe this past Spring/Summer when she did the Rapid Fire Rec series. I mean come on, how did she do that? Someone gives her a prompt, and she turns around and gives 3 stories dealing with that prompt.

Liv doesn't do Fic Finds; she doesn't tolerate hate or neg comments. What she does is spread Drarry (fic and art) love in every way you can imagine. Tons of love and respect for @sitp-recs for all she does to keep Drarry and some of those rare pairs alive in hp fandom.

One last resource. I've had this on my list to post, but I couldn't track down the author. For those who write about Harry's childhood abuse, this is for you. If you know who compiled this list, please let me know, and I'll give the credit! It's well deserved.

HP Abuse

Okay, that's a wrap. It was fun!

As mentioned above, I'll still be doing recs and other commentary.

Cheers,

Rom

[stayarmytinyzenmoa-l]

NCT Spooky Season [Day 15]

A Scary Good Time

TW: Language, Lots of Sexual References, Alcohol Consumption Genre: Romance, Comedy Pairing: Na Jaemin x Reader YN Pronouns: Not specified Word Count: 0.7K Prompt: Halloween Tailgate go brrr

[NCT Masterlist] | [NCT Spooky Season Masterlist] | [Yesterday] | [Tomorrow] [Ao3 Link] | [Wattpad Link]

Notes: I love writing unhinged college aus Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in these actions. The idols mentioned in this work are meant to be seen more as face claims rather than the actual idols themselves.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!! Thank you for reading!

"Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!" The crowd chanted around you and you took a deep breath.

"This is so fucking stupid," you shook your head with a huge smile and downed another glass while Jaemin howled in front of you.

"Let's fucking go!" You heard Jeno shouting somewhere.

"Oh fuck," Jaemin stumbles on the table slightly and you hold him up.

"Careful, humpty dumpty, can't have you falling off and breaking that beautiful ass of yours," you laughed.

"FYI, I'm dressed up as Werewolf, not humpty dumpty," Jaemin's words had a slight curve to them.

"Right, right, boring," you helped him down the table, grabbing another shot glass on the way while you sat him down. "Look around, Jaem. Slutty Bunnies, Slutty Nurses, and Slutty Monsters everywhere," you gestured the whole room.

"And what are you supposed to be again?" He eyes your oversized T-Shirt and thigh highs.

"Slutty college student, duh."

"You already are one, that doesn't count."

"Okay, rude!" You playfully shoved him and laughed, "anyway, how are you holding up? I know parties aren't usually your thing, but I'm glad you came out with us anyway!" You handed him the shot glass and he smells it before drinking it.

"I'm fine," he looks around. It's true, of the friend group Jaemin tended to stay away from these kind of things, but after hearing you, Jeno, and Haechan loudly describing your escapades, Jaemin got an intense wave of FOMO and he decided, fuck it, he's going to go with you all to the next one.

But all it did was remind him how much he hated parties.

Especially when all the lights suddenly shut down.

"Boo! At least turn the music back on!" Someone yells.

"Jaem?" You put your hand on his shoulder to keep track of him. But, as soon as your hand touched his arm, he felt this intense wave of nausea rush through him, and he swallowed down whatever bile threatened to come out. "You okay, bud?"

"Mmhmm," he answered weakly. He shuts his eyes tight and turns his head upwards to ride the sudden discomfort and finally, when the lights turned on, the headache subsided. But it nearly came back when he heard all the screams around him.

"What the hell is going on?!" Someone shouts. Jeno rushes toward you both.

"Guys?!" He looked frantic.

"What? What's wrong?" You felt yourself sobering up quick.

"I can't... I can't take it off!" He tugs on the hook on his hand. He decided to do some overly sexualized Captain Hook and, while it was funny at the time, he looked near crazed trying to pry the hook off his hand.

"Okay, okay, you big baby, hand it over here," you take his hand and start tugging on the hook, but nothing happens, it doesn't budge one bit, "gee, Jen, you really shoved it in here, huh?"

"I guess so but everyone's having trouble taking their costumes off!" He looks at Jaemin and reaches for his ears.

"Dude, don't touch me," Jaemin swats his hand away and Jeno gasps.

"How'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Those ears moved."

"No, they didn't."

"They're moving right now!"

"They're not!"

"(Y/N), back me up here!" You look between them and you reach for the wolf ears on Jaemin's head and, when you tugged on it harshly, Jaemin winced.

"Ow! Don't pull my hair like that."

"Jaemin... I didn't pull your hair," you said quietly.

"What?" He looks at you, but your eyes were glued to the top of his head. Jaemin grabs his phone and looks at himself on the screen. "Holy... shit."

"We all just merged with out costumes," Jeno panics. "Well, all except (Y/N). What are you supposed to be again?"

"Slutty and broke college student," you shrugged.

"Oh, well, that's already you so there's nothing to change into."

"You're both bitches for that!" You groaned.

"But dog! You became part-dog!" Jeno exclaims.

"No, this can't be happening," Jaemin slipped out of the chair and stated pacing, and he heard you gasp behind him. "What happened?"

"Babe! You have a tail!" You reached for it and Jaemin instinctively pulled it away from you. But, realizing what he just did, Jaemin looks down at the tail that swished from side to side. "Holy shit."

"Holy fucking shit!"

"My boyfriend's a werewolf!" Your excitement betrayed your concern.

General Tag List: @stopeatread @bat-shark-repellant @raeincitizen @umbralhelwolf @yangsrose @kazooms @sadcoffeecritic 

NCT Tag List: @cherrylovr @minjiville 

If you want to be added to either tag list or removed just send me a reply to this post, and ask, or a DM and I’ll add you as soon as possible!

[kuruna]

omg what a fun ask game… for xan!!! my friend xan…. 💥🍧💐🍁✏️🌠. sorry for so many i just like him 😭

Heehee I'm happy to talk about him ^.^ I'm glad you like him so much...! :~)

💥 COLLISON - what emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

I've mentioned before that Xan struggles with feelings of guilt and insecurity... unfortunately for him, these emotions get twisted together and shape into anger! Unlike his brother who turns his anger into actions, Xan's anger tends to stop him in his tracks. He overthinks things and reacts a bit immaturely, and his own immaturity just makes him feel even worse 😔 unfortunately he tends to take the mental leap from "I am experiencing an irrational emotion" to "therefore I must be a bad person" and it makes it difficult for him to process these emotions properly.

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?

Not "from his childhood" in the traditional sense, but the jewelry he wears used to belong to his mother, and she'd worn it for as long as he can remember. As you can imagine he has a pretty significant attachment to his jewelry due to this, and keeps it in pretty good shape despite being very, very aged at this point in time. If he lost even a single piece he'd be inconsolable 💔

💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite?

I've actually thought of this kinda thing recently ^.^ using the flower meanings listed here. For a bouquet: - Scabiosa (unfortunate attachments) - Hyacinth (purple) (Forgiveness and sorrow) - Star of Bethlehem (Hope and reconciliation) - Magnolia (Nobility) A flower that I associate with him but I wouldn't put in the bouquet is spiderlily, due to its association with both death and clinginess. As for his favourites I could see him liking snapdragons quite a bit...!

🍁 MAPLE LEAF - what is their favourite season? why?

I think he's rather fond of Autumn! I think he enjoys watching the world around him change, and how it's a bit different every time despite how long he's lived and how many times he's seen it. I also think he appreciates that it isn't Hot anymore, but also isn't too cold yet either (he has a naturally low body temperature so winter is NOT for him)

✏️ PENCIL - is there a particular quote / lyric that you associate with them?

"Inhuman one, your strength will destroy you" from Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad !

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

This is a hard one... I can see him wishing for different things at different points in times. At some point he might've wished to become king, though he would also feel frustrated that it didn't happen based on his own merits alone. At another point he would've probably wished for an end to his immortality / deathlessness. Nowadays... I think he would refuse such an offer! I think that he is determined to build a future for himself with his own two hands.

[daphdarling]

Hi! I was wondering if I could get a mha (male character) matchup? Maybe someone from Class 1A? ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

Personality: I like to think that, under my introvert exterior, I’m a sweet person with a good sense of humor. Although I’m incredibly shy at first, once I’m able to open up, I tend to be very goofy and chatty. I’ve had a few people say they’re surprised by how “consistently clever and funny” I am. I have trouble making friends and, therefore, don’t have many, but I’m fiercely loyal and deeply cherish the friends I am able to make. I’ve also been told that I’m very “wise/ mature” and my friends often come to me for advice or to have meaningful conversations. This is partly why I’m horrible at small/surface level talk lol. I’m also a big people pleaser and that can sometimes affect relationships. I’m a homebody, but I do enjoy going out if I’m with the right people or on a personal mission. Though I prefer the term passionate, I tend to be hyper fixative. It doesn’t take much for me to get locked onto an idea or activity. Because of this, others sometimes consider my interests to be a bit intense. I would say that I’m a pretty sensitive/emotional person as well. I certainly have no trouble crying over silly things and find myself overthinking often. I consider this to be both a strength and weakness lol. Though I’ve been dealt some nasty cards in life, I like to think that I’ve got a good head on my shoulders and a positive outlook on things!

Interests: I’m a huge girly girl. I love all things pink and cute. My fashion sense is probs best described as “coquette” and “kawaii.” I guess you could say that I’ve made the color pink my whole personality lol. I’m also very hygiene oriented so I really value things like skincare and makeup. Some say I’m a hoarder, I say I’m a dragon collecting treasure. I collect all kinds of things: trinkets, Sonny Angels, physical media, photocards, etc. I’m very OCD about my material possessions though. Everything has a specific place in my room and I make sure things stay very clean. Obviously I’m an anime enjoyer. I’ve been watching anime for around a decade now. Not only that, but I’m also a big k-pop fan and keep up with a couple groups. I’m just a big music listener in general and have quite a few bands/artists that are very important to me. I’m also a Studio Ghibli fan and tend to enjoy most Japanese media. I consider myself to be a big animal lover. I actually have a rabbit! He’s my pride and joy. But, otherwise, I’m a huge marine life nerd. Though I’m a bit scared of the ocean, I’m fascinated by the creatures in it. Some other franchises I’m interested in are Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Sanrio (My Melody is my favorite).

Hobbies: I love to read and write, but I’m also incredibly crafty. I enjoy spending my time cross-stitching, drawing, and picking up new skills. I’m just a pretty creative person overall. I also greatly enjoy shopping. I’m not a huge spender, but I love walking around my favorite shops and occasionally picking out something I like. I’m good at cleaning, cooking, and baking (certified housewife over here lol). I don’t know if this can be considered a hobby but I’m a big daydreamer. I love to come up with new ideas and watch them take shape in my mind. I’m careful not to lose track of reality though.

Type: I guess you could say that I prefer traditionally masculine men that can take on a guiding and protective role. I suppose you could call the type of men I lean towards more “dominant.” Ultimately, I enjoy people that are a contrast to me, but compliment me. I just want to be babied and doted on lol.

Thanks for doing this! I’m sorry it got so long… did I mention that I’m an over-sharer? But seriously, thanks so much! ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ♡‧₊˚

YOUR MATCHUP IS…

KATSUKI BAKUGOU!!!

Personality Match:

Bakugo is known for his fiery and explosive personality, often coming off as abrasive. However, beneath that tough exterior, he’s fiercely loyal and deeply cares for his friends. Your sensitivity and emotional depth could balance well with his intensity. He might initially challenge you, but your cleverness and humor could draw out his softer side over time.

Romantic Connection:

While Bakugo can be brash, he also appreciates genuine connections. Your sweet and goofy nature would likely surprise him and draw him in, allowing for a unique dynamic where you both grow together. He may not express his feelings openly, but his protective nature would resonate with your desire for someone who can take on a guiding role.

Hobbies and Activities:

You both have creative interests, albeit in different ways. While you enjoy crafting and daydreaming, Bakugo channels his creativity into training and honing his Quirk. Engaging in activities like cooking together or even cross-stitching with some playful banter could be fun, as long as it’s a shared experience. You could also share your interests in anime and music, allowing him to slowly open up about his own passions.

Looks and Vibes:

Bakugo’s rugged and fiery appearance contrasts nicely with your coquette and kawaii style. Your vibrant pinks and cute aesthetic could complement his intense persona, creating a visually striking pair. There’s something intriguing about the juxtaposition, with his explosive energy balancing your gentle charm.

Final Thoughts:

This matchup has the potential for a deep and meaningful relationship. Your emotional maturity and ability to have profound conversations could provide a safe space for Bakugo to express himself. While there might be challenges due to your contrasting personalities, your loyalty and his protective instincts would form a strong bond. Embracing each other’s differences could lead to a beautifully dynamic connection.

[lya-dustin]

The Moon Lives in the Lining of Your Skin

chapter 2

Gil-galad x Erinti of the Maiar(oc)

“Have you always lived here?” he asks her as they wait for him to be healed enough to leave.

Rodnor sits on the bench while she tends to her garden of medicinal herbs. She cannot heal like Estë and her servants, but she can make the things that will heal people. This was her element; she tells herself as she digs her hands into the recently planted flowerbed and willed life to grow.

Especially the stubborn elf lord who refused to remember his body has limits.

It was not enough for him to be just a day or two away from recovery, just this morning he tried to spar with one of the trees and set himself back a week after being told his right hand was not ready yet.

But he had been so brave, gritting his teeth as his bones healed themselves with her touch. Been so brave that she kissed the pain away.

A mistake, she thinks, a mistake because now Rodnor knows her lips are better healers than her hands and now Erinti wonders how it would feel to kiss his lips.

She’s never kissed anyone before, the Eldar and the Edain have the most curious and strict set of ways that leave little freedom in her opinion.

“No, before here I used to live with my sister, Melian in Menegroth, but then I grew restless and decided it was time to be on my own.” She answers as she willed the seeds to grow as she poured her power into the soft earth. They grow too quickly, they always do whenever she feels infatuated with someone, “Have you always lived wherever it is you live at, Rodnor?”

“I grew up in the Havens of the Falas with my mother, Gilher. After the Nirnaeth Arnoediad we moved in the Isle of Balar, where I still live even after my lady mother faded a decade ago.” He does not mention the specifics, but Erinti cannot ask about those things he won’t say after he mentioned his mother’s passing.

“It must have been very painful for you to lose her.” Erinti paused and added as she cleaned the dirt off her hands with her apron and joined him on the bench, “I am very sorry for your loss, Rodnor.”

If she could kiss his pain away, she would, but wounds of the heart are not like those of the flesh. Erinti had cried herself for ages when Melian returned to Aman and Luthien died of the sickness that comes with old age.

She felt so lonely then, she wonders if Rodnor felt the same when his mother died.

“My thanks, Lothíriel, I am sorry for burdening you with my grief. I already owe you my life and telling you things that make you sad seems like a terrible way to repay your kindness.” The elf feels embarrassed at having been just a little vulnerable with her, Erinti wondered if that stupid notion some have of bottling everything up inside will ever stop.

“When Melian left, I felt as if my sister had abandoned me, I think by the time I finished mourning her and her family, her great granddaughter had married and had her own set of twins. A thing I learned during that time is that sometimes talking about it helps ease the pain.” Erinti had cried on the lap of a human grandmother when she finally let herself speak of the pain in her heart. The old woman had not judged her, perhaps that was what Rodnor needed to let go of some of that pain.

“My mother was in great pain, you see, my elder sister and my father passed when Nargothrond fell.” He began and Erinti did not fight the urge to hold his hand in support.

“How old were you when that happened?” the maia asked. So many kingdoms had fallen. Erinti had trouble keeping track of it all.

“I was a babe at her breast when we were sent away for our safety and that was the last time either of us saw them again.” He answers, leaning closer to her as if seeking comfort, and she leaned on his shoulder to comfort him for his loss.“I was all she had left, even if she had friends and kin to help her raise me, it pained her that her eldest child and her husband were gone.”

“When I had my hundredth begetting day, we quarreled, and I told her she was no longer burdened with raising me and the next morning she was gone.” There is a knot in his throat as he tells her this, and no wonder the death of a loved one is such a terrible thing to recount. The Maia felt awful for having even brought it up.

“The last time I saw Melian I told her she had become my jailer instead of remaining my sister. I wish I had not said such things, but I hope one day we can both apologize to them in Valinor.” She leans against his shoulder, relishing the warmth he gives.

“Perhaps we shall, my lady.” Rodnor then turns to look at her and held the Maia’s gaze. It makes her heart skip a beat and Erinti considers if they should pack provisions for two.

Been too long by your lonesome, no wonder this mystery ellon has you like this, the Maia can almost hear teenage Luthien’s sweet voice in the air.

Perhaps they have been alone too long, she thinks.

Rodnor has many questions, Erinti occasionally finds herself a little annoyed by them, but he ---like all people she was met--- is very adorable when he is being curious.

“How old are you?” he asks after they sit down for dinner one evening. Tomorrow he is supposed to be leaving and she has yet to find the courage to ask him if he would like a travelling companion.

“Older than the Ea, although this body is about as old as the Trees, and I did not grow into the person you see until Luthien ran off with Beren.” She answered as she sat back in her elegant blue silk chiton that still bore Melian’s sigil on the belt.

“So you grew at the same rate as she did, she was like your little sister, or perhaps, big sister?”

He looked handsome in her old clothes; blue was his most definitely his color. They look very well in somewhat matching blue chitons. He must be a of the line of Fingolfin, only he and his family could pull that dark haired blue and gold wearing noldo look. Did Fingon finally marry or did Turgon remarry because remarriage is not prohibited in Middle Earth?

Aredhel had a boy, but the birds say he sold his soul to Mogroth in exchange for his uncle’s city. Unfortunately, no one in the human village is brave enough to talk to her like their past generations and most of them had not been born then.

She was bereft of news of the outside world.

Last Erinti heard, Fingolfin’s youngest died with no issue and Aredhel’s one boy sold his soul to Melkor.

Who could this elf be?

“Sort of older twin sibling, I had the body of a twenty-year-old elfling when she was born and I did not begin to age until she had her twentieth begetting day.”  Erinti then spent roughly two thousand years unable to decide if she was male or female. The ainur are not born with the sex they present and some of them take more time to see what we like. Erinti had not realized she was a woman until Luthien introduced her as her sister and then it all made sense.

Not many understand that, besides she does not know his given name. When he tells her his given name then she may tell him more.

“I wish I did not have to leave; I have grown used to your company, Lothíriel.” He says when they finish readying everything for tomorrow.

Rodnor is to leave at first light after a fortnight here with her.

Is it bad that she does not want him to leave? Or that her gaze keeps going to his lips in curiosity when he mutters to himself as they made sure he had enough food and things for the travel. Erinti has never felt this before, is this how Melian felt when she first met her beloved Thingol?

She’s different now, as if she had aged that fortnight. As if she had stopped being the maia who came here to find their purpose, and now they wish to see if they can find it elsewhere.

“So have I, even if you refuse to tell me the name you gave yourself.” She teased him, looking up and thinking it was a terrible idea.

“Gil-galad. Radiant Star, after my naneth.” He is only a whisper away, looking at her with intent and desire. Desire she can feel brushing against her feä like tender caress.

If she were to step on her tiptoes ever so slightly, she could follow that pleasant feeling all the way to his lips.

“Lover of the stars, mother of starlight.” She cannot help but smile at the thoughtfulness of it. He chose his name after hers and not his father’s.

He reaches out to touch her face and she does not stop him, why would she? Even if it’s just for tonight she wants to be like girls in the tales she used to hear and sing about with Luthien.

This touch, this caress that is light and electrifying against her skin, is different from the ones before. There is something there that there never was before, not with Tilion, not with Nellas nor with Sael of the Edain.

“Leave with me tomorrow, Erinti Lothíriel. I do not wish to be parted from you.” He sounds as if the mere idea of being apart pains him, a sweet pain that she can feel too.

The maia cannot make the words come out, but she knows sometimes an action can speak louder than any word, so she takes a chance, reaches out for him and pressed her lips to his.