#seth dancing with little rats | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

devine-star · 4 years ago

Text

Left For Dead

Fandom: The Last Of Us 2

Jesse x Male Reader!

Warnings: F slur is used, Homophobic character.

Nothing else! Enjoy!

Y/n rolled over groaning at the sound of knocking at the door "wake up lazy!" a kid's voice called. "Im comin..." he grumbled getting out of bed and opening the door to see the 13 year old girl smiling at him "We're on kitchen duty today Bugs!"

Y/n smiled at the nickname and ruffled her short hair "alright kid, let me get dressed." he closed the door and rubbed his eyes as he walked over to the closet; grabbing a pair of jeans, socks, a t-shirt and his jacket that was resting on the chair.

After a quick look over in the mirror, he headed outside to see June playing in the dirt "Come on ya rat," he said playfully causing her to jump up with a smile.

The walkthrough town was filled with greeting from everyone and chatter with June. "Look," she nudged Y/n "there's your boyfriend" she sang teasingly as she pointed to Jesse who was in a tank top and jeans helping unload some logs from a truck.

Y/n blushed and gently shoved the girl "shut up! He isn't my boyfriend" "You wish he was thouuuugh" she sang pushing her way into the cafeteria.

Y/n let their eyes linger on Jesse's arms and the sweat dripping down his back in the summer heat before blushing harder and making his way inside.

"Bugs!" Seth greeted as Y/n walked into the kitchen "sup boss," he replied with a smile as he grabbed an apron off the hook and slid it over his head tying behind his back.

"Here, cut up these vegetables for me," Seth stepped away from the cutting board and bell peppers and other various vegetables "hey! I could do that!" June said happily.

"Not yet kid," Seth gruffed as he patted her on the shoulder "you're gonna wash the fruits and vegetables as they come in," June pouted "You always get the fun stuff," she hit Y/n's shoulder gently before stomping over to the sink.

In the midst of cutting and cooking the vegetables, Y/n got hot. He slid his jacket off and tossed it to the side before getting back to work; "hey Junnie! Turn some music on will ya?" he said over his shoulder.

After a while, Y/n began dancing a bit while he cut the vegetables and singing to himself. He pushed aside the carrots and grabbed some tomatoes and began cutting but soon stopped with a loud curse "fuck!" he held his finger close to his chest while hissing in pain, he cut himself.

"You always do that," a familiar voice came from behind him, he turned around and saw a very sweaty Jesse.

"Let me see," he said coming closer and holding out his hands, Y/n slowly placed his hurt hand into the hands of his crush with a slight blush.

He then followed Jesse over to the sink and watched as Jesse cleaned his wound with a focus on his face. "I could have cleaned it.." Y/n said softly looking down at the small slice in his finger.

"Yeah but you probably would have hurt yourself, even more, God of Destruction," he teased with a smirk before grabbing a clean stray towel and drying Y/n's hand.

"I am not THAT clumsy," he argued looking down at his hand once Jesse let go of it, "You aren't allowed on runs because Marie is scared you'll DIE" he laughed a bit before plucking up a carrot and popping it into his mouth.

"Hey! Your hands are dirty! Stop!" Y/n said taking the towel from his apron and slapping Jesse on the shoulder a few times. Jesse laughed and raised his hands "Alright alright," he chuckled shaking his head a bit.

"Oh hey, Jesse!" June said popping her head up over the ordering window with a goofy smile "Sup Junnie," he greeted with a wave.

Seth looked through the door "If you aren't assigned here son, ya gotta go," he scolded nodding his head towards the door.

"Fine fine, I'm out." Jesse turned to leave before turning back and winking at Y/n "See you at the bonfire tonight," Y/n blushed and went back to work after putting a bandaid on his finger, his mind running with possibilities of how the bonfire could go.

Later that night, Y/n was leaning against a building, beer in hand, watching the kids run around and the adults all laugh and have fun. "You wanna play tag with us Bugs?" June asked running up to him with a group of kids behind her "Nah you go ahead this time Junnie," he waved off causing her to shrug and run off after slapping a boy called Ian "Tag!"

About 2 hours into the bonfire, Y/n hadn't seen Jesse not one bit he asked around a few times and no one has seen him. Anxiety grew slightly as he realized Jesse was out on the River Route; He was careful but there was always a chance.

Y/n had made his way closer to the fire and was sitting on a bucket bitting his thumb as he stared into the fire with nothing but bad thoughts running through his head. Nothing but images of Jesse being bitten and him turning into a runner or a clicker...

"Fuck!" Y/n called out of fear as a hand was slapped on his shoulder scaring the shit out of him. He snapped his head up and there stood Jesse, hands on his hips with a smirk "Hey Buggie" he said

Y/n jumped up and hugged him tightly "my anxiety.." he mumbled as he buried his face in Jesse's neck.

"Woah...Woah.." Jesse chuckled a bit hugging Y/n tightly before frowning as he felt his neck get wet "A-are you crying?" he pulled away and looked at Y/n with shock "Hey..Hey, I'm okay!" he said calmly with a smile before glancing around "let's get you outta here...Too many people for your anxiety,"

Y/n stumbled his way out of the bonfire, his vision going blurry and black every now and then as a full-blown anxiety attack racked his body. He didn't know where Jesse was taking him or what Jesse was trying to say to calm him down all he knew was that it was hard to breathe and felt like the summer heat was suffocating him.

Y/n was pulled into a building and sat on a couch, the sound of an A/C turning on was noted in his mind as he began tearing his clothes off himself. First his jacket, then his shirt and as he began to remove his pants, two hands stopped him "stop, stop, you dont need to take everything off," Jesse said calmly.

He sat next to Y/n before kind of laying against the side of the couch and pulling Y/n into his chest and pressing his head against his chest.

Y/n gripped onto Jesse as hard as he could as he tried to even his breathing, and focus on Jesse playing with his head and humming softly to him.

About an hour passed before Y/n was calm enough to stop crying and to breathe evenly with small little huffs every now and then.

"What caused that..." Jesse asked softly looking down at him with worry in his eyes. "I thought...I thought you were dead...or got bitten.." he explained closing his eyes tightly "my mind wouldn't stop playing the image of you being bitten and turning and-and" he began shaking his head as tears returned.

"Hey! Stop!" Jesse sat up and held Y/n's head in his hands "look at me, look at me in my eyes!" Y/n opened his eyes slowly before looking up at Jesse, his eyes meeting and seeing nothing but fear and worry reflect back at him.

"I'm okay! Not bitten, I'm here with you!" Jesse said sternly as he gently rubbed his thumbs over Y/n's cheeks. "I'm here with you.." he said softer this time with a gentle smile.

Y/n took a stuttering breath and sighed before smiling gently. "I..I'm sorry," he mumbled searching Jesse's face for any sort of annoyance.

"It's okay, You're one of my best friends, I..I would have reacted the same way.." Jesse said finally letting go of Y/n's face once he realized how close their faces were.

Y/n leaned back trying to ignore the blush that was on his face before taking notice of the one on Jesse's and choosing to ignore it.

"Yeah...We gotta look out for each other.." Y/n mumbled wiping away a fear stray tears before looking towards the clock on his bedside "it's midnight," he noted out loud "Don't you have patrol tomorrow?"

He looked back at Jesse to find him already staring at him when he didn't answer right away, Y/n snapped his fingers "hey," Jesse jumped a bit and blinked a few times "huh?" he looked towards the clock "oh, yeah I do...That's another reason I came to find you tonight."

Y/n narrowed his brows and tilted his head a bit "What?" "Maria wants you to go on route tomorrow with Thomas," he said scratching the back of his neck before sighing "She wouldn't allow you to come with me, says we'd be too distracted..."

Y/n nodded a bit "Oh..Okay.." he slowly stood and stretched his muscles "Thanks for letting me know," "You arent scared?" Jesse asked standing up.

"No, Before I came here, I dealt with millions of those fuckers" Y/n said with a shrug "I'm a good shot," he shook his head a bit before looking over at Jesse. "I may be a bit rusty, but I'll do it," he crossed his arms.

Jesse walked closer and placed his hands on Y/n's shoulders "be careful...I.." he stopped before looking away "care about you," he finished patting Y/n's shoulders and heading out the door.

Y/n couldn't stop his heart as his heart fluttered as Jesse walked out the door, "he cares for me..." he mumbled with a small smile, he hadn't heard Jesse say that much but every time he doe, it drives him crazy.

The next morning Y/n wiped the sweat from his brow as he made his way to the stables, it was early but still, it was hot already. "Morning Bugs"

He looked over his shoulder as June came jogging down the street after him, he slowed a bit so she could catch up. "Hey June," he said sleepily "What are you doing up so early?" She asked.

"I could ask you the same thing kid," he gently bumped shoulders with the surprisingly tall girl. "I got called for stable duty, you?" "Im on route duty,"

June burst into laughter before hitting his shoulder "No! Seriously!" "I was! Why do you think I have my pack with me?" He asked jutting a thumb over his shoulder to the pack on his back.

June stopped with a look of fear "Youre serious?"

For as long as the two have known each other, Y/n hadn't been called for Route duty, but now that he has; June was scared.

"Don't worry JuneBug, We're the two Bugs! can't be separated!" He ruffled her hair as they approached the stables to see all the routes people there.

"Hey Y/n," Thomas said gruffly, he was a man in his mid-30s, never really liked Y/n. "Hey, I'm your route partner today!" he said trying to sound cheerful, "So I've been told," he said rolling his eyes "Pat's in there," he nodded his head towards the stable.

"Wow, grumpy," June said following Y/n into the stables "Yeah, ever since we met he hasn't liked me," Y/n shrugged "Just always tried to be nice but, guess he isn't willing to do the same."

Y/n smiled as Pat came into view, his horse he saved from infected a long time ago. "Hey girl!" he said happily as she snorted and stomped feet at the sight of her owner.

Once everyone was gathered at the gate Jesse began his briefing "Follow your routes, take out infected if you come into contact with anything you can't handle," he glanced Y/n's way "come back,"

The gates opened and everyone was off their own ways, Jesse glancing over his over to catch a glimpse of Y/n trying to make conversation with Thomas as they left "be safe Buggie..." he mumbled before heading off.

Pat clipped and clopped as she walked through the river with Y/n on her back, he wiped sweat from his face with a rag as him and Thomas road into the city.

The sound of infected coming from a nearby building caught his attention "Tom," he called holding out a hand then bringing a finger to his lips. He dismounted his horse and made his way towards a grocery store and peering into a boarded window "infected inside," he mumbled looking back at Thomas.

He stepped back and sighed "Let's get in the-" "You don't call me that," Y/n looked back at Thomas confused "what?" "You call me Thomas, I ain't Tom to you," he glared "Oh okay, sorry, I just figured-" "Figured you could use it cause Tommy lets you call him that?" he rolled his eyes "Call me Thomas or nothin at all,"

Y/n nodded before shaking his head and beginning to search for a way in, "Thomas, over here," he called before pulling himself into a broken window and jumping inside.

He quickly hid behind an overturned vending machine as he heard the infected. Thomas hopped in and hid next to him before he moved to take out a nearby infected.

Y/n did the same taking out the knife Jesse gave him and attacking a clicker from behind. Once done he noticed a half-open door, "over here," he said moving towards it and climbing under it and shimmying through.

He noticed all the infected in the room and quickly turned back and quietly said "come on Thomas, Ill lift this and you crawl through."

But he didn't see Thomas behind him "Thomas?" he whisper-yelled. He then had to quickly move out of the way as he saw a makeshift noise bomb come through the whole. He stumbled to the side as fear raised in his chest "Thomas!" He yelled in surprise.

The bomb went off alerting all the infected of Y/n's position "Good luck getting out faggot!" Thomas yelled laughing before covering the door with the vending machine.

"No! Help me!" Y/n yelled in fear before he began to fight off the infected. This had to be a whole hoard lured into the grocery store by someone or something.

"Fuck!" He cried as he pulled out his gun and began shooting infected one by one, soon running out of bullets. He took out his knife and ran, hiding every now and then.

He let out a loud yell as he was attacked from behind, he stumbled, fell before reaching around and pushing off the infected and stabbing it on the throat.

Y/n fought for his life for around 2 hours before collapsing exhausted.

The silence in the room rung his ears, pain from scratches after being thrown to the ground and shoved against shelves. And he had even accidentally cut his own hand trying to stab an infected in the throat.

Tears streamed his face as he stumbled around collecting what little supplies there was before pushing open a door revealing what looked to be a worn-down hold-up area. It had a bed and a few crates of stuff.

He collapsed onto the bed and groaned in pain, 'why would Thomas do that?' he thought to himself. The last words were spoken to him ringing in his head before he finally caught what the last word was "faggot" Thomas hated him because he was...bi? Gay? Hell y/n didn't know what he was...

But before he could contemplate what his sexuality was, blackness overcomes his senses and he passed out.

Thomas climbed back out of the building hear Y/n scream for help, ignoring it he made his way back over to the horses and unclipped Pat's saddle and pulling it off "get outta!" he called spooking the horse and it ran a few feet before looking back, she didn't wanna leave without Y/n.

Thomas rolled his eyes at the white and black spotted horse before hiding the saddle in the trunk of an abandoned car and sighing.

He then took his knife out and began ripping his own clothes and wincing as he cut himself up and smeared blood all over himself, "that'll do," he grumbled climbing on his horse and heading off towards Jackson once again.

Once he got close to Jackson, he started fake crying, if he wanted people to buy the fact that he and Y/n were actually attacked by a hoard; he had to fake it well.

Once at the Eastside gate he started yelling to open the gate, once inside he got off his horse while fake crying "Y/n was mauled!" he cried out catching Jesse's attention from the stables.

Jesse ran from the stables over to Thomas "What? What happened?!" Thomas looked at him and clung to him "I tried to save him, Jesse! The hoard! I couldn't save him or his body!" he cried.

Jesse pushed off Thomas as he felt his heartbreak "You said you would keep him safe!" he yelled as tears began to run down his face. "I tried!" Thomas yelled back, obviously lying.

"I have to go get him!" Jesse cried rushing to his horse "Jesse stop!" it was Tommy and Maire "he's dead meat out there!" Tommy grabbed Jesse before he could get onto his horse and held him back.

"What's going on? Where's Y/n?" Jesse looked over to see June "June.." he said softly "No...You're lying!" she cried, immediately knowing what was happening. Jesse pulled his arms from Tommy and made his way to June, pulling her into a tight hug "Im sorry June... it was a hoard.." she pushed him away.

"Y/n was a good shot! Always careful! Something must have happened!"

Later that night Jesse sat on the porch of Y/n's house, he was flipping through his sketchbook with tears in his eyes. Something must have happened...Y/n was always careful, he may have been one clumsy son of a bitch but he was careful whenever outside the gates...

Determination filled Jesse's body, he stood grabbing his bag and slinging it on his shoulders and storming off to the stables, he was going to get Y/n.

When Y/n woke it was dark outside, his body was on fire as he slowly sat up. Memories of what happened flooded back and he sighed before standing. But his legs didn't hold him up, he fell to the ground of pain filled his stomach; hunger.

Y/n didn't eat that morning or the night before and Thomas had the route food. He looked around and got on his hands and knees he didn't know what to do...

Jesse gripped the reins of his horse as he looked back and forth with his flashlight, he didn't see or hear any infected. If there were a hoard he would have heard them by now.

He stopped and jumped out of fear as he saw a flash of black and white run across the road by the grocery store up the road. He looked around with the flashlight before slowly moving forward and dismounting his horse once close enough.

He slowly made his way closer to the grocery store then yelled in fear as the white and black spotted horse reared its legs and whined loudly "Pat!" he yelled "Woah girl! Woah Girl!" he called out calming her down and whistling for his horse to come closer.

"What are you doing girl? Where is your saddle?" he asked eyeing the horse who whined and scratched the ground with her head looking towards the boarded-up store.

Jesse looked at her then back at the store and nodded a bit patting her nose gently.

He then climbed inside the same window Y/n had and quietly listened, he heard a body fall to the ground with a thud and moan; infected. He searched the room he was in the noticed the vending machine in front of the door; he pushed it out of the way as quietly as possible and noticed the opening.

Crawling through the opening was kind of hard, once through he pushed the cabinet out of the way and opened the door fully in case he needed a quick escape.

The flashlight shown across the room showed nothing but dead bodies, no live ones. He then noticed an open door on the other side of the room, 'clear it and look for supplies' he thought to himself.

Once inside the room he noticed it was an old holdup, he looked around the room; empty. He walked further into the room then gasped as someone attacked him from behind "hey!" he called out struggling with the person.

Y/n was flipped over the shoulders of the intruder and had a gun pointed at their face. They used one hand to shield the light from the flashlight attached to the person's backpack "Please dont.." he whimpered.

"Y/n?!" he looked closer after the light was turned down "Jesse?" he asked hopefully hoping this wasn't some pain and hunger-induced hallucination.

"You're alive!" Jesse cried pulling him close and hugging him for dear life.

Y/n hugged back tears coming down in streams "you came for me," he whimpered "of course I did, when Thomas came back all cut up and fake crying, I knew something happened..." he said pulling away and holding Y/n's face in his hands again.

"He did this.."Y/n whispered closing his eyes and leaning into his touch "what?" "Once I got through the door to clear the infected, he threw a noise bomb, told me 'good luck getting out faggot' and he ran," Y/n said sobbing softly.

Jesse's anger was almost overflowing but for now, he needed to get Y/n back to Jackson. "Think you can walk? Pat is still outside," Y/n nodded and they slowly made their way outside.

"Where is her saddle?" Y/n asked leaning against Jesse for support. "I don't know, but you can ride with me, I'll lead her back home."

The arrival back to Jackson was filled with rushing to get Y/n medical attention and yelling. Jesse waving a gun in Thomas' face yelling at him for leaving Y/n the way he did.

Once things calmed down, Jesse visited Y/n at home, his injuries weren't serious so he was fed and sent home.

Jesse knocked on the door, that next morning. A soft "come in," prompted him to open the door and peek his head in before going in.

"How you doin Bug?" he asked sitting next to Y/n on the bed. "I'm okay, better now that I'm fed," he chuckled setting down the book he was reading and looking over at Jesse.

"Thomas is being kicked from the town," Jesse said flat out "I.."Y/n looked away with his eyebrows crunched "because of me?"

"Hey, he left you to die," Jesse used his hand to bring Y/n's face to look at him "He might as well have murdered you himself, that goes against all our town rules and morals Y/n"

Y/n nodded gently and sighed looking up at Jesse "Thank you.." he whispered "For looking for me," Jesse smiled a bit and shrugged "I couldn't leave you to die, I.." he bit his lip and looked away.

Y/n felt annoyance fill him, he shifted until he sat up "you what?" he said, he's tired of Jesse doing this "Care for you," he said looking back.

"You always do that..." he said shaking his head and picking up his book again "do what?"

Y/n looked at him before dropping the book back onto the bed and getting out of it limping away from Jesse "You always go 'I...care about you,' like you don't mean it or something, it annoying"

"I do care for you!" Jesse argued, standing and following behind him "Then prove it!" Y/n said turning around and throwing his hands in the air "I just saved your life!" Jesse shouted moving closer.

"That's...that not what I meant.." Y/n said with a cold laugh and crossed his arms leaning against his desk.

"After all these years Jesse...After years of flirting with you..you still don't get it, do you?" Jesse furrowed his brow and crossed his arms and slowly moved forward.

"What do you mean?" he asked stopping in front of Y/n, who refused to look at him. "Look at me," Y/n refused "Look at me" Jesse grabbed Y/n's chin and made him look up and in his eyes.

Y/n couldn't help himself, he lunged forward pressing his lips against Jesse's and wrapping his arms around his neck. He poured his heart and soul out into that kiss hoping that Jesse would understand what he was trying to say.

He slowly pulled away and stared at Jesse's shocked face "Get it now?" his voice was soft and filled with anxiety, hoping he didn't just ruin a wonderful friendship.

Jesse nodded before leaning over and capturing Y/n's lips in another kiss, this time it was fast and needy. Teeth clashed and hands were in hair, Jesse lifted Y/n up onto the desk and moved closer to him, soft grunts leaving the two men in the process.

A knock on the door interrupted them. They pulled away panting for air "Y/n!!" a voice yelled from outside the door, June.

Jesse stepped away and Y/n stepped off the desk, he then limped over to the door and opened it.

June lunged at him hugging him tightly causing him to fall to the floor unexpectedly. "Woah! June!" Y/n laughed and Jesse rushed forward and pulled June off of Y/n "Careful June, he's still sore,"

June looked towards Jesse then back at Y/n, noting their messy hair and flushed faces "And what were you two doing in here?" She giggled smirking a bit "Shut up," Jesse blushed and playfully kicked her from her spot on the floor.

#jesse tlou #The last of us Jesse #TLOU #TLOU Jesse x reader #x male reader #requests open #The last of us 2

136 notes · View notes

fairyqueenofthedragons · 4 years ago

Text

Witch in the Woods

A bit (lot) late but life happens. Thanks to Library Forest for giving me the inspo to write more for this :)

(Find Chapter One with a search of “Fk ch 1″ on my blog)

Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/nwwcSQSUjh

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Seth slunk through the bushes and trees until he reached a faint crooked path.

He was glad that there hadn’t been any brambles, that would’ve sucked. But he’d finally gotten on the path, even if it was just a small one. Barely there, like animals had wandered through here enough to cut a path but not enough to clear it.

He paused on the path, studying his sleeves for ticks. There didn’t seem to be any, he’d basically drenched himself in bug spray so hopefully that worked well enough.

He hadn’t seen any ticks so far, so high hopes!

He stooped then and stacked some rocks into a small pyramid to mark the point where he joined the path.

He was pretty sure he’d be able to find his way back regardless, but better safe then sorry. If he did end up taking too long, then he might get caught by Grandpa.

He hummed as he rummaged through his cereal box, studying the compass he pulled out.

The path seemed to be running northeast, though he’d started off heading east. The undergrowth was getting thicker though, so the path was a good reason to head off course a little. It would be far easier than trying to cut through the shrubbery with his pocketknife.

His dad said no to buying him a machete.

Life was unfair.

Seth straightened once more and studied the path.

He shivered despite the warmth, it seemed almost foreboding. The tall trees stood close together, letting through very little sunlight. The bushes waved, and he eyed the large spider crawling up the side of the tree. A gnarled black tree with thorny leaves almost seemed to reach for him.

The forest almost seemed alive, but that was silly. He wasn’t living in a fairy tale.

Seth straightened. It was fine! He was going exploring in a cool forest and he’d bring back a shiny rock or something to show Kendra that it was perfectly safe.

He paused, glancing at the rocks he’d collected.

Yeah none of them were shiny enough for Kendra, she liked sparkly, pretty things.

He’d find something.

He definitely did not jump when something rustled in the bushes but did dig out a small pair of plastic binoculars from his cereal box.

He scanned the area slowly but didn’t see anything interesting.

He shrugged and headed down the path, not making it twenty feet before an animal emerged from the undergrowth onto the path.

He froze, it was a porcupine. It’s bristles gleamed in the faint light and it’s eyes seemed too sharp and intelligent.

It studied him for a moment, then started towards him.

He quickly backed up, it’s slender quills shiny and sharp and very very close.

Weren’t animals supposed to be afraid of humans? Maybe it had rabies? That was bad right? Kendra would definitely tell on him if he got bit by an animal with rabies.

Maybe it just didn’t see him, he was perfectly camouflaged with his camouflage shirt after all!

He stopped backing up and straightened up, trying to look big. He stomped a foot hard and growled at the porcupine.

It stared at him for a long moment, seeming almost unimpressed a it’s nose twitched, but then it turned away and scurried off the path.

He let out a breath, that had been a bit scary. If he’d gotten bitten, or worse covered in those quills, he would’ve had no chance of hiding his excursion into the woods.

And worse, Kendra would stop him from coming back out.

He wished Kendra had come, she might’ve screamed, or spouted some boring fact about porcupines that would’ve made it seem tame. He could have made fun of her instead of being frightened.

Not that he was very frightened of course, but it felt… exposed being stared down by the porcupine with all those bristling quills. He should probably be careful to not step on one in the undergrowth.

He wavered for a moment, wondering if he should head back. He’d come a long way though, and if he went back with nothing to show for it Kendra would say she told him so and then make him stay in the yard for the week.

He nodded, he needed to find something interesting first, to show off to her. Then he’d go home. It wouldn’t be hard to find his way back.

Seth headed off down the trail again. He studied the trees and growth as he passed, noting the trees with moss and lichen growing on them (don’t some mosses only grow on one side of the tree? Or is that all of them? Or something else? He swears Kendra talked about it on the car ride). There was ivy twisting around some trees too, he’d have to be careful cause they might be poison ivy.

He frowned as the path forced, before checking his compass. The right one went northwest, and the other due east. Seth decided to stick with East.

Slowly the trees began to space out, and the shrubs grew lower and more spread out. The forest slowly grew brighter as well, and he was able to see around much further.

He was studying a cool red bird that was watching him from a tree when he noticed something strange.

There was what seemed to be a wall of ivy just sitting in the woods to the left of the path.

That certainly seemed interesting, maybe there was something cool there he could bring back to show Kendra. That would show her, she’d definitely come along next time and he could show her the ivy wall.

He grinned and headed off the path.

The dense undergrowth almost seemed to cling to his legs, the plants darker than the rest of the forest, and he was pretty sure that the one bush was covered in poisonous berries. He shoved through it all, pausing by a tree as he realized that the wall of ivy was actually some sort of structure, overgrown with ivy.

He shifted, something seemed off.

The forest was quiet.

He shook his head, it was fine, it was just some ivy. Honestly why was he so worried.

He trudged closer, studying the ivy. He wasn’t sure what the structure (a shed maybe?) was made of, probably wood but he couldn’t see it beneath the ivy.

He managed to walk around the shed, and faltered when he stumbled onto another path, with a circle that stopped right in front of the opening to the shed.

“Hail, young master,” crooned a silky voice.

Seth spun, looking into the shed and seeing an old woman.

He resisted the urge to shudder. She looked bad.

She was old and wrinkled, with matted white hair that almost seemed yellow. In her wrinkled hands she clutched a knotted rope that seemed to be covered in blood and saliva.

Seth wrinkled his nose as he glanced at his face, trying not to cringe when she smiled, showing missing teeth. Her filmy bloodshot eyes were locked on him and her smile stretched the purple scab on her face, which was matched by more on her arms.

She stood up, supporting herself on the stump.

“What brings you to my home?” the woman asked.

Her voice was lovely, like a song, and did not match her appearance.

He swallowed, noting how tall she was despite her state.

“I’m just out for a walk,” he said carefully. “Do you live out here?”

She nodded, “I do indeed. Would you care to come inside for some tea?”

Seth almost stepped forward, almost, but he caught himself.

Something was off.

“No, sorry, I need to get back in time for lunch or my sister will be upset.”

A fool proof plan: blame Kendra. It always worked for getting out of stuff at school.

“Oh of course,” she crooned. “It’s just been so long since I had a guest. Strange for you to be wandering about alone, what about your sister?”

“She’s doing summer homework,” Seth said immediately. “And it’s my grandpa’s land so I get to wander some.”

“Oh?” she said. “You’re old Stan’s kids then?”

“You know my grandpa then?” Seth asked.

“Oh, certainly,” she grinned. “He’s my landlord after all.”

Seth nodded sagely, “Well nice to meet you, what’s your name?”

“Don’t you know it’s rude to not introduce yourself first?” She chided lightly.

Something told Seth he shouldn’t give her his name, he was reminded of the old tales from his grandpa.

“I’m-“ Seth wracked his brain for a name. “I’m Aaron.”

Sorry Aaron his friend from school, first name he could think of.

“A pleasure, Aaron,” she said with gleaming eyes. “I do wish I had known you’d be stopping by, I must look frightful.”

“You look fine,” Seth lied. “Ms…”

She ignored his question, reaching behind her stump.

“Let me show you something interesting, in apology for being so unprepared for a guest.”

“I’ll send a note ahead of time next time.”

She smiled, somehow looking dangerous despite her appearance.

Seth blinked at what she pulled out from behind the stump. A little wooden man.

It was less than a foot tall and made entirely of dark wood. It was plain, not clothes or painted features, just wood held together with tiny gold hooks where the joints would be. It had a stick in it’s back, that the woman took hold of.

Placing a paddle on her lap, she began to make the puppet dance by moving the stick. It was rhythmic and reminded Seth of Kendra when she did tap dancing, before she picked up piano.

“That’s a cool… puppet,” he said.

He should really get out of here, it felt wrong.

A rat scurried behind her stump and Seth looked away.

“It’s not a puppet, dear Aaron, it’s a limberjack.”

“Where’s his ax?”

“Not a lumberjack, a limberjack,” she chided. “It’s known by other names, a clog doll, or a jigger, perhaps a dancing dan?”

Seth shrugged.

“Well, I call him Mendigo. He keeps me company in this old shack of mine. Why don’t you come over, I’ll let you try him out.”

“I better not,” he said, something was very off. Her eyes were too bright, her smile too sharp, the doll too smooth. “I need to get back; my sister won’t be happy if I get delayed by crazy old witches in the woods.”

Her eyes flashed, “Old witches in the woods give the most interesting presents to those that treat them with respect.”

Seth shrugged, “I don’t need any presents. I’m just wandering. It was nice to meet you-“

“Leaving so soon?”

“I’ll come by another time,” Seth offered, having no intention of ever coming back. “Bye, Ms…”

She didn’t give her name, “Perhaps one last game before you leave, Aaron?”

His instincts told him to leave now, “Sorry, no can do.”

“Just one moment,” she crooned. She put the wooden doll away and pulled out a box and a shining gemstone. “I’ll even show a prize now. Simply touch the back of this box, and you may have this gem.”

Seth hesitated, he could sell the stone, after showing it off to Kendra, and have a lot of money.

But…

But this lady seemed crazy, dangerous, unhinged. And she still hadn’t given him her name.

“I’d rather play with the puppet,” he said. “I have to go. Bye crazy witch.”

“So insolent,” she mused. “Children these days really do as they please. Should you leave on this note your journey home may not be so pleasant, young adventurer.”

He shivered, her tone was dangerous, the air seemed heavy.

“I’m in a hurry,” he offered as he inched around the shed. “Lunch is soon.”

She hummed, her eyes closing as she raised a hand.

He didn’t take his eyes from her though she made no move to follow, her mumbling making his hair stand on end even when she was out of view.

As soon as he reached the far side of the shack he bolted.

Plunging through the undergrowth he dashed back to the path, pushing past the poisonous and dark plants that seemed to mirror the shed of the witch lady.

He glanced over his shoulder and though he saw no sign of her he couldn’t help but shiver. She had looked so wretched and smelled so foul and her challenge…

It reminded him scarily of one of Grandpa’s stories.

A witch in the woods.

But those were just fairy tales, everyone knew they weren’t true.

Seth couldn’t help but feel unsafe as he reached the path. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t following, or that he knew she couldn’t be a witch because witches weren’t real. Something was off and he needed to get back to the house.

Compass in hand he hurried down the path, glancing down at it to confirm the path he winced at the sudden sting in his ear.

He spun, seeing a pebble fall to the ground.

Who-

He looked around, but no one was there.

Could it be the old woman?

Another object struck him in the back of the neck, making him spin again, just in time to find an acorn flying at him.

He dodged it, tense as he noticed a rat scurrying through the bushes.

That was from two different directions.

He flinched, jumping back as he heard a cracking noise, like wood splitting.

A huge tree limb fell where he’d just been standing, a few leaves and twigs swishing him as it did.

The blood drained from his face.

If he hadn’t jumped back-

That could’ve killed him.

He swallowed, looking around, but the dark forest offered nothing.

A large spider crawled up the side of a tree, a rat scurried through the bushes.

Vague murmurs seemed to follow him as he took off at a sprint down the path.

Whispers crawled up his spine, stones and acorns whizzed at him as he ran, stinging his arms, back, legs. He ducked and wove and then cried at as something snatched at his ankle.

His hands ached as he tried and failed to catch himself. Rocks dug into stomach, his cheek was wet, blood? He scrambled for his ankle, finding nothing there. His ankle throbbed with pain, did he sprain it?

That had felt like something hard and thin, like a strong cord. A trip wire? But how? There hadn’t been one earlier, and the woman couldn’t have done it even if she’d started running the moment he’d passed out of sight.

There was a cracking noise above him, and he rolled over just in time for a branch to hit the ground where he’d just been.

Stumbling to his feet he winced at the pain in his ankle, wiping his cheek and swallowing hard at the blood on his hand.

There was a rustling noise behind him, and something that sounded almost like a laugh.

The bushes seemed to stretch out, dark and foreboding.

He flinched at the cracking noise of a dry branch behind him, and then he took off again.

He tried to watch where he put his feet, flinching at ever stone thrown at him.

He raced past the place where the trail forked and sprinted back the way he came.

He wondered if the fairy tales held some truth to them and he’d angered a witch.

But no, those were just tales. This was ridiculous, the lady must’ve had a friend close by or else this wouldn’t be possible.

His breathing was labored, gasping for breath as he felt his lungs struggle to draw. No, not having an asthma attack now, worst outcome.

He forced himself to keep going, ignoring his own wheezing, the heat in the air, the seat on his forehead. He had to get to the house.

He stumbled to a halt, breath a strangled wheeze. He knew that gnarled tree on the side of the path. He’d seen it when inspecting the path.

He used it as a reference to find the pile of rocks, but they were gone. He knew this was where he’d made the pyramid…

Leaves crunched, a cracking noise echoed above him.

Seth took a quick look at his compass to confirm that he was heading West, then dove into the forest.

Earlier he’d walked this at a leisurely pace, studying all the trees and bushes and flowers and toadstools and every unusual rock he could find. He’d even saved one or two. Now he tore through the forest at full speed, his vision blurry and his breathing strangled. The undergrowth clawed at his legs, thorns that hadn’t been a concern before tearing at his pants. Branches whipped against his face and chest, more blood dripped from his face.

And that’s not even counting the continued pebbles striking him, nor the second time he fell (his ankle throbbing, definitely injured now, and the trip wire made of a hard cord sitting innocently in the trees).

Finally, wheezing and gasping and clutching his chest, the energy his panic wearing thin and his strength lagging, he glimpsed the house up ahead.

The sounds of pursuit faded away as he stumbled into the yard, safe at last.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The wall opposite the windows in the playroom had multiple rows of bookshelves and a few wardrobes.

She had searched the wardrobes, thinking of Narnia as she searched through them.

Though she found no secret passages, she did find some very nice jackets, a few even fit her!

There were also little drawers built into the inside of one of the wardrobes, and it held all kinds of jewelry, hair pins, and assorted beauty supplies. There was even one drawer that just seemed to have hidden weapons.

The one bracelet with a skinny blade hidden inside was very pretty and Kendra wanted. Seth would probably find them super cool too.

She’d thrown a few of the jackets that were his size there (there were even cloaks and she’d absolutely claimed one cause… cloak).

The books on the shelves looked very interesting, and Kendra was definitely gonna devote time to reading them, but they didn’t reveal a secret door either.

She’d searched with a stool tool, reaching even the highest shelves.

They did reveal something else though.

Now Kendra was holding a leather covered blue book, with gold letters on the front and edging the pages. The Journal of Secrets.

It was very fancy, and held shut by three sturdy clasps, each with a keyhole. The final key from Grandpa didn’t fit any of the keyholes, but the two she’d found earlier did.

She heard someone stumbling up the steps and quickly put the book back on the shelf and pocketed the keys. She didn’t want Seth joining in the puzzle, that was her thing.

Seth charged through te door and slammed it shut behind him.

She opened her mouth to chide him but faltered when she took in his appearance.

His face was bloody and so were his hands. His pants had tears in them, and his knees looked a bit bloody as well. He was covered in dirt with leaves and twigs stuck in his hair.

Most worrisomely, he was wheezing hard.

“Seth!” she hurried over to him. “What happened? Oh no, lets get some water, and bandaids. Can you breathe? Do you need your inhaler? Stars how did you get so torn up?”

Seth dug through his emergency kit, struggling to breathe and his hands shaking.

“Here,” Kendra said, taking it from him. “I got it.”

She found his emergency inhaler buried at the bottom, and the spacer and shook the inhaler before putting them together, then handed it to Seth.

He struggled for a moment, letting out a strangled cough as he tried to hold his breath.

In, out, in, out, in, and he breathed out all his air, then quickly put the mouth piece in front of him and hit the inhaler, breathing in.

He held his breath for a few seconds, counting silently, before he let it out and broke into a coughing fit.

After a moment he repeated the process.

Kendra turned away, digging through her own bag to find the heart rate monitor.

“How did this happen?” she asked, handing it to him to check his oxygen level.

“Uh, was in the forest-“ he coughed “-and found… found- old lady. Like a witch, she lives in the woods-- in this old hut-“ he paused to catch his breath, coughing more.

“An old lady living in the forest?” Kendra wondered. “Did she attack you?”

“No, but-“ he coughed “-seemed like… whatsername, from grandpa’s stories, the witch in the forest. Stars what’s ‘er name.”

“Muriel?” Kendra asked. “The old wife from like 160 years ago?”

“Yeah- the one locked, in a shack, with the magic rope. The lady, had a rope, and uh-“ he coughed and winced when Kendra shot a pointed look at his inhaler.

He shook it, then copied what he’d done earlier, letting out a breath after about ten seconds.

“Well uh, had a creepy doll too. Wouldn’t say her name.”

“You didn’t tell her yours, did you?” Kendra sked worriedly, checking his oxygen and frowning when it was at 92. That’s lower than it should be.

“No, I said my name was Aaron. But-“ he paused for breath “-but I left, cause she creepy with creepy box and stuff, there was something, someone? Multiple people?” he broke into a coughing fit and paused to take deep breaths.

“People did something?”

“Threw rocks,” he got out. “Lots. And a trip wire… and branches fell, almost hit me. Big ones.”

Kendra frowned, Seth didn’t have asthma attacks very often anymore, so something definitely happened, and he’s bleeding…

“Did you see anyone?”

“Just some… spiders… and rats… no people- ‘cept her.”

He stood straight, and a check of the monitor said his oxygen was 93.

Good, he’s recovering.

“Do you think Grandpa Sorenson knows he has a creepy old lady on his property?”

“She mentioned him,” Seth said, his breathing still strangled but he could talk easier. “And if she is’a witch then-“

“Those are fairy tales,” Kendra argued. “She definitely sounds creepy though, you shouldn’t go back into the woods.”

“You should come with next time.”

Kendra frowned, “Next time? Seth you’re bleeding! You apparently got attacked by a creepy old lady!”

“Yeah but-“ he paused “-I found a cool thing. And you said if I found a cool thing-“

“I said if you found a witch in the woods you weren’t going back,” she pointed out.

“Okay she’s not’a’witch then!”

Kendra huffed, “Lets get you cleaned up.”

Seth frowned, “I wanna explore more later. I’m gonna.”

“If you come back again scratched up and bleeding and having an asthma attack I’m telling Grandpa,” Kendra said. “That’s dangerous.”

“Fine, sure,” he coughed. “I’ll stay ‘way from the place I found the lady.”

Kendra frowned, but pulled out a water bottle and some napkins from her bag.

Seth brought exploration tools, she brought medical supplies.

“Stay still so I can clean up the blood.”

“You wanna come next time?”

She hummed, getting to work, “We’ll see.”

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to reblog and leave a review, they feed my soul.

What did you think of Seth's encounter? What about Kendra's looking around the room? How about what they talked about at the end?

I had to cut out the treehouse scene, it didn't fit but I'll put it in a bit later.

#fablehaven #dragonwatch #fh #dw #fhdw #kendra sorenson #seth sorenson #fh fanfic #fh fanfiction #fablehaven fanfic #fablehaven fanfiction #fablekingdom #fablekingdom ch. 4 #fablekingdom ch 4 #FK ch 4 #grandpa sorenson #muriel #muriel taggert

11 notes · View notes

waypathfinder · 5 years ago

Text

Crimson Lane - Chapter 18 - Reckoning

Moodboard by @ashtyntaytertot

Beta’d by @kathknight and @ashtyntaytertot

Links

Tumblr Master Post

Archive of our Own (from the start)

Archive of our Own (chapter)

Fanfiction.net

Chapter Text

He's like nobody else in the world. When I am with him, it's like I'm split in half. Part of me is on fire, going crazy if I'm not touching him. The other half is calm and peaceful, just perfectly content, knowing he is the one for me.

-Unknown

Coruscating sunlight speared through the iron bars of the brothel window as Phasma opened the rich velvet curtains, disturbing swarms of dust left dancing in the dim morning light.

The brothel had a certain smell to it in the morning, a mix of burnt-out incense, disinfectant and sex. The first two odours came and went as the day went on, but the latter was constant, a heady layer of latex, lubricant and body fluids.

She blinked warily against the offending sunlight. She was tired; so damn tired of all of it.

Snoke had left her worn and more than a little bruised last night. Shed worked with him for two solid hours, putting up with the way his fingers trembled with rage each time he yanked her by the hair, that glow of repressed sadistic desire flashing in his cold eyes.

Eventually, the viagra had faded and Snoke’s hatred took a less physical form.

That evening, he’d sat up in bed, still wearing his dull gold robe.

“That fucking little shit thinks he can cross me with that whore!” His wrinkled lips continued to move long after the words finished.

Phasma rolled up her stockings, trying not to let them run beneath her long red nails, careful not to say a word. Snoke continued.

“And that little bitch, you know what I will do to her.”

Phasma nodded, eyelids lowered.

Yes, she knew. She knew all too well.

“And to think I took him in. Treated him as my protégé . He could have had everything, but now—” Snoke paused, catching his breath— “I’ll make sure he has nothing left.”

She nodded again, this time wiping a tissue between her legs.

Snoke’s eyes narrowed at her. “Did I tell you to clean that up?”

Phasma’s hands froze in place, gritting her teeth behind a forced smile. “I can leave it, if you insist.”

Snoke grabbed her blond hair, his iron knuckles grinding into her scalp. “Yes, I want you to leave it. You’re my bitch, you can smell like me all day.”

She lifted her chin, as much as was possible with him pinning her there.

“Certainly, Mr Snoke,” she choked.

He pulled her back to his chest, reaching over her until she could see the hairs of his nose and smell the stench of day-old tobacco on his breath.

“Where are you trying to run away to anyway?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Phasma replied, her eyes watering the more he dug sharp knuckles into her scalp.

“Good,” he groaned, caressing her cheeks. “Because I have a job for you.”

She fisted the sheets, fighting the instinct to rip herself from his hold. “Yes?”

Snoke let her go and she pulled away from him, careful not to rub her scalp or show any kind of discontentment over his treatment.

“I want you to change the bookings for tonight. Rey is not longer Kylo’s client. Give her to Hux instead.”

“What about Kylo?”

“Fuck Kylo,” Snoke snapped. “He’s finished here.”

“He won’t like to share. He’s grown attached to her.”

“Indeed, he has.” Snoke stroked his chin, the movement too slow and calculating. Phasma shivered. Fear had always been a part of the job, but something in the way Snoke smirked as he stared off into the distance, gave her a terrible sense of premonition.

This was not going to go the way Kylo had planned.

“Hux can have her for two hours. Then book her in with Seth. That sick bastard will enjoy grazing on Kylo’s leftovers.”

Phasma swallowed. “Seth, okay. Is that all?”

“Then me.”

Phasma could barely breathe, she knew what this meant, she pressed her hands together, trying to hide the way they trembled.

“What do you need for it?” Her voice wavered with a sharp inclination at the end. She needed to regain her mask.

“Waist harness, ropes, the usual assortment of knives. Lots of towels, plastic sheets, and don’t forget a body bag. We don’t want that shit getting everywhere like last time.”

A Judas Cradle, she realised, feeling like her body had filled with ice cubes. She was going to throw up. He’d done this once before to the last Master of the Knights of Ren. Before Kylo. Before many of them. To think she had been with Snoke for all these years, but why wouldn’t she be? He had saved her from the streets when she was young, he had been kind to her, favouring her above everyone else. She had privileges and was trusted with secrets. No one else had that.

But Rey… That stupid girl. She was a child.

“What if someone finds out?”

“They won’t, she’s a street rat with no family. Nobody will miss it.”

It. The word was not lost on her. Is that what he thought of her ? How she’d thought she was somehow special. He viewed street trash all the same.

“What’s your problem?” Snoke scoffed. “Don’t tell me you’re going fucking soft now?”

“I don’t understand why you’re going after her. Kylo’s the one who's pissed you off.”

“Kylo!” Snoke roared, coming to stand. “Kylo!” he shouted again, this time forced a pause, calming himself with a shaking breath before speaking quietly. “Kylo was mine. She stole him from me. If you are like my daughter, Phasma, he was my son.”

Phasma stood, wrapping a sage robe around her body. “Either way, he won’t let you anywhere near her.”

“He won’t be alive to stop it.”

“You wouldn’t—” She didn’t care. But this…

This was madness.

Snoke walked to the door, peering back at her with an unbalanced snarl.

“Kylo Ren is not part of our family anymore.”

“I’ll make you a deal.” The silver flash of Kylo’s car keys caught in the sunlight as Rey eyed them hungrily.

“No.”

She tried not to laugh. “Hear me out.”

Kylo folded his arms in an attempt to look menacing. She knew this look , she had seen it on him more times that not, but now it was endearing.

“First one to the bottom of the steps gets to drive the Upsilion.”

There was a flicker at the corner of Kylo’s mouth and a brightness to his eyes, even though he was clearly trying to remain stern.

“How about I drive the Upsilion, since it is my car.”

“Well,” Rey said, pulling him close by the lapels of his jacket. “ Technically , it’s leased. So it’s not really your car, and…”

She yanked the keys so hard they pulled through his fingers and into her hand. She was ready to run when her whole body jolted back, the solid barrier of his arm wrapping around her waist, her feet dangling a couple of inches from the ground.

“Nice try, sweetheart,” he whispered into her ear as he snatched the keys back from her, tossing her behind him, gently enough that she landed on her feet, but with enough force to give her a moment of unbalance.

In a whirl of black, the door slammed closed in front of her and he was gone. Rey didn’t hesitate. She charged through, catching sight of his tall frame moving down the stairs. She could even hear him laughing as he clomped down every step, and Rey felt a light flitter in her chest at the sound.

“Hey Ben!” she cried out. It was enough to make him pause.

She jumped, slamming roughly against his back and grabbing hold of his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his waist. He stumbled, grabbing hold of the railing with one hand, holding his keys in a death grip, despite Rey’s repeated attempts to pull them free.

“Give it up, Solo!” She laughed, sending nimble fingers scrambling to tickle and jab him, but instead of letting go, he sent his arms back to grab hold of her thighs and ran down the stairs.

Rey shrieked and squealed as he bolted down the stairs, both of them erupting in uncontrollable laughter on the landing.

H released her, and she slid off his back, unable to grab her breath between her laughter.

“You’re crazy, you know that!?” he said, between gasping breaths.

She placed her hands on his shoulders. “Crazy for you, maybe.”

Then her fingers began to slide down his arm, in slow massaging swirls. Kylo groaned and pressed her against the wall.

“ Maybe , is it?”

Rey shrugged with an irrepressible smile. “Maybe.”

“I’ll give you maybe !” He lowered his head down to kiss her, but instead, she reached up on her tippy-toes, meeting him with an equally passionate kiss.

There was a groan and a cough behind them. They both jumped at the same time, turning around to see Phasma glaring at them. She was dressed in everyday clothes: black slacks, silver knitted jumper and her hair was, as ever, austerely slicked back.

Rey felt her cheeks grow hot at the thought of someone watching them and slipped behind Kylo.

Phasma rolled her eyes as she worked through the planner.

“Snoke will be here soon,” she deadpanned, not even bothering to look up at them.

“He’s on the highway.”

Rey stiffened, accidentally letting out a degenerate whimper. Phasma’s tired eyes glanced up at her at that moment, and something faltered in her steely gaze and she looked… lost.

Rey’s heart pounded at the thought of Snoke bursting through the door and she began tugging at the back of Kylo’s shirt to go. And still, Phasma was staring. A shiver slipped down Rey’s spine, almost like Phasma knew something… Something bad.

“You alright, Phas?” Ben asked, his voice surprisingly gentle.

Phasma’s lips tightened into a bitter smile. “It’s been a long night.”

“Get some rest, hey,” Kylo said. “You know he never goes more than two nights in a row.”

“Yeah, I know.” Phasma nodded and proceeded to tear a piece of paper out of the planner, holding it out to them. “Kylo. Snoke left you this message.”

Kylo took the paper, opening the scrunched ball and reading it quietly. Once finished, he peered up at Phasma and said a quiet, “thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said, resuming her pose, bent over the planner, moving bookings around.

Rey raised her eyebrows as he returned to her, holding the motley piece of lined paper up for her to see.

Don’t come back.

Once they were on the street, Kylo threw her the keys.

“Here, you earned it.”

“You bet I did.” Rey beamed, pulling the lanyard around her neck. “Hey, did you think Phasma seemed a little …”

“Nice?”

Rey stifled a laugh. “Yeah.”

“Snoke works her pretty hard. How would you be?”

In a flash, Rey imagined opening up herself for that decrepit murderer. “It’s horrible.”

Kylo shrugged, as though to say, ‘it’s just how things were here’.

And perhaps it was, but it seemed to Rey no money in the world would ever be worth sleeping with Snoke. She sidled up next to Kylo, his keys heavy around her neck, pressing into her chest uncomfortably.

“What do you think the note meant?”

Kylo looked away from her, hands in his pockets. “It was a warning.”

“From Snoke?”

“Phasma.” He stopped walking, his large frame cutting a divide in the path, people spilled on either side of them; normal people, with normal lives. Worry etched in the pucker of skin between his eyebrows, the way his brows were low and his eyes fixed on the way back to the brothel, gaze bearing through the thick grey walls.

“What is it?”

“If Phasma’s warning us not to come back, she must have a very good reason for it. She doesn’t stick her neck out for anyone.”

Rey too looked back at the gloss red brothel door, tucked within the black walls of the building, innocuous and quaint in the morning sun. The hairs at the back of her neck began to rise, and she couldn’t shake the unsettled way Phasma had looked at her. It was nothing more than paranoia, but still … she couldn’t help shaking the feeling there was something more to it …

They hastened away from the shady path where the brothels of Crimson Lane spilled out onto the street, towards a section where the buildings were lower, allowing sunlight to reach their faces.

Kylo powered through the Autumn leaves, laying thick on the ground. They scattered on the pavement, like the forgotten ashes of summer, clumps of them in rotting piles alongside half-squished cigarette butts and pigeon poo.

Rey lagged behind Kylo, looking at the boarded windows squeezed between trendy open-wall cafes, serving smashed avocado sandwiches and matcha lattes. The whole area was a contradiction unto itself; dark, stagnant alleyways lined with overflowing bins and broken glass, decorated with ornate, iron castwork verandas, and hanging plants in rainbow pots.

At the end of the laneway, a young man with silver hair strummed away on his guitar, singing John Denver ballads, dipping his flat cap whenever someone tossed him a coin, a rushed

“thank you” between his lines.

Kylo waited for her to catch up. “What are you doing?”

Rey shrugged, as if waking from a dream. “It’s kind of beautiful in a way. Don’t you think?”

“In the way that half the buildings are condemned and the street smells like a proliferation of rats and exhaust fumes?”

She swatted him playfully on the shoulder. “No, in the way it’s never truly one thing.”

A tawny-skinned woman with wiry hair and missing teeth pushed past them, slurring raised words into her mobile phone, “My fucking neighbour and their fucking cat!”

Their eyes met and Kylo wrapped his arm around her waist and, pressing her close to his side as they continued to walk to the car.

Neither said a word and Rey fought hard to hold back the smile that was threatening to make her look like an over-excited school girl. It was such a little thing; the act of walking down the street, arm-in-arm, with another. People did it all the time.

But not her. And being with him like this, amidst the beggars on the corners and Gucci-wearing fashionistas in the cafe, it seemed to her like a snapshot in time that she might look back on one day and remember the moment when she meant something to somebody.

Come let me love you,

Let me give my life to you

Let me drown in your laughter

Let me die in your arms

Let me lay down beside you

They strolled past the busker as Kylo left a $50 in his guitar case and Rey squeezed him a little tighter.

“Wow, thank you!” he called out after them and Kylo waved his hand at him, mumbling a simple, “don’t mention it.”

They reached his car and she turned around to face him, removing the keys.

“You can drive.”

He raised a single eyebrow at her.

“That way I can jump out if you start hooning again.”

“You’re something of a smart arse, you know that?”

His warm, slender fingers traced around her waist onto her bottom, sliding his hands into her back pocket and out again. Rey was barely paying attention, Phasma had mentioned that Snoke was on the highway, not more than 20 minutes away.

When she turned back to Kylo, he was holding out the the blank screen of her dead phone.

“I thought you looked everywhere for this?”

“I did!” she argued, trying to grab at it.

“Everywhere, except for your jeans pocket?”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God, Snoke didn’t have it, or anyone else for that matter.”

“I want to take you to breakfast. How about that new cafe that opened by the bus stop at the bottom of the hill?”

Rey bit her lip, once more, darting her eyes up and down the street.

“I think we should disappear for a while, don’t you?”

“I’m open to that.” Kylo leaned in to her, his voice thready in the way that threatened to destroy her. “Why don’t you come back to my place?”

Rey felt the weight of his gaze pressing down on her with everything those dark eyes promised. She could imagine “his place”, some skyrise apartment in the centre of town with matching furniture and minimalist decor. Her shoe box of a home wouldn’t hold a candle to it, and yet, that was where she really wanted to bring him, as though letting him in her space was accepting that she was folding him into her life.

Plus, she didn’t want to know how rich he was, she had her suspicions, but wealth was something that had intimidated her after growing up with a lifetime of nothing.

“How about you come to mine instead?” she asked, kissing him on the tip of his long nose. “I desperately want to get out of these clothes.”

“Oh, yes?”

“And into some fresh ones.” She nudged him again and he lowered his head, kissing her chastely.

How she wanted to melt in his arms, to throw caution to the wind and kiss him with the passion that constantly yanked at her. It was not enough, to stand here on the street; hugging, kissing. It would never be enough.

But somebody could be watching, and it wasn’t safe to stay here.

She stiffened in his arms, pulling back with a tense smile. “Can we…?” She nodded her head to the door and Kylo moved to let her in.

She squeezed into the restrictive red leather of the chair, thinking about the last time he had taken her for a drive.

Kylo got into the driver’s seat and slid his hand across her thigh. He turned the engine on, and removed his wandering hand from her thigh to grip the gear stick, muscles tensing in his forearm just the way she liked.

“I’m starting to wish it was an automatic now,” he grumbled.

Rey laughed. “Here, let me.” She slid her hand across his thigh. Beneath the material of his trousers, she could feel the messy swirls of his leg hair, and the hardness of his thigh.

Rock hard . She tracked along the lines of his quadriceps. He must work out, or was it just the physical nature of his work? She grimaced, trying not to think of that last part. As her fingers wandered, the material of his trousers shifted and when she looked up his cheeks and ears were red.

What power she had over him. She moved her fingers again, fascinated, closer now between his legs and the movement came again in bounding pulses.

“Are you quite finished?” Kylo asked at last, though he couldn’t hide the deep darkness that bloomed in his eyes.

Rey felt the blood rise up into her cheeks also, and nodded. “For now.”Then cringed with how forward that sounded. What in God’s name was this man doing to her?

He revved the engine twice and Rey rolled her eyes. But then the engine cut suddenly.

“Get down!” he yelled.

A black Chrysler limousine rounded the corner, moving slowly in their direction, windows so heavily tinted it was like looking into a night without stars.

Rey’s body jolted with a sickening pulse at the realisation that Snoke was looming towards them.

“Quick, get down and I’ll cover you. He can’t see you here.”

Rey yanked her belt off and pushed the seat back as far as it would go, squeezing her body between the glove compartment and the floor. As soon as she was down, her view was obscured by a heavy wool coat that Kylo had thrown over her head, his rushed fingers spreading it over the top of her to make sure every part was covered.

“Fuck, fuck,” he muttered and she could hear the fear in his voice. She only hoped it didn’t show on his face.

She heard the electric window going down and Kylo’s gentle hand patted her head, whispering for her not to say a word.

There was a slow scrunch of tyres pulling up next to them…

And then, silence.

Rey squeezed her eyes shut, skin wet with the humidity of her breath trapped under the heavy coat.

“Where are you going?” Snoke’s voice was low, barely audible above the traffic, but carefully controlled, like he wanted Kylo to strain to hear him.

“Breakfast. I’ll be back in thirty.”

Rey strained to hear them. There was a distant horn blasting from far down the road, the low, breathy sound of busy commuter roads, and lastly the staccato tapping of a pedestrian crossing.

But from Snoke there was nothing.

Just pointed and purposeful silence.

“Do you want me to get you something?” Kylo asked, his voice too unsteady.

“Where’s your whore?”

Rey’s heart pounded harder than ever, sweat trickling down from her hairline. He knows she’s here. She thought of Phasma, the note, the sorry-looking, guarded expression on her face, the closest thing to pity she had ever shown.

“Rey’s back in the room,” Kylo answered quickly. His voice was masked now, devoid of any fear or emotion. “I’m finished with her. Fuck her yourself if you want.”

Rey cringed. She knew he was saying it to get him to leave, but still…

“That’s awfully generous of you?”

“My treat.”

Rey squeezed her eyes shut, trying to unhear his words. The way she was being treated as a commodity, nothing more than a sex toy for them to share. Digging her fingers into her forearms, she pleaded to God that Snoke would leave already.

“Does she know yet?” Snoke asked.

Rey froze at the question, struggling to breathe in her dark cocoon.

Does she know what?

The leather creaked where Kylo was sitting. Uncomfortable . She could picture him, knuckles blanched at the steering wheel, the slightest flicker of anguish ticking beneath his eye.

“She knows,” he answered quietly.

“Huh,” Snoke responded. “And still, she fucks you?”

“I don’t want to rush you, but Rey was about to head out. If you want to catch her before she goes, then you better hurry up.”

“We can’t have that, can we?” Rey could hear the smile in Snoke’s voice, those yellow-tarnished teeth, flashes of gold. A disgusting image of a man. “Very well. Be back here in thirty.”

Finally, the outside noises of the city abruptly fell away into silence as the window wound up again.

The memory of the conversation seemed to disappear into a vacuum, muffled and running away from her as she tried to grasp hold of it, replaying the words in her mind.

What did she know?

Her calves were burning and she was so damn hot, she began to move —

“Not yet,” Kylo hissed.

Rey waited for him to do or say something, but instead, they sat in silence, broken only by the sound of Kylo’s shaking breath — In out, in out, in out .

Does she know?

...

Does she know?

...

Does she?

...

After all this time, has she always known?

The Upsilion engine started again, followed by the ticking of the indicator lever and the car pulled out. Once he had turned a couple of corners and finished along a stretch of road, Kylo let out a relieved sigh.

“It’s safe now.”

Rey threw the jacket off and into the back seat, wiping the mix of condensation and sweat off her face. Slowly, she moved back into her chair, unable to focus on anything other than him. Kylo kept his eyes on the road, expression grim.

She did not return her hand to his thigh.

And still it was so quiet, the air so heavy with words left unsaid. He drove, weaving through traffic, speeding like he had the first time, eyes so focused and fixed on the task at hand.

It all seemed too pointed, too purposeful.

She swallowed, her throat cracked with dryness.

“Kylo?”

He breathed out through his nose, fingers gripping the wheel even tighter than before.

“ Kylo ?” she said a little louder, this time touching his arm.

He yanked a hard left on the steering wheel and the car swerved, forcing Rey to grasp hold of the roof handle. With a sharp stop, he had pulled into the gutter.

“Ask me,” he said.

Rey’s mouth dropped in shock. Just like that?

He turned to her, eyes red-rimmed and tired. “Ask me anything Rey. I will answer it.”

Anything?

She barely knew what to say.

“No more, secrets. Not with you.” He turned to her again, lips trembling. “ Ask me! ”

Was it you?

The words surfaced, like a stray whisper rising up in her mind like a poisonous fog. It wasn’t the first time they had come. It wouldn’t be the last, but…

She couldn’t. Not now.

A single tear crept down her cheek.

“Why me?” Her voice croaked, throat dry as sandpaper.

His hand dropped to her knee, his fingers warm and sweaty, lips parting as he took a deep breath before answering her.

But she stopped him before he could speak. “I mean...”

How could she stop her voice from shaking?

He waited, looking at her as though he were waiting for the axe to fall.

“You could have had any girls, on any of the nights. Yet, you chose me. Every night.” Rey shook her head, as though trying to answer the puzzle in her mind. ”Why was I different? I mean, we didn’t really even sleep together until last night.”

“ Technically …”

“Don’t avoid the question. There was a reason you chose me. I want to know why.”

“To keep you safe,” he whispered, blinking quickly.

She raised her eyebrows, sceptically.

“And because I wanted you and couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else being with you.”

She placed a hand over his knee, and he grasped hold of it, caressing it.

“Because this thing, whatever it is we have, has overtaken me…”

She looked out the window, to the crowds of people passing by, going about their lives. A smile was blooming on her lips. She tried to repress it.

“Because you’re so passionate and strong, and …”

She snorted. “Okay, I get the picture.”

“Has anyone ever mentioned you’re terrible at receiving compliments?”

She looked down at her lap, concentrating on the vintage finish of her jeans. It was fading, and the threading was growing thin. She would have to replace them. “Is that the only reason?”

His lips moved; moist and plush.

“Yes,” he said at last.

Rey breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn’t him. She buried the questions rising up inside her heart, shoving them down like the stray hateful thoughts they were.

She smiled, pushing his hand away. But he stole it within his hand and rushed in to kiss her.

His lips met hers again; gentle, chaste... honest.

He pulled away less than an inch, allowing his thumb to stroke her cheek. “Because I…”

Her heart stopped; waiting, fearing, hoping…

“Don’t say it,” she answered, breathless. “We barely know each other.”

Her eyes filled with tears. He couldn’t.

“Rey,” he whispered, pressing his forehead into her own.

“I don’t deserve it. I’m nobody.”

He kissed a tear, that lopsided half-smile of his, hesitating with the words that held to his lips.

“You’re everything to me.”

She turned away, heart pounding too hard, mind rushing with a thousand thoughts as his lips praised her neck and jaw.

“I’m falling in love with you. I can’t control it.”

“Ben,” she whispered. “It’s too soon.”

She felt the words hot against her face. “I shouldn’t have said—”

“No,” she stopped him short, fingers reaching into his own. “I feel the same.”

Her body gave into his with demanding, desiring, hungry, lascivious kisses. Bodies pressed, fingers searching, pulling, tearing, pulses firing, the rise of lust pulling them closer and harder together, aching for more.

Those rogue questions subsided, like the hint of a mirage disappearing in the morning light.

Was it even there? Had she ever doubted him?

“Let’s go home,” Rey panted, pawing at his chest.

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” Kylo sped out onto the road, window down, the cold air hitting their faces. Without a word, he drove faster than he had ever driven before.

One, two, three, four, five…

The last one stuck. Rey shoved the key hard into the lock, wriggling it in the secret way only she knew how.

“Will you hurry up and open the door,” Kylo growled, nipping at her neck in a furious rush.

“Give me a minute,” she chided. “There are six locks on this door, and each one needs a special kind of wriggle and pressure to open.”

“Speaking of which…” He gestured to the locks, with a lost look on his face. “Why?”

Rey smiled sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders.

Because she didn’t like to sleep alone, because being anywhere, alone, in the night, brought back memories that left her screaming in her sleep and seeing demons in the day.

But instead...

“I’m protective of my stuff.” The words came out far more off-handed than she intended, how could they not? Considering what lay behind them. “I may not have much, but what I do have, I treasure.”

He nodded and his face distorted into that uncomfortable scowl, the one that looked like he had swallowed something bitter. But he didn’t press the subject and if he suspected she wasn’t telling him the whole truth, he wasn’t going to pursue it now.

“I understand. I’m protective of my things too, but—” he slid a hand beneath her jumper, curling around her back and pulling her close to him— “if I knew you lived in Fort Knox, I would have made you come to mine.”

She stifled a laugh and shoved him back with her arse, an invitation obviously, because he pulled her hips back into his and took her earlobe into his mouth, sucking it between his teeth as he groaned.

A cascade of shivers travelled from Rey’s neck to her toes and she opened that damn door faster than she’d ever done before. The lock clicked and she pushed her shoulder against the door, giving the lower edge a sharp kick where it always jarred.

They spilled through the doorway, arms grappling each other, stumbling against the door frame, and knocking a side table over in a rush of messy kisses.

Their breaths came in heaves, fingers in a flurry of pulling and ripping until they were in their underwear. Rey covered Kylo’s chest in passionate kisses, tongue swirling over every plateau and valley of his torso. She barely breathed, attacking him like their world was about to end.

And who knew, maybe it was? How much longer could they realistically have before something went wrong?

She felt a stone-like weight in her gut at the thought, at the inevitable truth that all of this was racing towards a climax she had no control over.

Kylo pressed her against the wall, grinding his erection against her panties, his crooked fangs grazing across her lips as she wrapped her legs around his waist, squeezing, reciprocating the movement, scratching her nails through his hair as he panted animalistic moans by her ear.

Not enough. Never enough.

“Bed!” she gasped and the world spun around her and she gripped him tighter with her thighs until he threw her on top of it. She tumbled onto the mattress, her head bouncing on the hard base with an “oof”.

Unlike the brothel, her mattress was not plush and pillowy, instead, the bed barely held their weight.

“Careful!” she hissed as he climbed on top of her, the mattress creaking with the pressure of his hands and knees. It reminded her of their first night, how predatory he’d seemed, like a panther stalking its prey.

There was that part of him still. Like his body was just a shell that held back an avalanche of passion and urgency. It was there in the way his eyes bore too intently into hers, the way his fingers held her so tight, just past the point of comfort. A man starved of love and touch. He probably didn’t even know how much his body craved it.

His lips crushed against hers, and the dark, insatiable hunger in his eyes thrilled her. Her silk panties slipped down her legs, and she kicked them away. Out of the corner of her eye they flew past the kitchen and landed in the trash can. It would have made her laugh out loud, but she was too hungry for this to stop.

“Good,” he grunted into her ear and fiddled with her bra until she lost patience and sat up, swatting his hand away and removing it herself.

His eyes widened at the sight of her naked body across from him, unable to hide in the shadow here. He reached his hand out tentatively to her breast, but she caught it and pulled him down.

And then it was her turn, mounted on top of him, the material of his boxer shorts pressing into her, thin and silky, a touch damp.

Not enough.

“Let’s get rid of these.” Kylo’s eyebrows raised and he looked as though he was about to say something when she yanked his boxers down, careful as she moved around his erection, staring up at her; velvety, pink and pulsing. With a devilish glance, she pressed a kiss to the head and it bounded at her touch. She looked up at him through the messy curtains of hair, relishing in the pure ecstasy on his face.

“More?” she purred.

He nodded, the muscles in his neck moving as he swallowed. Her tongue slid around him, tasting of warmth and sex. His flesh prickled in goosebumps as she licked him.

She made him shiver and groan. Pride brought a smile to her face. His desire made her feel powerful, in control of her life, where she’d previously had none.

But then he rolled her over onto her back, clutching hips between his thighs as long, slender fingers searched between her legs, demanding arousal. She writhed and gasped, her eyes closed, focused on the mounting pleasure spiraling out of control within her.

It was too much.

She struggled to move away from his pleasuring strokes, attempting to roll him over. He finally yielded and she straddled her legs over him, stroking his cock with the slick warmth of her body.

“You like to be on top,” he said through a smirk.

“You remembered!”

“Of course I do. And you may remember, so do I—” He tried to pull her down again, but at that moment, she guided him into her, enjoying the width stretching her open. She looked down at his half-lidded eyes, glossy with desire, roaming from her face, down to her breasts, fixating on them with heady pupils, mesmerised as she stretched and stroked him with the rhythm of her dance.

She gave him a squeeze between her legs, and he groaned like a tamed beast.

“Still want it your way?”

He pressed his hands over her breasts, massaging them with a boyish smile.

“I suppose this is okay.”

Pleasure bloomed in her, she felt it curling in fiery blushes across her chest and cheeks. The sensation was calm enough to disarm her and she closed her eyes as if in prayer, losing herself to the feel of him inside her and the light touch of his right hand trailing down the entirety of her abdomen like a gentle vine, toying with the line of her pubic hair.

Rey’s stomach muscles squeezed with anticipation. But he just teased her, never allowing his fingers to wander where she most wanted them.

“Touch me,” she whispered, leaning down to kiss him on the lips. “ Please .”

He did as she asked, worshipping her womanhood with slow and reverent strokes. She felt like a goddess, in her home of light. There were no shaded windows or heavy curtains here; sunlight speared in through every window. There was no hiding in the sun. She leaned over him again, tasting his lips with hers, dipping her tongue beneath the sweet sheets of his. It didn’t take long for the tension to build, with every roll of her body, the muscles burned and beneath her, Kylo was moaning with adoring whispers.

“God, Rey,” he muttered, eyelids closing as a wave of pleasure threatened to toss him into wild release. His firm hand grabbed her arse, pressing her body hard against his.

He tried to resume his attention to her, but Rey smiled every time he got distracted. She thrust fast against him, setting the rhythm with the grip of his hand guiding her speed.

“Shit, Rey, it’s… fuck, I‘m gonna…”

She was ruining him — and she loved it.

He pressed his thumb clumsily against her clit and she chased her orgasm, mindless and needy, mad with desire to bring him to climax.

His hips slapped into her and she gripped hold of his shoulders, on the edge of the precipice and unable to hold back her own cries.

He froze, face concentrating, almost contorted in pain.

“Are you close?” he grunted.

“Yes,” she cried out, breathy and desperate.

The pressure of his fingers worked harder, clumsier, mindless and almost detrimental in their urgency, but she didn’t need them now, the rush of the orgasm was past the point of no return and her muscles ratcheted tightly until her walls clamped around him, her face pulling with that ultimate tightness, the last barrier before euphoria.

She crashed, her body limp and wet, collapsing on top of him, hardly noticing the way he pulled her beneath him, pounding away the last inch of restraint. With blissful calm, she focused on his face, beautiful in its sweat-glistening yearning, his eyes squeezed tight and lips pressed together as his own tension broke. With a sudden pull back, she felt the familiar warm trickle of his seed spill onto her body and his hot breath heaved into her neck.

She grasped his head, threading her fingers through his thick hair. Even though she still pulsed from her own release, and she was spent and satiated, her body ached to claim him again, already mourning the loss of him inside her.

For a long time, they were silent, speaking in nothing but slowing breaths.

“Ben.” Rey tugged at him. “Are you okay?”

His answer was a low, gurgling moan and she giggled.

“Are you dead?”

“I think so,” he groaned into her neck, his body hot and sweaty, weighing heavy on top of her.

“It’s so fucking hard to pull out of you.”

“Maybe we should slow down next time, you know, use a condom?”

A petulant muffle. “Don’t want to. I like the way you feel.”

She laughed, rolling him off her a little to get out from underneath his overbearing body. “Well, we better start using them or who knows, we’ll have a little Ben running around and you’ll run a mile!”

He moved his head to face her, almost annoyed. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“I was just joking.”

“I will never run from you,” he said, looking at her with such earnest sincerity that Rey had no choice but to believe him.

Her lips toyed with a shy smile. She could have answered “me neither”, or “same”, or anything, but in the glow of their lovemaking, her mind was muddled, foggy and lethargic.

And perhaps there was something stopping her from promising the same. It crept up on her: that toxic smoky shadow, tall shrouded figures, dark voices, violent hands. She held him tighter, eyes squeezed shut, holding onto this moment, the last glow of sunlight slipping beneath the bed of a crimson sky.

Her body was a traitor; she’d discovered that the night they’d first met, but how much more had her mind betrayed her? Gaslighting her with questions, then gouging away the doubt with some overconfident assurance that, no matter what flittering thoughts ate away at her, this one truth remained.

He was not her enemy.

So, why did she fight it now?

“Here.” She grabbed a box of tissues by her bed because that was easier than searching for the answers to her questions. “You made a mess.”

She grabbed some for herself, wiping away the remnants of their lovemaking, trying to change the direction of the thoughts in her mind.

“So, this is my home.” Rey rested her head on the flat of his chest. “What do you think?”

She looked around the room, seeing with fresh eyes the little compensations she had made in poverty. Her furniture; a couple of old pallets, sanded back and painted shabby chic, with recycled bean bag covers in velvet grey, reshaped and sewn into oversized cushions. The walls were bright with splashes of colour, a calendar photo reimagined into a wall print, featuring white sands, aquamarine water and long-tail boats covered in banners of coloured scarves. Another print, this time pulled from a travel brochure, the rainbow mountains of Peru, grossly photoshopped into more vibrant colours. All of them, a little dream, a promise to herself, a vision of what freedom might look like.

His hand disappeared beneath the bed, feeling around.

“The bed’s made of pallets too,” she told him quietly and refusing to meet his eyes. “You can get them for free at the hardware shop.”

His lips pressed onto her forehead and he squeezed her tighter.

“You’re amazing. You made all of this?”

“It’s not that hard. There are videos on YouTube.”

“Well, I have a confession to make. I can’t make anything.”

“You make money,” she said cheekily. “You don’t need to.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Umm, I don’t know, the car.” She raised her fingers as though she were counting. “The clothes, your accent, the watch, and the fact that you don’t seem to mind paying me an exorbitant hourly rate every night to not have sex.”

“We’re making up for it now, aren’t we?”

“I hardly consider this a paid visit.”

“Thank God for that. You were close to bankrupting me.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“It was a punt, I bought a few too many bitcoins a couple of years ago.”

“And now you’re a gazillionaire?”

“Not quite.” He yawned, stretching his pallid arms out and linking his fingers behind his neck.

“So, what now?”

“I’m going to jump in the shower. Feel free to grab some breakfast. There’s baked beans and bread in the kitchen.”

“Baked beans,” Kylo muttered. “Breakfast of kings.”

“You bet it is. Make yourself comfortable.”

He snuggled back into the bed, oversized lump that he was, feet dangling off the edge, arms spreadeagled.

“I’ll wait for you,” he yawned.

Rey grabbed her towel, hanging over the back of a chair and then picked up her jeans, searching through the back pockets until she found her phone. She pressed the home button. Unsurprisingly, it was still dead. On her way to the bathroom, she plugged it in by the bedroom and then left, eager to wash the sweat from her body.

When she looked back at Kylo, his breathing had deepened, blinking slowly. Rey smiled. He was so vulnerable like this, falling asleep like an overtired child. With one last look back, she left him to sleep.

Twenty minutes later, Rey vigorously rubbed her hair with the towel as she looked in the mirror, examining the soft hickey marks running along her neck. She pressed a finger to the largest one; it blanched white at her touch. They weren’t bad enough to cover up, and some could be mistaken for shadows if the light was dim.

She traced her finger idly around them, like stepping stones to her lips. She wondered if he had fared any better. Pulling on her jeans and an off-the-shoulder lemon knit, she ran her fingers through the wet tangles as her phone sprung to life in the next room.

Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding .

The tinny sound played on repeat. Almost running out of the room, she rushed over to silence it, but there was no need. Kylo was fast asleep, oblivious to the chorus of incoming notifications. Flicking it to “do not disturb”, she slipped it into her pocket, ignoring the constant stream of buzzing vibrations. He had curled over on his side now, lips half-buried into the pillow, dark lashes dusting the top of his cheeks. Little puffs of air escaped his lips with every exhale. His hair had fallen across his eyes, causing them to twitch. Her finger glided beneath the lock of hair, brushing it from his eye. She tilted her head, admiring the way he could look both young and old at the same time.

She would have curled up next to him, kissing his shoulder, tracing the few sparse hairs that were on his chest, but her phone was on constant vibrate now, indicating that someone was calling.

Regretfully, she kissed his forehead and left the room.

She had a small balcony, if one could call it that. A small one-by-one metre slab of concrete that the builders forgot to cut away. Around the edges was a lime green railing, cracked and rusted. It came up high, above her belly button, giving the sensation that she was in a cage.

The air outside was surprisingly warm for a mid-Winters day and the sun showered her face with heat and light as she pulled out her phone just as the last ring finished.

Poe Dameron

12 Missed Calls

Twelve? She scrolled down the feed on her lock screen.

Finn

6 Missed Calls

321

You have 8 new voicemails.

And then the messages began arriving.

Poe Dameron

We need to talk. Pronto!

Poe Dameron

It’s important. Pick up your phone.

Poe Dameron

Rey. Where are you?

Finn:

Hey, peanut. You around?

Finn:

Rey?

Finn:

Poe is losing his shit here. Call me. I’m starting to get worried.

One after the other, they came. Rey held the phone out in front of her. A strained feeling at the pit of her stomach squeezed tighter with every new ding.

She had forgotten, or at least pushed aside this part of her life. The mission Poe had tasked her with and what it all meant… the blood. The blood had been all over his hands last night. She hadn’t pressed it. He wouldn’t tell.

She knew, she knew, fuck, she knew what it all meant.

And then her phone rang.

Poe Dameron

Answer / Decline.

Dread trickled down her spine. All she could do was stare at it. Like this was the call that would tear her world apart. Unsure she would even hear him over the pounding of her own heartbeat, she pressed answer and closed her eyes. The brightness of the sun disappeared into a burnt red, light barging through her skin and to her retina.

“Hello?”

“Damn it, Rey!” He was shouting. “Where the hell have you been? Are you safe?”

“I’m f-fine. My phone was out of battery.”

“Shit, Rey. I thought — Look.” He paused, and she heard him taking a steadying breath, but when he spoke it still sounded like his voice was on the verge of breaking apart. “Lor’s dead.”

Rey moved her mouth; no words came out of it. Even though she was outside in the sun, the cracked walls of her apartment building seemed to close around her and the sun changed from something light and life-giving to a blazing flame, bearing down on her. Her body caved in, huddled around the phone.

“A fucking bullet through his brain,” he said, emotion spilling into his words. “They left him lying in his own blood.”

She couldn’t breathe. Her hand reached for the railing, clutching hold, beyond the world seemed to fall away.

“We didn’t even get the USB drive. It’s all lost. The whole fucking story is finished. We’ve got nothing!”

Silence.

“Well, say something!” he shouted. “Did you know about any of this?”

“He’s dead,” she whispered, at last, the words barely forming a sound.

“You need to get out of there Rey. It’s not safe for you.”

She no longer had a heartbeat, in place of it was a bass drum. It boomed with deafening beats; erratic and painful. She felt as though it stopped and started again with a wrench thump. She looked back into her apartment; Kylo was still sleeping. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes. It was all crumbling down.

“Rey, are you there?”

“I’m here.” Her voice wavered, and all the time she saw the blood, imaging it spiralling down the drain of their bathroom, the blood of an innocent man.

“I also ran the account number you’ve been paying your debt into. It’s Snoke’s. He’s been playing you from the start. That’s why he pulled you in. I fucking knew it, Rey. When you told me about the night you were attacked, I knew straight away that was Kylo Ren. It had his signature all over it. I didn’t want to say anything until I was a hundred percent sure…”

The world was collapsing, the street below, spiralling into an endless abyss.

It was him. It was him. It was him. It was him.

Her mind was broken, the words raced around her like stupid circling birds out of some Saturday morning cartoon. If only she could breathe. She clutched her abdomen, pressing on it, trying to force air into her lungs.

“You can’t go back there, Rey. Where are you now? We’ll come and get you.”

It was him. All this time. He knew.

The tears were rising, an overflowing weir, threatening to spill down in a flood of grief.

“Rey? Tell me where you are.”

“I’m here.” She sputtered out the words. “My apartment. Finn knows.”

“Stay right there. We’ll be there in a couple of minutes. Okay?”

It was him. He had dragged her through her apartment, forced her on the ground, threatening her with steel blades. The thoughts ran through her like a knife down her gut.

Breathe, she needed to breathe.

“Rey. Did you hear me? We’re coming, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she stammered. “Okay.”

Blindly, her finger pressed on “end call” and every sound fell away. With shaking hands, she returned the phone to her pocket and stared out at the horizon. It was broken by the cityscape, like a mouth of cracked teeth, peering into the sky at different heights, grey, worn and rotten. Since when had the city become so bleak? The sky was speckled with pigeons, “rats of the sky” Jess would have called them. Vermin. And always the heat; scalding, irrepressible burning rays, they made her feel sick, the waves of nausea washing over her in sickly waves of hot and cold.

Just needed to breathe.

She forced her lips to open, a strained whisper of breath sucked in, and another, and another, until they were rushing, one racing in after the other. She cupped a hand over her mouth, trying to slow the breathing, trying to see through the tears, and always, Kylo lay, silent and unknowing. She could see him through the glass, the hint of a smile fresh on his lips.

Her lover.

Her murderer.

Her liar.

Her worst nightmare.

Time passed. Slow or fast, she wasn’t sure, but when she looked up again, the sun had crept higher in the sky and there was a fresh breeze blowing in from the east. She blinked the tears away, wiping her face clean. She wrangled her breathing into something passing for normal and prepared to go inside.

If anyone cares to reblog I shall love you forever @ashtyntaytertot @kathknight @house-crylo @houseplaidam @peetaspikelets @loveofescapism @reylofanficclub

#crimson lane #reylo #reylo au #save ben solo #reylo fan fic #reylo fan fic rec #reylo fan fiction #angst #angst with a happy ending

61 notes · View notes

ifnotyourfriend · 6 years ago

Text

Vanessa Santoro hcs

Idc if these get reblogged or not anymore I love Vanessa, I’m a Vanessa stan, and here are a few of my hcs for her:

-she is both Mexican and Italian

-she grew up between California (with her mom and stepfather) and Italy (bio dad)

-she speaks 15 languages fluently and a handful more conversationally

-she has three middle names and a hyphenated last name and the only one on the preserve who knows the whole thing is Warren

-she has owned 4 dogs

-she has owned twice as many snakes and 2 rats

-she is the only girl in a family of brothers

-she loves Ethiopian food but it reminds her of better times with the Sphinx so she avoids it now

-her professional title is magizoologist/magicryptologist

-she has a doctorate

-she considers Tanu her best friend

-she sees Kendra as the little sister she always wanted

-Errol was her best friend, not lover

-she finds Bracken very amusing and admirable in many ways but will literally eat glass before she tells him this

-she and Warren get engaged at Yellowstone on a mission there, under the stars

-she is an animal rights activist and once threw some strangers fur clutch into a puddle

-her preferred weapons are a blow dart, long sword, and her own two fists

-she has mastered upwards of 12 different martial arts over her life

-she used to dance but doesn’t see a point in it now

-she takes Seth on as a magizoologist/adventuring apprentice

-she rides a Harley Davidson Night Rider

-she really dislikes her bio family/brothers

-she considers everyone at fablehaven her new and legitimate family because they taught her what that word can really mean

-she is bisexual

#fablehaven #vanessa santoro #warren burgess #13df #i love her #my lawful disaster queen

40 notes · View notes

exyghouls · 7 years ago

Text

open season

(read on ao3)

TFC-NET’S 2017 Spooky Creation Event: .

↳ prank “war”

Blood rushed in his ears as Neil was shoved between dancing bodies and getting second-hand glitter stuck to his sweaty skin. The music was loud, pulsing with his heartbeat. It was the type of loud that he could feel in his stomach.

The Monsters were nowhere to be found. Kevin and Nicky were somewhere on the dancefloor and Andrew had gone to get them while Aaron went to the bathroom, but it had been half an hour and Neil had gotten tired of sitting alone at the table.

A hand on his shoulder, too firm to be a mistake, made him turn and elbow whoever was behind him--in this case, Andrew. He seemed out of breath and only just dodged the projectile. Neil’s elbow grazed his ribs.

“Come on.” Andrew pressed himself close to Neil’s side. “Already sent the idiots back.”

Neil let himself be towed to the table. Andrew’s hand was just as clammy and warm as his own. Even in late October, everyone was half-naked and drunk. Hot wasn’t unusual in South Carolina, but this was severe.

The others were waiting at the table. Kevin looked dull in the eyes and swayed a little, while Nicky was alight and smiled wide when he saw them. Aaron just looked pissed that they were leaving.

“It’s only twelve,” Aaron said. It was almost nothing more than a blatant statement.

“Work on your beauty sleep, you need it,” Andrew muttered. Only Neil heard, leaning against his side. Over the summer into his second year, Neil had spent a lot of time with Dan but even more with Andrew. Slowly, they had gotten comfortable enough that places like Eden were okay, they could touch and push like this without asking. It seemed like nothing, but every little brush of their knuckles meant the world to Neil.

The drive was silent after Kevin batted at Nicky until he shut up about whatever text he just got from Dan. Neil didn’t care all that much at the time.

The house was dark and cold; Nicky never put the heat on and Neil wasn’t even sure that it worked, but Andrew said it did. He wasn’t sure how the house was so cold. There were wooden floors and thin walls, sure, but it was too warm outside for it to be chilly.

Neil didn’t mind, especially once Andrew and he were in bed and reaching to each other for warmth.

The next morning, he saw what Nicky’s hype was about. Dan had declared in the group text, which he didn’t often participate in or even look at, that Halloween was a couple days away and it was open season, but don’t be mean. Neil wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but he was sure he would find out soon.

Mornings in Columbia were slow, especially these days. Neil went for a run and came back to coffee, made by Andrew usually, but today it was Aaron. He slid a mug across the counter to him when he returned from a quick shower.

“Where’s Andrew? He’s not in bed.”

“Probably smoking,” Aaron muttered. He was reading something from a food magazine that Nicky had in a drawer with a hundred others.

Neil made a face. “Early. Are the others up too?”

“I’m not sure Kevin will be up for another couple years,” he said dryly, a faintly humorous remark. “Nicky is alive at least. I don’t think he really slept, he was talking to Erik and planning something for Halloween.” He took a long sip of his coffee and kept leafing through.

Andrew walked in through the back door smelling like cigarettes and wearing Neil’s Fox sweatshirt. Aaron looked up at the sound of the door and got a mug for him.

He looked between Aaron and Neil. “The text?”

“About open season? Yeah, I got it,” Neil said.

“Dan is fucking nuts. I thought we called this off last year for a reason.”

Neil cocked his head to the side. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

“Oh, you are,” Nicky’s voice called from the doorway. He walked in and got himself a mug of milk and a splash of coffee. “We skipped it your freshman year, so you’ll be rightfully inducted along with the other freshies this year. And Kevin will be too, I guess.”

“What does ‘open season’ mean, though?”

Nicky seemed to shudder. “Prank war,” he said. “Not too many rules. We call council if something seems out of bounds and must consult with at least two people first so we can maybe be talked out of dumb shit. Other than that, it’s a spooky war.”

His hands tightened around his mug. Andrew seemed bored of standing and sat beside Neil at the breakfast bar. He was about to ask about the skipped year, but Nicky was one step ahead.

“During our freshman year, Seth and a couple other fourth- and fifth-year seniors decided to reenact Carrie on the soccer team.” Neil pretended that he got the reference. “Dan tried to keep it under wraps, but Wymack got wind and had a strong word with her. She announced that it was called off next year, probably to weed out the current seniors.”

“But now she knows what a menace we are, so god knows why she isn’t keeping it off,” Aaron added.

Nicky hopped up to sit on the counter. He didn’t have to jump too far. “Actually, I heard that the upperclassmen were planning a revolt if she did.”

Andrew made a small sound like a hum, leaning forward on his elbows with both hands around his cup, looking in like it would splash cold water on his face and rub the sleep out of his eyes for him.

Nicky made a wounded sound when he saw Kevin walk down the stairs, phone in hand and the group texts open. He was obviously hungover and tired, but that didn’t stop him from entering the kitchen and asking the cousins, “What the fuck is this?”

“It’s a--”

“I know what it is, Nicky.” He turned to Neil. “You aren’t participating in this, right?” He looked towards each twin, and back to Neil. “We have to practice, we don’t have time for this shit.”

Neil had recently been partaking in the joys of always taking any side that isn’t Kevin’s. “I don’t know, I’m already coming up with a couple ideas.”

“Andrew?” Kevin looked at him like he was his only hope. He just shook his head and took a long sip of his coffee. Kevin scowled and look around at them. “You’re all fucking idiots,” he mumbled, walking back out and up the stairs.

When the shower cut on, Andrew looked at Neil and made a sound like a scoff that could have been laughter. “Surprised you’re taking part.”

“I’m putting shaving cream in your pillowcase.”

“You’re sleeping on the couch.”

Aaron and Neil rolled their eyes simultaneously, both for different reasons.

The first “prank” was quickly struck. When they got back to the Tower and went to their rooms, everyone found little jars of candy on their nightstands. There was a note on each one that said “TRICK OR TREAT! -Renee” in blocky letters. Most of them were balls of chocolate with wrappers that looked like eyeballs, gummy brains, and severed limbs made of hard candy. Andrew’s, however, was full of bite-sized Snickers.

The second strike was by Matt. Everyone was surprised that he lived. He had meant to spray someone with silly string but was not expecting Andrew to come around to bring a revision paper to Aaron. He got a bruised shin and a warning, this time.

Pranks were being pulled left and right. Neil decided to forego the shaving cream, electing to sit back and watch for the time being as the upperclassmen had at it. The girls had completely renovated Matt’s closet with lingerie and scandalous skirts and dresses, forcing him to wear that to class because they wouldn’t tell him where his clothes were. Nothing was long enough to hide the garters. Allison did get shaving cream in her pillow, courtesy of Nicky after he asked Neil if he could use it.

On the roof, only a couple days after the war had started, Neil and Andrew were looking over the campus and smoking, letting the cooling South Carolina air wash over them.

“Surprise attack,” Neil said, kissing Andrew’s cheek in the middle of his sentence.

“What?” He raised an eyebrow at Neil, who was grinning like an idiot.

“I pranked you. Now that that’s off my itinerary, I can prank Kevin and Nicky. You were saying?”

Andrew rolled his eyes. “You have a list?”

He shrugged a little. “A short one. You were talking about what Aaron had said yesterday?”

Neil was met with narrowed eyes. “What are you doing to them?”

A shrug. Neil knew exactly what he was going to do, but Andrew didn’t need to know that.

He lept into action the next day. He had long conspired with Matt on this one. He took the Maserati to get juice boxes, brussel sprouts, and rubber rats, bringing them to the dorm while Kevin was in class. He took all the liquor into Matt’s room in a laundry basket and replaced it with juice boxes, saving only Andrew’s chocolate cake vodka. It was precious, he could only find it at one store in Columbia. He hid it in their room.

He had printed out a picture of Pennywise from It, which Nicky claimed had led to his fear of clowns, and taped it to the outside of his window. Renee agreed to dip the brussel sprouts in chocolate and make truffles for him, as long as she got to give some to Allison, because she seemed to genuinely think it was funny as he confided in her at practice.

Kevin found out first. He got back to the dorm and was looking to drink away the apparent pain Dan had caused him by gluing cockroaches to his locker, looking like they were coming out of the vents. He went to find nothing but Juicy Juice in place of his vodka and looked around, confused.

His eyes met Neil’s, who raised his eyebrows and resisted a smile. “Need something, Kev?”

“What did you do?” he asked, his voice more grave than Neil had possibly ever heard it.

He could only shrug. Kevin proceeded to unbox a strawberry banana juice and stab a straw through the top.

Nicky fell victim next. He went to get something from his room and screamed so loud, Andrew looked up and at a laughing Neil.

“Why?” was all he asked.

“Pennywise,” he replied. “I’ll be honest, I had to look up who that was.”

Nicky walked out with the cutout computer paper, depicting the clown in question. He seemed thoroughly spooked, but not serious. “Didn’t Dan say not to be mean?”

“Well, she glued bugs to Kevin’s locker, so.”

Nicky laughed. “Yeah, sure, that was just Dan.”

The rats were for the egg carton. Aaron wasn’t amused but he didn’t seem scared either, which ruined Neil’s mood until Renee brought over a container of chocolate-covered brussel sprouts.

He figured, dying by Andrew’s hand was a noble death.

“Want one?” he asked, holding out the container and chewing on a chocolate that was specifically not the sprouts. He took one and nodded his thanks, not looking up from his calculus textbook. He popped it in his mouth and chewed for a second before pausing. Neil took a couple steps back.

“Neil?”

“Yes?”

“Is this a brussel sprout?”

“Trick or treat,” he said weakly, trying to hold back a laugh. Andrew got up to spit it in the sink and grabbed some real candy from their bowl. On the way back to his chair, he stood close to Neil and flicked him on the forehead.

“That was such a non-reaction.”

Andrew shrugged and sat. Monotonously, he said, “My heart is broken, only to be repaired if you give one to Kevin.”

Neil couldn’t help the twinge of happiness he got at “my heart,” mostly because it was unexpected and in part because it was so dramatically Andrew, a side of him that Neil didn’t get to see as often these days.

The war came to a cease at the Halloween party, after Nicky’s hair was tinged blue and Dan was stuck in a cellophane door trap, after Neil, Aaron, and all the girls found glitter bombs in their books from an anonymous benefactor.

The Foxes and Vixens partied in the basement of the Tower. No costumes required, but everyone who wore one got chocolate martinis courtesy of Nicky. Andrew and Aaron both managed to hawk one off of him anyway. Aaron told him he was his favorite cousin to get one while his brother stuck to intimidation, but Neil got a taste of Andrew’s nonetheless. Not that he drank it.

They sat on the roof in the early hours of the morning, thankful that they both only had afternoon classes the next day as they traded cigarette smoke for secrets and kisses for drags.

Andrew dug into his pocket and pulled out a baggie of Oreos. He offered one to Neil, who took it with a small “thanks” and bit into it, only to spit it off the edge of the roof.

“You’re a child,” he said, trying to get the taste of mint out of his mouth. Looking at the piece of Oreo still in his hand, it was clearly toothpaste between the cookies.

Andrew kissed him quickly, as they had been doing moments before. “Payback,” he muttered, before biting Neil’s lip and melting the offence away.

#thetfcnet #*mine #andreil #tfc #aftg #neil josten #andrew minyard #foxes #tfc fic #aftg fic #creation event

187 notes · View notes

dolorum-magne · 2 years ago

Text

This sounds cool! I don’t have a sketch but I do have a few drawings of her current design, I hope you like her ^^

I’ve actually had this character for several years, I’ve just never posted about her here.

I’m not sure how much info you’re looking for and what about but I do have a pretty detailed character profile about her I’ll put below the cut lol, you don't have to read it, I just didn't know what else to do for info

Character profile TW: breif mentions of past issues with SH, mental illness, and death.

Name: Erica Frost

Age:22

Birthday: April 24th 1988

Sexuality: asexual-pan romantic

Gender: female

Pronouns: She/her (likes they/them as well, doesn't really mind what shes referred to with though)

Appearance:

Personality: easily worried, very attached to her friends, very caring, can be pretty sarcastic, prone to over reacting when shes worried, kind, protective, a little insecure, humorous, considerate.

Skills: First aid

Weaknesses/flaws: -may freeze up in bad situations -would do anything to protect those she cares about including putting herself at risk -tends to be relatively easily worried

Likes: -tea -energy drinks -getting new piercings -animals (particularly dogs and cats but also likes reptiles such as snakes and lizards, and rodents like rats and mice.) -winter and autumn -rain -her favourite colour is yellow

Dislikes: -the smell of gasoline -coffee -bad traffic -wood smoke -pollen -white chocolate -her friends being hurt

Hobbies: -listening to music -drawing -reading -dancing (shes not particularly good at it but she still enjoys it) -sewing

Family: Mother-Mary Frost (deceased) Father-Unknown Step father- Anthony gardener Younger half brother- Lukas Frost (deceased)

Friends: -Jay Merrick -Tim Wright -Brian Thomas -Jessica Locke -(formerly) Alex Kralie -(briefly) Sarah -(briefly) Seth

Enemies: -Alex Kralie -The Operator

Role in the film: -helped to write and edit scripts

Back story: -Ericas dad left her mom shortly after she was born, she neved knew him and was raised by her single mother until she was 7 when her mom married her stepfather -she didn't get along with her step father particularly well and he always showed obvious favouritism to his son and her half brother Lukas who was born when she was 9 -Her and her family were involved in a car accident when she was 15. She was badly injured in the crash, sustaining particularly bad cut to her neck. Thankfully it wasn't too deep, but it did leave a scar. -Her mother died at the crash site and her 6 year old brother died shortly after in the hospital. She was in the room with him when her brother went into distress and flatlined. Doctors were unable to save him. -Her mental health deteriorated rather dramatically afterwards and it caused an even larger divide between her and her step father. -They lost contact when she moved into her apartment when she was 19. He never officially adopted her either and was not listed as her next of kin, neither has pretty much anything to do with the other anymore. -She started seeing a therapist amd her mental health improved a lot in college when she met her friends after Alex started the student film. -after college she tried to keep in contact as much as possible and eventually got pulled into the situation.

Mental illnesses/disorders: -Anxiety -ADHD

-(in the events of the series) mild paranoia -struggled with depression for years after the death of her brother and mother. Still struggles with it but is better at coping with it and has seen a therapist for several years.

Other: -carries her back pack with her almost everywhere in which she keeps a first aid kit she put together herself. It's covered in patches and badges from her favourite bands.

-she's a big fan of folk punk music as well as alternative and indie rock -struggled with self harm from 17 but managed to get clean when she was 19. By the time she gets pulled into the events of the series, she's been self harm free for almost 3 years. -She doesn't have any family left so her friends are incredibly important to her. She'd do anything to keep them safe.

-during the events of the series she grew very close to Jay and tim and cares about them very much. -she took a first aid course when she was in college. -she rents a 2 bedroom apartment and has had a job working as a barista since she was 16 -she does try and lift people's spirits when things are rough and will take any opportunity to take their minds off a bad situation when safe to -the accident and the death of her mom and brother aren't things she likes to talk about for obvious reasons. As a result shes unlikely to have told any of them about it, they may know vaguely that her mom's dead but they may not even know she had a brother in the first place. In regards to the scar on her neck as its pretty visible if it was asked about she'd probably just say she got it in an accident and nothing more.

Ok, I want to try something, if anyone here has a slenderverse oc can you please reblog this with a sketch and some info? I want to draw them, also works if you have an au version of a character

I keep the right to not draw certain oc's if they make me uncomfortable

#Slender verse #Marble hornets #Mh #Mh oc #Marble hornets oc

11 notes · View notes

queenofthearchitect · 7 years ago

Text

Please forgive me

This was requested by @samwinjarpad

This is about Dean Ambrose and him and the reader took a break because she caught him all up on a girl in the club will they get back together read and find out.

Warnings: cussing.

This is my first ever Dean Ambrose fluff I hope y'all like it. .

Enjoy :)

It was after Monday night raw and Dean and Seth just won the tag team championships I felt my phone vibrate and it was a message from dean

D: “do you wanna go to the club with me and the guys and a few of your diva friends”

M:“Yes I would love to see you in 20 minutes.”

D:“okay love you.”

M:“love you too.”

I quickly took a shower and got out and put on my sexy black and white party dress with my black pumps I put on make up and brushed my hair and grabbed my wallet and grabbed my hotel room key card and walked out the door I walked to my car and drove to the bar. I walked in the bar and I looked around and noticed my friend Nia Jax face dropped.

I go to the bar and order a drink with I hear dean laughing I didn’t think nothing of it so I got my drink and walked over to Nia and she looked at me “hey Y/N how are you?” She looked behind me and called a waitress over and a short blonde hair girl came over “hi what can I get y'all?” Nia ordered a bloody Mary and I ordered two incredible hulks “damn girl you trying to get fucked up tonight?” She looked at me and laughed I looked at “where where’s dean?”

Nia looked behind me and I turned around I instantly regretted it I seen Dean and some girl laughing together I thought they were just friend so I chugged down the two incredible hulks and I called the waitress to get me more drinks trying not to get jelouse but it wasn’t working I guess Roman, Dean and Seth didn’t noticed me and the waitress pulled me out from my thoughts all three of them had looked at the table Nia was at and none of them noticed me even tho I waved at them.

“Ma'am… Ma'am what would you like to drink?” I looked and smiled at her “I want two long island ice teas and two more for my friend here.” I smile as she walks away and comes back with my four drinks “Thanks so much hun.” She smiled “if you need anything else let me know.” Nia looks at me and smiled “bitch you going to get in trouble tonight.” and she says laughing as our song came on we I drank one of the long island ice teas and Nia drunk one and we walk to the dance floor as Ayy Ladies by Travis porter came on.

Nia and I started twerking together and next thing I know see our drinks at the table and I go and drink my last drink as I go to turn around I see this tramp put her hand on Dean’s chest and start rubbing it I instantly get pissed I throw the drink down my throat and I walk over and tap the girl on the shoulder and as the girl turned around she looked at me “who the hell are you cant you see I’m busy.” Dean looked “Y/N did you get here?"I went to go say something "You know this how?” the girl looked at him and flipped her hair.

“You damn right he know me you dirty ass rat ass nasty ass bitch.” I said and push the girl back a little bit back and Nia comes over and grabs me “Y/N what are you doing chill.” I looked at her and back at Dean and this dumb Stuart little ass bitch I rolled my eyes and looked at her “you better be lucky she stopped me from hitting your wack ass.” I say and went to walk away but she said something that pissed me off and next thing I knew I was on top of her punching here over and over before I felt hands snatch me up.

I turned and seen it was Dean and I turned and slapped him and threw his vodka in his face and gave my waitress my money and left I started crying and took my car home I know I wasn’t suppose to be driving drunk but I didn’t even think about it when I arrived at the hotel room I put the chain and the lock on the hotel room door I texted Dean and told him to stay with Roman or Seth cause we are done and that was the last I texted him.

Three months later.

Nia and Sasha convinced me to come to raw so I did I was nervous cause I didn’t know if I could face Dean but I had to just ignore him what’s the worse could happen so I arrived early and I was in some booty shorts and a crop top and some heels since I didn’t have anyone to impress I dressed comfortable and I seen alot of superstars looking at me with made me feel confident and hot Nia and Sasha met me In the hall and their mouths dropped and they both said in unison “damn girl you came here to drop jaws.” The both chuckled and I was really hoping I wouldn’t run into dean.

I walked around back stage and I talked to a few superstars which who I was talking to just so happened to be Finn Balor but it wasn’t anything flirty I noticed dean and he was practically undressing me with his eyes. I waved at him just to be nice but when I turned back to talk to Finn he was gone and Dean walked up to me. “Y/N how have you been?” I looked at him “I’ve been good how about yourself?” He smiled and put his hand on my arm and caressed my arm making me wanna pull him close and kiss him.

I know I’m not that weak “look Y/N Ive missed you and I really want to say I’m sorry I’ll do what ever it takes for us to get back together.” I looked at him and finally spoke “I don’t know dean I just don’t want to play your games.” He pulled me close and pushed his lips against mine I almost pushed away but I missed his rough kisses he puts his hand on my face, I pulled away “just cause we kissed doesn’t mean we are getting back together.” I said and walked away.

Weeks have passed and Dean has been giving me gifts left and right and it was Tuesday night smackdown down and I was back stage when he cover my eyes “guess who.” I couldn’t help but smile “let me guess a very persistent guy.” I heard him chuckle and he kissed my neck and he put something on my neck I opened my eyes and looked down it was a necklace with a promise ring. I looked at him “Babe I dont need to have a promise ring to get back with you you could have asked me out.” I laughed and looked at him.

He kisses me okay well “Y/N will you date me.” I smirked I thought you would never ask Superman.“ I kissed his lips and pulled him close "I love you dean.” He looked at me “I love you too Y/N.”

A/N: Hoped y'all liked it it’s my first dean one…

#dean ambrose #wwe #wwe imagine #wwe x reader #amandawrites #thirstythotcrew #wwe superstars

15 notes · View notes

thescrewedrooger · 7 years ago

Text

And There She Was - Chapter 23

2 days later, our parents are finally gone! Today I am also 15 weeks. It’s safe to say that as soon as our parents leave, we are back to getting it whenever, wherever we can. I’m still loving my job. Seeing how much my students have improved since I’ve come on board is very rewarding. I’m going to start entering them in competitions. They are all excited about it as they have never really competed before. When I told their mothers, it was a mixed response. Some of them didn’t want their kids to compete, which I respected, but I made it clear to them that I wasn’t going to be the one to break the news to their child. They weren’t too happy with that. It leads to an argument. Me against 4 angry mothers.

One of them, Carol, she’s obviously the “ring leader” does all the yelling

She yells “How dare you put us in this position”

I reply civilly “No disrespect, but it’s not my position to tell your kids that they won’t be competing”

That made her angrier “It is your position, you are there teacher”

I lost my shit “This is such a pathetic issue, it’s your job as a parent to take responsibility for your decisions, so how about you just step up and tell your child, I will not take anymore crap from anyone, I do not need it, those kids do not need it. It’s unfair of you to expect me to do your job” then I say calmly “If you have any issues, I’m more than happy for you to bring them to my attention, but I will not do a thing about it when I’m ambushed, fo you understand that?”

No one said a word. I say “I take that as a yes, I am going to finish teaching the class now”

I finish the lesson. It’s the last lesson of the day. I am still fuming on the inside about being ambushed. As soon as I get home I put music on and chill out. Seth wasn’t due home for another couple of hours. After a while I start dancing. It feels great. I’m in my own world, oblivious to everything. I didn’t hear Seth come inside. I feel him behind me, he cuddles me and starts kissing my neck. I stop dancing, turn and face him.

I say “Hey Babe”

He replies “Hey, what’s going on?”

I tell him “Shit day at work, needed to unwind”

He asks “What happened?”

I say “I got ambushed by four angry mothers, they had the shits because I refused to break the news to their kids that they weren’t allowed to compete because their mothers didn’t want them to”

He smiles “Really? They expected you to do that?”

I say “Yep, I put them back in their place, I don’t think I will have trouble with them again”

He says “I hope you weren’t too harsh”

I reply “As harsh as I needed to be. That’s enough about work, how was your day?”

He says “I can’t complain, it went smoothly” then he kisses me on the lips and asks “What does a guy have to do to get some around here?”

I laugh “Not much”

We both strip off quickly, we kiss with passion. I wrap my arms around his neck, he wraps his arms around my waist. As I step forward I force him to take steps back until he reaches the couch, then he flops down onto the couch. I don’t need foreplay, I am wanting him bad. I straddle Seth, his hands immediately go to my breasts and start massaging them gently, I gasp, he takes one of my breasts in his mouth and swirls his tongue around my nipple. I moan, it feels beyond amazing because my breasts are sensitive. I guide him into me and start riding him hard and fast. Without any build up at all, I start to come. My orgasm takes control, I ride him harder and faster. I moan out “Oh my God” he almost immediately follows. He grabs my waist tight and starts bucking his hips in sync with my movements as his orgasms hits him. He moans with with every thrust. He lets out one last long moan. I relax myself over him while I recover, he relaxes into the couch and rests his head on the couch.

Seth says “That was quick”

I laugh “It was awesome though”

He laughs “I will have to agree with that!”

A few minutes later I feel him get hard inside me. We both smile before I crash my lips onto his. We waste no time for going another round. Afterwards, we are both spent. I lift myself off him and stand up to get dressed again. He eventually gets up and gets dressed.

The next morning, it’s a Sunday, both Seth and I were happy spending the day just relaxing together.

I get a text from Lily “Hey chick, it’s been a while since we caught up. Do you and Seth want to come around to my place and chill out with Jake and I?”

I ask Seth “That was Lily wanting to know if we want to catch up with her and Jake today, do you want to?”

He says “Honestly, not really, but I know you do, so I will go”

I ask him “Are you sure? We don’t have to, we can make it another time”

He says “Babe, it’s fine, I would have said so if it wasn’t”

I tell him “I knew there was a reason why I love you”

He smiles “Thanks, I think! I love you too”

I reply to Lily “Yeah, sounds good. What time?

She replies "Anytime”

“Give us an hour” I say

I say to Seth “I told her to give us an hour”

He says “An hour sounds good, I’m going to need it to get motivated” he does sound and look tired. He also looks very pale.

I ask him “Are you feeling ok? You don’t look that well”

He replies “I have a headache, but that’s it”

I tell him “I can tell Lily we will make it another time. She won’t mind”

He says “I will take something for it, I will be fine”

20 minutes later Seth says “Babe, it’s a migraine coming on, I need to go to bed, I’m so sorry”

I tell him “It’s ok, don’t be sorry, go to bed, I will just tell Lily we will catch up another time” I give him a peck on his cheek

After I message Lily and tell her what’s going on, I take a glass of water to Seth. I tell him “I brought you a glass of water”

He says “Thanks, but I don’t feel like it”

I say “Babe, you have no choice in the matter, you are going to have some water. I bet you haven’t been drinking any water lately”

He replies “I haven’t been. I think this migraine is from stress”

I tell him “How about you get rid of the migraine, then we will talk about what’s on your mind”

He asks “Please can we talk now? I just need to talk about it”

I say “Of course we can”

He sits up with his back against the bed head and says “Work hasn’t been that great lately, I’m trying my best to please everyone, it’s just not happening, they don’t hesitate to let me know. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing anymore. I can’t do anything right. Nerves are starting to kick in as well because in about 6 months I’m going to be a dad, I just want to be a good dad and I don’t have the slightest clue. Now that you are showing, it’s a little more real”

I sit down next to him, I hug him tight. He rests his head on my shoulder and places his hands loosely around my waist.

I tell him “Babe, I had no idea you were feeling like this, I wish you would have talked to me sooner instead of bottling it up, but anyways, I can tell you now, it’s not possible to please everyone. You have always been a sweet selfless guy and always put everyone before yourself regardless of what it does to you. It is however time to put yourself first. You might piss a few people off, but they will get over it….”

He cuts me off “I’m not as strong as you, I care what others think of me, too much, I don’t like the thought of people being pissed off at me”

“Sometimes I wish I did care what people thought of me, it’s not all its cracked up to be. Remember when I chose the job over you? That wouldn’t have happened if I gave a rat’s arse. You have done an unbelievable job getting to where you are now, remember how you got there and why you are doing it, and as for you becoming a father, I’m secretly nervous about being a mother for the same reasons, I know you will be a great dad, that’s something I have never questioned”

Seth asks me “You honestly think I will be a good father?”

I tell him “Yes, I really do” I add “I think you better go to sleep to try and get rid of the migraine, I don’t want it getting worse”

He lays back down, I give him a kiss.

I tell him “I love you”

He replies “I love you”

I get up off the bed and leave the bedroom so he can get some rest. To pass time while he’s asleep I just watch tv. I flick through the channels, nothing of interest is on, I turn it off again. I decide to call Lily. I dial her number

She answers “Hey, is everything ok?”

I say “Yeah, Seth has a migraine, he’s asleep now”

She says “That’s shit then. I was looking forward to catching up”

I reply “Yeah, me too. I couldn’t leave him. He told me his migraine was caused by stress”

She asks “What’s he stressed about?”

I tell her “Well one reason was over work, the other reason, he’s nervous about becoming a father?”

Almost angry she says “All this time he was putting on an act, he still doesn’t want the baby”

I say “No, not at all, quite the opposite, he’s nervous because he doesn’t think he will be a good father, I feel the same way about becoming a mother. I understand how he’s feeling”

She calms again “I know you both will make great parents, you both have great parents, I’m sure you have learnt alot from them. I know your parents are pretty uptight sometimes, but they have your best interests at heart”

I laugh “I’m not going to be uptight like my parents! No way in hell!”

She cracks “Honestly, by what you have told me about your past, could you blame them? You were a fucking handful!”

“Shut up, I wasn’t!” that’s all I could say, she is right…. Again.

She laughs hard “You were, you told me all about you and Seth back in the day, you lead him astray big time! Don’t try and tell me you weren’t a handful”

I tell her “Ok, I’m going to go now”

She says “You hang up then, but you can’t deny it!”

I hang up, I chuckle to myself. I did lead Seth astray, I convinced him to do things that he wouldn’t have done otherwise. I miss those days of just harmless fun, no responsibility except for birth control. I also remember the time when he asked me why I chose him over any other guy, his confidence was almost non existent. He didn’t see what I seen in him. To this day, I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t see what I see in him. He hasn’t actually said anything specific, but he has little “tells” that I pick up on. It’s just crazy that we have only been together 15 weeks. That’s how far along I am. The whole time I have been pregnant. It’s been a rollercoaster ride. Even though I don’t have any regrets now, I can’t help but wonder what if I didn’t go home with him that night. That’s when the baby was conceived. It would have been nice to enjoy our relationship before having to worry about a baby. Obviously this was the hand we were dealt, they say everything happens for a reason, I have no idea what that reason is, I would love to know the reason.

Next Chapter Masterlist Previous Chapter

#seth macfarlane fiction #seth macfarlane fanfic #seth fiction #seth fanfic

4 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years ago

Text

To Sing or Not to Sing in Disney Live-Action Remakes

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Since Disney began rolling out live-action adaptations of its animated classics in 2015, the past five years have seen roughly one new release per year, each one confronting the question of whether or not to attempt the musical numbers—arguably the most emblematic element—without the aid of animation and trained singers.

In the case of movies like 2020’s live-action Mulan, many directors have eschewed the earworm-y songs and complex musical set pieces altogether, with the argument that it’s simply too difficult to manage the tonal shifts from stories that have become a bit darker in translation with songs that are bright and palatable enough for young audiences. But even those movies that have taken direction from successful movie musicals have not always recaptured the magic of Disney musical numbers. Here, we analyze which movies were right to ditch the music, and which get points for trying.

A note on judging: I defined “musical numbers” as featuring singing and some form of choreography, so snippets of songs were out. I didn’t include any ending credits songs (a common factor among these adaptations) in my count since they’re audio-only. Each movie I ranked by High/Middle/Low Notes, which is by no means by any professional musical standards and should be pretty self-explanatory.

Cinderella (2015)

Musical Numbers: 0

Success: High Note

As the first live-action adaptation, there were of course questions of whether Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella would have its actors crooning “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” or CGI mice working along to “Cinderelly Cinderelly”—whimsical moments for the kiddos, but tougher to suspend disbelief for when it’s real people in front of the camera.

“I don’t know how to write that kind of thing really,” screenwriter Chris Weitz told Cinema Blend in 2015, “and I think that that’s something that, for me, it’s much easier to do that with an animated film. That’s why many of the Disney animated films are musicals. With live action, sort of getting into and out of those moments of song is really super tricky.”

Instead, Weitz and Branagh opted to score the iconic melodies—which are just as recognizable in instrumental form as sung—to key emotional moments. Lily James’ Cinderella also receives a new mantra: have courage and be kind. It’s a rough translation of the lyrics from “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes”: no matter how your heart is grieving / if you keep on believing / the dream that you wish will come true. But instead of it being a subconscious desire that gets solved while one snoozes, the mantra reminds the heroine to consciously hold strong to her faith in the goodness of other people, and she will eventually be rewarded for that belief.

The movie reflects this in how it recreates the fairy godmother’s (Helena Bonham Carter) “Bibbity Bobbity Boo” scene without the actual song (it plays over the credits) but maintaining the whimsy. Magic replaces music, and the movie does not suffer for the lack. (Let’s also not forget that Ever After, the beloved 1998 adaptation starring Drew Barrymore, didn’t need music to be affecting, either.)

Crucially, it is Ella’s singing that saves her: The king’s men are about to leave her home, having failed to make the glass slipper fit either of her stepsisters, when her voice comes drifting from the attic—thanks to the mice, who may not be able to sing, but who are still clever enough to open the latch on the window. Her crooning of the English folk song “Lavender’s Blue” (when I am king dilly-dilly / you shall be queen) alerts the men to her presence, and is how Kit identifies her even before the slipper meets her foot.

This Cinderella has to do (almost) everything herself, from helping out with chores even before she is forced to wait on her stepmother and stepsisters to charming the prince to securing her own freedom, and is the better for it.

The Jungle Book (2016)

Musical Numbers: 2

Success: Low Note

“What’s a song?” young Mowgli asks before one of The Jungle Book’s two main musical numbers. “You never heard a song before?” Baloo (Bill Murray) gasps. “Everyone’s got a song.” And then he jumps—both literally, as the CGI bear, and figuratively, for the actor—into “The Bare Necessities.” It’s not a skilled rendition by far, but compared to the uncanny auto-tuning in other entries, it actually sounds like him.

The same goes for “I Wanna Be Like You,” wherein Christopher Walken channels his best King Louie: It loses the hyperactive energy of the animated version, but it’s undeniably him doo-wopping his way through the song. Both numbers demonstrate how The Jungle Book ultimately succeeds over later film The Lion King (both directed by Jon Favreau): The CG animals at least resemble the people voicing them, so even though they’re imperfect, they’re still personal.

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Musical Numbers: 10

Success: Middle Note

The only thing that saves Beauty and the Beast is “Gaston.” This adaptation beats the others in the musical numbers count, but almost all of them fall short of both the animated original and the Broadway musical. (The new numbers expound on the former, interestingly, with very little overlap with the latter.) This video essay from Sideways best illustrates the movie’s fatal flaw: Casting actors who are not singers as the leads. Emma Watson’s Belle has one of the most recognizable Disney “I Want” songs, and her voice is entirely flattened out by auto-tune. In songs like “Evermore,” where Dan Stevens is supposed to convince us that there’s still a man hidden beneath the Beast, he’s stripped of any longing.

The actors who are trained singers, like Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe, or who have proven themselves in movie musicals previously, like Ewan McGregor as Lumière, get too little screen time. “Be Our Guest,” charmingly mimicking the entire hospitality industry in its attempts to change with the times with clever new lyrics and dazzling CG animation, winds up feeling like a heartless attempt at copying the original’s magic. The best way I can sum up Beauty and the Beast’s music overall is that the opening prelude theme has more character than half the numbers.

Thank goodness, then, for “Gaston.” It arrives at the perfect point to perk up both its boorish antagonist (Luke Evans) and the audience. That’s mainly due to Le Fou (Josh Gad, bringing a mix of his Broadway experience and his goofy Olaf-from-Frozen charm) and the slyly meta details that he is literally paying everyone in that tavern to start singing Gaston’s praises. As Le Fou keeps surreptitiously tossing coins to ladies to sing over Gaston’s muscles, to men to dance around and mock-duel him, and to the chorus of patrons to keep generating new refrains, Gaston eventually is encouraged enough to take the lead and keep this drinking song-slash-tribute going on ad infinitum until Maurice (Kevin Kline) bursts in. Well, all good things must end.

Aladdin (2019)

Musical Numbers: 5

Success: High Note

Guy Ritchie’s adventurous adaptation is the most successful of the bunch, even though it too falls short of being entirely as convincing as one of the Genie’s schemes. The movie’s stubborn adherence to Robin Williams’ rendition of “Friend Like Me”—again, the Sideways video has more in-depth analysis—does a disservice to Will Smith, who unlike the other actors in this list does have the chops to take on this iconic role. It’s especially baffling that there is a different cover, with Smith in his element, playing over the credits that very much slaps.

It’s not as if Ritchie treated every element of the animated Aladdin as untouchable: “One Jump” gets recontextualized as Aladdin (Mena Massoud) touring Jasmine (Naomi Scott) through the city. As she tags along on his petty thievery, skilled sleight of hand, and ingenious misdirection, she gets to know the street rat better than any dialogue could have achieved. That number is shot a bit frenetically, which comes through in the spoken-word style of singing, but it’s still undeniably fun.

“Prince Ali” has this same gleeful energy, and gives the Genie a little more wiggle room. There’s a great “drop the beat” moment partway through that could have been ad libbed or could have been built in, but either way it’s completely unexpected. Several dance sequences conjure A Knight’s Tale in their anachronistic style but still strengthen the movie by showing just how much Genie can make people do his bidding in service to his master.

Alas, “A Whole New World” is entirely forgettable, and shot so dark that you miss all of the details that made the magic carpet ride such a thrill for the princess and for audiences. Ditto Jasmine’s “Speechless” number and its tragic refrain. If the Broadway adaptation taught us anything, it’s that you don’t mess with a good thing.

The Lion King (2019)

Musical Numbers: 7

Success: Low Note

Finally, the Disney movie that asks why anyone would think a remake is necessary. Without the aid of stunning animation, “Circle of Life” and “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” fall short of the epic scale of their predecessors, so both early numbers are just underwhelming. Though Chiwetel Ejiofor is a great choice for the voice of Scar, it’s clear that director Favreau and collaborator Tim Rice did not know what to do with “Be Prepared.” Running into the same issue of tonal shifts, they adjusted it to be part spoken-word monologue, part song; but the number itself is so confused that one might get halfway through it before realizing where in the movie they’re supposed to be.

The CG-animated animals lose all character, and it’s incredibly uncanny to watch their mouths open and close without enunciating lyrics. Auto-tuning flattens out supporting characters like Seth Rogen’s Pumbaa, though somehow his and Timon’s (Billy Eichner) cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is still incredibly charming. And then there’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”

Donald Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino) and Beyoncé Knowles were perfect casting for adult Simba and Nala, but the tracks they’re given to work with just don’t match the energy of the original. If you’re going to tone down every single song to either meet an untrained singer where they’re at or to match the other newly low-key numbers, then why have Beyoncé at all?

Elton John’s GQ interview around the film’s release better delves into all of what went wrong with the soundtrack, but even just this quote is pretty damning: “Music was so much a part of the original and the music in the current film didn’t have the same impact. The magic and joy were lost. […] I wish I’d been invited to the party more, but the creative vision for the film and its music was different this time around and I wasn’t really welcomed or treated with the same level of respect. That makes me extremely sad. I’m so happy that the right spirit for the music lives on with the Lion King stage musical.”

Mulan (2020)

Musical Numbers: 0

Success: Middle Note

Five years after Cinderella’s release, the live-action Mulan cycles back to its formula—doing away with all of the songs in favor of instrumental tracks—out of the same considerations of tone.

“It will not be traditional ‘break into musical’ [songs],” producer Jason Reed explained to Collider during a 2018 set visit. “They’re not going to stop their workouts to do a big musical number to camera. However, there are a number of songs that are iconic for the movie and tell a great version of the story and they are very helpful to us in how we’re putting the movie together. It gets a little easier in animation to keep the tension and the reality in place and still have people break into song and sing to camera. We made the decision that we wanted to keep the world—even though it’s a fantasy—more grounded, more realistic so those emotions really played and the threat is very real. So we are using music in a slightly different way.”

Unfortunately, Mulan tries to have its cake and eat it, too, when it comes to the animated film’s beloved soundtrack. A scene with Hua Jun and the other men at the training camp puts the lyrics to “A Girl Worth Fighting For” into their mouths as dialogue, except it comes out jarringly sing-songy. There’s a throwaway line about making them into men that should have just been dropped; it’s mister I’ll make a man out of you or it’s nothing.

But the biggest misstep is with “Reflection”—which, to be clear, is transformed from humble “I want” song into epic instrumental strains backing sequences in which Mulan first disguises herself as Hua Jun, and then throws off her disguise to triumphantly ride back into battle to save her fellow soldiers.

There’s just one big problem: Because Mulan never sings “Reflection” and articulates her ambivalence about the face staring back at her, it doesn’t actually mean anything to the plot of this movie when the refrain plays. That doesn’t stop it from tugging at the heartstrings, but that’s solely a chemical reaction based on music ingrained in our brains twenty-plus years ago. Having two covers of “Reflection”—Christina Aguilera recording a new version, and Liu singing the Mandarin version—play over the credits fills in those lyrics for anyone who doesn’t know them, but it’s retroactive.

Interestingly, Disney brought back Christina Aguilera to record a new number, no doubt trying to tap into audiences’ nostalgia for her rendition of “Reflection.” Personally I would have loved to see Lea Salonga return for “Loyal Brave and True,” but Disney was banking on its former Mouseketeer and pop star to further tie audiences to the original.

What Reed had wrong was that the animated Mulan did manage to balance the drama and grim reality of war with tension-breaking musical numbers. We need look no further than “A Girl Worth Fighting For,” the soldiers’ cheery, jibing ode to their rewards for victory, abruptly stopping short when they come across the burned-out village—a stark reminder that they are nowhere near the end of the war. Now, this live-action Mulan clearly wasn’t set up for that same tone-shifting, but it still tricks emotional resonance out of disconnected musical cues.

Mulan is available now on Disney+.

The post To Sing or Not to Sing in Disney Live-Action Remakes appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2Zar8C0

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

0 notes

theliterateape · 5 years ago

Text

Let’s Toast to Booze!

By Ben Auxier

This story was originally written for BUGHOUSE! #41 in Chicago. The topic was The Better Drug: Booze or Weed. It was debated between Ben Auxier and Brett Dworski. Auxier won the debate and was chosen as the audience’s favorite debater of the night.

Human beings began creating fermented beverages some twenty thousand years ago. Alcohol has been a staple of the economies and cultures of every civilization since the advent of agriculture. It is, in part, why we are here.

Today there are six hundred bottles of alcohol for every human being on earth, which means that statistically, you... are beer? I don’t know how statistics work.

Now, is any of that accurate? I don’t know. I ran out of time today and didn’t look it up. But by the end of my time here, I will convince you that booze is far superior to its slacker cousin weed.

To get us started, I’d like to propose a drinking game. Every time you think I make a good point, take a drink. Every time you think I make a bad point, take two drinks, and you’ll start to realize I was right all along.

Alcohol is more important than weed

Alcohol is more important to us as a society. And if you don’t believe me, consider this. A hundred years ago we in America outlawed booze for like five minutes and descended into chaos immediately. It was so bad that we repealed the amendment within just a few years. Do you realize what kind of national cooperation it takes to repeal an amendment? Right now we’re sending our kids to school in Kevlar khakis and we still can’t do dick about the Second Amendment because your uncle on Facebook is still pretty sure Obama’s coming for his truck or whatever, but in 1920, somebody took away the beer for a second, and we as a turbulent and divisive nation, came together and said “Whatever it takes, whatever the cost, shoulder to shoulder, I am your brother: BRING. BACK. THE BOOZE!”

We had chaos in the decade or so that alcohol was illegal. On the other hand, weed has been illegal across the board until like, yesterday, and nobody’s raised a stink. Except for the people smoking it. Which brings me to my next point:

Weed smells like a carton of cigarettes made sweaty love to a dance major and it’s time we all talked about it

Look, I know that a conversation with a dude who smells like whiskey isn’t the most pleasant thing, but generally speaking, the stink radius is limited to like, a little ways beyond my beard. By contrast, if someone in the same school district as me decides to light up some Super Skunk, suddenly I’m getting fumigated out of my third floor apartment. I’m not close enough to get the courtesy of a contact high, but at least now all my stuff reeks and my eyes hurt. Thanks, man.

The smell of weed is referred to as “skunky,” by the people who love it. Skunky. The best, most flattering descriptor even the potheads could come up with was “You know that smell that those stripy rat-badgers blow out of their asses as a warning to all living things to stay as far away as possible? This. Smells. Like. That. You want some? For your mouth? Come on.”

The dangers of weed

And look, I don’t want to sound like a D.A.R.E. special up here, but there are some real dangers to weed. And marijuana advocates might say, “But Ben ‘alcohol kills eighty-eight thousand Americans per year,” and “It’s the third most common preventable cause of death,” and “It’s responsible for 31 percent of fatal traffic accidents with around ten thousand annually,” to which I say:

How can we trust the math of someone who’s that high?

But the dangers of weed are far more subtle and insidious. Weed robs the youth of their drive and ambition. It’s given careers to countless brutal cartels and also Seth Rogan, and at some point it’s made us all feel deeply paranoid. Which brings me to my next point:

With booze, you know what you’re getting

Booze is booze. Unless you’re fifteen, you don’t dive into drinking without knowing what to expect. For me, one drink and I feel nice, two and I’m relaxed, three I’m buzzin’, four I’m tipsy, and after that the probability that I’ll start singing Jesus Christ Superstar goes up by 20 percent per drink. It’s simple. It’s predictable.

Cannabis, on the other hand? Imagine this scenario. You’re at a buddy’s house and he offers you an edible. A little cookie. The cookie is gone in a couple of bites. Thirty minutes from now, will you a) feel a little more relaxed, b) start giggling manically, c) lose all ability to move your limbs, or d) be hiding in the bathtub because you’re pretty sure the cat is angry with you.

You have NO. IDEA.

Every time I tell my stoner friends I don’t want to smoke because weed can make me anxious, they always insist it’s all about picking the right strain, but when you ask them what they’re smoking, they know as much about it as they do the breed of their weird dog. Like “Yeah, it’s kind of a hybrid, indica... labradoodle.. sativa settler... husky mix.” You don’t know. I don’t know. And I don’t want to risk it.

In conclusion

My time is running short. There are many points I haven’t had a chance to fully dive into. For instance:

• Alcoholic drinks can actually taste good.

• There are no idiots running around claiming vodka cures cancer.

• Even though weed is now widely legalized, you’re all still buying from your dealers and not paying sales tax; I’m building schools and bridges and shit with my self-destructive habit, what are you doing?

But at the end of the day, we need only recognize this: these are substances that alter our brain chemistry. And in so doing, they tell us things. They are voices. And what those voices say matters.

Weed tells us that we are all eloquent philosophers.

We are not.

It tells us that we are creative geniuses.

We are not.

It tell us that Rick and Morty is compelling television.

But what does alcohol tell us?

It tells us that we can dance.

And we can.

It tells us that we are sexy.

And we are.

It tells us the people around us are sexy

And they are!

It tells us that we can have the courage to live life boldly, ask for what we want, and that if we do, the hangover will be worth it.

And by golly, it will.

So raise a booze with me, to glass.

#Weed vs. Booze #Weed vs. Alcohol #Ben Auxier #BUGHOUSE!

0 notes

fableweaver · 5 years ago

Text

Arc of the Deadman Reaper

It was strange being back again to the Court of Miracles, even though Seth felt nothing even he could appreciate some of the irony. He stood in the grand throne room of the palace behind a pillar, watching the coronation of the royal prick Elrik Alvar. The hall was packed with gentry and nobles, the air reeked of wealth and hot air. No one was surprised though by the turn out of kings. It used to be every king of the Nine would gather to witness a king being crowned, but there had not been a gathering of all nine kings in over two hundred years.

Now it was considered lucky that even two showed up. King Kolun Wildlough was a tall man of wiry build and burnished copper skin. He was in his middling years, his black hair done up in an elaborate knot still free of gray. He had distinguished himself in the years of the King’s Wars as a young man, a great warrior among his people. The fickle king watched the proceedings bored and didn’t have the shame to hide it.

King Ilya Myrddin dripped silver and distain as he watched the proceedings with his family. His sister Ileana glared onto the new king as if her gaze alone would turn him to stone. Anton watched with his face bloodless with rage. The new king of Dridia was a new player, breaking many of the Dridian’s strange ways by even coming here. The mages were known recluses, seeing themselves above the lesser races that did not have their own power.

Though the two present kings spoke to alliances, the absences screamed of the Nine Kingdom’s possible dissension. Alda of course had not sent anyone; they never had since the Regarians claimed the throne. King Nejem was unable to attend as Evalon was under siege by Pridesmen. No one had heard anything from King Tyr or King Rawn but rumors spread that they were gathering their armies in the north. No one was surprised by the lack of Lirian representation of course, but it was an ill omen that not even the King of the Mark would attend to see his daughter crowned High Queen. Seth grinned because it was not Lady Jeanne being crowned. Lucia sat plump as a stuffed turkey on her throne next to Elrik as the High Sect of Sol prayed over them.

She looked regal, the picture of a noble, though she was little more than a farmer’s daughter from the Mark. Legally she now had claim to the throne since she was taking part in the ceremony. Seth’s mind was working at that information like a terrier with a rat.

So far the Lady Han had been able to sew their seeds among the merchant class well, promises and bribery winning over many. They were bearing fruit, but a harvest that would barely cover their needs. They needed the nobility and the loyalty that nobility bought. Seth had read the mood of the court and was surprised by the figure that everyone seemed to be turning to now that powers were shifting in the Court of Miracles. Not Sherah, whose bookish ways and secret tendencies may have won her spies and power in the Court of Whispers, but only alienated her here in the Court of Miracles. Of course not Elrik either, twice as likely to murder someone over the pettiest insult he was worse than his father in his unpredictable rages.

No, every eye turned to the new Queen of the Nine Kingdoms, or more accurately her double though no one knew it. Seth hardly recognized the shy scared girl he once knew. Now it was a woman of iron wearing a porcelain mask of beauty. He felt nothing to see the change in her, and he could no longer remember what he would have felt either. Now he only looked at her with cool calculation. Could Lucia be turned over to their side? Or would she have to die? Even after she gave birth she would forever be Jeanne’s shield, she had all but replaced her in court.

The Sect of Sol stepped down and the Sect of Cael took his place. Five High Sects seated this crowning representing their gods. The High Sects of Sol, Lun, Cael, Tempest, and Isra, stood in attendance. The number of Sects attending to such events was growing, it used to be only one and it was said in the early days of the Kingdoms that no Sect crowned a king. Seth watched the Sects as well hunting for weaknesses.

The High Sect of Sol, Bernard de Modeste, looked on the High Sect of Cael, Gervase Villenia, with distain and obvious dislike. Both were of course heads of two orders within the Sect, the Gold Order and the Iron Order. Both orders had been bitter enemies since they were founded; it was a rivalry that could easily be manipulated until both tore each other apart. In comparison the High Sect of Lun, Jillet de Lorue, was as calm as peaceful as her goddess.

The High Sect of Tempest, and also the head of the Steel Order, Tristen Tonson, was a grim and foreboding man. He seemed like a ray of sunshine compared to the High Sect of Isra and head of the Stone Order, Daphne Delorouge. Seth had learned a little about each of them, mostly in his time at court in gossip. He wanted more however, but he was finding it difficult now getting information.

His eyes went to Sherah then. The head of the spies of not only this court, but half the spies over the kingdoms she held a tight hold on the flow of information. Seth had once been part of that flow, but now he could not rely on old contacts, it was best no one knew he was still alive. Sherah was a spy master and ruthless, but Seth had known her to have a kind heart for those she held dear and those that served her. It endeared her to her servants but not to the nobles, who she tended to treat as the idiots they were.

So many players all gathered together, and Seth was here to see heads roll.

“A petty dance of weak fools wouldn’t you say,” a voice said behind him. Seth didn’t turn to face Varas Lonelove, he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

“Petty yes, but not all are fools,” Seth answered mildly. “I am surprised you are here milord, who is watching the fort while the king is away?”

“As if Ilya would be fool enough to leave Dridia while I stayed,” Varas said with distain.

“So you are here simply because the new king of Dridia is not comfortable on his throne?” Seth said, fishing.

“I am here to speak to you,” Varas answered and this time Seth turned to face him. “I know who you are.”

“And who am I?” Seth asked casually. He learned long ago to never give anything away.

“The left hand of Kal Ba’el,” Varas answered.

“Is that my official title?” Seth asked. “Most have been calling me Lord Hollow, that or pissing themselves in fear but I don’t know how to put that into words.”

“Charming as always,” Varas said. “I also remember you as the man you once were, though I suppose you do not deem the word ‘man’ anymore.”

“I suppose not,” Seth answered. “So what does the second most powerful mage in Dridia want with me?”

He saw Varas’ red eyes narrow and jaw tighten, but the fact that he restrained himself told Seth that he feared him. It was a strange revelation to realize a man of such power feared him.

“Let us go discuss this somewhere else,” Varas said, turning on his heel. Seth followed the mage lord out of the hall and into the garden. When they were far enough into the foliage Varas stopped in an alcove and waved his hand. Seth was intersted he could now see Varas’ power, the blaze of magic and sigils spreading around them. He knew ordinary people could not see the pure power of the High Magic, but he could not read the sigils or their intent.

“This should keep others away and prevent eavesdropping,” Varas said turning to him. “Now to business. Being Kal Ba’el left hand I suppose you are already up to date on Ilya’s work.”

“Kal Ba’el has not deemed to tell me his plans,” Seth answered. “I’m more like his left foot, Loe would be his hand.”

“Interesting,” Varas said. “And who else would hold honor with Kal Ba’el?”

“Raigo,” Seth answered. “The Orc General. If you are looking to bribe him or get on his good side I suggest dead babies, they’re his favorite snack.”

“Jokes aside…” Varas said sneering and Seth cut him off.

“Wasn’t joking,” Seth said dully. He watched as several emotions played across Varas face in quick succession, disgust, fear, loathing, before he replaced the mask. Seth still couldn’t get over seeing emotions on another person’s face and yet not feel his own; it made him notice other’s expressions easier.

“The Orcs aside,” Varas said. “What of his human servants?”

“Is that why you want to talk?” Seth asked. “You are probably better informed about the human factor than I am. There is Han of course, who is sent to be the worm to rot the apple. I am to aid him; the Lady Han so far has proved more useful however. She’s been working the merchants.”

“I never thought of the merchants,” Varas said impressed. “I must speak with this Lady Han then.”

“So you are sent to aid us?” Seth asked. “You too work for Kal Ba’el.”

“I work for my people,” Varas said with distain. “There is just an alliance between Ilya and Kal Ba’el. We seek immortality, making immortal bodies so that mages can live on forever. Kal Ba’el has been aiding us in these endeavors. He now has offered us aid in getting the High Throne so that we will not need to worry about these petty squabbles between lords and kings.��

“What of Loe?” Seth asked. “He too wishes to hold the throne.”

“I am well aware of that,” Varas said. “So is Kal Ba’el. He has assured us that he will make sure all have the power they need.”

Seth stared at Varas flatly, his mind working through Varas’ smug expression. He didn’t care about Loe, in fact he planned on making sure Loe would fall and a mage would take the throne. Either Anton or himself, it probably didn’t matter which. He was working with Kal Ba’el, but Varas had his own power play going on here.

“If you are searching for immortality, then that means Loe is not immortal,” Seth said. “Kal Ba’el gave him immortality, me too, but if he has you searching for it then there must be a flaw in that immunity. What is the flaw?”

“I have no idea,” Varas said, Seth unable to tell if he were lying. “I have not been working on the immortality project nor have I spoken to Kal Ba’el about it. My guess would be however that time is the ultimate factor. Healing a body or wound can be done with the right power, though it can cause corruption, but keeping this up over time can’t be done unless the wielder had an unlimited supply of power.”

So Seth only had to wait? That seemed a simplistic approach, and one that he wasn’t sure he would see the results to.

“If you want Feng Loe dead you’ll have to find a way past his immortality,” Seth said. “Who better to kill him than me?”

“I agree,” Varas said. “I will look into possibilities and let you know.”

“I tried snake sand already,” Seth said and Varas raised an eyebrow.

“Now coming back from that is more than I expected,” Varas said. “This will need some thought. Meanwhile, we have the Court of Miracles on our hands.”

“Implying you are going to help?” Seth asked.

“With the nobles yes,” Varas said. “But I do not think I can win the loyalty of them all. The problem being most nobles are already in powerful positions. Some don’t want to risk their own position, while others want the position of another. It comes down to who do you kill and who do you keep.”

“Who do you recommend?” Seth asked. “As the larger players?”

“Sherah first,” Varas said. “She is by far the greatest threat. Suggestions on method?”

“Tea,” Seth answered. “In the Queen’s Solar.”

“That means taking out the High Queen and the Queen Mother,” Varas said. “Those are a lot of targets in one place; you’d need either multiple assassins or a detonation.”

“It is the only place Sherah is away from guards and spies alike,” Seth answered.

“Granted,” Varas answered. “What about Jeanne?”

“She holds the heir to the throne,” Seth answered. “A prime target.”

“No she does not,” Varas said with a grin. “She is having a daughter.”

Seth thought through the implications, Loe desired a young girl to be his Regarian bride. Sure the child would be only a babe, but Seth was sure Loe would rather a girl unripe rather than already ripened.

“You suggest we let her live?” Seth said.

“She has half the court wrapped around her finger,” Varas answered. “The other half see her as Elrik’s puppet master. In reality she is not Jeanne Lonna, she is a double made to take Jeanne’s place when Elrik mutilated her.”

Seth shrugged, he had already known this, and Varas frowned.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“I am incapable of surprise,” Seth answered. “Even if I were I would not be seeing as I already knew all this. So you want to use Lucia.”

“Easily done since I know her secret and she knows that I know and can prove it,” Varas said. “All I’d have to do is strip her of the beauty sigils she wears; it is those that have made her most look like the real Jeanne.”

“She wouldn’t care about herself,” Seth said. “Only about the danger this would pose to Jeanne. All you really have to do is convince her that if she doesn’t go along with us then we would kill Jeanne.”

“I trust then you can handle that,” Varas said.

“And what of Elrik?” Seth asked. “I suppose you want him dead as well and Jeanne, or Lucia really, to marry Anton.”

“No,” Varas said shaking his head. “For now Elrik stays where he is. He is easily manipulated and for now that is what we want. Anton would be Ilya’s pawn not our own.”

“And the war?” Seth asked. “Elrik will be moving on Loe now that he is crowned. We don’t want that.”

“Send word to Loe to move on Alda instead,” Varas said. “We will convince Elrik not to oppose him, easily done since there is little love for Alda from him.”

“Elrik will want blood when I kill his mother, aunt, and sister,” Seth said. “He may not love them but he will want blood for the insult.”

“Use the double for that,” Varas said. “She will be the sole survivor, she can put the blame on another party.”

“Who?” Seth asked and Varas grinned.

“Lucas Drakon,” Varas said. “Sect Elisha Drakon, Armand Roque.”

“Turn him on his own allies,” Seth said nodding. “He’ll never believe Lucas killed his own sister, and Roque is a degenerate all the way in Nyrgard. Elisha has the best possibilities. The Sect gives a lot of power to Regis; if we cut away at the loyalties there we weaken Regis greatly.”

“I’ll leave the details to you then,” Varas said. “Isolate Elrik from his allies.”

“And Lucia can manipulate him for us,” Seth said nodding. He knew though that Loe would want Elrik dead, and probably Jeanne as well, but he could cross that bridge later.

“Exactly,” Varas said smugly. Seth eyed him and realized why Varas was so smug. Most of this plan lay on Seth; Varas hardly had to do any work and kept his hands clean. Of course Seth didn’t care either way.

“I have to go and send a message then to Loe,” Seth said turning away.

“Very well,” Varas said. “And Gray, you know the price of crossing me.”

“I do,” Seth said, knowing not to point out Varas may not even have the power to harm Seth. Varas let his wards down and Seth walked away back to the palace. He found Han’s rooms, empty of other people, and went to the room where Han had set up the Reliquary. The same object that Loe had used to summon Kal Ba’el to Seth, he had sent it with them as a means to communicate.

He knelt before the Reliquary and waited, wondering what would happen.

He immediately heard a growl, the wet gurgle of a stomach grumbling for food. He knew it was not his own, he ate but he never felt hungry. Sensations returned to him, the air pressure building, a rotten smell in the air, and his old scars from torture began to burn. He gasped and whimpered, biting down on his tongue to stop himself from crying out and he tasted blood.

:What do you want Hollow?: the voice was much like before, a deep base that rattled his bones painfully. Seth felt it slip into his mind, and he gave it the conversation with Varas. He groaned as it slid through his mind, it felt horrifying and violating. At last the touch withdrew, and he heard the voice again. :You anticipate my plans well. The woman is one of Arke’s chosen, turn her to me:

Seth felt it withdraw, his body numbing once more. His feelings of violation slipped away, but he felt no relief or frustration in the lack of relief. He simply slumped in the chair and mused once more. He felt nothing at the knowledge Kal Ba’el wanted Lucia, but he was curious. Who was Arke? Loe had given him a list of people that Kal Ba’el wanted either dead or brought to him, he had thought Loe had meant Jeanne. Now it was obvious he wanted Lucia, but why? It was more than her political position; what could Kal Ba’el really care if she was his follower. It had something to do with this Arke, maybe she opposed him.

Seth stood deciding he would keep his eyes open. While there were many players here all with their own agendas, he had his own: kill Feng Loe. He was still in a daze as he went back to the kitchens to help with the coronation feast. He was given a tray of tiny delicacies and he walked out into the crowd of nobles in the feasting hall.

The hours shed away like a peel from an unripe apple, slowly and reluctantly. Seth saw Lucia only from afar, having no opening to talk to her. He granted Varas a brief nod to affirm their deal, but otherwise he was just another silent servant among the nobles. He listened and watched, waiting for something interesting to happen, and at last it did.

A crash drew every eye, a shout of rage ringing out over the crowd. Dead silence fell as people moved away from the scene, Seth quickly standing on a chair to see over the crowd. In the middle of on lookers Elrik stood over a servant, several goblets of wine scattered around them with wine pooling on the fine marble floor. Seth noted a wine stain on Elrik’s sleeve, thus the cause of the servant being struck no doubt. But Elrik looked far from satisfied from that single blow.

He reached out and grabbed a cane from a nearby noble. Under the sound of a solid wood cane hitting flesh was dead silence as all in the room watched the High King beat a servant. Seth’s eyes went to Lucia, to see if she would do anything, but she just sat on her throne with her hand over her belly. Her mask did not slip from the calm mien she wore, but Seth could just see her eye twitch slightly each time the cane connected with flesh. She had been in his bed, felt his beatings and endured his rages. Though she probably felt sympathy for the poor servant, her own fear would not make her rise to face that rage.

At last Elrik dropped the cane with a clatter, heaving for breath as the servant struggled for his own through broken bones.

“So this is the kind of king you are,” Kolun said mildly, breaking the silence and Elrik’s eyes turned on him. “You lack your father’s finesse boy.”

“Watch it Wildlough,” Elrik growled as he straitened his crown. “You speak to the High King.”

“I speak as one king to another,” Kolun answered, shifting on his feet. Seth could see he wasn’t doing it because he was nervous; he shifted to prepare to fight. He had the grace and fluidity of his emblem, an otter. “There has been and forever will be only one true High King, a King that stood above them all, Absalom of the Deep Woods.”

Mutters rose from the crowd like a summer shower, dying quickly as Elrik laughed.

“He is long dead,” Elrik said. “And so is his line.”

“Ah but that is not true on either count,” Kolun said. “His line lives in two witches of the moors, those who healed Warren’s wall.”

“Where did you hear that?” Elrik hissed. “Those two are imposters and pretenders.”

“If so then why does Alora shelter them in her court?” Kolun said. “She has married them to two lords of Alda, and one already bears children to be heirs.”

“You are well informed indeed majesty,” Sherah said smoothly before Elrik could begin a tirade.

“Oh I hold not a spark to your fire Lady Sherah,” Kolun said with an elegant bow. “I merely visited the Court of Fates to hear what I could.”

“So I have heard,” Sherah said. “Tell me, where did Lonna hear about what goes on in the Court of Dreams?”

“Looking to hire a spy?” Kolun said with a raucous grin. “I’m afraid I don’t know where Lonna heard about the happenings of the Aldan, but they do share borders after all.”

“Tell me about that first thing you said before,” Sherah said with a slight frown. “You said neither were true, that Absalom is not long dead.”

Kolun’s grin widened and Seth realized he was enjoying himself. That was what made people, or at least the nobles, fear Kolun: he was unpredictable and his loyalties shifted like water. Seth once again looked for reactions, most of the Regarians looked angry at this game, others contemplative or afraid. Lucia looked unchanged, if maybe a little more relaxed now that the beating had stopped.

“Absalom left he didn’t die,” Kolun said with a shrug. “The Aldan have legends and hope he would one day return.”

“Legends?” Sherah said dryly. “Majesty you indeed do like to stir the pot, even if you only do it with a straw rather than a spoon.”

Kolun only shrugged, aloof again and either unwilling or unable to give support to his claim.

“Enough of this tripe,” Elrik growled. “Answer for your insult Kolun.”

“Insult?” Kolun said playfully. “To what do you refer Alvar? The implication you are lesser to your father? Or the fact that you are no more of a king than I?”

“Bastard!” Elrik shouted, his hand going to his sword. With a wicked grin Kolun reached for his own, so Kolun had been looking for a fight.

“Enough both of you!” Ilya shouted before steel could be drawn. He stepped up between the two kings sparks dancing on the tips of his fingers. The only man with not only the authority to step between the two, but the power to stop them as well Ilya frowned at both kings. “We are Kings of the Nine, not petty children squabbling in the streets. Kolun, apologize to the High King, you took oaths to loyalty to him.”

“I took oaths to Hyria and her people,” Kolun said straitening and pulling his hand from his blade. “But I concede to Alvar, I was looking to see the boy’s mettle.”

“And who are you to judge me?” Elrik shouted angrily.

“Another king of the Nine,” Ilya answered. “We have the authority to at least judge you majesty. And Wildlough? Did the new king pass your test?”

“He has a short temper,” Kolun answered. “And not worth my time.”

Elrik glared, but Seth knew he would not attack with Ilya standing between them.

“Go cool your head Kolun,” Ilya ordered. “I’ll send a few girls to you tonight.”

“I don’t sport with slaves Myrddin,” Kolun growled. “I’ll seek company with a priestess of Dione, it is more enjoyable when the woman is willing.”

Ilya’s face betrayed nothing as the Hyrian king turned away to disappear into the crowd.

“I apologize for Wildlough majesty,” Ilya said as he let his magic go and bowed to Elrik. “He enjoys chaos too much.”

“Next time I’ll cut his head off,” Elrik growled, everyone knowing it was an empty threat. “King or no.”

“Yes majesty,” Ilya said bowing again.

“There is actually something I’d like to discuss with you Ilya,” Elrik said. “About Anton.”

Ilya froze and the air went out of the room again. From his perch Seth could see Anton at his table with his mother. Both obviously heard Elrik, Ileana sitting perfectly still as Anton gripped his chair arm with white knuckles.

“Perhaps we should have this discussion in private majesty,” Ilya said smoothly.

“No, I’d like the court to see my decision on this matter,” Elrik said.

“I will remind you majesty that you speak of my nephew,” Ilya said coolly. “Whatever you are about to announce had better be to my liking.”

“I do not answer to you,” Elrik said his hand resting on his sword again.

“And do you really think simple steel will suffice?” Ilya said lowly, the air crackling now with the raw power of a mage. For once Elrik backed off, his hand falling from the hilt of his sword.

“Anton!” Elrik shouted and the crowd parted. Anton stood puzzled and walked through the crowd to stand at his uncle’s side. He looked wary of Elrik, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the High King.

“We are brothers Elrik,” Anton said uneasy. “You wouldn’t harm me.”

“The only tie we bear is a father who now lies dead,” Elrik said coldly and Anton winced. “But my wife has begged for mercy. Considering you are unable to sire children…”

Anton shouted wordlessly, the on looking nobles gasping. That explained why Elrik wanted to make this public, so everyone would know the truth; Anton’s reaction only confirmed it.

“How did you know that?” Ilya asked his eyes going to Lucia on the throne.

“Irrelevant,” Elrik said calmly. “Since Anton is sterile he poses no threat to the throne, and I want the whole court to know it. You mages have tried to gain the throne, but it remains in Regarian hands.”

“For now,” Ilya said his eyes narrow. “But you have no heirs.”

Seth saw Varas shift of his feet, a frown crossing his brow. He had told Ilya, but how much had he told the Dridian king?

“Jeanne holds my heir,” Elrik growled.

“Jeanne holds a daughter,” Ilya answered and again there was a chorus of surprise from the nobles. It was starting to all feel like a show, and Seth was no longer sure who was directing it. Elrik looked livid and he looked up at Lucia as if this were all her fault. Others looked up at her as well, but she sat calm as always. She stood slowly, her hand resting on her swollen belly.

“So I bear a daughter to the Alvar house,” Lucia said calmly. “And I will bear another child and another as my king sees fit. He is rather prolific in bed I must say, I do not think it will be long before I have a son. That is more than can be said about Anton wouldn’t you say?”

Elrik grinned as he looked back at Ilya with a sneer. Seth watched as well because now would be the time for Ilya to reveal that Lucia was not Jeanne if he knew. Of course that would royally screw over his and Varas plans. From the look on Ilya’s face Seth gathered he did not hold this trump card, he had the face of a man that was just out bid.

“The kingdoms are at war and an heir would put us at ease,” Ilya said. “We await anxiously for our new High King to name his heir.”

“In my own damn time,” Elrik growled. Ilya bowed and Elrik walked up to his throne. The tension eased, music began again alone with excited murmur of conversation. The mages not surprisingly slipped away after that, Ileana looking thunderous. Seth watched as Elrik sat next to Lucia grinning at her and kissing her hand. Seth wondered how much control she had over him, and why the emptiness in him suddenly felt just a little cold.

She looked up then and their eyes met. Once again they had a moment of recognition, of more than just two people who once knew each other, before Lucia looked away back to Elrik. She hadn’t even blinked.

The party continued through the evening and into the night, Seth never given the opening he needed to speak with Lucia. He didn’t want it; he had a plan to see her. So he waited as the night grew long and at last the court began to retire. Lucia was one of the first to leave, but Seth lingered until most of the court was gone to their beds leaving nothing but drunken fools behind. Seth left and traveled a familiar path through the palace and gardens to the women’s wing.

His new skills made it childishly easy to sneak through the guards to the garden under Jeanne’s rooms, he could move as silently as a shadow now. Once again he climbed the wall to the window and easily into the room beyond. This time he remembered to close the window behind him. He walked the room, moving around furniture silently, and got to the bedroom door. No maid slept outside it this time, all but one of Jeanne’s maids had died protecting her.

Inside the bedroom was dim but for a single candle burning on the nightstand. Lucia sat in bed, the covers tucked up around her swollen belly. Her mask had not slipped, she looked calm and in control.

“I knew you would come,” she said watching him. “You are here to kill Jeanne.”

“If you really believed that you wouldn’t have let me get this far,” Seth answered dully.

“Then you are here to kill me,” Lucia said. “Without me Elrik falls and so does Jeanne.”

“Without you the Court of Miracles falls but not as neatly as planned,” Seth answered. “There are many players in this game; I am just the muscle behind them.”

“Well then get on with it,” Lucia said with a slight frown.

“I’m not here to kill you Lucia,” Seth said. “You want to protect your lady, nothing more. I’m here to offer her protection.”

“Protection?” Lucia said interested.

“Varas is in league with Kal Ba’el,” Seth said. “He is playing his own game alongside Loe, working along the same lines but seeking his own advancement over him. Loe wants the High Throne, and nine brides of each of the Nine Kingdoms.”

“So Jeanne will be his bride?” Lucia asked.

“No, Jeanne is too old,” Seth answered. “He wants girls of a younger nature.”

He saw Lucia work through that, her hand going to her swollen belly.

“Everyone seems to think a daughter useless,” Lucia said.

“She will be Loe’s wife when she grows a bit more,” Seth answered. Her mask slipped a little to show her disgust and fear at the idea of handing over her child to Loe.

“And Jeanne will be safe then?” Lucia asked, her voice hitched as she spoke through her pain. “Loe will not harm her?”

“I make no promises,” Seth answered. “But for now if you seek security for Jeanne this is the best course. Varas knows you are a fake, he will reveal your secret if you do not cooperate. He plans on killing Sherah, as well as the queen and princess. You would survive, if you agree to help manipulate Elrik.”

She was staring at him now, her eyes sad. She pushed aside the covers and slid from the high bed, her night dress billowing over her great belly. She walked up to him, looking him right in the eye. He felt nothing in her gaze so just stood waiting.

“What has he done to you?” she asked softly and reached up to cup his face in her hand. Seth gasped as he felt her skin touch his own, warm and soft. The sensation reverberated through him, like a warm drink through a cold body it spread through every limb. He felt a tide of emotion and sensation return to him in an overpowering wave of euphoria. He pulled back in shock, stumbling back a few steps gasping for air.

As soon as the contact was gone the crushing numbness spread through him once more, and he found he could only vaguely recall the sensations. It was disquieting, yet even that deadened in his chest.

“What was that?” he asked, even his voice sounded flat again.

“I don’t know,” Lucia answered. “Wait here.”

“No,” Seth said, deciding whatever she had done was best not repeated. “I’ll have my answer now Lucia.”

“Seth I’ve been learning about Elder Magic,” Lucia said. “I think that is why my touch affected you. Whatever Loe did to you I can reverse it, make you whole again. I just need to ask the one who is teaching me…”

“No Lucia,” Seth said. “After all I have seen and done, to feel again would drive me mad. I’d rather stay dead inside.”

She stared at him, her hazel eyes melting with emotions he no longer felt and barely understood anymore.

“Very well,” Lucia said sadly. “For now I will aid you in controlling Elrik and keeping Jeanne out of the way.”

“And Sherah,” Seth said. “You will aid in her end.”

Lucia flinched at that and then nodded, her hand going to her belly.

“As for the child we will leave that for Loe,” Seth answered. “Convince Elrik not to engage Lir, Loe will be turning to Alda. He will like that.”

Lucia nodded as Seth started to turn away, but stopped. His mind still held echoes of lingering sensation from her, and his eyes lingered on her pale face a moment. His thoughts however were calculating; if she could make him feel again could she make Loe mortal?

“What you did before, could you repeat it?” Seth asked. “You made me feel again, do you know what you did to do so?”

“No, all I did was touch you,” Lucia answered shaking her head. “I know only a little about the Elder Magic, as I said I am still learning. If you’d like I could touch you again to see what happens.”

Seth considered her offer, he felt no fear or temptation at it, but he was critical and wary. If she undid whatever had been done to him he had no chance of killing Loe. He thought of Varas and his possible aid, but he knew he could not rely on the mage. Varas had his own agenda and while those plans did include Loe’s death, Seth wasn’t willing to place bets on Varas being any use in that endeavor.

The Elder Magic, whatever it was, might be his only chance.

“Alright,” Seth said.

“Are you sure?” Lucia asked. “It seemed to cause you pain before.”

“It caused both pain and pleasure,” Seth answered. “Right now I feel nothing.”

She looked sad at that and then reached out. Again her hand slipped almost perfectly along his jaw, her fingers warm against his neck. He felt her breath come heavy as he closed his eyes overcome. He knew the returned feelings were ordinary, the simple beat of his heart, the feeling of air moving in and out of his lungs, the smell of her perfume just under his nose, yet it had been so long he was hyper aware of them all.

There was pain as well, dark memories surfacing threatening his sanity, so instead he opened his eyes. He looked down at Lucia, her golden eyes as warm as candle light. Somehow he knew she fit with him, the sad tragedy of both their lives meaningless in the face of this feeling. He leaned down and kissed her, warm lips against his own, and he deepened it to taste her. She gasped and he felt her hesitation, but that melted quickly as she pulled him closer to her embrace.

Somehow it didn’t matter that the swell of her belly sat between them, another man’s child inside her. He took her to the bed and for once in his life had something that was more than either pain or pleasure.

Afterwards lying next to her, sweat drying on skin, his memories began to rise again. Tears started to rise up, burning his eyes since he had not wept in a long time. Before he could pull away Lucia pulled him close, his forehead resting in the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder. The damn burst and he was weeping like a child in her arms. She stroked his hair, murmuring soothing wordless sounds in his ear. He felt her lips brush the top of his head and he wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer. He was shuddering now with sobs, his tears running down her chest. At last the storm passed and he rested against her spent in joy and sorrow. Seth sat up, pulling away from her to feel his heart die again and sanity return.

“You’re leaving,” Lucia said softly and he looked down at her. She was beautiful, her raven hair spread out around her in dark waves like the night sky.

“I can’t stay,” he answered.

“Because of this,” she said softly, her hand going to her belly.

“No, because if I lay with you any longer I’ll lose my mind,” Seth answered.

“Seth whatever was done to you…”

“You don’t understand,” Seth said shaking his head. “The things I’ve done, the things I’ve seen, this deadness in me is the only thing keeping me from killing myself. Of course I can’t even do that. I don’t know why you lift me up, but I’ll only drag you down Lucia.”

“Glen told me about spirits,” Lucia said. “How we die and are reborn again. I think that we knew each other in a past life, and that is why we are drawn to each other. Maybe our next lives we will find one another again and be happy.”

“We won’t,” Seth said. “The Crippled One scooped me out like a fig; if I ever die I doubt my spirit will be reborn.”

“There must be something there Seth,” Lucia said. “I’m still drawn to you, you still live and when we touch you are human again.”

“Like I said I’m probably drawing you down,” Seth said as he stood to dress. “Did you learn anything that may help me kill Loe?”

“I don’t know,” Lucia said. “I’ll have to ask Glen.”

Seth wanted to know who this Glen was. He suspected he was one of the people on that list Loe had given him. He also knew Lucia was on that list, but for now she was more useful alive. He made his own decisions and while away from Loe he could disobey if he chose. He was no longer sure he could kill Lucia anyways.

He paused after he dressed and looked down at Lucia in the bed. She had been watching him, her thoughts buried deep under her mask once more.

“Well it looks like I finally got the reward you promised,” Seth said and a smile tugged at her lips.

“You know I used to think it an animal’s pursuit and having nothing but Elrik taught me it could be brutal as well,” Lucia said her eyes sad. “You showed me that it does indeed deserve the title ‘lovemaking’ for that was certainly the act of love in itself.”

He felt nothing at her words, but his mind reeled because he knew he should. He debated a moment on whether or not he should take her hand and let the doors open again to experience the feelings she invoked. He decided it would be more prudent to leave.

“I’ll be in touch to keep you abreast of Varas’ plans,” Seth said turning away.

“Seth,” Lucia said and he stopped, but did not face her. “I know you cannot face what is inside you, but I swear I’ll find a way to restore you, fully without risk to your sanity.”

“Bold as brass now I see,” Seth said mildly. “Very well, it is a challenge I am sure you’ll relish. But know this; I will not accept any cure until Loe is dead.”

“Very well,” Lucia said firmly.

Seth nodded and left, somehow he felt lighter on his feet than he had before. Walking out the bedroom door Seth came face-to-face with the real Jeanne. She glared at him, a naked saber in one hand. Frowning she motioned him away from the door wordlessly. Seth obeyed, letting her usher him from the sitting room to the servant quarters where several lamps burned.

Jeanne was a remnant of herself; Seth had seen her when she had first arrived at court. She had been a well-fed, arrogant, powerful noble lady then, a woman assured in both body and position. Now she was thin, sinew and bone prominent under pale skin. She had the air of a wounded pride and a bleeding heart; she was an injured animal seeking to lash out.

“You again,” she hissed, her saber down but held ready.

“Hollow Jack at your service,” Seth said with a bow and Jeanne sneered.

“What do you want?” Jeanne asked. “You know Lucia is just a double so why go to her?”

“Because she isn’t a double,” Seth answered, “not anymore; she’s an imposter now.”

Jeanne seethed and raised her blade to his throat, but Seth didn’t even flinch.

“She is my servant and I will not let you harm her,” Jeanne said angrily.

“I’ve no intention to,” Seth answered mildly. “What our plans are do not concern you. You are irrelevant.”

Jeanne growled and her blade slipped forward cutting his neck a little. Seth leaned in and let the blade go further through his neck, feeling nothing as he stepped closer. Jeanne looked shocked as he let the blade pass through his throat, trying to draw back but Seth caught her arm. He drew a dagger and had it at her throat in a moment.

“You are worthless,” Seth said, his voice gurgling past the blood in his throat. “If you were to die her burden would be so much lighter, she could be free of this prison you forced her into with honor and loyalty. Why should I not kill you now?”

Jeanne stared up at him in horror trembling. Seth was tempted to do it as well, to free Lucia from the grips of honor that bound her, when a sound drew his attention. A door closed behind a figure as they stepped into the room. Dressed in robes of the followers of Iris, the young man looked almost like a woman, but for the slight masculine touch to his features. He had removed his veil, and there was a silence about him that smelled of peace and serenity.

He stared Seth down, blue eyes boring into him with an intensity that belayed his peaceful air. He did not speak but waved his hands in signs.

“You cannot speak,” Seth said with a grin, blood was in his mouth and coated his teeth.

“He is harmless,” Jeanne gasped. “Your quarrel is with me.”

“You never answered my question,” Seth said. “Why should I not kill you?”

“Lucia would hate you forever,” Jeanne answered. Seth knew she was right, but he couldn’t care what Lucia would think. In fact he didn’t care if she hated him forever, so long as she was safe.

Movement drew his eye and he turned to face the boy again. He now stood by the fireplace, and a shape was forming out of the flames. It was long and serpent like, with six small legs and a flat head. Seth realized it resembled a salamander in shape, though the resemblance was loose. The fire creature crouched in the hearth next to the Sect, waiting for his command.

“Now he has a better reason,” Seth said releasing Jeanne, and she pulled the saber from his throat. “I might be immortal but I doubt even I can survive being burned to a crisp.”

Jeanne glared at him as she retreated behind Glen, but the Sect walked forward leaving the fireside. Seth watched him as his hand reached out and plucked something from thin air. Seth felt the air changing around him, power surging as the Sect reached down towards his belly. When his hand touched him it was much like when Lucia had, sensations began to return as well as feelings. This time Seth felt the power growing as the Sect started to move his hands as if he were tying a knot.

Seth slapped his hands away and the power dissipated, leaving him numb again. Glen looked up at him shocked and began waving his hands frantically.

“I don’t care,” Seth answered. “I don’t want to return to normal, not yet.”

Glen looked sad and fraught so Seth turned his back on him.

“Wait,” Jeanne said as Seth moved towards the door. “What do you plan to do with Lucia?”

“Ask her if she will tell you,” Seth answered. “You’ll get nothing from me.”

He left Jeanne and Glen to their own devices, going out into the servant hall. He took a long way out of the women’s wing, going down to the gardens and cutting around in the bushes. He returned at last to Han’s rooms, having a bit of trouble with the guards there who let him pass reluctantly. He found the lord and lady sitting by the fire looking worn.

“Lord Hollow,” Han said standing. “I didn’t hear you enter.”

“Wouldn’t be good at my job if you had,” Seth answered. “I’ve some new developments to share.”

Seth told him about Varas, Lucia, and the plans formed between them all now.

“This Lord Lonelove cannot be trusted,” Han said. “Neither can this Lucia.”

“Varas can be trusted to do what is in the best interest for the mages and nothing more,” Seth answered. “And as long as Jeanne is alive Lucia is manageable.”

“So we have our puppeteers now we just need to get rid of the opposition,” Han said nodding. “The Lady Sherah. Did Lonelove give you any hint to his plans on that matter?”

“Tea time,” Seth answered. “I should be able to get my old serving job back, so long as Sherah doesn’t catch wind of it. She knows who I am and of my failure. If she knew I was back she would know I’ve been turned.”

“And what of Nicodemus Rue?” Han asked. “He is the pawn Elrik plans on using to get the Lirian throne, without him Elrik has no claim.”

“Nicodemus is a useless book worm,” Seth answered. “If we kill Elrik he will never contest for any of the thrones. For now I trust Lucia to keep Elrik in line until Loe takes Alda. When that happens it would be a simple matter of killing Elrik.”

“I have learned long ago not to underestimate the Rue family,” Han said.

“Really?” Seth asked. “Why?”

“I knew Nicodemus’ father,” Han answered. “He should have been king not Son, but he was not eldest. He had been a man of cunning; Sherah had found her perfect match in that man. I find it hard to believe that a child of two of the most ruthless and conniving minds is little more than a shy bookish man.”

“I find it hard to believe he is faking it,” Seth answered. But his mind was going over the possibilities. When he had left Nicodemus had been getting closer and closer to Jeanne. It would be a good power move, but Jeanne was sterile now making her useless in the long run. If Nicodemus was planning some long run scheme, his goals and plans were unknown to Seth.

“I think that he should die along with Sherah,” Han answered. “Just to be sure the last of the Rues are gone.”

Seth looked at Han then and saw a light in his eyes, a light of fervor.

“You had Nicodemus’ father killed,” Seth said with a grin and Han flinched away. “Everyone thought it was Son cutting his ties from the Regarian influence, or Sherah who thinks it was Loe. But you killed him didn’t you? Were you aiming for the Lirian throne or did you just hate him? Or maybe you were already in Loe’s pocket.”

Seth saw Han’s face transform with rage at that, Seth knowing very well what tender weeping wound he had just hit with those last words.

“Lord Hollow,” Sein said softly and both men turned to her. “Please do not poke at old wounds. It does not matter now what was done.”

“Very well,” Seth said shrugging but Han looked far from consoled.

“I do not agree with my husband however that Nicodemus Rue should die,” Sein said.

“Oh? And why not?” Seth said interested.

“Because of the plan you described,” Sein answered. “If Nicodemus dies Elrik won’t just give up his claim on the Lirian throne or on this war, his father has been killed of course he is going to continue to fight. Elrik can be convinced to let Alda fall, but not if his position of claim becomes weaker with the death of his cousin. Nicodemus must live to keep Elrik from losing his patience and attacking Lir.”

Seth nodded and turned to Lord Han.

“Well? Do you agree?” Seth asked. Han looked like he was swallowing something sour, but he nodded.

“My wife has a point,” Han said reluctantly.

“No wiser word spoken,” Seth answered. “Nicodemus lives, for now. When Alma falls, so does the rest of the Nine.”

#fantasy #series #please read #writing #fairies #dragons

0 notes

waypathfinder · 6 years ago

Text

Crimson Lane - Chapter 15 - Towards the dawn

Moodboard by @ashtyntaytertot Beta’d by @kathknight and @ashtyntaytertot