#ok i promise ill actually do some writing tonight

[saccageurs]

.

[thenyoumightaswellwrestleangels]

It isn't always easy (but how lucky I am to be known)

comfort came against my will - series masterlist here

pairing: dick grayson x reader (gender neutral)

length: 1.1k

genre: fluff, emotional comfort

warnings: reader is vaguely mentally ill, dick is insecure but it's ok in the end

a/n: this can be read on its own. lil bit more about reader and what they do in life. I don't know if I write stories or just weird character studies anymore. whatever lemme know if you like it

"Are you sure you want to go to this, baby? Dick asks you gently as you stare at your reflection in your bathroom mirror, smoothing out your hair one final time.

"I don't really have a choice, babe. The gala is for my company - it looks bad if I don't show." You sigh before spinning around to face him, leaning against the counter and looking up at him, cupping his cheek in your palm and smoothing out the worry lines in his forehead with your thumb. "I'll be okay," you assure gently.

Dick sighs in defeat and presses a kiss to your cheek, content to go with you and keep an eye on you. It had been… one of those days. One of those times when your brain just doesn't work the way you want it to, when your own mental illnesses wrap around your throat and strangle you from the inside out. Most days, he finds himself impressed by the way you strong-arm your own psyche into bending to your will, but he knows it can't always happen. He just wishes the world would understand that, too.

Dick continues to think this as your car pulls up outside the gala, your door opening and you sliding out, him in tow. It mesmerizes him always, the mask you slip on, the way you smile and charm and stand tall in front of the never-ending flashes of cameras and pushing questions of reporters. He's always been impressed by it, but he finds himself even more swept off his feet now that he knows what's come before. It's difficult, sometimes, for him to put this image of you next to the one he'd seen this morning - the one of you with tear tracks down your cheeks and unable to get out of bed.

You turn briefly to him to make sure he's still close by, and although you both know the press will see it as nothing more than a second of love between a couple, Dick knows what you're doing. He knows that you're holding him to his word - making sure that he meant it when he said he'd be by your side the whole night. He doesn't mind that you're checking. He has no intentions of breaking his promise.

The night progresses normally, flutes of champagne being passed around and small talk floating through the air. You charm and dazzle and glide around the way you normally do, but the grip you keep on Dick's hand serves as a constant reminder that you're not okay. When you go to pull your hand away from his, he finds himself unconsciously holding it tighter, not wanting to let you go.

"I have to go up and speak," you speak quietly in his ear, nodding towards the raised stage and the microphone that sits ominously atop it. Dick knows how these things go - he's been to enough Wayne galas growing up and has accompanied you to enough of your own that he knows the host, at some point, has to go up and make a speech.

He just wishes, tonight, that it wasn't your company, and that it wasn't your speech.

But he kisses your hand gently before releasing it, letting you stray too far away from him, and his stomach twists with something akin to panic.

And the feeling doesn't go away as he watches you speak. You're as poised and clear as you always are, the epitome of a successful leader - and if he didn't know that something was wrong, not even he would ever be able to guess that you're struggling.

The panic in his gut, he finds… twists into something else. Doubt, maybe. Insecurity, probably. How well does he actually know you? If you can slip on masks this easily, who's to say you don't have more hidden underneath? 

Dick tries to shake the thoughts from his head, reminds himself that he's your partner and you love him and you've never done anything to make him doubt that. But as you waltz off the stage and people clap and you flash commanding smiles toward people, he finds he can't banish his thoughts as easily as he could.

But then you're back by his side, gripping his hand in a way that makes him think you need him, and the night must go on. He pulls up his own mask, making polite conversation and flitting around like a socialite with you all night and he wonders if he's really any different from you. And then he wonders why he suddenly thinks that's a bad thing.

By the time the night ends and your driver pulls up and lets the two of you into your car, his face hurts from smiling and his feet ache from standing, but you squeeze his hand tightly before letting it go so that you can slide into the back seat and his stomach twists again as he slides in beside you, the door closing behind him.

But then… you change. He watches as you pull up the divider so that your driver can't see you, and then you exhale heavily, letting your shoulders drop and your eyes close as the formal pleasantness melts off your face. Your hand searches for his again and he takes it quickly, squeezing it to remind you that he's here, even if his head is spinning from the removal of his own mask.

"What are you thinking about?" You murmur, your eyes fluttering open to look at him with a flash of concern. Dick takes the hand that's not holding yours and cups your cheek gently, smoothing out the worry lines in your forehead with his thumb. 

"Just thinking about how much I love you," he murmurs back, and his heart thumps loudly in his chest as he remembers how true that statement is - how much he loves you and how honoured he feels that you take off your masks for him. He kisses your hand where it's interlocked with his own. "I'm just thinking about how lucky I am to be the one who gets to know you like this."

You smile lazily at him, a knowing look settling in your eyes. 

"Ah," you begin. "This isn't always easy, I know."

Dick exhales at your words, wondering how you always pin what he's feeling so easily. You bring your hand up to brush your thumb along the apple of his cheek. 

"I'm the lucky one, Dick. I should be thanking you for wanting to know me like this."

Dick smiles at your words, wrapping an arm around your shoulders to pull you closer to him in the back of the car. "We're both lucky to have found each other, I guess," He murmurs into your hair, pressing kisses to the crown of your head.

"Yea," you smile. "I guess we are."

[wwefan2002]

A little R&R

CW: Rhea x !fem reader,!soft Rhea

context: reader is going through a rough time with being dumped by a guy and having a title match coming up, Rhea finds her and gives her some much needed R&R

TW: fluff,smoking, panic attack

A/N: hey guys this is my first ever attempt at writing a fem reader fanfic let me know what you think and if you want it to be a series or what I should do next enjoy ;)

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Why was this happening to you, yeah thought he actually loved you, instead he got in your pants and then left, leaving you stressed and heartbroken, your mind racing a million miles an hour as you got ready for your match against Candice, as you made your way to gorilla you saw him, he was a fairly new guy in the company he helped backstage with production that's how you met when he came to greet you and tell you about your promo. You looked at him with disgust as you walked to gorilla trying to avoid him luckily he didn't see you, as you made your way into gorilla you were surprised to see your bestie, Rhea she had just finished winning her match, as soon as she saw you she ran to you and hugged you lifting you off your feet, you giggled in response to her picking you up, "heyy bestie I know your going to do great and beat Candice tonight" she said as she put you down, you smile a little, Rhea seeing this tilts her head looking at you, her eyes filled with concern. " what's wrong bestie" she says with concern on her face as well as confusion, you look at her watching as the light reflects off her ocean blue colored eyes, " I'm just stressed out after everything that happened and with my title match coming up at the PLE it feels like its to much" you say looking at the floor Rhea wraps her arms around you looking at you< "screw that guy he is nothing, and as far as the title its as good as yours how about after your match we go out to eat and then watch a movie tonight" she says you lift your head up looking up at her smiling as you nod you see Rhea walk over to a chair and sit near the curtain "ill be waiting for you" she said smiling big, you smiled then turned to go to the ring as soon as you walked through that curtain your stress went away once you felt the energy of the crowd, You look out at the crowd there on there feet cheering for you as you climb in the ring your mind focuses at that task at hand men be damned you were going to win the US women's championship, Candice then made her way to the ring you both have an incredible match going about 15 minutes to which you finally hit your finish and got the win, you got your hand raised the adrenaline still coursing through your veins as you made your way through the curtain to gorilla you saw Rhea, she stood up hugging you as you walked to her and she then lifted you up and started walking you to the locker room, to which you giggled once in the locker room you sat down as Rhea made her way to the couch to sit with you, you sat up as your mind now racing with every thought from that stupid loser who used you to the upcoming title match, your breathing became faster and heavier, Rhea sat next to you looking at you seeing you still stressed out she spoke " what's wrong love" she said looking at you concerned you looked up at her fighting back tears ultimately failing to hold them back as you broke out into sobs "Why did this have to happen to me why did he have to use me and then dump me" you sob Rhea wraps her arms around you pulling you close, " it's going to be ok love I promise it will be ok forget about him you have other people who care about you" she said softly rubbing your back, you look up at her still sobbing " who even cares about me I mean I keep getting used and I don't know if I can keep doing this I am tired of getting used and I can't even think about the match Rhea I don't know if I can do this I mean no one even cares about me so why do I keep trying" you said through heavy sobs, Rhea looks at you putting her hand under your chin lifting your head up to look at her, her other hand wiping away your tears, as you stare into her eyes your heart starts to beat faster, you always had a crush on Rhea but you never said anything for fear of ruining your friendship but now with all that's happened you felt like you had nothing else to lose so in your mind you planned to tell Rhea your true feelings for her. Rhea looked at you and hugged you tight feeling safe in her arms you relaxed a little hearing her soft words,

"its ok love im here for you its going to be ok breath" she said her accent making the words coming out of her mouth even sweeter and softer as she hugged you, your body relaxed and your breathing slowed you finally caught your breath, looking at Rhea " you actually care about me?" you say questioning if she was serious even though she was your best friend after all you had been through this past couple of weeks you didn't know what was true and what wasn't, Rhea looked at you "of course I care about you and tonight I'll show you just how much I care about you I'll make you forget about that jerk" she said pulling you close for a hug kissing your forehead. You then start getting changed into something nice as you come out of the shower you see Rhea already changed in a beautiful black dress, your eyes lighting up at how beautiful she was, you could have sworn your heart skipped a beat as a lump got caught in your throat as Rhea walked to you seeing you in a silk dress the blue fabric adorned with flowing patterns, " wow you look amazing" Rhea said looking you up and down, you blushed looking at the floor smiling Rhea softly took your chin in her hand lifting your face to look into her eyes, "aww someone getting shy on me" she said you gulped deep " n..no" you said through stampered breath, Rhea looked at you her ocean blue eyes reflecting the light in the room turning them to almost a light icy white color, your cheeks glowing red hot from the embarrassment knowing you were blushing and knowing you had feelings for her. She looked at you smiling at you "your cute when you get flustered you know" she said smiling even more as she watched your face get even redder as she turned to lead you to the door so you could leave the arena she put her arm out you wrapped your arm around hers and walked out to the car. getting in it you couldn't help but think of all that happened tonight, as Rhea got in the car you looked at her admiring every detail from her oceanic blue eyes to her toned legs and arms all the way to her intricate tattoos that adorned her skin. She looked at you staring at you "well someone likes what they see" she said laughing playfully, your cheeks again getting red she looked at you smiling you looked at her smiling before you took her hand looking deep into her eyes "Rhea I have to tell you something and I'm worried that you're going to be upset at me" you say Rhea turns to you looking at you putting her hand on top of your hand, "you can tell me anything love I won't be upset" she said, you look down briefly collecting your thoughts before looking back at Rhea, " well I...I...like you like really like you and I'm worried that you won't feel the same about me" Rhea looks at you and takes your face in her hands " I like you to Y/N" she smiles big your jaw almost hitting the floor "so you're not upset" you ask looking at Rhea "no I'm happy you finally said something because I've had eyes for you since I first met you but was worried you wouldn't like me" you looked at her smiling "I really like you and I want to be with you but I also don't wan this to change anything with our friendship" Rhea looks at you and then pulls you close "it won't change anything I promise" she says before kissing you to which you're a bit shocked at first but then kiss her back feeling her soft lips on yours making your worries melt away and your mind go fuzzy, her lips trying to make you forget about all the bad that's happened to you. She pulls away and looks in your eyes "I'm here for you and I'm with you now, no one will ever hurt you again" she says your heart fluttering at her words her accent adding to allure of her words, you smile big as she starts to drive to the restaurant, you arrive at the restaurant, Rhea gets out and opens your door for you helping you out of the car as she puts her arm out you put your arm around hers and you both walk into the restaurant. You sit at a booth across from Rhea watching her eyes dart around on the menu pages, as you both order you talk about your past and your life.

You both eat and after your done you leave the restaurant going to the car once inside the car you turn to Rhea "thank you for this I needed it" you say as you smile at her she looks at you smiling "of course you deserve it" she says as she drives you back to the hotel you're both staying at you both make your way to the hotel room putting your bags in the corner as you sit on the bed Rhea closes the door and then sits on the bed next to you as you put on a movie, you crawl up the bed and lay down Rhea comes and lays next to you, you finally let out a deep sigh as she looks at you, "you ok love" she says looking at you, you sit up a bit looking into Rhea's eyes studying every detail from the way the light hits them to the beautiful almost diamond like curves in them, you smile "now I am that I'm with you" you say Rhea smiles big before kissing you again, you kiss back holding her face in your hands feeling how soft her skin is against your hands your fingers tracing her cheeks and jaw line, you pull away looking at her "I love you Rhea" you say Smiling big almost wanting to cry with joy at how good you felt in her arms, she looks at you "I love you to Y/N" she says as she hugs you tight as you both cuddle and then you fall asleep in her arms as she runs her hands through your hair soothing all the pain you felt making melt away like snow on a sunny winter day, you hopped that this was real and if it was you were going to make the most of this and savor every moment you had with Rhea.

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A/N: hey guys hope you enjoyed let me know if you want more and where this should go next and any writing tips you have are much apricated :)

[redrydersrequiem]

Reunited ch 5

*had to sit in a room all morning and just twiddle my thumbs so got some writing down. So here we are chapter 5 again im a baby writer none of this is profed i just write and post. Everyone be kind. In my fic neytiri and jake actually took care of spider, like reader asked them to and the colored text is them speaking in Navi.

Previous chapter. Next chapter

Y/n pov

My mind is slightly eased after speaking with Norm. While he didn’t promise anything he also didn’t flat out refuse us, even so miles has continued to fine tune his own escape plan for us just in case Jake refuses to help. Right now however the biggest hurdle in his plan is Spider. Making sure we can fully take care of him, which evolves a mask that couldn't be tracked and a reliable source of oxygen for him. But after looking into some of the tech the new rda developers have been messing with I found a new type of mask for spider. It was more portable and no longer required to be charged; it would create its own oxygen so I keep my eye out and wait to swipe one when the time comes.While we all continue to follow any leads on finding Jake none of us are truly hunting him just doing the bare minimum to look as though we are all still loyal. It's not till a week later that something big happens. Ardmore has one of her goons call on us to meet Ardmore on the bridge.

Miles pov

I walk into the bride wainfleet and z-dog behind me. Y/n wanted to come but i wanted to keep her as far away from the general as i possibly could.

You called for us general”

“Ah yes colonel follow me, she leads us over to the hollow map now showing a large area of water instead of its usual mountain and tree landscapes.

We believe we’ve found a lead on sully's wearabouts

Really

Yes Mathewson pull up the data

Yes general

The map moves going back to the tree line just outside the rdas search circle. A red dot now displayed

We’ve been sweeping for old equipment from the war making sure everything was together and accounted for. In doing so we came across and active signal from an old fighter helios, it entered the edge of the tree line here and went west, until disappearing somewhere in this small grouping of islands

Thank you Mathewson. Colonel your team will leave at the end of the week, to start searching every one of these islands until Jake sully is found.

Of course General we'd be more than happy to.

Good answer: you'll be meeting up with a vessel we have out there already and they will assist you in your mission. Now go get me some results colonel

Yes ma’am”

Y/n pov

“So what did the wicked witch want?” I ask miles as he Lyle and z come back from their meeting with Ardmore

“There's been a signal from some old pre war equipment, its flown out towards the ocean region, ardmore wants us to follow up on it. She has reason to believe it sully or at least some of his followers.

“Well if it is Jake what are we going to do?

“I dont know darlin, try and contact norm again see whats taking them so damn long and if they dont answer well have to go with plan b.

“Ok ill go out today, and try again. “

“Good take Mansks and prager with you, but yall be quick about you hear i don't need this woman trying to find something to bitch at us about. Espesiclly when she holds your life in her hands ok love.”

“I will love take care of spider for me tonight.”

“I will darlin”

“Yeah no need to worry y/n hell be with his favorite uncle.

“Who says you're the favorite I hear Lopez call out as he approaches us.

“I say i'm the favorite and since i have seniority you can suck it lopez”

The two start going at it like toddlers me, miles and Z all just watching them.

“Don’t worry y/n me and Quartich will actually take care of shit.”

“Thanks z, ok boys let's go. “

We successfully made it to the clearing, ringing the com link non stop, when it was finally answered i could hear an odd sound in the background. It almost sounded like water or something, just reconfirming that whoever it is that answered was probably near the ocean

“Hello?”

“Jake?”

“Y/N?”

“Wow Jake, is it really you?

“Yeah dove it's me.”

“Ha dove I haven’t heard that call sign in years… oh jake i can’t even tell you how happy i am to hear your voice.”

“And I you y/n, now let me ask what's going on.”

“Have you spoken to Norm?”

“Yes I have, I was actually trying to get back to you but some stuff has happened with my family and I got side tracked.”

“Oh Jake, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything but I have to ask for my family and for yours.”

“What is it y/n”

“Jake shits is about to hit the fan here, Ardmore is determined to bring you in and make an example out of you. In her eyes, if she gets rid of you and your family then the RDA no longer has any issues with taking over Pandora like they plan.”

“And”

“And I'm guessing by the sounds of the ocean behind you that she's found where you’ve gone.”

“How”

“They got a signal from some old equipment that disappeared in a grouping of islands. They don't know which island so she wants to send us out to search, and if we don't do what they say they will get rid of us jake.”

I hear jake get further away from the com probably pacing, As i hear muffled cuss words

“Jake she wants to send us after you, but we're stuck if we don't do what they want they will get rid of us. We need to work together and come up with some way to delay Ardmore and get us out, so we can help you.

“Y/n its not going to be that easy.

“Well then tell me what we need to do to make it easy jake cause the rda isn't going to go away again without fully crippling what they’ve got going here. And no offenses but we’ve all been gone for 15 years the rda has stepped its game up. You’ll need our help”

Jake is silent again before letting out a long sigh. “I'll have to talk to some people, Dove. They’ll be the ones that will have to decide if we can do anything”

“Ok jake, we’ll continue to lay our part here but we're running out of time

“I understand here in the meantime is spider still with you. “

“Of course he is jake you should see him interact with everyone and”

“I can only imagine y/n but since he's still with you i'll send out a message to the clan to keep an eye out for him. Ok if they see a human kid with a bunch of Navi in army garb they’ll know who you all are. I'll tell them not to put up a fight that you aren't there to hurt them but you have to act until we are ready to strike. You just can’t hurt anyone

“We wont jake i'll personally make sure of it.

“Good till then keep in touch with me and ill try and come up with a plan to get yall off the radar. If your her only hunting party then getting rid of you will delay them till we can strike”

“Good point.” Mansks says next to me “if we somehow all died or got lost the rda wouldn’t be able to send someone after us right away without occurring more losses.”

“Yeah that would definitely upset the people over the general but it would also piss her off.” Prager chimes in

‘But y/n.”

“Yeah.”

“Be honest with me, I know you will.”

“Ok i promise.”

“Is he the same?”

“No Jake, none of us are the same. They’ve all changed and as the days move they grow more and more used to pandora and want to be a part of it. We’re different Jake, they could be different just like you where they’re on that cusp of not being human anymore but not fully being Navi. We just need help, so I ask you again as your friend. Please help me protect my family.”

“You always saw the best in me y/n, so I'll try and do the same with them. We'll have to meet somewhere neutral though, I'm not going to go through all this for quartich to betray me and hurt my family.”

“I completely understand Jake.”

“Ill be in touch dove, ill get and answer to you by tomrrow at the latest ok i have to talk to some people first so we can start making preparations. Keep this. Link open and let me or norm know if anything happens ok

“Ok jake i will

“Goodbye y/n and may eywa be with you.

“You as well jake. “

The call ends and i stare at the ground thoughts running through my head

I know in my heart that everyone’s changed and I know Jake would also help us, it's everyone else I worry about. While I don't want my family torn apart and used, I also don't want the people and the clans of Pandora to be hurt in the process either.

Jakes pov

“You did what now

“Im sorry tonowari but we have to help them”

“And why should we help these demons?”

“Ronal please”

“They’re are agitated and i can understand”

“Im sorry ok, i'm sorry that i brought this battle here when i told you i was done with war but its not going to go away. Look what's happening the rda hut tulkun, just as you’ve told me, they will not stop until they strip this planet of everything they want and then leave it in the dust to rot.

“If we help y/n and her team they can help us permanently alter the rda, possibly crippling them. We could cut this off at the source once again they have insisted that I don't have any longer.”

“What is it you expect from us jake sully”

“I expect nothing. I ask desperately for help to integrate and teach the sky people new ways, show them that our way of life is fully worth fighting for and then let them help us protect it.” Ronal and tonowari are silent. Exchanging looks with one another. Until Tonowari straightens up once more

“We will help you toruk makto, but know this will all fall on you and your family if it goes wrong.”

“I understand that and I will not endanger these people I refuse. We will set them up somewhere outside of the village until they are accepted and then we can go from there. Does that sound alright?

“Yes, on the grounds that I and my mate meet them as well since it is our clan they must conform to.”

“Of course.”

“Good then see to it Jake sully and keep us updated.”

“I will thank you tonowari, thank you.”

It takes until the end of the week to set up a meeting, being in constant interaction with jake we learn that we need to first meet with the clans leader tonowari since they are the ones that must teach, home and aid us

We take the ikran out and stop in our clearing to dump everything with a semblance of a tracker and leave it there. Spider rides with me today instead of miles. I like holding him close, it makes me breathe easier and Miles wants to make sure we're protected. We told the general we would take a quick trip to gather some more supplies for us since we found the food of pandora worked better for our growing Navi bodies than human food did. It takes a couple hours to get away from the base and towards the designated meeting spot it's an area just breaking into the ocean filled with overgrown roots of trees and moss. We land in a forested jungle esc area. A small stream and pond stints on a cliff face if you follow the stream and go further out into the trees you’ll come across the ocean. It’s truly beautiful though. Spider and I were so excited honestly to see the ocean and its beautiful turquoise blue water. I wish there was a beach to plan on and not just tree roots but hopefully spider will have the opportunity to have an actual beach day sometime in the future, all the ikrans are chirping with glee as we let them rest and drink some water. Everyone else though, were very rigged, ears pinned back and twitching at every sound. Hands twitching towards their weapons but making an effort not to grab them, tails swishing steadily back and forth. All on high alert, because even though we're here to make allies, training can not be easily forgotten.

“Ok darlin you ready” miles asks coming over to me and spider. I try and put a brave face on but my insides are twisted. Im affraid. If this doesn’t go well then well be essentially on the run from the rda and well be all by ourselves. I mean i have faith in my team but we can’t do it all alone and… i brought out of my thoughts by miles pulling me into his chest whispering to breath in my ear.

A few deep breaths and i shake my head he loosens his hold and looks at me

“Are you ready my love”

“It’s just sully i can handle him “

“Miles you I both know it's bigger than that. “ Hes silent

“Miles just promise be to try ok, we all need to reconcile and move forward before none of us can”

“Your right darlin your right”

“COLONEL”. Lyle yells out getting all of our attention. He's looking at the sky. Seeing a group of other ikran flying towards us. Everyone gets in formation, grouping into a somewhat defensive stance but still trying to look open since they all know what's at stake here.

Six people land and depart. Three of them are darker blue like us but there are two others. They look different from the Navi I'm used to, they're a lighter more turquoise blue, they have bigger arms and tails. They also wear shells and netting rather than the braided garments of the forest people.

As they get closer the dark blue male leads, his dreaded hair hangs behind him as he walks with purpose towards us.

Jake?” I ask the male as he comes to a stop a quarter of the way from us.

“Jake, neytiri i hear spider shout out as he goes bounding over to the group.

“Spider!” i hear miles call out to the teen who stops before completely running over to them

“It’s ok,” Jake calls out. Gesturing a hello to Spider. The atmosphere is definetly tense on all sides so i decide to try and break it

“It’s good to see you again jake and you neytiri

Jake smiles and neytiri finally comes out from behind him, no longer able to contain her happiness at seeing the person she used to know in a body gifted by eywa. I meet her half way between the two groups as she holds me at arm's length, looking me up and down. Before gently smiling.

“I see you my friend”

“I see you neytiri” She smiles and hugs me, I feel miles and the other scoot up slightly, miles in spider coming up behind me as Jake and Norm follow behind neytiri

“Tiri, can I cut in” Jake asks coming to stand beside her before also, quickly, hugging me and looking me over as well

“Wow dove, it's actually you, I honestly say I never thought I’d see you again, any of you” Jake says stepping back towards me as he eyes the man behind me

“Quartich”

“Sully, mrs. Sully”.

Tiri softly hisses at miles anger evident on her face, but she says nothing, she's not the only one though, i can tell miles is nervous even though he's trying real hard not to show it.

“Care to get this thing started sully we can’t be here all day.

“Right grab Wainfleet and come meet your new allies.” Miles Lyle and i walk with jake and neytiri over to the unknown Navi

“Ill translate for you jake tells us quickly

“We know how to talk sully miles replies snippaly to jake with wainfleet smirking next to him

“Miles please just relax, go ahead jake.

All right, then Tonowari, Ronal. This is y/n l/n, miles Quaritch and Lyle Wainfleet. They are the heads of their clan with Quartich being their olo’eyktan

“Guys this is the metkayina clans olo’eyktan tonowari and his mate and tsahik of his clan Ronal. They’ve been helping my family and i and have agreed to help you all as well”

Tonowari and Ronal i see you: doing the gesture much to their surprise “And i thank you for helping in our time of need”

Tonowari and Ronal look at each other having a silent conversation before returning my greeting, Miles does a simple nod/bow to show respect which Tonowari reciprocates.

“Jake sully has told us of your life’s, and i refuse to bring trouble to my clan without just cause. In fact we were prepared to refuse jake sully until eywa sent us a sign.”

“She sent me a vision”, Ronal starts “she told me to help you, and i will not refuse Eywas word not matter how much i disagree with so you sky demons will be helped”

“Um thank you”. I say nudging miles beside me to say something

“Yes thank you chief we just ask for somewhere to lay low. Miles spits out

“We just got our family back and we would like to protect it sir. Lyle adds to miles speech

Understandable, as ive said once we get you away from the sky people we will start teaching you the ways of water till you become a part of the clan.

Thank you thank you we will work hard i promise we are all very capable and will earn our place i swear.

“Very well, jake sully?”

“Oh yeah ok well first things first before all of that we have to figure out how to get you away from the rda

I've actually had an idea about that, Lyle states quickly.

Y/n pov

For the next hour we dish out a plan, our team would follow our orders and start searching the islands and the villages, once we get to the preordained village, the ocean clans would unite and apprehend the sky people that have been scouring the ocean nearby. They would capture all of us and fake kill/capture us in their attempts to rescue the toruk makto adopted human son. Hopefully there would be no casualties but the human soldiers that Ardmore sends to monitor us will probably put up a fight. Hopefully we can talk them into staying on the boat. Either way it was surprising how well all the boys got along. Working well to hash out this plan to where everyone was taken care off. It brought a smile to my face till i saw neytiri side eyeing miles, she was till stiff as a board so i decided to try and talk to her.

“Hey tiri can i speak with you for a moment?”.. she agrees and walks over with me to sit on some tree roots near by

“How are you Tiri?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean your stiff as a board and i know your not exactly thrilled with Miles”

“That de… Quartich has done much to me and my family, and i hold much anger toward him, but eywa has spoken and i am trying to listen to her.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t be angry with him, neytiri. You know i don't think I ever got to apologize to you.

“For what?”

“For everything for not doing more to stop the attack on hometree, even though I didn’t know they were doing that. Or for stopping miles and the other from joining the war for everything the humans have done to you I apologize.”

Tiri hugs me, both us having tears in our eyes

“I do not blame you y/n for i must also apologize, for taking your mate away from you”

“No tiri neither of us blame you in fact we don't even really remember it. What matters now is that we're here together in these bodies and are able to do better this time”

“Yes.”

“I must also thank you and Jake for what you’ve done with Spider. You out of everyone had every right to never even acknowledge Spider but he tells me he's close with all your kids and that you helped him so much growing up.

“Yes i must admit at first i was apprehensive but as he learned more about pandora the more i saw you in him, i knew you would want him to live a life not in a lab”

“You are correct. I wanted him to be able to experience the things around him so again from mother to mother I thank you neytiri.”

“Of course y/n of course”

Miles pov

“Ok that should be good for now, it’s getting late and your team will need to start heading back Quartich.” Jake says quickly motioning to how dark the sky has started to get the sun beginning to set in the sky

“Agreed, ok y’all pack it up.” I yell to my team all swiftly moving into action

“Sully i would like a word, privately” i say looking over at spellman as he quickly lifted his head from talking to Tonowari as soon as he heard me speak

“Fine, I have something to say to you as well”

Jakes pov

Quartich and i walk over away from everyone else

“Ok sully get this out of the way yeah”. Quartich says bracing himself like i'm going to slug him in the face. Part of me wants to but the more mature part has realized I had wronged this man as much as he had me.

“Im sorry colonel”

“Wait What!”

“Yeah, I'm sorry……. I've had a lot to think about colonel, and ive realized, you guys took me in when i got to pandora, despite my disability you all treated me like a normal soldier. Made me part of your team despite me being assigned to grace, didn’t let me feel like I was just some experiment, and what did i do, I betrayed you all. I immediately made you the enemy when in reality it was the rda that where the enemy we were all just caught in their net, just like now. Which is why I apologize for that but you have to see now why I did what I did don't you?

“I do sully i do, he turns to look at spider and y/n quickly.

“I forgot when i was human that i made a promise to myself that they would come before everything else. I wanted a good home for my family and thought the only way to get it was to follow orders.

“I understand that, which is why i propose a new start”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I say we let the past stay in the past. No longer opposite sides of the board but comrades in arms once again. That we help one another to realize our dreams for our families. What do you say?” I ask holding my hand out to shake and sign the pact.Quartich looks at my hand for a moment for grasping my arm and shaking it a nod in my direction

“Agreed sully, let's take these bastards out, but first lets get us away from them deal

“Yes sir.”’ I say a slight grin in my tone.

“Dad, we're ready!” I hear spider yell out, quickly turning Quaritch's head. We both look over to the boy with a goofy smile pressed on his face.

Hey thanks for taking care of my boy, jake

“Of course, colonel, I promised y/n I would..

“Yeah now let's get the job done.”

Tag list

@dyingofcookies @ratchetprime211 @myh3artttt @ducks118 @navs-bhat

[simpforsix]

ai continues fanfics badly

hello, i am a fanfiction writer and i've seen people say that they use ai to continue stories past what the author has written. i don't like the use of ai for this, since it steals writing and is very lazy.

so, i decided to experiment by putting one of my fics into chatgpt and telling it to continue the story.

i used my fic 'cotton and wool', which you can find on my ao3 under the same username as here (simpforsix). it's a short fic about historical fashion in the video game vampyr. please DO NOT put anyone's stories into any ai! i only did this because 1. it is my fic and 2. i wanted to see how good it actually is at continuing fics.

let's go through what chatgpt wrote paragraph by paragraph:

As Jonathan steps out into the cool night air, the streets of London feel both familiar and foreign. The gas lamps flicker like distant stars, casting elongated shadows that dance across the cobblestones. He pauses for a moment, allowing the sounds of the city to wash over him: the distant clatter of horse hooves, the soft murmur of conversations spilling from nearby taverns, and the occasional shout from a street vendor hawking his wares.

this just doesn't make sense in canon. chatgpt doesn't seem to know what era it's even writing for, talking about horses even though this is london in 1918. it is able to mimic my writing style a bit, but my writing style isn't particularly unique so it could just be getting lucky. i like the descriptions, but it just doesn't set the scene as post-war london. it's more small town than what the game is actually like.

Tonight, he plans to visit his usual haunts: the alleyways behind Whitechapel, where the lost and forgotten often gather. They are his people—those who have slipped through society’s cracks. As he walks, he can’t help but reflect on the changes that have occurred since his transformation. The world feels sharper, colors more vivid, and sounds more pronounced, but it’s a trade-off he never quite reconciles.

ok so it knows about whitechapel but... what does it mean the alleys behind whitechapel? because whitechapel is a district, and the citizens are on the streets. bigger issue here is the bit about his transformation. if i was writing this i would note the fact that he can see the blood or has greater power, since that's the actual trade-off that was made. also, a bit nitpicky, but the use of commas in the last sentence is a bit off for reasons i can't put my finger on. i'd also use the past tense in the bit about a trade-off, but that's just me.

(though, it is trying to emulate my work, so i guess my nitpicky things about what i would do are valid)

He makes his way through the winding streets, his mind drifting to the last patient he treated—a young boy who had fallen ill with a fever. Jonathan remembers the boy's mother, her eyes hollow with fear, and he had promised to return with more remedies. He should check on them tonight.

As he approaches the alley that leads to Whitechapel, a low voice calls out to him from the shadows. "Doctor! Over here!"

It’s Clara, a familiar figure draped in a tattered shawl, her face partially obscured by the darkness. She is one of the many souls he has helped, a former seamstress who now lives on the fringes of society.

most of this is fine, except for the fact that clara does not exist in game and no citizens live in any of the alleys that lead to whitechapel except for one man who lives in a flat. i would have used an already existing character for this, or if i was making an oc i would have given her a bit more background if i wanted her to be a 'familiar figure'. her description is also a bit too similar to old bridget or another skal, which i would have avoided.

“Clara,” he replies, hurrying toward her. “What troubles you tonight?”

She leans closer, her voice a hushed whisper. “It’s not me. It’s Benny. He’s gone and got himself into a right mess. He was chasing after some street rats and came back with something…something strange.”

who is benny and why was he chasing street rats? what is happening?

Jonathan furrows his brow, his instincts kicking in. “What do you mean, strange?”

“He’s feverish, but it’s different. His skin—it's all red and raw, like he’s been burned. And he won’t stop shivering, even in this cold.” Clara’s voice trembles with urgency.

“Lead the way,” Jonathan replies, following her deeper into the alley.

The narrow path twists between crumbling buildings, their brick facades covered in grime. The air grows thick with the smell of dampness and decay. As they approach Clara’s makeshift shelter—a collection of blankets and old crates—Jonathan feels a sense of dread settling in his stomach.

if i was writing this i would try to match it to the map, which chatgpt is incapable of doing because it can't play the game. i can't think of a single place that matches this description that goes off an alley leading to whitechapel. and why is her shelter just blankets and crates? if this happened in universe she would already be a skal. i would have either written her as a squatter or as someone living in very cheap accommodations.

Inside, the flickering light of a single candle reveals Benny, a small boy with tousled hair and wide, terrified eyes. He is curled up on the ground, shaking violently. Jonathan kneels beside him, placing a hand on the boy’s forehead. It burns like fire.

a SINGLE CANDLE?? that's just not how light works. chatgpt also never tells us the relation between clara and benny, which seems like important information. and jonathan, being cold as a corpse, is not a reliable narrator when it comes to temperature.

“What did you find, Benny?” he asks gently, trying to coax him to speak.

dude you use mesmerism all the time why aren't you using it here?

The boy’s eyes dart around the room, finally resting on Jonathan. “Rats,” he stammers, “but they weren’t like the others. They had…glowing eyes.”

Jonathan’s heart sinks. Glowing eyes? That could mean something far worse than just an ordinary illness. “Clara, did he touch them?”

again, if chatgpt was capable of playing the game it would make a connection between the glowing eyes and skals. but it can't. because it's a computer program. this also feels completely divorced from canon. authors making new threats usually connect them in some way to the already existing threats. this is a completely new story that it's making up as it goes along.

AND JONATHAN LITERALLY FACED THE VAMPIRE EPIDEMIC! HE KNOWS IT'S NOT SPREAD JUST BY TOUCH AND SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH EXPERIENCE TO BE COMING UP WITH THEORIES!

“I don’t know! He just started screaming and ran back here,” she replies, wringing her hands.

As Jonathan examines Benny, he can feel a chill creeping into his bones, a reminder of the darker forces at play in the city. He knows he has to act quickly. “We need to get him to a proper place, somewhere safe where he can be treated."

why isn't he using his blood sight? you know, the mechanic that literally every medical examination in the game is based around? and why would he bring someone possibly infected by a supernatural virus to the hospital?

Before Clara can respond, the ground beneath them trembles slightly, as if the city itself is responding to their urgency. Jonathan stands up, determination setting his jaw. “I’ll find help. Stay with him, and keep him warm.”

very cliche to have the ground tremble. i don't like it. and what help is he getting? why isn't he, as a doctor, handing out medicine for the fever? this guy isn't jonathan reid at this point.

With that, he rushes back into the night, his mind racing. The glowing-eyed rats are no ordinary creatures; he can feel it in his marrow. They are likely a symptom of something more sinister lurking in the shadows of London, something that could threaten not only Benny but all of those who live in the dark corners of the city.

wasn't this... the plot of the game? this would be a very boring story if i wrote it like this. it's just rehashing the exact same plot as the game.

As he weaves through the streets, Jonathan knows he must confront this new menace. After all, he’s no longer just a doctor; he’s become a guardian of the night, a protector of those who cannot protect themselves. And if there’s one thing he’s learned in his time walking these streets, it’s that the darkness can only be fought with light.

it's a bit pompous to refer to himself as the guardian of the night, but i'll allow it for the sake of his saviour complex. what i won't allow is the fact that it does not reference the source material at all. there's nothing about the skals, about the red queen, hell it doesn't even say the word vampire! you would have no idea this was about vampyr if you read this as a standalone.

the biggest issue with this whole thing is that it DOESN'T CONTINUE MY STORY AT ALL. that was the only goal and it failed. my story is about historical fashion, exploring menswear in the early 20th century. that was why i wrote it. this "continuation" doesn't even mention historical fashion. it doesn't continue my idea of how his clothes would constantly be getting dirty, it doesn't show him providing healthcare, it disregards the entire story that it was based on. this is just a oneshot with a plot that rehashes the original story as if it never happened and doesn't even mention vampires.

so my question is: WHY would you use chatgpt to continue stories? even disregarding all the ethical concerns, it's just bad at it. maybe it does well sometimes, but other times it seems to go rogue and forget what you even told it to do. this is nothing like what i would write, nor does it make sense as a vampyr fanfic. if you want to see a continuation, ask the author to either continue it or for permission to write a continuation yourself. don't plug it into ai just for it to steal work and give you shit.

[crisishauntline]

It is fucking heartbreaking to sit next to the person you love as they wordlessly unravel. It happened again today, like it’s played out many times before: her hand limp in mine, shoulders shaking, breath catching on choked sobs, not saying a single word. And I just sit there feeling like an asshole, all my questions, pleas, and offers of support hanging uselessly in the air.

I hated getting out of the car with her still in that state today, hated how the door slammed while she was mid-sob. But I needed tonight to myself. I had actually intended to write a song for her for her birthday, but haven't had time to work on it due to the amount of time we spend together, and the proportion of that time we spend fighting or afraid of fighting. Anyway, she told me she would be ok for the night, then called me an hour later to ask me to come over. I went against the boundary I’d set, as I’ve unhelpfully taught myself to do, and went. Oh, and did I mention she lives two blocks from me now?

Today’s unraveling started during our couples therapy session. Lately she has been feeling very nauseous, achy, fatigued, and emotionally overwhelmed by all the chronic bad feelings. She’s also acknowledged sadness and fear about the relationship in light of her chronic health issues, but hasn’t wanted to share much with me. Both of us seem to feel misunderstood or unheard, no matter how hard we’re trying to explain and listen. We really are trying. What’s hardest for me to navigate—and to express kindly—is that she always occupies the role of the victim in any conflict we have. When I feel disappointed by something she’s done (or more often than not, won’t or can’t do), the cause is usually her pain, illness, or fatigue, which means it would be unfair of me to blame or be upset with her. Even if I do have cause to be frustrated (like with her drinking), I know she won’t have the emotional and/or physical capacity to adequately address the matter in those moments. So over and over again, I have to just let things go without being too disappointed, always being patient and calm and understanding and humble, and if I do bring it up, process it as quickly and apologetically as possible or she will think I hate her and want to leave.

Conversely, when something I do causes her pain or anxiety, she rarely has the reserves of energy, mood, self-esteem, etc. to either let it go or process it with me quickly. Instead, even small stumbles can send her over the edge of despair and require hours of talking, weeping, cuddling, and massage to work through. This time the hurt was that she had to wait for me in the driveway for 20 minutes, after a long day and when she was in pain, because I didn’t see her text saying she’d arrived, or notice how much time had passed since she told me she was coming. I should have responded better, with an apology and promise to do better, rather than immediately following my “sorry” with saying she should have just called me. But I also remember after some previous time blindness incidents that I’d asked her to call me in situations like this, though she swears that conversation never happened. But let’s say she’s right, and I was fully in the wrong—is this really an offense that warranted hours of tearful discussion and confused silence to work through?

I am tired of holding so much of her pain while feeling so clueless, constantly guilty, and alone in the relationship. I am also more disappointed than I want to be that she can’t give me the kind of comforting touch that I give her. I fucking love receiving massages, being held, getting fucked to completion. I love giving her those things, but every time I do I can’t help yearning for her to give them in kind. Most of the time, she just can’t, so bringing it up would be cruel and pointless.

She has been expressing more gratitude for the intimacy and acts of service I bring to the relationship since the big turnaround, which means a lot to me. But the fact is that being close to her is no longer for closeness’s own sake. It is more about giving her love, safety, and comfort than sharing them. She says there’s nowhere she feels safer than in my arms. I so wish I felt the same about her. I did, at least for a little while, right when we got back together. When I was worried I’d need too much caretaking from her, that I couldn’t ask her to carry the despair I was feeling in addition to her own struggles. I think I was right.

[fraener]

4/15/23

this week has been hard on me. ive been very anxious and even stayed home from school thursday because i was too scared to leave the house until the evening i went with hans and we worked in the garden. its nice to be touching the dirt again. i cant remember if i wrote in here that i joined the experimental music ensemble or not, but were meeting for the second time tonight. it felt good to do something new and be kind of bad at it. i realized in that moment that i really miss trying things and being bad at them. its been strange, i feel really scared in the mornings and then i feel ok by the evening usually, a little scared again when im going to bed. my anxiety and ocd are evolving in new and interesting ways. it sort of feels like when a zit is surfacing or something, everything feels like its coming to a head and everything thats building up pressure under the surface is going to come flowing out and then ill be ok again. im looking at my healing and hurting cycles like breathing....a big inhale of horrible painful scary events and then i hold my breath for a little bit and then a biiiiiig exhale every few years. my lower and middle back have been hurting, and i think im having some dampness/spleen stagnation thats making it overact on my kindeys. ive definitely been stressing out and have had a really hard time getting out of the cycles and into the ifs lobby/core self. but other than my anxiety things have been really good. i fall a little more in love with hans every day which is really nice, and even though we had some conflict recently we both handled it so reasonably that it didnt even make a bump in the road for more than a couple of hours. its still been hard to eat but no so much because im scared of getting sick as its just hard to find fresh food in the grocery store. the produce is really bad right now and so im really looking forward to the coming weeks where ill be able to eat things that arent canned or bread or dairy anymore. i finally got some eggs so im really happy with that. i kinda think i might have to just move back to seattle after all when school ends. the artist trust is really promising for grants and such and i really really really miss home. im going to be penpals with stefan i think, they said yes so im excited about it. i started crying really hard because it felt like an avenue back into feeling like myself and feeling like home. theres this shimmering warm light like from one of those big windows in the animation room that i keep feeling when i feel like i can return....i get the same feeling from that first spring in this apartment. like the world is so big and warm and bright. like theres something right outside of my little stormcloud i cant seem to get out from underneath. i think i want to travel lots and go to grad school somewhere really interesting but i also really want to come home, germs and loud noises and high prices and all. but today i feel ok. today stefan said yes to being penpals with me, today i stumbled across the blog of someone who loves food and loves to cook beautiful things who lives right across the street in the martin in one of the apartments facing the olympian. today im going to call my grandma and karen and go do some more earth prepping and go to the herb store and go to my choir practice. today i might clean or meditate or go for a walk, i might try and make something out of clay, i might write a letter, i might cry some more. today is full of just as much good possibility as bad possibility. actually i think more good than bad. my outlook has been so damaged and changed in so many ways i just want everything to get flipped right side up again. i think if i could see the world a little different like i used to id feel so much better. i dont need to make a beautiful life up, i need to see how good life is right now and lean into it as hard as possible. what max said about life being a competition for who is having the most fun is right. i should be trying to win.

[agathasangel]

leave everything behind but me- part 1 (diane sherman x fem!reader)

Warnings: Diane is still extremely dangerous, TW for stalking, drugs, and illness (also brief vomit mention), hurt/comfort with a bit more hurt, this series may end up going in an NSFW direction but there isn’t any here, I really don’t know exactly where it’s going.

AU where pretty much everything in the movie is the same except the very last scene. Diane gets out of jail but isn’t able to find or contact Chloe. This is gonna be a series and probably way too long (I’m already writing part 2). Also I know there are a lot of Diane fics that are like this, sorry about that. But this is really fun to write so oh well. 

Summary: You finally got the courage to run away and start a new life. Diane gets out of jail. She can’t find Chloe, but created a bond with another girl, you. And she would never, ever lose you. After all, you need her.

You were finally doing this. You were leaving your home behind and never looking back. You never had a good relationship with your parents, and now that you had graduated High School your parents were constantly threatening to kick you out. So instead, you decided to just leave. You had found a town on the east coast (across the country from your home state) and you had saved all your money from your job for the bus tickets, and found a roommate online, Anna. until you had finally announced to your parents that you were moving out. They acted relieved, like a huge burden was just taken off of their plate. But you knew they were secretly upset that they no longer would have someone to blame every inconvenience on.

You sat on the bus, listening to music and looking out the window. You noticed a silver minivan that happened to have been following you almost all day and on two different buses. You wondered where the driver of the minivan was going. Maybe whoever the driver was was running away too, but was lucky enough to have a car.

The bus stopped in Chicago, about halfway to your destination, and you had an eight hour layover that you had to manage to stay awake for despite the fact that you hadn’t slept in the past 24 hours. You decided to go to a cafe that was next to the bus station to get some coffee to pass the time and keep you up.

“I’ll just have a large coffee with cream and 1 sugar, please.”

“Great! That’ll be three-fifty.”

You searched in your wallet before realizing that you were completely out of cash that wasn’t going towards your bus ticket or room.

“...never mind”

“Hey, I can pay for you, don’t worry about it.” Said the woman standing behind you.

“Oh, you don’t have to-”

“Don’t worry, its no big deal. Just come and sit with me.”

You had time. Besides, you wanted someone to talk to and this woman was quite attractive.

“Sure. Thank you.”

The woman ordered and led you to a table.

“So, what’s your name?”

“I’m (y/n). And you?”

You heard the barista say “Two coffees for Diane?” and the woman got up

“I guess that answers that?” you said.

Diane walked over to get the coffees and stirred in the cream and sugar into both of them.

She gave you one of the coffees and said “Yes, my name is Diane Sherman. Are you from around here?”

“Oh no, I’m from the west coast. I’m on a bus trip, moving across the country. Fresh start, you know. And you?”

“I have been too, actually. Well, except I’ve been driving. Why do you need a fresh start?”

“My parents and I have a rough relationship. I just graduated High School and I didn’t feel like there was a reason to stay. What about you?”

“I’m sorry about that, (y/n). I actually lost my daughter recently, I’ve been incredibly lonely. I’m hoping for a new start, and some new connections.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Diane, that’s terrible.” You wondered what happened to her daughter, but thought it was best not to pry into this woman’s life.

“I’ll get through it. Maybe I’ll find someone else I can take care of. Someone who really needs it.”

Diane asked you more questions about your family, life, interests, everything. You felt like this woman had a genuine interest in you that you never felt from anyone else. You liked it. But as you talked you realized that the coffee wasn’t waking you up, if anything you felt even more tired. Maybe you just had to wait.

“I haven’t slept in so long, I’m so tired. Thank you for getting this coffee for me. It was nice to meet you, Diane.” You said, sad that your paths may never cross again.

“(Y/n), wait.”

You turned back to her.

“I have an idea. I have a motel room with two beds for tonight. Why don’t you sleep there and we forget about the buses, you can just ride with me.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve bought a house and I’m going there, but I can take you wherever you’d like, there’s no rush. I understand you may be suspicious as a younger woman when an older person asks you to ride with them and stay in their hotel room but I promise I only ask because, well honestly, I’m lonely and need someone to take care of.”

It was probably the sleep deprivation, but you believed her. You got into her silver minivan and drove to a nearby motel. When you got in the room you immediately dropped all your stuff and flopped down onto the bed, exhausted.

“Hey, sweetie, you can shower in the morning if you want to but you should at least change into pajamas.” said Diane. You found the energy to take your clothes off and put on an oversized t-shirt as you listened to Diane sing in the shower. You fell asleep to the sounds of the running shower and the older woman’s slightly off-key singing.

When you woke up, Diane was reading and sipping some coffee. You noticed she had also gotten you one.

“Morning, sweetheart. Now, I’m not in much of a rush to get out of here so just take your time. Drink your coffee and then take a shower, alright?”

“Sounds good!” You said, starting to drink your coffee.

“Great. I’m looking forward to spending more time with you, (y/n). I think maybe we were destined to meet. You without loving parents and me, in desperate need of someone to love and care for.”

“Maybe..”

You couldn’t explain why, but you did like this strange woman. She seemed kind, and she was very pretty, which couldn’t have hurt. The only reason you said yes to her last night was because you needed sleep so badly but now that you were fully rested, you couldn’t say you regretted it. You walked to the shower and felt a bit lightheaded. While you were in the shower you started to feel weak and you finally fell over.

As soon as she heard the thud of your body to the shower floor, Diane ran into the bathroom.

“(Y/N)? What happened? Are you ok?”

“I... I fell... I don’t know why.” You said, a bit embarrassed of the woman seeing your naked body like this

“Ok, let’s get you dried off and dressed, then I think we have to get some food into you.” and Diane helped you up, helped you dry off and took out your most comfortable-looking clothes and put them on you. This whole thing made you feel like a child, but you almost didn’t mind. It’s not like you’ve ever been taken care of like this before.

“Lean on me if you need to, I’ll come back for the luggage after you’re in the car.” You held onto Diane’s arm all the way to the front seat of the car.

“Just wait here, okay love?”

She got both your suitcase and hers and but them back in the car. You noticed that her suitcase that was in your room was not the only one she had, and she in fact had several suitcases, and lots of bags. She was older and more established than you, of course she had more things than you did.

She drove until you found a diner where the two of you could get breakfast. She helped you out of the car and told her to at least hold her hand while you walked.

“I’m sorry you’re feeling this way, maybe eating something will make you feel better.”

“Yeah, I hope so. I’ve never felt like this before, I really hope I’m not sick.”

“I don’t think that’s it.”

While you ate you talked, and Diane gave you a pill that she said might make you feel better. You took it and you did start feeling a little bit better. 

“Is it working? Do you feel ready to go?”

“I think so”

And so you left the diner with Diane feeling a little bit better. She kept her hands on you to guide you as you went to the car, just in case. 

“I’m ok now. But thanks, Diane.”

“Of course.” She grabbed your hand for a second and smiled at you and your heart skipped a beat. Why did you feel this way?

Diane drove for several hours until you fell asleep again. When she woke you up you were in a hotel parking lot in a small town you didn’t recognize.

“Where are we?”

“I think we’re somewhere in central Pennsylvania. We have a lot more driving to do, but it’s getting late. Let’s get some dinner and get you to bed.”

That night was relaxing and easy. Diane ordered room service and you ate while sitting on her bed together and watching a movie. The two of you began to cuddle and you ended up falling asleep in the older woman’s arms. When you stirred early the next morning she was still holding you.

When you woke up for real, Diane brought you some coffee. 

Diane got back on the road and she asked you where you planned on staying. You told her you were going to stay with a girl named Anna who you talked to online. As the car ride progressed, the weak feeling you had the other day started to come back.

“That’s ok. You can stay with me tonight if you want.”

“You really don’t have to-”

“Yes, I do. I want to make sure you’re ok, let me take care of you.” You figured that if Diane were dangerous, she would have tried to do something to you by now since you’ve basically been alone with her for almost two days. How bad could it be?

It turned out that the house Diane lived very close to Anna anyway, so you decided why not.

You drove another seven or so hours from the hotel all the way to a small house in a very cute little town not too far from where you had planned on settling in.

“This is it.”

You got out of the car and brought your stuff into the house. It was a cute, small place that was already furnished. You and Diane both looked around. There were two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a living room and kitchen.

“It’s a good thing I got a two-bedroom, I guess. You can stay here as long as you’d like.”

“Thank you”“

“I’m gonna go out and bring some more stuff in and then I’ll make us some tea, does that sound good?”

“Sure.”

The two of you sat on the couch and talked while you drank the tea Diane made you. The tea didn’t taste bad, but it didn’t taste like anything you’ve had before. You told her more about your family life after she asked.

“Your parents were so lucky,” said Diane, who was getting a bit emotional, “to have a child as healthy and beautiful and sweet as you. There are so many people who would give anything to have what your parents took for granted.”

“I don’t know, maybe it is my fault. Maybe I was just a bad kid. Maybe I was hard to like, or dumb, or-”

“I don’t think you’re any of those things. And I’m sorry that you believe that, because it’s not true.”

“You think so?”

“I do.”  

You went to bed that night in your room and Diane in hers. When you woke up you felt weak and sick to your stomach. You guessed that Diane was wrong and you were in fact coming down with something.

“Diane!” You felt bad for possibly waking her up, but you’d feel even worse if you threw up on the sheets, and you didn’t know if you could make it to the bathroom. So you did it. She immediately came running to you.

“Are you ok, sweetie? What’s wrong?”

“I think I’m sick. Do you have a bucket or something?”

“Yes. Just one second.”

She left and very quickly brought back a bucket for you.

“I hope I haven’t gotten you sick too.”

“Don’t worry about that, I rarely get sick. Just let me take care of you.”

And you did. For the next few days as she looked for teaching jobs she nursed you back to health. Well, almost-health, at least. You weren’t having stomachaches or throwing up anymore but you still felt weak. She gave you pills and lots of them, and some might have had some bad side effects. All the pain medication she gave you almost had a numbing effect on your body. Anna had completely stopped responding to you and you worried she didn’t want to be roommates anymore, not like you could be on your own right now anyway in the state you were in. You needed Diane to take care of you. She was being interviewed for a position as a science teacher at the local High School but other than working on all of the application material she had all the free time in the world to be with you.

“Anna said she found another roommate.”

“Hey, don’t worry about that alright? You’re still sick and I really don’t mind you just... staying here and living with me. Besides, I really think I’m going to get this job and if I do I’ll easily be able to support the both of us.”

“Diane, you don’t have to... I applied for some jobs already.”

“None of which you can do when you’re sick, now please lie back down. I know you feel bad for letting me take care of you and baby you so much, but you don’t have to. I’ve already told you that I like having someone to take care of. And I know you like it when I take care of you too.”

And you hated to admit it, but she was right. Despite how horrible you felt physically, you enjoyed your time with Diane. You started doing a lot of fun things together. You both enjoyed yourselves, and Diane sometimes told you that she felt like she had a daughter again. She made you feel loved. You still had your own bed, but you often fell asleep on the couch or in Diane’s bed while the two of you cuddled.

“I love you, (y/n). My baby.” Diane said as you started to drift off on the couch with her that night.

[wrenhyperfixates]

A Kiss at Midnight

Pairing: Loki x reader Summary: At Tony’s New Year’s Party, you notice Loki is upset. He’s hesitant to tell you what’s wrong, but when he finally confesses, the coming year suddenly seems so much brighter. Warnings: mainly fluff with just a tiny bit of angst A/N: Happy New Year everyone! May it be filled with nothing but love and joy. Thank you all for supporting me. I’m looking forward to producing even more content in the coming year! Enjoy :)

Tag List: @lucywrites02 @frostedgiant @lunarmoon8 @twhiddlestonsstuff @lokistan @thelokiimaginechroniclesficrecs @gaitwae​ @whatafuckingdumbass​

Disclaimer: Gif not mine

Yet another party was raging on around you. There had been far too many this past year, in your opinion. At least this one wasn’t just because Tony was throwing it on a whim. No, tonight was New Year’s Eve. Even so, you would argue that the music was blasting just a little too loud, and everyone was shouting just a little too much. Maybe those were directly affecting each other, you thought with a small laugh.

You glanced over to where the God of Mischief, your best friend, was standing, looking rather glum. After having made the rounds, you were on your way to the corner he had sequestered himself in. If there was anyone who disliked these parties more than you, it was Loki. Too many people, too many glares, he would tell you. It made your heart break a little more every time. Despite your best efforts, you’d only found one reporter willing to write an article on Loki in a positive light, and they only ran a small, though considerably popular, blog. Everyone else just seemed to think it too much of a risk. All these depressing thoughts brought a frown to your face as you approached the god.

“Darling, is everything alright?” he questioned once you reached him. “Are you feeling ill? Or perhaps it is just this blasted party?”

“The second one, I suppose,” you chuckled. “I’m more worried about you, though. How are you doing?”

It still always took Loki aback for a second when you asked him something like that. He smiled at you and took your hand, running his thumb over your knuckles. It made your heart skip a few beats. Yes, he was your best friend, but you wished he was even more than that. But he needed this friendship, you knew, and you wouldn’t take that from him if the feelings weren’t reciprocated. And let’s face it, it was unfathomable that he did return them. After all, you were just you, and he was a literal god. You pushed the thought out of your mind as he replied.

“Oh, same issue as you, really. You know these parties are not really my speed,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “I must say, however, that they are far more bearable when you are by my side. Dare I say, even enjoyable.”

You giggled a little as that beautiful glint you loved returned to his eyes. “Then perhaps you’ll indulge me and join me for a dance?”

“I suppose I will,” he sighed in mock exasperation. “But only because you asked so nicely.”

Still holding your hand, he led you to the dance floor. Of course, as soon as you made it there, a slow song began to play. Just your luck, you thought, though you weren’t sure if it was good or bad. On the one hand, you were getting to dance with your crush. On the other, it was a painful reminder that was all this was; you weren’t actually dating the beautiful god.

You shyly smiled up at Loki, afraid you were about to make a fool of yourself. Knowing he was far more graceful than you, you let him take the lead. Your right hand stayed clasped in his left, as his other hand guided your left one to his shoulder before settling on your waist. He gently tugged you closer so that your chests were pressed together, your head naturally dropping to rest on his shoulder. It seemed to surprise him that you didn’t mind being so close, but once he got accustomed to the idea, he placed his head atop yours. It was a perfect moment, and you pushed all your anxious thoughts out of the way so you could just enjoy it.

“Thank you, Loki. For dancing with me, I mean,” you said as the music stopped, lifting your head but standing just as close. “That was amazing.”

“Thank you, too, darling. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I do not suppose you would want to stay and dance again?” he asked, uncertainty obvious in his voice.

Before you could answer, Peter came pushing through the crowd, calling your name over the constant noise. You gave Loki an apologetic look and pulled away to greet the boy as he reached you.

“The foosball table is finally open!” Peter exclaimed. “Mr. Bucky is just finishing his game with Mr. Rogers, and then it’s all ours. Oh, and hi Mr. Loki. Do you want to come too? You can play the winner.”

“That is alright, spiderling. I will skip, but thank you for the generous offer. You two have fun.”

“Ok. If you’re sure,” you said. You squeezed Loki’s hand one more time before leaving. “I’ll see you later, ok?”

He nodded his head and walked in the opposite direction Peter led you. You sighed, assuming that he went back to his corner. Was it bad you already missed being held against him? Probably, but you couldn’t help it. Maybe if you were lucky, he’d still be in the mood to dance again later. Even if it wasn’t another slow dance, maybe he would hold your hand as he spun you round the floor.

After three games of foosball with Peter, two of which you lost, you got a couple Shirley Temples: one for you and one for Loki. Unfortunately, he wasn’t where you expected him to be, and your eyes scoured the room to find him. It was like he had disappeared. Then you spotted the door to the roof and were struck with the gut feeling that you’d find him out there. Still holding the drinks, you pushed the door open with your back. Your eyes immediately landed on Loki, his arms leaning on the railing as he stared off to some unknown point in the distance.

“Hey,” you said, offering him a glass, which he accepted with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. You leaned back against the railing, too. “I was looking for you. What are you doing our here?”

“Just taking a break from the crowd, I guess,” he replied with an unconvincing shrug. “How did your game go?”

“I lost, but it was fun.”

“That is good.”

“Yeah.”

You lapsed into silence, some unspoken issue in the air between you. The last thing you wanted to do was pressure Loki into telling you what was going on, but you could see something was wrong. It upset you that he didn’t trust you enough to let you in, but even more than that, you were upset that he was going through anything in the first place. Instead, you decided to focus on something positive.

“Here’s to another year of friendship,” you said, raising your glass in a toast. “I look forward to it, Loki.”

“Yes. Another year of...friendship,” he echoed, halfheartedly lifting his drink, too, though you could tell he was doing his best to be more enthusiastic.

“Ok, that’s it. Tell me what’s up. You know you can trust me with anything, right?” you asked, laying a hand on his arm.

“Yes. After all, it is like you said; we are friends.” He practically spat the last word, and you involuntarily flinched away from him a little, feeling bad when a look of hurt danced across his features. “I am sorry, darling. I should not have lost my temper. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Maybe so, but something’s wrong. I know you didn’t mean it, but I also know that something is bothering you.”

“Oh, darling.” He set your drinks down on a nearby table and cupped your cheeks. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“You were just yourself, Loki,” you replied, putting your hands on top of his. “That’s what you did.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he reopened them, his blue-green irises bore deep into your soul. “If I confess something to you now, do you promise to tell no one else?”

“Loki, of course. Your secret’s safe with me.”

His eyes searched yours for another minute before he backed away from you. Your hands dropped to your side as he paced a little. You already missed the contact. He was still obviously on the fence of whether or not he should tell you whatever was on his mind. You nervously rocked back and forth on your heels as you felt his own palpable anxiety in the click click click of his shoes on the floor. Suddenly, he stopped in front of you and stared at you for another moment more.

“I am in love with you,” he blurted out, visibly cringing at his lack of eloquence. He took a deep breath and tried again. “What I mean to say is, well, what I said. I am in love with you. And while I value your friendship more than anything else in this world, I have come to desire more.”

“What?” you gasped in utter disbelief. “Loki. I don’t believe this.”

“It is ok if you do not feel the same,” he said, taking a step back. “Nothing has to change if you do not want it to. But, please, I do not want to lose you completely.”

“No, Loki,” you hurried to fix the misunderstanding. You took a step forward so that the distance he’d put between you was gone. “I don’t believe it because I do feel the same. I just never imagined that you did.”

“You truly do?”

“With all my heart.”

At the same time, you both moved to close the gap between you, kissing each other with a passion too long hidden. As you stood there, two hearts becoming one, you could hear the people inside begin the countdown. You pulled away, eyes shining and lips red.

“I propose a new toast,” you began. “To our new relationship in a new year. To our love.”

“To our love,” he echoed again, much happier this time. “Forever and always.”

“Forever and always.”

As the countdown reached its end, you and Loki kissed again, sealing the promise you’d made. Here with Loki, you knew one thing for sure: This was going to be a good year.

[sugdenlovesdingle]

Flufftober day 7: falling asleep in the other’s lap 

Not the only one (AO3)

A/N: So this is a few days late because i hit a major case of writer's block. This wasn't my original idea for this day but because I just couldn't make that work, i ended up writing this instead (and I might still use the first idea for another day) I'll try to catch up and get back on track in the next few days, but I'm not making any promises. I WILL finish all 31 fics but some might still be late from now on. Also ignore the dodgy title - i couldn't think of anything else.

---

“Hi this is Robert Sugden, my son Sebastian won’t be coming in today because he’s ill.” Robert told Seb’s school’s secretary. “He’s in miss Nicholson’s class.”

“Alright. I’ll pass on the message. Tell him to get well soon.”

“I will. Thanks.” Robert said and hung up.

He looked over his shoulder at his little boy asleep in his bed after crawling in with him in the middle of the night.  He’d been under the weather for a few days, but that morning he’d been burning up and feeling downright miserable so Robert had decided to keep him home from school.

Only the timing was less than ideal and he was in for a morning of making calls and sending emails to reschedule his meetings and apologise to his clients, hoping they’d understand.

His phone rang in his hand and he smiled when he saw Vic’s name on the screen.

“Hey, sorry for calling you that early just now.”

“It’s fine. I was up with Harry anyway.” Vic replied. “Is everything ok?”

“No.” Robert sighed. “Seb is sick so he’s staying home today. So you don’t have to pick him up this afternoon. Or watch him tonight.”

“Are you sure? He’ll be fine with us tonight, you know he will.”

“No I can’t ask you to do look after my sick kid. What if Harry gets his bug too?”

“But you were really looking forward to your date with that guy you’ve been seeing… what’s his name again? Andrew?”

“Aaron.” Robert corrected her, a smile tugging at his lips. Vic was right, he had been looking forward to it, he’d barely seen Aaron the past few weeks because work had kept them both busy, but tonight they were finally going out to dinner and Robert had planned to ask him to stay the night.

Only with a sick child those plans were off the table.

“I’m sure. I’ll just explain it to him. He’ll understand. Hopefully.”

“If he doesn’t he’s not worth your time.” Vic told him and after a minute of small talk they hung up and Robert braced himself for his next call.

They’d been officially together for a few months, and Aaron knew he had a son, but they’d never met, and Robert didn’t know how Aaron actually felt about kids.

He scrolled through his phone looking for Aaron’s number and hit call, hoping he didn’t have to find out what he’d do if Aaron wasn’t interested anymore.

“Hey you.” Aaron answered on the first ring. “Did you get your sister to do the school run today?”

“Uh no… not exactly…”

“Is everything ok?” Aaron asked, concerned. “You’re not calling to cancel on me are you?”

“I… uh…”

“You are cancelling…”

“I’m sorry…”

“Have you changed your mind about me? About us?”

“No! Absolutely not.” Robert stressed. “It’s just… well… Seb is sick so he’s home today. I can’t leave him.”

“Oh thank god. I thought you were breaking up with me.” Aaron sighed in relief but then realised what he’d said. “Sorry… that came out wrong. Is he ok? I mean… apart from not feeling well?”

“Yeah… I think it’s just a bug… Sorry.”

“Sorry for what? It’s not your fault your kid is sick. Tell him to get better soon from me.” Aaron told him. “Wait… he doesn’t know me.”

“He knows about you.” Robert said, a soft smile spreading over his face. “I told him a few days ago.”

“Yeah? What did he say?”

“Not much… He asked if that meant we kiss and when I said yes he didn’t stop giggling for an hour.”

Aaron chuckled

“I uh should let you go…” he said after a minute.

“Yeah… sorry again. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. Seb should come first.” Aaron insisted. “Unless… do you need a hand with anything? Shopping?”

“I uh… yeah I suppose… I was just going to order something and then ask Vic to pick up some things when she does her own shopping.”

“What if I did your shopping? And then stop by after work and drop it off? That way we’ll still get to see each other and you’ll have food for your son. And yourself.”

“You’d do that?”

“Sure. There’s a big Tesco on my way home. Just send me the list.”

“But… Seb is home.”

“Yes. You’ve said…” Aaron trailed off. “I’m going to have to meet him eventually, so why not today? Unless you think he’s not up for it? Or you aren’t.”

“I am.” Robert replied right away. “I don’t know if Seb will be very good company… but I’d really like to see you tonight.”

“It’s a date then.” Aaron decided “I can be there at six, is that alright?”  

“Six is fine.” Robert said, a dopey loved up smile on his face. “See you tonight.”

The next few hours Robert busied himself with work while Seb slept. He’d taken his laptop to bed and just tried to focus on that instead of worrying about his son. And worrying if the two most important people in his life would get on.

“Daddy?” Seb croaked around noon and Robert looked up from his work.

“Hey mate. How are you feeling? Any better yet?”

Seb nodded but snuggled closer to his father, burying his face in Robert’s t-shirt.

“I’m hungry.”

“Yeah? What do you want?” Robert brushed his hair out of his face and felt his forehead, happy to find his temperature had gone down. “Do you want me to make you a sandwich?”

Seb nodded again.

“Alright. Chocolate spread or strawberry jam?”

“Chocolate.”

“Ok, I’ll be back in a minute. Do you want to watch a film while you eat?” Robert closed his work and turned on kids Netflix. “You pick something.”

Over the next few hours Seb started to feel better and Robert managed to convince him to have a bath and put on a clean pair of pyjamas.

It was nearing five o’clock when he realised he should probably prepare Seb for arrival of their guest. He paused the cartoon the boy was watching and sat down next to him on the sofa.

“Do you remember when I told you about Aaron the other day? My boyfriend.” He started. It felt weird to discuss his love life with a six year old but Seb just nodded. “Well… I told him you’re poorly… and he wanted to come meet you and tell you to get better soon. Is that ok?”

“Aaron is coming here?”

“Yeah… in a bit.”

“Are you going to kiss him?” Seb asked, already grinning.  

Robert smiled.

“Maybe.”

Seb giggled and started making kissing noises at his dad.

“Just you wait until you’re old and you meet someone you want to kiss.” Robert said laughingly and tried to tickle the little boy but he jumped away from him.

“I’m never going to kiss anyone.” He insisted.

“You might change your mind about that in about 10 years.”

Seb crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“No I’m not!”

Before they had a chance to continue their argument, the doorbell rang.

“Is that Aaron?”

“I think so.” Robert replied and went to open the door, Seb trailing behind him.

“Hey, sorry I know I’m a little early but I knocked off early to get the shopping done and pick up some other things I thought Seb might like.” Aaron rambled before Robert had well and truly opened the door. “Also, hi.” He smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss hello.

“Hi.” Robert said softly and then glanced down at the bags at Aaron’s feet. “Did you buy the entire store?”

“No, just… a few things I remember liking when I was ill as a kid.”

“A few things? I don’t think I want to know what you’d call a lot of things then.”

Aaron rolled his eyes.

“Shut up, just help me carry these, alright? I nearly broke my back lugging them all the way to the door from my car.”

Robert laughed and picked up two bags.

“How is the patient?” Aaron asked and followed him into the house.

“Ask him yourself.” Robert replied, nodding at Seb who was watching them from the sofa. Too curious to really hide, too shy to really go meet Aaron.

Aaron put the bags on the kitchen counter and turned around.

“Hiya mate.” He greeted Seb, giving him a half wave. “I’m Aaron. Your dad told me so much about you. And I think he told you about me too, didn’t he?”

Seb nodded and wearily glanced between Aaron and his dad.

“Aren’t you going to say hello, Seb?” Robert pushed. “Where are your manners?”

“It’s ok. You don’t have to.” Aaron told him. “We can just hang out without all of that official stuff, can’t we?”

Seb nodded again.

“So are you feeling better? Your dad said you had a sore throat so I brought some ice lollies. Though I didn’t know what flavour you liked so I just bought three different kinds.”

“Oh look Seb, it’s the rocket ice lollies you like.” Robert held up the box and Seb’s face lit up. “We can all have one after tea.”

“Oh come on Rob, let him have one now. The ice will make his throat feel better.” Aaron tried. “I used to love these whenever I was ill as a kid.” He told Seb. “Still do.” He winked and the boy laughed.  

“Fine.” Robert relented. “But you’re still going to have to eat something later. Aaron brought us all this healthy food, we’re not going to let it go to waste.”

“It’ll keep for a few days.” Aaron mock whispered to Seb as he handed him an ice lolly. “What are you watching?” He asked nodding at the paused cartoon on tv.

Seb turned around and started to excitedly tell Aaron all about the show and characters, and even showed him some of his action figures.

Aaron ooh-ed and aah-ed and asked questions in all the right places and Seb loved it all. He sat down on the back of the sofa as Seb turned his show back on and started telling him about the parts he’d missed.

Robert watched them while he put the shopping away and threw together a semi healthy meal for the three of them.

It turned out Seb and Aaron together were a force to be reckoned with, and they managed to convince Robert to sit down and eat in front of the TV with them, instead of at the kitchen table.

Seb insisted Aaron sat in the middle of the sofa so he and Robert could sit on either side of him.

As the night went on, Robert could tell Seb was getting sleepy. He’d gone almost completely quiet and didn’t even protest when Robert turned his cartoons off and put on some random nature documentary.

He got up from the sofa and patted Seb’s leg. The boy was struggling to keep his eyes open, snuggled up against Aaron’s side.

“I think it’s bedtime for you, mister.”

“No, I’m not tired.”

“Oh yeah, I can see that.” Robert said sarcastically, making Aaron laugh a little.

“It’s ok. Leave him be for now.” Aaron said, holding out his free hand for Robert.

“He’s got a perfectly good bed upstairs. Come on Seb. Up.”

Seb groaned and hid under Aaron’s arm.

If Robert was honest with himself, the fact that Seb was so comfortable around Aaron after just a few hours made his heart soar, but he felt he also had to at least try to keep up the pretence he wasn’t a complete pushover.

“Let’s just watch this for a bit.” Aaron suggested, reaching out for Robert again. “Let him sleep.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. He’s comfy now. It’s fine.”

Robert hesitated for a moment before sitting back down next to Aaron.

“You’re an enabler.” He said lovingly and pressed a kiss to Aaron’s lips. “He’s already got you right where he wants you.”

“It’s ok.” Aaron looked down at Seb who had shifted and was now sleeping with his head in his lap. “He’s a great kid. And I’m just glad he likes me.”

“Likes you? He adores you.” Robert said, looking at the two of them. “And he’s not the only one.”

[nova-is-a-writer-now]

The way you said “I love you”

Summary: All the times you and Zuko said I love you to eachother, sometimes without even actually saying it.

A/N: I was feeling a little uninspired while trying to write pt.4 of Fools, so I decided to write something else in the mean time. I saw someone did this and I found it so adorable I decided to do it too. Sadly I only saved the original post and not the hc that was inspired in it, so if you know who came up with this pls @ them so I can credit them.

Side note, I had more ideas for some of the other prompts but didn’t want to make this excessively long, so maybeeee I’ll make another one of these but we’ll see.

original post

-IF YOU HAVE ANY REQUESTS DONT HESITATE TO ASK-

As a hello

It was late on the night the gaang had finally agreed to let Zuko join them. They hadn’t been specially trustful or accepting of him, but they let him join, and that was what mattered to Zuko, he’ll work his way up to everything else.

He couldn’t sleep, thoughts about everything that had happened and everything that would happen running around in his mind. The stars above him glimmered in wonderful harmony, the time of the year where the sun would be more forgiving at day and the nights would gain a growing coolness to them came around.

Lost in his head, Zuko was startled when he heard you take a sit next to him. You were the only one in the group who Zuko didn’t know that well. He’d only seen you a handful of times before that night and couldn’t really tell on what ground he stood with you.

You handed him a blanket with one hand while you held your own around your back and over your shoulders with the other. “Didn’t want you to freeze to death on your first night.” You explained when you saw the confused look of his face.

“I’m a fire bender, I don’t get cold.” He replied taking only a couple of seconds to mentally slap himself for being rude. This being a good guy thing was gonna take some practice.

“Oh” you said, the realization of his words hitting you, feeling a little dumb for not thinking about it before.

“But thanks...anyways” Zuko tried to redeem himself, hoping he didn’t make a bad impression on the one person who didn’t hate him already.

“Yeah, no problem.” Your eyes drifted up to the stars too. They were prettier tonight, maybe it was because of how peaceful things felt for once. A deep sigh forced you to turn your attention back to the dark haired boy. “Are you ok?” You asked him, hoping he wouldn’t feel like you’re intruding.

“Yeah, just...worried. Katara still hates me, Sokka doesn’t trust me and Aang only keeps me around because he needs me. I’m not complaining, I just... don’t know how to show them I’ve changed.”

“I’m sure Katara is gonna come around eventually, she has too much of a big heart to stay mad at anyone for too long. Aang is the one that convinced everyone to let you join, so I think he does like you, and Sokka is...well, Sokka, I wouldn’t worry about it” you reassured him.

Zuko gave your words a thought. You were right, but things were still complicated. He looked at you and asked. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

You looked away from his gaze, his golden eyes were a bit intimidating if you were honest. “I...don’t know. I guess I just believe you when you say you’ve changed. I see good in you... I always have, even when we were running away from you. All of us have done things in the past we aren’t too proud of, some of them may be worse than others, but we’re all here now, and we’re all trying to do the right thing. I think that on its own makes you worthy of a second chance.”

Your words shocked Zuko. No one besides his uncle had been that kind to him in a long time. He felt hope inside, if someone as kind and good as you could forgive him, think that he could be redeemed, then he hoped everyone else would too. “I...thank you. I promise I won’t disappoint you... any of you.”

“You and I can start on a blank slate, as a matter of fact” you extended your hand to him. “Hi, I’m Y/N, very nice to meet you.”

Zuko chuckled very lightly at the weird way you had decided to show how it was a new beginning for the both of you, but played along. “I’m Zuko, it’s very nice to meet you too.”

When the broken glass litters the floor

It was your first day on the Ember Island’s house. Katara and you had been cooking with the groceries Sokka and Suki brought from the market. You two weren’t experts but you had gotten so much better by then. Katara decided to go outside with a basket of cabbages to feed Appa and told you to stay and check on the food so it wouldn’t burn.

No more than a few minutes passed before you heard Zuko coming inside from where he had been training with Aang. He took his shirt off at some point during the training, leaving his naked and muscular torso was exposed.

You tried your best not to stare but you couldn’t help the blush that took over your face when you looked up to his eyes and found him staring right back. His cheeks were blushed as well and you decided for your own sake to assume it was from the physical activity.

“Hey...um, do you mind pouring me a glass of water, please?” He asked softly, his voice a tad raspier from him being out of breath.

“Yeah sure.” You managed to say.

When you turned around to get a glass for him your arm bumped into a glass vase that was incredibly bad placed, throwing it off from where it had been resting. One of your feet was already lifted when the vase crashe onto the floor and into a million pieces, which made you nearly lose your balance and step right on the fragments. In a fraction of a second you felt Zuko’s hand grabbing your wrist and pulling you back, which made you very strongly land on his chest. His other hand instantly moved to the small of your back, as if he was scared you would fall without his support. 

His eyes met yours as you raised your head to look at him, your faces closer than they’d ever been before. Both of you held your breath for a few seconds before you broke the silence. “thank you.” You muttered softly not wanting to move a single muscle.

“You’re welcome” Zuko replied in the same tone, softening the grip on your wrist.

The moment would’ve lasted way longer had Katara not stormed into the kitchen after hearing the sound of breaking glass.

“I left you in the kitchen alone for ONE SECOND!”

Not said to me

Zuko had clearly been avoiding you the past couple of days. Was it the war that was starting to gain weight inside his head? Was it how close you two had started to get all of the sudden? Was it something you did? You didn’t know for sure, but you knew you didn’t like the feeling of it, at all.

He told everyone one morning he wasn’t feeling great, so he would stay inside instead of spending the day at the beach like the rest of you had planned. This was your chance to get him alone and try to talk.

You decided to make him a special tea recipe you’d picked up from Iroh at some point, he said it was a miracle when it came to curing illness. When you tried it you were surprised from how good it ended up tasting. You poured it into a teapot and grabbed a couple of cups, proceeding to take them upstairs where Zuko’s room was.

You were about to walk right in when you heard Sokka voice coming from inside, realizing the door was only half open.

“You can’t do nothing, dude. What kind of dumb ass plan is that?” He said whisper-screaming.

“I’m not telling her.” Zuko replied in a voice so low you almost couldn’t hear him.

“Why not? She clearly likes you back, you know that, I know that, and everyone else does too. The two of you are the only ones who keep acting like it isn’t obvious.”

You wonder who they could possibly be talking about, a small pit of jealousy forming inside of you.

“You don’t know that for sure, and I’m not losing Y/N’s friendship just cause I was dumb enough to crush on her. Trying to get over it is better than getting rejected and ruining everything, I like her too much to do that.” as soon as you heard your name your heart stopped.

Zuko... liked you. He liked you and was scared you didn’t like him back. How could he ever think that? Sometimes you felt like you were too obvious about it, but it was hard not to. It was his golden eyes, probably the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen, how they looked like growing flames when the sun hit them, the little dark spots around the rim of his irises, how they looked at you intensely like if when you talked everything else faded. It was the way he would throw his head back when he laughed, but only when you made him laugh really hard, how his face glowed with a youthful tint, like he was a normal teenager even though you were in the middle of a war, and how when he stopped laughing he had to take a deep breath before letting the laugh die down. It was the way he talked about his mom with such love and adoration, or how he talked about the future with a little bit of fear but mostly hope. It was the way he was always ready to run to you if you needed him to, making sure you were ok, protecting you. It was him, all of him, it had always been him.

You were shocked at the words you just heard but glad you’d heard them. Before either of them walked out and found you there, you walked back downstairs as quietly as you could, praying they wouldn’t hear the creaks of the stairs. Once you were back at the kitchen you decided to wait for Sokka to come down, he had to eventually, and you hoped he would leave Zuko alone when he did. It didn’t take him much longer to do so, to your relief coming down the stairs alone. He looked at you and smiled.

“Hey, Y/N. Watcha doing?”

“Making tea for Zuko, is he feeling any better?”

“Oh, no. He’s terrible, the poor thing. You should definitely go check on him.” He tried to say this without smiling so you would take him seriously but the corners of his mouth were already starting to curve up.

“Will do, thanks Sokka.” On the surface, you were thanking him for the information he was giving you, but deep down you were also thanking him for being the reason why you found out Zuko also liked you.

You walked back upstairs, not even thinking of bringing the tea up with you. You took in a deep breath before opening the door, and you when you did, you saw him laying there, eyes closed at first but opened quickly when he heard you come in.

“Y/N... hi.” He said sitting up.

“Hey, wanted to check up on you, Sokka said you were feeling terrible.” You told him knowing he would kill Sokka afterwards for sabotaging him.

“I’m not feeling terrible, I’m much better actually, but thanks for coming to check on me.” You took a sit on his bed, close enough to be able to do what you were planning your next move to be.

“I’m glad. We need you up and in your best shape right now.” You waited a few seconds trying to gather all the bravery you had inside before saying. “Zuko?”

“Yes?”

You didn’t warn him before closing the space that separated the two of you, one of your hands went up to cup his cheek while your lips pressed softly against his. You could tell he was shocked by how his body stiffened under your touch, your lips moved softly and slowly trying to figure out wether he wanted to kiss you or not. You were about to pull away when he started kissing you back. His own hand sliding up to your neck, holding you firmly while his lips devoured yours, like he had been waiting for this moment for way too long. When the two of you finally pulled apart to fill in your lungs again, your eyes connected with his, there was a new kind of light in them. A smile took over his lips when his eyes drifted back down to your lips.

“Were you eavesdropping when I was talking to Sokka?” He asked softly and teasingly.

“What in the world would make you think that?”

Over and over again, till it’s nothing but a senseless babble

You were under the covers in Zuko’s bed. Your eyes deeply staring into his, your fingers running up and down his jaw, sometimes getting distracted and playing with his hair. The moonlight leaked through the window and the only sounds that could be heard were the ones of trees swaying with the wind.

Zuko looked at you intensely and profoundly. He was sure you were a dream sometimes, something so perfect couldn’t be real, so he touched you to make sure you were actually there, and he held you gently but firmly to make sure that even if you were a dream, he wouldn’t lose you.

“We should sleep” you muttered in a whisper

“We should” he replied his lids already looking a little heavy.

“Good night, Zuko.” You planted a little short peck on his lips before starting to turn around.

“Good night, Y/N” he replied getting comfortable. “I love you.”

Your heart stopped at this words, a warm feeling started to crawl up your body and your eyes that were already closed opened abruptly.

You turned back around to find him staring at the ceiling, eyes wide open while holding his breath. “What did you just say?” You asked him.

“I-... I’m sorry it just...slipped.” He explained.

You knew he could be a little insecure sometimes, always thought he was unlovable so you had to constantly make sure he knew how much you liked him. This was one of those occasions. You crashed your lips against his roughly, pulling him so he would be on top of you. This kiss was a declaration, a promise and a revelation all at the same time, your lips moved hungrily and passionately trying to show him how much you loved him back.

Once you separated you looked at him sweetly and said “Say it again.”

“I love you.” Zuko was more sure of himself this time, a warm smile took over his face.

“Again, please.”

“I love you.”

“One more time.”

He took your face into your hands and kissed your forehead first. “I love you” then he went to your right cheek “I love you” and to the left “I love you” and to your nose “I love you” and finally took in a deep breath before looking to your lips “Y/N Y/L/N you have no idea how much I fucking love you” he kissed you again.

Maybe you couldn’t understand how much love he felt for you, how it burned inside of him like a wild fire, how when you were with him all his worries faded and the rest of the world was put on pause, maybe you’d never even grasp the way you were his first thought in the morning and his last at night, but he could try showing all of it to you with a kiss.

You pulled away to look at him one last time and said “I love you more, I will always love you more.”

[i-am-ironic]

Kiss the girl

This didn't go the way I was expecting but I still like it. It does get a little spicy but not smut I promise.(im pretty sure this isn't smut because they don't actually do the 'devils tango')Enjoy!

**********

Robin looked over at the girl by his side, her dark hair glistening in the moonlight. He and ladybug had been teamed up to patrol for months. It was a slow night and there hadn't been more then a few petty thieves and a lady who was lost. Ladybug had been training with the batfam for the whole summer and was going to continue for the rest of the year. She didn't want to say too much about her civilian identity but Robin knew she was going to gatham university and that her boyfriend of two years had just broken up with her. He also knew he had a crush on her.

"Robin, you who, are you there?"

"Yeah! sorry," he said blushing "I guess I just spaced out. What did you need?"

"I was just saying I should have brought my sckech book, the sky is beautiful tonight."

"It really is," he said turning back toward the city. The two of them had a wonderful view from the building they were sitting on. The only taller building was Wayne enterprises behind them.

"What have you been drawing recently?" He questioned turning back to ladybug.

"Oh y-you know, this and that. Just things I see a lot." She hummed," I'm working on drawing people more so they look realistic when I'm drawing the outfits."

"Im sure they are beautiful. I've been working on people too I just can't get the face right." He said looking at her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, and finally her mouth. His face felt hot as he looked back at her eyes and noticed they were on his lips. She blushed and looked away.

That was when the humming started. Ladybug didn't have a earpiece so she couldn't hear what his brothers where doing.

Red hood started, "now you see her,"

Red Robin giggled before continuing, "sitting there across the way."

Nightwing caught on pretty quick "she don't got a lot to say but there's something about her."

Red Hood picked up,"and you don't know why but your Dying to try you wanna,"

The three of them harmonized, "Kiss the girl."

"Yes you want her," red Robin sang trying his best Jamaican accent.

"Look at her you know you do," Nightwing continued, "its possible she wants you too,"

Red Hood, a surprisingly good singer, kept it going, "there is one way to ask her, it don't take a word not a single word, go on and,"

All three, "kiss the girl!"

"Enough!" Robin yelled at his brothers. As they were singing he had been getting redder and redder. "Your accents were all terrible, you are a disgrace to this family."

"No that's Mulan."

Robin turned off his ear peace.

"What was that about?" Ladybug asked.

"N-nothing." Damn he was stammering, he wasn't supposed to stammer. He was a Wayne, he didn't get flustered over his brothers teasing him about some girl.

"Really it didn't sound like nothing." She said Concerned. Oh, she couldn't look at him with those big blue eyes and expect him to be able to function normally. That just wasn't fair.

Then it hit him, what if he had the same effect on her that she did on him. He decided to test that theory. He slowly moved his had from his lap over to her hand. When he placed his had on top of hers she whipped her head around to look at their hands. She stared for a moment before turning her hand over and interlocking her fingers with his. She was almost as red as her sute.

She was holding his hand. SHE IS HOLDING MY HAND! Oh what do I do?! She is blushing! Dose this mean she likes me????? Oh no now what???? Am I supposed to kiss her??? STAY CALM WAYNE!! STAY %>^~ING CALM!!!

He was not staying calm, he was in fact panicking. As was Ladybug. They were a mess, but a cute mess. Both bright freaking red holding hands looking over the gatham sky.

Robin looked at Ladybug's face, her blue eyes that shown in the moonlight, her bright pink cheeks that matched her lips. He wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips. Would she taste like the vanilla she always smelled like? Would she smile and run her fingers through his hair? Would she pull him closer then they had ever been before?

He hadn't noticed how close he had gotten to her or that she was leaning closer her mouth slightly open begging him to kiss her.

Then her yo-yo started ringing braking the two of them out of their trance, their faces even brighter red then before. Ladybug pulled her hand from his as her answered the call.

"H-hello.......no he must have turned it off.......ok we will be right there." She looked back at Robin the blush that had disappeared from her cheeks returned full force when she saw him. "T-there is a bank robbery, batman and red Robin need us."

By the time they arrived batman had already taken out the leader and two of the goons. Red Robin was helping the hostages escape, why were people at the bank at 2 in the morning Robin may never know, but he helped his brother and ladybug took out three goons tying them up after.

"Great work team!" Red Robin said over the coms as batman spoke to the police. "There were no casualties, and we got that done in record time."

"Thats great," Robin said sarcastically, "now can we go, we still have to finish patrol." They didn't really need to finish patrol but he wanted to get out of there and continue whatever was happening with ladybug earlier.

Once they were given the all clear the two of them when to Wayne tower to talk.

"So..." ladybug said awkwardly, "um... you almost kissed me?"

Robin blushed, "yes I guess I did.....why did you not want me to?"

"No no I did want you to! I mean I won't mind. I mean um well I-I I've kinda liked you for a really long time and you were holding my hand and I just thought and I shouldn't have assumed and I'm sorry but you were leaning in and...I'm sorry."

He stared at her, she wanted to kiss him. SHE WANTED TO KISS HIM! SHE LIKED HIM!!!! THIS WAS GREAT NEWS!!! wait, she was apologizing? why was she apologizing? Oh, she didn't know he liked her. She was just sitting there not looking at him. He decided to do something impulsive.

He took her chin turned it toward himself and leaned forward giving her plenty of time to pull away if she wanted to. When their lips met it was exactly how he imagined it, he cradled the back of her neck pulling her closer as she ran her fingers through his hair. She pulled away for a moment to swing her legs around him so she was sitting on his lap her ankles crossed behind his back. He put one arm around her waist pulling her even closer to himself. As they continued he moved them to the floor of the roof and lay down pulling her on top of him. His hands running up and down her sides. His mouth moved from her lips to her cheek and then her neck. She groaned at the contact and pulled his hair harder which made him groan. He eventually moved back to her mouth.

When they finally broke apart they were both panting for air. He sat up she was still on top of him.

"So.... I guess you do like me after all." She said smiling at him.

He barked out a laugh. "After that would you have any doubts. So, now what?

"What do you mean?"

"Well is this going to be a one time thing or are we going to try dating? Because it's going to be kind of hard to go in dates with our masks on."

"Well I was sworn to secrecy I am physically unable to tell you my name. But I can give you this," she pulled a bracelet from her yo-yo, "i have one just like it and they are the only ones that look like this in the world, so if you happen to see me with one you can ask me out then."

He grinned, "so all I have to do is find a girl with that bracelet and it will be you?"

"Yep and when you ask me out ill say 'is this about the night on the roof?' And you'll know its me."

"Sounds great."

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

Damian was incredibly tired he hadn't been able to sleep because of the kiss. It kept replaying in his mind. But he had a fitting for a suit later so he had to get up. The girl making his sute was named marinette, she had been quite nice the first time they met. She was already in the living room with his brothers and father when he walked in. Everything seemed normal until he noticed the bracelet on her wrist. That means.... oh $#*! This was the same girl he had been making out with last night. Yep there was the hikky he had given her. Just his luck.

****************

I wanted to try to write something more spicy, I think this turned out pretty good to be honest. Anyway I'm going through some writers block and I think this helped. Crap I have to be up in 7 hours and I still have to edit this. Yay.

[desiree-harding-fic]

A TAZ Cinderella AU

You guessed it, folks, this is the full arc of what my Cinderella!au would have been for the Adventure Zone, if I had the time/inspiration to write the whole thing. Just imagine that all of this is paced out over a bunch of chapters of very pretty words, ok? ;)

That said, enjoy! I’m actually very proud of the thing I concocted in my my head for this!

To begin, a quick run-down of the situation as it stands at the beginning of the fic: Mostly Taakitz-centric, Blupjeans as a side plot. Kravitz is the Crown Prince of Faerun, his mother the Raven Queen current ruler of the kingdom, and him as her only son. Taako and Lup’s parents are both dead, and they live with their mother’s father: their grandfather Tostaada, along with the many aunts and uncles and cousins from Tostaada’s other children. 

Tostaada has a house, several days travel (at least) from Neverwinter, a typical country home for the well-to-do. He’s somewhere between gentry and nobility, but his wealth has been in decline, as is often the case in these stories. His mistreatment of Taako and Lup comes from a disdain for their father. And it provides a convenient excuse not to pay servants.

Summary of the arc proper under the cut:

So we begin with a prologue (posted here) in which we see Kravitz and Taako, around the early teenage years (14-ish) and just get a little taste of how different their lives are. 

Chapter one (also here) kicks off with Kravitz sneaking out of the castle in the early morning for a ride, musing at how busy he is and how stressful his life is trying to be in charge of a whole kingdom, etc. Upon his return, Barry, the royal head arcanist, and Kravitz’s friend, is waiting for him, and informs him that he has a meeting scheduled this morning with the Royal Council.

The Royal Council was originally meant to be a B plot in the story, something to help drive the thing forward, in part because I couldn’t think of a reason as to why the Raven Queen, who adores her son, would force him into marriage. There had to be an outside pressure. So the council was born.

The council was created during the reign of Kravitz’s grandfather, as a way of giving the people a say and lessening the power of absolute monarchy in Faerun, which was falling out of fashion. That was the intent, but, as we find out in the first chapter, the council is now filled with noblemen who haven’t really got the people’s best interests in mind, at least in Kravitz’s humble opinion, and get a good deal of say over what he does. There was never anything enacted that would allow Kravitz to either disband the council or enact term limits, and now, if he were to put such a thing to a vote, it would never go through.

The original council consisted of: Lord Sterling (Artemis’s father), Jenkins, Gundren & Jack (both recently deceased at the opening of the story), Governor Kalen, and Davenport. I promise this will be relevant later.

So in our first chapter the Raven Queen pulls Kravitz aside after his meeting and tells him, over a very tense tea, that he is turning 25 in a couple of months, and the council, as well as foreign powers, are getting nervous that he has no martial prospects yet, and as the Raven Queen has no other relations to carry on the monarchy in Kravitz’s stead, they kind of need to get a move on. Having it so that the Royal line could die out any minute isn’t great for cultivating confidence in the people of your kingdom.

Kravitz is understandably upset, being the romantic that he is (I love him), and he wants nothing less than to be married as the result of some political power play. And yet, there is low probability, at least in his mind, that anyone that will be “suitable” according to his mother, the council, and the people both in Faerun and abroad, will be anyone that he will even remotely like. But what can he do? He agrees to begin the process of finding a spouse at this year’s Harvest Ball, which will coincide closely with his 25th birthday.

Barry is actually the one that gives Kravitz the idea of throwing the doors open to the whole of Faerun, and Kravitz, seeing it as an opportunity to meet men who aren’t stuffy nobles he hates, strikes a bargain with his mother: a masked ball, three nights long. Kravitz will not know (in theory) who is wealthy and powerful and who is not, and will be able to choose at his discretion someone that he would like to pursue. Shockingly, the Queen agrees.

*~*~*~*~*

SMASHCUT to Tostaada’s country home. We see Lup and Taako going about their morning routine, making breakfast for the family, lighting the fires in the hearth, generally working their asses off. Mid-breakfast, there’s a knock at the door, one that Taako goes to answer. (This is a no-no. He’s meant to be more of a behind-the-scenes servant, Lup being the one who is seen. She’s slightly more favored by Tostaada. Taako is hated. But Lup is in the middle of something, so...) It’s a letter from the Raven Queen, an invitation actually, to the family Taaco, to come to Neverwinter for the three-night Harvest Ball. 

The Queen’s intentions of finding her son a husband are not directly stated, but Tostaada is a shrewd, terrible old man, and it does not take him a moment to catch on. The family packs up, Taako and Lup and all, and heads to Neverwinter, the ball two weeks away.

While they’re packing, Lup pulls Taako aside and tells him her plan. They’ll be in Neverwinter for almost two weeks, ball included. And the whole kingdom will be swarming to the city for this, it will be more crowded than ever, and therefore will give them the perfect opportunity to run away from Tostaada. He’ll be so preoccupied he’ll never be able to track them down in the chaos of this event. Taako hesitates for just a second before he’s on board. They’ll run away mid-ball, when the family is gone, and by the time Tostaada realizes anything, it’ll be too late.

*~*~*~*~*

SMASHCUT back to Krav, chilling in the palace, it’s now two weeks before the ball (around the same time that Taako and co. get the letter, actually,) and preparations are well underway. During another busy day of overseeing some of the prep for the upcoming Massive Festival (TM), Kravitz runs across Captain Davenport, just returned from a long stint at sea.

They have a conversation about the state of affairs in the kingdom, Kravitz expressing his frustration at not only the ineptitude but corruption on the council, and his worries about this marital plan. He knows that Lord Sterling is going to throw his son Artemis at him relentlessly, but he hates the kid, and wants nothing to do with him, etc.

Davenport merely expresses that he has faith in Kravitz’s ability to turn it all around and make for a good king. That the recent loss of Gundren and Jack and the dragging on of the council replacing them doesn’t bode well, but that he needs to see the thing through.

He unfortunately agrees with the rest of the council, however, that Kravitz needs to be married, and soon. There’s only so long they can go dragging this out. Kravitz sees the sense in this and agrees, albeit reluctantly. At least he has the opportunity to find someone he actually likes.

Meanwhile, Taako, Lup, Tostaada and the family have arrived in Neverwinter and will be staying in a fine manor house in the upscale residential part of the city, and the family immediately sets out to find tailors and seamstresses who can get them all dressed up for the inevitable ball. The house is in shambles on the inside, the only way Tostaada could get it cheap, and Lup and Taako spend the afternoon trying to fix it up to live-able standards and clean it enough so that should the family be called upon, they’ll at least look respectable.

In the meantime, no one is home, and they begin to plan their escape.

They plan it for the third night of the ball. Tostaada will be furious if they leave sooner, being left with no servants to assist any upcoming nights. The third night, once the family leaves for the party, they’ll be in the clear. If Tostaada manages an advantageous match for any one of the cousins, he won’t bother with Taako and Lup anymore, and get better servants. It’s highly likely that in the next two weeks he’ll make several matches, so after the party is done they should be as safe as possible given their plan.

*~*~*~*~*

Everyone spends a week getting ready.

Istus, friend of the Raven Queen from a neighboring kingdom, arrives to the palace. She will be staying for the celebration, and for a while on either end. She and the Raven Queen have a conversation, in which the Raven Queen expresses her anxiety about the upcoming matchmaking process for her son. She does not want his marriage to end up like hers (loveless, purely political). She asks Istus if she will use some of her divination skills to look into the future. Istus agrees, and it is clear that she sees something very intriguing in Kravitz’s future. She does not say what it is, but she assures her Majesty not to worry.

The day of the ball arrives.

Now by some trick of fate, one of the cousins has received the wrong suit by accident, and Lup simply must go to the tailor and send it back, and retrieve the one he was supposed to receive at any cost. So Lup goes, and Taako doesn’t think much of it until she bursts back into the attic that evening, two garment bags in her hands. She says that there was a mistake, and that a noble man and woman didn’t pick up their garments for whatever reason; the week has been so chaotic anyway, and there was talk of them falling ill and being unable to attend the ball tonight, and the woman at the tailor shop felt so bad about the mistaken order she offered to alter them to fit Tostaada’s family for free, as a sort of “so sorry about the mistake” thing, and Lup said she would just take them, and isn’t it exciting Taako, we can use these and go to the ball tonight! 

Taako is reluctant to accept this plan, but Lup says they’ll only go one night, just to see the spectacle, and then they can be home for the other two and prepare to run away, and besides, they’re starting a new life and this will be a fun way to kick it off, and the outfits even come with masks, Taako, please?

Taako finally relents, and they spend the rest of the afternoon getting the cousins ready to go to the ball themselves, along with the aunts and uncles and Tostaada himself, who is in one of his moods. It’s awful, but they finally get a moment away, and they sneak up to the attic to pull out their garments...

And they get caught. Tostaada never comes upstairs, but he was calling for them, one of the cousins having forgotten a brooch or something, they weren’t answering, and when he comes upstairs and sees them, he takes the garments, drags the twins downstairs, and lets the cousins laugh at them until they’re in tears, and the family rip the dress and the suit to shreds.

The thought that they would even show themselves is so repulsive to Tostaada, and he gets angry at the presumption of it all, and he locks them downstairs in the kitchen for the duration of the evening, the door swinging shut behind him with a heavy clang.

Lup is furious, Taako more resigned, as the house quiets with the eventual departure of the family.

An hour passes with them sitting in the kitchen under the house, Lup cursing her luck. If not for her stupid idea to go, they wouldn’t be in here, locked in, and they could work on their preparations to leave two nights hence. But now they’re completely useless.

The latch on the door to the outside of the house, the small yard in the back with the meager kitchen garden, comes undone, and swings open of its own accord.

A woman is there. Or at least it looks like a woman; she is cloaked, head to toe, even her face obscured, but there’s a shimmer in the air around her that they recognize immediately as magic.

Taako and Lup have been learning magic, little by little. Taako stole a book from the village a little over a year ago, but it’s slow going, especially with Tostaada always trying to catch them doing something “indecent.”

They’ve never seen anything like this. 

The mysterious woman tells them she heard Lup’s frustrated shouting while walking by and wanted to see if they needed any help. Once they thank her for letting them out, she asks them why they haven’t decided to go to the ball; two young people like them at home on a night like this seems strange. Lup scoffs, says they thought about going for a moment, but they have nothing to wear.

Istus (for by now the reader surely knows it is Istus) cocks her head and says that that won’t do, will it? And raises her hands.

And in a moment their clothes are transformed, and Lup is dressed in a gorgeous gown in reds and golds, and feathered mask is on her face, and Taako’s in a finely made suit, his mask vaguely rodential. And the woman says that now they are well-suited for a ball. Taako and Lup are just gaping at her, but she shoos them along. Go, she says, and Taako feels a peculiar prickle up his spine when she tells them, when she tells him, it feels like, to amuse himself, to have a good time, to meet new people.

She warns them that while her magic is powerful, which is evident, it is sensitive to time. Wherever they are, at the stroke of midnight, the magic will fade, and their appearances will revert to what they were before.

Lup and Taako, wanting to go only for a few laughs and to spite Tostaada, say that this is more than enough time.

And they go.

When they arrive at the palace, it’s positively swarmed with people. They agree to meet by the front doors at a half hour before midnight, giving them plenty of time to get out without being seen.

And they go in.

They’re being jostled on all sides, and well, as much as they’d like to stick together it doesn’t really work out that way, and before he knows it, Taako is in the midst of a ballroom looking for Lup, and following the flow of the crowd - 

And suddenly he’s face-to-face (or, well, mask-to-mask) with a very handsomely dressed man with a skull for a face.

A skull mask, to be exact, all silver and gold filigree and done up with rubies and diamonds, and his suit is fine, dark velvet in rich blacks and deep, deep reds, and he bows and Taako does, too, because he feels as though it’s the thing to do, and when the man straightens up he and Taako trade the typical small-talk befitting a prince and his guest (because, Taako realizes, with as many people seem to be looking at them, that is surely who this must be), and Taako says something witty that makes Kravitz laugh which I will not write here, because this is a summary, which means all I have to do is say when the jokes happen; I don’t actually have to write them.

Long story short, Kravitz pulls off his mask, and he asks Taako to dance.

The anonymity Kravitz was hoping to be afforded by throwing a masked ball has not really panned out. Everyone can tell exactly which mask the prince is behind, and once the receiving line began to form, there was really nothing for it. He likes the Mongoose-masked stranger, though, and would very much like to know him better. And so what if he’s abandoning the rest of the line? He’s the prince, thank you very much, and he can do what he likes.

Taako is sold the moment the prince pulls his mask off, because the prince is hot, and Taako feels rather gorgeous himself, and maybe this is the first night in a while that he’s had any kind of serious fun and he’s feeling a bit reckless, so he pulls his mask off too and they have a dance.

Or two.

Or three, talking all the while.

After the third, the prince bows respectfully and says he must see to his other guests, but that he hopes to see Taako again, and Taako, maybe just a little flustered, wanders over to the food.

Meanwhile, Lup entered the ballroom, having gotten a bit lost on the way in, shortly after the fateful meeting itself and what does she see but her brother, unmasked, dancing with a man who is most unmistakably the prince.

Which is really just perfect, isn’t it?

She pouts for a minute because one beautiful elf will hardly draw any attention in this crowd, except Taako’s dancing with the crown prince, so every eye in the assembly is fixed upon him, and seeing an identical twin will definitely lead to some word getting around. So Lup is confined to remaining masked for the duration of the ball.

Which isn’t so bad, since she was expecting that, after all, but neither is she looking forward to it.

She skirts the edge of the ballroom, finds her way to some refreshment tables, and she’s lucky her mask leaves most of the bottom half of her face free as she nibbles on the hors d’oeuvres set out and generally enjoys the spectacle. She is propositioned to dance a few times but after the prince removes his mask a large portion of the assembly does as well, and Lup rather sticks out for keeping hers on.

She isn’t given much more attention, then, as all of the other people around seem to write off the mask as a wish to stay hidden and therefore ignored, and while they aren’t wrong, Lup isn’t enjoying the ball half as much as she thought.

And then things go from bad to worse.

Some moron completely knocks into her and sends her drink, a strong red wine, all down the front of her, granted, magical and temporary, but very nice dress.

Lup’s going to be mad, but the man is so sweet about it, stammering his apologies, and completely red in the face and, frankly, such a dork that she really can’t be mad, and he does about some ridiculous business about trying mop up the wine and it’s completely hopeless, and Lup is bored - 

So she tries casting prestidigitation on the stain.

And, somewhat to her surprise, it works.

This catches the man’s attention, who immediately straightens up and starts asking her questions about where she’s learned magic, and what other spells she knows, and what her name is. Lup, in a moment of impulse, introduces herself as Lady Lulu, which she cringes at immediately but sticks with. And the man is nice to talk to, and interesting, and apparently an expert in the arcane, which Lup is thrilled about. Out of all these people she ran into someone actually interesting.

At one point, she invites the man to dance, but he refuses, a bit awkwardly. He says he’s not very coordinated, but he wouldn’t mind taking a walk, if she wouldn’t mind either? Lup is going to say yes, but upon glancing at the clock, sees that it’s almost eleven-thirty, and tells him she has to go.

Taako, meanwhile, has danced with Kravitz twice more, and chatted a bit, and when he tries to extricate himself from his Highness’s presence Kravitz seems genuinely disappointed to see him go, and asks him if he’ll be back tomorrow night.

Taako, suddenly overcome with something that makes him want to make this man smile, says yes.

And then he goes to meet Lup at the front.

They head home, making their way through the streets which are not quite as crowded as the palace was, but are still significantly busy, as those who felt they would not be at home in the palace have taken to celebrating the harvest ball in the streets. Lup and Taako make it home unnoticed, and they chat a little bit about what they saw and what they did, and when Lup teases Taako about the prince, he’s unusually quiet. This worries Lup a bit, but she doesn’t press further.

Their clothes transform when they’re about 3/4 of the way home. When they arrive, they figure they have a few hours until the family gets home to begin making preparations for their escape. Around three, they shut themselves back up in the kitchen. Lup manages to find, from the outside, a way around the locked door that i haven’t decided on yet, because this is just a summary.

Wash, rinse, repeat. The twins are on their best behavior the next day as Tostaada and co. sleep through the morning, having been up late the night before, and while no one comes to call that afternoon, Tostaada still has high hopes for a match. Lup and Taako are locked in the kitchen, manage to get out -

And now, Taako has been nervous all day having promised the prince he would be back, and surprisingly, quite wanting to see him again. He’s pacing the floor when Istus arrives, transforms their clothes, and sends them off.

Lup is more than a little skeptical about this magic woman, but Taako wants to go, so she goes, and tries to put the bizarre-ness of it out of her mind.

Taako goes to the ball, meets up with Kravitz, and this time Kravitz doesn’t leave his side all night. Lup wanders around, still masked, until she runs into Barry again (not literally this time) and makes good on that walk in the gardens he asked her for last night. They both make it to the gates again by eleven-thirty, and make it home.

This night, however, something tips Tostaada off. Maybe it’s the way Taako moves, or maybe it’s his own paranoia, but something happens at the ball that makes him suspicious. I will not hash out what it is at this time because, again: Summary.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Istus, on the third night, gives Taako his most fabulous ensemble yet, a beautiful thing in deep blue and silver and gives him jewelry set in sapphires and, you guessed it, pink tourmaline (because I’m predictable). Including, most importantly, a pair of bracelets. As Lup is locking up the kitchen to go, Istus pulls Taako aside and hands him the bracelets, and tells him that they will not dissipate at midnight. She hints vaguely at Taako and Lup’s plans to go away after the ball is over, tells him to consider the bracelets a gift. They are two of a kind, she tells him, and perhaps they will fetch a price.

Taako does not know why this woman knows so much about their life, but he’s eager to get to the party, accepts the bracelets, and before he can ask her more, she’s gone.

They head out to the ball for the third time.

It is this night that we get the majority of the material between Taako and Kravitz. Kravitz, this time, is waiting right inside the door to the ballroom, and when Taako arrives he is immediately swept up by the prince into a dance. Although, after a few hours of dancing and eating and generally enjoying themselves in the ballroom, they take a walk in the gardens.

Meanwhile, it is at this time that we get the scene where Barry has been chatting Lup up, quite obliviously, and finally he asks her if she’d like to see his lab, unable to take it anymore, he’s so excited that someone’s interested in his work. Lup, of course, thinks it’s a come-on, as discussed here, but upon going up to Barry’s tower lab she realizes that he actually, genuinely was inviting her up to look at his research which is just... too cute.

Meanwhile, Taako and Kravitz are taking a stroll through the extensive terraced palace gardens, talking all the while and the both of them are just... enamored. Taako feels beautiful and important for the first time in a long time and it’s wonderful. Kravitz has found someone interesting and gorgeous and wonderful, and it’s just... too much. It’s hard to write in short form here that they’re in love, but they like... are. Just trust me. Not fully, because it’s only been a few meetings, a few nights, but there’s something there. There’s a pull that they haven’t felt before, and feels somehow beyond them.

They wander, and the gardens are beautiful, and the moonlight is beautiful, and they end up on a sort of terrace, secluded by trees, and the sea is down below them and they dance again, just the two of them, and then there’s kissing and it’s all very romantic, I promise. There’s a scene from it here.

Then the clock strikes midnight.

And Taako panics.

The time got away from him, he got distracted, and he tries to run, but Kravitz catches his hand and he’s begging Taako to stay but Taako can’t, because Kravitz doesn’t know what’s going on here.

He thinks fast. He unclasps one of the bracelets and places it in Kravitz’s hand and says so fast that if Kravitz wants to see him again he can look for him and Taako will have the other bracelet ok bye and then he runs. 

He barely makes it out of the palace in time.

But of course, by this time, Lup is not at the front gates. They planned out a fallback location, less conspicuous, if one of them got held up, and Taako is already late, and he gets there as fast as he can, and Lup is pissed.

(she’s mostly just worried).

She kind of goes at him for being late but Taako just says he lost track of time, and whatever that feeling is in his voice makes Lup back off. She’s never heard Taako sound like that before. She lets it go, but she’s more worried than before.

They make their way home, ready to pick up their packs and run like they were planning. But they open the door to the kitchen, and there’s a thud, and a candle lights, and Tostaada is there, the contents of their packs spread out before him, and absolute fury in his eyes.

It’s awful. After his suspicion, he saw Taako enter the ball tonight. And knew it was him. And he was furious. He came home, headed them off, and yells at them something fierce, locking them in separate closets to deal with them, because they can’t be trusted to be together, they’ll scheme. (Some of the cousins, by the way, are here for this, because fuck the cousins). 

They try desperately to break out. Banging on the door, trying to bust out the doorknob, to cast something on the door to unlock it, but they’ve been going three days only getting a couple hours of sleep a night. It finally hits them how exhausted they are. After a while, there’s nothing they can do.

Now you may say to yourself “this is awfully convenient.” And you would be right. But it’s also a fairytale, and this is a summary of a fairytale, so there.

Tostaada, because he fucking sucks, finds some way to separate the twins. Probably something along the lines of dragging Taako out of his “cell” and being like guess what I’ve always hated you and I’m a real bastard so you’re working for this shady caravan now, have a good time. Taako is Not Down to be separated from his sister but he’s also like hey fuck you to Tostaada and is going to dip from that caravan in about 30 seconds so he’s like yeah have a nice life, too, dickweed.

He slips away from the caravan in like... a day. Fuck those guys. He’s gonna go back and get Lup.

And just a bit later, Lup gets let out of the closet, and finds out that Taako’s gone. And she goes fucking berserk. She casts her first fireball (yes I know that’s now how it works in DnD but shhhhhhh it’s fine).

She burns Tostaada’s fucking dumbass city house to the ground. And Tostaada and the cousins are panicking but Lup is honestly like fuck the cousins, and she slips away in the chaos. Fuck Tostaada. Fuck the family. Lup’s going to go find her fucking brother.

*~*~*~*~*

We haven’t checked in on Kravitz in a hot minute, but he’s been completely smitten with Taako from the moment he met him, and has been saying as much to Mama Bird herself, the Raven Queen, who has been... a little less than stoked. She is skeptical because this isn’t going exactly as planned, and on top of that, Kravitz hasn’t even learned this man’s name. He’s an absolute enigma, and Raven worries not only that this man will potentially not be a good asset to the kingdom, but he also might not turn up and completely break Kravitz’s heart.

But Kravitz stands firm. The Queen said he could make his choice, well, he’s going to. He’s going to go after this guy.

...Or so he thinks. See, the Royal Council, as in all things, gets their say. And they’re not happy with this. Generally disapproving when Kravitz tries to make his own decisions, they say absolutely not to his wish to search for Taako. Raven tries to help by talking them down from letting them handle the search and keeping Kravitz in the capital to letting Kravitz go himself but only giving him a few months time. If he hasn’t found Taako by then, he’s going to have to call off the search altogether and look for another match.

It’s not good, but it’s something. Kravitz takes his bracelet and begins seeking out every elf in the land who even vaguely matches Taako’s description.

*~*~*~*~*

The elf in question is, at this point, on his own. Meeting up with your sister when you have no idea where she is and she has no idea where you are, and you’re running back and forth and missing each other, well. It’s difficult. 

It takes them a little while to get back together, and I’m sure there are plenty of minor trials and tribulations along the way. I won’t go into them all here, because this is a summary.

*~*~*~*~*

Kravitz is on the move, looking for Taako. He searches and searches and comes up with nothing. It’s been two months. It’s almost the height of winter. He’s running out of his allotted time for his search. And that’s when it happens.

He’s riding through this one town, a ways from the capital, when he sees, there, out of the corner of his eye, a flash of silver and blue and maybe some pink, and he turns his head, and there’s the bracelet. The one Taako gave him.

But it’s not on Taako’s wrist.

Kravitz calls for the guards travelling with him and they stop the woman and they question her as to where she got that bracelet. She says that she bought it off a travelling salesman, and seems rather embarrassed about it. She’s reluctant to give it up, having bought it fair and square, but Kravitz pays her, and gets it back.

Kravitz is, of course, heartbroken. Taako said he would have the other bracelet. He told Kravitz to look for him. He said to look for him. If he gave it up, if he sold it, does it mean he doesn’t want to see Kravitz again after all?

Kravitz wants answers for a minute. But then he listens to reason. Or so he thinks. Discouraged, he returns to the capital, as per Lord Sterling’s suggestion.

Many people and things are trying to keep these two apart. It is at this point that these forces begin to win.

So he goes home, in time for the first snow to cover Neverwinter.

*~*~*~*~*

What Taako and Lup are up to in the meantime:

It’s pretty close to canon in that they mostly hop from job to job, and caravan to caravan, taking odd jobs and cooking and making their way. And it’s hard. It’s really hard. But something about it is good. This is the first time they’ve had, maybe in their whole lives, to just be in charge of themselves. They’re deciding their own destiny now.

Lup can see that Taako is different. Something has changed. The news that the prince is looking for him isn’t a secret at all, so she keeps a careful eye on him for how he feels about that. She brings it up a few times that maybe they could come forward in their own way, maybe let people know that he’s out there, but Taako keeps shutting her down before she can really talk about it.

As for Taako, he’s more than thrilled to finally be free of Tostaada, and to have his sister back after a few months of absence. But the whole thing at the ball and with Kravitz is... weighing on his mind.

I should explain the bracelet fiasco.

See, Taako and Lup returned from the ball, and the whole thing with Tostaada went down. Of course, while he was deciding what to do with Taako he confiscated the bracelet, and sold it off a bit later for whatever he could get. This is how it was able to travel so far from where Taako actually is; the jewelry seller went one way, Taako another, and Tostaada and the family, when they finally left Neverwinter, a third.

This is all running through Taako’s mind of course. It would be nice for Kravitz to find him, sure, but Taako was the one who set up the system of verification through the bracelet. Without it, what credibility does he have? And sure, maybe Kravitz will recognize him, but what if he doesn’t? It was dark, and it was only a few nights, and - 

Anyway, Taako’s not going to worry about it. He’s fine, really, and it was only a few nights anyway, and what does he care about the dumb old prince. It’s not like Kravitz said he wanted to marry him. He just said he wanted to see him again. What the hell does that mean? And it’s not like Taako was the only one he spent time with at the ball.

Basically our sweet boy is snackin’ on a big slice of denial pie and it’s very sad.

Taako is saying that he doesn’t care whether he sees Kravitz again or not, but Lup can tell something is wrong. She suggests that they stick around in Faerun, work for the winter, and come spring, they’ll head out. They’ll hitch their way with the caravans, and work their way over the border. New country, new life. Leave all that Tostaada shit and everything behind.

Taako’s on board. They find themselves a job cooking and occasionally tending the bar at an inn, not a gross one but not the fanciest either. They’re going to work up some money, and they’re going to hit the road.

But back to Kravitz.

*~*~*~*~*

Kravitz is back home at the palace in Neverwinter. The first snow on the not-very-aptly named city makes traveling difficult. If Kravitz hadn’t already given up the dream of Taako, it would well and truly be impossible to find him now. No one in their right mind would send a search party out in the winter months.

So he’s essentially on house arrest.

And so begins the parade of potential partners. Everyone knows about the ball. Everyone knows now that the plan of having the prince find a partner there was a colossal failure. Every young and eligible nobleman in the capital who is even remotely interested in men gets thrown at this boy. Artemis Sterling most of all, a spoiled brat of a boy, who, when he’s not being absolutely appalling to people is boring them to death.

Kravitz is fucking miserable.

Does this make him think of Taako? Yes. Does he miss him? Absolutely. Does it only twist the knife of heartbreak in this boy who thought he had found someone good and then that person gave him up? 100 percent.

Kravitz is ready to jump off the cliffs out back the palace into the Stillwater Sea and swim to a new country when the word from Raven’s Roost comes.

Rebellion! Against Kalen, of all people! How could it be?

(Kravitz has hated Kalen for a while, but this certainly is a pickle).

Kalen is ousted, arrives in Neverwinter half-frozen and fuming, a few cronies on his tail, and chaos in the palace ensues. Who to believe? Kalen, who claims he has been unfairly attacked, or the people, claiming Kalen’s long-term abuse.

It all shakes out somehow. This is a summary, though, so I don’t have to say. Julia does something badass. Also she’s not dead. She and Magnus show up in the capital and there’s the whole them vs Kalen before the Raven Queen fiasco and finally she chooses the good people as the correct ones and Kalen is thrown in prison or banished or something lol idk.

And now there are... 3 positions on the royal council empty and it is essentially non-functioning. The kingdom is in governmental crisis. Magnus and Julia are at the palace. This whole rebellion/trial thing has taken most of the winter months.

Barry and Magnus become fast friends, which of course puts Magnus into Kravitz’s orbit more than the Kalen ordeal already has. And they begin talking. And at the prompting of Magnus and Julia being so in love, Taako of course comes up.

Magnus is all omg wow buddy that’s true love u gotta pursue that, and Kravitz is like ok but also consider he probably doesn’t even like me, and also it’s impossible, and also I can’t. To which Magnus says umm how do you know, and also bullshit, and also why not?

And why not indeed?

Well, Barry says, perhaps because the government is in shambles and to abandon everything now would almost certainly trigger all kinds of issues amongst the aristocracy, upon whom your hold is currently tenuous at best.

Kravitz says >:((

And then along comes Merle.

Merle comes moseying up the palace one day like hey guys how’s it goin’ I’m Merle, and the [PLACE WHERE GUNDREN WAS FROM] sent me here to be Gundren’s replacement on the Royal Council, after all I am his cousin, don’t’cha know, and sorry it took us so long, we had some issues to work through. He does not explain what these were, nor does he have to, for this is a summary.

Merle’s addition is a real gamechanger, because not only is he miraculously able to neutralize the more antagonistic personalities on the council (usually through saying something Kravitz can’t decide is crazy or profound), but also he’s a big advocate for let’s get things up and running again, starting with just replacing Kalen with one of these two nice people who Raven’s Roost seems to have elected to represent them.

Magnus goes “oh well I don’t know this is a lot of responsibility-” and before he’s even done talking Julia’s like “I’ll fuckin’ do it.”

This, of course, gets the council running, and, importantly to our plot, creates a majority of people who Want kravitz to Go After A Boy. They work on cleaning up the mess in Raven’s Roost, finally find a replacement for Jack (it’s Cassidy, also by election, which is a shiny new toy for these people) and they iron all of it out by the time Spring has sprung.

Kravitz says now can I go Find A Boy PLEEEAAAAASE I did the governing thing and everything. And most people’s reactions are omg I can’t believe you’re still talking about that but Fine. Take some friends. Kravitz takes Barry and Magnus and (mumble mumble some others idk like avi or someone don’t @ me) and is like BYE MY CONFIDENCE IS RESTORED AND I’M GONNA FIND A BOY.

*~*~*~*~*

So Spring Has Sprung. 

Which means Lup and Taako are back on the move. Continuing their slow journey out of Faerun, working on their way (it’s nice to have money saved up, they find, but it’s not A Lot, and they don’t want to totally deplete it.) They usually stop for a week in a town, do some odd jobs, travel, stop for a week. It’s nice. 

But they’re on the way OUT OF THE COUNTRY *cue dramatic music*

Will Kravitz Reach Them In Time? If he does, will Taako even Want To Go Back? All these questions and more exist at this point in the narrative.

*~*~*~*~*

Kravitz follows the lead of the bracelet. He does not stop for a week in towns. In fact, he’s pushing pretty hard. He tracks down the woman who points him to the seller who points him to Another travelling seller who points him to a jeweler in town who looks at the bracelet and says oh yeah, I got that from Old Man Tostaada, outside of town, he’s a proud type, but you should ask him.

Well. Kravitz certainly does.

In the nearly six months since Taako and Lup slunk and exploded out of his life, respectively, Tostaada has become an even crochetier, nastier, meaner old man than ever. He has no servants now. The cousins have to do chores, oh the horror. He’s propping his appearance of nobility up on pride alone. The house is in Shambles. It’s a whole Thing™️.

But one fateful springy day, one of the cousins looks out the window…

And Sees An Entire Royal-insignia’d Party Riding Up The Lane. 

And promptly Panics.

Well Kravitz and co are ushered into the house with all kinds of Ceremony, and Tostaada is acting very proud, and Kravitz says excuse me sir, I was wondering if you might remember being in possession of this bracelet.

This is Bad News to Tostaada. 

I may recall, sir, he says. 

There’s a terribly polite and tense conversation after that. Tostaada refuses to say where he got the bracelet, even to royalty, being as old and spiteful as he is, and Kravitz is just about to threaten him with something terrible when one of the cousins breaks, and spills the whole story tearfully, about Taako and Lup and how they were treated and where Tostaada got the bracelet and “we didn’t know you wanted it, we didn’t know it was important, we swear,” and the only thing that keeps Kravitz from Severely Punishing them is that he refuses to waste any time getting to Taako, who he’s very keen to find now. Tostaada has no idea where Taako and Lup are now, though, so he wasn’t helpful in that sense. Only now Kravitz knows that they’ve Been The Fuck Through It, and that Taako didn’t give up the bracelet of his own accord, and so it’s possible that The Boy Still Likes Him. 

And with renewed energy, off they go.

Tostaada gets stripped of whatever title he has left, or something, because FUCK him.

Kravitz and the gang are putting out the word that hey, we’re still looking for this elf, if anyone’s seen him, that would be great.

The thing is, this time, they’re getting leads, on account of Lup and Taako sticking around in places long enough to make a friend or two.

*~*~*~*~*

It’s later, and almost Summertime, baby, when Lup and Taako finally hear the news. 

The prince is still looking for Taako? Damn. Boy’s serious.

Lup watches Taako’s face carefully when they hear this news. They’re leaving town. They only have one more before they reach the border and slip away. Lup says hey. Are you sure you don’t wanna come forward and say something?

Taako’s like no of course we shouldn’t do that don’t be silly it’s FINE. (It’s not fine, Lup can tell, but she’s not gonna push. This is Taako’s decision to make. They’re gonna make a fresh start in a new place. It’ll be great. 

They start hiking to the next town, hobbit style. They make it out into ye woods and find a nice spot to settle down and camp. Make up a fire, get cozy, cook a little dinner, the whole shindig. They settle down to sleep. 

Taako wakes up. In the middle of the night. The full moon is shining brightly down into the clearing they’re sleeping in and the fire is no longer the softly smoldering embers it was when he fell asleep. It’s nice crackling along. And sitting there, tending it, is a lady. 

Lady is the only way to describe her. She’s in a gown of silvery thread with silvery hair tumbling down her back. She asks Taako if he’d like some tea. He can’t tell if the light in the clearing is from the moon, or the fire, or just from her. She speaks with a voice that just sounds so familiar, but that he doesn’t quite place. 

She hands Taako a cup of tea. It’s floral and fragrant and lovely. She asks him what he’s running from. He says she sounds awfully condescending talking like that, and if she knew what he’d been through she wouldn’t act like leaving it all behind was such a bad decision. She says she never said it was a bad decision, she just wonders how much he’s thought about it, is all. There’s a quiet moment, as she sips her tea. She says, quietly, that perhaps Taako ought to be careful, not to run too far too fast. 

And taako wakes up again. There’s a teacup sitting beside him. Empty. Clean. There’s no sign that there was any visitor in the night. 

To Lup, Taako is acting weird the next day. He seems jumpy. He seems distant. She keeps worrying they’re gonna get jumped on the road, from the way he’s not paying attention to his surroundings. He’s in his head, even more than usual. But they manage to arrive to the next town without incident. 

And Taako’s weird over the next few days. And Lup suggests on the fourth that they get a move on. There’s a caravan headed across the border tomorrow, we can go with them. 

Taako looks at the drink in his hand for a long moment, not there with her, and she’s about to ask again when he says “maybe just a few more days.” 

Taako doesn’t ask her for much. Taako seems very serious, and it’s kind of scaring Lup. But she agrees. A few more days is fine. Then they’ll go.

And a few days pass. And Taako’s weird. He keeps looking around corners like he’s expecting something to jump out from around them. He keeps looking down the street like he expects something to come barreling into town. But nothing ever seems to. 

Come on, Taako, Lup says, three days later, while Taako’s dropped over a cup of wine in the local inn. Tomorrow some more people are leaving, mid-afternoon, they said, let’s go. Just over those hills and we can start everything over, make a name for ourselves. What do you say?

And Taako agrees. 

They go to bed.

And, in the bright-mid morning the next day, Kravitz and the gang come riding into town, Raven Queen standard flying high over their heads, dressed in shining silver on black. Lup’s out on the street, collecting some last-minute supplies when she sees them. 

Holy shit, Lup says. 

She recognizes the Prince. She recognizes BARRY. And after her moment of gawking in surprise, the prince glances her way, and does a frankly comedic wide-eyed double take. 

She does, after all, have Taako’s face.

He hops off his horse and very politely comes over and introduces himself, and identifies her by name (he met her grandfather) and asks, very kindly, if she might know where he can find her brother.

Lup does some quick mental calculus and says “yeah, I can show you where he is.”

That scene can be found HERE. (I truly can’t shortly summarize this one better than I wrote it so yikes secret few thousand words nested in this already monstrous summary, I’m sorry but not really I am sorry that it switches tense like three times, I do not have the energy to correct it).

Needless to say, they are reunited.

But it’s a lot to put on someone, the entire “come home with me I think you’re the love of my life even though we kind of only know each other a little, also if you say yes you might be responsible for governing a whole people” so Taako needs some time to think.

Kravitz leaves him some. 

And then Taako and Lup have a long conversation, where Taako makes lots of excuses as to why he shouldn’t go with Kravitz, and Lup listens very patiently and nods and hums along, and then finally asks him if he thinks Kravitz will make him happy. 

This stumps Taako for a good long time, standing stock still, looking terrified, before he nods. 

Well, Lup says, I think you know what you need to do. 

And Taako goes, the evening, as it’s getting late (which is about when he and Lup finished hashing it all out and he got his courage up) to Kravitz’s room in the inn, and Kravitz’s guards let him in, and oh. Oh Kravitz looks lovely, standing there, dressed down, comfortable in his own space. And Kravitz gets up and looks at Taako with wide eyes and Taako says, “I thought about what you said.”

“Yes?” Kravitz says. He might be crying. Taako can’t tell. He looks terrified.

“I think…” Taako says. “I think I want to go with you.”

Kravitz becomes a human embodiment of heart eyes and says “really?”

And Taako says oh my god yes but you have to not be weird.

“I’m not being weird,” says Kravitz, still heart eyes-ing, “I’m so not weird. I’m so normal, see?”

And they KISS.

*~*~*~*~*

Everybody packs up the next morning to head on their merry way home. Kravitz is over the moon. Taako is, kind of, too, but is trying to be chill about it. Lup tells Barry as they leave that she was the one he was hanging with at the ball that one time, good to see him again, and Barry becomes human heart eyes for approximately four seconds before he reigns it in and he’s like oh cool nice to officially meet you, and the two of them spend the rest of the trip circling each other trying not to act in love because like there’s a lot going on and Taako needs lup and all, and Taako and Kravitz are very amused by this. 

Taako and Magnus become fast friends. And, he and Kravitz get time to properly get to know each other during all that travel together, and the scary thing is they fit better than they ever thought they would, they really do. Taako likes the boy more by the day. Kravitz is so smitten it’s revolting. 

When they get back to Neverwinter, there’s a fair bit of fanfare and the Raven Queen makes a big stink about Kravitz shirking his duties and being irresponsible and whatnot, but he can tell she’s secretly pleased. She comes to like Taako very much. 

And well… you know what’s next. After a bit, Taako and Kravitz get married.

*~*~*~*~*

EPILOGUE:

The marriage of King Kravitz to Prince Taako is known as one of the more fortuitous in the history of the nation.

Prince Taako, after his history as one of the working common folk of Faerun, went on to use his new seat on the royal council to champion reforms that changed the lives of working people everywhere. The laws he helped draft that established basic working condition requirements for those in domestic services helped launch a new era of equal pay and treatment for the working classes of Faerun, and a culling of the power of the wealthy. 

He helped establish a new nation-wide system of government, based on regional elections, and with King Kravitz, gradually placed more political power in the hands of the people. The minimum requirements for the royal council to balance the number of aristocratic members with those without titles stands to this day.

Prince Taako was known, also, for his aptitude for the arcane. Though never did he manage to surpass his sister and brother-in-law in his lifetime, he is revered as one of the more powerful and skilled mages in Faerun’s history. Though perhaps more famous is his legacy as a great instructor in the arcane sciences, known especially for training Grand Archmage Angus McDonald in his early years. 

Though perhaps chief among his achievements was his role in the war against the Hunger in the twenty-third year of King Kravitz’s reign. He was among those who formulated the plan to infiltrate the Hunger’s forces and carry out the assassination of John the Devourer. And when King Kravitz was injured in the final battle against the Hunger’s armies, it was Prince Taako who held the line, and was unmoved in the face of their power. For this, he became known during his reign as Prince Taako the Steadfast, though over the years his long-time connection with Lady Istus was cited as evidence to his improbable marriage and ascension to the throne being an act of Providence, and in many secret circles he was referred to as Prince Taako the Blessed.

Upon his abdication from the throne in the thirtieth year of his reign, Prince Taako and King Kravitz were succeeded by the former’s sister, Queen Lup and Prince Barold, whose daughter, Queen Lilliana, finally dissolved the monarchy in the twelfth year of her reign, thus ending the Faerun’s royal line forever, and ushering the world into a new era of peace and equality. 

From:  Faerun: A History by Lucretia Moreau, published 538 T.E.

*~*~*~*~*

BIG Thank you to @fandomsnstuff and @her-biness who helped me with this for a Long Time. The little cameo of the blupjeans baby belongs to @lillianabluejeans, and the last name from Lucretia is taken from one of my favorite fics, Bureau of Badass on ao3, by Chemicallywrit and miceenscene.

Bonus points will be given to those who notice the 500 references in here to various adaptations of the cinderella story :)

[vlogsquadssquad]

secure

summary: Charlie puth invites David to a get together where David meets y/n and they hit it off.

a/n: a teensy weensy bit angst but im 100% making a part 2 of this with a happy ending so no worries!!!!!!!!!

warnings: language

mood board:

-- 3RD PERSON DD & CP

“hey what are your plans for Saturday?” Charlie asked David as they finished up a bit for the vlog.

“umm, nothing really. im kind of in a fog right now. why?” David took a bite of his apple.

“well im throwing a small little kickback at my house. a few of my music friends are coming and it might get you some good connections, if you'd like.”

“dude, that's fucking sick! name drop! is Selena Gomez gonna be there?” David asked excitedly.

“no, no, Selena doesn't really do too many social events anymore. she's going through a lot...” David raised his eyebrow as Charlie looked to the ground. “but you know who will be there? y/f/n!” 

“shut the fuck up dude are you serious?” Davids heart dropped at the thought of y/n at the party. he's been crushing on her for a bit, and has been dying to meet her. 

“yeah, I mean she texted me she would, why are you all giddy?” Charlie punched David on the shoulder playfully, but secretly didn't want David to say he had a crush on her because truth was, so did Charlie. what's not to like? she's humble, kind, funny, easy-going, and down for anything. 

“oh, uhh... no reason, just she's a pretty popular singer right now. good clickbait.” David said with nervousness in his voice. he didn't want to admit that he had a crush when he hasn't even met her.

“alright, well ill see you at the kickback then. bring some friends!” Charlie tried not to sound worried or suspicious. he’d have to keep an eye on the two.

-- YOUR POV

I really hate going to parties. but Charlie promised it would be chill and just a way to destress. ive been in a fog with my album im writing. I have great songs but I need two more and im stuck on what to write about. maybe the party will be a good thing. 

-texts w - Charles 🤪 -

< should I wear something casual or ?? are we dressing nicer lol

you look great in everything! >

maybe party casual if that's a thing? >

< thought it was a kickback you ass! lol but thanks for the heads up. see you there, Charles! 😉

-end texts-

he hated when i called him Charles but i love messing with him. after careful examining of the clothes i had, i decided to go as I was. it was an easy going outfit but I still looked put together. I had no one to impress anyways. 

-- 1st PERSON DD 

“dude, im so nervous.” i whispered to Ilya, who knew of my crush. 

“its fine man, don't be a pussy.” i took a drink of my water and grabbed my camera to film with Benny Blanco a little he always had something funny or interesting to say.

“Charles!” I heard from the living room. i didn't think anything of it and kept filming with Benny and Jeff. a little while goes by and then Benny looks over my shoulder.

“hey, y/n/n! so good to see you!” i froze. y/n went and gave benny an inviting hug and then turned to me. her eyes were easy to melt into.

“hi, good to see you, im y/n” she went in for a hug. she smelled beautiful.

“oh, hi. im David. big fan.” 

“and im Jeff, wow you look so great, can I get you a drink?”

i rolled my eyes at Jeff trying to make a move. of course he's into the same girl I am.

“oh, im ok, I actually don't really like to drink.” she's so kind and gentle as she speaks. 

“so how is the album coming?” benny asks her.

“its... not.” she laughs lightly but I can tell she's stressed. is it too early to tell her I already know her inside and out? am I crazy for watching all her interviews, tiktoks, and instagram stories? 

“im in a fog,” she looks to the ground. how are we already so compatible? “I want two more songs but im having trouble finding a conclusion to the story im telling. maybe there isn't one, I don't know.”

“what's the story you're trying to tell?” I ask feeling very brave and comfortable already.

“basically my current dating life.” she slightly blushes. “its so hard dating and every time I start to like a guy or I know of him and I already have a crush on him, it doesn't end well. and I have these little romances I write about but they all end in either piggy behavior or ghosting.” we laughed along with her. her smile was radiating.

“maybe I can help, do you wanna go to Charlie’s studio?” Benny asks her.

“you're an angel! yes! ill repay you in food.” she laughs. as they walk out, Im watching her. she moves so flawlessly. “hey, you can come too. might get something good for the vlog.” she smiles to me. my heart is beating out of my chest. she watches my videos or at least knows of me. “cool, thank you.” I say trying to remain calm. she also pulls Charlie in and he drapes his arm around her shoulder. they're just friends.

as we get seated in the room, Benny starts asking her questions. “so, we know what message you're giving but how are you delivering it for the album? what's the feeling? want to play us a song that captures the vibe?” 

“well I only have the instrumentals for the songs but I can play one live?” 

“great, lets do it.” Charlie smiled to her as he handed her a mic.

“don't post this anywhere, David” she warned.

she brought warmth to my cheeks. “nope, ill only use it as blackmail.”

her laugh was such a gift. I could tell jokes all day just to hear her laugh again. 

she played a beautiful song that was slow and powerful and all about heartbreak. it hurt to hear her go through that. then benny asked for another song. this one was more pop. like id hear it on the radio, but still deep. 

the rest of the night was them composing songs and some stupid jokes here and there. safe to say she's the most down to earth and funny person in the room. the fans will go crazy that im here with her. im going crazy that im here with her. 

-- YOUR POV

I spent the whole night in the studio with some amazing people. I found myself taking it all in and being so thankful for my life. ive known of David and watched his vlogs pretty frequently too, but being with him was a whole different experience. he gave great advice and genuinely helped me through some of my block. he gave a listeners point of view and had fresh ears. it was nice. he even offered to walk me to my car.

“I figured you'd have like a limo waiting for you outside or something.” he joked as we walked toward the street.

“nope, that's just youtubers.” I joked back.

he laughed, “ouch.” 

“thank you for your input tonight.” he chuckled. “no, I really mean it. I think I know exactly how I want to end the album.” I look into his eyes as my back is pushed against my car. 

“where's your mind at?” he looks back to me.

“loving myself. I know it sounds cliche, but isn't the greatest romance of all, the love you have for yourself? tonight was the most fun ive had, and it was just hanging out with friends talking about endless things.”

he nods as he takes my words in. “you're really secure with yourself. I like that. its going to be a great album.”

he leans in and for a moment I think he's going to kiss me which I don't need right now. then I see his hands go low to the handle of my car door and he opens it for me.

“oh, I can't take a hint, huh?” I joke with him.

“no, not at all. I just know you're excited to go home and write your new hit.” he says almost seriously.

“thank you” I whisper. “and also, can I get your number? id love to do something fun for the vlogs.” 

-- DAVIDS POV, NEXT DAY

“il, it couldn't have gone better! she asked for my number, bro!”

“that's fucking sick. imagine you dating one of americas sweetheart, music icons.” Ilya pokes at David.

“its not a fucking joke, I really think there was something there but id really like to get to know her better.”

“who are we talking about?” Charlie asks as he enters the room. David had texted him to meet up for a bit they were doing.

“uh, no one.” im quick to reply knowing they're` great friends and I don't want any drama.

“oh ok... so what'd you think of y/n?” he asks me.

“oh she's great, yeah, I was editing some last night and I think I'll keep some parts in.”

“yeah, she's so easy to be around. I think im gonna ask her out, she's kind of the girl of my dreams, and im like 99% sure she's in love with me too.” he says almost marking his territory. 

I look to Ilya and he just half smiles. “oh, that's great man. yeah you should ask her out if you're in love with her. she's a great catch.” my chest falls as I say it aloud. I really thought she liked me. 

part 2

[nkp1981]

Part 3 of a story with an angry cook named Joe and a quiet book nerd named Nicky

Part 2 can be read here: https://bit.ly/35k8R7c

At the hospital Joe found it frustrating that he couldn’t get any information about how Nicky was doing, because he wasn’t Nicky’s next of kin and was considering starting to search the hospital, when a nurse made a sign that he should follow her.

“Who are you?” Joe wanted to know as they walked down the hallways. “Not here.” The nurse replied, looked around her and pushed Joe into a room the staff uses during the long shifts.

“I tell you, where you can find Nicolo if you give me a satisfying answer to this: what are your intentions?” The nurse wanted to know, and Joe smiled, when he finally had learned Nicky’s name. “I have tried to find the courage to talk to him ever since I acted like a jerk, and because  I didn’t have the courage, I might have been stalking him the last couple of months just to catch a glimpse of him. I know it's not the best idea in the world, and I have a lot of excuses to do, but right now I just need to know if he is ok and will be fine again.” Joe replied in the hope it was enough to get Nicky’s location and looked at the nurse, who was deciding what to do with Joe. “There is something you need to know about Nicolo, and that’s he is really ill and being assaulted yesterday hasn’t helped. That boy has always tried to push his illness to a side, because he won’t realize, that he is really ill by having his nose in a book all the time, but I got a feeling, that you might could be the one, who can pull him away from the books, because I think, that you might be just as stubborn as he is.” The nurse said. Thanks, I think.” Joe replied and started to feel a hope that he would finally get to see Nicky again. “But is there something I can do?” Joe asked after moments of silence, that felt like forever, and got surprised over that he suddenly had started to invest in another person, because it was so far from what he normally would do. “Nicolo could really use a friend for a start, but if you could find him a place for him to stay, while he recovers would also help on it.” The nurse replied in the hope Joe wouldn’t run out of the room. “I got a place he can stay if he wants to.” Joe said without any hesitation. “That’s your problem to convince him, that you want to help him, so do you still want to see him?” The nurse wanted to know, and when Joe nodded, the nurse opened the door.

Joe felt his heart sink even more down in stomach, when he saw Nicky in the bed wired up to all the machines. “Beside his diabetes, he also has broken ribs and a sprained wrist, but there is something else you should know before you commit to it all.” The nurse said as she took a chair and placed it next to the bed to test Joe one last time. “He also has heart problems, so he will never be healthy like you are. So, are you staying or leaving?” The nurse asked and looked at Joe, who just sat down on the chair, where he took off his backpack and jacket. “What should I write under next to kin?” The nurse wanted to know and placed a hand on Joe’s shoulder as a response to, that he had passed her tests. “Yusuf Al-Kaysani.” Joe replied and gave her his address. “I’m Andy. Pull at that string when he wakes.” Andy said and pointed to Joe’s right, before she left them alone. Joe then ran a hand through Nicky’s hair, before he took Nicky’s hand and settled in for a long night, while he started to lay a plan for convincing Nicky to stay with him for a time in the hope, that it would envolve into something more.

Nicky woke a couple of hours later and it took him a moment to realize that it was Joe, who was holding his hand and pulled it to himself, so Joe woke and looked at Nicky with a grateful smile, that he was finally awake. “Still stalking me?” Nicky asked brusque and pulled his hand away from Joe’s, before he sat up in the bed, where he felt the pain from his ribs. “Andy said I could stay until you woke.” Joe replied and reached for his backpack. “Well, then I guess, you can go, since I’m awake.” Nicky said and looked at the wall in the hope that Joe would leave, but instead Joe placed a gift in Nicky’s lap and took his hand again, which took Nicky by surprise. “I know we got off on the wrong foot, but wasn’t it you, who told me never to assume things about people, so can we please start all over by accepting my sincere excuse for running your book by accepting this gift?” Joe asked and gave Nicky a shy smile, that told him that Joe meant it. “Only if you promise never to yell and stalk me again.” Nicky replied and looked at Joe with those eyes that had hunted him for months. “I promise you that, Nicolo.” Joe said and Nicky looked at him with a surprise look over, he knew his name. “Andy is the only one, who calls me that, so please call me Nicky.” Nicky begged, which was something Joe could live with. “I’m Yusuf btw but open your gift.” Joe said, eager to see what Nicky would say about it. When Nicolo saw the book, Joe noticed another shade in Nicky’s eyes, and he ran a hand over the book’s cover. “It is older than the book I ruined, and it’s illustrated.” Joe added and gave Nicky a smile, which he returned. “It’s almost too much, I don’t know what to say.” Nicky muttered and opened the book to take a closer look at it, while Joe couldn’t wait to get home and draw the look on Nicky’s face. “Don’t mention it.” Joe replied and gave him a smile, but before Nicky could return it, his face froze and he hugged the book, when he saw Andy.

“Don’t look so scared, Nicolo.” Andy said with a smirk, while checking the drop. “You’re not gonna scold me?” Nicolo asked, surprised over her calm tone. “Not unless you’re gonna take Yusuf’s offer.” Andy replied and looked at Joe with a look, that said this is the only help you are getting. “Listen, I know, that you are dealing with a lot at the moment, but you are welcome to stay with me until you’re feeling better. My apartment is big enough for both of us and you can have all the rooms with all the books in. There is literature from all over the world in different languages and some is older than the book, you are holding in your hands, and I could really use someone to help me with them, so what do you say to have a look at them, while you recover and use the time to figure out, what to do next?” Joe offered Nicky in the hope that the promise of books would do the trick. “You decide Nicolo: stay here and listen to yet a big lecture from me or go read some books.” Andy added, which made the decision so much easier for Nicky to make his mind up. “Only until my ribs heal.” Nicky said and both Joe and Andy knew that it was a start “He can leave tomorrow.” Andy said and left the room. “I have to go to work, or my boss will make good of her promise to fire me, but I will be back tonight I promise. Should I bring you something?” Joe wanted to know while he really didn't want to leave Nicky behind. “Maybe some clothes so I won’t have to leave the hospital in this.” Nicky replied and looked down at the hospital gown which made Joe laugh for the first time in years. “I will find you something. Here, call if there is something else.” Joe said and took a piece of paper to write down his number, before he handed it to Nicky, who’s hand was warmer now. Then he picked up his jacket and backpack from the floor and saw the look on Nicky’s face, who reminded him of a child afraid of being left behind. “Hey, by the time you have got some rest and read the book, I’ll be back. I promise.” Joe said and ran a couple of fingers through Nicky’s hair to reassure him, which did the trick for now. “See you tonight.” Nicky said and gave Joe a smile. “See you.” Joe replied and looked at Nicky one more time with a smile, before leaving the room. When Nicky was alone again, he got hit by a feeling that he had never had before, he actually felt alone, so he looked down at the book and thought that if Joe didn’t return at least he had gotten a new book. As Joe made his way through the hospital, he promised himself that he would do anything in the world to prevent Nicky ending up in the hospital again.

my creation

[bomberqueen17]

we took the wyverns on a tour of the coast by boat

I’m finally caught up-- we didn’t play last night, DF was on the phone with his dad and it was the kind of call where he paced around the entire exterior of the house being really heavily-accented into his phone headset, which alarmed me quite a bit when he walked past the window of the room I was in because I hadn’t expected anyone to be outside. 

So we went to bed early while he was still on the phone but then I didn’t go to sleep, like a fool, but I also wrote a bunch of the next Ancient Sea chapter so that was great. Mixed success. And, he’s on call tonight, so he’ll probably be at work overnight and we won’t play tonight either, so we’ll see. 

BUT. The night before last, we had a good long Witchering session with some fucking around AND some plot, and we drank the cocktail I had invented, the Yennefer. Here’s the recipe, and behind the cut I’ll explain the Saga of Trollololo and also the exciting Adventure of the Magical Towels.

edited to add ok all this was delayed one MORE day, but also DF’s shift went so late we assumed he was working an overnight until at 11:30 the household was awakened by someone opening every cabinet in the kitchen and then he stumbled up to bed, and then had to go in this morning at his usual 7am start time because doctors’ hours fucking suck, so actually I’ve had two extra days to write this and have not. I have no excuses, but you’ll see what else I’ve been working on eventually, I promise. ANYHOW back to the post, with a recipe.

The Yennefer, a cocktail:

1) Cut the blooms off of a lilac bush until you’ve got enough. Pick the little purple bits very carefully off the tiny green stems. (I got about four cups. It took forever.) Rinse them in cold water if you think they might be dusty. I didn’t, I’m a slob. Make lilac syrup by putting two parts of lilac petals to one part sugar and one part water, bringing it to a simmer, turning it off, letting it cool, and letting it sit for 12-24 hours. Then strain it. TheSpruceEats promised me it wouldn’t be bitter if I sat there like a... well, you gotta channel the hyperfocus here, for good or ill... and picked out every tiny green stem, but they lied; the resulting syrup was sweet and flowery and had a pronounced bitter note to it. HOWEVER, this is Yennefer, so that is perfectly copacetic. 2) I bought a container of sweet candied gooseberries at the Asia Mart a while back (when the grocery stores were wiped out and the asian supermarkets were untouched because of racism), these in fact, so I poured boiling water over a bunch of those and the extra sugar that was loose at the bottom of the package, and wound up with a sweet-tart fruity sort of syrup. (Lacking those, I might have used some cranberry juice.) 3) Combine those two syrups until the taste pleases you somewhat and is slightly too sweet. (I added a little unflavored simple syrup.) Then, add a correct amount of either gin, or white rum if you don’t like gin. (My test batch was fantastic with gin, but MM hates gin, so I used rum for this version.) 4) put in a bit of lemon and/or lime juice to make it more tart, as needed.  5) optional: add other herbal/flowery liqueurs to taste. I had this botanical spirit named Hum that’s red, and I had some blue Cointreau that I put a couple of drops in for color, and I had a little bit of creme de violette. 

My Drink Mixing Method is largely that I figure out how many servings I’m making, put in one to two ounces of the hard liquor per serving, and then put in about one part of the combined mixers per one part of the hard liquor, and then I adjust the flavors until it’s the strength I want (I often wind up with much more mixer, up to two parts per one part of hard liquor, but that varies). Most of my drinks are designed to be served over ice to bring them down to the correct dilution.

tw below for assisted suicide, in-game, expressly nothing to do with any real-life things.

We started strong. I poured the drinks, and DF dithered about having any-- he has awful heartburn problems and tries to have only water after 5pm unless he’s prepared to Accept The Consequences, but he decided he’d try a cocktail. He asked if MM would put it over ice for him, so she got out the bag of ice in the freezer and discovered it had sort of bricked. He suggested banging it on the floor to break it up, and she had a reply to that which would be much funnier if I had not explained all this, but I have, so:

“I’m not planning on banging right now,” she said, swanning into the room in her particularly magnificent way of walking, with a drink in each hand. 

(I know I’ve set the setting-scene before but it’s worth mentioning that MathMom is a stunningly beautiful and of course deeply eccentric woman, tallish and solid-built with classic-length (that’s upper mid-thigh) thick wavy pale-brown hair with natural golden highlights which she often wears in a magnificent crown braid across the top of her head held in place with an array of jeweled and tortoise-shell clips, and she has a predilection for lace-bedecked long skirts, lots of embroidery and hand-embellished trims, lily-white bare arms of astonishingly muscular slenderness, and often a headband with lace cat ears when she’s feeling particularly emotionally-drained. Oh and jewelry, she has a lot of jewelry, some of which is expensive shit inherited from a wealthy aunt who died suddenly 20 years ago, and some of which she makes herself out of an exquisite collection of beads, mostly rainbows of opals. So, there’s an image, for you. She’s decided she enjoys the fashions of Novigrad, so there may be some upcoming augmentations of her wardrobe.) 

ANYHOW. Down to Witchering.

Properly lubricated with alcohol, we embarked upon a little tour of the monster nests of Velen, “through the Lands of Difficulty,” as DF termed it-- all the shit he uncovered whilst too low-level to make it worthwhile. Since we were down there, we figured we’d clear all that out, get whatever loot and XP the place had to offer at the current level, and then move on with the Plot Shit. 

We had not really missed Velen’s fight music. See, when Geralt’s involved in a fight, the music changes, and in different places it plays different music, and in Velen it’s this music we call The Hollering, because it has a lot of lyric-less vocal stuff including some stuff that’s kind of hoarse? (Ah, it’s called Silver for Monsters but this is the extended track, the one they actually play really starts at like, the 2 minute mark of the linked video. and like, fine, it’s cool or whatever but after hours of playing you’re kind of like Ah Fuck It’s The Hollering.)

We found a bandit camp based in a half-ruined building that was leaning crazily over. We killed the guys on the ground and then DF got excited to try killing bandits by Aarding them off the top floor, so he ran up there. (There’s an achievement you can get, for killing a number of enemies by aarding them off things. We haven’t got one yet, but there’s time.)

Unfortunately, it wasn’t high enough to kill a level 9 bandit, so Geralt just Aarded him off the building and he was like “ARGH FUCK” and then started shooting arrows up at us. The other one, we just sworded until he mostly fell off but then he died weirdly half-clipped through the edge of the floor and just hung there by his wrist. DF went down to the ground and tried to crossbow him down but that was it, he was just forever going to hang there. It was super weird.

Another scene-setting thing: throughout all of this, DF is treating us to a very professional analysis of the different methods of Coronavirus testing being offered and what they do and do not mean and what they are and are not useful for; his conclusion basically boiled down to that they are useless for an individual and one can make absolutely zero decisions based on one’s own results, BUT they are essential at a population level for analysis and are essential to get-- just, don’t actually, like, rely on them for yourself, they’re not going to do you much if any good. 

Anyway. After the bandits we swung through a cluster of four Nekker nests, just... clearing them out. We needed a single Nekker heart for some potion or decoction or whatever. We wound up with another bushel basket of assorted bits. 

In the middle of this we stumbled across an isolated man who was moaning that the monsters wouldn’t kill him. He was familiar, but hideously deformed by gross pox boil-lookin things. He identified himself: he was the carter we’d encountered aeons ago, carting plague corpses, and Geralt had urgently told him to burn all his clothes and his cart. He’d been unconcerned, but clearly now had caught the plague. He begged Geralt to kill him; he was horribly sick and couldn’t die and had spread plague to everyone he loved. Geralt contemplated it for a moment, and DF said, “you know, this has nothing to do with my medical practice, okay” and agreed to kill him. The man, grateful, gave him a purse of coins, which he’d been saving for his children but now didn’t need. Aww! 😢 Geralt, of course, made it quick, and off-screen mercifully, and then used Igni on the remains. 

As we left, there was-- well, it looked like a person, in a hayfield, and MM cheerfully started singing the chorus of The Gallant Forty Twa [link is to the clancy bros rendition, on youtube]. “Strollin’ through the green fields, on a summer’s day, watchin’ all the country girls workin’ a’ the hay, I really was delighted--” and then the figure in the field straightened up and leapt at us and she was like “AH SHIT THAT’S NOT A COUNTRY GIRL” because, of course, it was yet another nekker, as the countryside was absolutely rotten with them. 

We headed for another question mark which we expected to be probably a fifth nekker nest, and suddenly were confronted with-- what the fuck is-- oh it’s a wyvern we’ve OH NO THAT’S A LEVEL 28 WYVERN RUN AWAY

OH FUCK IT HAS A GIRLFRIEND WHO IS ALSO LEVEL 28

we scrambled down the hill, to an unknown marker, a cave, let’s go in here DF said, and ran into the cave and the wyvern followed us and I was like THAT’S ITS FUCKING DEN and he was like AH FUCK and turned and ran back out dodging like crazy and the thing was following us ARGH

We ran a distance, and the fucking things were following, and we ran some more and they were still following and DF was like “Fuckit I’m a get into the sea” and ran and dove into the water and swam underwater for a while and the red dot was STILL FOLLOWING and in fact we could occasionally see one of the wyverns as it fucking circled overhead. “What the fuck,” DF said, coming up for air and then going back down.

We swam the entire strait underwater, and the wyverns were still following. We got out on the other side. “Maybe these bandits will fight the wyverns,” DF said, harassed, navigating Geralt into the Unknown Settlement. No bandits appeared, but a number of level 11 ghouls came out to play. DF tried to get into the door of a structure but the ghouls clustered around and the fucking door was locked, and the wyvern swooped. “What the fuck!”

He turned and ran back down to the water, where there were some drowners but they were slightly out of range. The wyvern dove angrily but missed. “Well,” he said, “let’s try the boat,” and got into a boat. At first the controller would not let him do anything but swish his sword around, but eventually he managed to figure out how to pilot the boat.

With the wyvern stooping angrily around us, we set off in the boat for a little tour of the coast, and promptly hit a rock, but fortunately didn’t sink.

It took another minute for the wyvern to back off. “We’re taking the wyverns on a tour of the coast by boat,” DF said. Sure enough, we could tell now that it was definitely both wyverns chasing. Miraculously, we had taken no damage, by sheer virtue of not holding still long enough. 

Finally, finally, the fight music turned off, and the wyverns disappeared, presumably back to their nest that we’d blundered straight into. “The fight music,” I said, “instead of The Hollering, probably should have been Yakety Sax.”

“That would’ve been a bit more fitting,” DF said, steering the boat back toward shore. “Uhhh... Okay,” DF said, “so, uh, where are we now and where are the things we were planning to do??”

Well, we’d intended to do The Volunteer. So we pulled that quest back up, it’s near the bridge to Oxenfurt and we weren’t far from that. 

I’m going to cut this post off and finally make it, though, and I’ll do the rest in a later post since this one’s so delayed anyway. ALSO Tumblr just tried its level best to eat this fucking post and i’m super over the way the wifi in this house likes to attempt to murder me.