#professor palladium x reader

[gulnarsultan]

I would like to request Yandere Professor Palladium with a darling who works as the school nurse

You meet Professor Palladium when you start working with Alfeya. Your friendship soon turns to the level of lovers. Frankly, it is very difficult to understand that Palladium is yandere. His sweet and gentle nature prevents you from seeing his tendencies. He likes you to be a nurse, as your job helps her to see you and be with you. Moreover, you work together in the manufacture of medicines and ointments. Sometimes he pretends to be hurt and sick just to see you and be by your side. If you are a really careful person, it is possible to notice his tendencies. He presents you flowers, herbs and fruits that he has grown himself. Together you prepare quiet and peaceful appointments in the library.

[readercognito]

A Wicked Spell

Palladium x Reader

I was rather shocked to see two students fly into my infirmary, not walk. Fly. If students were using their Winx on campus, that meant only one thing. Someone was hurt, badly.

Staying calm, I quickly gather my portable medic kit. Holding up a hand to quiet their nervous rambling.

"We don't have time for explanations, just take me to them." I said, urgently.

If someone is seriously hurt I don't have the time to translate flustered teenager babble. They mean well of course, but first year students don't do very well under pressure.

I followed the girls to the courtyard where my blood ran cold upon seeing who the poor soul was. 

Professor Athos Palladium. He looked pale, and was moaning quietly. With a worried Faragonda kneeling beside him. 

I rushed over to his side, using one of my physical diagnosis spells. Nothing, no poison, or any lesions of the body, no deep brushing either. That wasn't good, that meant there was a problem with his magic. Which for an elf, whose magic runs through their own veins just as their blood could be deadly. "This isn't good," I mutter.  

Faragonda and I looked to the two students who were still hovering nearby. 

"Alright girls, help Ms. (L/n) get Professor Palladium to the infirmary! Time is of the essence!" Faragonda commanded.

The girls and I quickly picked Palladium up and carried him to the infirmary. The girls helped me get him on to one of the sterile white beds. A loud groan escapes him as I settle him in. Dismissing the girls back to their classes. Using my strongest magic diagnosis spell I discovered there was a large corruption on his left shoulder. While it hasn't gone too deep yet, if it goes beneath the skin and gets into his bloodstream it could reach his heart and could do one of two things. It would destroy him from the inside out, or he would be transformed into something monstrous.

Acting quickly I take off his shirt, pausing for only a second to whisper an apology that he certainly wouldn't hear. 

There was a blackish-purple, spidery, mark on his left shoulder. It was spreading visibly down his torso and up his neck. This just went from bad to worse, I'm going to need a cleansing ritual, a strong one. I won't be able to do it myself.

"Oh Palladium, what did they do to you?" I whispered, stroking his cheek wistfully. 

After a call to Faragonda, who gathered a few of the other professors and Flora. Even though she was a student she was always a fantastic healer, and her natural affinity for nature based magic would help in this specific case. The ritual was long, and hard. The corruption fought tooth and nail, but we were finally able to confine it and eliminate it from his system.

Unfortunately, due to how far the corruption got in the first place Palladium was too weak to be moved. He would have to rest in the infirmary until his magic regenerates. The professors retired to their beds, naturally the process of cleansing dark magic is exhausting, I was tired myself.

"Is there anything else I can do Ms. (L/n)?" Flora asked, in her sweet gentle way. 

"Oh no Flora, you've done more than enough! Go get some rest, I can handle everything from here sweetie." I said.

Flora floated back to her dorm, I simply smiled and shook my head.

“I swear that girl is from a whole other plane of existence…” I laughed quietly to myself.

I looked down at Palladium, he hadn’t really moved since we finished the cleansing. But the mark on his shoulder was gone, only a faint paleness was still there. He would be in a magically induced healing coma for the next three days, and probably have to remain in the infirmary for at least one week.

My face grew warm at the thought of spending that much time alone with the handsome professor. Shaking that thought out of my head quickly I moved to set up the required monitors. Settling in for a long night of caretaking.

It was only two in the morning when I was woken up by Palladium groaning. I scrambled to check the monitors, but everything was stable. Palladium seemed just as still as before. Until he shifted letting out another groan and what sounded like a whisper, but it wasn't intelligible. So I leaned closer, trying to make out if he was having a nightmare or not. Palladium spoke again after a moment with a furrowed brow.

"Ugh- (Y/n) I- no, no…" He murmured to himself.

So it was a nightmare… And it had something to do with me. I leaned back again, and without thinking much about it. I started to stroke his cheek, tenderly. His brow softened and his frown settled into a gentle smile. A smile I had grown to adore from afar. Then he spoke again this time a little louder and more distinct.

"I think I love you (Y/n)…" 

I halted in my movements, my very thoughts stuttered.

"What?" I ended up whispering to myself. So in a state of shock I was completely numb to Palladium turning to his other side with a contented sigh.

I shook it off sure I was only dreaming, or at least that his whispered confession meant nothing. So I resumed my night watch.

It had been  a week since then. Palladium is wide awake and is finally able to feed himself without aid. He also has grown more talkative, making small talk with me during check ups and food deliveries. Though one morning during his breakfast he asked me something I hoped he wouldn't.

"(Y/n)?" He said. 

I turned to him from the monitor I was checking over.

"Yes, Athos?" I replied. We had long since been on a first name basis. He had requested my first name and to use his fairly recently after he woke up.

"Did I say anything while I was asleep?" He asked, fingering the bed sheet nervously.

I froze for a moment thinking back to that first night…

"A-ah, umm… well. You said that- you said you loved me at one point." I said trying to sound casual, and failing miserably.

Athos went red, stuttering out a simple "o-oh, well… Oh d-dear." 

I scrambled to retrieve the ease that had fled the room.

"Well I'm sure it didn't mean anything. You were deep in a medical coma and fresh off of a dark magic infection! I wasn't bothered by it." I said, lying through my teeth.

Athos didn't brush it off and resume our jovial atmosphere like I thought he would. Instead he looked me directly in the eye. While still a little flushed, he looked more serious than I had seen him in quite some time. 

"But what if it was- it is true?" He said

"What?" I asked, my voice barely audible.

"I do love you (Y/n), I'm not quite sure when it happened. But I have been in love with you for quite some time…" He said, looking me directly in the eye.

His sudden confidence seemed to waiver then, and he turned down the bed. Staring intently at the light blue sheets, though if his ears were anything to go by he was hiding a furious blush. One which I’m sure I was mirroring to some extent, judging by the heat of my own cheeks. Then I decided to do something, something I wasn’t very sure of.

I sat down on the chair by his bed, gently taking his burning face in my hands. Turning him towards me I leaned forward and kissed him. 

I felt him stiffen with a bit of shock and a mix of nervousness, then I got a soft but stalwart response.

It was wonderful, honestly I think it was the best kiss of my entire life. His lips were soft, and gentle, sparking a rush of adoration down my spine. I could feel myself smile into the kiss, his hand moved to my cheek. The tender brush sending fireworks across my skin, both taste and smell wrapped around me. Orange with a hint of mint, when we broke apart it was like he had taken a piece with him. So I chased him to get it back, but to my surprise he got to me first. It was fireworks, and gentle caresses all over again. Then we broke away for the final time, panting a bit to get our lungs filled again. I couldn’t help but laugh, I was so incandescently happy.

“So if you didn’t catch my meaning, I love you too Athos..” I giggled with a sigh.

He let out a mirthful chuckle of his own. Then his eyes with a deep affection, and softness touched his forehead to mine and said.

“I’m sure now, more than ever…”

[smittenbyvillains]

Taking my Girl back

Warnings: Stalking, mentions of kidnapping, language, threats

You were about to marry Palladium. What you always wanted now. Everything was going to plan and it was nice being in control of everything. Palladium was the sweetest. He let speak, do what you wanted, and make sure you were comfortable with anything. The day you met... you instantly fell in love with him.

Bloom and the other girls helped you get ready in your dress and did your make-up and hair. You were grateful for them. They helped you through the past. You helped each other. You helped find Bloom's parents. You helped them with Valtor even though that was the hardest thing to do.

You looked at the mirror and were holding your bundle of flowers. The veil was like a train. You touched your ears. You had let your elf side out. You had gained your ears with Believix. You walked out and walked to where you would have to start walking.

"It's a shame I wasn't invited." Someone said behind you in the shadows. You turned around as Valtor came out with a dangerous frown.

"You're not supposed to be here." You replied trying not to act nervous.

"Why wasn't I invited to my Princess's big day?" He said closing the space between you. He smirked seeing your ears. "Oh, how cute." he pulled on the one causing you to hiss out in pain.

"Because I don't want you to be here."

"Now now... you will come with me or I might kill him finally." Valtor said getting pissed at you. You weren't supposed to talk to him like that. You were supposed to be his obedient bride and wife. You are the one supposed to have his kid and be his queen.

"I won't let you!" You protested. He smirked.

"Then come with me and make this easy."

"I won't do that either." You shot back. He growled and backed you into the wall.

"Hard way it is huh?"

[queenstarlight2]

imagine Palladium kissing you every 5 seconds when your alone

[zaceouiswriting]

Fairy Prince - Hearts of Leviathans - Ch.30

Character: Sky x male reader, Riven x male reader, Brandon x male reader

Universe: Somewhere in Winx Club/Saga

Warnings: None

It is my honor to reveal what I think Riven should look like. I hate him in the Netflix series because he looks sickly or as if he is a junkie. I would also like to say that I have no idea who this gentleman is or why his trainer slaps him around so brutally, but honestly, if I were Riven's teacher, I would do the same.

As the hour with Palladium ends, he asks me to stay behind. Several girls, clearly on Stella's side, smirked as they seemed sure I would be reprimanded for my outburst. Nevertheless, I stay behind and wait until everyone leaves. Only then do I rise from my throne, raise my hand, and clench it into a fist. Suddenly the throne disappears, as the stones were formed by pure magic instead of the environment. I've never been able to do this before, but since the other cores were taken out of me, I feel so much energy pulsing through me that I just had to try it.

“I see you are learning quickly,” Professor Palladium commented on my performance, smiling.

I'm already exhausted, even though it's still early in the day. Right now, all I can do is roll my eyes. "Please just tell me what you want to talk to me about. I'm not in the best mood, and honestly, there's nothing I want more than to sleep right now."

The older man nods understandingly. He walks around his desk and leans against it, barely sitting on it since he is relatively tall. "You can't blame them forever-"

"I can," I interrupt him. "There has not been a single apology, and as I have already promised, I will treat them the same way they treated me until I receive that apology."

The man sighs heavily and wipes his face. "I'm unsure if you understand the possible repercussions, but many of these fairies are princesses and future queens."

"With all due respect, Professor. I understand that fact. The problem, however, is that none of them seem to understand that I, too, will soon be ruling. I'm just waiting until my old grandfather finally dies, and then everyone will see what they did wrong."

“What does that mean?” he asks skeptically.

"For example, I want to see how Solaria harvests its food without tools or how Eraklyon makes weapons without its ore." I grin at the old man, who, like the others, doesn't seem to know where I'm the crown prince from.

I walk away, feeling like our conversation is already over, and walk past Palladium, who is visibly speechless. To my surprise, I see someone standing outside the classroom. She looks up at me with her green, gentle eyes and a cautious smile on her lips. But she seems surprised at me, smiling back.

We walk to our next class in silence. Either she feels guilty for what happened or she must have smelled that I wanted to go somewhere else because this whole class environment makes me sick. I'm just not used to sitting around for so long doing nothing but trying to remember shit; I'll probably never get used to it again.

Although I feel uncomfortable in the classroom, Professor Palladium's classes are quite interesting; brewing potions can always be useful, especially to make my home world fertile again someday.

As soon as we enter the next classroom, I turn around. If she hadn't caught me by the arm, I would have been out of there in a flash.

"Excuse me, sir. I've heard of you." A small woman with prematurely gray hair and a red hat interrupts my storming thoughts. "My name is Professor DuFour, and I teach etiquette, usually to princesses and other noble ladies, as well as all female fairies, as their work often has a diplomatic undertone."

I close my eyes for a second to gather all my willpower, turn around again, gently take the girl's arm from mine, and step forward, directly in front of the professor. "May I ask your rank, professor?"

She seems nervous but still tells me she is a countess. I nod absentmindedly as I look at her sympathetically and noticeably relax. Instead of stiffening when greeting someone superior, I simply extend my hand. Without hesitation, she lays her hand on mine. I gently stroke the soft back of her hand, lift it, and press a kiss to it without breaking eye contact. "It is a great pleasure to introduce myself to you, Countess DuFour; my name is (Y/N), Prince (Y/N), if you wish."

Her pink eyes sparkle at my introduction, and I even see her cheeks begin to glow a similar color. Her mouth opens, but nothing comes out—clearly just a reaction. It's not the first time a woman has reacted to me like this. I've always been very popular with both genders.

As I slowly lower our hands and a moment later release hers, I look around. Every face I see is stunned. Maybe it's because I introduced myself impeccably like a true nobleman or because I mentioned my rank. Although I hope not many people heard it because that would only complicate matters.

The professor compliments me but tries desperately to downplay it with a noticeable cough. Although I'm not as smart as my younger brother Galan, I was still raised like a prince and was always better than everyone else at everything that didn't involve stupid books. Galan can't even talk to other people without stumbling over his words.

After a few minutes, she has collected herself again. "It's good that we have a handsome young man with impeccable manners. Please ladies introduce yourselves to him one by one, as if you met at a ball, just like we have been practicing for the last few weeks."

Her words don't immediately sink into my mind. But when it does, my head slightly snaps in the professor's direction. Although I smile widely, inwardly I'm burning with a fury I can't contain. Even though I promised to treat them like they treated me, it could affect my grade. So I take a deep breath and take a moment to collect my thoughts.

Once I've gathered my willpower, I let my smile fade slightly to make it seem more genuine. I straighten up, standing strong and proud. Extending my hand, some of the girls seem almost exuberant, while others are still wary of me.

A girl with dark blue hair steps forward first, bending down in front of me, feet crossed, body stretched straight forward, bowing to me, and lifting an imaginary dress with her hands. Her form is pretty good, I'd say. I hold my hand out to her, and she comes up from her bow. As I look into her eyes expectantly, she blushes slightly. "My name is Musa," she tells me breathlessly. "I am the future guardian fairy of the Kingdom of Melody."

She puts her hand in mine, and unlike with Countess DuFour, I lift her hand halfway up to me, and the rest of the way I bend down to kiss the back of her hand. My other hand is behind my back, my left hand slightly bent, the greatest bow I can make to a person of no rank. Yet, when we both look up, we end up pretty close.

"A girl with a beautiful voice like yours shouldn't be this nervous. Be more sleek." Her blush deepens, but as I look around cautiously, I know I have to hurry. "Please excuse me, Lady Musa, but unfortunately I still have to greet a few more ladies"- I discreetly make a hand half-moon movement only in her sight to emphasize my words- "but don't be discouraged; I will never forget our first eloquent meeting."

After giving her hand a light squeeze, I turn away from her and greet the next girl next to me.

Most of the other girls were not that remarkable, rather average or unwilling to greet me. All of them were around Stella, except Musa, who had already greeted me and the red-haired girl. But the moment the latter is about to come toward me, Stella pulls her back and quietly reprimands her. 

Almost immediately after Stella finishes her tirade, the red-haired girl looks at me apologetically, which I wave off with a smile.

The professor wasn't happy about the incident; perhaps she had not been there when I arrived at Alfea. At least her friendly behavior suggested that. She apologizes for the girls' behavior toward me, but it's not her fault.

After leaving DuFour's class, the rest of the day is mostly a blur. However, I'm starting to feel like I overreacted earlier, but I'm not going to apologize for it because they're just presumptuous little girls.

When class is finally over, I stumble back to my room and fall onto the bed to take a quick nap. Until suddenly someone shakes me. Dazed, I turn around only to see Riven's stupid face way too close.

“Dude!” he shouts, almost deafening me. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” I ask sleepily, wiping my eyes.

For a moment, it's completely silent. Riven looks almost like he's desperately wanting to vanish into the ground. His behavior confuses me, so I punch him in the side, which seems to work because he shakes his head and carefully steps back. Quickly, his pale cheeks flush with embarrassment.

“What’s wrong?” I inquire further, still not fully awake.

Riven clears his throat and turns away. "Afternoon classes are over, and the teachers asked where you were because they wanted you to show off some of your fighting techniques and asked me to find you." He shifted nervously in place, which made me wonder what was wrong with him. "A red-haired chick told me she saw you strolling back to our room, and then I found you sleeping so peacefully I didn't want to wake you, but then some hair fell in your face and-„

"And you were my knight in shining armor who got the offending hair out of my face, right?" I ask him cheekily, interrupting him mercilessly even though I'm still half asleep. After a moment, I slowly sit up, grinning one-sidedly at him.

"I-I mean..." His violent stutter is followed by silence. His cheeks turn even redder. It suddenly hits me.

My one-sided grin turns into a full smirk. I move quickly, grabbing Riven's tight uniform and tugging on it. He stumbles, forcing me to fall back into my pillows as well, his arms on either side of my head, his breath mingling with mine.

"I knew it!" I whisper. Riven could only raise her eyebrows in confusion, or perhaps fear. "You think I'm hot," I state. "Are you a little into guys, Riven?" With my other hand, I trace his sharp jawline, which looks great with his long, diamond-shaped head and perfectly styled hair. If he wasn't such a psychopath, I would have pulled him even closer to me.

Riven, however, makes no attempt to escape me. His eyes dilate, and he sensually runs his tongue over his lips.

I feel my body getting warmer, my stomach tightening, and my hands starting to sweat. Before I know it, all I can think about are his lips. However, when I realize what situation I have created, I quickly push him away, sit up, and soon find myself standing next to him.

"Sorry," I murmur meekly. "I didn't mean to force you to admit something you're uncomfortable with."

Riven stares at me with an indescribable expression. I can clearly see the deep conflict within him, as his indigo eyes reflect the storm that seems to consume his mind. He shifts nervously as if he's trying to make a decision. Somehow I'm afraid of this because when a psychopath like him has to make a decision, nothing good can come of it.

I try to sneak away and quickly get to the door. Even as I reach for the doorknob, Riven is still staring at me, torn, but seemingly far away in his own little world.

As I open the door, it suddenly squeaks something that should never have happened since it is made of magic. The squeak wakes Riven from his lethargy. With a few quick movements I barely notice, he is at my side and pushes me against the door, slamming it back shut.

My breath catches in my throat. His proximity and the strong scent of lavender make me dizzy. Combined with his long, rough hands tracing my body and his muscular chest pressing me against the door, I feel my resolve slowly crumbling.

"Riven," I barely press out. But it seems enough, as his vision clears, if only a tiny bit. He shakes his head in confusion and then looks around. It takes him a moment, but soon he pushes himself away from me, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

A weak apology rolls past his lips as he quickly walks to his side of the room and exits through his door. Both his neck and ears were as flush as his cheeks. He leaves me pressed against my bedroom door, reeling from the aftereffects of his impulsive jabbing and unwelcome closeness. But was it really unwelcome? My heart hasn't beat this fast since him. That could be a good sign, or it spells total disaster. After all, I know better than anyone that I'll probably never get over him. We were meant to be together, but I ruined it. Although the memories don't hurt as much as they once did, I still feel the longing for him.

Why can’t things be easier?

I feel as if I'm slowly drowning in my long-suppressed grief. My knees are weakening. I am afraid of falling victim to the darkness in my heart again. I take a deep breath, gather my last strength, stand up, lean against the door, push away from it, raise my hands, and slap myself, not once or twice, but six times. I do it until I feel a burning sensation in both cheeks.

Maybe one day I can open my heart to someone new. Whether Riven can be that person is questionable, but he can at least help me heal my broken heart. Sky would normally be more my type since he is so much bigger; his docile, almost submissive behavior makes it difficult to see him as anything more than a loyal dog.

[Masterlist]

[queenmayor23]

A Fated Tale (I)

Words: ~1.7k 

Fate: The Winx Saga x Male Reader

I did a thing and didn’t know where to put it and everything I see on here is Sky x male reader which I am not opposed to but I wanted to have an older reader (Arthur) that was a mentor to the girls and close with the older generation and possibly throw down with Luna. It blends lore from both shows. Also this started because I was mad that Professor Palladium wasn’t in Fate because in my personal headcannon Palladium is a beautiful NB beaing and deserves more love hence my OCs name but we’ll get into that later.

This is a developing story so be patient please and let me know what you think and send me request. If I don’t know the material or I’m uncomfortable I’ll let you know. 

OC: Arthur Avalon Malacoy-Palladium

Arthur and Dane walk through a mirror into the blue office. "Do not piss off Silva. I will never hear the end of it. Do not tell me you won't. You may look like your father, but your mother and I's blood is in your veins. On that note, I know making friends comes easy to us but don't get friendly until the end of the semester." Arthur had been running his mouth since this morning and throughout the mirror trip.

"I understand Uncle Art. Except for the part about not getting friendly."

Arthur looks at his nephew, cupping his chin and letting his painted blue thumb run across Dane's cheekbone. "Never lose your innocence, my sweet summer child." Arthur looks at the clock in his office and walks to the door opening it for Dane. "I am late for a meeting. So, everything you need is in your bag, and the rest of your luggage is already in your room. Everyone should still be in the Front Yard if you want to do the whole "First Day" thing." Dane walks out of the door, Arthur closing it behind him, both in the hallway. Arthur quickly hugs Dane and walks away, opposite Dane. "I love you; goodbye."

Arthur walks into the Headmistress's Office. Farah sits at her desk with Bloom across from her. "Nice of you to join us, Professor Palladium." Headmistress Dowling speaks as the redheaded child looks back at him.

"Ah, and you must be Bloom. Nice to meet you." They shake hands. "Potionologist turned guidance counselor and whatever else they need someone to teach. I'm Professor Arthur Avalon Malacoy-Palladium. Just call me Professor Palladium."

"Excuse the professor, Bloom. He tends to ramble on occasion." Dowling continues asking Bloom. "Has Alfea lived up to your expectations?"

"Just kinda bummed I didn't see a single pair of wings."

Arthur decides to comment. "We had wings, but transformation magic was lost as we and our magics evolved. Some are lucky enough to have a glowing hue around them if they concentrate."

Bloom nods her head and looks at the older fairies. "So, when do we… I start?"

"Classes begin tomorrow. You'll start with the basics. Learn to use your magic slowly but safely."

"When you say slowly-"

Arthur interrupts. "She means it. Magic can be dangerous. Our curriculum is designed to focus on magic's physical and mental parts. Trust the process."

Farah leans in towards Bloom. "Alfea's graduates have ruled realms and led armies. They've forged powerful relics and rediscovered long-lost magic. They shape the Otherworld. If you succeed here, you will too."

"Well, this place, the Otherworld, uh… Alfea, it seems amazing. It… This isn't my home. I don't need to rule a realm or lead an army… I'm here because you promised you'd teach me control."

"Speaking from experience, if you allow it, Alfea can be your home away from home. This place is filled with magic, literally and figuratively." Arthur tells the first-year student.

The next day came, and Arthur taught his morning classes. He walked into his office searching for a file he needed for one of his afternoon appointments with the second-year students when he felt it. "Burned Ones."

He alerted Saul, Farah, and Ben, and they all went to investigate. "It's fresh."

"Maybe a wolf?"

"Or a bear. Could have gone out to protect his herd, got surprised." Dowling and Silva continue to guess what happened to the man that lies before them. His body burned and bloodied. Ben collects a sample from the body, examining it. "This is char residue."

Palladium roughly exhales. "Ben, you cannot be serious. It's been what, two decades since the last sighting?"

"Sixteen years." Dowling corrects Arthur, and she continues. "Rosalind was relentless."

"It could've been hiding in the mountains..."

"She killed all the Burned Ones." Farah speaks sternly, almost as if she was forcing herself to believe her own words.

"We thought she did." Arthur and Saul look at Farah.

"Ben, what we think is irrelevant. The Barrier's doing its job. But until we know something for sure, let's clean this up before gossip starts." Farah starts walking away when Arthur catches her wrist. "If it happens, we know what we must do, correct?" Saul, Arthur, and Farah look at each other in agreeance.

In his office, Arthur sits relaxed. Stella stretches out on the couch, trying to get a selfie showcasing her outfit. "Have you tried anything besides that little sparkle this week? Any illusions or Sun Shields?"

Stella puts her phone down and snaps her mini-star away. "How do you know I'm not casting an illusion right now?" Palladium shrugs his shoulders.

"The real question is am I casting an illusion?" Palladium disappears, and the walls turn white, the light filling the room. Stella pulls her head from the crystal ball, gasping for air. "Fifty minutes and twenty-nine seconds, eighty-two percent non-verbal, but it's progress." Palladium hands Stella a glass of water and a yellow vial. "Drink." Stella drinks the vial and chases it with the water. She starts gagging and reaching for the wastebasket. "What was that?" Stella asks, consuming more of the water.

"Darling, you were supposed to mix it."

"You said, "drink!" Where do you hear anything about mixing in that one word?" Stella fussed, catching her breath. Sitting on his desk, Arthur uses his magic to move the pen as it tracks Stella's progress. Stella sits up in the chair. "Not to worry, the worst thing it can do is give you split ends. But you should be able to take care of that with a little Sun Slice." Arthur holds out his hand. A cabinet opens, and another larger vial with what seems to be dirt floats across the room into his palm. "Two parts dust, one part water. It'll help with those sunspots too. Now go. I need to get ready for a meeting." Stella gets up and takes the jar heading for the door. Arthur watches her. "Thank you, Professor Palladium."

"Thanks, Professor Palladium!" Stella mocks, walking out of the door.

It was late at night; he was falling asleep at his desk. Arthur pulled some herbs from the cabinet, put them in a cup, and removed the kettle from the fireplace, telekinetically pouring the boiling water into the same cup. Arthur takes a sip. The nutrients from the herbs energize his body awake, and he gets the feeling again. While walking down the hallway, Palladium runs into Musa, Aisha, and Terra. The girls explain what's going on, and the professor withholds that he sensed a Burned One from them. Arriving at the gateway, hearing the roars of the beast. "Once Bloom comes out, get back to Alfea."

Palladium enters the gateway spotting Bloom running toward him. She slows down, but before she can open her mouth. "Go!" Palladium points in the door's direction, and it bursts open, Bloom running out. The creature jumps in front of Palladium. Golden orbs form in Palladium's hands, and he fires. The Burned One stumbles back and roars. Palladium forms a shield on his forearm, covering the length of his body; he charges another orb as the Burned One bangs on the shield. Arthur pushes the beast across the room and releases the ball of light. The head of the Burned One is encased by the golden orb as it stumbles and falls back, letting out one last growl.

The following day came. Arthur sits on his desk with Farah seated at an angle across from him, and Saul leans on a pillar in the center of the room. Arthur recounted the events of last night. "Why did you not chain it up and bring it to the dungeons?" Farah asked.

"He should have killed it when he had the chance," Saul added.

"I couldn't allow it to enter the Barrier, Faragonda. If it were to awaken and attack while we slept, Luna would close everything down faster than she can say her name." Arthur informed his colleagues. "Did it break your skin?"

"No. I had Ben start making oil from the Zanbaq flowers in the greenhouse. I've dosed it with the remainder of what We had in Nikolia's old office."

"Arthur…" Faragonda was quickly interrupted. "We need to know if this is an isolated incident or something more. If something is attacking Solaria, we have to tell Luna as much as I would rather us take care of it ourselves."

Saul and Arthur understood each other. Farah was nervous, and Arthur could sense it without needing magic. "What's on your mind, Farah?"

"I found a changeling in the First World." Arthur gasped.

Saul stops Arthur before he can speak. "I've not heard of one of those in centuries. Are you sure, Farah?"

"Yes. She was left 16 years ago, right around when the last Burned One was spotted." Saul sighed and looked to the counselor. "Do you genuinely think this could be connected?"

"Rosalind hid a lot from us, so I'm not taking it out of the realm of possibilities. But I will say this, Alfea is different now that Red Fountain and Malacoy have merged. Though I am the only one qualified to attend Malacoy, of both faculty and students-"

Saul cuts off Arthur. "What about your nephew?"

"His mother and I decided that he needs to focus on his weapons skills first; then, if he displays any magical abilities, go from there. That's why I sent him to you." Saul nods.

"Arthur, do you mind taking on another class? Magic Theory with the first years." Farah stands up.

"No, I don't mind, but what about-"

"Ben and I will have to suffice. I need you there. Do what you've been doing with Stella, but in a group setting." Farah turns and walks next to Saul.

She was speaking now as the headmistress rather than as their friend. "I want you to kick up the Specialist's training a few notches. We may have to start blended training, and I want both sides to be ready if or when the time comes." Saul looks at Arthur after nodding to their headmistress. "I know both of you feel the shift. Unfortunately, the scales are slowly tipping towards chaos, and for now, all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Farah walks out of the office, leaving the Specialist and Paladin alone.

[queenstarlight]

Imagine yandere palladium trying to impress you with his knowledge of plants as it is a attractive trait for elves even though you yourself are not an elf

[shinschiro]

I did not just search for professor palladium x readers ?!?!? ( winx club ) im. gonna sleep this off i am not a palladium smoocher . GOODNIGHT.

help i used to have a crush on blooms boyfriend

[cutie1365]

A Kid from Queens Part 15

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Info: CA: Civil War Era. Tony Stark enlists his daughter to find the web slinging spider in Queens.

Word count: 1.6k

Warnings: n/a

(no Far From Home spoilers)

A/N: There’s one part where maybe pretend you have an ‘A’ initial, this idea was written more for my OC on Wattpad, so I’m sorry, but I kinda love it so I didn’t wanna change it.

Masterlist linked in my bio. Taglist in the reblog.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

“Where are you headed all dressed up?” Tony asks as you’re leaving your room at the compound.

“All dressed up? Dad this is a suit.” You laughed him off, he walked with you as you were making your way towards the front to board the jet.

“Alright Scully, where are you headed? Did I miss a memo for a shareholder meeting or something?” Tony asked.

Ever since you’d presented the information to him about the Mayor, he had been extra protective. But you’d done as he suggested, you turned the information over to the FBI. They suggested that for the time being, you keep up with Thomas and the family for appearances sake, to not cause suspicion. You told this to your father. What you didn’t tell him was that the FBI invited you to aid in the investigation, due to your proximity to the case you’d be useful. Also considering they were likely stealing from a government warehouse that was half Stark owned and maintained. You’d be a good person to have on board, and your commitment would be minimal. You’d publically stay with Thomas until they told you it was time to distance yourself, meaning they’d found something or want to provoke the family into making a mistake and slipping up, hopefully exposing a hole in their network they could exploit. You thought it was a good idea, you also thought it would be best for your father’s nerves if you didn’t tell him the full story.

“I guess someone doesn’t read their emails. But no, Linda has me judging the annual robotics competition at MIT, so it’s Back to School for me.” You spoke, digging through your purse, making sure you had everything, your suitcase should have already been on the jet, but you were only going to be gone for a few days.

Tony nodded, as if he now remembered seeing something about that somewhere. He saw the jet on the tarmac, ready to take off any minute as you both stood before the glass entrance of the compound.

“Alright Animal House, no toga parties.” He hugged you goodbye, you chuckled at the thought of a bunch of engineers throwing a toga party.

“I’ll try my best. I’ll be back in a few days. Oh, and tell Wanda I left a box of clothes for her in my room. And I made a prototype of an upgrade for Rhodey’s braces that I left in the lab for you to do some testing on.” You began to ramble off things for him, knowing there was a low chance he’d remember everything.

“Alright mother hen, you don’t want to be late.” He hugged you once more, shooing you off.

You made your way to the jet, as Tony watched you from a distance. His little girl, all grown up. He hadn’t seen you this happy in a while, it brought a smile to his face. Ever since he’d practically ordered you to stay away from Peter, he noticed a change in you. You spent so much time in the lab, tinkering on things to take your mind off of life. You were rushed around from interview to interview, dress fitting to dress fitting, and photoshoot to photoshoot. He noticed the toll it was taking on you. He hated seeing you so run down, and nearly considered giving the kid a chance. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad, it worked for him and Pepper, it might just be able to work for them. He’s a good kid, but he’s not willing to take a chance yet, not when it comes to his daughters safety. He’s kept you safe for a long time, and he didn’t want to ever see you hurt again.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

As you arrived in Boston, after a quick flight, a car was waiting to take you the rest of the way to MIT.

The car pulled into the familiar streets where you’d resided for a few years when you were younger. You hadn’t been back in years, yet it all looked the same. Near the entrance you spotted some of your old professors chatting, likely they were also judges.

“Y/N.” One greeted you, his expression somewhere between surprise and joy.

“Dr. Greenfield, it’s nice to see you again.” You smiled, shaking his hand.

“You’re all grown up now aren’t you. You know, I still remember your first day in my class. I had to go home and rework half of my lesson plans.” He chuckled at the memory. You remembered sitting in his class, answering all his questions that were meant to stump the class. He was a sweet older man, and you were happy to be here with him now.

You chatted and caught up for a few more minutes before you were invited inside to check in and meet the teams. You were given a metal name plate that you slipped on. Dr. A. Stark, it read.

You met the other 5 judges and mingled for a bit while the teams were still setting up in their prospective rooms. Some were industry experts, some were old professors of yours. Each judge had been assigned to a team, to mentor and offer insight and guidance before the final judging in two days time.

When a facilitator led you into a room of five boys standing in front of their invention, you weren’t met with the warm welcome you were expecting.

“Gentleman, I’d like to introduce you to your mentor Dr.-” The facilitator was cut off by one of the boys, he seemed to be the ringleader of the group.

“No, no, our mentor is Dr. A. Stark. Anthony Stark. Not some...” He waved his hand at you, trying to think of the best descriptor, “Vogue cover girl.”

You’d had a nice day so far, you were willing to let it slide, but when he opened his mouth and spoke to you with such disrespect, you were going to make him wish he’d called in sick today. The facilitator, likely a student committee volunteer, had her mouth hung open slightly in shock, she didn’t know what to do. So you stepped forward towards the boys, and that’s exactly what they were.

“You got Dr. A. Stark. Y/N (I’m sorry my OC has an A initial) Stark. My father actually doesn’t have a PhD. But I’ve got two. One of them in Electrical Engineering from this fine university.” You raised your hands motioning to the school around you, stepping closer once more, and oh if looks could kill. “But if you don’t want my help, I’m sure there are other teams who would be happy to have me...”

You turned on your heel and made one strutt towards the door before whipping around once more.

“By the way, you’re going to need the help, because I can spot six errors already from here. Seven if you count that sloppy rotary potentiometer.” And with that, you spun towards the door once more and didn’t look back at what you were certain were five speechless boys nearly shaking in their boots.

You’d certainly inherited a flair for the dramatics from your father, but this time it was merely a facade. Deep down you were on the verge of tears. This was your livelihood, you didn’t care if the civilian population thought you were some brainless covergirl, but you at least thought the people in your own field would respect you. The opinion of five students shouldn’t have hit you as hard as it did, but it now had you questioning everything. Every move you’ve made since that damn photograph came out.

You were leaning on the wall in the stairwell, if you were going to cry, you were going to make sure none of them saw you do it. You suddenly heard the large metal door open next to you, and a student looked at you in shock.

“Dr. Stark?” He asked, he wasn’t one of the boys from before, he must have been on another team. You knew he wasn’t like the others, he at least seemed to recognize you and your title.

“That would be me.” You smiled, lifting yourself off the wall slightly.

“I read your paper on nanoparticle technology. I think it’s completely revolutionary, I mean the implications alone... I just, it blew my mind.” He smiled, you watched as he spoke so passionately, waving his hands about as he spoke. A smile slowly spread to your face as well. In his excitement, he’d forgotten to introduce himself. He was tall but lanky, with a dirty blond mop of hair resting on his head, and deep blue eyes.

“That was my doctoral thesis from a few years ago. Back then the idea was completely theoretical, but even today at Stark Industries we’re developing prototypes using only nanotech.” You stated proudly.

“How’d you get around the deterioration objective?” He asked, with a slight tilt of his head.

“A housing unit that harnesses palladium and vibranium to almost charge the particles.” You explained, enjoying watching his eyes pop as you explained. It was refreshing talking to someone who spoke your language.

“That’s brilliant. It’s really such an honor to meet you. I know my team and I would be grateful if you would be able to spare a few minutes to look at our design? Our mentor is just... well he doesn’t have your experience.” He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“I’ll see what I can do.” You smiled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Harley, Harley Keener.” He shook your hand with a smile.

- - - - - 🕷 - - - - -

Taglist in reblog

Please comment, like, and reblog!

Sorry this chapter is a little shorter, I’ve basically got the next one written but I thought it might be too long to combine them. Don’t worry Peter’s coming in soon!

[un-enfant-immature]

Our dystopian cyberpunk here and now

We in the West love our apocalyptic science fiction, in which cartoonishly evil authorities ruthlessly oppress all who so much as wonder about its absolute power, enforced via ubiquitous surveillance technology. Think The Hunger Games, Blade Runner 2049, V for Vendetta, just to pick a few. Well — to trot out that infamous William Gibson line, the future is here, it’s just unevenly distributed.

Yearly reminder: unless you're over 60, you weren't promised flying cars. You were promised an oppressive cyberpunk dystopia. Here you go.

— Kyle Marquis (@Moochava) July 10, 2013

I’m thinking of Xinjiang, northwest China, which, according to panoply of reports over the last year, has become an oppressive surveillance police state: Georgetown professor James Millward conjures it:

While on your way to work or on an errand, every 100 meters you pass a police blockhouse. Video cameras on street corners and lamp posts recognize your face and track your movements. At multiple checkpoints, police officers scan your ID card, your irises and the contents of your phone. At the supermarket or the bank, you are scanned again, your bags are X-rayed and an officer runs a wand over your body […] The system crunches all of this into a composite score … [Based on it] you may or may not be allowed to visit a museum, pass through certain neighborhoods, go to the mall, check into a hotel, rent an apartment, apply for a job or buy a train ticket. Or you may be detained to undergo re-education.

It’s the little details which really drive home the real-life dehumanization of the surveillance state. “Installing cameras in some people’s homes.” “Officers recorded their voices, took pictures of their heads at different angles and collected hair and blood samples.” Targeting “people who have received a phone call from overseas.” (Both from NYT.)

Fuel stations are surrounded by barbed wire. Passengers must dismount outside the station; only the driver is allowed inside after strict ID and security checks […] One tourist who tried to buy a knife uploaded a video on how the knife was registered to the buyer’s ID, the ID number was then laser-emblazoned onto the blade, and his face recognition recorded

— Suhasini Haidar, in excellent travelogue piece in The Hindu.

The first thing that strikes you on arrival to Xinjiang, driving from the airport into the city, is the propaganda. It’s everywhere […] The other thing that is always in your field of sight is the police. Oh, the police. They are literally (literally) everywhere […] Xinjiang is a police state, and it’s open about it. Blatant […] “your conversations are being listened to, your GPS is being recorded. If you do anything stupid on the phone, police will come in less than 30 minutes and take you away” […] Inside both entries and exits, there is a metal scanner, an ID card reader, and in some (not many) places a facial recognition camera. All places have a computer and a small box which is reportedly used to download all information from smartphones […] (Xinjiang still uses 3G signals, not LTE, I wonder why) […] if [restaurants] want to keep things private by blocking the windows, they have to have surveillance cameras inside […] We saw life under a complete, multi-layered surveillance system that has basically no blind spots at all.

— Vadim Mikhailov, in another fantastic first-person travelogue published in Palladium

There exist “many credible reports that China had detained a million or more ethnic Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang and forced as many as two million to submit to re-education and indoctrination.” “The Australian Strategic Policy Institute analysed 28 camps across Xinjiang and found they had expanded 465% in size since 2016,” reports The Guardian.

Wait, it gets worse: “Highly educated intellectuals and academics and scientists and software engineers are being held in these facilities,” says Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch. “Satellite images and previously unreported official documents indicate that growing numbers of detainees are being sent to new factories, built inside or near the camps, where inmates have little choice but to accept jobs and follow orders,” according to the NYT.

Why the crackdown? Partly because Xinjiang is a key hub of China’s massive new “Belt and Road Initiative,” China’s massive $900 billion project being built by China to improve infrastructure connections and spur trade with other nations. (See also the NYT report on McKinsey in China, and their choice of Xinjiang for a corporate retreat last year last year.) Partly because two years ago Xinjiang’s leader was replaced by notorious soldier-turned-politician Chen Quanguo.

(It’s easy to imagine that this appointment was to some extent a strategy directly out of Machiavelli’s The Prince: “To clear himself in the minds of the people, and win them over to himself, he desired to show that, if any cruelty had been practised, it had not originated with him, but in the cruel nature of his minister.”)

But also, partly because they can: because this dystopian surveillance police-state technology is now cheap and reliable enough to roll out at massive scale. Hard not to be chilled by that … or by visions of what the next generation(s) of scalable technology will be used for. Xinjiang isn’t just a humanitarian crisis, it’s a living warning for us all.

[readercognito]

Where in the World is the Real Professor Avalon?

Palladium x Reader

I had been keeping an eye on Avalon ever since he came to the school, especially due to his entrance. I mean really he could have just talked with Faragonda, or at least cleared the methods with her! While this had made Faragonda and the other professors wary in the beginning they had all warmed up to him rather quickly. Almost too quickly... 

But no matter how much I talked to him there was always something… off about him. Something I couldn’t quite place, and I didn’t like how close Bloom was getting to him. I understand why she wanted to talk to him, she was desperate to understand herself and her powers. Something Avalon had promised to provide answers too. I would be the same in her place, but that didn’t give me any comfort when Bloom would spend time alone with him. So I had been spying on them, I know it wasn’t really the most appealing method. But after Bloom was spelled the first time (recently coming out of Avalons office I might add) I had to make sure that wouldn’t happen again. So I had been keeping an eye on her using an enchantment all of my own creation. Any dark magic that made itself known around bloom would make my ring buzz. Naturally her tight knit group of friends have done their best to keep her safe. But that isn’t enough, plus they’re teenagers. Easily trusting, and easily distractible...

Then a gentle voice pulled me from my musings.

“What are you still doing here?” Asked Athos, leaning against my desk.

The last class had just let out, but I hadn’t gotten around to leaving my classroom just yet. At least I thought the last period had let out, until I glanced at the clock. Just how long had I been sitting here lost in thought?

“Sorry Athos, I guess I just lost track of time...” I said, looking into the amber eyes of Professor Palladium.

We had known each other since I started work here a year or two after my graduation from Alfea. He ran into me during one of the faculty gatherings, spilled tea all over my skirt. But I couldn't hold a grudge, or even be angry really. Especially since he had bought me a replacement only the day after. We became fast friends after that. He asked me out my second year at the school, (after his confidence boosting change in appearance) and we had been happily dating since. Which only Stella and Flora had figured out, Flora because she often stays back to talk with Athos about nature related topics. Stella found out because she is a drama and relationship bloodhound. Thankfully Faragonda (L/n)sn't seem to know of (or mind really) our relationship.

Athos smiled knowingly, "don't worry too much about it. Let's just head out, I want to show you something in the glade." 

That brought a grin to my face, the glade. Correction, our glade. Something Athos and I had found while looking for a plant for one of his classes. It's a beautiful place, a ring of ancient willows surrounding a sparkling blue lake. The grass is covered with clovers and bushy wild flowers. I still keep the four leaf clover he found for me when we found the glade. I spelled into a tiny glass pendant with a gold chain to hang around my neck.

"This isn't another 'surprise' is it?" I asked playfully.

Palladium flushed, "it was one time! I knew I shouldn't have asked that blasted pixie for help." He grumbled.

I let out a laugh, not able to witness Athos' face soften and a gentle blush return to his cheeks.

We are walking through the woods outside the school, nearly to the glade when Athos goes behind me and covers my eyes. Carefully guiding me into the glade.

"Oh, so it is a surprise~" I chortled.

"Oh hush," he said, with a chuckle.

Then with a flourish of his strong yet delicate hand, he revealed the most magical thing I had seen.

Little glowing orbs were dancing around the trees and above the flowers, clearly enchanted to glow and swaying softly to the tune being played by an unmanned harp at the waters' glittering edge. In the middle of it all was a picnic set up on a beautifully embroidered quilt. A dainty tea set with intricate china plates lay on a short wooden tray of sorts.

The gasp of awe was involuntary, Athos grabbed my hand and gently led my frozen feet to the blanket, then swiftly pulled me into him. I was ripped out of my stupor and fell with a shout.

After regaining my senses, looking a flushed Palladium in the eye. He was so adorably red, I couldn't help but laugh. He seemed as shocked by my fall as I did! Athos joined me with a chuckle of his own, then stilled.

Athos fixed me with those amber eyes, brimming with a yet unknown emotion. Those deep, warm, gentle, eyes. Just as I was about to lean in, my ring buzzed.

"Bloom!" I stood with a shout.

"What? What are you talking about?" Athos asked, confused, moving to stand.

"There's no time! Bloom's in danger!" I shouted before quickly teleporting to her location.

I looked around the room I had popped into, seeing Bloom in a yellow bubble. Avalon standing menacingly behind her, face and body glowing with red marks.

"Bloom look out!" I shouted and quickly shot a spell at Avalon. 

But it bounced off the bubble they were in, Avalon letting out a wicked bark of  laughter. Throwing a dark orb of magic at me and everything went black.

•

•

•

•

Palladium was frantic, what did you sense? How were you able to teleport so quickly to Bloom? How did you know that she was even in danger? These questions and many like it flooded his thoughts as he ran back to Alfea as fast his long legs could carry him.

Athos Palladium returned to an all too silent campus… What horrible thing had (Y/n) been trying to prevent? Was Bloom alright? He only just registered his surroundings before storming into Faragonda, so consumed by his own spiraling thoughts.

"You're looking for (Y/n) aren't you?" She said solemn but matter of fact.

How had she known? But before he could say anything Faragonda beckoned him to her office. Closing the door behind her and walking gracefully to her desk.

"I know about you and (Y/n)." Faragonda started.

Athos' eyes widened with shock, but he remained silent awaiting what Faragonda was going to say next.

"But I believe Professor (L/n) has been kidnapped along with Bloom. That both of them have been taken to Shadow Haunt, I'm not sure what Lord Darkar wants with (Y/n), but I am certain he has every intention to use Bloom's dragonfire to get to the Realix realm."

That answers some of Palladiums questions, replacing his mild panic with a deep sense of dread.

"What do we do now?" Athos' mind was too bogged down with worry to think.

"There isn't much we can do I'm afraid, but the Winx Club is putting together a rescue party with some of the red fountain boys. The same ones that helped when Stella and Bloom went to save the pixies." Said Faragonda almost conspiratorially.

“What? You’re letting them storm Shadow Haunt all by themselves!?” Athos said incredulous, he knew the girls were capable but facing Darkar all by themselves? 

“They certainly won’t be, the red fountain boys will be helping them. Apparently one of them has a connection with the underworlders there… But we are ready to step in if anything were to happen that our girls cannot handle.”

So that’s what they did, Palladium bid the students adieu. Then went to watch them on a scrying spell in Faragonda’s office, with the other headmasters on standby. Which honestly Athos was a little surprised at, he didn’t know that Faragonda had such a long history with them. They were talking with a familiarity only very old friends would have. 

The Winx Club was doing surprisingly well against the Shadow Haunt monsters, the girls even undoing the gloomix enchantment on them. But things got serious when a particularly large monster cornered Stella and Aisha (Layla). That’s when things really got into motion.

•

•

•

•

With the headmasters distracting Darkars lackey, Athos escorts the girls with the pixie elders. They gather the shards required to create a secondary portal to the Realix realm, but before the girls are able to make their way through, another fairy comes through the portal. A very familiar fairy.

It was (Y/n), but there was something off about her, there was a darkness in her aura. Even her clothes and hair seemed darker, and more jagged than her usual appearance. Then with a growl, she launched a plasma sphere at Aisha, who was only just able to dodge it.

“Professor (L/n)?! What happened to you?” Stella exclaimed in shock. Dodging yet another bolt of magic from the corrupted fairy.

“She must have been affected by Darkar’s magic! He most likely used a similar enchantment on bloom! Hurry girls, through the portal! I’ll hold her off…” Palladium shouted, his hands sparking to life with magic, throwing a sphere at (Y/n). Which she deflected, but the attack served its purpose, the girls were able to sneak through the portal and with (Y/n) preoccupied by Athos she didn’t even notice the portal closing. That was until it was too late…

“YOU SIMPLETON! You think those prissy fairies will be able to stop Lord Darkar and Bloom!? They’ll be destroyed!” (Y/n) screeched, then let out a wicked cackle.

Then Athos and (Y/n) went hand to hand for what felt like ages. Each landing a hit and then returning the favor, it got to the point where both of them were panting, and disheveled. Athos took a good long look at (Y/n). Her (h/c) hair was messy and almost entirely pulled from it’s usual style, giving her a deranged edge to her already twisted appearance. Her skin had a sheen of sweat, and there were several burn marks in her clothes, he was sure his appearance matched. But behind those glaring (e/c) eyes, a familiar spark was seen, one he missed so dearly in the moment. And before he could stop himself he said,

“What did Darkar do to the woman I love?” 

“What?” Said (Y/n) the venom only just receding from her voice. Which didn’t go unnoticed by Athos.

Ignoring (Y/n)’s question Athos asked another question with thinly veiled hope.

“Do you love me?”

“Do I what?!” She nearly shouted, the wickedness in her voice starting to fade.

He could do nothing but smile softly, seeing that familiar spark start to grow.

“Do you love me?” He asked again, a glint of knowing twinkling in his eye.

“You’re a fool!” (Y/n) seethed, but once again the anger seemed more fabricated than the last.

Athos let out a tired laugh, “I know, but do you love me?” Then he continued, “Because, though I haven’t said it before. I’m sure of it now, however strange that may seem. That without a doubt I love you. I love your kindness, and patience. I love just how confident you are, you get along with the students so well! But they all respect you, I can see it. They admire you, and how capable you are. I love you, all of you. Do. you. love. me?”

At those words (Y/n) was bathed in a bright light, making Athos close his eyes due to its intensity. Then as quickly as it came, the light faded and before he could even blink the black spots out of his eyes he felt a soft and warm body envelop him in a hug. Feeling warm and wet tears fall on his exposed shoulder,

“I’m so sorry,” (Y/n) sobbed into his shoulder “I saw- I felt what I was doing, but-but I couldn’t stop! I’m so, so sorry Athos…”

Athos returned the embrace full force, rubbing calming circles in (Y/n)’s back, “Don’t worry about that, I knew it wasn’t really you. I’m just glad I’ve got you back now.” He said soothingly.

“Did you mean what you said?” (Y/n) asked hesitantly.

Athos paused for a moment, a blush rushing to his pale face. He just now realizes that was the first time either of them had said those life changing three words. Just then his blasted nerves decided to get the best of him, his carefully cultivated confidence flying right out the window.

“E-eh, We-well of c-cor-course I did-d” He said, face getting even redder and cursing his blasted nerves.

Not that (Y/n) seemed to mind, letting out a cute chortle and kissing him on the cheek.

“You are wonderful Athos, I love you too.” She said.

[smittenbyvillains]

Valtor is Busy and so Palladium

Warnings: mild ANGST to FLUFF

Valtor had to deal with a few things so he dropped you off at Alfea. You wouldn't have gone but you got to see Palladium. You missed your other boyfriend. But he was busy most of the time with teaching. Valtor kissed your head gently.

"If you're good then you will be reward darling," Valtor said. "See you soon. In a few days." Valtor smiled. He left you with your bag at the front of the school. You grabbed your bag and started to run in and went around the halls looking for Palladium. When you found him you hear him in his classroom speaking. You pouted to yourself as you didn't enter the room. He was busy like always.

You just dragged your bag to a corner and just sat down. You were excited but didn't like when he couldn't spend time with you. You ended up going to Faragondas office and hanging out there. You were reading one of her books in the chair. It was nighttime and Palladium still hadn't come to take you to bed to cuddle. Faragonda stayed with you. You soon gave up and just went to the lawn of the school and sat on the stairs.

You started to cry. You just wanted to spend time with him. He knew you were coming... right? You looked up hearing some footsteps. It was the Winx girls. Faragonda must have sent them to check up on you. Stella frowned at how you were crying.

"Don't tell me you are crying over a boy," Stella said shaking her head. You nodded and sniffled. Stella frowned and sat beside you. "What happened?" You sighed.

"I don't think Palladium knows I am here... I was excited to see him but I haven't seen him at all." You mumbled. Bloom rubbed your back. You sniffled.

"How about we head out to Magix?" Flora suggested. "Let's cheer you up." She said and held out her hand. You nodded and took her hand standing up. They took you to have fun in the city. It was really fun and distracted you. You all arrived back on campus to see Faragonda and Palladium waiting. He looked worried. You shrank back knowing you would be in trouble. You left without saying anything. palladium expression soften noticing that.

"Hey, I am not mad sweetheart," Palladium said. "Let's head up to my room and talk." You nodded and followed him.

"I'm sorry," you mumbled as you got into the room and sat your bag down. Palladium shook his head.

"It's my fault...I forgot. Faragonda told me after she found me still doing some paperwork." He rubbed your back.

"But I went out of campus grounds."

"The Winx were there to help you feel better, they care about their friends." He said softly.

"I guess I forgive you but I request some cuddles and a movie night." You smiled. He chuckled.

"Of course, princess anything for you."

[queenstarlight2]

Smut with Palladium would always be in your or his bedroom, Palladium is very shy when it comes to intimate activities or even PDA for that matter. But sex with him would be slow and gentle all while he looks into your eyes. on the other hand, he could become aggressive and rougher when his students tease him and don’t take him seriously as they did in season 1. He also is very quiet during the deed, making little gasps ever so often  (PS-rough sex was common in season 1😏) but all of this is saying Palladium is the dom, when he is the sub, however, Palladium lets out the most broken whines and whimpers and can be extremely loud, I swear no silencing charm could quiet down his moans. The way Palladium hair spreads out when you are on top of him, drool escaping from his mouth while his eyes roll back makes him look so pretty. you could compare him to the gods at that point.

anyways I leave you at that my friend. (I hope you enjoy this, you really didn't give me much detail to work with but that’s alright )

@onnoval13​ - Sorry but I deleted your ask in my ask box on accident, but this is your ask answer:)

[toomanysinks]

Our dystopian cyberpunk here and now

We in the West love our apocalyptic science fiction, in which cartoonishly evil authorities ruthlessly oppress all who so much as wonder about its absolute power, enforced via ubiquitous surveillance technology. Think The Hunger Games, Blade Runner 2049, V for Vendetta, just to pick a few. Well — to trot out that infamous William Gibson line, the future is here, it’s just unevenly distributed.

Yearly reminder: unless you're over 60, you weren't promised flying cars. You were promised an oppressive cyberpunk dystopia. Here you go.

— Kyle Marquis (@Moochava) July 10, 2013

I’m thinking of Xinjiang, northwest China, which, according to panoply of reports over the last year, has become an oppressive surveillance police state: Georgetown professor James Millward conjures it:

While on your way to work or on an errand, every 100 meters you pass a police blockhouse. Video cameras on street corners and lamp posts recognize your face and track your movements. At multiple checkpoints, police officers scan your ID card, your irises and the contents of your phone. At the supermarket or the bank, you are scanned again, your bags are X-rayed and an officer runs a wand over your body […] The system crunches all of this into a composite score … [Based on it] you may or may not be allowed to visit a museum, pass through certain neighborhoods, go to the mall, check into a hotel, rent an apartment, apply for a job or buy a train ticket. Or you may be detained to undergo re-education.

It’s the little details which really drive home the real-life dehumanization of the surveillance state. “Installing cameras in some people’s homes.” “Officers recorded their voices, took pictures of their heads at different angles and collected hair and blood samples.” Targeting “people who have received a phone call from overseas.” (Both from NYT.)

Fuel stations are surrounded by barbed wire. Passengers must dismount outside the station; only the driver is allowed inside after strict ID and security checks […] One tourist who tried to buy a knife uploaded a video on how the knife was registered to the buyer’s ID, the ID number was then laser-emblazoned onto the blade, and his face recognition recorded

— Suhasini Haidar, in excellent travelogue piece in The Hindu.

The first thing that strikes you on arrival to Xinjiang, driving from the airport into the city, is the propaganda. It’s everywhere […] The other thing that is always in your field of sight is the police. Oh, the police. They are literally (literally) everywhere […] Xinjiang is a police state, and it’s open about it. Blatant […] “your conversations are being listened to, your GPS is being recorded. If you do anything stupid on the phone, police will come in less than 30 minutes and take you away” […] Inside both entries and exits, there is a metal scanner, an ID card reader, and in some (not many) places a facial recognition camera. All places have a computer and a small box which is reportedly used to download all information from smartphones […] (Xinjiang still uses 3G signals, not LTE, I wonder why) […] if [restaurants] want to keep things private by blocking the windows, they have to have surveillance cameras inside […] We saw life under a complete, multi-layered surveillance system that has basically no blind spots at all.

— Vadim Mikhailov, in another fantastic first-person travelogue published in Palladium

There exist “many credible reports that China had detained a million or more ethnic Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang and forced as many as two million to submit to re-education and indoctrination.” “The Australian Strategic Policy Institute analysed 28 camps across Xinjiang and found they had expanded 465% in size since 2016,” reports The Guardian.

Wait, it gets worse: “Highly educated intellectuals and academics and scientists and software engineers are being held in these facilities,” says Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch. “Satellite images and previously unreported official documents indicate that growing numbers of detainees are being sent to new factories, built inside or near the camps, where inmates have little choice but to accept jobs and follow orders,” according to the NYT.

Why the crackdown? Partly because Xinjiang is a key hub of China’s massive new “Belt and Road Initiative,” China’s massive $900 billion project being built by China to improve infrastructure connections and spur trade with other nations. (See also the NYT report on McKinsey in China, and their choice of Xinjiang for a corporate retreat last year last year.) Partly because two years ago Xinjiang’s leader was replaced by notorious soldier-turned-politician Chen Quanguo.

(It’s easy to imagine that this appointment was to some extent a strategy directly out of Machiavelli’s The Prince: “To clear himself in the minds of the people, and win them over to himself, he desired to show that, if any cruelty had been practised, it had not originated with him, but in the cruel nature of his minister.”)

But also, partly because they can: because this dystopian surveillance police-state technology is now cheap and reliable enough to roll out at massive scale. Hard not to be chilled by that … or by visions of what the next generation(s) of scalable technology will be used for. Xinjiang isn’t just a humanitarian crisis, it’s a living warning for us all.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/13/our-motto-dystopia-now/

[zaceouiswriting]

Fairy Prince - Hearts of Leviathans - Ch.27

Character: Sky x male reader, Riven x male reader, Brandon x male reader

Universe: Somewhere in Winx Club/Saga

Warnings: None

The room falls into a dead silence, almost as if I were alone, although I could sense one or two presences. Nothing happens for minutes until I can hear Palladium's voice ringing. Inside, I could only smile; maybe he had an answer to my strange state of mind. I've always been strong-willed; nothing could shake me, so why now?

The calm and composed professor's voice grows panicked as he asks about the two orbs. Unfortunately, I can't tell him they are in my bag because I have no control over my body. I had no idea what to do with them. Instead, the other three loudly tear the room apart as they cannot find them. I even hear one of them running out and returning a few moments later.

They fought like I was dying. But I know I'm not. I just don't have control over my body. Something inside me is broken, but I'm sure it's nothing that can't heal with time. As a fairy, time isn't of the essence for me. Maybe this is how I can get out of this stupid forced marriage. Maybe if I tell my family I'm crazy, they'll stop it? But then again. Grandfather won't live much longer, and I can't leave the throne to any of my siblings; most are too young or incompetent to rule even their own needs.

I force myself to calm down and quiet my thoughts. It's not enough to regain full control of my body, but enough to move my hand. Suddenly the whole room is silent again. But I can't fish the spheres out of my pockets. Luckily, a warm and rough hand quickly comes to my aid. My gaze wanders to the side. To my utmost shock, I realize that the person helping me is not Sky, as I assumed, but Riven. When our eyes meet, I think I see him asking for permission, nothing like the psychopath who tortured me in the dungeons. Not wanting to make a fuss, I blink once, hoping he understands my silent sign. A shy smile appears on his thin lips.

I feel his hand gently slide over mine, moving past it until the two spheres are in his hand. But instead of simply taking them out, he also helps my hand out of my pocket and carefully places it next to me.

As soon as his warmth left me, I felt the desire to take his hand growing inside me. But why? This guy is clearly a psychopath who can change his behavior in an instant. But his warmth makes me feel safe. I still remember how it felt with him. When I was with him, I knew that nothing could hurt me, that I was safe, and that I would stay that way as long as I held his hand.

Could I find something like that again? Even though my future was already decided? Could I go against my grandfather?

Suddenly I am torn from my thoughts when I feel a sharp pain shoot through my head, as if a boulder had just hit me. For a moment my vision goes completely black, but when I open my eyes again, my whole body hurts. Four pairs of eyes are staring at me.

“What?” I ask, quite annoyed by all this attention.

"Can you move your fingers for me?"

I do as I'm told, moving my fingers in all directions. As I do, I look around. Although there is a type of relaxation on the guys' faces, Sky seems too happy. It pisses me off. 

Gaining his attention, after staring at him, I raise my other hand and give him the middle finger. His happy face falls as I grin mischievously at him.

“How mean!” the massive guy suddenly mutters, tearing me out of my playful mood.

Before anything else could happen, the professor interjected, “Okay, I see you have your body under control again.” Without saying anything else, he suddenly leaves.

“Wait!” I shout after him, already frustrated. “What happened?”

I see him tensing up. This can't mean anything good.

"You accidentally locked your painful memories of what happened over the last three years in the two spheres. Something must have happened that overwhelmed your mind as if you were forcibly remembering or seeing something. Did you have any hallucinations last night or the night before?“

Confused, I try remembering the nights, but not much comes to mind. Especially not the last night. Searching through the archive of my memories, I suddenly feel something sitting on my head. The feeling makes me frown, unsure of what it could be. But when I look up, I see a little bird sitting right on my forehead, its beak between my eyes. I look at it questioningly, and then suddenly it bumps its beak against my head, slamming down hard until I feel a drop of blood roll down my head.

Out of the blue, I remember the night I thought I was back in a camp, surrounded by everyone I had lost. Before I know it, a tear rolls down my cheek alongside the drop of blood.

The professor must have taken this as confirmation because he quickly sat beside me. "It's rare, but your trauma is so severe that your mind could no longer bear it. To save your sanity, your mind must have seized the opportunity and locked those memories in those spheres. You can transfer them back, but I would advise against it in your current state, as you would probably break under their weight. Until we know why it happened so suddenly, you should refrain from bringing them back into your mind."

“But what would I be without my full memory?”

"I didn't say you shouldn't remember, did I?" His voice sounds a little condescending, but his smile seems more playful. Maybe it's just an elf thing. He holds out my successor ring, which identifies me as the next king of my homeworld, and puts it back on my finger. "I've synchronized the orbs with two jewels on your ring. As long as you wear it, you'll be able to remember everything as normal. For now, think of it as an extension of your mind."

Looking at the ring, the two jewels—two black Orephilas, a type of high-quality jewel-like diamond, only stronger and nearly indestructible—appear to glow darkly, showing the effect of the magic that rests on them.

To my surprise, it wasn't like a flood of memories overwhelming me, as I had imagined, but rather like the shelves in a library being restocked. They were there, but they didn't fill my mind.

As the professor pets my leg, I look up again, and he smiles at me seriously. "If you ever want to talk about what happened in the camp, my door is always open."

While I appreciate his generous offer, I would never talk to anyone about it. There is just too much that would make me look like the monster that I am. I never want anyone to look at me with suspicion or disgust again.

Once again, the professor strolls back to the door. With the handle firmly in his grasp, I call him back again. This time he only turns his head in my direction. "Who put me together with these three?"

With a one-sided grin, the professor looked at the three idiots one by one before looking back at me. "Maybe you should talk to them," he advised.

Is he for real? But when I look over at the three idiots, I see them in varying states of embarrassment, except for Sky, who stares at me with his big, hopeful, brown puppy eyes. I can barely stop myself from wanting to scratch his belly. But before I can do that, I tear my mind away from these thoughts. I raise a hand to my head, cover my eyes, and silently ask myself what I've gotten myself into.

Before I can question the professor further, however, I see he has already gone and the door is closed. This man is quieter than a spy or an assassin. I should stay alert for him. He seems powerful and versatile. Only "the old one" can know what he is capable of.

But it leaves me alone with these three idiots. Honestly, I don't want to hear anything they have to say. So I cling to the edge of the bed with all my strength and stand up as soon as my feet touch the floor. I didn't achieve the desired level of success, which embarrassed me. But when Sky tries to help me, I push his hand away. Even from the corner of my eyes, I could see him visibly saddened.

I swear if he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes again... and there it is again. I quickly avert my gaze, as I am sure that if I look at him directly, I will fall into his trap.

I push past Sky's broad, muscular shoulders and grab my things. "Would it be okay with you guys if I find another room?"

Almost immediately after asking, you would have thought I had cursed their mothers; they were vehemently against it. Stunned by their refusal, I grab a change of clothes, walk to the other side of the four beds, and touch the wall. Almost immediately, another door appears, leading to a well-equipped bathroom.

“How long has that been there?” I hear Brandon ask.

“We have a bathroom?” And that was unmistakably Riven.

"I have a bathroom. You can piss in a corner if you like." I slam the door while ignoring the protests and quickly get ready.

Returning to the bedroom, I see the three idiots sitting on their beds as if they wanted to tell me the story about the bees. When they see me, they start to talk, but I interrupt them with a simple wave.

“Do you want us all to be on the same level or each our own?”

I watch as the three of them look at each other in confusion, but they still discuss my question without asking what it is about. Before I knew it, everyone agreed on something I didn't like at all, but since I asked for it, all I could do was shrug my shoulders and put my hand back on the wall. The stones start moving, expanding the space further than should be possible. The large room that previously housed all four beds becomes the living room, with a table, several sofas, a TV, and even video games, with a large, curved window front. Four new doors appear, two on either side between the glass front and the room door.

“Who wants to pair with whom?”

"Sky and me!" Brandon almost shouts in my face. Looking at them suspiciously, I squint my eyes at them. They've been acting strange the whole time, but I still nod slowly.

"Well then, it looks like we're stuck together," I tell Riven, quite dissatisfied, but he seems strangely happy. Ignoring his strange looks, I put down all the things they had brought with them. "Although they look like they're single rooms, they're doubles; the doors are just to make it easier to get to one side and to indicate where the other's room is."

I can see the eagerness in their eyes. They want to explore these spaces. But I've already seen the time. Instead of letting them do whatever they want, I throw them out with the help of the building.

A few seconds later, I join them outside the room. "Sorry, guys, but it's time for class." They groan in such impressive sync that it makes me a little uncomfortable, but I let it slide anyway. Seeing them annoyed is enough happiness for me.

Something flies towards me out of nowhere; even from a distance, I can see it's a piece of paper. I pull it out of the air, and the first thing I read is the professor's name, then an apology, and right below it, my class schedule and room numbers. At least now I know where to go, right?“

At least one person is useful in this worthless place everyone believes is the epitome of education.

[Masterlist]

[fmservers]

Our dystopian cyberpunk here and now

We in the West love our apocalyptic science fiction, in which cartoonishly evil authorities ruthlessly oppress all who so much as wonder about its absolute power, enforced via ubiquitous surveillance technology. Think The Hunger Games, Blade Runner 2049, V for Vendetta, just to pick a few. Well — to trot out that infamous William Gibson line, the future is here, it’s just unevenly distributed.

Yearly reminder: unless you're over 60, you weren't promised flying cars. You were promised an oppressive cyberpunk dystopia. Here you go.

— Kyle Marquis (@Moochava) July 10, 2013

I’m thinking of Xinjiang, northwest China, which, according to panoply of reports over the last year, has become an oppressive surveillance police state: Georgetown professor James Millward conjures it:

While on your way to work or on an errand, every 100 meters you pass a police blockhouse. Video cameras on street corners and lamp posts recognize your face and track your movements. At multiple checkpoints, police officers scan your ID card, your irises and the contents of your phone. At the supermarket or the bank, you are scanned again, your bags are X-rayed and an officer runs a wand over your body […] The system crunches all of this into a composite score … [Based on it] you may or may not be allowed to visit a museum, pass through certain neighborhoods, go to the mall, check into a hotel, rent an apartment, apply for a job or buy a train ticket. Or you may be detained to undergo re-education.

It’s the little details which really drive home the real-life dehumanization of the surveillance state. “Installing cameras in some people’s homes.” “Officers recorded their voices, took pictures of their heads at different angles and collected hair and blood samples.” Targeting “people who have received a phone call from overseas.” (Both from NYT.)

Fuel stations are surrounded by barbed wire. Passengers must dismount outside the station; only the driver is allowed inside after strict ID and security checks […] One tourist who tried to buy a knife uploaded a video on how the knife was registered to the buyer’s ID, the ID number was then laser-emblazoned onto the blade, and his face recognition recorded

— Suhasini Haidar, in excellent travelogue piece in The Hindu.

The first thing that strikes you on arrival to Xinjiang, driving from the airport into the city, is the propaganda. It’s everywhere […] The other thing that is always in your field of sight is the police. Oh, the police. They are literally (literally) everywhere […] Xinjiang is a police state, and it’s open about it. Blatant […] “your conversations are being listened to, your GPS is being recorded. If you do anything stupid on the phone, police will come in less than 30 minutes and take you away” […] Inside both entries and exits, there is a metal scanner, an ID card reader, and in some (not many) places a facial recognition camera. All places have a computer and a small box which is reportedly used to download all information from smartphones […] (Xinjiang still uses 3G signals, not LTE, I wonder why) […] if [restaurants] want to keep things private by blocking the windows, they have to have surveillance cameras inside […] We saw life under a complete, multi-layered surveillance system that has basically no blind spots at all.

— Vadim Mikhailov, in another fantastic first-person travelogue published in Palladium

There exist “many credible reports that China had detained a million or more ethnic Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang and forced as many as two million to submit to re-education and indoctrination.” “The Australian Strategic Policy Institute analysed 28 camps across Xinjiang and found they had expanded 465% in size since 2016,” reports The Guardian.

Wait, it gets worse: “Highly educated intellectuals and academics and scientists and software engineers are being held in these facilities,” says Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch. “Satellite images and previously unreported official documents indicate that growing numbers of detainees are being sent to new factories, built inside or near the camps, where inmates have little choice but to accept jobs and follow orders,” according to the NYT.

Why the crackdown? Partly because Xinjiang is a key hub of China’s massive new “Belt and Road Initiative,” China’s massive $900 billion project being built by China to improve infrastructure connections and spur trade with other nations. (See also the NYT report on McKinsey in China, and their choice of Xinjiang for a corporate retreat last year last year.) Partly because two years ago Xinjiang’s leader was replaced by notorious soldier-turned-politician Chen Quanguo.

(It’s easy to imagine that this appointment was to some extent a strategy directly out of Machiavelli’s The Prince: “To clear himself in the minds of the people, and win them over to himself, he desired to show that, if any cruelty had been practised, it had not originated with him, but in the cruel nature of his minister.”)

But also, partly because they can: because this dystopian surveillance police-state technology is now cheap and reliable enough to roll out at massive scale. Hard not to be chilled by that … or by visions of what the next generation(s) of scalable technology will be used for. Xinjiang isn’t just a humanitarian crisis, it’s a living warning for us all.

Via Jon Evans https://techcrunch.com