#opal as their cat who they have to kick out of the room before they get frisky bc otherwise she'll just sit there staring at them like 👁️

[asaethiel]

some adam-centric sketch page bits

[cookie-crumblr]

Hype Train!

F!Streamer Reader x M!Yandere Streamer OC

Part 4~

His Info: 📹✨

Part: 1 2 3 4 5

!!!MINORS DNI!!!

CW: WHOLE PART IS NSFW, !F reader, use of she/her when referring to reader, reader has a vagina, pet names not from ML (doll, ), SA!! NOT BY ML, assaults, NON CON NOT BY ML, Murder, gore, possibly angsty?, fingering, p in v, pet names (pretty, good girl, pretty girl, ) creampie, praise, lots of consent checks! long azz smut, probably my favorite work so far…👉👈

“Thank you all for coming again!!! I had so much fun tonight! we’re gonna stream again tomorrow and if not then the next day I promise!!! See y’all later and shower this next person with love!!!” You type out a raid message for everyone to copy, and click raid now.

You sigh as you take off your headset.

At least you feel tired enough to sleep now.

*loud knocking*

“C’mon!!! Seriously??” You know who it is before you even answer.

“Hello, Jared.” your voice is deadpanned and your expression unimpressed.

Although… You haven’t had a good fuck in a while…

Not that Jared is a “good” fuck. He’s at least got the equipment for the job.

“Doll, you know, I’ve been thinking about you again, just let me in to explain,” He says seriously and tries to push past you to inside your apartment.

You immediately block his path. “Excuse you. I don’t care what you’re thinking about. And I was gonna let you in, but now that you just tried to barge your way in, I’ve changed my mind. Get out of here.” You slam the door hard toward the frame.

His hand comes up, “Listen to me, bitch. I said I was thinking about you. Listen to my explanation.” He demands, his foot in the way of the blue painted wood.

Your heart races… No. Not this again.

You didn’t even notice at first the smell of it on his breath.

He’s been drinking.

You aren’t surprised or disappointed.

You are however, afraid.

“N-no… I-I don’t have to listen to you. Not now, not ever.” you remain firm. “Leave, o-or I’ll… Call the cops.”

“Hah. Like that’ll save you, doll.” He pushes the door open and throws you against a wall.

Your skull hits it with a loud *THUD*

shit, shit, shit, SHIT!

what do you do?!

Your cat runs and hides under the bed in the other room.

Thank goodness, at least Opal won’t get hurt by this maniac.

You struggle and put up as much of a fight as possible, but he over powers your every attemp.

You eventually just stop.

You turn your face, he pulls you back.

You squeeze your lips shut, he slams your head back so you gasp and let his tongue violate you.

He strips you, and throws your body, stomach down, onto the couch.

You try and crawl away, and he just pulls you back.

“No! PLEASE!!!!!” You cry out, your voice not even sounding like your own anymore.

Flashbacks to your time in the pit resurface again, forcing their way into your head while he forces his way into your body.

You cry and plead, he just punches and bites you where ever he can.

All you can do is cry now.

“Bite the pillow, bitch!” he yells into your ear.

You wake maybe thirty minutes later with his weight on top of you.

You manage to roll out while he’s in his drunken coma.

You hope while you’re at work he just… leaves…

He usually does.

The shower you take doesn’t help you feel any cleaner.

Tears don’t even threaten your numb body anymore. You’re embraced once more by the hollow feeling you’ve gotten accustomed to.

Do you even remember feeling safe only a day ago?

It feels like it was simply a dream at this point.

Jasper opens the unlocked door you left and sees the naked man on your couch.

His pupils once again blown with a familiar rage.

He drops his bag loudly onto the ground.

The man sits up, covering his exposed lower half “Who the fuck are you? You, freak! Get out!” He yells.

Jasper reaches into his pocket, pulling out a syringe.

“W-what the fuck man, what is that?!”

Jasper steps forward, and Jared jumps up to meet him.

“Get away! Freak! I’m warning you!” Jared lunges, knocking the syringe from his hands

Jasper then kicks his legs out from under him.

He falls to his knees, seeing the syringe near the coffee table, he reaches for it.

Jasper stomps down onto his veiny hand, breaking bones.

He screams, “WHAT THE FUCK?! Who the HELL do you think you-”

His sentence is cut off as Jasper crunches his hand, grinding it under his boot. “AHHHHH!!! OOWWW F-FUCK!!”

He grasps his scalp with fist fulls of sandy blonde hair next, and hovers it up over the corner of the coffee table.

Jared tries to pry the black boot off of his hand, as his eyes widen in fear looking at the metal edges.

“What the FUCK man!!!! This isn’t a joke! STOP!!”

Jasper smiles grimly, leaning down closer to him, “Oh, you want ME to stop? What about Y/N? Didn’t she ask you that?” he hums sinisterly.

“Th-That’s different! chicks always say-” he’s cut off again.

“Say what? Say No?” He barks out a cruel and unforgiving laugh.

He’s tired of this animals voice.

“Bite the metal, bitch.” He slams his face repeatedly into the corner of the table.

He gurgles and coughs, as his face swiftly becomes a bloodied, unrecognizable pulp.

You sigh. Climbing the stairs grudgingly.

You threw up at work again and they forced you to go home.

You’re so emotionally stressed, your body has started to try and rid you of it physically again.

You hear something strange, but you can’t yet tell what it is. You’re too worried how your gonna pay for next months “protection” and make the rent on time…

Your door isn’t locked still. No point, you thought.

Jared leaves it unlocked after he leaves anyway.

At least he doesn’t have a key.

The noises are coming from inside your appartment though… Is he… Hurting Opal??? You burst through the door, “Jare-” Your eyes widen, as you study the unknown man hovering over a bloodied Jared…

You go to scream, and Jasper rushes at you covering your mouth with his hand.

“Wait! Y/N!”

You’re trembling, but you recognize him by his voice now.

He removes his hand, and you speak quietly, “Jasper?”

You slowly close the door behind you…

“W-what is…” You don’t need to finish that, you know what’s happening.

“Wait! Y/N, I’m not… uhg… I didn’t think you’d be back so soon,” he doesn’t move anymore toward you, he just looks over the body.

He’s not attacking you.

Your brow furrows, maybe you don’t know…?

“What are… You doing? why? I’m so…” confused, but you can’t speak anymore, before tears start falling again.

Jasper wraps his arms around your shaking form, in a loving embrace, not like one of someone that wants more.

You squeeze back… You don’t know why, or how, but you know he doesn’t mean you harm.

“Jasper, whatever you’re doing, please stop… You’re.. Going to get into so much trouble for… This, a-and I’m not worth the trouble…” You shakily push through the tears.

He holds you tighter. “You are, Y/N, you are.”

“You don’t understand, I’m in a lot of deep shit right now… People are… after me. People are using me. People are-”

He kisses you.

Nobody’s ever tried to protect you before.

How did he even get here?

Maybe one of the questions you should be worried about…

How did he know where you are? Is another.

But your too overcome with emotion to think any rational thoughts right now.

Your arms travel upward, twisting around Jasper’s neck.

He picks you up by your sides, your legs hook around his waist.

He carries you to your bedroom, and lays you gently on the bed.

You’re still crying, and you continue to embrace him.

His hands wander down to your crotch, he pulls away to look into your eyes, “May I?”

Through blurry eyes you nod, and push forward to kiss him again, harder than he did.

His lips push back into yours, he sighs through his nose.

His fingers hook under your panties and pull them down your legs.

You help kick them off.

He finds your slit and slowly strokes up and down, covering his fingers in your slick.

You moan into him, nothing has ever felt this good, and he hasn’t even started.

You might come already…

Your legs snap shut, locking his hand in place.

He pulls his face back again, studying yours, “It’s okay, just relax, and let it out, pretty…” he coos, his face burying into your neck now.

You shiver, feeling his tongue and his hot breath against your skin.

He smells so nice.

like fresh air.

You slowly try and relax your legs, opening just enough for him to move again.

He tweaks your sensitive bud.

“Mmmm!” You bite your lips hard, your brows so tight together your face almost hurts. You’re holding your breath too and you don’t even notice until your lungs burn.

“shhh. Shhhh, it’s okay. It’s okay,” he shushes you sweetly. “You’ll be okay. let it all out, f’me”

“J-Jas-perrr…” Your body quakes with your first orgasm.

Nobody’s ever made you come before. It’s almost painful it feels so good.

Your legs snap shut again, and he chuckles quietly. “There, there, Y/N, you did so good, you’re such a good girl,” you feel his smile against your neck. “Can i have my hand back though? I need to do this for you, I wont be able to fit, and I don’t want to hurt you,”

You relax as much as you can, straining yourself as you do. He waits patiently, smiling as you try. you manage to open wider for him than last time, your body still shaking.

From the orgasm yes, and also from fear.

Not from fear of him…

You’re just…

Afraid.

You feel so safe right now, you actually feel fear. You’re terrified. and you don’t know exactly what of.

Maybe you’re afraid of letting your guard down for the first time.

Tears are streaming down your face more rapidly now.

You choke out sobs, “Jas-per… Jas…p-per…”

“Shhhh shhhh, it’s okay, i promise, it’ll be okay, pretty, pretty girl.” His thumb oh so gently circles your clit, barely touching you, he can tell how sensitive you are and doesn’t want to overwhelm you.

He kisses your neck, and dips a finger into your quivering hole. You fight the urge to once again, snap your legs shut, instead trying to spread wider.

“That’s it, you’re doin’ so good f’me,” he kisses you again, even more gently than the last time. “I’m so proud of you,”

You’re biting your lips harder, as more and more tears and sobs leave your body.

He very slowly dips another finger in.

Even after last night the stretch is hard to take at first.

You draw blood from your lips, and his other hand leaves your body to find your mouth, “here, bite me ‘nstead, pretty. I don’t wanna see you hurting’.”

You clench your teeth before you give in, you don’t want to hurt him either, so you instead use your hand to angle his fingers to your lips… You start to suck gently.

“haaaaa” he sighs so contently into your neck, the air tickles and you smile around him. You actually smile!

“I’m so, so proud of you, you’re doing so well,” his voice never raising more than a soft whisper.

Your hair is soaked with your tears now, and your wetting the pillow.

“hmmm” you hum, sucking and licking his fingers.

His other ones remain occupied gently scissoring your open.

Your body shakes as you come again.

“mm-mmmm!”

“That’s it, that’s a good girl, come f’me again, pretty,”

You open wider still, his thumb pulls away so you can come down without over stimulating you, while his fingers continue to work you’re tender quim.

Your brows peak and you squeeze your eyes shut.

He pulls completely away from you, and licks the fingers that where just inside you.

“Here” he says softly, “lemme help you, one second, pretty,” he rips the bottom of his shirt, pulling around his torso.

The sound scares you a little, but you trust him.

“May I?” he hovers it in front of your face looking deep into your eyes for your permission again.

And again, you nod, a little more eagerly this time.

He gently ties the black fabric around your eyes, careful not to pull your hair, or get it stuck in the knot.

You strangely feel more comfortable and your legs relax more easily now.

Your eyes also relax, and you sigh out, You breathe better surprisingly.

“I’m going t’ touch you again, okay?” He waits for you to nod before running just the tips of his fingers all the way up your legs.

They slowly caress you going up to the hem of your shirt, and you feel them tug gently. “m‘kay, pretty, I’m gonna take this off of you too, will you let me see you?”

You ferociously nod this time, trying not to but your lip, remembering before.

“so precious, thank you, pretty…” He slides the fabric slowly up, his fingertips still brushing against your soft skin.

He takes it off of you without touching the blindfold.

You still have a bra, and a skirt on. “W-wait!” you speak up, and he halts completely, a little surprised, but not at all upset.

You sit up so that you can reach behind you and unhook the bra. You cover yourself as you remove it, and your face heats up as it sets in that you’re willingly exposing yourself to someone.

“You’re wonderful,” he whispers awestruck, “So very wonderful. Will you let me look at you?”

Slowly you nod your head, and slowly you remove one hand, then the second. Your fists are clutched so tightly your knuckles have turned white. You turn your head, embarrassed.

“It’s okay, c’mere,” he gently takes your chin into his hand and turns your face back to him, his lips capture yours.

The love he feels pours freely into your soul.

One hand now cups your bare breast, and massages you tenderly.

“mm,” quiet moans leave your body for his.

He continues to kiss you and fondle your skin, his fingers move further up and stop to pinch your nipple.

“Mmm!” you’re surprised by the feeling but it’s so good… Your core heats up to extreme levels.

You rub your legs together this time for more friction, rather than to hide.

He pulls back with a smile. “You’re so perfect.” he says breathily, enraptured by you.

The hand under your chin moves back down ghosting over your body so you know at all times where it’s at.

“Haaaa” Your body twitches as he moves over some spots. “mM!”

“shhhhh, shhhhh, it’s gonna be alright. I’m gonna make everything all alright.” his already soft voice gets even softer with every one of his guarantees.

“O-mmm!-kay” you breathe out effortlessly, finding your voice, and still feeling the pleasure building in your core.

His fingers split into a “v” as they encase your clit and push down, then close slowly as they slide back up with the same force.

Your hips buck up, “Ahh!! mmmm! oh no! no…” you whine.

His smile softens, “do you want me to stop?”

“No! P-please… D-don’t…” you shake your head and grab his arm with both hands.

He dips back inside of you before dragging them all the way back up and he repeats this until you climax again.

You shudder out a sigh, “Th-thank youu…” You whimper.

“Thank you, pretty, you’re givin’ me s’much”

He repositions you both so that your legs fall on either side of him.

You feel him lift your thighs and press them not too uncomfortably closer to your body.

“I’m going to enter you now, is that okay?”

You nod vigorously, “Mmhm! p-please…” You cover your lips with your hands, he lets you, smiling as he admires your every move.

You feel his hot, spongey tip press against your hole. You brace. then he slides it up your slit, before he taps it to your clit. You jump a little and smile back while biting your lip gently this time.

“Good, you’re doin’ s’good f’me” his hips roll, sliding his burning cock up and down your folds.

Your hole twitches around nothing as you come again, as you do he guides the tip into you with an almost *pop*

You inhale while he exhales, both moaning at the sudden sensation.

You squeeze him as your pussy twitches involuntarily. He holds himself there, and presses his hand to your stomach, resting his thumb over your clit.

As you come down he rubs in circles, he slides in at the same time, letting you adjust to his size as he goes.

He bottoms out and you feel fuller than you ever have in your life. “Such a good, good girl.” his voice is a little more strained now, he’s feeling the pleasure just like you are.

His tip kisses your womb.

Gently he pulls out a little bit, before pushing back in, kissing your womb again.

“I’m-gonna cum inside you. Do you want that?” he circles your clit at an even pace.

“Mhm!”

“Use.. Your words, pretty,” he sighs blissfully.

“P-please, Jasper! Cum inside me!” You’ve never wanted anyone to until today. And you want it right now more than anything else in the world.

“Of course, I’ll—fill you up, pretty” He leans down over you and grabs the headboard for more stability.

You feel that he’s closer to you and you reach up blindly to hold him as best you can.

He starts a steady and easy pace to follow, you meet every thrust with your hips.

Every time he enters the pressure against your insides turns hotter and hotter, spinning a coil inside you so tightly you see stars.

He speeds up when he feels you can handle it, and slows down when you get too high.

His dick twitches inside of you and he presses the hardest he has into you yet, you come more powerfully than all the times leading up to this and you cry out his name, “Jasper! oh! oh my, Jasper! Jasper!”

He continues to thrust in a couple more times until you feel his body shudder and your womb is filled to the brim.

“Jas-per! Jas-!” His lips crash against yours he holds the headboard with both hands now, regaining his senses while he remains inside you.

“I love you, Y/N”

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Past Artemis and Present Artemis Are Not Allowed in the Same Room

If Number 1 kind of nudged the door open to time travel and wibbly wobbly timey wimey shenanagins in Lost Colony, then Artemis full-on kicked it down and yeeted a grenade through it in this book. Let's talk Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox.

As per usual, SPOILERS ABOUND below the break.

There are a ton of things about this book that are amazing and in order to stay at least a little organized, we're gonna use HEADINGS this time around! That's not to say the headings are in any particular order, but life has been lifeing and I need a little help making sure I gush about everything I want to here. Because while Eoin Colfer introduced time travel in the last book, this one is a whole TIME PARADOX PLOT!

Opal Koboi, Empress of our Hearts

So, there are places for nuanced, complex, morally gray villains who have carefully throught-through ethoses and who are compelling because of their tragedy. Those kinds of villains are great.

Opal Koboi is not that kind of villain.

Opal Koboi is a villain in the classic Disney sense. She is absolutely unhinged, wants nothing more than to be Empress of the Goddamn World, and absolutely revels in setting things on fire just to watch them burn. She is rock-solid on her own worth, she is terrifyingly intelligent, and she is equally fun when she is strutting around in her own success as when she is pitching a dramatical cats tantrum because somebody said "ethics" in her presence. Our girl is sheer fun from start to finish, and honestly I love how consistent she is.

In this book, we see Opal before the events of The Arctic Incident, and it's great to know that she has ALWAYS been unhinged and glorious. If anything, this book shows us that the plan to use the B'wa Kell to take over Haven was weirdly vanilla for Opal. Sucking the bodily fluids out of endangered animals to basically Captain America super serum herself is...way more on brand.

The bit where she is too narcissistic and paranoid to stay in character as Angeline Fowl for more than like 60 seconds once Jay Jay is in the room is also AMAZING. Talk about getting in your own way...

Artemis vs. Artemis

So sometimes as a series gets increasingly lengthy, it's good to remind readers and character how much your protagonists have grown. Eoin Colfer decided that time travel was a great way to take advantage of this, and reveled in it by giving readers 10-year-old Artemis's opinion of 18-year-old Artemis and vice versa for the entire book, and it is SO FUN. They both hate each other, and understandably so. They both also have qualities that the other begrudgingly respects, and ultimately they need BOTH Artemises to resolve the plot.

We also get some really lovely instances of Artemis outsmarting and bamboozling himself. This conceit had every chance of coming off as cringe as hell, but Colfer handed it with enough humor and humanity to make it feel real rather than like a whole book devoted to a vanity plot centered on Artemis thinking he's the best thig since sliced bread.

Artemis...That was WILDLY Uncool to do to Holly

Ok, so Artemis has grown a lot over the course of five books. He's matured. He's learned how to be a reluctant antihero. He and Holly are legit friends. Which somehow manages to make it EVEN WORSE when Artemis full-on knowingly tricks Holly into thinking that she not only gave his mother a fatal illness but also started a plague that at one point killed 20% of the fairy population in three years. There's honestly no coming back from that kind of breach of trust.

And no, giving Holly a chance to say goodbye to Commander Root does NOT make Holly and Artemis square. It nicely ties up a loose emotional thread, but it does NOT square the emotional devastation of infecting a friend's mother and starting the plague 2.0. That is possibly the least believable relationship dynamic in a book where Artemis and Holly KISS (no, we're not gonna talk about it, they were both under the influence of the time stream and it doesn't count).

The truly wild thing about this is that Artemis before the fairies was a cold-hearted little bastard capable of incredible cruelty, but once Artemis understands feelings and emotional relationships, he's suddenly capable of hurting people WAY MORE than he could when he was a tiny robotic human. And of course the person he takes aim at is HOLLY SHORT. Like, FFS, Artemis. You did less damage when you had the emotional intelligence of a gold ingot...

Butler

Domovoi Butler is too good for this world and we do not deserve him. Artemis sure as hell does not deserve him, past OR present. Past Butler full on calls 10-year-old Artemis out on the act that he is *checks notes* handing over the last of a species to a group of fanatics to be horribly murdered in a kangaroo court, fully sells a sentient elf to those same fanatics, does not emotionally let Artemis off the hook when he is experiencing guilt and shame over being an accessory to murder and extinction, and TURNS THE PLANE AROUND to go save Holly and 18-year-old Artemis from the extinctionists. And thats just past Butler.

Present Butler is such a goddamn badass that he resists a juiced-up Opal Koboi's mesmer so hard that he gives himself a heart attack. Not even Opal Koboi can pull a 180 on Butler's moral compass, and even when he can't fully fight her off, he can resist in little ways, like sticking breathing tubes in barrels. Someone let this man retire happily, he has MORE THAN earned it at this point.

Baby's First Ecocritical Text

Environmentalism and ecocriticism have been very present as secondary themes in the Artemis Fowl series from the very first book, but this is, I believe, the first book where this theme gets really explicit and has real, concrete plot consequences and implications. The "hunting animals to extinction is bad for [list of reasons]" isn't the deepest or most nuanced version of the argument, but it doesn't have to be. The audience for these books are middle graders and YA readers. They get a concrete introduction to ecocriticism and some very comprehensible examples of the consequences of extinction and pollution, and that's going to be enough for more of them than you'd think to keep thinking and reading about the issue.

I highlight this because so few middle grade and YA books do ecocriticism at all, let alone this clearly and concisely. I suspect we will see more of this as climate change keep wreaking absolute havoc on quite literally everything, but these books did it before it was cool, and I really appreciate that about them.

Overall, this book is not my favorite of the series. Time travel can be a hard sell, even if you weave the complexities of time travel around a relatively simple fetch quest. As per usual though, the character work is never not entertaining, and I do enjoy rereading this one periodically.

[aaetherius]

@cxffexngel:

[ cxffeexngel ] modern AU!! || because this has been in my mind for days sFÑKDSFDf have soft time!

Unlike the pouring rains of an announced storm and a message sent in a whim. Sandalphon’s invitation fell on a calm day, with pillowy clouds dusting the canvas of the stretching blue skies on a quiet afterwork hours of sundown. A confession made in days passed and an evergrowing bond with stolen gazes and lips touching whenever extra eyes did not pry over them. Sandalphon adored kissing lucifer, adored those warm welcomes whenever Lucifer was the one already first thing in the morning for their shared shifts, or taking that mantle himself and welcome the taller with cups ready in their favorite spot under the gaze of the sun filtered through the windows adorned in flowers that never had ceased coming as offerings and all the more secret words his voice couldn’t hope to whisper to the other. The you g man resided now during one of those free days closing the flowershop, dusting off tables and leaves, changing pots and moving those that needed extra hours of sun before the evening would claim the rest of the day thorough. The slightest tinge of anxiety clinging behind his mind, after mulling for hours to pour just exactly which words to type over the phone and let Lucifer know he could come over if he wanted to, having deleted the message over and over until settling with the simplest ’ I have nothing to do, feel free to come over if you want ’ only to be replied within seconds with the most adorable message, if not perhaps a bit formal considering Lucifer’s tendencies if not to how he adorned his texts with cutesy stickers the young man failed to not blush for or ever not find them less than endearing when they were between sheep, drawn cats happy with sparkles and very colorful animated ones. Ah, he really finds ways to fall in love with this man everyday, isn’t he? With the flowershop properly locked, and turning over the ’ Open’ sign to seal it for the day, the young barista and shoopkeeper is done for the day, the welcoming aroma of freshly brewed coffee permeating every inch of his home as it rests in idle silence, if not by the gentle song of water heating over the stove not too far from the main room - and the open bags of beans and cups ready to be filled. For now, Sandalphon only attempts drowning every voice about how anything could go wrong, his coffee going acid, the temperature not being right - thinking too much like Gran often liked to poke fun at the cranky barista those days the young man inadvertently broke into his house somehow despise having checked each of his locks twice or even trice just to ensure that the pest the other adored to make himself out to be couldn’t get in. Always futile because it seemed like no lock was match against Gran’s lockpicking and his indestructible will to simply invite himself into Sandalphon’s home. Sometimes even with the girl in blue who made it even easier for the barista to simply cave in and let them stay and steal his food. - those memories are enough to ignore the impending doom that could brew should he mull over the little details about this and that. A soundless sigh slips past somewhat dry lips, tired eyes blinking calmly when attention flicks towards one of the windows as gentle breeze blows curtains into a serene dance matching leaves of branches and leaves outside, palm over his cheek scratching aimlessly any tension left that arises as spontaneously as it leaves. Only finding light within the autumn scarlet within his eyes when spotting the familiar shine of opal locks shimmering behind the blurriness barely transparent curtains of white could offer casting a shadow over that form that Sandalphon could arguably recognize even amidst a crowed street. His body moving before he could think towards the main door, and fingers curling tightly over the handle to twist it and push the frame open for the other, a sheepish smile drawn all over dusted rose pale features, sporting Lucifer’s borrowed hood and black legging the young man often wore whenever there was no work to be done, and the always needed pair of heeled boots rarely Sandalphon took off. “A-Ah! Welcome, Lucifer! ” Sandalphon almost wanted to visibly wince at how drearily hoarse his voice comes despise his initial joy - but he doesn’t, instead clearing his throat with a small cough over his palm. “ Please come on! I’m readying our cups, feel free to choose any seat if you’re tired. ” Continues, while stepping to the side giving the taller enough space so he could finally step in, and their time together start and go along however it takes - ah, how feeble his heart is that the thought alone of Lucifer in his home makes it leap into his throat, and rob any coherent thought or even the plans he mulled over the whole morning about everything.

    Sandalphon’s text had kick started his heart after he had returned to his apartment to try out a handful of new coffee recipes he had written down in his journal when he hadn’t been attending to customers this afternoon - something that had become a less frequent habit of his following his confession as the slow hours were typically spent with his attention fixed on the barista instead of a notebook these days. He’d texted the other back before thinking much about his response - he could never deny Sandalphon’s company, and he had tossed off his work clothes to change into something a tad bit more casual in a matter of minutes as well…only to pause as he was slipping out of the door with a mildly displeased Ellie seated comfortably, he thinks, on the plush cushion nestled inside of the feline backpack strapped safely around his shoulders. After all, he couldn’t leave her alone for the night - that would be downright criminal when she’s spent a night on her since he had rescued her. His unwilling companion (who would have been perfectly content to romp around the apartment unattended) aside, he had realized that he hadn’t prepared anything to give to the other. Perhaps it was a somewhat trivial notion, but despite all of the flowers and beautiful poems Sandalphon had gifted him with, he hadn’t done much in return for the other. His own knowledge of flowers had come from the barista himself, and he had little talent when it came to writing out meaningful poems. Even Michael, who had known him nearly his entire life, struggled to follow his notes. Neat as his handwriting naturally was, he had a terrible habit of jotting down notes in a manner only he could truly understand. Ah, and bringing flowers to a flowers hop didn’t seem like a suitable gift either. Sweets wouldn’t do wither, Sandalphon favored bitter and savory foods, much like how he preferred his coffee. So, quickly, the smile upon his features had faded as he lingered in the doorway of his apartment, smiling softly at the various neighbors that walked past him. A low hum rumbles in throat for moment as he strokes his chin absentmindedly before turning tail back into the apartment, gingerly removing a handful of things from the cluttered bookshelf and carefully tucking them away behind Ellie so they weren’t terribly apparent before he slipped outside to a day distinctly unlike the one he had mindlessly invited Sandalphon over on when it had been storming dreadfully.

    The walk to the flower shop is a short one, yet, despite that, he checks his phone constantly on the way. He had memorized the address when the other had sent it to him, but the rush of joy that had held his heart tightly enough that it made his chest throb was enough to make that information leap to the very back of his mind. He had never been to the barista’s home before, and he hadn’t been aware of the fact that he owned a flower shop until very recently - to say he was delighted would be an understatement when he feels something akin to excitement for the first time in years; perhaps for the first time since he had dabbled in coffee that fateful say more than a decade ago. And his hand comes up to press firmly against the center of his chest as if doing so would somehow quell the swan song of his heart as every step brought him closer to the one he loves most. For so long, truthfully, he had felt numb - the emotions he harbored had been tucked deep within him, unable to break free from the constant guilt and sense of melancholy that hung over him. He had forgotten what feeling excited was like - what looking forward to something could be like, and he had thought, for quite some time now, that he was incapable of feeling something so unbridled. But Sandalphon brings him more joy than he could have ever dreamed of experiencing, despite the pain that comes alongside it, so he can only tighten his hold around the fabric clumped between his fingers as he exhales in the humid air, and allows his gaze to wander upwards towards the clear sky. Its color paling now that the better part of the day had come and gone, but it still casts a gentle, blue shadow onto his pale features as he stops in front of the flower ship, and Sandalphon’s home. Pearly strands of hair absorb the colors cast upon them, and reflect them back with a gentle shimmer that almost makes it appear as if wayward strands of his hair are glowing in an array of dazzling colors. Sometimes, he’s reminded, the world can be a beautiful place. But, truly, he’s always found the sky to be something remarkable - something free; something wondrous, and grand. As a child, he used to dream of reaching his hand up high enough to touch the clouds despite knowing all he would come away with were damp fingers. Even now, a small part of him is still drown to the vast blue, and the gentle, creamy clouds that float through it without a care.

    The click of the door draws him away from his thoughts, and he quickly loosens his hold on the white shirt he’s wearing before trying, and failing, to smooth out the wrinkles he’s formed in the fabric before trying, and failing once more, to cover them with the light blue sleeve of his hoodie as an impossibly warm smile spills onto his rosy lips. Their hue nearly the same shade as the color that dusts over Sandalphon’s features, though the utterly fond look stretched across Lucifer’s visage doesn’t quite match the other’s sheepish one. And it brightens all the more once he realizes the barista is wearing the hoodie he had borrowed from him. And that, too, makes his chest ache, but in a different way than the anticipation that had crept through his bloodstream a moment ago. Love is a strange thing, he thinks, it’s not a singular emotion but rather a collection of so many complex feelings he can’t place individual names to that he hardly knows what he’s supposed to feel at any given point in time. “Good evening, Sandalphon,” he offers, his voice gentle and soft and full of affection. And the sound of the other’s name appears to be all it takes for Ellie to meow loudly from her bubbly, lavender prison upon Lucifer’s back as she tries to crane her neck around to curiously peek beyond her owner’s shoulder at the younger man - her keen eyes narrowing into a glare once she spots that familiar nest of auburn hair. Lucifer, for his part, seems entirely unaware of Ellie’s struggles when he’s utterly captivated by the sight of Sandalphon dressed in his hoodie alongside his typical leggings and heels. “Thank you, and thank you for allowing me to visit you. I’m looking forward to tasting the coffee you’ve made, and – ah, I have something for you, as well, when we have a moment.” It’s hard for him to focus when he’s still awestruck by the sight of the homely flower shop that doubles as the barista’s residence. Something about it seems magical to him, perhaps if only because it’s where Sandalphon lives. And he can’t imagine a place he would rather be than beside the other, yet, even so, stepping into the smaller’s home is a strange mixture of comfortable and wonderful. His eyes wander everything and anything for a moment before he shakes his head gently to snap his attention back to Sandalphon. “I’m grateful you invited me over, and I’m so very happy to see you, Sandalphon.” Slowly, he reaches out his hand to push a few strands of auburn hair behind the other’s ear - his fingers gently gliding over the other’s skin as he leans forward to place a kiss in greeting upon the top of the smaller’s head before withdrawing again at the sound of another meow echoing against the rounded window of the backpack Ellie is still seated in, and he can’t stop the hoarse chuckle that falls from his lips. “Forgive me, I may have brought an uninvited guest along. She has never been left alone, so I’m afraid I didn’t have the heart to leave her behind today. I’m certain; however, that she’ll be on her best behavior. She’s rather fond of you after all.” Fond is not the word most people would use to describe Ellie’s feelings towards rival, and it most certainly wasn’t how the feline felt to the man she had dubbed an intruder in her quiet, and peaceful life, but, well, Lucifer, for whatever reason, was convinced they got along wonderfully.

[crazyyanderefangirlfan]

Living up to the Name pt 2

Jack calmly walked down the path that leads to Ramshackle. He just finished his jog with Vil and now on his way to pick up Valerie.

The wolf bit his lower lip at the thought of Valerie in Savanaclaw. Yes, Valerie can take care of herself, and Ruggie and Leona were protecting her too, but the tiny brunette was too lax.

Running up to a beastman whenever she sees one, asking to pet their ears or touch their tails if allowed. Which is usually yes, complimenting how soft their ears are and how fluffy or smooth their tails feel in her hands.

Unaware how their eyes flash when she touches them or how they frit their teeth when she coos how much they're enjoying it. Jack, whenever he can, would always stand near her whenever she goes up to a beastman and ask to pet their ears.

He would glare at them to make sure they behave and not say anything vulgar in front of her. But sometimes, he's almost convinced Valerie wants to be prey.

The sound of Ramshackle's gates snapped him out of his thoughts; stepping out was a familiar man wearing a fur coat. His lips were pressed into a thin line, and his brows were knitted to a frown. He carried a small bag in his left hand. The sound of footsteps caused him to turn his head.

"Ah, one of Valerie's loyal puppies." The potions professor remarked.

Ignoring the remark (and the blush on his cheeks), he questioned him.

"Good morning, professor. Why are you here at Valerie's dorm?" The man sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"The pup and her monster were at the lab yesterday to re-create their potion. Unfortunately, some students were playing magift and threw their disc too far and flew inside the lab. Amid the chaos, one of them dropped something in the cauldron."

Jack's ears flattened against his head, biting his lower lip. He asked one more question.

"Is she alright?"

"See for yourself." That was all the man said before leaving.

The wold made a dash to Ramshackle, worry flooding his system. Once he reached the porch, he grabbed the door handle and ripped it open. As soon as he did, a sweet and sultry scent attacked his nostrils; it had him reeling back and buckled his knees. His tail wagged wildly behind him and started to drool a little; Jack inhaled deeply, intoxicated by it.

It was almost familiar.

His body jolted when he caught Valerie's scent in the mix. Remembering why he was here in the first place, he took long-legged strides following the smell. The more he followed, the stronger the scent became to the point he had to cover his nose to not get overwhelmed. It lead him to the lounge; he peeked inside but wasn't prepared for what he saw.

Valerie sat on the couch wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe. Grim was on top of her head, which had a long pair of rabbit ears. There was the same color as her hair, and the inside was a dark shade of pink.

Valerie was caressing her ears, staring at herself wide-eyed in a mirror. While familiar was feeling the softness of her ears.

"Cute." Jack whispered.

Her ears twitched.

"Jack?" The opal-eyed girl and her monsters turned and found him peeping from where he stood. The wolf flinched at being caught but sheepishly entered the lounge.

"Hey, Val." He greeted, staring at her ears.

"Hey." She replied, noticing his stare. She chuckled.

"Like my new look?" She cutely posed, making his blush deepened.

"Y-You could say that." He rubbed the back of his neck, not meeting her eyes.

"I met professor Crewel on my way here; he explained how you got them." Valerie gave him a shaky grin. As she stood up, Grim fell off her head and grabbed the closest thing he could reach. Which was her robe and it fell down with him.

She laughed at him and picked him up. However, she had forgotten she was not alone.

Jack, who attempted to help. But got caught off guard when Valerie removed her robe to catch her monsters. No matter how many sleep-overs they had, he still blushes at her sleepwear. Seriously, this is a boy school, and she should be more careful; maybe he should ask Vil to give Valerie pajama pants.

To make matters worse, the scent she gave off amplified the moment she took off her robe. Jack was trying hard not to drool; he brought his arm up to his face to block out her smell and his vision from her. But it didn't do much.

Somebody...Please, save him.

"Oi, henchwoman. Put your robe back on; your scent is killing Jack." Grim remarked, seeing how much Jack was suffering. Valerie glanced behind her; she quickly dropped her monster on the couch and put her robe back on.

Jack took an experimental sniff and lowered his arm. The opal-eyed girl gave him an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Jack."

"It's alright."

"D-Did I smell that b-bad to you?" She stammered. She had her head down, a blush covering her face that reached the tip of her ears.

"NO!" The Ramshackle residents jumped at the wolf's heated denial. Jack, realizing what happened, coughed.

"No." He answered more calmly. "You don't. It's just overwhelming, that's all. You actually smell incredible."

Valerie smiled at him. "Thank you." Grim snickered.

"Hey, youngster. We managed to re-design your outfits for today- Oh, hey Jack." Wilbur greeted, having to phase through the room.

"Thanks, Wilbur." She turned to face Jack.

"So care to join me for breakfast before we head to Savanaclaw?

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

Leona yawned loudly, not bothering to cover his mouth as he stretched his arms behind him.

The lion beastman sat on the bench, gazing at his dorm mates as they stretched. Today's training focused on speed and stamina lately; his dorm mates began to fall short on those. Truthfully they still have no idea on the training method to use. But thankfully, Leona knows the perfect herbivore to help.

"Yo, Leona. Is Jack back with Valerie?" A familiar (and semi-annoying voice) asked. Walking up to him was Ruggie, adorned in his dorm uniform like everyone else.

"Do I look like his babysitter to you?" The brunette growled.

"The hyena held his hands up in defense. "Alright, alright. Just asking."

The lion huffed and went back to observing his dorm mates. He inhaled deeply; before bursting into a coughing fit. A sweet and tantalizing scent filled his nostrils as soon as he inhaled, and it looks like he wasn't the only one. All the beastmen stopped what they're doing and stood there. Some in shock and others were trying to locate where it was coming from.

"Ughh, Leona...'Ruggie groaned. He was clutching his head in one hand and covering his nose with the other.

"This scent smells...Familiar." He muttered. The prince grunted in agreement and craned his neck to the side.

"Hi, Leona!"

And he found the source standing next to Jack and a pair of rabbit ears on her head.

Wait

What?

Leona blinked at the sight before him, wondering if he was taking a nap right now. He rubbed his eyes; before looking at Valerie.

She's still there with those ears.

What the fuck?

"What the fuck?" Ruggie voiced exact thoughts when he caught a glimpse of Valerie.

Valerie wore a standard savanaclaw uniform; with a few modifications. Unlike the rest of the uniforms, she had a low circular neckline, denim mid-thigh shorts, and black combat boots.

"Well, this is interesting." Leona chuckled.

He casually made his way to the now rabbit beastwoman and stopped in front of her. He lifted a finger and gently caressed one of her ears.

"Who would have thought calling you herbivore enough times would actually turn you into one?" He surmised, amused at the development.

Ruggie questioned on how did Valerie turn into a beastwoman. The girl glanced down at the monster in her arms, who grumbled under his breath. She gave them a brief explanation of what happened and adding that Crewel might be done with it by the end of the day.

When she finished, the two upperclassmen gave her a dead stare. Ruggie opened his mouth.

"Should have left the cat to suffer."

"Hey!" Grim tried to breathe flames in his direction, but hyena side-stepped out of the way.

"I'm alright. Seriously I feel...Weirdly energized." As if to emphasize her point, she bounced up and down; like a rabbit.

Grim, who was starting to feel dizzy with all the motion. Jumped out of arms and landed on the ground.

Without warning, she sprinted towards the field, maneuvering through beastmen. She leaped up and landed a kick to a nearby training dummy, destroying it instantly. The action caused a bubble of excitement to rise within her. She turned her attention to the rest of the training dummies and began her assault.

Left to right, she unleashed a barrage of kicks to every dummy within her line of sight, destroying them in a matter of seconds. A small crowd began to form; the boys stared at her in awe, admiration, and perhaps a tinge of fear.

Leona and Ruggie felt fear creeping up within them. They were having war flashbacks of the women back in the Afterglow Savannah. Ruggie briefly wonders if she might get along with them.

"'Oi, Ruggie." Leona spoke up. The hyena glanced beside him, noting the way his dorm leader kept his eyes on Valerie's movements.

"Yeah?"

"I figured what our training method is." He announced, walking over to the tiny girl.

Valerie delivered a roundhouse kick to the final dummy; it broke into dozens of pieces. The crowd around her cheered; none of them has ever seen anyone knock over, let alone destroy, every single dummy in a short amount of time.

"You got one helluva kick, Herbivore." A familiar lazy tone called out. At the corner of her eyes, she spotted Leona walking up to her.

He bent down to her eye level, smirking at her.

“How do you feel about a hunt?”

[inanotherheadspace]

The Adventures of Team Lune - Chapter Three: The Tale of Two Kitties

Summary: A dragon slayer, a demon slayer, and a god slayer walk into a Guild Hall… and all goes to hell

Pairings: Natsu x Fem OC, Gajeel x Fem OC, Gray x Fem OC, Sting x Fem OC, Laxus x Fem OC, Loke x Fem OC

Word Count: 2,817

Previous Chapter - Masterlist - Next Chapter

“How long are we talking about?” Gajeel quipped as Calypso poured the Jasmine tea into two matching mugs.  

“Well, I should probably start with how Team Lune was formed-”

“I just wanna know about Astria’s damn cat.”

“That’s the thing, she’s not just Ria’s cat. Opal just likes Ria the best.” Calypso smiled softly to the gruff dragon slayer as she placed his mug in front of him before taking her seat.

“Thank you.” He mumbled before picking up the pale pink mug and blowing on its hot contents. “How’d you join the guild and meet them then?”

“Oh, the wolves set me free after mastering my magic and I just kinda stumbled into the guild hall.” Gajeel almost choked on his tea at her statement.

“Wolves?”

“Yeah, the only way you can learn Moon magic is from this one eternal wolf pack. Like how you, Ria, and Natsu were trained by dragons. Funny enough, because of my training, I also have a good sense of smell and hearing. My nose isn’t as strong as my ears are though.”

“Just like we do,” Gajeel mumbled, more so to himself than to anyone else. The plumette across from him simply nodded before taking a sip of her tea. “How’d you end up with the wolves?” Calypso’s eyes dropped to her hands as she began to play with her fingers.  

“I don’t know much more than what Leto told me. Apparently, my mother was killed, there was a battle, maybe even a war – all I know is that our home was destroyed. My mother was a student of the wolves when she was a kid, so she left me with them while she fought.”

“Leto, is that your wolf?”

“Hmm, in a sense yes. She’s the pack leader. I have the same loyalty to her and my pack as you dragon slayers have to your respective dragons.” After a momentary pause to drink more tea, the mage continued. “Ria came to the guild with Natsu, and May was found outside the Guild’s doors as a newborn. For the longest time, Ria stuck to Natsu and May was oddly drawn to Mystogan. Both were very shy – all of us were as kids. I became friends with Cana, the two of us would go on the jobs Master approved of. The three of us never really became close until Mystogan left on an S-Class quest. Master demanded that May stay back, that was a dark day. This strong kid that I always looked up to just, broke.” Gajeel kept his eyes on Calypso as her eyebrows drawn together as she focused on the cup in her hands.  

“Master eventually got tired of May’s attitude and moodiness. He decided to take Ria away from Natsu and me away from Cana. Without telling any of us, he sent us out individually to the same job. We all left mere hours apart no less, none of us caught on until we all showed up at the same door for the requested meeting time. It was a simple job – just to find a lost item. Gramps figured we could find it easy. Between mine and Ria’s tracking skills and May’s all-around bossiness – it was done by nightfall. We’ve been together ever since.”

“Thats nice and all, but I only want to know about the cat.” Gajeel grumbled before finishing his tea.  

“A good story is informative and well rounded. It’s a form of art and in this house, you’ll respect it.” She quipped back; her eyes flicked up to meet his in a demanding stare down.  

“What are you going to do if I don’t?” He matched her intense glare as the words left his lips. A sinister smirk spread across Calypso's face, sending a slight shiver down the Iron Dragon Slayer’s spine.  

“Well, for starters, you wouldn’t ever make it out of this house. What happens after that – probably a few broken ribs, lots of chains, and maybe a whip.” She broke eye contact with him as an almost undetectable trace of blush speckled her face. Gajeel’s trained eyes picked up on it quickly, before a faint blush appeared on his own face after her words sunk in. The slight silence became unbearable for Calypso, her hands began to fidget with her mug once more.

“We got Opal as a reward from a quest. It was weird – they gave us this light pink egg with silver and black sparkles and swirls on it. None of us had any clue what to do with it. When we got back to the guild, we found out Natsu and Lisanna had found one in the forest as well. Ria, May and I joined them in the woods to hatch the eggs. Well, whenever May was actually around the five of us kept the two eggs warm – that was really Natsu’s specialty.” As Calypso spoke and reminisced, a smile stayed on her lips. A small laugh escaped her as she thought more on the story before continuing.  

“I was no help at all, and the others realized that pretty quickly. They put me in charge of gathering firewood and food. I mostly just avoided the place; they were holed up in the same woods my wolves are usually in too. So, I just hung around them more than anything. After about two weeks, Happy and Opal’s eggs hatched. They’ve been with us and a part of the guild since.”  

Before either of them could get another word in, the front door opened, and three voices could be heard. Calypso’s face lit up as her friends had arrived home, her tea and Gajeel completely forgotten. Gajeel looked past the plumette and out the kitchen window, the sky was pitch black.  

“I didn’t realize it was this late, I'll head out.” His gruff voice brought Calypso’s attention back to him.  

“Huh?” She asked before whipping around and looking out the window. Pieces of plum-colored locks fell from her bun, framing her face as she turned back to face him. “Sorry about that, I rambled on for too long. I’ll probably have to cook for the others, do you want to stay for dinner?”

“Depends on what you’re cooking,” Gajeel said as he got up from the table, Calypso followed suit and walked behind him towards the front door. Opal was resting in Astria’s arms as the three of them chatted in the living room.

“Hey Gajeel!” Astria called out with a wave.  

“Thanks for holding down the fort, Gajeel.” Natsu offered a small grin, as he turned to Calypso. “So, what’s for dinner?”

“Noodles and chicken thighs.” Calypso offered a shrug in response.  

“I’ll see you four at the guild.” He turned to Calypso and gave he a gentle pat on the head. “See you later brat.” Gajeel headed out the door as Calypso’s face turned bright red.  

“Wait, so you aren’t staying?” The plumette looked offended for a swift second, before her composure regained.

“Nah, I forgot I was going to train tonight since the weathers gonna be alright, since it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.” Gajeel grinned before slipping out the door and past Natsu.     “Did you two have a date? Are we interrupting?” Astria pouted momentarily, before the mocking tone dripped through her second question.   “He likes herrr!” Happy’s snarky comment broke the short pause. “It was nothing like that!” Calypso paused before biting back at her friend, “Did you and Natsu go on a date?” This caused the light blue haired dragon slayer to blush just as heavily as Calypso was. Astria waved her hands in the air as a way to dismiss Calypso’s question.   “Hey! We were training!” The pink haired dragon slayer crossed his arms over his chest before huffing.   “Aye Sir! We were training really hard Calypso!” Happy shouted along. “No yelling in the house! Indoor voices!” Opal folded her arms, before snuggling against Astria’s leg. “Lucy stopped us from training anymore for the night.” “I see, did you guys do that much damage?” “No... Not really...” Astria mumbled, patting Opal on the head softly. Opal offered a small smile in return before simply nodded, “It was some hefty damage, but it was a remote forest.” “Yeah, that sounds like you two. Dinner will be ready in half an hour, go wash up, you all smell disgusting.” Calypso offered a small grin, suppressing the disappointment that she wouldn’t have her company tonight.

◊◊◊◊

The guild hall was filled with noise, booze and the heavenly scent of food – even at 8 in the morning. Astria, and Calypso sat at a table closer to the bar, all still with sleep in their eyes.  

“Do you think I can grab a drink with breakfast?” Calypso asked her teammate.  

“Calypso Lunar. No!” Astria scolded the oldest member as Gray and Loke took up seats at their table.  

“May still hasn’t come back and I’m worried. I need something to take the edge off. What about a splash of something in my coffee? That should be fine right?”

“Okay Cana.” Gray teased the plumette, causing Astria to choke on her water.  

“Hey man, leave my Caly alone.” Loke said as he threw his arm around her shoulder. “Both her and Cana are hot and have huge boobs, if they wanna drink this early in the morning we shouldn’t stop them. Why you ask? Because us hot blooded men benefit from it in the long run. Especially since they both tend to strip when they drink a lot.”

“If you’re so worried about May, why don’t you just go look for her?” Gray asked the two mages. The two women in question just shared a look and nodded once before turning back to him.

“She’s seemed stressed since she’s come back from her mission. We want to give her some breathing room and not harass her about it. She’ll tell us when she’s ready too” Astria sighed before turning away from the guys and letting her eyes wonder around the guild hall.  

“That makes sense at least. How long has she been gone?” The slight worry in the ice mages voice caught Calypso and Loke’s attention. Both had a devious smile cross their lips and a dark look tinted their features.  

“Awwww is ice boy worried about my May?”  

“I think he is Caly. He’s worried about a hot young woman who’s kicked his ass time and time again. What’s the score now Gray? 132 to 0?” Loke added on, poking fun at his tsundere of a friend. Gray scoffed at the two before leaning back and crossing his arms. Before he could give his own witty remark back, the guild hall doors opened. A cross-breeze of wind carried the familiar scent to the Dragon Slayer’s nose.  

“Hey Caly, May’s back.” Astria pointed out as she kept her eyes on their short blonde friend. Caly’s head whipped around and saw her make her way over to them. “She looks unharmed which is good.”

“Her stomach just rumbled; I'll flag Mira down.” Calypso added as she waved over to the white-haired barmaid.  

“Hey guys, what can I get you?” Mira asked in her usual joy-filled tone.  

“Two breakfast specials, a thing of smoked salmon, and three extra strong coffees. Can you put something in one of them for me?” Calypso ordered easily, with her being the oldest of the three she always took care of the others.  

“Of course! I’ll be back with the drinks soon.” She walked back to her spot behind the bar as May finally arrived at the table.

“Hey...” The blonde spoke softly before taking the empty seat next to Calypso and across from Opal. Before the other two could speak, May pulled out two flyers from her pocket and showed them to her teammates. “The two of you should join the Miss Fairy Tail pageant. You guys have a better chance of taking home the gold if there's more than one of youse.”

“Jason’s a judge so I’m guaranteed top three.” Calypso said as she looked over the paper she snatched from May.  

“Didn’t he judge last year too, and Mira still won?” Gray snipped to get back at her from earlier. Loke and Calypso stared daggers at the ice mage.  

“Don’t listen to him. He’s ugly and unlovable, while you’re sexy and powerful. Which to be fair, is the best combo in a woman.” Loke complimented Calypso as her face continued to darken.

“I’ll skin you both alive if either of you continue to speak.”

“And on that note, I’ll be leaving.” Loke took his leave from the table, leaving Calypso’s death glare to Gray.  

“All I have to do is whistle, and I can have a pack of wolves maul you to death.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah I know. You need a new threat Calypso; you’ve used that one too many times already.” As Gray spoke, Mira silently placed the drinks on the table for the three women and scurried away. She valued her life too much to get between the bickering mages.  

“Probably as much as you take your clothes off.” Astria added as she shoved the ice mage away from her in a playful manner.

“As the leader of Team Lune, I need you all to behave while we’re at the guild.” Opal said sarcastically.   “Yes, I’m so sorry, oh great master Opal.” May said as the three mages bowed to the light pink feline.  

“What the actual fuck is your team?” Gray asked with scrunched eyebrows. In a split second, May was behind Gray as her palms were placed on both of his ears, applying a light pressure as she looked to her friends.   “Speak like that again and I’ll blow you up so badly they’ll be piecing you back together for weeks.” Gray hunched back a bit at her words, before sighing.   “Yeah yeah, whatever,” he let out with a huff.

“And we’ll feed your body parts to my wolves.” Calypso added with a smug smile.  

“Do you not feed them? Isn’t that animal cruelty?”

“I do feed them, they just like people meat. And they like it fresh too.”  

“You need psychological help.”

“Everyone in this guild does.” Astria added to as she was looking over Mays shoulder at her pink haired best friend.  

“Open your mouth again and see what happens ice stripper.” May threatened once more.  

“I’ll be taking my leave now too.” Gray sighed as he pushed the chair back and left the table. Mira made her way back to the table with breakfast as May took Gray’s seat.

“Enjoy Ladies!” Mira called as she turned and headed back.  

“So, to confirm – you two are joining the pageant and we’re going on this job.” May stated as she cut into her food.

“Job?” Calypso and Astria asked in unison.

“Oh yeah I forgot to explain that since ice box interrupted us. It’s a simple one for 100,000 jewels. We just need to capture a bandit, so it’ll take us what, an hour at most? Easy money.” May explained as Calypso downed her alcoholic coffee.  

“Yeah, we’ll be fine. When do we leave?”

“Give me two hours to drink a bit more and nap.” Calypso stated as she let out a yawn.

“You can nap on the train.” Opal spoke softly as she snacked on her salmon.  

“This is why you’re in charge!” The three mages said in unison to the cat.  

“Does it have to be a train though? Can’t we fly?” Astria asked with sadness in her voice.  

“Opal can’t carry all three of us Ria.” May stated softly as she picked at her breakfast. The four sat in silence for a few seconds before Calypso spoke up.

“I’m gonna go threaten Gajeel. Do we think I can convince him to let me braid his hair?” Calypso asked as she stood up from the table.

“Maybe if you challenge him to something and use it as your prize.” Astria pitched to the plum haired mage.  

“Say less.” Calypso sauntered over to where Cana, Gajeel and Juvia were seated and sat next to her best friend.  

“So, uhhh. May I'm not going on a train so you’re on your own. I love you!” Astria said as she skipped out off with Opal following behind.  

“Well then, I see how it is.” May spoke to no one before letting out a sigh. She silently continued to eat her meal before heading out on her now solo job. As she continued to pick at her food, she looked over to her friends – Caly was shoving a beer in Gajeel’s hand with a smile on her face. While Ria was happily sitting across from Natsu and Happy with Opal in her lap. The four of them were laughing happily as May sat by herself. They really would be okay without me, May thought to herself with another silent sigh.

[crimeronan]

no supernatural au concept i haven’t been able to stop thinking about since considering ronan and opal were once the same age

the lynch family has a reputation.  partly it’s because they’re fucking weird, but let’s be real -- every rural town has its share of characters.  weird farmers are par for the course.  if the lynch family just kept to themselves at the barns, no one would know they existed.  however niall lynch is a swaggering larger-than-life storybook hero who loves attention and scandal, so: the lynch family has a reputation

by and large, the household is made up of known entities.  niall, the irishman who never shuts the fuck up.  aurora, the quiet beautiful wife with the bizarrely gorgeous beadwork at craft fairs. declan, the eldest son who’s got one foot in DC and won’t ever look back when he gets there.  matthew, the youngest boy with the enthusiasm and adoration and intellectual prowess of a golden retriever puppy

however.  the lynch twins are largely folkloric

it’s not just that they never seem to appear in public.  it’s that there are a dozen decade-old stories told by knitting folks on their porches that cannot POSSIBLY all be true, including:

the lynch twins set fire to the post office

the lynch twins stole four pallets of soda from the back of a truck unloading at the henrietta general store and drank all the evidence

the lynch twins lured a man into the woods and stabbed him in the leg

the lynch twins helped the local vet’s office coordinate 30 TNR procedures because they’ve befriended a colony of feral cats

the lynch twins trained a rotating cast of corvids to shit on the mayor when he leaves his office every evening

the lynch twins were banned from three local churches after incidents involving a statue of mary, stained glass worth several thousand dollars, and the preacher’s microphone respectively

adam doesn’t give much of a shit about local gossip but has gleaned quite a bit of it when being deferential and polite to middle-aged women at the dollar store.  it takes him a month of attending aglionby to put together that ronan and declan are siblings (they look unbelievably alike, but their body language and speech are SO different) and another week after that to realize ronan’s one-half of the unidentified lynch family variables

“isn’t there another one of him?” adam blurts

declan looks up and blinks, nonplussed rather than smooth for once in his life.  “excuse me?”

adam’s eating lunch and has ended up at a table with declan not because of friendliness, but because declan’s taking a break from his roving cast of intransient social interactions to work on college apps and adam’s getting a head start on homework.  neither is here to make friends.  adam nods across the room at ronan, who appears to be constructing a fully landscaped mountain sculpture out of french fries

declan says “god, i wish” as ronan upends a bottle of ketchup over the fries and causes a volcanic eruption that obliterates everything in the lunch table’s path

that tells adam absolutely nothing but also he doesn’t really care.  later, when he and gansey are friends, and he’s no closer to understanding ronan but much more actively annoyed by him, he asks gansey the same thing

“oh, his sister!” gansey says, and beams.  this at least explains why she doesn’t go to aglionby.  “she’s great.  she’s taught me a lot about what plants want to kill you”

adam can’t decide what to make of this.  once upon a time he’d think that the affection of someone like gansey predisposed the mysterious lynch sister toward being like declan, but it turns out gansey reserves that ebullient expression for losers like him and ronan and noah alone, so.  more data necessary

it’s important to note that this isn’t like, occupying a huge part of adam’s mind.  it’s just idle querying because he likes knowing things.  to that end, he asks ronan once if he’d ever met ronan’s sister when adam attended the public junior high.  they’d be in the same grade, right??

ronan gets weird and evasive with some response about how she homeschools with his mom, and adam’s like okay, some religious cult thing with the women running the farm. whatever. not my issue

adam and ronan get slowly closer over time, etcetc, you know how it goes.  eventually adam's invited to the barns.  his first few visits are normal.  suspiciously normal.  aurora is loving and gentle in a way that makes adam skittish - probably more due to his own issues than any Actual malevolence, but who knows - and there is zero mention or sign of a girl living there

it doesn’t Really bother adam, but it kind of bothers him.  less because he’s dying to meet her and more because equations that don’t add up make him nervous.  his running list of theories include 1) she doesn’t exist 2) she’s dead 3) she’s at some elite boarding school for girls in connecticut 4) she’s an emancipated minor 5) she’s not an emancipated minor but has run away anyway 6) she’s a fugitive from justice 7) she’s in prison 8) she’s dead but, like, worse this time

adam carefully and subtly raises his concerns to ronan by asking, “so is your sister being tortured in your attic or what?”

ronan, reasonably, is like, “the fuck?”

adam’s like, “look, all i’m saying is that when a twin goes missing in a story and no one seems to care, something sinister’s afoot.  that’s all i’m saying here.”

ronan’s like, “say the word ‘afoot’ again.  you sound like gansey.  come on”

he takes adam out for a walk in the woods, which seems like a pretty murdery way to respond.  adam, uncomfortably aware of that rumor about luring people to the woods and stabbing them in the leg, is like okay i’m about to die here.  i’ve uncovered a lifetime movie plot and now i’m gonna be buried in unmarked barrel #457.  what a way to go

this is pretty much confirmed when he gets attacked

he hits the ground before he’s really registered anything beyond a surprise impact.  it drives the breath out of his lungs. he flips onto his back right away.  ronan’s got half a foot of height on him and stupidly long legs so a sprinting escape doesn’t seem viable.  he’s gonna have to rely on the old-fashioned power of fingernails and kicking

he has time to see a pair of blown-pupil eyes WAY too close to his face before the weight disappears from him.  the culprit is a girl, late teens, with hair that’s probably blonder when the matted dirt is washed out of it.  “for fuck’s fucking sake,” ronan is saying, hauling her to her feet and blessedly away from adam’s vulnerable internal organs, “why. WHY.”

“holy shit.”  adam sits up, clutching his chest.  he can feel every bone in his body.  “god. god. god”

the girl is almost as tall as ronan.  she’s dressed in some kind of baggy coverall-ish getup that might once have been an army parachute.  she is not wearing any shoes.  there’s some blood on her face from a recently-opened scab, and also a black speck on one cheek that adam thinks is a smashed fly

“you didn’t jump gansey!” ronan is saying, extremely exasperated.  “why!”

“i didn’t have my hammock yet when gansey first came,” she says.  she does not sound remotely sorry

adam looks up and discovers that there is in fact a hammock stretched between the trees.  it’s one of those heavy-duty camping numbers with thick canvas and a full insect net.  it’s also thirty feet in the air.  there are branches on the way down, but they are very precariously spaced.  adam does not want to know how she parkoured to leap onto his shoulders

“when you snap someone’s neck,” ronan says, “i’m not helping you hide the body”

“who says i haven’t already?”

“the fuck? and you didn’t ask me to help hide the body?”

she darts a few feet away and pulls herself into a tree.  adam watches with slight fascination as she shimmies out along a long branch until it dips under her weight.  as he gets to his feet, trying to piece together his wilted dignity, she rides her makeshift nature elevator down until she’s staring into his eyes again.  hugging the branch like a snake.  absolutely no consideration for how normal human beings behave. it’s almost marvelous

“sufficiently free of my attic, parrish?” ronan asks

“uh, yeah. yep”

“so this is opal,” ronan says

opal flips over so she’s hanging from the branch like a sloth.  then hooks her legs around it and reaches down until her palms are flat on the ground.  cartwheels out of the tree like a particularly feral acrobat.  adam jerks back to avoid being smacked by a faceful of twigs at the whipcrack slingshot of the branch bouncing back

opal pulls a pocketknife from one of the folds in the DIY parachute sewing machine tick protection onepiece from hell.  adam eyes her warily

“opal, this is parrish. or adam. whichever. don’t stab him”

“god,” adam says again

opal beams.  she opens the pocketknife, but all she does is start cleaning bits of plaque from between her teeth with the tip, which is somehow so much worse than stabbing.  adam looks at ronan and finds him pinching the bridge of his nose.  it occurs to adam that this is the only time he’s EVER seen ronan express any sense of embarrassment in any social situation.  ronan has no sense of propriety.  adam didn’t know he was capable of feeling embarrassed

he immediately likes opal just for that.

“yes,” opal says, unconcerned, answering a question no one’s actually asked.  “ronan is the normal one”

[world-of-socks]

Chapter 3- Honey, You’ve Got a Big Storm Coming.

Note: I promise white’s chapter will be coming at some point but her chapters will be secondary to blue and yellows. Anyway, I actually finished another chapter and I’m proud of myself. Oh and just a heads up: if there are grammar or spelling mistakes that’s all my fault lol. Hope you guys enjoy the next chapter!!

(Idea from: @steven-universe-au-prompts )

Yellow could only sit with her thoughts for so long. Once everyone had presumably been asleep for at least an hour, she sat up and discreetly began working on her homeworld reports. She didn’t get much done, however, in fear of being caught she was paranoidly looking up at every small sound. Her eyes would dart to every cot and then to the shadow on the tent opening and then back to the cots and then back to the shadow, over and over until she felt safe. She needed this to work, she would stay for a week, train with them, learn their tactics, learn their plans, and take them down from the inside. It was going to be easy.

It would have been easier to feel safe if she hadn’t had to have this form. She didn’t like it much, it was too small compared to the one she was used to. She had to keep it though, she had to keep up the appearance of a Yellow Tourmaline, she had to fit in.

The sun was coming up, but barely, it was still going to be dark for a while, she observed. She decided it was best to put away her work now and to lie down on her cot. Her eyes wouldn’t close, she didn’t want any surprise attacks. As she sat there she listened closely to the sound of the birds, annoying creatures, the sound of the frogs, also annoying, and the sound of her fellow generals twisting in their slumber. Eventually she heard one move more than the others, she sat up slightly so as to get a better look.

Peach had sat up and held a strange stick that appeared to be smoking. Yellow just assumed it was a piece of human culture that the other had picked up. The pinkish-orange general sat there, despondent, her eye focussed in a place Yellow couldn’t see or understand. It took a moment but eventually the sapphire had realized that Yellow tourmaline was studying her.

She simply gave her a frown and a nod of acknowledgement and went back to staring off into nothing. Yellow turned away and watched as the other generals begin to wake up as well. The emerald, Bear, got up first. She slipped on her boots, tied them, and walked to the front of the tent. She whispered something to Cat’s Eye who appeared to nod and then they left. Bear walked back inside and gently woke up the rest of the generals.

“Time to get up, everyone.” she stated, in an official voice that wasn’t quite a whisper but wasn’t shouting either.

Black opal stretched and sat up on her large cot, come to think of it Yellow hadn’t realized how differently each cot was sized to match its inhabitant. There was no uniformity in this place, how did it even function?

She watched as Opal did some strange movement with her hands in Bear’s direction.

“Yeah, Bismuth’s already down at the forges, she told me last night that she was going to start early.” Bear responded as if Opal had said something, as she spoke she too made weird hand movements, but less confidently, it appeared.

Opal moved her hands again.

“She thought it might be busier today, she also thought that she was a little behind.” Bear responded yet again with the same quality of hand movements.

Yellow didn’t understand what she just witnessed. Was this some secret code, did the fusion have mind reading abilities. She hoped not, but she quickly washed that thought out of her mind when she realized if the opal could read her mind, she would have been shattered already.

Bear frowned, “C’mon everyone, I’m serious we need to be up, now.” her voice was stern, but still unfamiliarly kind.

“I’m up, I’m up.” Ame groaned, stretching, her eyes still half closed, “Jazz. Jazz, get up ya sleepy head.”

Ame poked the large heap beside her in an attempt to wake up the large gem. It only sort of worked. The gem stretched and then was still again.

“Jazz.” Ame barked, now awake, “You great oaf, get up.”

The gem slowly got up, rubbing her eyes, and tiredly got to her feet.

“C’mon, let’s go.” Bear motioned for the rest of the generals to follow her.

They all pushed back the fabric flap of the tent and stepped into the crisp morning air, it was still dark.

“Where are we going?” Yellow murmured, mostly to herself.

“The training grounds.” Ame replied, “We have to get up earlier so we can get to our training. We spend the rest of our day training everyone else, planning, and doing whatever else we can.”

Ame laughed to herself, “It’s an honorable thing, being a general. It ain’t easy though. We have to work harder than anyone else, we have to set an example for every single one of our soldiers.”

Yellow simply nodded and turned away as they walked up a hill, eventually stopping on the large flat surface. The blue white tiles beneath their feet were still being laid in. This was a new base, a new camp.

The group followed Bear to the weapons rack and each of the generals took a weapon. Yellow simply stayed behind, not sure of the routine.

“General’s must be masters of all weapons.” Bear announced, “We train with a new one each morning, we train with our preferred weapon each night when we are finished with the day’s work. What’s your preferred weapon, Yellow?”

“I-...” she trailed off, she had never really wielded weapons before, her powers alone were a weapon, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t?” Peach raised her eyebrow.

“I’m not sure… I-... I’ve always admired the sword.” she walked dreamily to the weapons rack.

A huge broadsword that was almost as tall as she was caught her eye. She lifted it from the rack, it was heavy, but it felt balanced in her hands.

“I think… I think I prefer the sword.” she stammered, quite enamored with the weapon.

“Great.” Peach replied, fed up with the morning, “Now pick a different one ‘cause we’re about to train.”

Yellow bristled, but attempted to keep her calm. She set down the broadsword and picked up a bow. She huffed, her eyes on the ground, she could tell they were looking at her, she joined the group.

“Opal, will you kindly let loose the holo duelists.” Bear said, still doing the strange hand signals.

Black opal nodded and summoned a holographic duelist for each general. Peach was duelling with a ball and chain, Ame a set of dual long blades, Jazz an axe, Bear a set of daggers, and Opal with a strange whip-like blade that hissed through the air like a hot knife through butter.

Yellow faced her holographic opponent, a bow in hand, this was a weapon meant for distance combat, she wasn’t sure how to fight with it in close distance range. Her combatant wielded a spear, also a more of a long distance weapon. Yellow’s eyes darted from corner to corner of the area, a few spires were being built in the corners, maybe if she just…

She took off with lightning speed for one of the spires, her opponent chasing her.

“Running away all ready, ey?” Ame laughed, still viciously fighting her holographic rival, “Aww did you do this to make choosing yer nickname easier.”

Yellow just ran faster to make up for her frustration. She quickly climbed up the tower and made sure she was stable. She drew back the bow, lined up her shot, and…

Clang! Clitter ...clatter...tap.

The arrow hit the tile and clattered to a stop.

She had missed.

She cursed in ancient gem and lined up another shot, the hologram was aiming their spear.

Swish.

Another miss.

She was incredibly frustrated now, she struggled through her anger to try and get off another shot, but the arrow clattered to the ground. She could feel their eyes on her.

The hologram threw its spear. She dodged, it scraped her shoulder.

Yellow hurled herself at the hologram with a frustrated scream. She landed on its shoulders, she reached through its back and ripped out the fake gem. The hologram stumbled backwards evaporating as it went, she crushed the fake gem in her hand, panting. She kicked the glitching dust the holo-soldier left behind and walked briskly away in frustration.

The other generals had poofed their holograms within a few moments, and watched in horror as Yellow tourmaline viciously shattered her opponent. There was a moment when they just looked at eachother, they knew they would have work to do… but this was different. She was pretty far gone in the old gem ways.

“Yellow, wait!” Bear called, “Get back here, General! That’s an order.”

Yellow didn’t stop, there was no hesitation, she didn’t even turn her head. She just stormed away, head full of only frustration.

Bear shot a desperate look at Peach who’s horror had faded from her eye and an empty sarcasm was all that was left. She turned back to look at Ame and found that a shame and fear was still left in her face.

“I-... I pushed ‘er too hard…” she breathed, “Did- did I do this?”

“No… not really.” Jazz replied, “She’s just… she needs some time. We’ve all been there, right, it’s just… different.”

“I-... I’m gonna go talk to ‘er. I need to sort this out.” Ame ran off.

…………

Yellow ran down towards the tent, the only other place she knew. She saw their faces, but she didn’t understand why they looked that way. She did what she was instructed. But she hadn’t. She hadn’t used the bow right, she couldn’t do it, she failed. She looked pathetic and idiotic. What a clod. She ran faster, her face scrunching up.

She pushed through the tent, three unwanted tears scrolled down her cheeks, but she allowed no more to escape. She would show no weakness. She already made a fool of herself, she didn’t need this too.

“AARRRAUGH!!!” she screamed in frustration.

The room smelled like a summer storm, her arm crackled as she aimed a punch into her cot. She blinked. She had to calm herself, she could ruin the entire mission if she wasn’t careful.

The tent fabric was pulled back, a blue light was let through, the morning was still dark, but it was getting lighter.

“‘Ey, Yellow… are ya alright?” Ame stepped into the tent.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” she sniffed, unable to look her fellow general in the eye.

Ame strode over and sat next to her on the cot. Yellow tensed, not used to being this close to another gem. Ame noticed and slid down the cot, sitting a little further away.

“I didn’t mean to push ya like that.” Ame sighed.

There was no response.

“Look, I- I get it. I was like you once. I wanted to prove myself, but everything was so new, ya know. What am I saying….” Ame trailed off.

“I just wanted to say that you have nothing to prove, we all havta start somewhere.” Ame looked at Yellow, “But I need ya to start by putting the idea of shatterin’ behind ya. We don’t do that here. And you can be angry, we all are at times, but there’s no need to storm off like that.”

Yellow just gave a shaky huff in return.

“If ya need some time I’ll give it to ya, but-... but we expect you back on that hill to continue training.” Ame stood up and moved towards the exit.

“Ya got me?” Ame asked right before leaving.

There was no response. Yellow sat there, more slumped over than anyone had ever seen her. She stared into the floor. She refused to respond. She wouldn’t give in. She was too frustrated, too angry, but most of all she was right. She knew she was, she had to be.

Ame left the tent. She climbed back up the hill to her fellow generals, defeated. They looked at her, all asking a silent question. Ame shook her head.

Peach blew a smoke ring, “From what I can foresee, I can safely say, it’s gonna be a long week.”

[onetwothreeopalau]

Gem Glow Part 2

“You’ll never guess what’s happened!” Cried Steven, running through the door and up to Opal in total devastation. In his carelessness and grief it slammed shut with a loud bang, but he barely noticed.

She looked thoughtful for a moment as if trying to work out a worst case scenario. "Did an apocalypse come and wipe out almost all life on this earth?”

“No! Worse! Cookie Cats have been discontinued!” 

Opal weirdly enough, didn’t look too saddened by his terrible news. “Are those the biscuits that you like?”

“Opal!” Garnet suddenly called out, “Concentrate!”

Steven, in his grief, hadn't realised upon entering the house that Garnet and Opal had been a little busy before he’d come home. 

Well maybe not a little busy per say. The place was infected by large cockroach like creatures, crawling and spitting everywhere, even up the walls. He watched as one climbed along the couch and attempted to bury itself in a pillow to hide from the annoyed Crystal Gems. Garnet managed to pick it up by it’s wriggly back legs before squishing it between her gauntlets effortlessly.

Steven knew this was the perfect time to try to summon his shield, so he squeezed his eyes shut, and thought shieldy thoughts. He felt nothing except a stomach ache, so he opened his eyes in defeat, only to find one of the bugs right in front of him, one thin leg brushing against Steven’s bare toes and looking like it was getting ready to pounce.

Before it could jump onto him, possibly killing him dead or messing up his T-shirt, one of Opal’s hands reached out and punched it. Her fist only hit its hard back, but she grabbed it and snapped the thing in half.

Steven watched as it poofed into thin air, leaving nothing behind and Opal went to find another to squish, but suddenly she stopped and looked at her hands as if in confusion. Steven was certainly confused.

She looked like she was about to call Garnet but she got distracted by another one coming towards her. She kicked it like a football, and the cockroach landed on it’s back where she simply stepped on it with no hesitation whatsoever.

“I feel like I’m forgetting to tell Garnet something,” she said to Steven, but Steven just shrugged. He didn’t know. She shrugged right back at him and tried to think. “It can’t have been too important then.” She hoped so anyway. She tried to laugh it off and went straight back into the battle of the cockroaches.

Steven continued to attempt to bring out his shield, now watching carefully for the bugs, really not wanting a repeat of what had just happened, but Opal and Garnet made quick work of the rest of them and the room was empty of any cockroaches (huge and monstrous or otherwise) before he managed to create anything even remotely shield like.

He sat on the couch dejectedly, wishing in the moment that he could have a delicious Cookie Cat to make him feel better, but alas the world did not smile upon him. It truly was a rainy day for poor Steven Universe.

“Steven,” said Garnet, interrupting his dramatic thoughts, “Please check the freezer for me. Let’s make sure nothing managed to get inside.”

Steven didn’t know how one of the bugs would have managed to do that but he supposed they’d managed to infest the house, so  it wasn’t uncalled for to check so he obliged and opened the freezer and looked inside.

Only to find it stuffed full of Cookie Cats. He turned around in delight, to find Garnet and Opal, looking at him and smiling. “We heard about your Cookie Cats being cancelled, so we went around all the shops we could find and bought you as many as possible. Enjoy!” said Opal. She looked almost as excited as Steven, although it was mostly due to the happy look on his face.

“I bought them.” Garnet interrupted. “Opal picked them up and left the shop without paying.”

Opal blushed. “I forgot,” she murmured and Steven laughed and hugged her around the legs excitedly. “The whole thing was my idea,” said Garnet, and Steven hugged her too. Opal opened her mouth, but then shut it without saying anything.

Steven looked at the treats and picked one up feeling delighted he would get to enjoy the Cookie Cat deliciousness for just that bit longer.  As he looked at the pure heaven in his hands he began to sing along to the old ad jingle for Cookie Cats. You never forgot your favourite jingle.

Opal and Garnet smiled and laughed along and Steven grinned delightedly before opening the wrapper and taking a bite. He was in bliss. He was in love.

“I like to eat the ears first,” he remarked, but he didn’t get a response from either of the gems. He slowly opened his eyes and noticed they seemed to be staring at him expectantly. Steven was confused but then he looked down.

“My gem!”

Steven looked at the gem glowing again and tried to calm down. He’d already summoned his shield once, he could do it again! By some miracle, he kept calm enough and somehow manifested his shield and this time he didn’t let go of it, keeping it safe in his grip.

He looked at it properly now that it wasn’t flying around and he noticed that as well as being pink, there was a rose pattern on it. It was beautiful. Slowly, the shield dissolved into light and Steven’s gem stopped glowing. Garnet, in her excitement, picked Steven up and swung him around making him feel like he was flying through the air like a bird or a plane.

Opal looked happy too, but there was a touch of something else in her face, a sort of confusion to her happiness. Steven didn’t mind. He was confused too. Maybe she just didn’t realise just how cool he would be when he could fight with the gems.

He was about to ask Garnet more questions (he had at least 52, but maybe he could whittle his list down to the 23 most important.) when Opal slapped her head and groaned. “I forgot to mention.” She sounded sheepish, “Remember those cockroaches? Well I noticed something whilst we were fighting them-”

What it was that she had noticed, Steven wasn’t able to find out, because at that moment a loud, low rumbling noise was heard and from the beach he heard the unpleasant sounds of screams of fear. He, Garnet and Opal rushed to the beach to see Jenny, Lars, Buck and Kiki all cowered behind a rock and one of those cockroaches, but easily twenty times bigger than the ones they’d been fighting before. This one was about the same height as Garnet, if not taller.

Steven almost panicked, but Garnet put a hand on his shoulder, “Steven.” She said, calming his nerves, “Go protect the humans. Lead them away if you can.” She turned to Opal, “You wanted to tell me something.” It wasn’t a question.

”I was going to tell you earlier, but we got distracted. The corrup-“ she glanced at Steven still standing there, “the creatures. They didn’t have gems. So I think there’s a mother gem somewhere.” She trailed off to look at the cockroach they were facing. “Or there.”

Garnet sighed. “You should have told me earlier, but I bare responsibility for not noticing. It doesn’t  matter now. Steven. The humans.”

Steven ran over to the Cool Kids and Kiki who were still all behind the rock looking scared..

“Oh hey Steven.” said Jenny, noticing him, and trying to be friendly despite her fear.  “What is that thing?” She went to gesture towards the cockroach but thought better of letting even her arm leave the relative safety of the rock.

“A giant cockroach.” he replied, “That’s what it looks like anyway. Maybe it has a real name.” He thought about asking the gems but he probably had bigger priorities right this second. “Garnet and Opal asked me to help you guys get to safety, so maybe we should get off the beach whilst they’re fighting it.” He suggested slightly shyly. The cool kids were just so.. cool.

“Sounds good to me.” said Kiki and no one disagreed so they all ran in the opposite direction as fast as possible with Steven following slightly behind, managing to keep up pretty well despite his much shorter legs.

Once they were off the beach, they all took a collective sigh of relief. “You wanna hang with us for a bit, Stevie?” asked Sour Cream. Steven thought about it: he really did want to, but in the end he had to shake his head.

“Maybe another time, I’d really love to, but I should really go help Garnet and Opal. It’s my duty as a Crystal Gem!” The Cool Kids didn’t really understand, but knew what it was like to have to help out family.

Sour Cream smiled, bending down for a high-five, “Nah we get it, duty calls. Have a good day.”

“Have a good day!” said Steven, returning the high-five before running back down to where Garnet and Opal were still fighting the creature. Opal stood a distance away, getting ready to shoot an arrow, and the cockroach took this separation of the gems  to its advantage and went to take Garnet head on. Garnet was easily strong enough to handle it, but Steven still felt scared for her. He wished he could do something to protect them.

He felt his gem glow in his belly, feeling warm and somehow familiar, and all of a sudden he was holding his shield again. This time it felt much more natural in his hands. Like It really was a part of him. He stared at it for a moment, transfixed on the delicate carvings. He knew what he needed to do.

It took surprisingly little effort to fling it at the cockroach like a frisbee. It flew through the air, landing directly in the thing’s stomach before the weapon dissolved into bright light.

It didn’t do much more than knock it back slightly, but it was enough time for Garnet and Opal to use the slight advantage for all that they could. Steven tried to pull out his shield again, but found that he couldn’t. The warm glow was gone.

There was nothing more to do than watch Garnet and Opal make short work of the battle. They thought skillfully and in a weird way it was kind of beautiful to watch.

The cockroach poofed with a light similar to his shield, leaving nothing but a brownish coloured gem, similar to the ones Garnet and Opal had, which Garnet quickly bubbled and sent to the temple.

“You did well today, Steven,” said Garnet when they were back at the house. Steven was exhausted, but the gems still seemed full of energy. “We’re proud of you.”

“I only managed to summon it once though. I tried to summon it again but it didn’t work.” He tried not to feel insecure. He guessed it was pretty cool he could do it at all.

“It’s going to take practice and hard work, but I know you can do it Steven. You’re going to be great.” Garnet somehow had a way of saying things with such confidence it made Steven believe them like that.

“Aww thanks Garnet!” His cheeks turned red at the compliment.

“And don’t worry about Cookie Cats being discontinued. They could always make a return someday.”

The gem was an Enstatite. I thought the colours fit well and I liked the idea of giant bugs crawling over everything for some reason. I’m challenging myself to bring this out of being completely stuck to canon by using different corruptions and creating different solutions to problems. Before editing I wasn’t fully happy with this chapter, but it actually turned out better than I thought it would. Thank you to all that have enjoyed this so far, my next update should be on Friday unless I decide to post earlier out of sheer boredom.

[lilyharvord]

Song of the Phoenix Part 5

Find part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4

Tagging list next: @evangelineartemiasamos, @mareshmallow, @scarletguardsource, @war-storm, @mvaen

(Coriane) I hate this hallway, I think to myself as I move down the white marble steps into the smaller hallway that should take me to the main ballroom. I pick up my skirts, trying to adjust to the weight of them. I hate these too, I think bitterly as I try to pick up the pace. A Lady is never late, Aunt Jessabel whispers scratch at the back of my skull.

I pause in the middle of the hallway. You’re dead, I think back to those thoughts. 

So are you. 

My entire body locks up in horror as that third voice dances into my head. I go to scream, but no sound escapes. I can’t even scream this time. I couldn’t scream in my bedchambers either, not even when I wanted so desperately to scream for the Arven stationed outside my door. He was supposed to be protecting me, keeping her away. 

You’re not here, I whisper to Elara as I start moving again, my eyes dead set on the double doors on the other end of the hallway. Tibe is behind them, I’m sure. If not him, then Julian, or Sara, or the gardens, or something, something other than her.  Every step I took seemed to take me further from those doors though. I ground my jaw and pressed on, trying to walk faster.

Beads of sweat ran down my neck from my hairline, and I could feel my crown slipping, each step making it fall further to the side. With a clatter, if fell, and smashed into a rainbow of crystal. I paused and looked down at the shards of opal and diamond on the ground. 

When I looked back up, I was back in my bedchambers, watching a nurse’s back as she walked out of the room with Cal watching me over her shoulder. His eyes never leave mine. I went to take a step after her, trying to call for her to bring him back. If Cal was here, if he had just been here in the moment, everything would have been fine. 

You would have killed him too. You would have taken your precious son with you.

I shook off Elara’s voice, hissing at her to be quiet. She simply laughed though, and I felt like an animal pacing a cage as I tried to escape her. Slowly, I curled up in the corner of my room, wrapping my arms around my knees to hug them to my chest. Squeezing my eyes shut, I pressed my hands to my ears and rocked back and forth. 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up.” I screamed at her, but she laughed. She didn’t stop, not even when I stood and grabbed the biggest shard of the crown that I could find. She laughed through the first cut, and my scream.

I woke gasping for air, clutching the blankets to my chest, as I sat bolt upright, my throat hoarse. I didn’t recognize this place, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see…

The door into the room was thrown open, and I almost jumped out of the bed in surprise when it hit the wall. There was a crackling sound and all the lights in the room exploded to life. I shielded my eyes when they came on.  

When I finally managed to open my eyes, I could see Mare’s silhouette in the doorway. Her hand was filled with the soft glow of purple lightning, but as she looked around the room and noticed it was empty, the purple sparks vanished, and the lights in the room dimmed until they were gone. 

The darkness was complete in that moment, I shivered at the thought. The hallway beyond her was dark too, but I could just make out her head when she asked softly, “Nightmares?”

I shook my head softly, and looked away from her. It takes what feels like eternity, but she closes the door, the lock hitting home with a click. When I look up again, the dim light of the moon is falling into the room, barely illuminating the floorboards and the paintings on the walls. 

I sit awake, watching as the light of dawn slowly dances across the sky. I don’t dare close my eyes again.

(/////)

When I come downstairs a few hours later, I can hear the clatter of dishes and conversation from the kitchen. I can make out a new voice, another boy’s, it must be the other brother who I did not get to meet the other day. Sure enough when I step into the doorway, I see the table occupied by Mare’s two brothers, and Mare herself. She looks up when I enter, her eyes tracking me as I go to take a seat at the table. She reminds me of a cat. There used to be one that prowled in the bird atrium when someone accidentally left the door open. I feel like a bird she is watching too. 

“Is Cal here?” I ask softly, and that seems to stop the conversation around the table. Her brothers look between each other, and then go about taking a very deep interest in their breakfast. Mare simply looks down at the cup of coffee she has between her hands. When she looks back up, her expression is somewhat softer. I get the feeling she does not let people see her give this expression often. 

“He left this morning. Rori called early and said she needed him to start working with the soldiers. If he wants to get an apartment around here, he’ll need to start working now. She offered to reinstate him at a captain’s position. The last time he was in the military he left as an officer.” She states simply before lifting the mug and drinking deeply from it. I catch her eyes dancing over my shoulder, and I can almost hear her mother’s hesitation in flipping over the eggs she’s cooking. I can’t even begin to truly process that. Cal had said he was a general before, which meant he had been demoted upon abdicating. Did captains see as much action as officers? What about generals? I couldn’t remember, and I was too tired to chase down those thoughts. 

“So we are staying here permanently?” I ask, trying to make the quiver in my voice stop.  I had liked the other house much more. At least there it was only Mare and my son, here, here her whole family can hear my panicked night terrors. I don’t want to be a burden. 

Mare’s face doesn’t change a whit, not even when she says, “That depends on what Rori has planned.” 

“And what does she have planned?” 

“I don’t know,” Mare’s voice hardens. Her brothers shift away from her slightly, and it takes me a moment to understand why. The hair on their heads is starting to stand on end. The sound of silverware hitting dishes stops, and even the frying in the pan stops as well. 

It takes one exhale for Mare to sit back in the chair, and for the air around us to stop smelling like ozone. It is as if a jar has been opened slightly and the energy inside released, because the sounds of the morning return. 

The door into the house opens and closes, and Mare’s friend, Kilorn, I remember announces himself to everyone. The brothers seem to exhale in relief, and one of them leaps up from the table to wash his dish in the sink. He whistles as Kilorn walks into the kitchen, his shirt smudged with something. He walks past Mare’s mother and reaches straight into the pan for what is in there. She smacks his hand and sends him scurrying away. 

Waving his hand in embarrassment, Kilorn edges into the unoccupied seat next to Mare, and puts his boots up into her lap. Smiling at her, he says, “Saw Cal this morning, he was taking the new trainees on a run. I felt kind of bad for him though, it looked like he was about to die.” 

Mare raises a brow, her eyes finally leaving me to turn toward her friend. “Is that so?”

“I figured you two would at least still be training and running together.” 

“Well Kilorn, when people become adults, they stop having time to do things like that.” She teases as she rises from the table to wash out her mug, pushing his legs out of her lap as she does so. He sticks his tongue out at her and says, “I am an adult for your information. I have a job just like you and Cal do.” He puts his feet up onto the seat that she just stopped occupying as if to punctuate the point. 

“Right, because filing papers and stapling them is so beneficial to society.” She says with her back to him, as she turns to the sink. He laughs at her comment and puts his hands behind his head, carefree and bored with the conversation. “Well someone has to do that job. Besides, I’m moving up the chain. I’m helping with Xander’s upcoming run for Premier, I handle all sorts of important papers. I’m in on all the gossip.”  

“So you and Cameron have continued to work on your reading skills? When do you two find the time when you spend so much time rolling around in bed?” Kilorn kicks his heels down onto the floor and pointing a finger at Mare who has just turned around he says, “CarefuI, can say something… very similar.” His eyes dance to me for half a second during his pause before turning back to Mare, who narrows her eyes just slightly. He swallows deeply, and then smiles sheepishly.  

“About who?” One of the brothers pushes, his brows wiggling at the tease. Mare’s eyes flash to him, and for a moment, I fear she may blow him to pieces like an electric socket. He catches the look she throws and looks away quickly. The room goes quiet again, and I glance at the clock above the door. Eight twenty, and this day already feels like it will last for eternity.

(///)

Mare walks fast for someone with such short legs, and I have to keep up with her. More than anything I want to stop and stare at everything around us though. The people in the little cafes drinking coffee and laughing are mixed groups of reds and silvers. My heart pounds at the sight and I’m not sure if it is in surprise or discomfort. I feel like I’m looking through a blurry lens. 

Maybe this is all a fever dream, maybe the whole thing is just one crazy dream that I’m having. It seems like a very real possibility. Maybe I had gone to bed, had a nightmare about Elara, and I was still dreaming. Yes, that made a lot of sense. My son was still a baby, and I was going to wake up any minute now, and Tibe would be back from the front, and the nurse would bring Cal in and I would have the courage to tell Tibe the truth.

This was all just a dream. 

I almost slam into Mare who has stopped walking, my mind having wandered so far away that I almost walked into the middle of the street where the transports rushing by would have hit me. Would have killed me… again. The thoughts is odd, rather than uncomfortable. By my colors, I hoped I wasn’t getting used to all of this. 

I barely catch myself in time, and clear my throat at the awkwardness when she looks over her shoulder at me. Dream or not, this girl was lethal. Her gaze could level buildings, and no doubt that… lightning of hers, could do far worse. “This place is unlike anything I have ever seen,” I justify my distraction quickly, and her expression soften just the slightest bit again. She looks forward and says softly, “It was for me too.” 

I keep forgetting that she wasn’t born here, that this place is not her original home. She is Nortian, just like I am. Just like Cal, my mind whispers. The next thought follows quickly on its heels, they never told you how they met, there is more to the story than they say. You had to learn about it from the sister letting it slip. What else are they hiding?  

I watch her profile for a moment, trying to figure out the answer to that question. Mare certainly seemed like the type to keep information close if it benefited her. I had no doubt that she would keep things from me for a long time. I wanted to know about my son though, about how he had become the man I saw today. And I didn’t want to hear about the war, and all the death. I just wanted to get to know my son. I didn’t know anything about his upbringing, other than the fact that Elara had been around more than I would have liked… and Tibe had fallen apart. He had fallen apart, and disobeyed my wishes to keep our son from going head first into battle. He’ll be bigger than his father. Sara had told me that, had warned me of what would become of my son. If I had lived, he would have never seen the front. He would have never followed in Tibe’s footsteps. 

The small group of people around us starts moving again, and Mare does as well, pulling me from my thoughts so that I have to keep up again. She leads the way to a massive building that a horde of young people heads toward. She crossed the pristine lawns as if it is a day like any other, and she seems to blend into the crowd of people carrying their books and bags. 

I watch a group of girls walk by, all of them debating something heatedly as they pass us. They look at Mare for a moment as she walks by, and their conversation ends abruptly before they bow their heads and start whispering. Mare pointedly ignores them as she starts up the steps of the main building. I hurry after her, my eyes darting to everyone who looks at her twice. 

She starts into the marble halls, filled with pockets of sunlight from the windows that are everywhere to let natural light in. The hallways are less crowded, and judging by all the closed doors, people are sitting in classes. I have no idea who or what we are looking for, but Mare walks with a purpose. 

She turns right at the cross roads of sorts and walks past numerous boards that display fliers for research and travel. She rolls her eyes at them, and then pauses in front of a large door. She opens it, gesturing for me to walk in. I scurry by her and she follows, holding the door so that it doesn’t slam closed. 

The auditorium we enter is packed with students, all taking careful notes on the information being projected onto the board. Mare leans against the back wall, watching the man at the bottom who is writing feverishly on the board as well, lecturing as he goes. I try to do the same as her, pressing myself into the shadow created by the overhanging above the door, and listen carefully to see if I can actually learn something about this place. 

The far off sound of bells stops everything though, and the students hurriedly pack, their voices and bodies hiding the man at the bottom, even though I can hear his voice trying to shout at them to remember their reading, and that it’s changed to include another chapter. The students file past us, most of them looking at Mare who nods to them. Their eyes go wide and they elbow their friends before whispering excitedly as they leave the room. I can’t help but be grateful that no one recognizes me like they do with her. Whoever Mare was, she was important. The guards on the train had recognized her, and now these students were fascinated with her presence. 

When most of them have left, she starts down the stairs to the pit of the auditorium. I hurry after her, avoiding the stragglers that run up the stairs to catch up with their classmates. 

Mare smiles as she steps into the brighter lights that illuminate the ground floor, and says, “Since when do they have you teaching more modern history? I thought you were teaching Understanding the Calamites.” 

The man that turns around to smile at her words makes me freeze. I would know him anywhere, those tired eyes and sorrow filled shoulders were always buried in books and hunched over charts. I stay by the stairs hidden by shadows, my heart pounding. He looks so old now, with lines in his face and his hair speckled with grey. You should look like that, my mind hisses, and yet here you are, twenty-two years young.

“That’s my class at four, perhaps you should sit in on it.”

“I would, but you know I can hardly sit still when you and Cal are going at it.” Mare teases as Julian turns around gives her a quick one armed hug. He pulls away quickly to start gathering his books. His words are rushed as well as his movements as he says, “Sara and I just got back from Horn Mountain last night. We got your message, although I’m not entirely sure what had to wait until I returned that you couldn’t tell me over the—“

He drops his books when he sees me, his skin going pale immediately. I feel my cheeks heat as I step into the light as well. He blinks for a moment, and his eyes drag over me while his mouth works. He wants to speak but he’s not sure what to say. Julian is not one for useless conversation either, he only speaks when he knows exactly what he will say. 

I wish Mare would have told us where we were going, at least then I could have planned what I would say. Instead of that though, I smile weakly and whisper, “Hello Julian.” 

Finally, he seems to find his voice, and it’s barely a wheeze as he chokes, “Cori?”

My heart breaks as his eyes water. Whatever guilt he is feeling, I wish he wouldn’t. He must have known what was happening with me, and guaranteed he hadn’t tried to really help, but he’d had so much on his plate already… 

He shakes himself from his stupor, and with tears running down his worn cheeks, he steps over the mess of books at his feet. It takes two long strides for him to close the space between us. I had expected him to crush me to him. Instead, he hesitantly reaches out and pulls me into a tentative embrace. He still smells like dusty books and worn paper. His whole body shakes as he holds me. He barely does though, as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he squeezes too tight. I wrap my arms around him in response, my eyes completely dry as I whisper, “I always told you that squinting over all those books would give you wrinkles.” 

He lets out a choked sob, before he hugs me tighter. I close my eyes as I return the action. He runs his hand over my hair, and in time with each stroke whispers, “I’m so sorry, I’m so very sorry Cori.” 

My eyes fly open, and I pull away from him sharply. He looks about as embarrassed as I feel. I shake my head quickly, dispelling anything else he has to say. “I’m not angry with you,” I whisper while he wipes his eyes with the edge of his sleeve and looks at Mare over his shoulder. She’s sitting perched on the stole near the desk, taking an incredible interest in a bunch of crushed up chalk on the table, resolved to let us have our moment. 

“How is this possible?” My brother whispers as he looks me up and down again, as if he can’t believe I’m really standing in front of him. He turns to her though, waiting for her answer. 

“Figured you would know,” Mare says with a shrug.

“Does Cal—“

“He knows, we’ve met.” I answer for her, bringing Julian’s eyes back to me. His head falls to side just slightly, as his expression becomes sorrowful once more. “He’s become a man you would be proud of,” my brother begins, but quickly loses the words.  I smile weakly, and nod. Julian’s eyes fall to the floor and his books that are everywhere. He clicks his tongue and bends down to gather them up. I bend down and pick one up as well, turning it over in my hand. It has his name on it. I raise my brow at it before handing it to him. He smiles sheepishly, and in that expression, I can see the twenty-year-old boy I remember him being. He turns to put the books in a bag, and says, “I’ve… been busy with research.” 

I edge around him and then say, “And teaching. I never would have thought you would do that.” 

“Julian is one of the only professors here that is considered well versed in old era knowledge. He teaches the advanced class.” Mare spouts off as she pulls one of the books out of the bag to flip through it. Julian gives her a simple admonishing look, but his blush is obvious as he says, “Professor Calo is just as well versed if not more than I am.” 

Mare shrugs, and I smile bitterly as I say, “Father was always so worried that he was going to lose you to the academies.” 

My brother can’t help but smile as he says, “He turns in his grave every time I walk in here.” 

We both chuckle, and for a moment I am sitting in the garden at our old estate, with Sara at the table laughing with us. His smile falls quickly though, and the moment is lost to the dust. I look down at my hands before gesturing around us. “This place… I never would have thought something like it was possible.”  

“It was alive and well when we were children.” Julian says with a smile, happy to discuss history, something he can easily fall back on when he gets nervous. I look around the room, taking in all the charts and the maps to avoid his eyes and all these thoughts dancing through my head. Even without seeing me for years, Julian can read me easily. He turns to Mare and whispers softly, “Perhaps you could give us a few minutes.” 

“Take your time.” Mare hops off the stool, and makes her way up the stairs to the top of the auditorium.  She pauses for a half second though, and looking over her shoulder says, “But not too long, I need lunch and I promised Cal that I would meet him so he can complain about everything.” She continues up the stairs then. As soon as the door closes behind her, Julian turns to me and says, “You look the same as when I last saw you.” His voice breaks on the end, and he slowly sinks into the chair. He gives me a gentle smile though, trying to hide his pain like he always has. I stuff my hands into the pockets of my coat, and walk toward the board that is covered in his swirling script. 

He waits patiently for me to speak, but I grab the chalk and turn it over in my fingers to avoid having my hands at my side. 

“Cori,” he whispers softly, drawing my eyes. His lips are pulled into a tight line, and his expression is tired as he slowly turns in the stool to face me completely. I fidget with the chalk for another moment before whispering, “Not to be rude, but you’re so much older now.” 

He smiles, those lines near his mouth pinching as he does so. He folds his hands across his stomach and then says, “I happen to be only forty-seven for your information, which I would consider fairly young.” 

I grimace, but his smile keeps me from feeling too embarrassed. Setting the chalk down again, I reach up to massage my forehead. His smile falls as he sees this, and then whispers, “Which means you are now twenty-four years younger than me, instead of only two.” 

“I can do math Julian, I’m not that dumb.” I say carefully as I squeeze my hand into a fist. His face falls for a moment, and the anger that had been bubbling inside of me over the past two days, over missing everything, over losing everything, exploded out. Grabbing the chalk, I hurl at it him and cry, “How could you have let him do that?” 

He dodges the chalk by almost falling off the stool, and then says, “Who exactly are we talking about?”

“Both of them! Tibe and my son! He was never supposed to be a soldier! He could have died, Julian!” I cry as I advance on him and grab one of the books on the table. Swinging it, I manage to connect with his arm, which makes him yelp in surprise at the ferocity of my hit. He wrestles the book out of my hands before saying, “It wasn’t up to me! Cori, I practically left the royal house after Elara stepped in, and when Maven was born I wasn’t allowed anywhere near that boy, let alone Cal at times.” 

“You should have fought harder! You should have made sure that witch never touched my son! You should have made sure she burned for what she did!” I hissed as I tried to fish another book out of his bag to hit him with. He snatches it from my grip though, and placed them behind him before I could truly grab one. I result to my fists instead, trying to hit his chest and make him hurt the way I do. I want him to feel the bone aching agony in my heart. I’m smaller than him though, I’ve always been, and he easily wrangles me onto the stool he had been occupying before. 

His face is pale with blush, and he grips my wrists tightly so that I can’t swing anymore. His hands are shaking though, and his eyes are murderous. I’d never seen Julian so furious before in my life. His voice is like a whisper too when he says, “I tried, both Sara and I tried, Cori. Do you know what she did? She had them cut Sara’s tongue out for speaking about it. And she ordered ever blood healer in Norta to never help her.” 

My blood runs cold at his words, my arms slowly falling slack. He releases my wrists, letting my hands drop into my lap. 

“She refused my requests to tutor Cal, and she pushed me and Sara so far to the outskirts that we were hardly part of anything,” he turns with a sigh, shaking his head.  “I tried with Tibe, I really did. I tried to make him keep your wishes in mind, but you know him and what he would do when he saw something he wanted. Cal was already starting to show promise with strategy at a young age, and strength, and Tibe saw a son that he thought he could mold.” 

My shoulders slowly hunch, as that ache returns to my chest. In the silence that follows, I try to fight back the numbness that is creeping into my thoughts. All hope is not lost, I’m here now. Cal isn’t a boy anymore, and he obviously survived the war, and everything that happened. At great cost, but my son had survived. The past was the past; I would have never had control over his actions anyway.

“I’m so tired,” I whisper to him softly, as I set my head in my hand. I had hoped that with my return, without Elara being here, the nightmares would stop. But they were continuing, and they were almost worse than before. 

My brother sets his hand on my shoulder, and squeezes it reassuringly. “They’re going to want to know everything. Rori and her ilk, they’ll want to know how it happened and why it happened.” 

“I don’t know anything though, I already told them! I just remember the bathroom, and then… then darkness. Next thing I know, I’m waking up, laying in the mud and looking up at some trees.” I shake my head quickly, and try to ignore the headache that is building at the base of my skull. Any time I tried to think about that night I got a splitting headache. It was worse in Rori’s office, because I was trying to think about what had happened after the blackness. All I could come up with though, was the fact that I had woken up in the middle of the storm. 

My brother grimaces, and I glare up at him for a moment. 

“You want to know too I’m sure,” I grumble as I push off the stool. He chuckles to himself, and rubbing at his neck says, “I apparently haven’t changed much.”  

Huffing, I glance him over my shoulder and murmur, “No, you haven’t.”  (///////)

I could hear the discussion in the Barrow kitchen a few seconds before I was in the doorway. My son’s voice rising and falling over the sound of a kitchen sink reaches my ears first. Like Tibe, he doesn’t realize how loud he can be. Mare’s voice follows each of his pauses, and when I halt in the doorway, carrying my plate and the one I had grabbed on my way in, I can see them standing at the sink shoulder to shoulder. He passes her dishes that she dries, the two of them smirking at each other as they talk. 

“So you went on the run with them?” She teases, as she places a dish in the cabinet above her head. He grunts an affirmative, and then replies, “Yes, and I had to literally limp into the building and find a bathroom to collapse in and catch my breath. I’m twenty-five years old, and I felt like I was fifty.” She laughs outright at him, and then takes the next dish from him to dry. In the light of the setting sun, the two of them are framed by that light. Mare turns away for a second though, to toss her wet rag away. As she goes, he watches her. 

I freeze, recognizing that look. The way those amber eyes trace the lines of her shoulders, and catch on her profile. The way his lips quirk up just slightly at one corner. I knew that look, and it is both strange and painful at the same time to see it again. I had caught that look in mirrors when I saw Tibe over my shoulder.  

He drops another plate in the water and just as she turns around to look at him again, I clear my throat. They both flip around in surprise, Barrow blushing just slightly as she flips back around to dry a dish she’s already dried. 

“Sorry to add dirt to the pile,” I try to smile as I held up the plates to show them. Cal nods and crosses the room quickly to take it off my hands. His hands which I know should be warm, are burning hot. Probably from embarrassment, I realize. He wants to know how much I saw and heard, and what I think of it. 

“It’s nothing, dish duty is normally a lot worse,” he says as he turns away and drops those dishes in the water as well. Mare reaches in to take the other one, the two of them seeming to keep a magic foot of distance between them. I watch her for a moment though, taking in the tense muscles in their shoulders. A half second later, her mother calls her from the living room. She drops the rag with an exasperate sigh and then passes by me, making sure to duck her shoulder so that we don’t touch. I watch her go over my shoulder, and hear her calling back to her mother. 

“Everything okay?” Cal asks eventually, and I flip around in surprise before offering him a tight smile and saying, “I suppose I’m just tired.” 

“Mare mentioned you woke up with nightmare’s last night.” His words are carefully selected, but they cut just the same. I shouldn’t be surprised that she told him, but I still feel like a child. Shrugging, I take up Mare’s spot drying dishes. 

“They’re just night terrors, I dealt with them when I was… alive.” I shake my head, hating that the word seems so silly. He nods though, as if in understanding. He offers a plate and when I take it, he says, “I have nightmares about dad still, about what she made me do.” 

I tense in surprise, my blood running cold. Elara had apparently found a way to hurt me from beyond the grave, by going after my son. I glance at him hesitantly and whisper, “I’m sorry, for everything.” 

“You and Mare… honestly.” He murmurs as he takes the dish from me and opens another cabinet to put it away. I frown at his words, and he sighs before saying, “It’s probably Mare’s story to tell but… she has nightmare’s too, flashbacks. We all do. Hers have to do with Shade though.”   

“Shade?” 

“Her brother, he died during the assault that we led on Corros prison.” His words are a breath of cold air. It chills my bones to hear the word Corros. I had only been there once when Tibe was king. We had gone as part of the royal parade, a means of showing strength. I had hated every second we spent in that place. It had been like the cages in my nightmares, and after going there, it had taken their place.

“You both think choices other people make are you fault.” He sighs and shakes his head. Standing with my hand on my hip I spit, “Are you any better?” 

He starts, and I throw the towel on the counter before hissing, “You just told me you have nightmares about your father, and what Elara made you do.” “My situation is a little different,” His voice bites, and he narrows his eyes, “I killed him. Mare didn’t kill Shade, try as she might to prove that she did. And you did not start the downward spiral that led to the chaos.” 

I want to believe him, I really do. But it is my fault. If I had just had a little more backbone, and stuck it out in that dinner, I would have never met a prince with fiery eyes. He would never have fallen for me. Elara would have never felt slighted, and she would have been Queen. The monarchy would have still been around, even if it shouldn’t have been. And I would have died a lonely old woman on the Jacos estate, just like I should have. Just like Jessamine, my mind hisses. 

Shaking my head and forcing the thought away, I murmur, “I don’t want to argue about this.” 

“It’s not arguing,” He points out, and turns to face me with his hands on his hips too. For looking an awful amount like Tibe, he has some of my mannerisms, and it’s almost startling. 

“Please Cal,” breaking under his gaze, I whisper his name, the taste of it odd on my tongue. The last time I had said it, he had been a baby, barely a year old. I still could remember the first time I’d said it, the first time I’d laid eyes on him. Three miscarriages, and he was here, alive and strong. Shattered inside though, and he had let me see some of the pieces by telling me about his nightmares. 

He frowns, but mercifully, drops the subject.

[alluremin]

officer down | jjk

pairing: jeon Jungkook | reader

genre: boyfriend!au - cryptid hunter!jk (kinda) | fluff, comedy

warnings: none

premise: When a mysterious creature leaves footprints in the snow, it’s up to you and Jungkook to investigate who, or what, it was.

word count: 1.6k

a/n: this is completely based on my own experience from today. and although I've changed my pets’ names for their protection, all of this actually happened to me. you know, except for Jungkook being there. also this is unedited, yadda yadda.

For the past five minutes, you had planted yourself in front of your window, curiously staring out at the sight before you. Your boyfriend, who at times you couldn’t tell if he was 21 or 12, was hunched over a curious footprint in the snow coating your backyard.

Not ten minutes earlier, you heard Jungkook screaming your name from the living room, completely ignoring the fact that you were doing the laundry down the hall. You sighed and walked to join him at your back door. You took in the sight of him; his eyes wide open and his mouth hanging open. “Do you see those prints?” Your eyes followed where his finger was pointing. The numerous animal tracks covering your back yard unsurprisingly interesting your boyfriend.

“Yes, it was probably a deer, Guk.” You sighed, already expecting where this conversation was going.

“Yeah, I guess it could be a deer if its legs were 5 feet tall!” Jungkook scoffed, feigning disdain toward your statement. “What if it’s him, y/n?”

“Oh no.”

“Don’t ‘oh no’ me! It could be Bigfoot, you can’t disprove the theory!” Jungkook turned to you, a boyish glint in his eyes. His smile appeared as if it was asking for your permission to inspect the tracks. Like you would say no to him.

“Go investigate, then, but I need to finish folding the towels!” You smiled at his gleeful laugh as he ran down the hall. A few loud crashes coming from the closet as Jungkook stumbled to get his snow gear on signaled his excitement to get outside. God, you were in love with such a dork.

You and your dog stood watching Jungkook examine the prints for a few minutes, and when your 10-year-old mutt begins to whine at the sight of her favorite person, you knew what you had to do. “Alright, Opal, let’s go join the investigation!”

 The closet looked like a tornado had swept through it. You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped your lips at your boyfriends antics and made an attempt to sift through the winter gear laying on the floor. Eventually, you managed to find your snow pants, boots, a hat, and a mismatched pair of gloves. Clumsily, you got your self dressed and clumped your way toward the front door to grab your coat. As soon as you and your elderly beagle managed to make it outside, you catch sight of Jungkook leaping through the snow. To the best of your ability, you run across the yard to meet him, Opal hot on your trail. “So, Agent Jeon, how’s the investigation going?”

“Well, Agent y/l/n, it appears that the perp, allegedly the infamous Bigfoot, has an extremely wide tread. A bi-pedal organism that would’ve left these track would have been like, 7-foot tall, at least!”

“I see, I see. That is a sound thought process, but unfortunately, I think there’s a flaw in your theory, Agent.”

“And what might that be?” You turn your head to your beagle, witnessing her unceremoniously shoving her face into the snow. You and Jungkook couldn’t help but laugh at her ostrich-like antics. “Agent Opal seems to think that my theory is sound.” Jungkook indignantly points toward your dog with a pout on his face.

“If this were, in fact, Bigfoot, don’t you think he would have, I dunno, big feet? These prints look like they’re about a size 4, Guk.” You place your hand on his shoulder as he looks back down at the prints, his mouth hanging open once again.

“Well, I uhm,” a crease formed in between his eyebrows with a mixture of thought and disappointment. Jungkook didn’t necessarily believe in Bigfoot, he was an adult after all, but it had been a boring weekend, and this was something fun to do and an excuse to get outside. He probably thought that your comments were your way of telling him you were done with the little game and ready to go back inside. You knew what you had to do.

“We still don’t have enough evidence to make any conclusions on the case, so I guess we should investigate further,” You smirked at him, and a smile spread across his face.

“That sounds like a great plan, Agent,” just then, his gloved hand reached down to grasp your own, and you three, Opal included, made your way toward the woods, walking alongside the mysterious prints.

“Okay, we’ve been tracking this ‘creature’ around in a giant circle for almost 20 minutes, maybe we should analyze the clues we’ve gathered and formulate a theory inside, hm?” You looked up at Jungkook. Your little “investigation” had been interrupted by two snowball fights and an impromptu wrestling match between your boyfriend and your dog, to say that the cold weather was beginning to get to you was an understatement. 

“Are you getting cold?” Jungkooks eyebrows drew together with concern. Reaching his gloved hand up to boop the red tip of your nose. You giggled at that and grabbed his hand, pulling him in the direction of your house.

You looked to your left when you heard a loud squeal, immediately recognizing the noise as your cat's strange meow. The snow was so deep that only the top of his back and head stuck out as he pushed his way toward you. Opal met Lucifer halfway in his route to you and Jungkook, nearly pushing him over when she went to sniff him. You laughed at the interaction between your pets, Opal’s cataracts making her depth perception terrible. You were surprised that her arthritic joints allowed her to “investigate” for this long. You and Jungkook continued walking in the direction of your house, seeing it nearing through the clearing in the trees.

Your cat and dog managed to catch up to you two, Lucifer rubbing up against your leg as you walked. You nearly tripped over the creature and cursed as you stumbled in the deep snow. You reached down toward your cat, hoping that by picking him up, you would be less likely to fall flat on your face. Right before you were able to wrap your arms around him, Lucifer bounded off toward your house, and you and Jungkook stopped in your tracks to watch what had just unfolded in front of you. From where your cat had leaped and landed again, he left behind an imprint in the snow. That imprint happened to match the mysterious tracks you and your bigfoot-hunting boyfriend had been investigating.

You looked up to meet his wide eyes, a smile growing on his face. “AHA! I’ve solved the case!”

“You?” You cried out incredulously. “If it weren’t for me trying to pick him up, we would’ve never known!”

Jungkook’s lips curled into a cocky smirk as he grasped your hand and began walking toward the house once again. “Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night, Agent y/l/n.” 

Once you make it to your door and you kick the side of the house to free your boots of snow. “Wait, where’s Opal?” Jungkook turns around and you follow suit, scanning over your back yard. All of the exercise and excitement from playing in the snow had finally gotten to your elderly pooch, as she had decided to sit down in the snow. The fact that it was below freezing outside meaning nothing to your dog as she panted.

Your eyes met Jungkook and you're sure he caught the playful glint in your eyes when you began running toward Opal. “Officer down! I repeat, we have an officer down!” You could hear Jungkook’s giggle as he chased after you toward your dog. Throwing your body into the snow next to Opal, you wrapped your arms around her as you yelled, “We need a medic!”

“You’ve watched way too many episodes of Criminal Minds, dork,” Jungkook giggled at your antics. You released your dog and pulled Jungkook down by his knees, his body flopping into the soft snow next to you. He managed to turn his body over before you straddled his snowsuit-clad body. As he looked up at you, you placed your hands on his chest.

“I’m sorry you didn’t catch Bigfoot, but we did solve the mystery!” You smiled and Jungkook placed his arms around your back, pulling your torso to lay on top of his. He strained his neck to bring his nose up to your own, giving you an Eskimo kiss. You couldn’t help but chuckle at your boyfriend.

“Yeah, I guess we did. I couldn’t have done it without my sidekick… Opal!” Jungkook’s hands left you cheeks to pet your dog still laying in the snow next to you two.

“Hey! What about me, brat!” You playfully hit his chest, your bottom lip stuck out in a pout. Jungkook returns his attention to you and places his hand back on your cheek. Your heart flutters as he holds eye-contact with you. Regardless of how long you were together, he always had the ability to make you swoon. You leaned down as he lifted his head, you two meeting in the middle. Your lips melted together in a sweet kiss. Just when Jungkook was beginning to deepen the kiss, Opal decided she had enough of the PDA and swatted her paw at Jungkook’s sleeve.

He broke the kiss with a chuckle and looked at your dog. “Alright puppy, let’s go inside!” He looked back up at you just then. “As for you, Agent y/l/n, we’ll continue this in the house,” Jungkook smirked at you and you stood up with your feet on either side of him. Before he could even stand, you took off running toward your door, only turning around to shout at him.

“Race you inside, loser!” As he sat up and watched you clumsily scurry through the snow, he couldn’t help but smile. You really were his soulmate.

© alluremin 2019

no reposting

[withthewerewolves]

So I was laying awake last night thinking about a Yours, Mine, and Ours pynch au. Ronan and Adam break up like maybe Adam's sophomore year of college, when he doesn't come back to the Barns for Thanksgiving or something. Adam tries to date, but if he can't make time for Ronan, he definitely can't make time for anyone else. Ronan doesn't even try. He knows he'll never love anyone like he loved Adam.

Adam starts volunteering with a foster care group in college sort of by accident. Volunteer work looks good on a resume and they happen to have an opening. Something about it settles something in him though, so he keeps doing it all through his engineering degree, law school, and his internship at the patent office. He plans to stop once he's got his full time job as a patent lawyer, but that's when he meets Maria.

She's maybe five. Fresh out of a pretty serious neglect situation, but luckily there's no evidence of abuse. She's deaf though, and there aren't a lot of foster homes who can deal with that. Adam, who has always been terrified of losing the hearing in his other ear and so took sign language as an elective all through college, is uniquely equipped.

Usually it's hard for a single young man to foster, but he's been volunteering there for nearly a decade so they fast track him through the process. At first it's hard and Adam thinks he's made a terrible mistake, a commitment he can't live up to. He has to learn to make time for someone else, to put his job second. He passes up a promotion to take a lateral transfer to a job where he can work from home. Maria doesn't know how to ask for what she needs, because she isn't used to getting what she asks for. Adam doesn't know what a child needs, because he never got it. But he applies himself to child care with the same dedication he gives everything. He does research.  He asks questions. He patiently builds trust and learns to anticipate her needs. She begins to thrive, and he thrives with her. The thing he was most worried about, his anger, doesn’t come up for a while. The first time he gets really frustrated with her, he has a panic attack before he can do anything, good or bad. The second time, he applies the anger management techniques he learned from his therapist, and he keeps his temper.

A couple years later, when he’s started working on adopting Maria, a set of twins comes in, James and Jessica. They're 16, each work two jobs, and have been trying to pay rent and buy food for themselves and their mother while she drains the bank account to fund her drug habit. They are not happy to be in foster care, refuse any and all help, and Jessica is out and proud, something which restricts their choices of foster home even in DC. They're about to be sent to a group home when Adam catches a glimpse of them in the hallway at the foster care center and sees a glimmer of magic in them. He isn't sure what kind yet, but he has a spare room and figures he can at least provide them with more than he had as a teenager. He has to tell his supervisor more about his past than he’d ever wanted to, but between that and how well Maria is doing under his care, they come to live with him.

He decides, two weeks in, that maybe what he had as a teenager was not enough. They're exhausted, they’re malnourished, they're failing school, and he can only sometimes get them to eat out of his fridge, much less accept the new clothes they so badly need. He calls Gansey and apologises for how difficult he used to be. Gansey is caught between “you were perfect, always” and “used to be?” Blue laughs until Adam hangs up on her, then calls back to apologise for laughing and admit she has no advice. He wishes he could call Ronan, who always knew how to handle Adam when he was a broken thing, but they don't talk anymore. His therapist has encouraged him to let himself experience his emotions, so he allows how much he misses Ronan to well up inside him for 30 seconds, then he does what he does best and gets to work.

He starts with packing lunches every day, one for Maria, one for James, one for Jessica, and one for him. He labels them and leaves them on the counter in the morning. The first two mornings, he has to throw James’ and Jessica's away. The third morning, when he gets back from walking Maria to the bus stop, the lunches are gone. He makes more of an effort to plan and cook meals, not just dinner but breakfast and afterschool snacks. A dry erase board with the week’s menu takes up residence on his refrigerator, with a section at the bottom for requests. Maria requests a lot of hot dogs. At first, the twins insist they'll eat on their way to work, or at school, even though he knows they'll just go hungry. He grimaces his way through scraping the leftovers into the disposal, a matching expression on their faces. They eat with him and Maria. He has to put his foot down about the jobs. No more than 20 hours a week during the school year, and they have to be home by 10 on school nights. This leads to the worst stand off yet, and he calls his supervisor at the foster care center to beg for advice. She tells him that if anything he should be more strict, so he holds firm. The dark circles under their eyes start to fade. He institutes a study hour, during which everyone is required to sit at the table and work on homework. Maria puzzles her way through long division with his help, and the twins sit in stony silence. College is not the escape for them that it was for him. They’re plenty smart, but their skills lay in other areas. Adam has a folder in his office with research on every trade school in the state. Finally James cracks, and pulls out his chemistry homework. The next night Jessica brings reading for english. Neither of them ask him for help, but their grades start to rise, and he’s satisfied with that. He wishes they had friends, people who meant something to them besides each other, but he doesn’t know what to do about it, and that is when Gansey calls to invite him to his and Blue’s wedding.

~O~

Ronan’s path to parenthood is similar, for all that it’s completely different. He has Opal, but her needs are so unlike that of a human child that she hardly counts.  She doesn’t eat food, and nothing seems to make her sick. She has a bedroom, but she sleeps in the woods or with the goats most nights. Her bed becomes a repository for interesting sticks and globs of mud. She ages at a rate that even Adam, who won’t speak to Ronan but still sends Opal a letter every week like clockwork, can’t figure out. Some years she seems to be growing the way the parenting book Gansey got him as a joke thinks she should, and some years she doesn’t grow at all. He thinks she was maybe six when he brought her out of the dream, and he thinks she’s maybe eight or nine when , nine years later, he finds a teenaged boy sleeping in his barn.

Keith is 17, and informs Ronan that he has run away from home and will not be going back, please don’t call the cops, he’ll be on his way as soon as the sun is up. Ronan doesn’t hear any of this because he’s spotted the deep bruise around Keith’s eye and is caught in a vivid flashback. He offers him a job, helping him milk the cows in the mornings before school in exchange for a bedroom and as much food as he can eat. This turns out to be a lot of food. Keith reminds Ronan of Adam at every turn, even though they’re nothing alike. Keith is sunny and friendly and more similar to Matthew, if Matthew flinched every time Ronan raised his voice. Ronan learns not to raise his voice. Opal is suspicious of him at first, but he treats her like a tiny boss even after he catches sight of her hooves, and this delights her. She orders him to collect the eggs three times a day, despite the chickens only laying them once.

Ronan finds Liam on his front porch one summer night, wrapped up in a blanket and dumped in a cardboard box like an unwanted kitten. People have learned that he takes in animals that are left at the Barns, and he’s converted one of the barns into a cat jungle after he reached his limit on mousers. He doesn’t know how it got out that he’s taking in stray children, but a baby isn’t exactly a puppy that got too big (is he a baby? A toddler? How is Ronan supposed to know?). Declan would tell him to send him to social services right away, but, well, Liam has magic. Not dream magic. Nothing like the psychics. Maybe a little like Adam, but he doesn’t think about that. The cows hate Liam, but all the other animals will come over and snuffle his hair and let him jab his little baby fingers in their faces. Birds perch on Ronan’s shoulder to inspect him in the baby wrap Ronan dreamed so he could cart him around the farm. He only found him that night, rather than in the morning, because fireflies clung to every available space on his little body, a beacon of flashing lights.

Ronan is pretty well at the end of his rope and not in the mood for more problems when Keith brings Laura home from school one day. She’s a year younger than him, and the rumor is that her parents kicked her out when she told them she was pregnant and she’s been living in the woods. Keith, being the friendly, helpful, maybe a little nosy sort, tracked her down and asked her about it. She told him she’s actually been sleeping under the bleachers in the gym, but the rumors are otherwise true. What’s Ronan going to do, turn her away? Then he has to hire her boyfriend, who’s an alright kid for all he forgot to wrap it. He grew up a few streets over from Fox Way, but even though his parents are supportive and loving they can’t afford to take in his girlfriend and their future baby. The boyfriend and Keith become fast friends. Laura takes over the vegetable patch.

So this is how Ronan goes from having one dream child to having four children and a grandkid on the way in the space of a year.

Then Blue and Gansey decide to get married. It’s a little bit the result of their desire to solidify the legality of their relationship and a little bit the result of Mrs. Gansey’s desire not to have her son living in sin as she starts her governor campaign. They decide to let Mrs. Gansey plan an extravagant church wedding exactly the way she wants it, as long as they don’t have to do anything besides show up, and to plan a smaller, more meaningful wedding for themselves at the Barns. They decide this kind of last minute, and Gansey calls Adam in a panic, begging him to come down and help them get everything ready. (Sidenote: Gansey and Blue argue for weeks about who gets Ronan and who gets Adam as their Best Man/Maid of Honor. Finally they realize that they each sort of want both of them and sort of want the other to have both of them, so they flip a coin. Blue gets Ronan and Gansey gets Adam. Henry was always going to perform the ceremony, because he was always going to be a part of the marriage.)

So Adam takes two weeks off work, packs his brood into the car and takes them to his ex boyfriend’s magic farm to plan a polyamorous wedding for his best friends.

Adam’s kids and Ronan’s kids...do not get along. Some of it is that they each think their dad is the best dad. Some of it is that James and Jessica think Keith and Laura have had it easy out here in the idyllic countryside and Keith and Laura think James and Jessica have had it easy because they’ve never milked a cow. Some of it is just that they’re teenagers and they’re expected to get along, so they stubbornly do not.

Opal and Maria hate each other on sight because they each know, through Adam’s letters to Opal, that the other occupies a special place in Adam’s heart that they would like to occupy alone. Opal eats the leg off of Maria’s stuffed dog. Maria starts teaching Ronan sign language. Points are scored and lost by both parties.

Liam, of course, falls head over tiny baby heels for Adam. The sight of Adam effortlessly calming a child that Ronan has been trying and failing to win over for months makes rage well up in Ronan’s chest, and also makes him want a cold shower. Ronan’s careful attention on Maria’s small hands as she teaches him the basics do something similar to Adam.

(Calla shakes hands with James and Jessica and gives a harsh bark of a laugh. Maura later explains, with a little more tact, that Jessica is a mirror, like Blue, and James is a dampener. They’ve been canceling each other out their entire lives.)

Adam and Ronan fall back in love, obviously. Neither of them ever really fell out of it. Adam can work from anywhere with internet now, and James and Jessica never made any friends at their old school, so what’s keeping them in DC? (Maria had friends, but Maria can make friends anywhere. She’s good at that.) Adam makes blissful plans to move himself and his kids to the Barns. Ronan makes blissful plans to build an addition and fill his house with even more family (one of which can calm Liam).

The kids are not pleased and resolve to break them up before Blue and Gansey say their vows. The probably bond with each other in the process. Maybe Keith’s parents make a reappearance and Jessica and James help beat them up. Maybe Laura starts freaking out about having a baby and Jessica offers her expertise (one of her jobs is babysitting). Maybe someone says something racist or ableist about Maria and the others defend her. Maybe Opal and Maria bond over popsicle stick crafts.

They all definitely live happily ever after.

[hanculs-blog]

♔‘ﾟ‣ { TASK 001 } — ❝ haneul’s profile ❞

                                 I’m not too gone to be                                                           healed, am I ?                                        I’m not                                                       too gone                                                                             am i ?

tw: mention of alcohol, death & murder.

GENERAL INFO

full name: park haneul nicknames: hani, han, oney gender & pronouns: cis-female, she/her sexual & romantic orientation: heterosexual and heteroromantic age & dob: 22, 1996/07/15 birthplace: daegu parent & siblings: park jongin (father), kang gahyeon (mother) & park hanjun, (older brother, deceased) pets: dal (mixed samoyed dog) & bam (stray cat) astrological sign: cancer dominant hand: left handwriting style: a bit unreadable, almost kind of cursive, not terrible. languages known: native korean, medium english & basic japanese. religion: agnostic atheist current living arrangements: her brother’s apartment. it has one room, one bathroom, a small kitchen, a nice living room and a small balcony; it still looks almost the same way he left it. not on the best area but could be worse. certainty an improvement from her old shared apartment. occupation: dancer, occasional bartender, influencer

PHYSICAL

picture reference: click blood type: O nationality: korean skin tone: light birthmarks & scars: a very distinguishing beauty spot on her nose, probably some small scars here and there. height: 1.66 m build: slender, athletic, kind of petite. hair color: naturally medium brown, sometimes tinted black or light brown. hair length: usually long. eye color: dark brown, sometimes wears colored lenses. diet: very diverse, sometimes a bit meat-heavy, she really enjoys food and actually doesn’t restrict her eating that much. exercise & level of fitness: compensates her lack of a strict diet with exercise. visits regularly the gym and, of course, as a dancer, goes to long practice routines that could count as a full work out. how’s their posture?: quite a good posture due to her dancing background, mostly straight and proper but not stuck up, a bit relaxed. may slouch veeery occasionally. typical style of dress: red and black are her go-to colors. there’s almost always some leather, her jacket, or her skirt, or her shoes. sexy with a bit of glam. tends to show a bit of skin but not too much actually. skinny jeans and a crop-top, a high waist skirt with a silk blouse. and, although not dress-related, really enjoys glittery eye make-up and red lips. body modifications: multiple ear piercings (one on the left lobe and two left helixes, three on the right lobe and one right helix) and some small tattoos (yet to be described).

MANNERISMS

how does your muse walk?: like the dancer she is, there’s a natural cadence in the way she moves and a lot of confidence. how does your muse talk?: kind of smooth and mellowly but not overtly sweet, controlled one could say. the speed varies with her emotions or intentions a lot. it can become harsh and cutting very easily though. hat accent does your muse talk with?: usually in the typical daegu satoori with lots of slang very much associated to the peripheral poor neighborhoods, basically you can tell where she’s from in one or two sentences. but she can switch to a more neutral tone since she sometimes works directly with the public. how would you describe the tone of their voice? are they loud or quiet?: it’s actually kinda deep for a girl, at least definitely not high pitched. not loud but neither quiet, she basically can get herself listen. what does their laugh sound like?: she actually has a silent laughter, almost no sound coming out of her mouth, but if she’s laughing very very heavily then she can be quite loud. how does your muse typically smell?: there’s almost no occasion she won’t use at least a bit of perfume before going out, but she doesn’t go for strong ones and prefers light refreshing scents. what kind of air do they carry?: like she already owns your soul. do they have any catchphrases?: probably some curses. what are their nervous ticks?: movement, that being her fingers tapping the table or playing with her hair, pacing, swinging her feet. basically it’s difficult for her to get completely still.

PSYCHOLOGY

what makes your muse happiest?: doing what she loves, enjoying herself with engaging people, being with her brother, spending time with @myvngok​, exercising, causing mayhem in the streets. what upsets them the most?: judgmental people mostly, feeling caged, being out of control, people badmouthing those she cares about. does your muse have any quirks?: she flirts as she speaks. what are their hobbies? how frequent do they do them?: dancing, clubbing/partying, going out with people, drinking, cooking (not the best cook but she has fun), watching horror or crappy comedic movies. she does them when she pleases. do they have any guilty pleasures?: perhaps kpop, she’s very into it, even obscure survival & variety shows. but she doesn’t consider it an actually guilty pleasure. is your muse an extrovert or an introvert? neither?: socially extroverted, emotionally introverted. do they have high or low self-esteem? what about confidence?: at first instance, she has very high confidence but more than anything it’s an attitude. she tells herself she’s great and is sure of everything hoping it’d come true. are they easily stressed and how do they normally respond to it?: usually not, she’s very laid-back and chill for most of the time. but certain very specific situations, when they get out of her control, can stress her very much and completely freak her out. she doesn’t externalize that panic, though, instead goes deep into her thoughts, where for sure everything will mess her up even more and produce a big emotional outburst. what is your muses worst fear?: loneliness & lack of love. what is your muses biggest dream?: safety, she want’s to feel safe and loved and cherished and at ease with herself and the world. is your muse a morning person or a night dragon?: for sure a night dragon, almost the majority of her daily activities occur at night or late in the day. how intelligent is your muse? do they acknowledge it?: average? she’s not the brightest bulb out there but for sure she’s neither stupid. she doesn’t have the greatest academic knowledge but is well versed in practical stuff and street-wits. describe their sense of humor: ironic, witty, deadpan snarker.

RELATIONSHIP TENDENCIES

are they currently in any sexual or romantic relationships?: yes to the first, no to the second. what is their experience with relationships?: complicated, troubled, turbulent. how does your muse view the idea of friends with benefits? have they ever had one?: amazing concept, and yes she has had more than one. how important is sex to your muse?: very important. what are their biggest turn on and turn offs?: that would require a whole questionnaire itself. let’s just say there are plenty things she’ll go with and that she’s quite experimental, but if we had to point some, that be: praising, dirty-talk & teasing. she also has some deal-breakers, for example, she’s not into daddy-kinks or derogatory language. does your muse find it easy to make friends?: it’s easy for her to make friends since she has a very entrancing personality, but usually “friends” are simply people she enjoys spending some time together and that’s all. close friends, those she confides with, are more difficult to make. how important is friendship to them?: good/close friends are very important but she may not show it that much. quantity or quality of friends?: quality for sure. how important is family?: more important that what it may seem at first sight. hanjun was literally the most important person in her life. and she does care a lot about her mother, even though she gets on her nerves constantly and usually doesn’t shows it. are they close to their family?: see above for her relationship with her brother and her mother, hanjun was the closest person in haneul’s life up until his death. as for her father, he left them when she was six and there’s been no contact between them. she has little memory of the man besides him cursing at her mother.

FAVORITES

activity: sex dancing. animal: cat. beverage: alcohol, coffee. color: red & black. designer: @arxum​ ? she’s really not much into designer clothes since she can’t barely afford them. food: pork meat. flower: rose. gem: red quartz, black opal & bloodstone. holiday: doesn’t care, just give her free days. mode of transportation: her motorcycle, there’s also her brother’s car but she never uses it. quote: keep going forward. scenery: the city at night, silent, with its lights vibrating, far away echoes of music and a clear sky. scent: coffee, fire, wood, cleanness & vanille. weather: stormy or cloudy.

ATTITUDES

greatest dream: get an actual real serious job as a dancer, establish herself as a person, find her path, have a family one day. greatest fear: loneliness & failure. most at ease when: dancing or wandering the street with nice company. least as ease when: she’s alone with her thoughts, in a hospital or out of control of a situation. worst possible thing that could happen: any other person she cares dying or getting very ill probably, or getting an injury that would affect her mobility drastically. biggest achievement: being still alive and kicking and functional? i mean i guess we could discuss the functional part but, still, that’s an achievement if you consider the circumstances. biggest regret: she tends to not have any regrets because she can’t change the past or undo what’s been done (but one of the things that haunts her the most is not having been able to do some stuff with her brother...). most embarrassing moment: embarrassment is for babies. biggest secret: she desperately wants to be loved and also is a bit (lot) scared about finding who killed her brother and having to face that truth. top priorities: finding her brother’s murderer? :D

[excellent-monster-girl-ideas]

Liminal, chapter 1

Alright, here’s the chapter I worked on last month that I was talking about. Reminder: this is a very rough draft, but I hope it can entertain you. Please enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Festival

On November 27, 2022, the world became aware of a second universe, discovered by a group of American scientists in Washington D.C. This world was populated not by humans, but by demihuman people collectively called "Liminals". Though they appeared humanoid, they all had distinctly non-human attributes, and were divided into countless different races.

Upon the discovery of the strange new world, known by its inhabitants as Atheria, both humans and Liminals began to mingle and communicate with one another. It was not long before the two worlds' people started to trade resources - alien to each other's worlds - and began to migrate to each other's world.

Humans began living on Atheria, and Liminals began living on Earth. Despite the apprehension of certain people on both sides, humans and Liminals began to live together in society.

Nearly seven years have passed since then, and the two peoples have grown close in each other's societies. Some children have even spent most of their life in a world their parents did not even know about until recently. One of these children was named Opal Leona, a member of the catfolk race of Liminals, who moved with her family to Earth on her eighth birthday, October 1, 2023. A new life in a strange, unfamiliar world is hardly a gift most people would expect to recieve, but Opal fortunately got along well with her new human friends.

One of those close friends was named Billy Adams, a cocky and playful boy with a love for sports. Even now, after six years of knowing him, he'd always start fights with the school bullies and come home covered in bruises and scars, smiling all the while. Most of those fights were because they had picked on Opal, whether out of racism (or perhaps species-ism) or other reasons. Unlike Opal, who lived with both her parents and an older brother, Billy lived alone with his mother.

Opal and Billy lived in Floral City, Florida, a city well known for its remarkable pumpkin industry, as well as its annual Pumpkin Festival held every October for a whole week. At the city's fairgrounds, several attractions such as ferris wheels and dark rides were set up, along with food stands and other amusement park staples. On October 1, 2029 - Opal's 14th birthday - both she and Billy attended the Festival.

Billy could hardly contain his excitement, running with Opal close behind to the fairground's entrance. She could only barely keep up with him, stopping occasionally to catch her breath.

"Hold... hold on, Billy," Opal said, panting and bending over in exhaustion. "Give me... a sec..."

Billy stopped and turned around. "C'mon, Opal, we're just a few blocks away!"

"I know that..." Opal said, starting to catch her breath, "but you're way too energetic today."

"I'm always energetic," Billy said with a goofy grin, pointing to himself with his thumb. "You're just not energetic enough!"

Opal couldn't help but laugh. "I'm plenty energetic, just... I get that way after sunset, is all."

"Oh, is that way you're so tired? You stayed up all night gaming again, didn't you?"

"Gimme a break, Billy, yeesh."

The two laughed before continuing to make their way to the fairgrounds. The place was a wide open field, normally empty but now densely populated with rides and food stands, almost as far as the eye could see. The air was thick with the sugary scent of deep-fried fair food and the smell of hot, buttered popcorn, smells that had both Opal and Billy salivating. The squeals and cheers of young children riding rollercoasters, carosels, and ferris wheels filled the Floral City Fairgrounds almost as loudly as the people peddling cheap stuffed animals in exchange for winning a very-rigged balloon and dart game.

While walking through the fairgrounds, Billy and Opal came across a very strange, purple tent. A sign outside read "Fortune Read by the Mysterious Madame Delphina - $5 per person".

Opal ran a hand through her black-and-white hair, gently scratching the back of her cat-ears in confusion. "A... fortune teller? That's not something you usually see at the Pumpkin Festival."

"C'mon, let's get our fortunes read!" Billy exclaimed, digging through his pocket for his wallet.

"Um, are you sure we should- hey!" Opal tried to ask before Billy yanked her inside. Inside the tent was a small table, covered by a blue silk cloth, patterned with gold stars and lit only by a pair of candles. In front of the table were two chairs, each lined with blue velvet and made in such a way that Liminals with tails - such as Opal - would be able to fit theirs through the hole.

At the other end of the table was a silver-haired woman, old but not quite elderly. "Welcome," she said with a kindly smile. "Have you come to have your fortune read?"

Billy nodded ecstatically, while Opal simply scratched the back of her head. "Um, I guess..." she said as Billy handed her the ten dollar fee.

"Excellent," the old woman said, taking the money and placing a deck of cards on the table. She quickly cut the deck, shuffling them with impressive speed. "Have you ever head your fortune read before?"

"I did, once," Billy said with a smile. "She used a deck of cards, too."

"Ah, interesting..." the old woman said with a smile, before setting the deck down and placing three cards face down.

Despite the two candles on either side of the table, the room was still fairly dim; despite this, Opal could now see the cards clearly. "Wait a second, those aren't Tarot cards..."

Billy looked down at them as well. "Hey, yeah, you're right, those are..." Madame Delphina turned over a card. "Ah, the Pikachu," she said, "in the upright position."

"Those are Pokemon cards!" Opal exclaimed, halfway between shock and laughter.

The old woman nodded. "Not every fortune teller deals in ordinary Tarot cards, my dear. Variety is the spice of life, after all. My mentor uses Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and her sister uses Magic: The Gathering. Now, this card represents the beginning of a journey, the overcoming of obstacles- wait, where are you going?!"

By the time she realized it, Opal and Billy had left in disappointment. Madame Delphina sighed. "Nobody ever wants to hear my predictions," she said, flipping over the last two cards. "Hm. Magikarp and... reversed Charizard? That's not good."

"Which way did she go?" the horned, red-skinned agent muttered as his eyes scanned the festival grounds.

"North, towards the Ferris wheel," his equally horned, blue-skinned companion replied. "Remember, she can hide her ears, but her tails stay even when transformed."

"Got it," the first said, running towards the ferris wheel in search of his target. The second man smirked before transforming back into her normal form, rubbing her backside where her three fox tails were stuffed under her pants. "Man, these pants are tight," she said before running south towards the festival entrance. Meanwhile, Opal and Billy were playing a dart-throwing game at the fair, trying to pop a series of balloons. Opal managed to pop five balloons while Billy only popped two.

"Hahaha! Cat-like reflexes, baby!" Opal gloated.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll win this time," Billy said, passing an additional five dollars to the man running the game.

"Another round? You kids must really want the big prizes," he chuckled, refilling the balloons and handing them their darts. He looked past them and saw a girl walking by. "Hey there, missy. Fancy a game of Balloon Pop?"

The fox-girl turned to him. "Uh, well, I-"

"It'll just be five bucks if ya wanna play," he said with a grin. "Pop enough balloons and you can pick out a prize!

She looked over the stuffed animals and other toys on display as prizes in his booth. She slowly walked over and placed five bucks on the counter. "Sure, I'll play!" she said cheerfully.

"HOLD IT!" a man behind her said. Billy, Opal, and the fox-girl all turned around to see a tall, red-skinned man standing there, wearing what looked like an officer's uniform with the words "Kohaku Group" emblazoned on it. He was muscular, and had two red horns protruding from his forehead.

"Crap..." the girl muttered.

"Miss Kaede," he said, "you'd better come with me. Your father wishes to see you."

"Forget it," the fox-girl replied. "I'm not going back to him and that's final!"

"Hey now," the man running the balloon game said, "let's all calm down; it's festival season, after all! Why don't you two settle your differences over a nice balloon ‘n darts game, just five bucks each."

The red giant glared at the old man. He simply blinked, placed a "Game Closed; Will Be Back Later" sign on the counter, and ran away.

"Heh, smart man," the man chuckled. "Now then, Kaede-"

"Hey, leave her alone!" Billy said, getting in between her and the giant.

"And dumb kid," he growled, but with a half-smile. "You don't wanna get in the way of an oni and his job, boy. You got no business here; run along and play some more carnival games or somethin'."

"Billy..." Opal muttered awkwardly.

Kaede simply chuckled. "Fine, just try getting me back home," she said, taking a fighting stance.

The oni laughed. "Y'know, your pops gave us some real sweet orders," he said, getting closer and cracking his knuckles. "Said we could rough you up if we had to."

"He- he what?" Opal gasped quietly.

"Of course he did," Kaede sighed, pulling the other two fox-tails from out of her pants.

The oni threw a punch right at Kaede, but she swiftly evaded it, getting behind him and kicking him in the back in a single fluid motion. However, he leaned back and grabbed her in his massive hands and threw her into the stall, popping all the remaining balloons.

"You... you monster!" Opal shouted, kicking the oni in the shins.

The oni looked at her, his eyes red as his skin. "Idiot... I'll teach you better than to mess with an Oni! I'll crush your skull right open!"

He grabbed Opal in one hand and prepared to punch her right in the face. Billy looked on, terrified by what he was about to witness.

Do you seek power?

A voice spoke in Billy's head. Just as it did, everything around him - from the fist about to hit Opal to the ferris wheel in the distance - slowed to a halt. The world shifted in color, from white to grey before finally becoming pure darkness. Billy, too, couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried.

"Who... who are you?" Billy tried to say, his thoughts echoing around him as though he were speaking. "Are... you God?"

No, the voice simply said. I am no god, angel, or demon. I am you. I am your will to shift reality, to protect the ones you love.

"I... I don't understand..."

Then listen, the voice continued. I am a power slumbering within you, the power of your will. Right now, more than anything else, you want to protect Opal. Is this not correct?

"I... yeah."

Then simply say the name of your power, and it will be given to you.

"What's... the name of my... power?"

You already know it. Search deep within your heart and say its name. The will to Shift reality... claim this hidden power for your own and save her!

Billy opened his eyes, his body hot, burning from the inside out. The oni was now glaring at him.

"The hell's going on with your hand?!" he shouted to Billy. "Humans aren't supposed to do that, right?"

Billy looked at his hand. A golden light was covering it.

As if it was second nature to him, Billy shouted the name of his power. "Light Shift! Bright Blade!" he exclaimed as the light around his hand constructed itself into a short sword. He jumped up, swinging his blade at the oni's wrist, cutting it and forcing him to drop Opal.

"Aargh!!" the oni shouted. "D-dammit, how the hell did you do that?!" Opal got up and dusted herself off, right as the Oni swung his fist at her.

"Dark Shift! Black Shield!!" she shouted. As soon as the fist was about to connect, it was stopped by a disc of black and purple energy materializing in front of her and Billy.

"Are you serious?!" the oni shouted. "The hell are you two even doing?!"

"I have literally no idea!" Opal shouted, grinning as the oni pounded over and over at the black disk, all to no avail.

"Screw this, I'm getting backup!" he panted at last before running off. As he did, the black disk dissipated, and Opal and Billy collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.

The fox-girl popped up from behind the counter and jumped over to where the two were. "Hey, thanks for the help! The heck was that 'Light Shift', 'Dark Shift' stuff, though?"

"No idea," Billy said. "It... literally just happened."

"Ditto," Opal panted. "Oh dang, I'm tired."

"Well, as thanks," the fox-girl said, lifting Opal and Billy with her arms, "I'll help you guys get home; you look beat."

"Thanks..." Opal said, leaning on her new friend's arm."

"I'll show you where my home is," Billy said. "I'm Billy, by the way."

"Opal," the cat-girl said.

"Name's Kaede," the fox-girl replied as she helped them exit the fairgrounds.

"Kaede Kohaku. Sorry for making a scene there. I'll... try to explain later."

"Sounds good," Billy said. After leaving the fairground, Opal and Billy managed to catch their breath, though they still felt weak as they walked their way to Billy's home.

And that’s Chapter 1! Honestly, after re-reading this, I don’t think it’s as bad as I was making out to be, but... you probably guessed which part I was cringing at so badly.

Please feel free to tell me your comments and how I can improve! Thanks for reading!

[crazyyanderefangirlfan]

Bring on the Mania! pt. 5

For the next two hours, they played various board games. Although there were some they had to stop halfway, such as Twister. Whenever Amane would hover one of the boys, he would gently nip on anything he could get his mouth on. This caused them to either; shudder under him, or lose balance and fall. They finally stopped when Amane tried to nibble on Epel's neck, the said boy knee him on the gut out of surprise. Lisha couldn't stop laughing at him.

Another was Old maid. Ace and Grim kept on cheating, which resulted in an argument; it would have gone physical if Valerie hadn't slapped them in the back of their heads. She then scolded them like children. They would have protested if Lisha wasn't in front of them, glaring and waiting for them to give her reason to peck them.

So here they are, playing monopoly with Ace, Jack, and Sebek taking the lead. Valerie and Deuce were tied, with Epel behind them and Amane and Grim in jail.

"This game sucks!" Grim cried out in frustration. "This isn't fair! I am the great and powerful Grim! How could I lose so many times!?"

"Not my fault you suck so hard." Ace snickered at the enraged monster.

"It's just a game; no need to throw a tantrum." Sebek remarked. Grim growled in response.

The fae took the dice, and it rolled into a four, making him ahead of everyone else. The game continued with no more complaints, but an occasional grumble from Grim. It ended with Jack being the winner.

Amane covered his, mouth letting out a yawn. All these games were boring him; he needed excitement, something to get his blood pumping. He glanced at the pillows, then an idea popped in his head.

"Hey Val, could you get me some water?" He asked the girl when he saw her standing up. 

"Sure, Amane."

He smirked internally. He waited till Valerie was a few meters away from him. 

Then, he struck.

The young brunette stopped in her tracks when she felt something soft collided with her back. Behind her, she could hear the cackles of a demon.

"Aw, what's wrong Vally? Can't take a hit? I know you were pampered by these boys but to this extent? Damn." He jeered, unaware of the petrified looks the rest of the boys had.

"Amane, you shouldn't have done that." Jack hissed. He cast his eyes to the girl, who slowly turned to face them.

Amane waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, it's fine. She can take it; it's just a pill-OW!"

The hetero-eyed male was suddenly knocked down to the floor. He painfully sat up and rubbed his face; it felt like a brick hit him. He looked down; it was the same pillow he used on Valerie. Slowly, he lifted his head.

Valerie had a soft smile on her face; that completely contradicted the look in her eyes. There was a fierce glint; excitement and viciousness danced within it. Then, she spoke in a soft but firm voice.

"I accept your declaration of war."

The poor man felt two pairs of hands grab his arms, dragging him all the way to the other room. On the way, he saw the rest of the guys carrying dozens of pillows in their arms.

"You boys better get ready. Cause when I get like this: mercy doesn't exist." 

Her words left a cold feeling within their bodies. It sounded so sickeningly sweet it could have been poison.

They finally let Amane go once they deemed themselves secured and scolded the demon.

"Are you insane!? Do you realize what you did!?" Ace screamed at his face. Being shorter, he grabbed his shirt and brought him down to his eye level. Letting Amane get a clear view of his aggravated cherry-red eyes.

"U-Uh...W-What did I do?" Amane stammered.

"Throwing that pillow at her!" Grim snapped.

"I was joking-" The incubi tried to defend himself but was cut off.

"Joke or not, she will finish what you started; and she'll make it as painful as possible." Epel shuddered.

He just stared at them bug-eyed. "What's with you guys? It's just Valerie."

"You don't know Valerie as we do." Sebek chimed in. "To her, this is a declaration of war, one that she will win."

"She's always been competitive; she never goes back at a challenge. No matter how impossible it seems. She's stubborn like that." Jack added.

"Valerie will do whatever it takes to win. She isn't above using physical pain to get it." Deuce explained.

"You saw the way she dug her nails into you to comply with her demand; that should have been your warning." Deuce looked at him expectantly. 

He thought back at times when she did that, his body went rigid. The boys nodded knowingly when it all clicked to the midnight haired male.

"Valerie may appear harmless, but she's just as dangerous." Jack continued.

"Oh fuck, what are we going to do?" Panic set in Amane's voice as he thought of dozens of ways that Valerie could torture them.

"Only thing we can do." Ace announced, picking up a pillow, cocking it like a gun.

"Try and survive her reign of terror."

They armed themselves with as many pillows they can hold and slowly creep back into the lounge. Sebek peeked inside, noticing the girl wasn't there; he signaled the rest to follow him. 

"Where is she?" Asked Grim.

A sweet giggle answered his question and formed a circle. 

"Alright, come out, Val!" Epel hollered. That just earned him more giggles. Everybody raised their pillows, trying to anticipate where she might strike. 

"Is she always like this when someone challenges her?" Amane hissed.

"You're lucky a food fight didn't happen today." Sebek shuddered. "It happened last week. So many were lost."

"Ehhh!?"

"He meant that they were in the infirma-RY!" Deuce clarified when a pillow hit his face, hard.

Panic surged through their bodies. Shit, it's starting.

"Ready yourselves! We've got a war to win!"

As soon as those words left Epel's lips, small pink and brown blurs zip through.

Grim was their first target. Lisha swooped to the ground and grabbed the cat monster by her talons.

"GAHH!!" She threw him high enough for Valerie to get a clean hit. The poor monster crashed into the wall, unconscious. 

Amane froze in shock at what he witnessed. "Oh, shit."

They scrambled for cover, realizing that their current position left them open. Unfortunately, Valerie was faster.

She nimbly moved her way to Epel, the said boy raised his pillow to strike her, but she threw one at his face.  Valerie delivered a swift jab on the gut, causing the boy to clutch his stomach in pain. He didn't get enough time to recover when Valerie smacked a pillow across his face. Just like that, he was out.

Sebek charged at her side, holding his pillow high. However, Lisha flew right in his face, obstructing his view. Sebek could taste Lisha's feathers in his mouth, prompting him to spit some out. Unfortunately, that gave the girl enough time to land a direct kick to his chest. Once he fell on the ground, Valerie dropped another pillow on his face and stomping her foot on it.

However, she was oblivious that Ace and Deuce were at her sides, steadily moving towards her, and prepping their pillows. While the girl continued to stomp Sebek's face, all with a cute but sadistic grin on her face. 

A firm but soft force repeatedly hit the opal-eyed girl. Both Heartslabyul students managed to successfully land blows on the girl, while Lisha kept Jack occupied. 

"Ouch! Lisha! Not too close to the eyes!" Jack lifted his pillow to shield his face from the strix's wrath.

Valerie winced under hits; though they weren't hard, they were enough to make her head a bit dizzy. Gritting her teeth, she seized both pillows shocking, (and scaring) both boys. She harshly pulled their arms to the opposite directions, making them bash their heads together and fall unconscious.

She stopped to catch her breath when a cruel ache suddenly throbbed a the side of her head, and the next thing she knew, she was on the floor. She hissed from the impact, glancing up she saw Jack glaring down at her.

Apparently, Jack used the Aduece duo as a distraction. The wolf beastman managed to knock Lisha off somewhere far away. The strix wasn't harmed but tired and dizzy from flying circles around him. He snuck up behind her and bashed her head; the force was enough to knock her down.

The girl rolled out of the way; she sprang back on her feet before Jack could smash another pillow on her. Valerie dashed behind a chair. But not before nabbing two pillows. 

"Hiding in your hole, Rabbit?" The wolf taunted.

"Better than foolishly getting myself killed." The girl retorted. She peeked over the chair to see Jack watching her. They held their gazes, waiting to make a move. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack spotted Amane snaking up to the girl. He made no sound and done a decent job getting closer to her.

Closer and closer.

Without even looking behind her, she chucked a pillow at the incubus; the force was enough for him to topple over. Unknowingly for him, he stepped on a cushion prompting him to slip and fall unconscious.

And once again, he was a lone wolf.

Jack bit his lips in irritation at Amane's sorry attempt for an ambush. Whatever happened to that fearsome demon two hours ago?

His ears twitched and muscles tensed up. Something wasn't right. He quickly swerved to the right, narrowly avoiding a kick to the face from the tiny girl. 

She landed with a heavy thud on the ground. Valerie wasted no time in grabbing as many pillows as she can; throwing them at the charging wolf. The large male simply dodged them and tackled the girl. He brought her arms above her head and pinned them. 

Valerie felt his hot breath on her face. Jack's face was awfully near to hers. His expression was contorted into a sneer, a deep growl rumbled in his chest. His grip on her wrists tightened as if warning her to remain docile.

'As if.' Valerie responded with a glare of her own. She wrapped her legs around him and pushed herself up to nibble on his neck. 

Jack could feel a wildfire spread across his face and an uncomfortable feeling forming in his shorts when she rubbed her chest on his own and gave his neck tiny licks. The action alone made the male above froze, and loosen his hold on her.

Snatching her wrists away, Valerie wrapped her arms around his neck. Fingers lightly skimming across his skin, she could feel Jack shivering under her touch before finally found the spot. She dug her fingers harshly on that spot.

The boy above stiffen before his body becoming slack and falling on top of her. Judging by the soft snore, it looks like she found the right pressure point.

Valerie gently lifted his body enough for her to roll out. She gave herself a good stretch before surveying the entire scene and dead bodies before her.

"I win."

A/N: Sorry it took so long to write, I got caught up in school. This also my first attempt to write a fight scene, I hope this was good.

[mollymauk-teafleak]

but the heart of a man is a simple one (Part 2)

As promised, done by the end of the week (barely)!

Part 1 | ko-fi | Ao3

reblogs really help my writing efforts and motivate me to keep going with these long, multi chapter fics

Caleb did something he almost never allowed himself to do; he took a long look at himself in the mirror.

He tried to think objectively about what he saw, as if he were only studying another one of the crystals that had been scattered across his work bench recently as he wrote down the dimensions of each one, their brightness, their clarity, trying to figure out what energies could be refracted through them and how. Those he understood perfectly, it was all figures and coordinates and diagrams. Why shouldn’t this be as simple?

He tried to see how he could make the long, drawn face that gazed wearily back at him look even vaguely like a lord. Like someone powerful and certain and sure. Like someone confident. Like someone happy.

Like a groom on his wedding day.

Caleb had been awake before the dawn, he wasn’t even sure if he’d really slept. Last night, Nott and Jester had tried to tempt him with steins of thick, dark beer, the kind he really loved, around a blazing fireplace. Beau had suggested they all get blazing drunk and go swimming in the fountain again in the palace gardens. Fjord had quickly proposed a more modest and less illegal idea of dice and cards. He’d appreciated the efforts, to an extent, but it was all such a transparent attempt to take his mind off the following morning, complete with forced smiles and joviality, that he hadn’t been able to stomach it for very long, waving them all away and admitting defeat. Even the words of his favourite books hadn’t been able to soothe him, they’d bucked and squirmed on the page in front of his eyes and only left him more frustrated. In the end, he’d hurled his most favourite tome of old folk tales from across the Dwendalian Empire across the room to the opposite wall in a fit. He’d sulked for a full minute until he’d quickly scrambled up to make sure it wasn’t damaged, apologetically dusting off the cover and stroking the spine.

He must have slept at some point; his hair was an ungodly tangle. The dresser was going to have a fit, Caleb realised glumly, running his fingers through it and only succeeding in making things so much worse. He didn’t hold out much hope that being too scruffy would get him out of this marriage contract. There was so much ceremony and formality tangled up in today but he didn’t think it went quite that far.

They’d be along soon, he knew, the sun was almost fully in the sky. If Caleb had his way, he’d bar the door, shove his tallest bookcase in front of it, turn out all the lights and determinedly insist the world beyond didn’t exist. But that would achieve nothing. He didn’t want to be dragged into his marriage kicking and screaming, as accurately as it would reflect how he felt inside. The other archmages thought him weak and pathetic, he knew they did, soft hearted and low born, a black mark on their ancient order. But Caleb wasn’t going to give them anything to sneer at today.

He wasn’t going to cry for them.

But he was alone now and he could already feel the tightness in his chest, that familiar and hated taste of rust in the back of his throat. He crossed to the bed and knelt, pressing his face to Frumpkin’s fur, trying to take deep, slow breaths like Jester had taught him. It helped a little and the small, raspy tongue lapping at the back of his neck helped even more.

“At least I’ll always have you, huh?” Caleb smiled weakly, lifting his head to scratch behind his ears.

He’d have to stay hidden for the ceremony, of course, knowing the little cat he’d likely try to swat at the fringes on the high priest’s robes or scratch the edges of the sacred altar. But Caleb could free him for the feast, maybe sneak him some morsels from his plate when none of the other people on the dais were looking if he’d behave and stay in his lap and not go chasing after anything.

Caleb didn’t expect he’d have much stomach for the food himself. Not with what was waiting for him at the end of the feast.

Thankfully, a sharp, formal knock at the door stopped his mind sinking any further into that mire, forcing him to sigh and stand and go open the door to the veritable army of people tasked with making him look even halfway lordly.

Today was a production, a performance, every step of it carefully blocked and tailored for the benefit of the Empire. Caleb was only an actor, Mollymauk Tealeaf was only an actor. They were all just following their scripts so the lords above them could puff up their chests and point to the elaborate decorations made of twisted silver and diamond and gold when there weren’t even coppers to be found down in the slums and the river of food that would flow through the great hall while the city’s people starved just beyond the gates, they could point and say with pride that the Dwendalian Empire was stronger than ever.

And when the day was done and the ribbon hangings had been crushed underfoot and all that was left of the rich wines were puddles on the floor and the lords were fatter and goutier than ever, drunk on their own importance, it would be Caleb and Mollymauk who were left in the middle of it all, left following the same script pages for the rest of their lives and growing wearier and wearier and gradually falling apart, trapped.

As he was pushed into the chair before the silvered glass and a brush was passed through his hair, accompanied by the frustrated tsking of the dresser, Caleb watched as a single, almost invisible tear dripped down the nose of his reflection.

The ceremony could have lasted a handful of seconds, for all Caleb took notice of it.

He was vaguely aware of the high priest’s voice, low and sonorous as it echoed off the ancient walls of the temples, and the undulating voices of the prayer singers behind him, but it was as if it couldn’t reach him, even as he knelt on the hard stone steps, front and centre in front of so many pairs of eyes. He felt none of it, heard none of their murmurings.

And yet every shift of silk, every slight ring of metal on metal, every soft exhalation, every movement from the tiefling next to him sounded out loud as thunder. The young lord from the Menagerie Coast had entered the temple in a wash of bright colour; his freshly oiled and sharpened scimitars hanging from his side, the ornamentation in his horns and ears and tail caught somewhere between armour and jewellery, intricate patterns woven into the flowing robes he wore, transforming him into a living story of his people and where they’d come from, everything that had brought him here to this cavernous, ancient hall to marry a stranger. As soon as Caleb had seen him, his breath had quickened with so many different emotions that he couldn’t quite keep track of them, his response inaudible under the significant response from the assembled dignitaries of both of their kingdoms and others from far and wide, condemning and admiring in equal measures. The ripple of noise had followed the tiefling and his retinue as they’d processed down the length of the hall, as his cortèges melted away and took their assigned places, flanking the couple, who had then stood alone in the sight of men and the gods, the offerings from two different nations to be exchanged like coins to buy peace.

Then Caleb had just gotten lost in it all.

The prayers and songs didn’t reach him, the words he’d practised fell from his lips carelessly. The sacred oil dripped down his forehead and he didn’t feel it, the light of the refracted crystal fell across his face but he didn’t see it, the gold chain was wound between his wrist and Mollymauk’s but he didn’t feel it.

The only thing he could feel was the presence of Mollymauk beside him, the tiefling always seemed to run hotter than most and warmth radiated from him especially in the cool of the stone temple, that and the eyes that bore down on him from above. The ones in the audience passed over him but the cold, ancient eyes done in opal and jade and black diamond, the ones of the statues of the gods that ringed the sloping walls of the temple, they pressed on him with a physical weight. They asked him what someone like him, someone broken, someone common, someone scarred, thought he was even doing here. What right did he have to stand here in this sacred place? Who was he?

Caleb had no answers for them. He could only stand and sweat and miss the moment when the high priest declared that the two before him were bound for eternity and their love could be sealed with a kiss, the first of many, having to be reminded with a careful cough from Fjord to turn find Molly’s lips pressed against his own. It was so sudden and dry and swift that it was over before Caleb even registered it and then it was done.

He was married.

He’d never felt so hollow.

Whereas the ceremony passed right over him, like a storm raging outside a house where he was curled up with his head between his knees, for the feast Caleb was submerged in it and there was no escape.

For once, the older archmages wanted him centre stage, right up on the dais in the place of highest honour, beside his new husband. From there he could see the whole party laid out before him, could see his friends laughing and joking together on the lower bench where he would much rather be, safe in amongst their friendly smiles and inside jokes. But instead he had to be presented with as much fanfare as possible, far away from any protection his companions could give him, stuck in awkward, stifling silence with Mollymauk.

The tiefling was trying his best, offering light compliments on his robes, the food before them, the décor. But even his usual easy confidence was sapped by the pressure the two of them were under and Caleb couldn’t manage more than weak mumbles that were utterly lost under the music, the chatter, the smoke of the fires. Before long people started to dance, his good friend Jester being the first, rising from the table and walking across its top, nimbly avoiding people’s trenchers and tankards to Fjord and ask him to join her on the floor while their friends whistled and laughed in response. They were joined by others until there were several twirling, weaving pairs of all colours and shapes but somehow turned into the same washed out grey silhouettes by the smoke and incense, each one in its own universe.

Caleb bit his lip thoughtfully as he watched them, suddenly aware that he really should be asking Mollymauk if he would favour him with a dance. It was expected of new couples to take to the floor, typically while some slow, haunting ballad of love flowed from the musician’s platform. That was how it always went in the books Caleb read; the couple was supposed to kiss passionately in the glow of the candlelight as the last strains of the music reverberated around them, sweet as flowers blooming.

The thought only turned his stomach in knots.

He must have been glancing anxiously between the dancers and Mollymauk because the tiefling suddenly reached out and touched him lightly on the shoulder, making him start suddenly.

“Would- oh, sorry,” he withdrew his hand quickly, smiling apologetically, “Would you like to dance? We can if you like, my lord?”

Caleb cleared his throat and made to rise from his chair, pulling his long, flowing velvet robes after him awkwardly, “I suppose it is expected of us.”

Just for a second, he thought he saw something like disappointment cross Molly’s face but it was gone too quickly for him to really place, his new husband coming after him, effortless and confident in his ceremonial attire by contrast.

The other couples parted to let them take their place in the very centre of the open space, right atop an elaborate tiled depiction of one of the great wars of Zadash. Caleb wrinkled his nose in distaste at it though he got some small amount of pleasure in stepping right on the face of the pompous looking Zadashi general as he and Molly entered an awkwardly formal hold.

They began to sway slightly, Caleb remembering what he’d learned in dance classes from his youth that had been part of his academy training, which he’d actually rather enjoyed. Though his limbs felt stiff and awkward and unhelpful now, his heartbeat distractingly fast and his underarms disarmingly warm from having his husband of two hours close to him.

“I... I’d hoped to see you in the plaza some evening?” Mollymauk murmured quietly, “I looked for you.”

Caleb flushed and not from the oppressive heat of the feast all, “Ah. Yes, what with the wedding and everything, I…they’ve been watching me like hawks, I couldn’t sneak away…”

It was only half a lie. He’d thought a lot about their evening, about their unexpected meeting at the feet of the city’s fountain. And the more Caleb thought about it, the more he’d wanted to steal away every single evening since to see if there would be that crowd of laughing children, their eyes alight with joy as the honourable Lord Tealeaf stole away from his duties and responsibilities to entertain them as he juggled his swords. And the more he’d realised he couldn’t. The more of himself he hid from his husband for as long as he possibly could, the better it would be for all of them. So, every evening since then and now, he’d pretended to read while anxiously bouncing his leg and looking out of the window, alternating between wondering what new tricks Mollymauk was pulling for his show and insisting to himself that nothing was further from his mind than his betrothed.

“Of course, I understand,” Mollymauk nods, the ornamentation in his horns catching the light as he did, the bands that clung to the curves and the spun gold that hung between their span, “It has been a lot.”

Caleb looked down, his fingers twitching inside Mollymauk’s. In amongst it all, the robes and the prayers and the pointless feasting, he’d somehow forgotten that there was another half of this marriage, someone else who had been dreading this day as much as he had. That smiling, hopeful, laughing man from the plaza.

“Yeah,” Caleb mumbled, holding his hand a little tighter, feeling the twin golden rings press against each other, the one that looked stunningly loud on Caleb’s thick, rough, calloused fingers and comparatively humble on Mollymauk’s bejewelled, slim, purple ones.

Maybe he would have said something else. Maybe he wouldn’t. But it was then that the outer torches suddenly flared to life, bathing the wedding party in a sudden, harsh light, and the Grand Mage of the city rose to his feet, slightly shaky after consuming what seemed like half of the spice wine the Menagerie dignitaries had brought with them. In a slurred voice, he declared it was past time that the feast drew to a close and the bridegrooms were allowed to complete their marriage. And Caleb felt his stomach drop to the bottom of his boots.  

Molly’s hand was suddenly pulled from his own as the wedding guests descended, whirling the two bewildered men towards the stairs up to the chambers of the archmages up above, one of which had been primped and polished and prepared for Caleb and Molly’s first night as husbands. There would likely be a fresh flagon of the sweetest, thickest blackberry wine, a bowl of plump, fresh grapes so ripe the veins showed beneath the skin, fine silk hangings over a groaning featherbed, candles lit to fill the air with the scent of rose and amber and spice. A lot of effort for somewhere Caleb would rather sleep in the darkest dungeons of the palace than set one foot in.

As they were pulled along by the raucous wedding guests, though his friends took no part, staying far back and watching their friend with anxious expressions, Caleb strained his neck for a glimpse of Mollymauk’s expression, dreading and desperate to get some indication of what would happen as soon as the heavy oak doors closed and they were left alone. But the only thing the tiefling showed was surprise and puzzlement. Maybe no one had told him of the Dwendalian tradition of carrying the bride and groom to their marriage bed.

The room was as perfectly manicured as he’d expected and Caleb’s stomach still twisted into a tight knot at the sight of it all laid out before him. What little food he’d managed to get down during the feast threatened to come back up and make Caleb Widogast the only man in the history of the empire to utterly ruin a diplomatic treaty by retching on his betrothed during their wedding night. He tried to steady himself as best he could after he was tipped onto the bed, the room spinning around him in a whirl of formless burgundies and ivories, Mollymauk catapulted to his side a few seconds after.

And then with a last few whistles and ribald suggestions, silence suddenly dropped down upon them with a low, final boom of the closing door. Caleb’s hands shook as he staggered to his feet and reached for the flagon on the side table, pouring two glasses of the wine, tempted to swallow them both down himself before his husband could notice.

“My goodness,” Mollymauk sounded slightly dazed behind him, “Forgive me but I didn’t expect your people to have a wedding custom that was so…fun?”

“No offence taken,” Caleb replied, wincing internally as his voice came out thin and watery, “It is our only one, after all.”

Mollymauk accepted his glass with a grateful smile, though his eyes lingered slightly on Caleb’s hand, how it trembled and clutched the stem of his own goblet with white knuckles. The wizard quickly busied himself with jumping to his feet and crossing the room to throw back the drapes so he didn’t have to look at those knowing, slightly pitying red eyes any more. From here, the whole city had been reduced to just a handful of dim orange lights on a field of black velvet, scattered carelessly on the foot of the hill on which the palace crouched. For a moment, Caleb’s throat tightened and he wondered what he wouldn’t give to be down there again, for everything to have gone differently, to still be just Caleb with his simple life and his dreams and his family.

It was such a blow to think that getting everything he’d wanted back then had been what ruined him.

“My lord?” Mollymauk spoke up gently, his voice sounding so far away. Caleb realised then that he’d been standing by the window in silence for longer than he’d meant to.

“Forgive me,” he said quickly, swallowing the rest of his wine, so thick and sweet and sudden that it was almost metallic on the back of his tongue, leaving the goblet on the windowsill as he turned back to the bed, “How would you like to do this? I… I can disrobe for you or you could do that if you wanted…”

“Caleb…” Molly sighed softly but the words kept spilling out of the wizard in a desperate tide, like if he just kept talking everything would work out, and the tiefling’s voice barely reached him.

“I hope you’ll forgive my…my inexperience but I’m willing to do whatever you ask of me, as long as you instruct me in what I need to do, I…I want to please you as best I can, my lord, I just want to please you as best I can…” he continued, voice growing thinner and more anxious, his shaking getting worse. And, oh gods, there were tears building in his eyes and he couldn’t hold them back and his chest was heaving like a set of bellows and his whole face was burning and there was a numbness in the tips of his fingers…

“Caleb.”

His own name always made him start a little. People called him so many things other than his given name these days, remembering it was always a slight shock. And now Mollymauk’s hands were on his own and his thumbs were running over his knuckles and those red eyes looked less like the warning colour of blood and more like the fires on top of a beacon tower. Caleb began to feel again, the pull of air in and out of his lungs and his heartbeat in his chest though he still felt dizzy and sick and small.

“Caleb, do you want to have sex with me tonight?” Mollymauk asked in a gentle voice, a kind of honesty and openness in his expression that was so alien to Caleb but something in his chest cried out to it.

“No,” he whispered after a long time, pained and lost, lower lip starting to tremble.

“Then we aren’t going to,” Molly nodded firmly, as if it could be so simple. He led his staggered wizard back to the bed, hands not wandering anywhere near the fastenings of his robes, just sitting upon the petal strewn eiderdown. Instead of more wine, he poured him a cup of cool, iced water, pressing it into his hands with an expression that, for a moment, could have convinced Caleb that he was genuinely worth caring about.

“But…isn’t it expected?” he protested in a faint voice, sounding slightly more like himself after a few swallows of the water cleared his head, “if we don’t consummate the marriage, it can be set aside and the whole treaty could fall apart?”

Mollymauk shook his head, waving away his concerns with a hand, though the action was more soothing than dismissive.

“Caleb, I’ll be honest? I don’t care,” he admitted shamelessly, “I don’t care about their rules and I don’t care about their goddamned treaty. I am absolutely not going to have sex with you if you aren’t ready for it. I swear, I will not touch you until you expressly ask me.”

Caleb was stunned, looking for some sign that he was joking but there was none. There was only one question that quaked shyly on the end of his tongue, so small but he couldn’t for the life of him make sense of it.

“Why?”

Mollymauk tilted his head slightly, “Because…because I care about you? I care about you being happy in this marriage, Caleb, if we can manage it. I know neither of us chose this path but I want to make the best of it now we’re on it. Is that really so strange?”

It was. But Caleb just shrugged, starting to relax a little.

“What do we do all night then?” he asked, running his thumb along the edge of the goblet.

“Well, what would you normally be doing of an evening?” his strange new husband asked lightly, smiling a little, “And don’t lie to me and say you’d be sleeping, I see the burned down candle ends piled on your desk.”

Caleb laughed ruefully, bemused at how short a time someone needed to spend with him to see that, “No, I suppose I’d be reading right about now.”

“Then…could you read to me, perhaps?” Molly offered, opening his hands, one of the many gestures he seemed to flicker through as he spoke, “I used to love to read when I was younger and I’m afraid I haven’t had the time of late?”

“Of course,” Caleb was still stunned but he decided not to question it, running with it until something inevitably came and tripped him up, “I have one with me actually, a book of folk tales…”

“Sounds wonderful,” Mollymauk murmured gently, his slight smile growing.

And so their wedding night was spent with Molly sprawled lazily across the many cushions, idly eating grapes and offering one to Caleb occasionally, who was sat up against the headboard, eyes roving over much loved familiar words, his voice low and warm and contented as he read them aloud. Eventually his eyelids grew heavy and the lines greyed and blurred before him and then Molly’s hands guided him down and pulled the blankets over him.

And it was over. The day Caleb had been dreading for so long was over and the future he was so uncertain of had begun.

Though his heart felt just a little bit lighter.