#please let me know if you wold like to learn more about any of these fics as I’m uploading them!

[smilesrobotlover]

Rusl was so injured he couldn't see from one eye and was limping badly. Rusl knew no-one on the village had the ability use the sword he had. Rusl was worried about the kids and the teens from the village missing. His son disappeared. All the kids were kidnapped by monsters. He probably fought with all he had but at the end failed to save the kids. He was bleeding, hurting, probably barely able to move, and still he went and grabbed the sword, and everything to protect the family he had not yet lost: Uli. And of course the baby she had.

He heard noise and went to check if it were the kids, or so he says on game. I guess he says that to not scare Uli or sth, because he goes to check with a sword if there were monsters on the area.

This is probably the WORST day of his fucking life and on top of it there's a monster on the village he can hear but not see. He patrols, limping, barely able to hold and swing the sword in a way that could damage a beast. He is exhausted, bloodloss and pain from every cell on his body making everything worse. He has to literally drag himself to patrol, if you see how he moves, and his face, you can see he's only doing this out of spite.

When he hits the wolf, if he does or if he sees him, he only takes half a heart with his blows, way too little damage for the best swordsman of the village. If Wolf Link gets too close to Uli, she screams, and Rusl is there to protect her 0,1 second later. He runs to protect her, we know Link won't do any harm, but they don't. Rusl gives his 100% and more to protect Uli here. He's severely injured. His wife tells him so. He still goes and pushes himself to the limit. He fights this monster if he has to. He's slow to hit the "beast", my theory is that he's either waiting for the wold to hit first or he's barely able to hold the sword, let alone give a damaging blow.

My boy Rusl is such a big hearted man that he literally would fight to death to protect his loved ones (I wonder where Link learned that).

I just wanted to show you canonnicaly injured Rusl and ended up rambling a bit, but he's such a lover, please, look at him.

I KNOOOOOOOOOOOW OH MY GOODNESS

if you go back after Faron temple, you’ll see him just lying on the couch clearly in pain and possibly delirious cuz of what he’s mumbling in his sleep. And he’s grunting in pain and overall looks absolutely exhausted over everything

Like this man was brutally injured and is finally getting the rest he’s supposed to be getting but just… his clothes is all bloody, I’m pretty sure that’s one of his pillows that’s possibly bloody cuz of him. Just, UGH. Nintendo really beat him up. But he did all of that to protect the children and to protect his wife despite barely being able to walk!! And he failed to save the children 😭😭😭 I can’t imagine how horrible he must feel for not being able to do it, but he nearly died trying to save them!

This makes me wonder if he was even ok enough to travel to castle town towards the end. That’s probably why he didn’t do much fighting in the game cuz he was still injured. But then again the resistance didn’t do as much as I’d like in tp so.

But Rusl is the best character ever I love that guy so much

[tangerinenotions95]

So Much For Normal - A Seth Clearwater Fanfic (Chapter 17)

"Seth?" I asked looking at his shocked expression which hadn't changed since I had uttered the word 'witch'.

"You sure?" was all he could muster, blinking for the first time in minutes. I let out a small chuckle, "Yes Seth, I'm pretty sure" I told him.

He simply nodding and I could tell he was trying to process so I stayed quiet and let him do just that. After a few moments he broke the silence,

"I'm sorry" was all he said making me look at him confused, "About your mom".

I smiled at him, typical Seth, "It was a long time ago" I gave him a reassuring squeeze on his arm so he knew I was okay.

"So you used magic to save me?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I knew I had a spell for it, I just needed to get it done in time" I explained.

"So, this being a witch thing?" He said not asking a specific question so I decided I wold just tell him everything.

"My mum was a witch, goes back centuries into her side of the family but we eventually started to die out so there's only three of us left in our coven, myself included. My aunt and cousin are the other two and thankfully she was there to train me when my powers started to become stronger. She taught me everything I now know"

I took a moment knowing the next part was going to be much harder, "We were in the woods looking for plants that my mum liked to use for her potions when we were attacked. She somehow managed to place a protection spell on me before they dragged her away. She kept screaming at me to run but I was frozen to the spot until she stopped screaming. I realised quickly why she was suddenly silent as a large, grey wolf turned and started walking towards me, mouth dripping from his mouth. My legs kicked into gear then and I ran and ran, they were on my tail but the protection spell was on my side, I eventually reached my house which had another spell on it meaning they couldn't get onto the property.

It was the worst day of my life" I took a deep breath, "That was the case until...until the day I thought I was going to lose you too" I told Seth with a shaky breath and looking down at the ground.

He placed a hand on my chin and gently moved my head so I was facing him, "You will never lose me" he told me with the most serious expression I had ever seen him wear. I nodded and smiled as he wiped away a tear that had escaped my eye.

I knew I needed to tell him everything before I lost my nerve, "Please don't hate me for what I'm about to tell you" I said to him.

"I couldn't even if I wanted to" He smiled encouragingly at me.

"A few years ago I found the pack that murdered my mum. I was strong, one of the strongest. I only intended to make them suffer a bit but.. I lost control, I just saw red" I stopped mid sentence, I have never said this out loud before.

"You can tell me anything" Seth spoke softly to me.

"I killed him" the tears that had been threatening to spill over were now flowing freely down my cheeks with no sign of stopping. For years I had kept that secret to myself, pushing it down and not telling anyone.

Next thing I knew I was placed on Seth's lap as he held me close with no indication of letting me go, and I was pretty okay with that. 

This guy who I hardly knew anything about made me feel safe and also vulnerable, like I could be my whole self around him without any judgement.

"You were just a kid, you lost control and you were alone" he said in an effort to comfort me. I buried myself into his chest, "I'll never forgive myself and I never want to be that person again" I sniffled.

He pulled back so he could look at me again, "We can't control our emotions all the time and sometimes they get the better of us but we can learn from it" he told me with a kind smile. 

I didn't say anything, I didn't need to. He was always going to be there for me and I knew that now. I would never hurt him and he would never hurt me..at least we would try not to.

"Can I tell you more about us?" He asked me suddenly, in an effort to change the subject. I nodded, curious as to what he had to stay. He kept me close to him while he spoke, he was watching the waves come in and out. I watched him though, studied every inch of his face; I noticed the tiny lines at the sides of his mouth from where he spent most of the time smiling, the tiny flecks of yellow in his brown eyes and how he frowns ever so slightly when he is being serious.

"Well you know the stories about us and the Cullen's so I won't repeat that, I really want to tell you more about the whole imprinting thing" he tells me as I notice a slight hint of pink hit his cheeks.

He let out an awkward cough making me smile before he continued to speak, "Well it's kind of hard to explain. Jacob once told me that it's not like love at first sight, it's like gravity suddenly moves and she is the only thing holding you to earth. It didn't really make much sense to me" he paused briefly, "Until recently" he whispered finally looking back at me.

My breath hitched.

"It's how we find our soulmates, it happens the second we look into their eyes and in an instant she becomes the most important thing in your life no questions asked" he finished inhaling sharply.

I thought for a moment and I could see Seth start to become nervous, afraid of how I was going to respond.

"I'm not getting rid of you, am I Clearwater?" I asked grinning.

This made him laugh a real, hearty chuckle, "Not a chance, Y/L/N" he replied.

[make-me-imagine]

Hey, I hope you had a nice holiday and had fun with your family. If it is ok with you, can you do a, The Hobbit/LOTHRS ship, please.

Features: I am a short woman 4'9.  I have curly golden honey-blond hair which goes to my bra-strap length, I have dark chocolate brown eyes, and a little bit of chubbiness in my cheeks. I have a butterfly-shaped scar on my forehead which is from skin cancer from when I was 5-6 years old.

Name/Nickname: Madison, Ma, Papillon (Which means Butterfly in French), Piccolo Guerriero (Which means Little Warrior in Italian. I am part Italian and French on my mother's side.), Little Butterfly, Sunshine, and Little Rose.

Disorder/Disability I have: Dyslexia, Epilepsy, and Anxiety.

Personality: I am a sweet, loving, stubborn, caring, gentle, and understanding woman but if you mess with me/hurt me, my family, friends, or the people I love I become scary-scary.

If I was in The Hobbit or LOTHRS I would be: a witch or a Hobbit.

Personality: I am a sweet, loving, stubborn, caring, gentle, and understanding woman but if you mess with me/hurt me, my family, friends, or the people I love I become scary-scary.

Likes/love to do: I love to drawing/painting, embroidery, reading (I am a bit of a bookworm), anime, cosplaying, doing any type of math, loves plants/nature, and baking in my free time.

I don't like/afraid/scared of: afraid of Spiders, don't like people insulting or making fun of family/Love ones/Friends, and I don't like being yelled at because it scares me from past traumas and anxiety.

Style: I love to wear, off-the-shoulder shirts, leggings, jeans, button-up shirts, dresses, and once in a while a shirt with a long skirt. My home aesthetic is a mix between astronomy and witch.

The only other thing is that I wear a heart-shaped ruby necklace around my neck which was a gift from my whole family. I never take it off.

Prompts: "I don't care if you are a (witch/hobbit), I love you." "I don't care if you won't let me marry her, I love her and you can't take her away from me ever." "I will always love you."

Thank you for requesting another commission ship! ❤ I hope you had a lovely holiday season as well!! ❤❤❤

-Commission Ships Info-

I ship you with Fili! (a close second was Legolas!)

Fili's feelings for you was a slow-burning evolution. He respected and admired you from the very start and you became friends quite quickly, but there were no romantic feelings at first. Slowly he began to notice his heart beating a bit faster every time he saw you. He slowly grew more protective of you, and even felt jealous when someone else showed an interest in you.

Your feelings for him were evolving at about the same rate (though maybe a bit faster). When he truly knew that he had developed these feelings, he waited until you had a private moment alone and told you, and when he learned you returned them, he was ecstatic.

He knew there would be discourse amongst other dwarves when they learned of his feelings as dwarves very rarely marry outside of their race. Some wouldn't care once they met you, but some held an unfortunate prejudice, especially since he was to be king one day.

BUT though Fili is proud of his heritage and family, he would never let them dictate his future or who he marries and loves. So even if he had to give up the throne, he would choose you.

Fili knew you would never want him to give that up, or cause a rift within his family. So you would pull away, even though it broke your heart. But Fili wouldn't except it, and would continue to court you no matter what, all the time convincing and battling for your love with those who wold oppose it.

(more under cut)

In my head you are a Hobbit with a knack for magic due to a past relationship between your Hobbit ancestor and an unknown person.

There are rumors that it was a powerful Wizard, and some think it was an Elf, but you don't know for certain as it's a big family secret.

But whoever they were, their magic lingered in your bloodline and strengthened with you, giving you magical abilities.

You are the first ever known Hobbit to have magic of a witch. (Even witches in themselves are extremely rare in this world)

When you met the dwarves (through your connection with Bilbo) they were in awe of your magic, and a little frightened, but mostly in awe.

Especially when they discovered just how caring, strong and kind you were.

They quickly learned you were an amazing ally and a great friend.

You especially got along well with Fili and Kili due to your closeness in age and similarities in personality.

They could tell you were sensitive to confrontation (yelling, and such), but the first time they saw you ready to battle for someone you cared for even using a sword, they were shocked in a best way.

This was one of the things that caused Fili to start seeing you a bit differently as well. His heart almost popped out of his chest when he saw the fire in your eyes.

Little Butterfly, Sunshine, and Little Rose are definitley pet-names Fili would cycle through. He would also call you 'amrâlimê' ('love of me'. aka 'My love')

Once Fili started courting you, he used mixtures of dwarven and hobbiton courting rituals.

So he of course gave you a bead from his beard and braided it into your hair.

And even if you are afraid of how other's would act due to your different races, Fili will still declare you are his intended and that he is courting you anytime the option arises, and especially if someone else so much as attempts to flirt with you.

((With this oneshot I changed the prompts a little so they would fit the situation))

Warnings: A bit angsty but with a happy ending

Note: I know nothing of Frerin, just that he is Thorins brother (Dis's older brother), so I made up his personality in this.

----

As you walked through the courtyard, you kept your eyes peeled for a familiar head of golden hair. You felt eyes on you every where you went but you had begun to grow used to it by now.

You had made plenty of friends an acquaintances that you won over with your genuine heart. But there were still plenty who looked at you with scornful eyes. And many who uttered their thoughts out loud at the sight of you.

"There she goes again. She sticks out like a sore thumb."

Your steps slowed for a moment at the words as you walked past the market stall. Taking a sharp breath you continued on, ignoring the muttering of those who didn't care to get to know you or open their minds to your skills.

As much as you tried to ignore their words your chest tightened as your steps slowed. No matter how hard you tried to push past it, it still weighed on you. All of their words, stares, thoughts and opinions slowly making it harder for you to keep pushing forward.

Maybe it truly was a bad idea for you to remain here. As much as you love Fili, which you did, with all your heart, you seemed to only bring trouble to him. It wasn't enough that Thorin and Kili had accepted you, or the rest of the company. Fili's own parents were still hesitant, and his Uncle Frerin the loudest of all.

Fili was next in line for the throne, it was not suitable for him to be with someone like you. You knew him well enough to know he would never tell you to leave, that he would never break his courtship with you.

You paused in your steps as you stared at the ground.

'Maybe it would be better for him if I left.'

The thought made your heart ache as your chest clenched painfully. You felt your eyes brimming with tears as they burned. You continued to walk, not paying much attention to where it was you were going.

Hearing a familiar voice, you paused in your steps as you looked around, quickly wiping your face.

It was Fili's voice you heard. Your breath caught as the other familiar voice rang out from around the corner.

"Do you truly think the people will accept your marriage to someone of not only commoner blood, but a non-dwarven commoner?"

Frerin's voice made your stomach twist. He had been so kind to you when you first met. But as soon as he learned of Fili's affection towards you, he changed. You knew he was only being protective of his family, but you truly wish he would see you for what you were and accept you, as his sister had slowly begun to do.

"Why do you insist on insulting her every time we speak? You liked her in the beginning why change now?"

Fili's thoughts were an echo of your own. You leaned against the wall as you listened.

Frerin sighed, "I had no qualms against her personally, but you must know it is a ridiculous idea to marry her. It is best that she leaves here and goes back to Hobbiton. I know you have heard the whispers about her. About her magic, something so unnatural in her race-"

"Uncle I beg you keep your tongue. You should pay her more respect. She helped us to win the lonely mountain back, she helped us defeat the dragon Smaug, she fought beside us more bravely than you could imagine. She is the only reason me and my brother are still alive. Yet you still insist on trying to chase her away. I will not have it, not anymore. I do not care if you do not want me to marry her, I love her and you can't take her away from me, no matter how you try."

"Fili-"

"No. That is enough, I will listen to you no more. Not until you learn to respect her as she deserves."

As you heard Fili's steps come closer, you wiped the tears that had escaped and walked swiftly away.

As Fili rounded the corner, he saw you fleeing. His heart jolted as he raced to catch up to you. As he grabbed your wrist you turned around to face him. His heart ached as he saw remnant tears on your face.

He stepped closer and gently cupped your face. "How much of that did you hear?"

You sniffled as you kept your eyes downcast. "Enough of it."

He stepped closer, and tilted your head to make you look into his eyes. "I'm sorry you heard his words, they were disgraceful."

You sniffled again as you shook your head with a smile before hugging him. He wrapped his arms around you and held you tight.

"I don't care what he thinks, not anymore. I only care what you think."

"You heard my words, yes? I am devoted to you, no matter what he or anyone else thinks."

Guilt rocked through you at his words.

"Are you certain is not better for me to leave? I seem to only cause you grief."

Fili pulled away as he looked into your eyes, his eyes filled with fear and desperation. "Don't you dare." Wiping a stray tear with his thumb he shook his head softly. "Do not let their words chase you away, do not let them win."

Leaning in, he pressed a slow soft kiss to your lips. When he pulled away his voice softened.

"I do not care that you are a Hobbit, or even a Witch, you could be an Elf for all I care. I love you, I will always love you."

You smiled at him through your teary eyes before pulling him into another hug. As he wrapped his arms around you, you resolved to stay. You couldn't leave him, not now, not ever.

It would take time for the Dwarves to see you as Fili wished. And it would be hard, but you would make it. The people would slowly grow to love you in all ways. They would trust your skills, your magic and your kind heart. In the end you would win, and your's and Fili's love was the prize.

xx

[hanamuranobuyuki]

About the Amanda, Jyushi, Jiro, Love, Life series

Today I thought I would try to give a little bit of insight to the ongoing series right now. It’s surprisingly been a couple of months since I began this journey, and with how much I have planned to write for this, it will probably take a few more until I’ve written all that I have planned out. With the sheer length of these works it does take a long time, so I might have forgotten about a loooot of stuff, but I’ll try to list off the things I remember quq. If you’re interested in reading some of these backstories, you can after the line break^^

For those interested in reading the series as it gets updated, you can read it here! I hope you enjoy this!

To be completely honest, I should have been done with this little excursion after writing Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness. I thought that this much was enough, and I was having low confidence issues as to whether or not things were likable, if they were in character (or somewhat at the very least...) and the list could go on forever.

But ideas kept popping into my head and what was supposed to be disjointed scenes out of everyday life for Jiro and Jyushi as they manage a long distance relationship after only being together for a day turned into Closing the Distance Between Us..... quite comical if you ask me considering the word count just got longer from there *cries into the distance*

But to tell you the truth, I’m happy I continued this journey despite the challenges. I feel like the way I’m progressing through this is giving it a more complete story that embodies the “circle of life and love” I imagine thanks to Amanda’s existence. This is also the reason why I named the series the Amanda, Jyushi, Jiro, Love, Life series. It’s a circle of connections, founded by Amanda, and it branches off into love for Jyushi and Jiro, which betters their life and/or changes it drastically from what it could have been. So with that kinda pushed out of the way, lemme tell you about some good old background info.

1. Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness is not my first Jiroshi fic

... it’s just the first one I’ve completed. After being immersed in the Hypmi fanfic archives and devouring the sweetness that is Jiroshi I started thinking about things I could write. The first one came in the form of Jyushi wearing red lipstick, which to this day I don’t know if I’m making it fluff or more explicit but I was hooked on the idea and... stopped writing 500 words into the work. The second one came in the form of An Outrageous Circumstance. I wasn’t surprised about Buster Bros making an appearance in my strange dreams, but after reflecting on it I realized I could use this and switch Jyushi with me in the dream plot. I fortunately did manage to finish writing that, so if you’d like to read that, you can here.

Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness was born from the concept that Amanda has more of an importance to Jyushi’s life than ever imagined. I wondered, what would happen if Amanda had a soul and supported Jyushi? And from there this was born. Initially I was content with leaving it as it was since I didn’t know just how much power I could give Amanda, but they grew on me so much okay? I practically love Amanda as much as I do Jyushi and Saburo. I can’t produce them tho aha... having Amanda as a support person is one of the best things I could write for Jyushi. And I hope people can enjoy this as much as I have.

2. The soulmates concept is mostly forgotten about 90% of the time for me.

Whenever I write more installments I forget that this is kind of a soulmates au, based on the fact that Amanda can see the fated linkage between Jyushi and Jiro. I always imagine this is kinda like a semi rewrite of canon world but at the same time it’s like it’s own little world quq. But whenever I have to stop and think about how much fluff I need to add and just sequential things like that... the soulmates concept come out. I guess I do have to thank myself for actually remembering about it every once in awhile XD

But I will mention that this fate concept will come out more in some of the newer installments. I have prewritten something a little more into the future that heavily talks about the fated pair deal. I hope you’ll look forward to it!

2.1. Why is Jiro the only one that has a fated string?

I wrote this specifically in Amanda’s point of view. If anyone had a fated string, Amanda would believe this person to be Jyushi’s fated partner, because their duty is to look over Jyushi and make sure he receives the happiness he deserves. Amanda cannot see the fated strings of anyone else in the world, because Jyushi is all Amanda truly cares about. Think of it as a special gift Amanda was gifted by the gods for their journey to giving Jyushi his happiness.

From here, I don’t know what else might be important, but I’ll list off some other things that might’ve been written in notes and other things like that.

3. Jyushi has “graduated” high school.

Jyushi’s school circumstances are kinda strange now that I think about it. THINKING ABOUT IT LOGICALLY, Jyushi should be a third year in high school at his age of 18 (or at least... I thought so lmao). Instead, I’ve given him a job and a life outside of school lol. So I’ll just say Jyushi got into school a little earlier than he should have thanks to his parent’s frequent travels abroad. He was raised by his grandmother most of the time, whenever his parents couldn’t stay in Japan. Around middle school, Jyushi transferred to a middle school that was closer to his grandmother’s residence, rather than feed into the middle school his elementary school was joined with, so then the commute from his grandmother’s residence wouldn’t be as problematic.

Amanda was born around this time, and they got to witness the extremely difficult times Jyushi faced. When Jyushi’s grandmother passes, Jyushi moves in with his aunt and uncle who lived in the next town over. Feeling bad about being a nuisance when they were planning on having a family, Jyushi finds a high school with a boarding plan so he doesn’t have to inconvenience them any more than he did. Along with these plans Jyushi also found part time jobs that were allowed in accordance to the school rules. This is where he finds his passion with making music, which is more than just listening to it and singing in general.

Jyushi was fortunate enough that he had his own dorm. Most of that reason came in the form of his “eccentric personality” which came out a lot whenever he was nervous. He had classmates who talked to him, but he didn’t really have friends. With that said and done, Jyushi quietly progressed through school and quietly graduated around his 18th birthday. He was already set with a job though, with the label he is currently under giving him a contract whilst in his third year of high school. The company officially advertises Argo Kishii Gakudan, and Jyushi becomes the lead singer who produces everything on his own. They gain popularity almost instantly thanks to the copious amount of lives they have done.

Technically, Argo Kishii Gakudan was already a couple years old however. They were made up of Jyushi’s upperclassmen that recognized his talent for music, Takeru, Jun, and Keisuke. You will see more of them in Side N. But because they were so small, and had to pay for all their bookings and everything on their own, going out to share their music, even when they were a hit in their frequent live houses, was nearly impossible. Thanks to the backing of their label, Argo Kishii Gakudan was able to perform around the country and do tours. The fateful one that brings Jiro and Jyushi together is their first one to Ikebukuro.

Jyushi in the current day doesn’t have many opportunities to see his mother and father. They’re successful in their own respective companies, and it shows in the way they send copious amounts of money to Jyushi whenever they can’t meet. Jyushi never has used it though, instead saving it and using only his own earnings from his contract and his previous part time jobs.

Sooo that’s my sorry attempt to document the reason why Jyushi doesn’t attend school lmao. And maybe a little insight on Argo Kishii Gakudan lol.

4. Room settings are soooo difficult to envision, especially whenever they’re different from whatever it is you’re looking at

When I started writing Side: I, and even before when I was writing the ending of Closing the Distance Between Us, I didn’t have the image of Jiro’s room to refer to. How I imagined his room was somewhat drastically different, and thanks to that, I ended up not really giving much of a description to those fics. As of today though, I wrote some hefty descriptions of Jyushi’s room because it’s building up on the imagery I had, in combination to Jyushi’s room in ARB.

You’ll get to read it in the next fic I post from this series. Hope you look forward to it!!

5. Music kinda defines a lot of my inspirations to adding to this series

I listen to music all the time while I’m writing. As a result, there are times I get sidetracked based on songs that come to the shuffle. When I wrote Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness and Closing the Distance Between Us, I shuffled a lot of the Hypmi music into my playlist, with a focus on Moonlight Shadow XD. But then I started writing Side: I, and then I came across a really inspirational song when I watched a Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics routine. While I don’t really associate with the story this song was for, I love this song enough I played it on repeat for like. 80% of that fic entirely.

There’s a couple lines where Jiro thinks about how some romantic music would be playing in the background if it was a drama of some sorts, and this song was a tribute to the fact I was listening to one song... almost entirely. Please listen to it here.

For Side: I-02, another song was put on replay for a little while as well. I made mention of it in the upload post I did for that fic, but I’ll list it here as well.

I hope you’ll give these tracks a listen one day!

7. Some references kinda inside the fics.

I guess I’ll wrap up this mini list of nonsense by mentioning some things I’ve added into these fics based on inspiration from other things or just in random I guess.

Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness: I didn’t know how a love at first sight type of story with soulmates au would work out when I wrote it. I was inspired to write the arcade portion of the date because 1. I wanted to write a kiss segment. And 2. I thought arcade dates would be enjoyable XD.

Closing the Distance Between Us: I never expected this would be in sequential order, like I think I mentioned earlier. I intended on this being more like texting and messaging moments between the two while coping with their long distance relationship. Because of this... I... I don’t really know. I didn’t have an excuse to write this XD I just loved the two and my inspiration was the fuel that was this series? Ahahaha XD

You, Me, and Summer: Side I: a lot of romantic feels fueled this fic, among other things. I was inspired to write a whole lot on Jyushi’s hair routine bc of the tsunami season voice lines on ARB. When I did write this, I was also watching a sports anime called Bakuten. It is a Men’s rhythmic gymnastics anime, and it was what I mentioned when Jyushi watches the anime with Ichiro. The game that they all play is the Game of Life, more or less. I played a few games from the game boy edition just to get a grasp on the game ahaha. But the reason why I added this game was because the ARB event that ran me over with Jiro and Jyushi SSRs. They were event scout SSRs... and the fact that I was drowning in Jiroshi feels only to have MORE thanks to official content even if they weren’t in the same team just made me internally scream and dance all night long.

These two... destroyed my account in more ways than one. I’m now technically a Jiro and Jyushi stan rather than a Saburo and Jyushi stan bc Saburo or Ichiro on that matter never come home. But thanks to this I had to play enough to rank on two accounts. Thus... the one month delay.

Side I-02: because of this event, I decided that they should okay their own human sized Life game. I had to give tribute to the event that wrecked me aha. When I was writing this, I drew something on the side as well. . . And while I’m not sure I like it anymore, I thought I’d share it as well.

One hour of watching the sun rise and not being able to sleep led me to drawing this prototype on a whim. And because I’m a fan of drawing Jyushi’s wardrobe... I thought it would be fun ahaha XD I am a newbie still when it comes to digitally drawing but I am happy at how this turned out!

Finally, I will make mention of the haunted house. While hopping through logs on pixiv, I came across some log that showed how Jiro and Jyushi are scared of scary things, but Jyushi is like a sobbing mess and Jiro is just flat out scared. And later, I heard Jiro react negatively to a horror movie in ARB. When I heard this, I couldn’t resist the temptation! And since technically, Jiro and Jyushi don’t know more about each other than you would think, I thought it was a good opportunity to get them to know something else about them.

Sooo... I think that’s all I can think of right now! I hope you enjoyed learning about some of these small tidbits I could remember when I started working on this series. There’s a lot more to this you can look forward to, and I hope you look forward to it!

I will also apologize in advance for the sheer amount of mistakes there may be. I am my own beta, and I’m usually finishing these up at 5am like clockwork XD whenever I hit a slump in my writing, or miraculously reach the end of this series, I will make sure to clean them up I swear TTuTT thank you for understanding QuQ

If you have any questions, you can ask me here! I’ll try to get to them as quickly as possible. Thank you for taking the time to read this!

[writers-worst-nightmare]

say could I have you take on how Juno, Legoshi and Sheila reaction lets say human are from a totally different galaxy and they came to the Beastar world and Juno, Legoshi and Ellen know that on the human world there are animals like them but not them and thy befriended a human S/O who is from an animal sanctuary so S/O too them to the sanctuary and thy see all the feral animals and S/O takes them to see their wolf buddy and thy meet a big white wolf with yellow eyes that looked intimidating but S/O Gives the big white wolf lots of pets and says "This is Tina she was the runt of the litter and was rejected by her mother so I raised her and look how big she has grown"

Juno, Legoshi, and Sheila reacting to having a human s/o who is from another galaxy but that isn’t important to the story because there is a hot wolf:

A/N: this was a LITTLE confusing but after a lot of hard work and a Mother Mother playlist I figured out what you meant (again, if I got this request wrong just like re-send It or explain it. My little brain cells are srsly being fried)

Request are always open!

Warning(s): N/A (please correct me if wrong though)

JUNO:

- when you first arrived she already was pretty shocked and honestly just clung to Legoshi

- but when she saw YOU

- oh God I hope you are ready to get spammed with a bunch of questions

- I will DIE on the head canon that Juno LOVES to learn about new things and ask a bunch of questions whenever a new topic is introduced to her

- like I think that would just be super cute and funny

- idk honestly

- when you explained everything to her she realized as fast as she could and was actually the one who suggested they went to the place where you worked at

- I know what it is but I have dyslexia and it is like SUPER hard for me to spell it out I am so so so so sooo sorry

- once you took her to the place she was honestly afraid

- I mean, she wasn’t far from the animals there themselves either

- so whenever you said that you where going to take them to the wolf section Juno got REALLY nervous

- she feels self conscious as she walks over there, feeling her energy going down the drain as she stares at the wolves in front of her

- then you guys got to the biggest wolf their probably (although she didn’t pay attention to size that much)

- she was pretty afraid

- this was a white wolf so she was already small compared to them

- but when she saw HER

- the strong teeth of the wolf that looked like he could bite her head off without even trying to

- and don’t even get her STARTED about the yellow blazing eyes that looked like a warning on it’s own to not go NEAR that wolf

- she hid behind you as everyone went up to the wolf

"This is Tina she was the runt of the litter and was rejected by her mother so I raised her and look how big she has grown"

- you said as you bent down and petted the white wolf on the head

- Tina wagged her tail and lolled out his head slightly to the left

- you bent down and scratched the wolves ears, the wold looked away in embarrassment but still secretly wanting more

- she instantly felt bad that she thought Tina was a big bad wolf

- and honestly she felt selfish

- I mean if anybody looked at Juno they would guess that she is feisty because she was a wolf

- and because of that she did not have a lot of friends,

- so she went up to Tina and head butted with her

- Tina looked taken back for a moment before a big goofy smile played on the wolves face

- the piercing and once cold yellow eyes seemed less of a warning and more of a welcome sign that you would see on somebodies door mate

- Tina and Juno stood their for a while before Juno howled out loud as in a celebration of welcoming somebody in the pack

- Tina jumped up and down with excitement before joining in

- You also got the hint and joined in as well

LEGOSHI:

- “Is there a book about this..?”

- Legoshi would whisper as you drag him to the place you work at

- let’s say you took everyone to meet Tina (omg why did that autocorrect to Tian so many times) different times so the white wold didn’t get stressed

- Legoshi isn’t one to judge on looks so in his spare time, while everyone was looking at the birds and other animals he did some research for the white wolf

- he learned quiet a few interesting things

- a lot he didn’t need to know, but still it was nice to read it

- another head canon that I will die on is that Legoshi likes to research

- like he does research in his free time, he does research when he is suppose to be doing homework

- he does research EVERYWHERE AND ANYWHERE

- that and reading classics

- BUT THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO TALK ABOUT THAT NOW IS IT!?!?

- he found out the best ways to approach a white wolf and how to get the old acquainted with you

- so best be prepared when you called Legoshi’s name for him to see the wolf, he wasn’t that surprised when he saw how Tina looked

- I mean, she looked like any other regular wolf

- however—even he had to admit—the wolf did look more scarier in person then in pictures

- and the yellow gleaming eyes didn’t help either

"This is Tina she was the runt of the litter and was rejected by her mother so I raised her and look how big she has grown"

- you explained as you gave Tina some pets

- Legoshi nodded his head then literally plopped on the ground

- he read somewhere to keep your distance and look them in the eyes

- Legoshi tried to look this wolf in the eyes, but he couldn’t

- leave him alone, best boi tried :(

- Tina had to come to Legoshi and give him a few licks

- Legoshi would laugh breathlessly

- and that was the first time you saw Legoshi smile

- he usually never smiled because of his sharp teeth but now, his has kind of forgotten that he was wolf

- You smiled warmly as the two greeted each other with smiles and hugs and affection

- Legoshi’s head would be basically exploding he wouldn’t know what to do

- and what he ended up doing

- was crying

- for the first time, it hit him like a train,

- what hit him like a train? You might ask

- well it is…

- that nobody could love him if he didn’t open up and expose his trauma

- he has closed his doors and kept up his walls for so many people

- but this wolf, this wold, didn‘t know anything about boundaries

- all Tina knew was hunt, eat, sleep, love, repeat

- and that

- that made Legoshi cry tears of joy

- this wolf would never face the dangers that the world had to offer because she was with you

- and that was all it took for Legoshi to cry while smiling

SHEILA:

- I honestly have no idea what to do for her, she is such a side character oml

- POOR GIRL WAS SO CONFUSED

- “won’t there be like…herbavore’s there…?”

- she would ask as she shifts her feet in discomfort

- “not for now…although I do plan to open it to both herbavore’s and carnivore’s!”

- you cheerfully boasted as the cheetah looked at you through narrowed eyes

- “I don’t think we should mix with the—“

- “for the love of God, shut the hell up!”

- she gets very worried when she goes through the butterfly section in fear of hurting the precious creatures

- you had to calm her down and actually go through the steps with her on how to not hurt a butterfly

- she mostly spent her time with the cheetah‘s and butterfly’s so she got a little pouty when you said it was time for her to meet the wolf

- I mean she didn’t even LIKE wolves so why did she have to put up with one!?

- but when she got into the area her blood ran cold

- right in front of her was the largest white wolf she had ever seen with menacing yellow eyes and long sharp teeth and matching razor sharp claws that could most certainly kill a butterfly AND her with no effort whatsoever

"This is Tina she was the runt of the litter and was rejected by her mother so I raised her and look how big she has grown"

- you stated as you started scratching Tina’s ears

- Sheila calmed down almost instantly when she heard the soft whimpers and the way Tina positioned her head so she wouldn’t accidentally bite your hand off

- that was actually really nice of Tina

- so once you got done petting Tina Sheila started to gently soak Tina’s back

- the swipes where soft and filled with meaning behind every stroke

- she ended up sleeping with the friendly giant on her lap like she was a puppy

- and you of course took pictures so the Drama Club could see that Their amazing club meme bear had a soft spot for Tina too

- and it got on the first page of the News

[taylor-will-be-the-death-of-me]

The First Feast

Regulus's POV

Black. A colour, a name. Though I'm fond of the colour, I can't say I am a big fan of the name. For the 15 years I've seen this family consisted of the worst people ever. My father is a person who doesn't care about anyone except for himself, my mother a women who is obsessed with blood purity and finding a girl for me and lastly my brother the disappointment. Now that's what my parents think.

But for me, my brother was my whole world. We did everything together, we fought together, we learned together, always stood up foe each other. But that all changed when he decided he had enough of our parents and moved to Potters house. That was the time I felt alone. It was always supposed to be Sirius and I. Me and Sirius. But now it was just me all alone in a big cold house with two parents who don't love me.

Talking about Potter, I always knew that Sirius wold choose him over me. When he came back home after his first year he couldn't shut up about Potter. 'Potter did this' 'Potter did that' 'He's so cool' 'He's so amazing' . I hated that, he had know him for 12 months and he was already in love with him. I had known that one day this would happen, but I didn't think the time would come so soon.

As I entered the great hall for the first feast, the two people I was sharing a compartment with went their own way and I went to the Slytherin table. Yes I am a Slytherin, in my fathers words someone had to continue with the family legacy. I made my way to the table and saw Lucius. Lucius Malfoy, my supposed best friend. Everyone thinks we are best friend but I hate him. He is just like any other pureblood.

"Well well well if it isn't my favorite Black. Well the only Black left." Said Lucius cockily. And yeas he was correct, Sirius was disowned over the summer.

"Hey Malfoy." I said not interested in what he had to say.

"Why so gloomy Black? Did mother dear already set you up with someone?"

"Shut up will you"

"Now why would I do that?"

"Because Dumbledore's speech is going to start and as I am a prefect I need to hear what he has to say." I said ending the conversation then and there. Soon after that Dumbledore started.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now that we all are settled and sorted I would like to make an announcement. This castle would not only be your home o some very special guests as well. You see Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event, The Triwizard Tournament." The second he said that the whole hall erupted in whispers. " And for those of you who do not know the Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests, from each school a single student is selected to compete. And let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone. And trust me when I say, these contests are not for the faint hearted." By now everyone in the hall was silent.

"But more about that later, for now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and there Headmistress Madam Maxine." The doors flung open and a group of beautiful girls in blue uniforms made their way inside the school. As they were walking they made butterflies from there hands.

As their headmistress came into view Lucius whispered to me "That's one big women"

When their act had ended all the boys of the school were whistling and clapping while the girls just sat there slowly clapping with weird expressions on their faces.

"Now" continued Dumbledore "Please welcome the proud son's of Durmstrang and their High master Igor Karkaroff." Again the door flung open again a group of tall, muscular men made their way inside hitting there sticks on the ground making a synchronized sound and sending out sparks. At last there High master made his way to Dumbledore. Hugging him he said "Albus" in a very weird accent.

"Now that the other schools are settled in" continued Dumbledore. "I would request all the prefects to lead the first years to there dorms and the student from the other school to their respective rooms"

And with that everyone got up from their seats and started going to their common rooms. I got up from my seat and started leading the first years and the Durmstrang students to the Slytherin common room. Right before I left the great hall I looked to me left, on the far conner of the room and saw her. The girl on the train, standing there with her fried leading the students back to their common room as well. She must have felt my eyes on her because after s few second she looked at me as well, flustered by the action, I turned my head away from her and started walking to the dungeons.

"Um.. excuse me sir." Started a first year. "Is it true that the ghost come and hunt you when you sleep?"

I looked down at him and answered "No they don't. The ghosts here are very friendly. But you might want to steer clear from Peeves. He can be a handful sometimes."

"What does this uhh.. Peeves do?" Asked a boy from Durmstrang with a heavy accent.

"Well you see Peeves is the biggest prankster of Hogwarts" I answered. "Well of course after the Marauders."

"Who are these Marauders?" Asked a first year with a tiny voice.

"They are four boys in Gryffindor who think its fun to prank everyone" I replied.

"Well they're on four" Said another boy from Durmstrang. With that all the boys agreed and shouted replies of 'yes'.

"Believe me, you don't want to cross paths with them."

"What're their names?"

"James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black"

"What's your name?"

I hesitated a little before answering "Regulus. Regulus Black."

"You're Sirius's brother!" On of them said in surprise.

"Yes I am. Now would you like to tell me your names?" I asked as we were going to reach the room.

"My name is Alex. This is Adam" Said Alex, the first year who had asked me the first question.

"Well its nice to meet you both. And what are your names?" I asked the Durmstrang boys who had asked me the questions.

"I'm Ivan and this is Ansel." Replied Ivan.

"Nice to meet you Ivan and Ansel." By now we were standing in front of the common room portrait. "Now all of you remember this password, this will help you get in and out of the common room. Pureblood" I said loudly.

When we entered everyone looked around he room in awe.

"This is very beautiful' Said Ivan.

"Thank you Ivan. Now the first year girls dorms are on the right and the boys are on the left. All the student of Durmstrang, follow me." All of us made our way up the stairs and right on he top were their dorms. "This is where you all will be sleeping. If you need anything I will be in the common room on your right. "

"You have a different common room?" Questioned Ansel.

"Yes Ansel, there are different common rooms for every year." I gave them small smile and parted my ways. The school year hadn't even begun and I was already tired. Thank god I don't have to do rounds today. Its Bettys chance. Betty, short for Elizabeth, was one of the bearable Slytherins who had friend in al the houses and didn't care about blood purity.

Reaching the common room I argued with myself weather I should stay down and read a bit or should I go to sleep. In the end sleep won the war. Heading up to the dorm I shared with Lucius and Snape, I questioned my decision to turn my head when the Hufflepuff had looked at me. Deciding that I did not want to go down that road my, head just stayed empty, free of thoughts.

Opening the door I saw that both Snape and Malfoy were asleep. Huh must be my lucky day. Quickly changing into my pajamas, I went under the covers. The last thought that came into my my mind before I was lulled into the melody of sleep was of Sirius. Wondering if he was just as sad with his decision as me.

[quietplace26]

Werewolf!KK au (3)

After KK's unexpected apology a few weeks ago, the feral looking man started to come over to Akito's cabin more and more often.

It was an awkward start, as KK clearly didn't know how to act around Akito at all, but with a little time and patience, KK began to slowly relax around Akito, letting the writer learn more about the older man.

Akito learns that KK rarely interacted with other people. When asked why, the feral man just shrugged and looked away, mumbling how there was less chance of anyone hurting him that way...

Akito got the feeling he wasn't supposed to hear that part but doesn't say anything about it... Even if he wanted too.

KK also didn't like being touched, or at least, touched without his consent. The one time Akito saw him without a shirt on showed exactly why he didn't like being touched. So many scars...

Who hurt this man so badly? Broke him down into this state where he thought the best course of action was to be all alone.

But one thing that stood out to Akito the most was KK's love for meat. Especially when the man admited that the bloodier it was the tastier it is to him.

Akito would never forget the first time he saw KK eat meat. KK, with his shockingly sharp teeth, tore through the bloody dear meat savagely. It reminded Akito of his wolf friend strangely enough...

Despite seeing that, Akito still invited KK over for dinner. KK would later admit that Akito's food was the best he had in a long time.

All in all, KK was a man of very few words. He was also a man of many secrets. Secrets that Akito couldn't help but wonder what they were...

However it wasn't any of his business. He was just glad the older man seemed comfortable around him now.

Oddly enough, when KK started showing up more and more, Akito's wolf friend started showing up less and less till it stopped coming by completely...

Akito frowned as thought about his furry friend again. He truly hoped it was alright.

"What's wrong with you?" KK's voice called out to him, breaking Akito out of his thoughts.

Akito sighs. "Well..." He goes on to explain to KK about the wolf and how he's worried about it.

KK looks at him with narrowed eyes, clearly not understanding why Akito was so worried. "Why are you so worried? It's just a wolf." He says the word wolf as if it was disgusting to say and that makes Akito mad.

An argument breaks out. It wasn't pretty...

KK goes back to his cabin in a fit of rage, leaving an upset Akito behing him...

Akito doesn't hear from KK after that, and despite still feeling mad, he beings to worried about the older man. So when another week passed by, Akito heads over to KK's cabin to check up on him.

"KK? Are you there?" Akito knock softly on the door, and to his suprise, the door creaked open. What he saw inside made his stomach drop.

Blood. There was so much blood on the floor!

Swinging the door completely open, Akito rushes inside, calling out KK's name loudly. "KK! Where are you?! Are you-" He cuts off, eyes going wide in shock. "K...K?"

There, crouched in a dark corner of the room... was KK.

He was shaking. He was bleeding. He was... not entirely human.

A pair of black wolf ears was folded back into his messy hair. His already sharp teeth looked so much sharper as he growled and snarled at Akito wildly. A bushy black wold tail laided tense behind him. And his eyes... Akito knew those feral looking eyes.

Those were the eyes of his wolf. KK was his wolf.

Was-was this why KK reacted like he did? Was he ashamed of what he was, a wolf?

"KK..." Akito couldn't leave him like this! He-he had to help him!

KK snarled at him when he came close. The wild look in his eyes becoming worse.

"KK!" Akito whispered. He didn't yell as he got th feeling it would stress KK out more if he did. "I-it's me! Akito! Please... I just want to help you!"

This seems to snap KK out of his wild state. The wolf man pants as he stares at Akito, studying him, before his eyes went wide with fear.

"No... Nonono! You can't be here!" KK began to panic, but before he could move away, Akito quickly shuffles forward and gently grabs the KK's face, holding it firmly. He presses his forhead against KK"s and closes his eyes. "KK. Everything is fine. Your safe with me."

The wolf man weakly tries to pull away before giving up all together and latches onto Akito. It was kinda painful and blood was staining his clothes, but Akito continued to let KK hug him. The wolf man clearly needed it.

While KK was calming down, Akito turned him attention to KK's side where blood was slowly oozing out. They needed to get that fixed up!

A much more calmer KK points out where he kept his medical suppiles and Akito rushes over to get them.

With KK's help, Akito quickly gets to work bandaging up the wolf man's injury. It was scary, as Akito never dealt with this much blood before, but he did it!

"What exactly happened to you KK?" Akito warily asked as he stood outside KK's bathroom. The wolf man was washing off the leftover blood from his body was changing into clean clothes.

"That old drunk bastard shot at me that's what." Old drunk bastard? Did he mean that old man from town?

"Luckily enough the bullet only grazed my side, so there's that at least." KK walks out the bathroom and glances at Akito, who was still in his bloody clothes. KK makes a face. "Let me get you some clean clothes..."

Akito felt flustered. The clothes KK leant him were huge on him. The shirt kept sliding down one of his shoulder's and he had to hold the pants with one hand or less they fell off him completely!

Even KK look strangely flustered when he saw Akito in his clothes...

Now in clean clothes, the pair settled onto KK's ratty couch to talk.

KK goes first. He apologizes for making Akito cry. He... just didn't how to react to Akito missing him in his wolf form. His wolf form usually only brought him pain and misery, so hearing Akito openly admit he missed his wolf friend, missed KK, made him react negatively...

He also goes on to say thank you to Akito. Thanking Akito for saving him from that bear trap. For the countless times the human bandaged his paw, helping it heal eventually. And now the human saved his life once again.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that..." KK looked away. His wolf ears, which had disappeared for a while, suddenly appeared again and was now folded back into his messy hair.

Akito just waves away his apologizes with a smile. He was just happy KK was alright now.

KK didn't seemed to know how to take that. "You're... happy that I'm alright? That I'm alive?"

Akito feels his heart break at the broken look on the wolf man's face. "Of course I"m happy you're alive! You're very precious to me KK."

KK gaps at him, blushing hotly as he did. "Y-you can't say things like that you brat!" He glares at Akito but the human could see the wolf man was happy with what he said. The wagging tail showed KK"s true feelings~

Akito ends up staying at KK's place for the night. KK had asked him to stay, saying he didn't want the human to walk back while it was dark out, and Akito didn't have the heart to say no.

As both he and KK settled down for the night, they were too tired to move so they stayed on KK's ratty couch, Akito knew they still had so much to talk about. But as for right now, Akito could wait.

"Would you like me tell you about the story I've been writing about lately KK?"

"...Yeah. Tell me about it."

[just-call-me-the-intrusive-thot]

Soulmate September - Day 9

Day 9 - When you write something on your own skin it appears on your soulmate’s skin as well. (Pirates and Sirens AU)

Pairing(s): Romantic Dukeceit, Background Romantic Prinxiety

TWs: Swearing, murder mention, Remus being Remus, semi-detailed leg  and fin injury

–

Those who ran afoul of The Witch’s Serpent rarely lived to tell the tale. Many a foolish young sea-farer - far too inexperienced and overly cocky - had met their end at the hands of the galleon’s captain long before they could even hope to make their mark on the open seas. 

Captain Remus Gaspar was an impulsive, enigma of a man; capable of great feats of bravery and reckless daring do, alongside acts of cold blooded murder and remorseless torture inflicted upon those who crossed him. The sea choked on the bodies of his victims while he and his crew sipped the finest stolen wines with nary a hiccup. The naval officers of the mainland cowered in fear while Remus decimated their trade routes and sent their men to the depths to keep the fish company. In fact, only one man had faced the Captain and lived to see another day, but kept coming back for more. 

Commodore Logan Callows.

Remus would have admired him - in all senses - if not for his fanatic loyalty to the crown and it’s laws. Make no mistake, Remus very much wanted Logan’s head for a bow ornament with every fibre of his mortal being, but outside factors forbade Remus from fatally wounding the man. Namely, Logan’s first mate and closest friend was his brother-in-law, Virgil Giordano. Why did Roman’s soulmate have to be a man who could rival any opponent in a knife fight, despite being the sort to panic over the smallest change in weather conditions? Remus had no goddamn idea what fate was playing at, but he knew for certain that killing Logan would result in having to run from Virgil’s swift and immediate crusade for revenge. And if there’s one thing Remus Gaspar refused to do, it wold be spending his life in hiding.

Remus loved his brother dearly but all the familial loyalty in the world wouldn’t save him from Virgil’s wrath. He’d learned that much from his last encounter with Logan’s ship, The Inquisitor. Too many cocky remarks and attempts to stall while his men pillaged the lower decks of the ship in secret had earned him a close encounter with the business end of Virgil’s dagger. Naturally, the Captain had made things worse by uttering a rather salacious remark for which he was gifted a shiny new slash mark along his cheek.

“As a warning.”, his brother in law had hissed.

When forced to retreat, Remus had lamented the size of their haul at first. Not nearly enough sugar and spices as they’d been hoping for, but a small crate of flintlock pistols ripe for sale more than made up for the loss once they’d been discovered among the spoils. 

Thus we come to the present moment; Captain Remus, sat upon the docks with a bottle of expensive rum, staring out into the ocean blue. His men had been more than happy to give the Captain his space while they spent their time merrily drinking in the local tavern. Once he was sure he was alone, Remus removed his black leather bracer and rolled his white sleeve to stare at the message written upon it. The Captain had seen many an alphabet in his day - either scrawled upon the foreign exports stolen from trading vessels, or within his memories of home, being tutored alongside his twin as children - but Remus had never laid eyes upon the letters that adorned his skin in a shimmering golden cursive.

Naturally, ever since he’d first been written to, Remus had made an effort to search for the script, but the only ‘lead’ he had been given was an old woman selling wares a couple of ports prior who had raved on and on, claiming it to be the language of the sirens. He’d scoffed at the idea and decided it likely wasn’t worth trying to work out in the first place.

Remus had never been one to buy into this whole soulmates arrangement. Even the day Roman had shown him the violet cursive that had appeared like magic, Remus had rolled his eyes and sworn off taking such a thing seriously. After all, acknowledging that kind of thing brought about some rather unpleasant thoughts he would rather not think about. The fierce Captain liked to play remorseless, but in truth, Remus simply knew that life at sea demanded blood, and it was up to him whether it’d be the blood of his enemies, or his crew and himself. But that didn't stop his mind wandering into territories he wished it would stay out of.  How many men lay on the sandy shores of the depths with messages from soulmates unaware of their beloved’s fate? Did severing the connection hurt? Would fate allow those whom he’d unknowingly widowed to love again? Or had he doomed them to a life alone with no one to share such a connection with ever again?

… More rum would be needed it seemed. 

A clattering from the nearby rock shoal drew Remus out from his own mind with a couple of curses leaving the Captain as he knocked over the rum bottle and watched a good portion of it pour away before he could right it again. 

“Son of a bitch!”, he hissed, corking it and casting a glare towards the rockpool where the clattering had come from. Whoever had just cost him a good amount of rum was in for the brawl of their life. Remus threw on his coat and cursed his inebriated steps over the craggy rock face, swearing once again as he nearly rolled his ankle when his boot sunk into an unseen rockpool. He wrenched his leg free and crested the large flat rock in his way. 

The second his eyes could focus, Remus made a mental note to find that old woman on their round trip and apologise. 

Sprawled on it’s side nestled in the sand was an honest to god siren. The Captain was mesmerised by the creature; it’s long golden hair flowed over it’s scaled shoulders and torso, complimented by it’s black and yellow streaked fin-like ears that fluttered angrily each time it hissed. It wasn’t hard to work out why it was so angry. The creature’s left leg fin had been hooked in a rather nasty mess of fishing line and barbed hooks. The Captain had seen the technique used before to ensure a plentiful haul, who knew it could catch such a creature of legend so easily?

Perhaps Remus was succumbing to the creature’s charms, or maybe he was just too drunk already to think things through, but he found himself whistling to the creature to catch it’s attention. The way the creature’s panicked, beautiful eyes met his own momentarily knocked the wind from his chest as he wheezed out, “Need help?”

 It let out a strangled sound and scrambled backwards, only to let out a cry of pain as it’s injured leg dragged along the sand. The Captain dropped down from his rock perch and made his way over,

“Woah there! Unless you want that fin ripped out you should lemme unhook you-”

Despite the excruciating pain it must’ve been in, it still managed to hiss dangerously at Remus in a voice that felt like a million tiny hands groping around in his brain with every syllable,

“Stay back!”

Remus’ halted momentarily, the voice in his head warning him, “Come any closer and I won’t hesitate to eat you alive!”

In spite of any semblance of common sense, Remus impulsively shot a cocky grin the creature’s way, “Kinky!”

The siren wasn’t amused. 

It lunged forward to swipe at Remus, but the Captain caught it’s arm, making sure his grasp wasn’t painful, but firm.

“Watch it, you’re gonna take someone’s eye out! Or maybe these beauties will just gouge a couple chunks outta my face-” 

Remus’ rambling was cut short as he saw the siren’s expression shift from a ferocious snarl to one of immediate fear.

“Please don’t kill me-”, it murmured quietly, slapping it’s free hand over its mouth. It tried to change back to a more aggressive persona but Remus refused to be intimidated,

“The last thing I wanna do is hurt you. Now are you gonna be a good lil fishy and let me unhook you?” 

The siren scanned his face with those enchanting eyes once again, scrutinising every inch of Remus before it huffed and turned away from his gaze. The Captain took it as a sign of an indignant ‘do whatever you want’ and sat on the sand next to the siren, already beginning to carefully remove the hooks as best he could. Each wince the creature gave was met with an apology until Remus got the hang of it. 

“.....What’s your name?”, Remus mused to the surprised siren, “Might as well get to know each other, right?”

The creature mumbled something Remus couldn’t understand under it’s breath but relented reluctantly, “My name is Janus. At least, that's how you humans would pronounce it.” 

“It’s a beautiful name. Mine’s Remus.”, the Captain mumbled, too hyper focused on removing the hooks to see the way Janus’ cheeks flushed a dark ochre colour. Once the last hook had come loose, both of them let out a shared sigh of relief; Remus admired his job well done but grew concerned as Janus went to stand up. “Hey, you’re going to hurt yourself doing that.”, he warned, to which Janus scoffed, attempting to hide his emotions once more.

“I’ll be fine, Remus, I’ll heal quickly-”

“The salt water’s gonna sting like a bitch.”, Remus cut in.

Noting the wince Janus gave in response, he continued, “At least let me take you to my ship so I can bandage you up proper-“ 

“No!”, Janus declined fiercely, though he softened right after, letting Remus know it was likely a reflexive reaction, “I apologise. I… I’m rather wary of that kind of thing. Please understand.”

Remus sighed and stood up, taking off his coat to place it around Janus’ shoulders. The siren stiffened, though curiosity got the better of him and he softly touched the warm material. Janus inhaled and immediately was hit with the smell of the garment; a mix of body odour, dried blood, sea salt, and countless food-like smells. Not to mention the reek of old alcohol.

“In the name of Uranus, do you never clean this ornate rag!?”

Remus cackled, taking Janus’ hand to lead him to The Witch’s Serpent, noting that his fingers were webbed. Adorable. 

“Nope! Not since I hauled it off the guy I ran through to get it!”

Janus’ nose crinkled at that yet the siren kept following Remus towards his ship. With a proper glance in the light of the port, Janus piped up, “Oh. That’s an interesting coincidence.”

“What is?”, Remus questioned, making sure no one was aboard yet so he could lift a flustered Janus on deck despite the embarrassed glare he received from the siren.

“I’ve been following your ship for months.”, Janus elaborated, trying to regain his footing on the decks, “With the scraps and bodies you leave behind in your wake, I rarely have to bother hunting for new prey.”

Ah. Remus wasn’t sure what to make of that yet, simply shrugging, “Good to know you’ve been freeloading this whole time.”. 

Once more taking the hand of the siren, Remus led him towards the Captain’s Quarters; the room was just as gilded and ornate as the coat keeping Janus warm, with various trinkets, maps, paintings, and oddities given their own place within the room. Taking the opportunity to snoop around while Remus was rooting around in his desk drawer for bandages, Janus allowed his eyes to lead him on a journey around the room. A telescope, a star map, family photos, animal bones, even a goblet made from a man’s skull connected atop a metal stem, Janus had never seen so many interesting and macabre items. His interest peaked when his gaze landed on a beautiful topaz necklace resting on a book of fairytales.

Janus’ fingers traced the jewellery adoringly. It was rare for such trinkets to end up on the seafloor unless a storm had sent an unfortunate vessel to the depths. Not that Janus was ever lucky enough to get at the spoils; the boisterous captain may be sweet on him, for who knows what reason, but his own kind were never too fond of Janus’ standoffish nature and biting remarks. Of course, Janus didn’t care if he was lonely. He didn’t. Not at all. “You can have it if you want.”

Remus’ voice startled the siren who nearly tripped over the end of the Captain’s large coat. He chuckled and slowly lifted the necklace off the book to carefully let it loop over Janus’ neck.

“It suits you. Really brings out the scales.”, he complimented. Without giving Janus a second to process the act of kindness, Remus led him towards a wooden armchair in front of his desk. He guided Janus to sit down in the chair while Remus sat on the desk itself. To his side was a roll of bandages and a cloth, ‘for the blood trail’ he’d explained, gesturing to the droplets patterning their route. Janus watched the captain remove his bracers and sink to the floor to tend to his wounds. By the gentle way the Captain held and bandaged him, Janus assumed the man had sobered enough for the siren to pose the question,

“Why?”

Remus frowned, looking up to lock eyes with the siren, “Why what?”

“Why’re you...”, being so kind? Treating me so sweetly? Not trying to kill me to sell my skin? “.... treating me like this? You realise I threatened to eat you earlier, right?”

The Captain shrugged, his expression as blank as before, “Yeah. But you didn’t. And you got all fucked up in some moron’s fishing line, so it wasn’t like you posed much of a threat-”

“Exactly.”, Janus interrupted in frustrated confusion in his tone, “My voice is out of practice, if you wanted to, you could’ve slaughtered me for my skin. Any human would be a fool not to. But here you are, treating me like I’m worth more to you alive than dead. Adorning me in such… expensive trinkets.”

Remus’ brow furrowed at that. “For someone who threatened to eat me earlier, I figured you’d practice a little more self preservation.”

The siren scoffed, “I didn’t say I wanted to be slaughtered, I’m merely trying to work out why you wouldn’t take such a chance. Doesn’t your species enjoy monetary gain? Like I said, any human would be a fool to miss such an opportunity- oW!”

Janus fixed Remus a glare as the Captain flicked the abused tip of his leg fin, “First off, yeah, I like money but that's not what I do this shit for. Secondly, most humans think your kind aren’t even real. If I waltzed into town claiming I had siren skin to sell, I’d be run outta town as a conman. Besides, if I’m nice to you, I’ll have an ally in the water, and that's far more valuable to me.”

As he wrapped up the calf area for good, Remus grinned up at the siren, “You’re also really handsome, so that helps.”

Janus’ face crinkled in a flustered surprise, “Remus, I’m part fish-”

“You’re still handsome as fuck.”

“I’m not even using my human glamour-”

“And? You’re hot.”

“I’m literally covered in fish scales-!”

“Still hot!”

Janus couldn’t think of another rebuttal, so Remus counted it as a win for him. He rolled his sleeves to tackle the rest of the injuries when he caught Janus’ eyes tracing the fresh scar on his cheek.

“Wondering how I got this scar?”

“I may be interested.” came the coy reply.

Remus smirked, “You could call it a gift from my brother-in-law. I got a little too up close and personal with his best friend and found up with this beauty. It’s a shame, said bestie’s pretty fun but he’s the biggest pain in my ass since this one time I ate some bad eels-”

“That’s charming,”, Janus interrupted in disgust, “Why don’t you simply dispatch this ‘bestie’ and be done with him?”

“Can’t. If I did that, Virge-”

“Who?”

“My brother-in-law.”

“Ah. Continue.”

“Virge would hunt me down to the ends of the Earth and the last thing I wanna do is trade away my freedom to do whatever the fuck I want.”, he averted his gaze to Janus’ leg and kept bandaging it; whoever had put that line into the ocean had no idea the damage it’d caused to such a beautiful creature. “Besides, if I hurt Virge like that, my brother Roman would be miserable. Even if he probably hates me, some dumb bitch part of me really doesn’t want him to feel like shit just ‘cause I went and upset his soulmate.”

Janus scoffed quietly. It lacked the venom he no doubt intended it to have but the disdain was enough to draw the Captain’s attention. “You humans are far too sentimental. My kind have no qualms treating even close family like scum if we so desire. Even our soulmates it would seem..”

Remus caught the darting glance Janus sent towards his scaled wrist, noting the sigh he suppressed. “.... They’re a damn fool to not want you.”, the Captain murmured thoughtfully as he finally finished the upper shin bandaging. He wiped his brow with the heel of his palm but stopped as he felt smoothe fingers wrap around his wrist. His confusion was answered as the siren bore holes into the sliver of writing on his arm with those mesmerising eyes.

“You’re not the only one having soulmate trouble,”, Remus began answering, “Never really cared much for this shit, but now I got a message, I can’t make heads or tails of it-”

“Help me. I need you.”

Remus locked eyes with Janus, the siren’s own eyes wide with realisation and looking ready to bubble with tears, “That's what it says. It’s in Aquan. I wrote that to my soulmate while I was feeling…. rather vulnerable.”

Unsure of how to react to this turn of events, Remus stood and sat on his desk once more. He was too stunned to reply at first. A million questions swelled and crashed upon the shores of his brain, all fighting to be asked, but Janus beat him to the punch.

“Why did you never write back?”, the hurt in his voice stabbed at the Captain’s heart, “I mean, even if you couldn’t understand me, why didn’t you just...”

Remus wasn’t sure himself. No, that was a lie. He simply never fathomed that the message had been a cry for help. 

“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking.”, he began, looking to Janus - no, his soulmate, and asking in return, “What happened?”

Janus sucked in a breath through his teeth, “.... It was a moment of weakness but….. My family had cast me out. Not that it was all too surprising, nor could I stand most of them anyway, but… being left alone to wander by yourself is a rather terrifying thought no matter the situation. I’d reached my breaking point. I felt like I’d been abandoned by my kin entirely. I thought perhaps my soulmate would be there for me. I never imagined you were human.”

“Makes sense. I’m sorry your family sucks ass.”. Eloquent as always. But hey, the snicker that got from the siren was worth it in Remus’ eyes. “And I’m sorry I didn’t write back. But I guess it’s good we finally crossed paths.”

Remus gestured for Janus to join him on the desk, to which the siren accepted the offer, being careful not to catch the coat he was still adorned in on anything on the way up. With his soulmate seated by his side, Remus wrapped an arm around the siren and held him close. Janus gave a lop-sided, fond smile, leaning into the act of comfort and gently resting a hand on Remus’ chest.

“What now then, my Captain?”, Janus’ voice was as soft and sweet as a ripe peach. Remus knew it’d require a lot of explanation where his crew was concerned, but he wasn’t about to let Janus slip away from him. He pressed a kiss to the siren’s temple, relishing the blush that spread over Janus’ cheeks. With a grin, Remus cackled,

“Simple, we make good on this alone time we’ve got ‘til my crew get back!”

--

Sorry this one’s so late TTvTT I miight need some time to finish days 10 and up, but I’ll get things written asap. @tsshipmonth2020

Taglist: @somehow-i-got-an-account @cateye-glasses @fandomsofrandom 

[atiny-exol]

Yandere! Werwolf Ateez finding their mate

Warning: strong language, toxic relationship, some mature scenes if you don't like that don't read it

It's my first time writing something like that so please don't be mad at me~💙✨

Hongjoong

We all can agree that Hongjoong is an alpha

It is very rare that a human is the mate of an wolf but fate has chosen you to be his mate and he loves every second of it

The first time he saw you he was stunned, you looked so beautiful, you smelled so delicate and something inside of him clicked

His once so calm personality changed and he got deeply obsessed with you

He wanted you, you and your sinful body

Nothing is more important than you right now and he will take advantage of the first good chance to take you, to make you his

Hongjoong not just wants you, he craves you and he wants you to love him just as much as he loves you

Softly someone bumped into you and as you looked at the stranger who happened to run into you, your breath stopped for a second. He wasn't just handsome no, there was something else on him what makes you attrakted at the very first moment. A handsome smile appeared on his facials as he looked at you with soft and loving eyes, eyes who hide the true intentions of the male. ,,I'm sorry but do we know each other? "

Seonghwa

Another alpha who just wants to claim you as his

You are a beautiful omega and directly on your birthday, the day you can finally find your mate

And when you followed the scent and stepped out of the territory of your pack you didn't even noticed it

Just as you heard a loud growling behind you, you realized what happened

Your eyes widden in fear and you tried to run away, as you shifted in your wolf form

The wolf was faster than you and catched you, but as soon as he hovered over your petite body

Someone pulled him away and gets protectively infront of you

The wolf who attacked you immediately backed away and then left quickly

Your savior shifts back and looks down at you

And you did that too, and when you calmed down a bit your brain connected everything and you knew that this man has to be your mate

Seonghwa would not kill infront of you

But if anyone lays a finger on you again he will be not that friendly

He tried to calm you down and to be as soft as possible towards you

Seonghwa carefully placed his hand in yours helped you to get up, while a soft smile layed on his face as he saw how your cheeks turned red. ,,This isn't your territory anymore little omega." After his comment your face turned even more red and you quickly shake your head. ,,But don't worry little omega. I won't hurt you.. If you come with me. My mate."

Yunho

The first time he saw his mate wasn't that pleasant

Because someone else was hovering over his mate

His mate, you, was half naked and shivering in fear, not strong enough to fight against the alpha hovering over you

Everything he saw was red and he fastly pulled the alpha away, ready to fight against him

And he didn't even have a chance against him

He would kill for you and that's exactly what he did

As soon as he finished that he turned around to you and pulled you into his arms

He would never let you go again

Never

Shivering and crying you layed in the arms of the strange male who saved you. You don't know why but his whole appearance and scent lured you into trusting him. Even if you didn't know him yet you felt save in his arms. ,,Don't worry my little mate. I will never ever let soemthing like this happen to you again."

San

He is a player in your pack

Everyone wished to be his mate

And now you, you are his mate and he doesn't know how to feel about it

And you didn't know it either

That's why you didn't pay much attention to him at first, just doing what you did before you knew that he is your mate

And San doesn't like it at all

You are his, his precious little mate and now you aren't giving him attention at all

If you don't give him attention at your own, he will take you

He wants you and what he wants he gets

,,Y/N. Don't ignore me! " San said annoyed and just as annoyed as him you answered him. ,,Why should I not annoy you? You weren't happy that I'm your mate any now? Now you are complaining like a little-" The wold roughly interrupts you as he roughly pinned you against the wall, a loud growl escaping his lips. ,,If I want something, I get it so if you not stop behaving like that little mate. Let's say you won't like it."

Mingi

His jealousy and possessive behavior wasn't something nobody knows

No everyone know that soon he will find his mate and as soon as he marked his mate nothing will get between them

He doesn't care if his mate is ready or not

He wants his mate, his sweet little mate he can protect

Mingi isn't just someone he is the leader of some. Rogues

And you, you are a pretty omega living a happy life on your pack

But one night changed everything

Some rogues attacked your pack and soon you find yourself staring and shivering infront of an alpha you didn't know

But he didn't kill you, he had bitten you and knocked you out

The next time you opened your eyes you saw a guy infront of you

And you immediately know that he has to be your mate but also the one who killed and attacked your pack

You hated him and Mingi? Mingi is just so happy to have you finally in his arms

Carefully and still feeling the pain in your neck you opened your eyes, just to see that the same eyes you saw before everything went black looked down at you. Fear rushed over you and you quickly tried to get out of your roped but nothing really helped, just as you were about to shout at the strange male his dark and snicker stopped you. ,,Why are you trying to get away from me? My little mate."

Yeosang

He wasn't just anyone, he was the leader of your pack even if he is so young

He is in control about everything and on your birthday, you both knew that you are meant to be together forever

You are unsure if it would work out but when he touched your shoulders all the doubts disappeared and you just wanted to sink in his arms

And yeosang? Yeosang wants power, he is greedy if someone would discribe him

He wants the same power over you but of course this isn't the first thing he shows you

He wants you, you are his and just his and no one will ever lay an eye on you

Or they will die

If you try to overpower him, try to tell him what he had to do you will suffer

So don't try that

,,Yeosang that's.. That's wrong! You can't just-" a loud growl interrupted your speech and you immediately lowered your head as Yeosang stepped in front of you and looked down at you with his dark eyes. ,,Y/N. My sweet little mate how often do I have to tell you that." He slammed his fist beside your head in the wall, as another deep growl came out of his mouth. ,,I'm in control and you don't have to say anything in things like that."

Wooyoung

He is an prince

Arrogant and spoiled

He is used to get what he wants

And the first step you layed in his castle was a mistake

Because he smelled your scent and he wanted you

You as his mate because you are meant to be his and just his

But you

You flighted against him, because he is so spoiled and arrogant you couldn't believe that someone like him is your mate

And if you refuse to do what he wants he will lock you in the cellar till you learn your lesson

,,No no no let me go!" you screamed and struggled as the guards guided you through the catacombs, before they opened the door of the cellar. Not letting you say anything against it, one of them pushed you in the room and the other one said with a soft and slightly regretting tone. ,, I'm sorry but we have to fulfill the orders of the prince."

Jongho

You aren't just anyone

You are the princess/prince, but at the same time you are the weakest out of all your siblings

That's why your father hired someone to protect you

Your new guard has to be Jongho a strong and powerful beta

And the first time you saw each other you knew that you two are mates

But what you didn't know is that Jongho wants you just for himself

So one day you went out with him he knocked you out and when you opened your eyes again

Ou found yourself laying in a bed in a strange room

And after some confusion Jongho opened the door and told you that this is your new home

The home you are living in with him and just him

Confusion filled your mind as you looked around, you couldn't remember anything and it scared you. But soon Jongho opened the door and smiled at you brightly. ,,Oh you are awake little one." Carefully he strokes over your head and smiled at you, and immediately you felt save. You snuggled deeper in his hug and lost yourself in his beautiful scent. The scent of your mate.

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Breathe ~ Doctor (part 4)

A/n: I will get to requests soon, I promise. I just want to get to Donna in this series, because I have PLANS it’s going to be great.

Word Count: 11,000+

MASTERLIST

"Shit!"

"Language please, we are still in a school." Y/n turned around to see the principle that still made him feel so incredibly uncomfortable to be around, and tried once again not to look as terrified of the man as he felt.

"Right sir, sorry." Y/n offered a small smile and the other man continued on his way. What a relief.

He was still wrapping his finger as he walked into the cafeteria. He had cut it on accident, and though it was small it was in such a place that it had bled quite a lot before finally calming down enough so he could plaster it. He got his food, passing Rose who was working as a lunch lady, and the two shared a look. Rose's was irritated, and Y/n's was amused. Next Y/n looked around the room to find the Doctor, making his way over to sit across. "How was Physics?" Y/n asked.

The Doctor's eyes fell to Y/n's finger. "How was mechanics?"

Y/n had applied for the mechanic job, same as Rose had gone for lunch lady and the Doctor had aimed for teacher. They'd all gotten it. Mickey and the Doctor had taught Y/n enough about how to fix things that mixed with that and his impressive ability to pick up on simple things pretty easily, he was actually quite good. Only two days in, even the weird staff members that gave Y/n the same vibe as the principal did called Y/n when they needed help with something, instead of the janitor like they had for years.

"You know there's more this gig than just tightening screws and helping the English teacher figure out how computers work. Mr. Bele, the janitor, has actually been teaching me some plumbing stuff. I think I'm properly working." He was rather proud, and it made the Doctor smile. Y/n caught movement in the corner of his eye and looked over to see Rose approaching. "Unlike some people."

She was at the table in a few seconds, pretending to wipe off the surface when she'd just passed four empty tables who needed it far more than this one did. Y/n held in a laugh for her sake - she seemed irritated. "Two day," she reminded. "We've been here for two days.

"Not everything is running from death and facing down mythical beasts," Y/n said casually. "Sometimes it's just scooping lunch and waiting for the right time."

Rose rolled her eyes. Unlike Y/n, the Doctor didn't seem hesitant to irritate her further as he motioned to a spot on the table with his plastic fork. "Sorry, could you just... there's a bit of gravy." She wiped at the wrong thing, and the Doctor pushed it even further. "No, no, just there." She glared a him and he grinned.

"Doctor." Despite her obvious irritation, she did find the right spot and wiped it up.

"Blame your boyfriend, he's the one who put us up to this," the Doctor reminded.

Y/n tried to hide his smile. The three of them were involved, that was obvious, but they hadn't ever made anything official or used labels. Since Rose was technically dating Mickey and hadn't officially broken up with him as well, the Doctor and Y/n had been teasing her about it occasionally. All in good fun, of course, but it still made her scoff every time.

"Have you seen anything to prove him right then?" Y/n asked, resting his chin in his palm as he popped a fry in his mouth.

"Yes actually. One of the kids in my class this morning, got know;edge way beyond planet Earth," the Doctor began.

"You eating those chips?" Rose asked.

Y/n rolled his eyes. "How can you think of food right now? There's a child with extraterrestrial knowledge, Rose."

The Doctor smiled at that, but allowed Rose to grab a few off of his plate anyway. Y/n smiled to himself at the way they so easily invaded each others' space. It wasn't a problem at all for them. "No worries," he dismissed. "I didn't want them anyway they're a bit... different."

"Oh but they're gorgeous." Her mouth was full but also curved in a smile and Y/n chuckled under his breath, shaking his head at her. God she was adorable. "I wish I'd had something like this in school."

A hum came from the Doctor. The kind that told them he wasn't fully paying attention. His mind was somewhere else. "It's quite well behaved, this place."

Y/n had noticed it too. "Yeah, every time I go into classes to fix something they all just sit there and... stare at me. It's not like they're threatening, just a bit unnerving. Just sitting there, patiently waiting for me to finish. I've heard stories about how kids use their phones and talk during lectures, let alone when there's nothing going on. I don't know Rose, is that the norm?"

She nodded, far used to Y/n asking questions about things that he should have experienced but never did. "Yeah one time the teacher needed help with something and two kids snogged in the back of the classroom the whole time. One kid used to throw pencils at the back of my head during class, until I moved seats."

"Yeah I thought they'd all be happy-slapping hoodies. Happy slapping hoodies with ASBO's," the Doctor input. "Happy slapping hoodies with ASBO's and ringtones, yeah?" He seemed quite proud of himself. "Don't tell me I don't fit in."

Before Rose could tease him, the head lunchlady approached, her eyes on the blonde at the table. "You are not to leave your station during a sit in."

Rose stood. "I was just talking to this teacher, and his mechanic friend."

"Hello," the Doctor greeted as Y/n smiled, nodding politely rather than voicing something. It was pretty reflective of how they usually worked, with Y/n tending to sit back and blend in and the Doctor sticking out like a sore thumb and grabbing all the attention. It wasn't a bad thing, just what was normal. The whole thing with the wold had been rare. A nice rarity though.

"This professor here says he doesn't like the chips," Rose added, shaking her head. It seemed to be some attempt at a joke to break the tension. Something the other woman could relate to maybe.

It fell short. If anything, she seemed offended. "The menu has been specifically designed by the headmaster to improve concentration and performance. Now get back to work." And with that, she turned around and left.

Y/n blew air out of his mouth, eyes wide as he looked back to Rose. "See?" She said to him, shaking her head. "This is me." She began to leave, walking backward so she could motion to her apron and uniform. "Dinner lady," she added with a grumble as she turned her back to the two men, heading back to the kitchen.

"I'll have the crumble," the Doctor shot back.

The last thing they heard from her was, "I'm so gonna kill you." Y/n covered his laugh, trying to stay third party to their banter as usual. Sometimes he had his fun as well, but he tended to be laid back enough to play peacekeeper more than anything.

The Doctor leaned into him, snagging his attention. "What?" Y/n asked upon seeing an odd look in the Doctor's eyes.

The Timelord just smiled. "What do you think it would have been like, this? School and such?"

Y/n scoffed. "Terrible, from what I hear. Especially for me." He messed with his food, distracting himself as he always did when he had to be vulnerable. He only ever did it for Rose and the Doctor, but it was still hard - even for them. "I think I have anxiety." A short, bitter laugh. "I've never really had to face it of course, with being as apart from society as a human who lives on Earth can be. It kept me alive and made me really functional, living on the streets as a child. I learned to steal pretty quickly, motivated by my hunger and constant paranoia that I'd get caught. I didn't trust anyone, not even those I probably should have. Kept me alive though, I bet. Something like that, in a place like this? No. I would have crumbled for sure. Wouldn't have been able to read aloud or say the answer when I was called on or been able to make any friends. I probably would have sat in the corner every day, in every class, and prayed I wouldn't get noticed." His smile dropped. "Kids like that... they struggle in school. People are mean."

The Doctor reached over and took Y/n's hand. "Well, I'm lucky. You've got some very good survival skills. That instinct of yours has saved my life more times than I can count, I'm sure."

"Nah." Y/n chuckled to himself. "You'd have been fine without me. Figured something out, I'm sure."

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed. "Thanks to you I didn't have to, though." He smiled. "Lots of people have you to thank for saving their lives as well, Y/n. If nothing else, you do well in this life."

That did cheer Y/n up actually. "I hope it'll always be that way. I'd hate to slow you down."

At that, the Doctor actually laughed. It was low and quiet, unlike his usual laugh, but far more domestic. Calm. It was a laugh that didn't need to be showy - it was good enough to be familiar. "If ever comes the day I'm not trying to keep up with you, then I'll start to worry."

Out of the corner of Y/n's eye, there was movement. He looked over to see some of the kids looking between the two men and their hands. Y/n suddenly got rather bashful, attempting to pull his hand away. The Doctor only held on tighter. "You know, we're in public," Y/n noted.

"Yep," the Doctor agreed.

"Showing affection," Y/n added, nodding to their hands.

"Indeed." The Doctor smiled and Y/n thought the man odd, in a pleasant way. The way he wasn't afraid to be himself was rather refreshing - especially when the plan had been to be polite and pleasant, but otherwise act as strangers.

Y/n spent the rest of lunch enjoying the moment. Word would spread, but these kids didn't seem the type to prod, even though children of this age should be at peak curiosity, yet to develop a social censor. The perfect disaster for pushy, nosey kids asking questions they probably shouldn't be. Not at this school though. For now, they could enjoy the exchange and that was enough.

Then lunch was over and it was back to business.

A little bit later, Y/n was pushing his cart down the hallway to go around his usual round to check if anything was out of place that hadn't been noticed - this was used most for normal schools where kids pulled pranks, but at this school he could use the guise to get information wherever he could - when he was stopped by the Principal, who had a woman at his side. "Ah yes, Mr. Doe," the older man greeted. "Miss Smith, this is our handyman. He help the janitor quite a bit - had some training in more things than cleaning and basic plumbing. Helps with the cooling and heating, and when machines break down or are hard to understand. Since when did things get so advanced, am I right?" He chuckled softly, but didn't get a response.

The other two were too busy staring at each other. "Sarah Jane," Y/n whispered, eyes wide.

Sara, though she knew for a fact that she couldn't know this man in front of her, felt that... maybe she did, actually. There was something familiar in his eyes, aside from the raw and obvious recognition that he looked at her with.

The principal seemed surprised. "You two know each other?"

"I-" Y/n panicked. If he said yes, Sara would surely be confused. But if he said no... well obviously that was a lie. How could he explain that he knew her, but she didn't know him? "We met briefly. I have a fantastic memory, when it comes to faces. Like a steal trap. I'm sure you don't remember me, but I dare say I could never forget a face as pretty as yours." It was probably odd to flirt with her as she was quite a bit older than he was, but he couldn't help it. He had someone else's memories, and the feelings that came with them.

"That makes sense," Sara voiced. Her words seemed a little distant though, her eyes boring into Y/n's, as if searching.

A little panicked, Y/n looked away. "Nice to see you again, Miss Smith. I hope you won't think me rude, but I must be off. Got work to do." He nodded to the principal. "Good day." Then he left, feeling Sara Jane Smith's eyes on his back the whole way.

Things were about to get very interesting.

-

"Kenny?" Y/n was surprised to see the spikey haired boy looking so shaken. Y/n had a habit of making friends with people as he went, in a way that Rose and the Doctor didn't. They were friendly and formed attachments, of course, but Y/n had an aura about him that made those who were lost or scared or confused flock to him for protection and understanding. It just so happened that those who were in such states in the line of things the Doctor and his two companions did, often had the most information. Y/n's friends were often full of just the information he needed, and they trusted him so much that it wasn't very hard to get it out of them.

Like now.

"I think I'm going mad," the young boy squeaked.

Ah yes, the staple sentence that meant someone had seen something important. "Now why's that?"

Kenny seemed to debate for quite a while, until Y/n rested his hand on the young boy's shoulders, encouraging him to talk. "I heard something weird in one of the classes, so I went to investigate. And... well I looked under one of the desks and there was some sort of... gargoyle, or bat or-" He shook his head. "I spooked it I think. It stood up and it was one of the staff." Y/n's eyes went wide. "He told me to go. Am I losing it?"

Kneeling down, Y/n got very serious. "You've not lost anything, Kenny, do you hear me?" The boy hesitated, then nodded. "I believe you. I do." That seemed to make Kenny quite relieved. "Now go to class and leave it up to me. I'll figure this out, promise." He hesitated before adding, "And Kenny? Don't tell anyone else what you saw, or that you told anyone. Do you understand me?"

The boy seemed unsure, but nodded again. "Okay."

"Good boy." Y/n let out a breath of relief. "Run along now and get to class. I don't want you being late." Kenny did go off, and Y/n turned back to his cart, looking at it a second before continuing on.

Did this mean he had to admit Mickey was right? God he hoped not.

-

"He said... a bat?"

"Or a gargoyle," Y/n confirmed to the Doctor's question. "Anything come to mind?"

"No." He frowned at the door they were about to go into as Y/n took the lead, using his keys to unlock it so they could all get in. He seemed worried by his lack of knowledge. If they were all being honest, it made Rose and Y/n just as nervous to see it. The Doctor was rarely caught off unawares and when he was... Well it wasn't good.

Once inside, Rose found a good joke as always to lighten the mood. "Oh," she whispered, her words mixed with laughter. "It's so weird to be in a school at night. Kinda spooky." She giggled, nudging Y/n who smiled. "When I was a kid I used to think all the teachers slept in school."

"Alright team," The Doctor began, shifting focus back to what was important. "Oh-" he cut off, making an odd face. "I hate people who say 'team'. Uh- gang? Uh... comrades."

"Squad?" Y/n offered.

"No," the Doctor shot down. "Anyway,  Rose, go to the kitchen and get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all maths teachers, check on the maths department. Y/n, look around to see if you can find any traces that could give us more clues on these bat or gargoyle creatures. Anything at all. I'm going to check out Finch's office. Meet back here in ten minutes." He took off, leaving the other three alone.

Rose hesitated around Mickey. Y/n didn't know where the two were at anymore, since Rose, Y/n and the Doctor had become... official? Weren't they? I guess they'd never said. It was quite confusing now that he was thinking about it. Rose still seemed to care about Mickey, so there was that. Even now, she checked in one him. "You going to be alright?"

"Me?" He brushed off far too eagerly, as if he'd been waiting to show that he was cool and capable. Something gave Y/n the idea that Mickey was doing so specifically to seem more cool and collected than the Doctor. Jokes on him, the Doctor was neither of those things and tended to actually be rather unhinged and chaotic. Y/n wasn't going to correct Mickey though - it was funny to see the man scramble and make a fool of himself. "Infiltration and investigation? I'm an expert at this." He began to walk off and Y/n was a bit impressed at how calm and confident he was being... until Mickey came back to ask, "Where's the maths department?" Rose pointed him in the direction as Y/n did a bad job at hiding his mocking chuckles.

When Mickey was gone, Rose rounded on Y/n. "What is your deal?"

"What do you mean, I've always been at odds with Mickey," Y/n pointed out.

"Not like that," Rose argued. "You're usually at least polite if nothing else. And you can't blame this on the Doctor, because you were the one who backed me up when Mickey called and the Doctor tried to dismiss it. You respect Mickey, deep down. And you care about him. The only time I've seen you act like this, lashing out by being petty, was when we were younger and you were upset but wouldn't tell me. So, Y/n, what's your deal?"

Y/n wasn't sure when she had gotten so perceptive of him. Perhaps she'd always been this way. He knew how they always worked though. She wouldn't press if he asked her not to, and he couldn't risk this coming out. He didn't even know it was bothering him as much as it apparently was, but it didn't matter. His current... condition had to stay a secret. "Nothing, really. We have to-"

But Rose had changed too, just as Y/n had, and the usual way she let things slide didn't seem to be what she was okay with anymore. "We haven't kept secrets in ages now. You can trust me Y/n. That's what partners do, right? They talk to each other? Communication and all."

Partners. Wait, what? "I thought... you and Mickey-"

Rose offered a shrug ad a sheepish smile. "We've loved each other for years, you and me, and now we also love the Doctor. That's... a bit chaotic, I'm not going to lie. It's going to be hard enough loving two men who are equally reckless, I can't deal with the drama of someone else too. I... adore Mickey, I really do. He was good to me for a long time. But I've seen what wasting time and waiting too long can do, and if you two are eventually going to have to say goodbye to me then I am going to soak up ever damn second I have until then. I'm tired of wasting time, Y/n. It only hurts more in the end."

"Oh." Y/n rubbed the back of his neck, smiling to himself. "Okay."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You're adorable, truly, but you're not going to distract me. I want answers."

A panic flashed through the man and he did the first thing he could think of. He grabbed Rose and kissed the living hell out of her. When he leaned away, she looked a little dazed which is what he was going for. "I'll tell you. I really will. Just... not right now, okay? I can't do this right now, especially because there's too much else going on. I'm sorry." Then he took off toward the halls, ready to look around to find something that would help them all out.

He did find something. He opened the door, revealing a sight that made his blood run cold. Then he heard a scream, and he booked it over, running in to see Mickey. Before the boy could explain his exclamation, the Doctor joined the scene a second later, Rose and Sara Jane on his heels.

Y/n froze. "Sara Jane." He cleared his throat, able to handle it much better the second time around - especially with eyes on him. It sounded less like someone greeting an old friend, and more someone just saying hello in general.

"James," she greeted back. "Mr. Doe, I mean. Sorry, I got your first name from the principal quite by accident. Since you used mine I figured-"

"No worries," Y/n rushed. "It's - uh - not James though. It's actually Y/n. I went by a fake name myself. The Doctor stole John though, so I went with James instead. Different enough that no one would call me out for the obviously fake name."

"Oh," Sara Jane realized. "John Doe." They both chuckled, but the sound was cut off by an irritated Rose, who seemed to be very much not enjoying the exchange between the two.

"Why did you scream, Mickey?" She demanded, turning attention back to the reason they were all there. Unfortunately, Y/n did not miss the odd way the Doctor looked at him, confused by the interaction between the two.

Mickey seemed suddenly wanting to disappear. "Sorry, I uh..." He moved aside to let everyone see in. "You told me to investigate, so I started looking through these cupboards and all these fell out on me."

"Oh my god they're rats," Rose realized. "Dozens of rats. Vacuum-packed rats." Y/n had to agree with her wonder at it all.

"And you decided to scream?" The Doctor stood, looking at Mickey with a raised eyebrow.

"It took me by surprise," Mickey defended.

"Like a little girl?"

"It was dark! I was covered in rats!"

"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt."

"To be fair," Y/n piped in, feeling this wasn't fair on Mickey. "There's a lot of tension and people tend to die on these adventures of ours. I don't blame Mickey for being tense." Seeing Sara Jane had put him in a rather good mood if he did say so himself, even if he refused to admit it. It countered his anxieties about having the Doctor's memories and brought him back to normal.

"Can we focus?" Was the nest thing said, and that came from Rose. "Has anyone noticed anything strange about this? Rats in school?"

"Well obviously they used them in biology lessons. They dissect them," Sarah Jane pointed out. "Or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?"

That took Y/n off guard, but before he could play peacemaker Rose shot back with, "Excuse me no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that for years. Where are from, the Dark Ages?"

"Anyway!" The Doctor butt in, looking between the two women with confusion. Y/n seemed to be the only one who got it, what was happening. "Moving on. Everything started when Mr. Finch arrived. We should go check his office."

"Actually." This time it was Y/n. "I found something, before we all got here. Rather convenient if you ask me, I won't lie. Now we can all go back together."

"And you're only saying this now?" The Doctor demanded.

Y/n rolled his eyes. "You shut your mouth. Between the jealousy wafting off of all four of you at all times and trying to keep the peace between all of it, I think I deserved a moment of silence for myself." Then he turned away, storming off toward the teacher's lounge where he'd seen the thing before.

"Jealousy?" the Doctor scoffed, offended. "I'm not- Y/n wait up!"

Y/n lead the way, the other four following. The Doctor was right behind Y/n, Sara Jane and Rose on either side of him and then Mickey behind them. As they walked, he heard, "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?"

"Sara Jane Smith," she replied. "I used to travel with the Doctor."

"Oh!" Rose spoke with the voice that told Y/n she was getting pissed. The two women pushed ahead to be on either side of Y/n and even began to walk a little faster. Y/n didn't mind it, getting his kicks when they turned the wrong way at first and then had to catch up again. "Well, he's never mentioned you."

"That's it." Y/n stopped cold, the Doctor ramming into him. He ignored the man, facing the two women in the hallway. "You both listen to me. I'm not going to have you taking stabs at each other all night. Sara Jane, the Doctor didn't talk about you, but not because he doesn't care. He cares a lot, actually. Maybe two much. He's just got a lot on his plate at literally all times, and talking about his past hurts so he rarely does it - if ever. I already have to deal with the Doctor and Mickey, I won't tolerate this too. Sara Jane, you started this, and I want you to end it right now. Rose is just responding - neither which I condone by the way. Get your things in place." Then he turned back around and began walking again, leaving the other four to walk silently behind him for quite a stretch of time.

No one spoke again until they got to the teacher's lounge. "Maybe those rats were food," the Doctor thought aloud, actively trying to ignore the other two women and focus on Y/n, who seemed to be the only one with a level head tonight.

"Food for the gargoyle bats?" Y/n asked.

"Maybe, or-" but then the door opened and he looked around inside, and his voice died. "Rose, remember how you used to think all the teachers slept in school?" He began walking in, everyone filtering in after him. "Well, they do." Y/n was the only one who stayed out, already knowing what was inside.

Of those who went in, Mickey was the one who left first. He booked it out, causing everyone else to follow. He went right out the front doors, turning away from the school and catching his breath, hands on knees and eyes slammed close as he tried to shake the image of those things out of his head. "I am not going back in there," he stated firmly. "No way."

"Were those the teachers?" They were all out of breath, but Rose managed to look at the Doctor for more answers. He, however, was thinking it through, still trying to figure it out himself.

"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies, and a nurse - thirteen. Thirteen big bat people." He looked back at the school. "Come on."

"You've got to be kidding me," Mickey complained.

"I need the TARDIS," the Doctor explained. "I've got to analyse that oil from the kitchen.

"I might be able to help you there," Sara Jane piped up. Rose rolled her eyes. "I've got something you should see." They all followed to her to her car, where she opened the trunk to reveal something covered in a blanket. The Doctor pulled it aside.

Two voices rang out at the same time. The first was the Doctor, which made sense. The second, unfortunately, was Y/n, who was yet again too caught off guard by surprise and too small a window of time to think clearly and stop himself. "K-9!"

Sarah Jane and the Doctor looked at Y/n, who was immediately struck with fear. God why did he have to have such a big mouth? By some mercy, Rose piped up before either of the two people now staring at Y/n with far too many question - none of which he was willing to answer - could begin asking. "Why does he look so... disco?"

That caught the Doctor's attention. "Oi!" He complained. "Listen, in the year 5000 this was cutting edge. What happened to him?"

Finally Sarah Jane looked away as well. "One day just... nothing," she answered.

"Didn't you try to get him repaired?" The Doctor sounded a little offended. It made Y/n smile to hear him whine like that.

"It's not like getting parts from a Mini Metro," Sara Jones pointed out, defending herself. "Besides, technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone!"

"Ooh." The Doctor's voice dropped, speaking to K-9 as if the dog was alive and could hear him. Like one would speak to a real dog. "What has the nasty lady done to you?" It made Y/n smile even wider. God, he was rather adorable too, wasn't he? The Doctor reached up and scratched the metal behind where K-9's ears were. It was only then Y/n realized Rose and Mickey were confused by the whole show, rather than endeared. Y/n also noticed Sarah Jane, who stood up from where she'd been bent over before, giving Rose a look like she'd won something.

Y/n was about ready to lose it on the woman. Why couldn't these two just stop for one second and let the Doctor enjoy something? He didn't get to far too often. Before he could say something, Rose did. "Okay, could you two just stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog, we're busy." With that, they all got into Sarah Jane's car and  headed to a nearby diner that was still open to fix K-9 so he could analyze the oil. There, the Doctor and Sarah Jane got acquainted once again. Y/n was too scared to reminisce with them, so he stayed by Rose and Mickey. Turns out, that was an even bigger mistake.

"You know what's really impressive is that she's been here an hour and I still haven't said I told you so," Mickey mouthed off.

Y/n felt his anger boil. "Probably because you didn't tell anyone anything, and you're just being a dick."

Mickey glared. The pair had only gotten hostile a few times, but had always been calmed by Rose. Rose, it seemed, was not in the mood to play peacemaker. It had been Y/n's role for too long now. "I'm sorry, YOU look at them then. Tell me that they weren't just like Rose and the Doctor."

Y/n absolutely noticed how Mickey cut Y/n out of that equation. Had she not told him the specifics, or was he just being extra petty? "Okay yes, Sara Jane traveled with the Doctor just like me and Rose do now, and things... were between them. Sort of." He scoffed. "But that was ages ago. Neither of them feel that way anymore, they're just nostalgic. The Doctor disappeared on Sarah Jane one day and just never returned. She thought he was dead, and he's been carrying that unfinished business with him ever since. There's been no closure." He sighed. "Can you imagine, Rose? Nine hundred years he's been alive, and you want him to have spent the majority of that all by himself, after watching his entire planet be destroyed? Think about how he was before we came in his life. How lonely it had to be. When the Doctor gets left alone like that... he gets too much in his head. He gets too fixated on his power and potential and how in control he is. His species is like a god to most others, and he's the last. If he'd been alone all this time, it would have gone to hid head long ago and he wouldn't be the man we know and love. Not even a shadow of him."

Rose didn't seemed cheered by that like Y/n thought, though her body did relax and her expression changed. She was still rather grim, but rather than with jealousy toward Sarah Jane, it was... worry. Confusion. All toward Y/n. "Why do you say that like you know? Like... you were there?"

Y/n didn't have an answer for that. Not one he wanted to share. "I..." He looked away. His mind was blank and he didn't know what to say. In that moment, he began speaking. "Can you imagine what its like to watch your family die right in front of you?" The room was suddenly quite silent, other than the Doctor and Sarah Jane still chatting in the background. "He has the weight of universes on his shoulders. The weight of time and space as a whole. All that ever was and will be. What is, and what can never be. He has it all in his head, swirling around in there waiting to swallow him whole. Think about how incredibly smart he is. No one is that smart anymore. Everyone we've met whose that smart was... lost, in a way. Knowledge is power, but power unused is a waste. Remember the Daleks? Just as clever as him, unable to handle the weight of emotions that comes with it, so they stripped it all away to just survive. They got so arrogant and so obsessed with the power of their minds they stopped really living, labeled themselves as the superior species, and going around destroying worlds with billions of people on it as a past time, for fun, because they legitimately believe that anything other than them is inferior and therefore needs to be destroyed. Can you imagine if it was just one of them? Alone, for hundreds of years. No one can match his intelligence or capability. When he fails, everyone else panics because he's the one we depend on to always have the answers and get it all done. he leads and everyone follows. If they know his real power, they usually do so without question and they'd be right to. The Doctor's wrath is unmatched, and his power is limitless, and without someone there to check him he'd have been lost long ago. It's just fact, Rose, and not hard to piece together. Pain changes people, and no one has been through more than the Doctor. If he wanted to, he could destroy everyone. Everything. But he doesn't, because he has people around him to remind him what is important past just facts and figures. Past logic and fixed points in time. I think that's why he likes humans so much. We remind each other."

"Two quid, love." Three pairs of eyes snapped to the side as Rose remembered why she was at this counter. She took her food with one hand, paying with the other. The trio all gathered their thoughts before heading over to a table for three, sitting down so Rose could eat her chips.

"Do you think he's only into us because of that?" Rose asked softly. "Because we ground him?"

Y/n smiled to himself. "No, not at all. I understand him. He hasn't been understood by someone stable and sane for a long time. It's usually the worst people who know what he's been through, or the people who had so much potential but have tragic endings. It's... disheartening, to say the least." He looked at Rose. "He likes you because you're all the best humanity has to offer. You care, loudly, and you do everything with your heart and never your head. You... you're the opposite of him, I guess. You're so much good. All of the good, even. A little reckless and loud, with a bleeding heart and a determination that can never be put out even in the bleakest of scenarios." Rose blushed and Y/n cleared his throat, looking away. "You know, he probably misses how big his family used to be. So many people fit in the TARDIS. I think... even if she does stay longer-"

"You think he'll invite her to come along with us?" Rose asked.

A shrug was all she got for a few seconds. "She knows things already. They had good times, the two of them. You can tell from the way she smiles at her. He gives himself to everyone he travels with, even if its just a little because they're not around long. It's like coming home to an old friend from your childhood. One who was a beacon of light in a world of darkness. Like if you and I lost touch and didn't talk for years. When you saw me again, still on good terms and missing how things used to be between us. Wouldn't you want that to not end?"

Rose didn't like that answer. Y/n thought he'd probably spoken enough at this point and the trio sat in quiet as the Doctor fixed K-9 and Rose ate her chips.

The next thing they knew, the Doctor was jumping up from his table as the robotic dog whirred to life. "All right!" he exclaimed. "Now we're in business."

"Master," K-9 said, in an electronic voice that brought memories back to Y/n he shouldn't have.

"He recognizes me!" the Doctor crooned, grinning at Sarah Jane.

"Affirmative," K-9 spoke again.

"Rose." The Doctor turned around to face the three humans sat away from him and Sarah Jane. "Give us the oil." AT his call, the three rose and joined him so Rose could hand over the little jar she'd collected earlier from the school. He took it, opened it, and went to dip a finger in to scoop it out.

Rose stopped him. "I wouldn't touch it though, that dinner lady got all scorched."

"I'm no dinner lady," the Doctor declared in such a serious voice that Y/n almost laughed. "And I don't often say that," the man added, eyes taking in Y/n's amusement. He then dipped a finger in with no harm at all, smearing the oil onto K-9's censor. "Here we go," the Doctor encouraged as K-9 began to beep. "Come on boy here we go."

K-9 spoke again, his words stuttered. "Oil extract..." he began. He seemed to be struggling. "Analyzing."

"Listen to him man," Mickey chuckled. "That's a voice!"

"Careful," the Doctor warned. "That's my dog."

Y/n smiled to himself. For a second he imagined the Doctor in a life different than this. A life the Doctor wanted but would never be allowed to live. One he never let himself think about. A life in a house, a ring on his finger and a dog barking in the front lawn. Children... It would be a nice life. Y/n could see the man playing with that dog as he did K-9, but more. Just fun, rather than gaining knowledge and analyzing data and running into danger head first. He'd have so much fun with a real dog... That life though. Y/n tried to imagine the Doctor really in it. Settling down in a house of his own. Getting a job. It would be a happy life. A stable and safe life. It would not be a life that really fit him though. The Doctor is and always would be a traveler. It was a life he'd chosen for himself, on purpose. One that fit him.

He felt eyes on him and looked over, locking eyes with Sarah Jane. Her gaze widened as she saw that familiar thing in Y/n again. The thing, she now realized, she always saw when she looked at the Doctor. She recalled her surprise when the Doctor had revealed himself to not be Y/n, realizing that the first time they'd talked, she'd subconsciously thought Y/n and the Doctor the same man. She searched Y/n's should, trying to understand. Y/n saw a question that startled him.

Are you a Timelord?

She seemed to ask it silently, scanning Y/n's face for signs. But there wouldn't be, even if Y/n was. Of course he wasn't... and yet. The question was warranted. What made a man who changed faces and personalities and age and ethnicity every time he died? Who became a new man over and over again, over hundreds of years? Other than the obvious biology that kept him consistently a Timelord no matter what face he took, the thing that made the Doctor was his memories. His mind. The way he saw life and knew things that should be impossible. If that was what made Timelords special - what made the Doctor special - did Y/n having that knowledge somehow make him special too? No, he wasn't a Timelord, but he did have a very significant piece of one locked inside of him. He had a whole other person in his mind, with a life he never lived and people he never met.

So no, technically, Y/n was not a Timelord. Not biologically. But perhaps... perhaps just a little, in away, he was. What an interesting thought.

"Are you two coming?"

The pair looked over to see Mickey, and an even more surprising sight. The Doctor, looking between Y/n and Sarah Jane with the same look that Rose wore for Sarah Jane and the Doctor. With... jealousy? Well that made absolutely no sense.

"Yeah," Y/n responded, realizing everyone else was headed back out again. "Sorry, I missed that last bit. What's happening now?"

"We'll update you on the way," the Doctor dismissed, seeming suddenly rather far away. They all left the diner and piled in the car again. During the drive, the empty spaces in the missed conversation were filled in and everyone was caught up. First to be dropped off was Mickey, then the Rose, the Doctor, and Y/n, who always stayed at Rose's when they needed to. Jackie never minded.

The night was stretching on and Y/n couldn't sleep. There was a spare room that Mickey sometimes slept in, which the Doctor took now on Y/n's insistence. They'd agreed on switching off nights, and tonight was Y/n's turn on the couch. Perhaps that was what gave Rose the courage to come into the room and face Y/n. "I can't sleep."

Y/n sat up. "Neither can I. Want to watch a movie and drink something warm?"

The blond shook her head. "Can I just... lay with you? We don't have to sleep or stay awake. I just don't want to be alone." Y/n scooted, making room for her. He patted the spot next to him, where she settled. After a second she leaned into Y/n, and he let his arm wrap around her, pulling her into his side. "You know, I've been playing it off but... there really will be a time after me, for you two. You don't die, and he... he's lives hundreds of years, I'm sure he'll be here after I die. Do you think - I mean, he and her were close once too. Do you think he'll forget me like he did her? He doesn't even talk about her anymore. I just-"

Y/n held her tighter. "He doesn't forget anyone, Rose. Really he doesn't. It's just like I said before - it hurts him to talk about his past. If he lingers in what he misses, he drowns in the sadness of all he's lost. I- you're different, I think. If not for him definitely for me. Maybe I do have forever ahead of me, but there's nothing like your first love. You'll always be with me, Rose, I promise you." Y/n sighed. "I can't speak for him though. You should talk to him yourself, after all this is done."

Rose didn't respond. Wrapped in each other's arms and held together by a promise that Y/n meant with all of his being, they finally relaxed and fell asleep.

The next morning, they all had to go back to school. They weren't wasting time pretending to do their jobs this time though. They didn't know what was happening, or when it would get worse, and no cover was worth the life of another student if they took too long.

"Rose, Sarah, you two go to the maths room and crack open those computers. I need to see the hardware inside." He took out his sonic screwdriver, handing it to Rose. "Here, you might need this. Y/n, you keep an eye on the kids. I don't want anymore to go missing. Mickey, surveillance. I want you outside."

"Just stand outside?" Mickey asked, confused.

"Here, take these." Sarah tossed Mickey her keys. "You can keep K-9 company."

"Don't forget to leave the window open a crack," the Doctor called back as Mickey walked back to the car.

"What? He's metal!" Mickey threw back.

"I didn't mean for him!" the Doctor replied. He shot a smile at Y/n, but this time Y/n did not give one back. Making fun of Mickey was losing his touch. This whole thing was getting to Y/n and he couldn't find much amusing at the moment. He'd been thinking nonstop about what he would do if Rose- I guess, WHEN Rose left them. It was a terrible thought and he very much hated it, but he couldn't shake it either.

Rose cut in on his thoughts by asking the Doctor, "What are you going to do?"

The Doctor's smile dropped as he got serious. "It's time I had a word with Mr. Finch."

That was where they parted ways. Y/n drifted through the halls, hovering around the principal's office when the man wasn't around, and then heading outside when it was break time. The alarm went off for everyone to go inside far too early and Y/n hesitated, staying back, as the kids rushed back into the building again. He had a horrible feeling in his gut. What was about to happen?

A hand rested on Y/n's arm. He looked over to see Kenny, to his relief. "Sir..." the boy hesitated. "Have you gotten any closer to stopping the bat people?"

Y/n smiled, nodding in reassurance. "Much. I promise, we're just about to figure it out. Go to class Kenny, I swear we've got this handled."

"We?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah, me and some friends. Uh, you know the blonde lunch lady with lots of attitude, and the physics teacher?"

Kenny stepped back. "You're one of them."

"What?" Y/n stepped toward him, but the boy stumbled away even further. "No, Kenny, I'm-" but Kenny didn't wait for an explanation. He just turned and ran. Y/n wanted to go after him, but couldn't. It wouldn't help much, and he had to keep an eye on the children - especially now that things seemed about ready to hit the fan. So, instead, he counted his losses and jogged into the building to see all the kids filtering into classrooms with computers that light up with green screens. He couldn't go into any of them without crossing a teacher he knew was one of the bad guys though, so he headed on and on until he found the room with the others in it.

Rose was there to greet him. "You were right." He paused, unsure how to proceed after that. She did it for him. "Sarah and I talked. She's pretty cool actually. We decided to stop fighting."

Y/n did smile at that. "I'm glad to hear it." Rose took his hand, turning and walking toward the Doctor, pulling Y/n after her. She seemed to be hovering between helping him - which she really couldn't do - and watching the doorway to make sure no children came in, which is probably what she was told to do. None of them seemed to be making much headway in any direction.

Suddenly the screens light up with green light and words that none of them could understand. Well, none of them bu the Doctor surely, whose eyes seemed to scan the screen, taking up as much as he could as it all raced across the screen almost too quick to read.

"Well, you wanted the program," Sarah sighed. "There it is."

"Some sort of code," the Doctor whispered. After a second, he stepped forward. "No... No, they can't be."

"What is it?" Y/n asked gently.

"The Skasas Paradigm," the Doctor finally said aloud. "They're trying to crack the Skasas Paradigm."

"The Skasis what?" Sarah rightfully asked.

The Doctor struggled to explain. "The god-maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control over the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control."

"What, and the kids are like a giant computer?" Rose asked, horrified.

"Yes." The Doctor seemed to not like the answer, but not just in a general way. None of them liked this, but the Doctor seemed to hate this. On a personal level. He suddenly turned away from it, not wanting to see it anymore. "And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil! That oil from the kitchens, it works as a conducting agent, it makes the kids cleverer."

The other women turned to watch the Doctor pace, but Y/n watched the screen, as if transfixed. His mind felt a little far away. He felt that same thing he'd sensed in the Doctor. He didn't just not like this. He hated it. He loathed this entire thing. "But why?" It came out soft and quiet. Maybe even a little broken. He finally looked at the Doctor, finding confusion among all the anger surging through him. "That's not living, controlling everything. It's not experiencing or learning or anything. It's... creating a world for others to live in. What's the fun in knowing what's going to happen next and controlling everything to go your way? Makes it so much more fun to improvise. Makes it... better. Life is meant to be experienced, not... I mean, authors don't experience their stories, readers do. Characters. Why would anyone choose to be the author?"

The Doctor almost smiled. "Because life is hard and scary. Some people don't want to live through that fear and struggle. They forget the fun and the thrill and the adventure, and they destroy it in favor of getting rid of those hardships. That's what so many living beings forget. You can't have happiness without sadness. They create each other. It's no fun to be the smartest in the room. To know everything and having been everywhere. The fun is in the confusion. In the chaos. In the complete lack of control."

"Okay nice psychology and all," Rose interrupted, breaking the two men away from their locked eyes and racing minds as they connected yet again in a way she missed. "But that oil, I mean, that's been on the chips. Y/n and I have been eating them."

Immediately the Doctor faced her, shooting, "What's 59 times 35?"

Without hesitation, Rose replied with the exact sane tone, "2065." He tilted his head and she added, "Oh my god." Y/n found himself enjoying this. There was still that anger, but it wasn't affecting him negatively. It cleared his mind and got his heart racing. He felt his body speeding up, and his mind running faster than it ever had before.

Y/n's anger was only fueling him, and now he was smarter than ever. Nothing could stop him.

"But why use children?" Sarah asked. "Can't they use adults?"

"The god-maker needs imagination to crack it," Y/n answered without thinking. He had tapped into the Doctor's knowledge long ago, soaking in every detail running through the Doctor's head up until the day Rose Tyler and Bad Wolf and the Doctor's new regeneration. He'd been holding back so much, afraid of exposing himself, but now he was rushing on adrenaline and smarter than ever. Not only did he have the information, but he could understand it, and there was none of his usual and there was none of his usual anxieties stopping him. "Name one adult with imagination. Real imagination. Enough to create lives and worlds and universes - stories, or games. Enough to look at one thing and see something magical. Nearly impossible in adults. Much easier to get from children."

Y/n's energy made the Doctor pause. "Precisely," he affirmed softly. Sarah and Rose both seemed surprised as well. "They're not just using the childrens' brains to break the code..." He calmed significantly, turning to the other three with a grim expression. "They're using their souls."

That. That was what Y/n had been so angry about. It clicked as the Doctor said it.

Just in time, they had a visitor. "Let the lesson begin." Y/n swung around, coming face to face with the one person Y/n wanted to see the most. "Think of it, Doctor. With the paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."

"What a rubbish idea," Y/n sassed, rolling his eyes. "The universe isn't meant to be controlled."

"The whole of creation with the face of Mr. Finch," the Doctor agreed, scoffing. "Call me old fashioned, I like things the way they are."

Mr. Finch seemed annoyed by that. "You act like such a radical and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order."

"What's wrong with the old order?" Y/n demanded hotly.

Finally Mr. Finch looked at Y/n. He paused, his eyes roaming to the Doctor again and then back to Y/n. He seemed stunned a second. Only Y/n knew why. Just as Sarah had before, Mr. Finch saw the same look in Y/n's eyes as he saw in the Doctor's. The aged look of one who had been through too much for too long and was still trying to keep going. Keep going despite a small voice at the back of the mind that begged for peace and quiet. One that would never be listened to, because peace and quiet was too terrifying and too many people needed help.

When Mr. Finch spoke next, he spoke to Y/n and the Doctor both. "Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good."

Immediately the Doctor was ready with a snappy response. "What, by someone like you?" Y/n let out a sound that was halfway between a scoff and a laugh in agreement.

"No," was Mr. Finch's answer though, taking both of the other men slightly by surprise. "Someone like you." There was a split second of quiet so thick it was nearly suffocating. Mr. Finch cut it off rather quickly. "The paradigm gives us power but you could give us wisdom. Become a god, at my side." He took a step closer to the Doctor. Y/n did the same, but his movements were protective, rather than an attempt to convince. To break. "Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon, Ascinta - your own people, Doctor. Standing tall." The Timelords, reborn."

"That's not right." Y/n stood straight, that anger in him again even stronger, but this time because he knew how much this hurt the Doctor and he couldn't bear it. This wasn't fair, and Y/n was tired of the Doctor dealing with things that weren't fair. "Everything has its time. Everything ends eventually. The Timelords earned their ending the same as everyone does. How could you ask that of him? It would be chaos. There would be no balance. True chaos. Living forever is painful, and defying death is unnatural."

"Nature, reality, chaos, balance - this could all be ours to change. The rules can be different," Mr. Finch pointed out in response. "You could be anything you wanted to be. You could get those memories out of your head."

Y/n felt all his energy drain. He kept his eyes away from the Doctor, staring purposefully at Mr. Finch while the Doctor shot lasers at the side of Y/n's head. "There's so much you don't understand. You asked for wisdom, and you're ignoring it as its given to you. This isn't some kind of play pretend. This isn't a fantasy that you get to make into a paradise where you always win. You have to lose sometimes, because other people get to win sometimes too. Life's hard and complicated and long and it sucks, but only because we have to hurt in order to know the bliss of not hurting. There's balance. There's fairness. Not always, because sometimes even fairness has to be overruled by unfairness. But that's how it goes. Everyone gets their time, and its short because there's only so much time to give. If one person's time doesn't end, there will be no more time to give to anyone else - don't you understand?"

"I do understand," Mr. Finch sighed. His eyes moved to Sarah and Rose. "You four... clinging to each other, knowing you will eventually have to part ways. This way, it'll never have to happen. No aging or death or going away. No more goodbyes." He looked at the Doctor. "How lonely you must be, Doctor, after a lifetime of one goodbye after another. You can finally make it stop." He looked at Y/n. "You can stop the hurt, for all of them. You who speaks with wisdom you shouldn't have. Who relives over and over again pain and misery that isn't yours. You can make it go away. You can forget all of it. Erase it. Undo it. Make it never happen. Happy, forever. Join us."

"I could save everyone." Y/n looked away, closing his eyes as the Doctor spoke.

"Yes," Mr. Finch encouraged.

"I could stop the war." He grew quiet, thinking about that. Imagining Gallifrey. Seeing it in his memories, but... better. As he is now, Rose and Y/n by his side. His family and friends, returned. His home gloriously breathtaking once more. Y/n could see it too, and... he couldn't speak for the Doctor this time. He knew what he would do if the situations were reserved, and he'd already said his piece. This wasn't his to have an opinion on.

Sarah Jane disagreed. "No," she argued. "The universe has to keep moving forward. "Pain and loss, it defines us. Y/n was right - we need it. Just as much as happiness and love. Whether it's a world or a relationship. Everything will have an end when the time comes. Y/n... knows." She looked at Y/n then, and he turned away from her too. In those last two words was more than what seemed to be there at first. She was not speaking about him knowing loss as she did. She was saying that he knew loss as the Doctor did. Y/n was right, she seemed to beg them all to understand. He knew better than all of them.

Suddenly the Doctor picked up a chair, rushing forward and chucking it at the screen on the wall and shattering it. They all took off running, trying to get as far away from Finch as they could. They ran and ran until they met Mickey, who asked questions there was no time to answer as the others like Finch crawled the halls, screeching and taking off after the Doctor and his companions. So they turned and ran a new direction that took them to the lunchroom. The doors were locked, and right behind them were Finch and the others. This wasn't seeming to be going their way.

"Are those the teachers?" The question came from Kenny, who Y/n had missed joining the group with Mickey when they'd all been running.

"Yeah, sorry." That came from the Doctor. Kenny and Y/n locked eyes and smiled at another. Whatever had been complicated before had been cleared up now - it was obvious whose side Y/n was on.

"We need either the Doctor or the other man alive. Y/n. Just one." Finch looked right at both men as he said their names, and got back a glare in response from both. "As for the others... you can feast."

And so began the fight for their lives. Creature came swooping down from the sky as they all scattered, trying to avoid getting caught in the way of claws or teeth. The Doctor grabbed a chair. Y/n stole his sonic screwdriver and slid toward the door, trying to get it unlocked. It was a hard time as Y/n kept getting almost attacked. At one point, he wasn't fast enough. He turned his back and pressed the sonic screwdriver to the door, trying to work on it. He was too distracted to see the claws aimed for his back. Rose only had time to scream Y/n's name before there was a loud. high pitched sound and a shot of red from the corner of Y/n's eye. He spun around to see K-9. The dog had shot the thing from the sky, killing it, and saving Y/n's life.

Unfortunately, that only seemed to anger Finch more.

Abandoning the door, they took off in a different direction that was open now that K-9 had taken one of them out. They shot off and hesitated only a moment to collect their thoughts. They couldn't run forever - they needed a plan.

As always, it was the Doctor who thought of something. "It's the oil!" He realized. "Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil! That's it! They've changed their physiology so much that even their own oil is toxic to them. How much was there in the kitchen?" He asked Rose in a rush.

"Barrels of it," she responded.

Just then, the Krillitanes made their presence known as they began to scratch and rip at the door separating Krillitane from human... and Doctor.

"We have to get into the kitchen," the Doctor began. "Mickey-"

Mickey had some sass of his own bottled up though. "What now?" he demanded. "Hold the coats?"

Y/n shot him a glare, and Mickey stuck his tongue out in response. The Doctor didn't waste time, instead ordering, "Get all the children unplugged and out of the school. Now then, bats. Bats, bats. How do we fight bats?" To that question, Kenny had an answer. Without saying anything, he hit the fire alarm. The Doctor looked around and then grinned, a laugh of victory coming from him. The rest of the group smiled as well.

With the enemy distracted, they all took off running past the door that had kept them from escaping, right past the Krillitane who were now all on the ground in pain. They ran and ran toward the kitchens. Along the way, K-9 joined them as well. The whole group was back together, and Y/n found his heart swelling as he took in the crowd. This was how it was supposed to be. A group, friends and partners, all there and caring for the Doctor and helping him save the world however many times it needed saving.

In the kitchens, they ran into a problem that quickly wiped away Y/n's good feelings. "They're all deadlock sealed, I can't open them," the Doctor told the others as he tried to use his screwdriver to open up the oil cans. "Finch must have done it."

K-9 had the answer this time. "The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser, but my batteries are failing."

"Right," the Doctor picked up again. "Everyone out the back door. K-9, stay with me." Y/n hesitated, but Rose caught his arm and the Doctor shot him a direct look, as if knowing he would try and stay. So he turned and he ran and he hated every second of it.

They were outside now... which meant they were safe, but also that if the Doctor needed help they had no way of getting to him.

When the Doctor came outside, there was a wave of relief inside Y/n... until Sarah Jane asked a question that made his heart plummet. "Where's K-9?"

"We need to run," was the Doctor's response as he deadlocked the door behind them so none could go back.

"Where is he?" Sarah asked again. This time Y/n was needed to grab her hand and pull her away, knowing she didn't want to move and probably wouldn't without help. "What have you done?" she demanded as Y/n dragged her along on their dash for safety. Behind them, there was an explosion.

Y/n and Sarah both stopped short, eyes on the building and pain in their eyes. The Doctor turned to Sarah to comfort her. Y/n tried to get used to this feeling. Having feelings that should not belong to him. Experiencing loss for people he didn't know. No one turning to him to comfort him, because he shouldn't need comfort to begin with.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor apologized to Sarah Jane.

"It's alright," she responded, standing tall. "He was just a daft metal dog - it's fine, really." Her voice broke with emotion and Y/n felt his heart fall. He turned away from the others to hide it. No matter what adrenaline he was on and how much he hated hiding things from the Doctor and Rose, hiding pain from others was still one of his core responses.

With the whole thing over, it was time to go. Y/n hated goodbyes. After today - after thinking about a world without them - Y/n had enough of them for now. He went further into the TARDIS into the room he'd claimed for when they eventually had to sleep. Where he kept his stuff and such. He stayed there until the sounds of the TARDIS started up and he knew they were taking off and headed for the next adventure.

Only one thing bothered him now: how long could he keep knowing the Doctor's past quiet now? After everything that had happened was beginning to add up... how long would it be before the Doctor put it together? Or someone else?

Y/n was running out of time.

-

Story Taglist:  @shoochi @e-reads-fics

Male readers taglist: @sheepfather​

[tenmillionwhumperflies]

Febuwhump ‘21 #7

#7 Poisoned

Okay, this one is set in the future before I’ve been able to explain a thing, but it’s no biggie. Basically cloudwalkers ADORE the liquorice root. They chew on it to keep their teeth clean in the wold but it also makes them feel happy and giddy. They cannot resist the stuff, it’s a little like catnip I guess.

Word Count:  1135

Because this is poison, there will be mentions of being sick.

Avizon watched his cloudwalkers carefully from the castle. He’d let them go into the woodlands around the castle walls to fly and play, as long as they’d returned with the herbs he needed by the end of the day. Dyan had learned how to spot different plants now, and he’d given them both a little bag on a belt to wear. Slowly they were filling up, and they were enjoying themselves at the same time.

He raised an eyebrow, seeing that Ihuka had stopped and had picked something up to eat, which took him a little while. He wasn’t sure what it could have been, perhaps he’d pounced on a small animal. Dyan didn’t eat any though, Avizon guessed it was because Dyan had complained of stomach ache earlier that day.

Ihuka played for a few more minutes, something that had taken Dyan a long time to get used to. He’d never been able or allowed to play, but he’d picked it up quickly. It was good that Ihuka was able to teach Dyan how to be a cloudwalker. It was reassuring to know that Dyan was finding his feet, tasting freedom.

Only Ihuka stopped quite suddenly and landed on the floor. He sat, which was odd for that bundle of energy and then he was sick. Avizon wasn’t too concerned, he guessed that eating and moving so quickly had simply disturbed his stomach, but Ihuka didn’t get back up. Dyan was beside him, kneeling. Avizon glanced up at the sun, and since they had been out for several hours he decided to call them back in, he made an orb of power and sent it in their direction. Dyan stood but he didn’t fly back, Ihuka didn’t get up at all.

“Don’t get stubborn now,” Avizon grumbled, but he dismissed that thought quickly when Ihuka collapsed onto the ground. No, something was wrong. He hissed and teleported himself down to where the two of them were. “Master!” Dyan exclaimed in alarm. “We saw the orb, but Ihuka is really ill. He. he can’t get up.”

Avizon knelt beside him, stroking the hair out of his face. Ihuka was barely conscious, he foamed at the mouth and his eyes had rolled up into his head. Avizon was quick to act when he started to have a fit. He didn’t want to move him, so he only put his hands under his head as a bit of a cushion. Dyan cried out in fear.

“It’s alright, Ihuka, I’ve got you. It’s alright,” he soothed, trying to keep calm despite the awful situation. He hated seeing Ihuka like this. Something was really wrong, this wasn’t just a sudden illness.

“Master, what’s wrong with him?” Dyan cried.

“Keep calm. Go back inside, clear the table for me. I’ll be right there. It looks like poison- what did he eat?” “He found some liquorice root on the ground.” “Found? Just laying on top on the earth pre-cut?” Avizon raised an eyebrow. Dyan nodded. “I told him not to eat it but he said it would be fine.”

Avizon glowered. He’d heard about traps like these, poisoned bits of liquorice being used to lure cloudwalkers in, unable to resist the taste. Once they ate some it was so easy to just pick them up and cage them with some antidote, or letting them die and selling them that way. He looked up at the surrounding area, trying to spot a figure but there was no one in sight.

“Alright, inside, go, quickly.”

Avizon didn’t have to wait long for the convulsions to stop. He hushed Ihuka gently and turned him onto his side for a moment. Ihuka groaned and opened his eyes, he looked so weak and so scared. “It’s alright. I’ll take care of you. I’ve got you, little one.”

Ihuka whimpered, his breathing raspy. Avizon rubbed his shoulder before working his magic and teleporting them back to the top of the tower. Dyan had cleared the table and brought a pillow. Avizon lay him down again, still on his side with his head tilted down.

“Don’t get him anything to eat or drink. Just stay with him, and make sure he’s breathing. Talk to him, try to comfort him. Don’t touch his mouth. I should be able to treat this.”

Dyan did as he was asked, staying by Ihuka and offering him what comfort he could. Avizon went in Ihuka’s belt pouch and found a half-eaten root. He analysed it as best he could, seeing where white berries had been rubbed against it. Fittingly named ghost berries, they were very potent and would kill but the poison was somewhat easy to treat. So having a good guess as to what poison it was, he rushed to look for an antidote. Grabbing the ingredients he needed in a blur. He took one of Ihuka’s old feather’s out of a bag and cut off the nib to extract the magic.

But then he was done, he had the antidote in a bowl, now a perfectly clear liquid, with a pipette and carefully sat Ihuka up. He’d fallen unconscious and his breathing was dangerously weak. “Please drink, little one. Come on, please.”

He wiped Ihuka’s mouth with a rag and used the pipette to give him some of the antidote. Ihuka swallowed thickly, but at least it was down. He kept going, patiently working his way to the bottom of the bowl. It took time, but Ihuka’s breathing was getting stronger, not so dangerously shallow. Avizon hushed and soothed as he worked, stroking his hair.

Dyan knelt in front of him, watching with wide concerned eyes. “Is he...” “I’m going to keep him here for a while to watch over him. Will you get me a blanket?” Dyan nodded, “yes master. Thank you.”

Dyan returned with Ihuka’s favourite blanket and put it over him, biting his lip. “Have faith, Dyan, I think he will be fine. We acted fast, now he just needs some time to heal. Nothing is a stronger healer than time.”

“Can… can I stay too?” Dyan asked. “Not until you go and eat. There’s some cooked beef downstairs already in a bowl. Bring it up here. I know you don’t want to eat right now, but I’d like you to try for me, just a few slices.” Dyan nodded. “Yes, master.”

Dyan disappeared again leaving Avizon alone, cradling Ihuka in his arms. He pulled him a little closer and Ihuka managed to grip his clothes slightly. He groaned and opened his eyes. “Shhhh, back to sleep, little one, sleep.” Ihuka let out a soft whimper, snuggling closer, prompting Avizon to pull the blanket up more. “What am I ever going to do with you?” he murmured softly, rocking him back and forth.

But the louder question in his mind was who had done this, and what was he going to do when he got his hands on them?

[jawritter]

Just A Dream...

Writing Prompt 17. Love Is Overrated.

Winchester Fantasies 1000 Followers Challenge. @winchester-fantasies​

Warning: Unrequited love, angst, some language, fluff if you squint, I think that’s it.

Pairing: Dean x Reader, Sam x Reader (just friends)

Word Count: 1757

A/N: As always all mistakes are mine! Please don’t copy my work! Feedback is golden! Hope you guys enjoy this one!

Want more? Check out my Masterlist!!

****MASTERLIST****

Sitting on the hood of Baby you look out over the slew of people that were filtering in and out of the bar that the Winchester’s had talked you into coming to in order to “celebrate” another successful hunt. 

The only problem was you didn’t feel much like celebrating. 

Sure the hunt had gone great, and with the track record, you all seemed to be having it was very nice to have a win for once. 

A simple Vamp nest, in and out, no casualties, no near-death experiences, just a simple, head rolling, vamp kill.

It was a pretty large nest at that, about 12 Vamps. All dead before they even knew they were under attack thanks to Dean who not only had reflexes like a cat, he seemed to be getting even lighter on his feet with age. You couldn’t even figure out how that was possible, but he was a Winchester, and they were the best, so you weren’t surprised by very much when it comes to their abilities anymore; you just learned to just roll with it.

Most of the time you’d be right in there with them, drinking, hustling pool, or just blowing off steam in general, not this time. 

See, you had a problem that you didn’t really know just how you were going to handle.

Over the past three months that you’d been living with the Winchesters, you had fallen for Dean pretty hard.  Something in this life you knew that you shouldn’t do, so you had to figure out what exactly you were going to do about it. 

Were you going to run? Because you’d gotten pretty good at that over your lifetime of hunting. 

Were you going to tell him that you had feelings for him, or even make a move, risk getting turned down, and kicked out of the bunker that was now your home? That didn’t seem like a wise move on your best day. It wasn’t like a stable place to crash was easy to come by in your line of work, so you really didn’t want to screw that up.

So, you found yourself out here, away from Dean and that blonde that was currently attached to his face. It was easier to sit out here and people watch feeling sorry yourself, than to face the fact that whatever you decided to do about your feelings for Dean, it wasn’t going to do you any good tonight. He obviously planned to be otherwise engaged for the evening, and didn’t have time to hang out with you; even though he called you his “best friend." 

Right now you don’t feel much like a "best” anything. You felt like the second choice. 

“There you are! I was looking all over for you,” Sam said, leaning against the hood of Dean’s beloved Impala next to you with his arms crossed, looking you over with a smirk on his face that told you Sam might be slightly tipsy. 

Tipsy Sam was your favorite version of  Sam because he just had no filter. It was a rare jewel to witness, and you welcomed the distraction and the company. 

“Yeah, I needed some air,” you lie to him, as you both watch a couple of local idiots fight over the very chick that you saw inside not five minutes ago kissing the bartender… 

Oops…

 Maybe you should tell them?… 

Na, they can figure it out on their own. You needed entertainment anyway.

“Needed fresh air, or need to get away from my brother, and his new friend for the evening?” Sam said, giving you a knowing look, and nearly making you fall off the hood of Dean’s car. 

The look on your face must have been priceless because it threw Sam into a fit of hysterical laughter. 

“Don’t give me that look Y/N, I’ve known for a while now. You’re not as smooth as you think you are at hiding it,“ he said, wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. 

You cursed under your breath, you covering your face with your hands and hoping the ground would open up so that it could swallow you whole. Should you pack your shit when you get back to the bunker, or just leave right now?

"Hey, it’s okay, Dean doesn’t know I promise you,” Sam said, sliding onto the hood next to you and throwing his arm over your shoulder.  “The man isn’t exactly what I’d call observant when it comes to things like this, but I see the way you look at him, I can tell. You might be surprised if you tell him you love him, how much he loves you too, he’s just too scared to say it." 

You look at Sam for a moment wanting more than anything to believe what he was saying was true, but just not able to convince yourself it was. 

”Love is overrated,“ you tell Sam, sliding down the hood and standing on your feet. "Your brother doesn’t love girls like me. He loves girls like that blonde he’s with right now. Girls he can blow off some steam with, and then leave in the morning. No attachments, no consequences." 

Ignoring Sam, who was calling your name, you take off walking back toward the hotel you’re staying at with the boys to pack your things and be gone before they come back to the room. 

You didn’t want to give up your home, but you couldn’t sit around with Sam knowing how you felt about his brother, because you knew he was probably back at that bar right now telling Dean all about it, and when Dean came back in to either give you the sympathy, ‘I love you, but as a friend only’, or 'you need to leave because this just isn’t going to work,’ you’d already be gone. 

Even though you were strong, you just couldn’t handle the rejection you knew was coming. 

Not from him... 

No from Dean... 

When you got back to the room you started throwing your stuff into your bag as fast as you could. You were hoping you’d have everything packed, and be long gone when Sam and Dean got back to the room. 

Apparently, you weren’t going to be so lucky, because as soon as you threw your last shirt into your bag you heard the distinct rumble of the Impala outside the door. Car lights flooded the mostly dark room as you stood by the bed, holding your breath, and waiting for the storm that was sure to come. 

You didn’t even have time to turn around fully when the door to your room burst open, and Dean practically fell through the door. 

The two of you stood stock still as you stared each other down, his emerald green eyes boring into your y/e/c eyes. His jaw set tight as he looked at you. You committed it to memory, the way his eyes sparkled in the dimly lit room because you just knew he was about to throw you out. 

His eyes traveled down to your bag on the bed, then back up to you. Swallowing hard he looked at you like you had literally just kicked his puppy. You hated it. The silence was thick, and heavy in the room, and it was more unbearable than the impending rejection. 

"Dean you have to say something.” Your voice came out barely above a whisper, but in the silence, it felt like a scream. 

Dean came into the room, and closed the door behind him, closing the distance between you in just a few short strides. The look of a man on a mission replacing the hurt look that was there moments before. 

Without a word, Dean grabs your face in his hands, crashes his lips into yours, putting all he had into it. There was so much emotion attached to it that it was almost overwhelming, love, passion, hurt, tenderness, fear…. All things he wanted to say, but just didn’t know-how. His tongue gliding over yours as he deepened the kiss, determined to kiss away all the hurt, and rejection he’d caused you over the time you’d spent with him. 

When he finally pulled away your wold was spinning, his hands still on either side of your face, his eyes piercing yours, staring into what felt like your very soul, his chest heaving as he fought against emotion you couldn’t really even read. 

“You can’t do that. You can’t just say love is overrated, and then walk away just to run away from me.” 

You looked down at the floor fighting against the tears that threatened to spill past your defenses. Your heart is so fragile right now that it was afraid this wasn’t real. Like it was a dream and any moment you were going to wake up disappointed, and heartbroken. 

“Dean.." 

"Sh, let me finish,” Dean stopped you mid-sentence by placing his thumb gently on your already trembling lower lip. His touch is more gentle than you ever imagined it would be like you were some precious glass, and if he wasn’t careful you’d break. 

“Sweetheart, I’m crazy about you, but how are you going to let me show you that if you run away before I can get the chance."  

His arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you tight against this strong chest, his lips traveling down your collar bone as his hand slipped under your shirt, brushing lightly against the skin there.

"Y/n…." 

"Y/N!!” Dean’s voice called from somewhere far away… 

That couldn’t be right… 

Dean was right here….

With a violent gasp, you sat up, finding yourself on a cold, dirty warehouse floor, Dean shaking you in an attempt to wake you from whatever had happened to you. Your body aches as your vision focuses on those beautiful green eyes that you loved so much. 

“There she! Damn it sweetheart I thought I was too late!” Dean said in a huff, pulling you into a tight hug. You were confused, One minute you were in a motel room, kissing Dean like you had always wanted to do, now you were here. In the middle of a cold, dark, filthy warehouse feeling like you’d been sucked dry then ran over by a Mack truck.

“Dean, what happened? Where am I?”

“You’re in Dallas, Texas. Remember? We were hunting that Djinn. It captured you in hospital last night when we were investigating the body? It doesn’t matter though, it’s dead, you’re safe, now we can go home.”

You sat there while your heart shattered at your feet. 

It was a dream… 

It was all just a dream….

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

Tag List: 

@deanwanddamons​​ @imabitch4jensen​​ @rvgrsbrns​​ @bi-danvers0​​ @onethirstyunicorn​​ @i-love-superhero​​ @akshi8278​ @alanegaming​ @magssteenkamp​ @lemondropirwin​

[nukyster-blog]

Changing course Chapter 11) Wanderlust.

.-.-.

Back in Kattegat, Ivar used to disappear in the woodlands. Don’t get lost dhyrbare, his mother would press, conflicted by her youngest wanderlust. As a response Ivar would ignore her, keeping his chin up as he crawled out of the Great Hall, haunted by the merciless ridicule of his brothers. None of them ever earned their mother’s concern, because their legs were strong, their physique proportionate. There was no reason for any mother to fear for the safety of those capable boys. But Ivar, poor Ivar… now that one could easily be trampled down by a horse. It did not matter how much Ivar physically challenged himself; dueling, throwing axes, wrestling his brothers to the ground. By the end of the day, his opponent could easily jump back on their feet. His small victory diminished in front of his eyes as his brother’s ran off, leaving him alone under the watchful eyes of their mother. Poor Ivar, defenseless in a fight to the death. 

It always left a bitter taste in his mouth and so, he spent most of his time in solitude. Ivar devoted himself to setting traps for rabbits all throughout the forest, pushing his upper body to its absolute limits as an everyday battle against himself. 

At times he’d tumble down a hill, or slip into a ditch. Mother’s eyes always showed their clear disapproval when she’d tweezed out thorns from his palms and fingers. His brothers would snigger when showing off his loot and call him crazy for poaching; he was a prince after all, a precious prince, why get his hands dirty?

Ivar never granted them any form of explanation for his endless wandering; it was his secret and his secret alone to keep.

In the forest, he was able to disappear. 

Nature did not care about his disfigurements nor his short fuze; in the maze of trees, trunks and wild lands there was only one rule that mattered: to eat or be eaten. 

As tall grass tickled his chin; seconds, minutes and even hours became inconsequential. Ivar could lose himself into the cycle of daylight and darkness, simply merging into the rural landscape. Nature was ruthless, it would not treat him differently; if a wild boar or wold found him, it would be a fight to the death. With no time for amused sniggering, ruffling his hair, nor a sympathizing pat on the back. Many times, Ivar would lose himself completely in the woods, silently willing that boar or wolf to appear; even if his remains would be eaten by wild creatures, he’d die with more dignity then the death that lay in his future; being smothered by their mother’s insufferable love.  Cold nor rain bothered him, draped from head to toe in his cloak, Ivar simply watched the drizzle canopy the dense and tangled vegetation. Bowl-shaped plants caught rainwater, insects, snails and frogs came out from hiding. Trees would whisper, thick leaves creaking underneath  hooves of skittish does, birds would jitter high up mighty oaks in the frisky weather. While munching on mushrooms, Ivar would get into contact with the otherworldly creatures; elves. He could see them, only from the corners of his eyes; like a pleasant dream they’d disappear before his perception was focussed enough to grasp their true form. 

They’d tease him, but not in the same tasteless way most humans did. Their soft voices were nothing more than a tingle in the air, their giggling sweeter than a songbird's chirp. The elves were tiny creatures, delicate and all female. They must have casted a spell on him, because on the green moss layered with roots, Ivar would find himself at peace; at times the forest was the only thing that silenced the raging turmoil that meandered endlessly inside his head. In the forest, Ivar did not need his legs, it was enough to simply observe his surroundings. 

A trait that had proven to be of value. He’d taught himself to be invisible and disappear into his surroundings, but his eyes and ears were always open. In Kattegat, it was merely tactical to play his brothers off against each other. Or use their secrets as blackmail to get things done. 

Now this trait could be essential. Because if Ivar’s captivity taught him one thing; it was that it’s useless to put up a fight. He was completely outnumbered, weakened, starving and in constant pain. But that did not mean he was giving up. No, what would the Gods think of him if those Christian bastards managed to break his spirit? Hel wouldn’t even care to take him in and he’d spend his entire afterlife in the same pitiful place as he was right now; down at everyone’s feet. Ivar did not pledge to kill the Giant to nurture his anger. No, he’d made a solid commitment to end that man’s life in the worst way possible. But if he wanted to succeed, he needed more than a weapon. What he needed was the perfect opportunity and an escape plan, because he certainly wasn’t planning to die on Christian soil. No, the Gods must have more in store for him. He did not survive all those drownings for nothing. Surely his father did not layoff his feast in Valhalla for nothing, there must be greater meaning to Ivar’s survival than to waste away in a pigsty. 

So, Ivar would keep his head down and quietly observe his surroundings, keeping his eyes and ears open at all times. 

Piglet had managed to inform him about their whereabouts using her hands and feet. ‘De Haar,’ was the name of the castle and although Ivar hadn’t been able to see past the courtyard, the  majestic towers and ramparts, moats and gats were drawn to him. Their shed was, like all the other peasant huts, banished from all beauty but was protected by the outer walls that surrounded the entire fortress.

Today Ivar was tasked with a new burden; cleaning various dirty cauldrons at the well. Although the work was boring and repetitious, it gave Ivar a perfect hiding spot at the well. While scraping the insides with sand and an old rag, ridding the iron of all caked up layers of food scraps, Ivar became a quiet observer.

By noon he’d learned that in order to reach the centre of the castle he needed to use the nearest side entrance. The linen-maidens walked in and out, using that entrance. Surely such expensive bed material wasn’t used for the common folks. The Giant’s chambers must be somewhere behind that side entrance.

Ivar also learned that Piglet was as much an outcast as he was. The linen-maidens didn’t give her the time of day and jerked their freshly folded linen away as Piglet passed them, as if her dirtiness would turn into a shadow itself and spoil their hard work. As noon passed, Ivar kept an eye on Piglet; she took her task as caretaker of the cattle very seriously. At dawn, she routinely took the animals to another paddock across from the well. The grass was taller there and a perfectly planted tree provided enough shade and sun. Scraping hooves, checking eyes for possible infection, petting their furs; the cattle all got their proper share of attention. A harsh smack on the back of his head brought Ivar back to his place; cleaning cooking material. A task he’d dared to pause for a moment and of course his master was eager to make him remember that there was no time to spend lazing around. The Giant granted him another degrading job; cleaning the chamber pots. Thank the Gods, all of them were already emptied, but still the stench of human waste made Ivar retch and shudder. 

.-.-.

A/N: So yes, back in the day Ivar spent much time tripping balls in the woods. If you read between the lines, Ivar was pretty much a lonely, depressed teenager, waiting for an encounter in the forest so he could die with dignity. I’m not saying ‘suicide’ but it comes close to mind. It’s sad really how a large part of his family ignored him, while his mother tried to smother him with love. Family dynamic at its worst if you ask me. 

Also, Castle  De Haar is a real Castle. I’ve been there a few times, time-line-wise a Viking could not be in the Castle, because it wasn’t built during their era. But hey, it’s my fic, my rules. Check out the Castle if you like, it’s stunning! 

The tagged ones:

@youbloodymadgenius

@xbellaxcarolinax

@saldelys

@shannygoatgruff

@pieces-by-me

@apenas-mais-uma-pessoa

@readsalot73

@lauraan182

If you’d liked to be tagged, please let me know:)

Xoxoxo Nukyster 

[geek-patient-zero]

Prologue (Part 1)

Or: My Dinner with Reuben

Blood War: Masquerade of the Red Dead Trilogy Volume 1

I always loved the cover art. It was done by an artist called BROM. Here’s his website.

Robert Weinberg dedicates the book to Edgar Allan Poe “for obvious reasons” and Bram Stoker “who started it all”, though Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu might disagree with that. On Poe, peppered throughout the book, between the three parts and on the back cover are short quotes from his works, mostly “The Masque of the Red Death”. Obviously. It’s a little BS though. Any elements inspired by Poe are shallow, at least in this book.

Underneath the dedication is a little disclaimer:

While the locations and history of this trilogy may seem familiar, it is not our reality. The setting of Vampire: The Masquerade of the Red Death is a harsher, crueler version of our world. It is a stark, desolate landscape where nothing is what it seems. It is truly a World of Darkness.

For in the grim dark 1990′s there is only war. And vampires.

Going into the book I thought this disclaimer was a little wanky. I expected that “a harsher, crueler version of our world” would translate to “our world but with more rats, goths, and supernatural creatures.” Similarly, the book’s spine labels the genre as “Dark Fantasy” which in my experience usually translates to “regular fantasy but with more rape.” Turns out the World of Darkness setting is a little more complicated than that, but most of the time Weinberg isn’t too subtle on the whole “darker version of our world” thing.

I just want to let you know, before we get started, that I’m not the biggest expert when it comes to V:TM lore. I’ve never played the tabletops, or read their source books. My knowledge comes from Bloodlines, wiki binges, and lore dumps on Reddit and the Something Awful Bloodlines 2 thread. Please bear with my dumb ass if I get something wrong.

Alright, enough preamble, let’s get to the actual story.

We start in Rome, June 15, 1992, at an outdoor restaurant near the Coliseum. A meeting there was set up the night before through an anonymous phone call to the “heart of the Vatican.” For a suitcase full of money, they’d talk about vampires, or as the book dramatically puts it:

“We will talk,” declared the mysterious voice in somber, cold tones, “of The Kindred.”

The first to arrive is Father Naples, named so because it’s a word you’d find on a map of Italy. He’s a member of the Society of Leopold, who only get one more brief mention after this prologue so all you need to know is that they’re Catholic vampire hunters. He’s a big buff guy, described like a cross between a priest and a high ranking CIA agent. He came unarmed.

His faith served as his shield.  Along with the five other agents of the Society of Leopold in the restaurant, including two women disguised as streetwalkers.

The Society of Leopold is the “the devil was behind this” kind of religious, so it’s weird they’d jump straight to hookers when thinking of disguises for their agents, or that said agents would agree to it. But this is the World of Darkness, a harsher, crueler version of our own, and that means there’s hookers everywhere, so put on the hot pants and think of Italy.

So Father Florence here’s got his disguised agents, who “carried enough firepower on them to start a minor war.” He’s also something of a badass.

And, though he had retired years before as a field operative, Father Naples still maintained his training in the martial arts. An expert at both kendo and karate, he could kill an attacker a dozen different ways.

He’s also got some agents in a nearby hotel room with a directional microphone aimed at his table to record the conversation. Soon, the target of all this seeming overkill arrives; a blonde mid-twenties guy in a white suit. His voice was different than the one who made the phone call, implying to Naples, and us, that there’s at least two people involved on the other side of this setup. It’s a neat bit of foreshadowing. After a firm handshake and no-selling Father Naples’s patented death glare, the stranger introduces himself as Reuben, “like the sandwich.” They banter a bit about the biblical Reuben before he decides to troll the Father a bit. First by saying he’s older than he looks, then by passing on the Father’s offer of wine.

“No thank you,” said Reuben. “I do not drink wine.”

He waits a beat for a reaction, then orders a Coke and a menu. I think I like Reuben.

Since vampires can’t eat or drink (unless they have high Humanity and a good dice roll) Father Naples is thus satisfied that the guy is not a vampire trying to trick him, deciding he’s “definitely human. And not very clever.” Reuben had made an obligatory knock at airline food, so now Naples believed the agents recording the conversation could use this clue to track down his real name and where he came from through airline records.

They get to the You Got the Cash/You Got the Stuff part of negotiations, with Reuben showing off the twenty million US dollars in his briefcase (Not euro because we’re the only country whose currency matters fuck you Italy) in exchange for a monologue from Naples about the history of the Kindred, starting from the beginning. Reuben says Father Naples can summarize if need be.

“Summarize?... How does one summarize ten thousand years of absolute evil? An impossible task, but let me try.”

The rest of the prologue until the end is Naples’ exposition on vampires while he drinks a shit ton of vino. Since it’s Vampire: The Masquerade Lore 101, I’ll summarize like our pal Naples.

Vampires secretly control the world. There are thirteen vampire clans descended from Caine, of Cain and Abel fame only spelled with an e for some reason. Ye olde Caine killed his brother, though I once read that in this setting it wasn’t so much just committing the first murder as introducing the very concepts of murder and killing to reality and basically ruining everyone’s lives, including demons. God punished Caine by giving him vampirism, forcing him to kill to survive for inventing killing. The vampirism also gave him superpowers, so he’s like a little bloodsucking demigod. I’ve seen jokes about God punishing Caine by giving him cool superpowers, but according to Father Naples Caine needed them because everyone knew what happened and were pissed at him for inventing murder and eating them. When everyone and everything wants to kill you on sight you need to be OP to survive and then feel sad about it.

(He also didn't learn most of those powers until later, when he met Lilith.)

Caine discovered that he could make more vampires through the classic “drain their blood to the point of near death and then feeding them your own blood” method. He sired three new vampires, who weren’t as powerful as him but still quite capable of ruining your day, a trend that continues through twelve or thirteen vampiric generations, although the latest generations are puny compared to Caine and his kids.

Caine and the Second Generation founded Enoch, the First City, and were worshiped there as gods, I’m guessing because of a mixture of fear and the hope of getting some sweet vampire powers if you suck up to the first murderer. The Second Generation then sired the Third Generation, thirteen vampires that became known as the Antediluvians. They’re the ones the modern thirteen vampire clans descend from. 

Then everything goes to shit for Caine. Again. The Antediluvians, ambitious dicks, rose up and killed the Second Generation, destroying Enoch in the process. This could be thought of as Caine’s true curse: being forced to watch his childer, and their childer, and so on plot against and murder each other as he had done to his brother, and generally being a plague on mankind. See, Vampire: The Masquerade can be a bit too try-hard edgy and horny at times, but then you also get neat bits of writing and lore like that. As for Caine, he disappeared after the fall of Enoch. He’s now a cab driver in Los Angeles. Or a hermit in Greece, messing with traveling scholar vampires. Or both. Depends on who you ask. No, really. I’m being serious.

I should mention that, religious guy that he is, Father Naples likes to pepper his monologue with casual mentions of the devil. He says things like...

“It was then, in his darkest despair, that Caine learned from Satan a monsterous secret.”

“Encouraged by Satan, Caine created three such monsters.”

“And, in time, urged by Lucifer, they, too, bestowed the gift of eternal life on a select group of their victims.”

“They knew not the Lord God, but Lucifer, the Dark Angel.”

...and generally blaming the big guy below for getting the vampires to do vampire things. While most of what Father Naples says about the setting’s history is correct, the Satan stuff isn’t. Lucifer is a character in the World of Darkness, specifically Demon: The Fallen, but he has nothing to do with V:TM. This adds a neat bit of characterization and unreliability to Naples’ narrative; something Reuben will point out at the end of the prologue.

The Great Flood happened, but Father Naples doesn’t mention it. He skips to the Antediluvians founding the Second City, which didn’t get a name like Enoch because in its two thousand years of existence apparently no one could think of one. With the support of their childer, the fourth generation, they ruled over the Second City and, according to Naples, enslaved humanity. But eventually humanity rose up against the vampires, killing some of them with sunlight, fire, and beheading. The Second City fell and the surviving vampires fled. The Antediluvians disappeared. Some modern day vampires believe the Antediluvians were all dead, while others (the correct ones, turns out) believe they’re hiding, resting in torpor (a kind of vampire coma) this whole time and one day, they’d wake up and, as Father Naples says, “...the world of the Undead shall tremble.” This is our first mention in this book of Gehenna, the end of the wold according to the Kindred. He also says their return was predicted in Revelations, but I’m no biblical expert so I can’t tell you what bits of Revelations that might be referring too.

Reuben asks what happened to the fourth generation, or the Methuselahs as they’re now known because they’re old as balls but not “lived before the Biblical Flood” old. Father Naples tells him, then goes on to explain the titular Masquerade, vampire factions, and the thirteen clans.

[runningwhump]

companion to this 

Blake was getting desperate. He needed to get Liam back, he needed him home. But he had no clue where to look. All he had to go off was the room Liam was in, and for that he had to watch the videos. There had been four, so far. He hated the 'so far’ bit of that, he wanted there to be four PERIOD. or, preferably, zero.

This was his fault. He hadn't properly scoped out the building, hadn't even done a background check on who he was stealing from. He didn't know how he had missed the wards or the magic tag that followed him home. Well, no. He knew exactly how. He'd put them down to nerves surrounding a big job.

He still had no idea why the shit he'd taken was so important to the guy - to him it had just been some fancy gold shit that would cover two months rent. Fucking obviously, it wasn't.

He'd even gone to the asshole's house to try and figure it out! To try and make amends! He was going to offer to steal it back from whoever bought it from his fence. He would do anything to get Liam back home. Why couldn't the bastard just have sent out a hit for him or something? Why was Liam being punished for Blake's crime?! Blake knew couldn't survive Liam being hurt because of him, but Liam? Liam could live without him. Liam was a fucking ray of sunshine, he didn't deserve any of this!

He had thought that the first video would be the last. Either because he would turn up at a hospital, like some of Keanan's victims had, or,

oh. Fuck. He'd never thought of Liam like that before. Just another name in a list, just another victim of one man.

Either Liam would be dumped at a hospital, or he'd… or he'd never see him again. Maybe they'd find him in a ditch, or a shallow grave out in the woods.

Maybe they just wouldn't find him.

But it hadn't been the last one. Not even close.

Seeing him there, tied up and crying, hearing his screams as Keanan whipped him tore his soul in half. Blake's magic had been going haywire, the air around him shimmering, objects around him, knives specifically, duplicating in a half-transparent way.

His bones being broken was worse, as if it could get much worse. Blake still couldn’t find his carving knife, has no idea where his out of control magic had flung it to. He wasn't sure if it was still in the house or not.

He hated that Keanan was turning Liam’s magic against him. it had taken him so long to be comfortable with it, to see it for the beautiful thing it was, and now it was being used only to bring him more pain, to make him suffer.

He refused to think about the most recent one.

They had all been a day apart, which meant…

He took a shuddering breath.

It meant there might be another today.

He half wanted one, really. It was hell not knowing what was happening. The other half of him, the half that kept making his magic create illusions of the landline, wanted a call from the hospital saying that Liam had turned up.

Fuck, he remembered getting a call from them a few years ago that Liam had been driven down from work after passing out. He'd forgotten to eat, gotten so caught up in school and everything else that he'd just glossed over it. Wasn't the first time it had happened, but it was the first time he'd been called.

It was when he learned that Liam had set him as his first contact.

Now his friend, his little brother, was being tortured. And it was his fault.

He had no idea when the videos were filmed, either. Liam could be dead already and he'd never know.

He'd been stood in the living room for a while, hadn't moved since he'd set eyes on the sky-blue painted wall. It was Liam's favourite colour. Blake’s eyes were fixed on the uneven parts of it. They had been planning to finish it the next day, but then Liam had been taken, and now, until he got Liam back alive, it would never be finished. He never wanted to cover up the bits Liam had done if he was...

He'd gotten up to go and open the door. Someone had knocked. They were probably gone by now. Good riddance, he thought, don’t they realise my entire wold has fallen apart?

He sighed and forced his eyes closed. The wall wasn't going anywhere, and maybe the knock was about something important, maybe it was someone from Liam's work come to check in on him. He'd cried when they had done that. He never cried. Never, used to, anyway. These dyas, he’d been crying more than he hadn’t been. He thought that he might’ve cried more this week than he had his whole life.

He lifted his legs through the mud surrounding his mind, and opened the door.

No.

He slammed it closed. There was a plastic bag tied around his doorknob, identical to the last four.

Liam was still with Keanan.

He slid down the outside of the door, hands fisted in his messy, unwashed hair with angry, terrified tears streaming down his face. He was letting out broken half sounds, and he was sure his neighbours could hear.

It took him a while, but eventually he managed to get up. His face was raw from grabbing at it and his eyes were more than stinging from tears. He couldn't even undo the knot, so he just ripped the bag to get the disk out before slamming the door again.

He almost fell over in his haste to get to his beaten up laptop, suddenly needing to know what had been done to his brother.

It loaded slowly, and with each turn of that little white wheel he felt his gut wind tighter.

Keanan came on screen, his stupid fucking face blocking the view. Was Liam ok? Fuck it, obviously not. How could anyone be ok in this situation? He was a fucking mess and he wasn't even the one bei-

It finally started moving. Keanan was speaking.

“Blake! Friend! Long time no see,” He said in a perfectly cheerful voice. As if he wasn't torturing the only person that meant anything to Blake. Fuck, Liam should be the only person that mattered to anyone right now. He wished he could go to the cops (something he never thought he would think) but that would mean outing both himself and Liam as witches. “Today's gonna be a little bit shorter than you’re used to, I hope you aren't too disappointed!” He continued with a smile. He mimed the words 'little bit’ and fucking laughed at the end.

He really didn't know what he was about to see.

Keanan stepped back, revealing Liam to be strung up like he'd been in the second video, visibly struggling to support himself on his legs since his arms were stretched so high. Keanan was still much taller.

“Any last words for Blake, my sweet?”

Blake's world stopped. No. No. Please, fuck no! Please, please Gods let this be some kind of sick prank!

He didn't want to watch his little brother die!

Liam took a breath and looked to the camera. He'd prepared this. Liam knew what was about to happen, knew he was about to be murdered.

“Blake…,” came the voice through his shitty headphones, full of emotion, full of unshed tears, “Gods Blake I'm so sorry” Sorry? Blake started crying again. Liam was about to die and he was apologising to Blake. “Please, please stay safe. Don't put yourself in danger for me, please,” He begged. Liam was begging him not to try and find Keanan. He knew he would have to apologise to Liam's grave. “I love you, this isn't your fault.”

Not his fault? Of course it was his fault.

“Fuck,” he sobbed breathlessly, “fuck Liam. I love you too.”

Keanan had disappeared behind Liam again, and he visibly flinched at some sound that the camera didn't pick up. Liam fixed his gaze on the camera again, tears finally making their way down his face.

“I'm so sorry.” He said, eyes unmoving. Blake couldn't speak, but he -

Keanan slashed a knife over Liam's throat. It cut through both veins, precise.

Blake's brain stopped, eyes fixed on the red flowing out from his Liam's neck. He was choking and gurgling, and Blake knew the sound would never leave his mind.

“Goodbye, Blake.” Said Keanan before the video abruptly ended. The last frame showed blood on the lens.

His brother was dead.

Liam was dead.

Blake tried to stand from his chair, but his legs wouldn't support him. He collapsed on to the grimy floor of his kitchen, face pressed into the lino and arms bent beneath him. His hands were clenched so hard that he dimly felt blood seep from the his nails should be.

Liam was dead.

He let out a sob that was more of a choked, wet scream.

He doesn't know how long he lay there, shivering and bleeding from his hands, tears pouring unchecked from his vacant eyes.

Liam was dead.

And it was his fault.

Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault. Liam is dead, it's my fault.

He passed out at some point.

When he woke up from a nightmare of blood and gurgling, it was dark outside. He couldn't get up.

My fault, my fault my fault.

It was his fault, yes.

But Keanan held the knife. The witch he had stolen from had pushed over the first domino.

He was going to kill them both.

[abarahman-richard-chignell]

The Start is Always Difficult

It is always a little difficult to think of how to start anything and somewhat nerve-wracking putting yourself out there. 

As a Muslim, we know that all good things start with Bismillah.

So, Bismillah.

Now I have the perfect start but then I immediately run into trouble knowing how to kick this new project off! 

After all it is has been a long time since I used to write a fairly popular niche blog about trading. It had a decent readership mainly because of the series I conducted called the 'Pro's Process' which interviewed professional traders and investors from all different styles (33 to be exact). I have kept that available for free on Tumblr and you can find a link near the bottom of the page at richardchignell.tumblr.com. I still think it is a good resource and it is free despite others selling 'courses' with similar material - but those making money out of wannabe traders who can't trade their own way out of a wet paper bag is a topic for another day!

With my old Embrace The Trend blog I accidentally at first, and then as a kind of act of rebellion,  had a policy that limited my readership. I didn't give 'hot tips' on stocks or make 'market calls' as to the direction of corn futures. Instead, I focussed on the part that makes or breaks traders and investors. The luminaries before me have often said that psychology is anywhere from 80% to 90% of what makes a successful trader. However, if you want readership of a finance blog then you definitely don't want to do as I did and actually point people to the area they will reap the most rewards. You do want to create a lot of hoopla about where things are going and how you made 1000's of percent with never an equity drawdown in sight. (My own edge in the markets is heavily due to my work in the area of psychology and thanks in a no small part to the wonderful mentors I have had along the way. Perhaps if people are interested I can go into my process for communicating with world-class mentors). 

However, I seem to have digressed, but at least I have started. As I said it is always hard to start, so the fact that I have means I am beyond the first hurdle. After all, it is all about putting one foot in front of the other.

The main question at hand, is really, why am I writing again?

As I was just about to commence I found these Grammarly lines in their marketing emails that I thought were rather apt:

"Writing opens a line of communication between you and other people. And when you commit to improving your writing, you open yourself up to better conversations, remarkable accomplishments, and healthier relationships."

I'll certainly take that if it is the outcome of my writing to you.

However, actually I am writing for you first and me second. .......It turns out that a lot of people have been asking me to begin writing again. People ask me to talk to them and share about the same topics (being a revert to Islam, investing, start-ups, business, conventional vs Islamic economy, my perspective on the ummah as a revert, strangely for advice as if I am a Sheikh *I most definitely am not*, etc, etc). This happens so much that it has got to the point that doing so in one central place may serve people better (as there are only so many people I can talk to personally). This is also why I am playing around with a kind of spoken blog format. If we can't sit for coffee together, at least perhaps you can hear me. Plus I know how few like to read anymore! Yes, colleagues, I am referring to you!! 

Also after my adventures, in the SE Asian start-up space, many perhaps also wonder if I dropped off the face of the earth, and I plan to use this blog to keep people a little up-to-date as to what I am currently working on.

So this is going to be inshaAllah a personal blog where I riff on topics that interest me and try to help others through sharing lessons I have learned as I approach my 40th year.

For those who don't know me at all and are reading this perhaps for the first time, let me give you a very rapid-fire introduction as to why I have a unique perspective perhaps on certain matters. 

.....But first, let me tackle the inshaAllah above! Look this is going to be difficult to pitch correctly to all the potential people reading this. Writing as a Muslim I feel obliged to use all the terms such as inshaAllah (as God very clearly tells us in the Qu'ran that he controls the future, not us, and that we must thus say inshaAllah - if God wills it') but then it also makes for very clunky reading for those who are not Muslim or new to the faith. So for the hardliners out there, not that your judgement is relevant, every time you see me not using a term, think well of your Brother, because the chances are I certainly thought it and that I deliberately chose to omit it for the benefit of the nice people reading this. In contrast, my non-Muslim readers please bear with me as you come across unusual terms peppered through the writing (you've already had Bismillah - in the name of God - and inshaAllah - if God wills it) you are about to find out that us Muslims are a funny bunch and we like to remember God as often as possible, hence the terms. Don't you worry no harm will come of it and you will adjust to reading the odd term here and there as if it is commonplace, inshaAllah ;-))

.......Now, where was I? Unique perspective and all that..... 

I'm currently approaching my fortieth year in this life and I reverted to Islam just shy of 3 years ago, Alhamdullilah (All Praise is due to God). I did this after a great deal of study and research, without really meeting any Muslims. I, of course, had met Muslims in my heart, those beautiful characters in the Quran and the Seerah (the life of Prophet Muhammad pbuh), and some of the great men of history as I am a voracious reader. But my acceptance of Islam was in no way from personal interaction with current Muslims. I share this as this is one of the reasons for the unique perspective. The Muslims we meet as newcomers to the religion, I have found this to be almost an absolute truth polling other reverts, basically, break our hearts! However, I have been blessed by God all my life by having a knack for finding excellent people to learn from.  

Prior to Islam, after University I worked in a bank selling mortgages, went on to a graduate management business program, becoming a financial services headhunter, opening my own firm in Switzerland / Germany - losing my firm in the 2008 crisis, becoming a self-taught prop trader (specialising in commodity futures, spreads, and some options) and doing some random consulting along the way in everything from corporate structuring to alternative agriculture.

As the Muslims reading this will realise the last phase of my life as a trader basically meant that I specialised, and I was really good, in the haram (the forbidden). Interest (Riba) and derivatives in Islam are forbidden and that was my game!   

......I am not a Brother that does things by half! The moment I said my Shahada (all that is required to become a Muslim) I stopped futures trading and faced a very uncertain future. Not only does a revert often lose family and friends (and if they don't certainly have major hurdles coming their way) but this revert had to work out how to make a living again!

When I decided to reinvent myself I quickly immersed myself in the Islamic Finance world, moved to Malaysia, consulted in the start-up space, and have been working towards bringing to life a number of exciting things that are Halal (pure) and I see as being much needed in this world: they range from Shariah-compliant Asset Management - to a Think Tank - to a new way of doing an old style of Philanthropy (waqf) - to real economy infrastructure work like building roads in the Philippines!! 

......Even over this short 3-year journey, I have met such a variety of Muslim. They have been so diverse that a baby Muslim just having taken his shahada could never have imagined: I've met the least bending of Salafi, to the Sufi, to the 'claim to be Muslim but follow some really weird stuff Muslim', to the beer drinking for Iftar Muslim, the all too present Friday Muslim, a whole lot of "I don't really get what a wonderful Blessing it is to be a Muslim", to thankfully the majority of 'trying my best to make it in this wold Muslim', to the inspirationally humble pious Brothers and Sisters who are drawn to the masjid and charity Muslim and everything in between and from every colour and nation to boot. SubhanAllah (Glorified is Allah) the Ummah is diverse!!

The great blessing in this is the Muslims that stood out like shining gold and were there and many still are there for me in my development as a Muslim. Who I am blessed to have, for periods, travelling this journey with me. I realise that not many of my revert Brothers and Sisters have been quite so lucky to have Mufti's, Sheikhs, honest pious businessmen that they can ask any question to and receive legit answers. I also realise it is such a minefield out there with internet Sheikhs and community voices that really often do more harm than good and thank Allah swt for making my life filled with those who have actually studied this beautiful tradition and making them available to me to ask the many questions that arise. 

.......It is my hope to address some of the challenges I faced, how I went about them, the advice I received or knowledge I acquired, as well as tackling some of the consistent ones other reverts face along the way - and I pray that it is of some benefit to even one of you. Please note that I throw in a very strong disclaimer that this is from my perspective, I am not a Sheikh, I am just a slave like everyone else, All Good that I say comes from Allah swt, and I ask forgiveness for anything that is misguided.

Oh and you never know since I have found that many born Muslims have a sort of rediscovery/reversion process, I hope that you'll benefit and enjoy what I share. Also please forgive me for any things that hit a sore spot when referring to this journey - it is inevitable I am afraid.

Let us remember that all Muslims are the descendants of reverts who had the truest of blessings to be in the company of Prophet Muhammad pbuh. 

Oh, and this isn't going to be all Islam so don't freak out when I write seemingly unrelated things about Olympic weightlifting, business, investment performance, start-ups, surfing, books I enjoy, my love for Morocco, and other eclectic things.... since it's my blog I guess I don't really have to take permission!